Maili Pilt will defend her doctoral thesis „Kogemuslood ja koosloome: sissevaateid jutustamispraktikasse sotsiaalmeedias ja selle uurimise metodoloogiasse“

On 11 December at 12 Maili Pilt will defend her doctoral thesis „Personal experience narratives and co-creation: Insights into and research methodology for storytelling practices in social media“ („Kogemuslood ja koosloome: sissevaateid jutustamispraktikasse sotsiaalmeedias ja selle uurimise metodoloogiasse“).


Supervisors:

dr Ergo-Hart Västrik (University of Tartu) 

dr Mare Kõiva (Estonian Literary Museum) 

Opponent: dr Piret Paal (Paracelsus Medical University, Austria) 

Summary

The thesis deals with two interrelated topics. First, the dissertation focuses on the storytelling practices in different social media environments that allow women to share their stories of becoming and being a mother and the difficulties associated with this journey (e.g., stories of miscarriage, IVF treatment, life with a disabled child, etc.). The questions under consideration are: what role does sharing this kind of narratives play in the formation and functioning of thematic online communities, and how does the online community and the characteristics of its communication space influence what and how women share in their stories. At the same time, broader socio-cultural reasons for sharing sensitive personal stories on social media are revealed. Secondly, the dissertation focuses on the research methodology that fits the previously described subject and the research questions. Fieldwork methods and data analysis methods suitable for the folkloristic research of natural storytelling practices of social media and personal experience stories with delicate content, as well as questions concerning the delimitation of the research field, ways of recording research material, and research ethics, are under consideration.