Biography and discourse: A biography and discourse analysis combining case study on women’s involvement in National Socialism

Abstract

The article is based on a case study that combines biography research with discourse analysis. The research question is: How, post-1945, might Austrian women who were involved in National Socialism use a gendered victim discourse as a pattern of interpretation to deal with their biographical experiences during National Socialism. As a first step, the article outlines the methodological approach employed. The use of a combination of biographical and discourse analysis takes into account the fact that biographies are structured by discourses and prepares the ground for the analysis of biographical accounts as everyday discourses. In this specific case, the discourse analysis reveals that a particular discourse called a gendered victim discourse allows National Socialism to be forgotten. At the same time, however, the case reconstruction of three biographies shows that the women do not use the gendered victim discourse as a discursive interpretation of National Socialism in their biographical accounts. Concerning this result the article argues that biographical significant experiences of events during National Socialism that remained meaningful after 1945 cannot simply be ‘forgotten’. The appropriation of a discursive pattern of interpretation is selective and depends on biographical structures.