I offer this review on autoethnography for various social science disciplines for readers, writers, and novice and experienced researchers. The second edition of the Handbook of Autoethnography, edited by Tony E. Adams, Stacy Holman Jones, and Carolyn Ellis (2022b), includes contributions from more than 50 authors representing more than a dozen disciplines and writing from different parts of the world and published on year 2022. The book attempted to develop, enhance, and broaden qualitative research and autoethnographic inquiry.
This review is based on the section on Doing Autoethnography, which provides examples of diverse, considerate, practical, innovative, and applied autoethnography. I tried to explore definitions of autoethnography, identify and illustrate key features of autoethnography, and engage the philosophical, relational, cultural, and ethical foundations of autoethnographic practice in addition to providing some information about the book. I recommend reading this book to gain more knowledge about “autoethnography” in general and “doing autoethnography” in particular.
As a reviewer, I found that the handbook of autoethnography provides a solid foundation for the profession. I was especially moved by the section, Doing Autoethnography, which covers seven different chapters from eight authors. Those chapters were (1) Meditations on the Story I Cannot Write: Reflexivity, Autoethnography, and the Possibilities of Maybe, (2) Sketching Subjectivities, (3) Individual and Collaborative Autoethnography for Social Science Research, (4) Autoethnography as Acts of Love, (5) Frank and the Gift, or the Untold Told: Provocations for Autoethnography and Therapy, (6) Border Smugglers: Between Bodies Making Knowledge and Expanding the Circle of Us, and (7) Self and Others: Ethics in Autoethnographic Research. In this review, seven chapter contributors takes into account of reflexivity, autoethnography, and the possibilities of maybe, subjectivities, individual and collaborative autoethnography, autoethnography as acts of love, provocations for autoethnography and therapy, knowledge and expanding the circle of us, and ethics in autoethnographic research.
link 15 - Autoethnography as Applied Communication Research
Autoethnography is a type of research that uses writing and self-examination to explore far-ranging cultural, political, and social issues through personal experience. It is a qualitative, reflexive, ethnographic method where the researcher is also the subject of inquiry.
Using autoethnography as their research method, the 21 academic librarian authors of The Self as Subject: Autoethnographic Research into Identity, Culture, and Academic Librarianship investigate aspects of what it means to be a librarian. Starting with a reflective examination of themselves, they each investigate questions of culture, values, and identity. The Self as Subject presents a collection of reflective narratives that, taken together, explore the varied dimensions of librarianship in the present moment. It also examines autoethnography’s potential to help librarians answer questions that cannot be answered by traditional, empirical research methods and to reveal voices that are obscured by aggregations of data.
All of the pieces in this volume share some characteristics: Each one is the result of a rigorous examination of the self and lived experience, and each one moves between the subjective and the cultural in its analysis. How the authors do this, however, varies widely—from a graphic novel to speculative fiction to rigorous academic analysis.
The Self as Subject provides an opportunity to expand our understanding of rigor and the practice of research in LIS, and explores what it means to be a librarian in this age of disruptive change, and how the various identities and experiences we bring to our practice shape our experience of librarianship. The Self as Subject is for any librarian interested in research and research methods; the use of literary genres in research; alternatives to large empirical studies; questions of identity and social justice; and those looking to step out of their comfort zone and approach learning from a new and challenging vantage point.
28 - Where Is Identity? Reflections on Identity Conceptualizations, Dimensions, and Implications
from Part V - Where Is Identity?
I’m Not There (2007) is the title of a movie about the life of singer, songwriter, and poet Bob Dylan. In the film, the role of Dylan is played by six different actors (including Cate Blanchett), each of whom depicts, in turn, the various facets of his persona (poet, prophet, outlaw, fake, superstar, rock-and-roll martyr, born-again Christian – seven identities braided together). While the title I’m Not There refers to one of Dylan’s songs, the movie can be seen as an exploration of identity, whose title hints at the fleeting nature of self that scholars seem to struggle with. We may also – somewhat provocatively – apply the statement “I’m not there” to the concept of identity in the sense that it might not be just where it has been assumed to reside, as defined by Western academia. Thus, in the following, we will try to approach the question, “Where is identity?” from various angles, and point out future directions for identity studies.