Bók um Bíbí í Berlín á ensku

Út er komin bókin Disability Studies Meets Microhistory: The Secret Life of Bíbí in Berlín eftir Guðrúnu Valgerði Stefánsdóttur, prófessor í fötlunarfræðum við Menntavísindasvið HÍ, Sólveigu Ólafsdóttur, doktor í sagnfræði, og Sigurð Gylfa Magnússon, prófessor í sagnfræði við Deild heimspeki, sagnfræði og fornleifafræði HÍ. Bókin er rannsókn á högum þessarar merkilegu konu, Bjargeyjar Kristjánsdóttur (1927–1999), sem jafnan gekk undir nafninu Bíbí í Berlín. Hún var á unga aldri úrskurðuð af læknum og samferðamönnum sem „fáviti“ eins og það var nefnt í þá tíð. Bíbí í Berlín náði þrátt fyrir mikið mótlæti og einangrun að taka málin í sínar hendur og skapa verk sem við þrjú rannsökuðum og ræðum í þessari bók. Saga hennar lætur engan ósnortin.

Bókin er gefin út hjá hinni þekktu alþjóðlegu bókaútgáfu Routledge og er öllum aðgengileg að kostnaðarlausu.

Útdráttur á ensku:

Bíbí is a nickname for Bjargey Kristjánsdóttir, an Icelandic woman born in 1927, who died in 1999. She grew up on a small farm named Berlin in northern Iceland. Bíbí fell ill when she was in her first year, and after that she was labeled ‘feeble-minded’ by her family and the local community. When Bíbí died she had finished an autobiography, altogether 145 thousand words. Bíbí wrote her autobiography alone, in fact keeping it secret from her family and neighbors. Very few of them even knew that she could read and write. The aim of this research project was to explore Bíbí´s life through her autobiography and other historical sources she created, to identify how various historical, social and cultural factors interacted and influenced her circumstances. Her “archive” was analyzed on the basis of two research disciplines: critical disability studies and microhistory. Connecting these two research fields provided a new way of critical thinking about disability, as well as microhistory. Bíbí’s agency was explored, and how she managed to play her cards within the narrow scope given to her by the society. What makes Bíbí’s history extraordinary is precisely the direct connection to her world through her counter-archive.