1. Preamble: the charter : what it is, its functions, its ses
1. 1 The charter : what it is
It is a landmark written document. It attests to the existence of a reflection on our common references, axiology, epistemology and methodology. It provides ethical benchmarks for the Association's practices.
1. 2 The charter: its functions
Its functions are threefold: identity, constitutive, referential. As a statement of principles that guide the practice of life stories, the charter brings together trainers, researchers and practitioners in an established community.
Beyond this internal identity of the Association, the charter presents the specificity of ASIHVIF and ensures its credibility in the broad field of the approach's practices
biographical.
1. 3 The charter: its uses
The charter is not an instrument for standardizing the practices of the Association's members. Nor is it intended to be the ethical reference for narrators. Positively, the charter constitutes a common reference for the questioning of ASIHVIF members.
As such, any candidate for membership of ASIHVIF is required to subscribe to the proposals of the charter and to contribute to its development. The charter is the subject of a periodic debate.
2. The purpose of the Association
2. 1. The aim of ASIHVIF is to develop life history practices through life storytelling in the fields of training, research and intervention.
It is an approach that puts the narrative subject at the centre, as he defines his quest object and develops a project of self-understanding by himself and through the mediation of others.
2. 2. The aim that guides, crosses and supports life storytelling practices is the subject's personal and social emancipation. By "emancipation", we mean the action that tends to subsist a relationship of equality to a relationship of subjection. As a formative practice, the life story allows the subject to grasp his or her existential issues within the community.
As an intervention practice, the life story allows the subject, starting from an explanation of his life course, to have the means necessary for a reflexive and critical awareness, in order to situate himself as a social actor in a more lucid and relevant action project.
2. 3 This autobiographical approach therefore has a triple function: that of research (knowledge production), that of training and that of intervention (self-development in a social action perspective).
The effects of the experience of a life storytelling practice are multiple and are essentially related to the singularity of the people who engage in it. They can be epistemic (a gain of knowledge about one's past, future and current resources and constraints), identity (depending on the variety of possible dynamics), or even therapeutic.
2. 5 One of the major consequences of the way in which the Association defines its purpose is to challenge the division between theory and practice. This concerns the hierarchical distribution of the places of the researcher, the practitioner and the narrator subject (individual or group). The Association intends to replace it with a dialectical relationship where the theories question practices and vice versa. It expects this to have a renewed effect both in the field of research, training and in- tervention practices and in the field of theorizing, in lifelong learning and adult training in particular.
3. The relationship of the trainer, researcher and facilitator with the narrator (individual or collective)
3.1 A shared humanity
Group narrative production requires a climate of mutual trust that underlies the recognition of the uniqueness of the subject and the openness to otherness experienced as a shared humanity.
3.2 A partnership
The construction of a research-training-intervention project through life storytelling is based, on the one hand, on the explanation of the offer made by the trainer, researcher or intervener and, on the other hand, on the expression by potential narrators of their intentions and expectations. The narrators are therefore partners from the very beginning of the process. This partnership is based on the recognition of the narrator's autonomy in the construction of his testimony and on the duty of reserve of the one who accompanies the narrative process at each of its stages (production, socialization, analysis and interpretation). Thus, the narrator remains the author subject of both his narrative and the meaning proposed. The third party - accompanier (trainer, researcher or intervener) participates in a co-production of meaning when he or she cross-references the story with his or her research question and communicates the resonances that the story arouses in him or her.
3.3 Contractualization
The concrete commitment of the partners in this approach is reflected in an explicit contractualization. This concerns in particular the methods of implementation and the clauses that protect the confidentiality and copyright of narratives.
4. The requirements of the function of trainer, researcher or life storyteller
4. 1. It is up to the trainer, researcher or life storyteller to provide a critical analysis and evaluation in relation to his own practice. This is achieved, on the one hand, through interaction with the narrators about the autobiographical approach he accompanies and, on the other hand, through the sharing of his experience through co-animation practices and peer-to-peer practice analysis sessions within the Association. These exchanges shall be of a friendly nature, free, as far as possible, from hierarchical relations.
4. 2 The Association requests that the future trainer has himself experienced an autobiographical process.
4. 3 The Association does not favour any particular theoretical referent. It values the use of plural theories and methods and encourages debate on these issues, for example, during presentations of members' written productions. »
5. Openings
The Association intends to implement a number of projects. As an example, we can mention :
- the "aesthetic" dimension of training-research-intervention in life history;
- the inclusion of the anthropo-formative perspective in life history;
- the intercultural dimension of life stories.
