Autobiographical Writing of Women Professors: Between the Public and the Private, Reason and Emotion

Abstract

In Brazil, The Memorial is written for hiring at the university or promotions within the career, even to receive an undergraduate degree. I present a historical overview of this academic genre, within a universe primarily scientific and male, which has been prone to periods of restrictions and expansions, depending on the political and educational conjunctures of the country. I discuss questions of gender from a dual perspective: in the first, as an autobiographical academic, hybrid, genre, which is characterized by its position between the public and the private, interlacing institutional injunction (evaluation), with autobiographical seduction (self- awareness); the second perspective examines the transformation of this genre through female/feminist writing and empowerment as an historical apex, due to the increase in the number of women in higher education and the use of these writings in pedagogical practices of teacher training. My observations are anchored in research that has been conducted since 2000.