SAMLA 2022: Autobiography: Changes in Form and Meaning
This interdisciplinary panel welcomes submissions on any aspect of change within life writing. With the proliferation of modes available for what Anna Poletti has termed “self-life-inscription,” and a concurrent rise in hybrid genres such as autofiction that challenge the assumed boundary between truth and fiction in autobiographical narrative, it is clear that the scope of what is considered autobiography is changing. This panel seeks to articulate these changes and explore how they are impacting our understanding of the meaning and significance of life writing. Papers might explore changes in the medium of autobiography, such as social media, photography, film, graphic narratives, material collections, or performance.