A biografia enquanto género historiográfico: uma possibilidade para o estudo da história do serviço social

This article explores the possibility of applying biographical genre to the historical study of Social Work. After mapping out the (scarce) works produced using this historiographical approach, we will present some of the distinctive features of biographical genre on the historical disciplinary field, and analyse its most recent trends, in which we highlight: the interest in "ordinary biography"; the connection between the individual's trajectory and the broader context; and the understanding of the biographed person's different existence levels. This is followed by the presentation of a concrete hypothesis to apply biographical genre to the study of Social Work history in Portugal: the understanding of Marie-Thérèse Lévêque's biographical trajectory, in her involvement with the Lisbon Social Work Institute (1935-44).