The Politics of the Social Biographical Approach to Working-Class Leaders. (April 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Nolan, Melanie
• Is Part Of: International review of social history. Volume 68:Number 1(2023)
• Page Start: 123
• Page End: 134
• Publication Date: 2023-04
• Subjects: Social history -- Periodicals; Social history -- Bibliography -- Periodicals; 306.09005
• DOI: 10.1017/S0020859022000621
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0020-8590

Abstract

Abstract: In this paper, I consider John French's biography, Lula and His Politics of Cunning: From Metalworker to President of Brazil (2020). French discusses his methodology, which he characterizes as "a social biographical approach". I argue that this methodology is already in historians' toolkit. Historians writing biography seem to start with first premises rather than building on what went before. I thus contextualize the methodology, situating French's biography of Lula within more general shifts in approaches to biography.