1st International Egodocumental Network Conference
Vilnius University, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, the University of Lodz, and the Egodocumental Research Group (https://egodocuments.umk.pl) organise an international conference focusing on research, development, and changing perceptions of egodocuments in the twenty-first century. The conference aims to bring together scholars from different disciplines to share their insights and to encourage interdisciplinary studies of egodocuments.
The conference will also be the first meeting of the International Egodocumental Network established in December 2023 by the Egodocumental Research Group (Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and the University of Lodz) to unite scholars from different disciplines working on egodocuments. It provides a platform for discussion, collaboration, and exchange of information between the participants, as well as online research seminars organized twice a year. In this dimension, our conference continues two editions of the Scientific Symposium "Egodocuments, Life-Writing and Autobiographical Texts..." organized at NCU in Toruń in 2022 and 2024.
Keynote speakers
Dr. Nataliia Voloshkova
Kazimierz Wielki University and Oxford Brookes University
Prof. Leona Toker
Hebrew University and Shalem Academic College
Prof. François-Joseph Ruggiu
Sorbonne Université, CNRS and Oxford University
Alexander Mayer
Universität der Bundeswehr
Egodocuments as a Source for the History of Meritocratic Attitudes and Aspirations to Social Mobility in the 19th and 20th Centuries
This paper presents a methodological reflection based on experiences gained from a research project on the social and cultural history of meritocracy and social mobility (c. 1850–1975). This project aims to show how people from underprivileged social backgrounds came to believe that they or their children could achieve upward social mobility through their own efforts.
This research is based on 530 egodocuments from men and women originating from the working class and the lower middle class in German-speaking Central Europe. The sample comprises autobiographical texts, both published and unpublished, as well as pre-existing narrative interviews. The authors and interviewees were born mostly between 1830 and 1955. The paper shows how ego-documents can be employed to explain how aspirations to social mobility and meritocratic attitudes originated and spread throughout society by focusing on the role of reported expectations, hopes, and disappointments. I aim to show the advantages of working with a large number of ego-documents instead of a small number of case studies. A broad sample can be analysed by using qualitative data analysis software, which allows for the combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches
