Auto/Biography 0967-5507 13 1 200503 Sage Publications Sage UK: London, England Book Review: Animating Relationships Between Research, Policy and Practice Biographical methods and professional practice: an international perspective. Prue Chamberlayne, Joanna Bornat and Ursula Apitzsch editors. 2004. Bristol: Policy Press; ISBN 1861344929 pbk, 352 pp., £24.99 JaneMasonBridgebuilders Training 88 91

88 Book ReviewAnimating Relationships Between Research, Policy and PracticeBiographical methods and professional practice: an international perspective. Prue Chamberlayne, Joanna Bornat and Ursula Apitzsch editors. 2004. Bristol: Policy Press; ISBN 1861344929 pbk, 352 pp., £24.99 SAGE Publications, Inc.2005DOI: 10.1177/09675507050130010506 Jane Mason Bridgebuilders Training This book is a collection of 21 essays comparing the biographical work of a wide variety of social researchers in Germany, Britain, France, Israel, New Zealand, Poland, Denmark, Finland and Russia. Their intention is to `demonstrate how comparative work can generate new understandings of welfare contexts and welfare processes, social relations and resources, and processes of social change', and that, given the right conditions, biogra- phical methods can `animate relationships between research, policy and practice' (Chamberlayne, p. 21). These papers highlight the capacity of biographical methods to illuminate discrepancies between the realities of lived experience, the related but often disconnected social policies, and pertinent current research. It is encouraging that, as Chamberlayne notes, this potential is recognized and valued by agencies in all seven countries 89 involved in the studies, leading to proposals for further collaboration in biographical research. The book is organized in five parts. The essays in Part One concern `Putting the subject in policy and practice', and are grouped around the theme of `ethnic entrepreneurship' in migrant communities. Apitzsch demonstrates the use of biographical methods to subvert `the possibility of scientific work either reproducing or even producing ethnic categories' which might serve to confirm erroneous assumptions underpinning many EC welfare policies. Kontos shows how this works in Germany, where state policies assume that educational capital is a prerequisite for entrepre- neurial success, and therefore deny support to those lacking this resource. Kupferberg demonstrates the way in which biographical study can subvert such normative assumptions, showing how two immigrant workers' self- concepts of their own entrepreneurship redefine accepted notions of `inno- vation'. Together, these studies have profound implications for welfare policies, suggesting that more regard should be taken of `the different motivational capital' migrant workers bring with them (Kupferberg, p. 87). Part Two considers the contextuality of the subject. Cooper introduces the topic of `emotionality', arguing that traditional hermeneutics can present an `over-rationalistic view of human nature' (Cooper, p. 98) in biographical studies. Bar-On counters this argument by suggesting that psychoanalytic approaches are equally limited if they fail to be `histori- cally and socially contextualised' (Bar-On, p. 102). Using a broader hermeneutic conception, he demonstrates the complex and extensive rami- fications of human experience through his on-going studies of holocaust survival and suffering. Semenova provides an example of the use of single case biographical study to illuminate the wider society, in this case, pro- fessional workers' attitudes to the emergent private employment sector in Russia. The business management motif is continued by Nagel in a study of East German managers. The study highlights the potential of biograph- ical research to elucidate the dynamics operating at the interface between social policy, practice and the individuals concerned, and to provide useful heuristic tools for the practitioner. David Gadd opens Part Three with a reflection on interpretive issues in relation to theoretical and practitioner perspectives on domestic violence. Rickard presents a critical overview of current and potential uses of biog- raphy in health studies, and Kazmierska discusses the ethical ramifica- tions of biographical narrative analysis. Temple addresses ethical issues in cross-cultural interviewing and translation of transcripts. Collectively, these critical reflections on the limitations and potential difficulties of biographical research supply a necessary counterpoint to what could other- wise appear overly optimistic claims for this research method in some other parts of the book. 90 The theme of Part Four is `disempowerment', and opens with Gunaratnam's case study examining racialized and gendered attitudes in palliative care. She argues that findings from biographical study have the power to undermine disempowering social stereoptypes. The following essay, by Bornat and Walmsley, questions `some of the claims for empow- erment through biographical research' (p. 222), and presents a matrix for use as a self-evaluative tool. Used to assess one of their own studies, the matrix demonstrates the fluid nature of power relations in qualitative research. Through a study of Venetian welfare services, Kyllönen demon- strates how the current trend for incorporating biographical considerations into all aspects of professional care – with the aim of `individualizing' that care – can inadvertently `normalize' recipients' biographies by interpret- ing their needs in terms of available (therapeutic style) interventions. All the studies in this section, including the last (Schluker's reflections on a student study of homeless men), show the diverse and ingenious ways in which individuals who feel disempowered resist depersonalization by authorities, and reframe their experiences, in narration, to demonstrate their perceived power over others (real or fantasy). Part Five examines the different uses of and approaches to biographi- cal study in learning environments. Chanfrault-Duchet reflects on the collection of career-orientated life stories, within an ethnographic frame- work, in teacher training, and Du Plessis et al. discuss training sociology students in the skills of collecting life stories. West brings out the essential reciprocity of auto/biographical research, between researcher and par- ticipant, in his study of the relationships between learning, identity and emotions for inner city GPs. Inowlocki et al. close the book with a discus- sion of their biographical work amongst `foreign' university students in Germany, concluding that `educational processes are connected with biographical knowledge' (p. 326), and that sharing biographies can break down cultural barriers and enhance learning for all concerned. The range of essays clearly shows the rich diversity of academic disci- plines which can legitimately and fruitfully be brought to bear on the study of human experience, and, overall, the editors have succeeded in their aim of demonstrating the value of biography in social research. Any criticisms of this book are relatively minor. As always with short pieces summarizing large studies, some of the conclusions drawn seem tenuous, but the reader must assume that the fuller work justifies the interpreta- tions. The literary style of some of the essays makes difficult reading at times, with rather convoluted language, and over-long sentences which take several readings to apprehend. This may result from translation issues, which the editors note as having been problematic. In places this is exacerbated by discipline-specific terminology which may mystify readers from different academic spheres to the writer, a matter worth 91 considering in the multidisciplinary environment of biographical studies. The book undoubtedly repays effort however, and as the publishers assert, it `provides a valuable comparative perspective' which is `a stimulating read'.