Dévoiler l'histoire de l'autre. Récits de soi et fictions collectives

Abstract

The narration of ordinary stories is sometimes tied to political activism (de Certeau 1980, Foucault 1977, 2009). It is a means to give a narrative value to the least considered people in society. Whether it be poverty (Lewis, 1963), migration, literacy or the path of a woman from the working class (Catini, 1982), the researcher always unveils a desire to rehabilitate in the public space (Habermas, 2005), often with a transforming purpose (Marie- Michèle et Pineau, 1983). Narration stems somewhere between the desire of the researcher and the indulgence/ complacency of the informer. Telling one’s self can mean conforming to the expected model (Goffman, 1959), if not reaching a form of legitimate domination (Arendt, 1995). Who is the subject who gives up his own history? The focus of this questioning will be the status of the researcher and his relationship to the narrator. How can one tell one’s self truthfully when submitted to biographising , what kind of emancipation comes from a narration that turns into an injunction. A narration is nothing but a relationship to the other, I tell myself to that particular other (Butler, 2005) at that particular moment in my story (Ricoeur, 1985). This presentation will aim at shedding light on the relationship between the involved researcher and narration of resistance bordering testimony.