Tímarit um menntarannsóknir - 01.01.2011, Page 153

153
A lot of books have been written in the last
decennium about families and the way
they survive with their children with dis-
abilities. However, this is a really different
book.
Dr Bjarnason succeeds in giving us in-
sights into the lives of fathers and moth-
ers while using a historical mirror. The
families we learn to know are situated
with their stories within a period of 30
years. Such a time line opens opportuni-
ties to understand how fast communities
and their social security and systems have
developed and how we get used to certain
achievements (appendix 1 is very helpful
to come to this insight). It is necessary to
honour pioneers who were “fighting“ for
their rights in an era when human rights
were not yet integrated into the care sys-
tem discourses.
The author shows that “nothing about
us without us“ can become more than
a slogan. By using family stories as the
central “pièce de résistance“ for her book
Dr Bjarnason shows that she fully un-
derstands how inductive research can be
realized. The families are more than an
illustration for the points of view of the
author. Their experiences and expertise
get an equivalent weight in the confronta-
tion with theoretical frameworks.
Dr Bjarnason gives an extra impulse to
her book by using the theoretical frame-
work of “social capital“. Authors such as
Bourdieu, Coleman and Putnam brought
this concept into the social sciences. A lot
of colleagues in the field of special educa-
tion – especially those who got trapped in
a medical discourse – do not make use of
this very dynamic and even almost pro-
vocative concept. In this book, the author
introduces this concept to give us insights
into – in parallel with the sad moments
– the resilience and resistance of families
Research with Icelandic families and
children with disabilities: About walking
on eggshells and the relevance of social
capital
Social Policy and Social Capital: Parents and Exceptionality 1974–2007
by Dóra S. Bjarnason
Geert van Hove
Ghent University
Tímarit um menntarannsóknir /
Journal of Educational Research (Iceland) 8, 2011, 153.-154.