This collection explores the range of uses of autobiography from the 19th century to the present and from Africa, the United States, Middle East, France, New Zealand, and Britain. The chapters draw on a number of approaches, including historical and literary methods. They are frequently about the retrieval and reclamation of previously hidden or misrepresented writings; anthropological and educational strategies, often using personal testimony as a means of questioning assumptions about the status quo; and demonstrations of autobiographical practice in writing workshops and performance art.