From Beginning to End: An Irish Life History

This article discusses the two ends of the life-history process: the reasons for its undertaking and the research assumptions these engender, and the impact of the published account on readers. In doing so, I draw on my own experience in the research and writing of Nan: The Life of an Irish Travelling woman (Gmelch, 1986/1991) and upon the responses of Traveller and non-Traveller readers to this life history. (Ethnographic research; life-history interviewing, editing, and narra-tive construction; literary criticism)