Youth autobiographies. Marking one’s own path
Lara Balleri
Testifying to one’s presence, leaving a mark, and shaping one’s memories. There are numerous forms of self-expression, each accompanied by languages that facilitate the connection of the individual to the collective, the internal to the external. Among literary genres, biography is the one most focused on the individual, establishing a discipline that continually inspires and challenges those who seek to cultivate an awareness of the plurality of human dimensions (Palumbo & Garbarino, 2006). Writing one’s autobiography, in particular, allows the author to link thought and writing through reflection; this capability, characteristic of reflective writing (Schön, 1993; Dewey, 2019), renders the genre of autobiography particularly suited to the care of the self (Cambi, 2005). It provides readers with a vast repository of life stories, available for their own self-development. Narrating one’s story and accessing the autobiographies of others enables the construction of both identity and belonging, while also fostering the ability to reconcile the diverse contexts in which one narrates oneself. This paper proposes a strategy that, through autobiography, can support young people in their self-construction and in understanding the specific value dimensions of the private-public-shared triad. The underlying premise is the intent to respect the identity-forming function of their languages, with the objective of aiding young people in weaving a thread that allows them to discover and rediscover themselves, in all their multidimensionality, across both online and offline realms.
Keywords
Autobiography, photography, Generation Z, onlife.
