title: Unpacking stored and storied knowledge: elicited biographies of activismin mental health.
abstract: In this paper we consider the potential of autobiographical narratives for accessing "storied knowledge" in research around geographies of health voluntarism. We firstly consider what is meant by elicited autobiography and how the narrative approach has been used in research more broadly. Drawing on fieldwork undertaken in Manchester, UK and Auckland, New Zealand we then demonstrate how this approach has helped us to map out and unpack the career journeys of mental health activists working within and across the voluntary and statutory sectors. Through our autobiographical narratives we illustrate how this approach has enabled us to elicit important insights into the triggers and trajectories underpinning mental health activism and how events and moments in time have provided critical junctures in these trajectories. We consider places as sites of significance in activist career paths; and as central to the researcher-participant gestalt within which the autobiography is elicited and recounted. The autobiographical process, we suggest, offers reflective insights into mental health activism that might not otherwise be gained using more conventional methodologies.
authors.affiliation: Division of Health Research, School of Health and Medicine, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YT, UK. c.milligan@lancaster.ac.uk
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Milligan
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kearns
authors.forename: Richard G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Kyle
mesh_terms: D001325:Autobiographies as Topic; D003254:Consumer Advocacy / Q000266:history*; D005843:Geography; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D008603:Mental Health / Q000266:history*; D063545:Personal Narratives as Topic