Autoethnography is an emerging field that
continues to be contested as a methodological approach with a vast amount of
literature articulating distinct autoethnographic techniques, methods, and
theories. Some view autoethnography as necessarily addressing underrepresented
voices, whereas some encourage an evocative, emotional and literary approach
that aims to blur the lines between the literary arts and social/behavioral
research. Others, still, argue for an autoethnographic approach that follows
similar methods in social/behavioral research.
Monday, September 8, 2014
Challenging the Silences: A Phenomenographic Study of How Autoethnography is Experienced
Liz Burke, Fielding's School of Educational Leadership for Change
Variations in approach also include
interpretive, critical, organizational, performance, and post-colonial
approaches. The numerous and sometimes contradictory theories illustrate the
many assumptions that scholars make about the experiences and conceptions of
autoethnographers. Some understand the experience as being therapeutic,
transcendent of the self and the social, and emotionally healing for both the
writer and reader.
Autoethnography is also theorized as being
motivated by a social justice agenda that challenges traditional notions of
what constitutes legitimate knowledge, research, and voice. This
dissertation offers a phenomenographic perspective on autoethnography, shedding
light on the various ways that students experienced it in their dissertation
work. Four major categories were found in the data: a) personal growth,
which reflected participant experiences of personal development that included
increased self-awareness, self-acceptance, confidence building, different
worldview, and educational process; b) emotional process, which reflected
participant experiences of a variety of emotional realities and processes
including painful or difficult emotions, joyful or fun emotions, feelings of
liberation, therapeutic or healing experiences, and feelings of vulnerability;
c) social connectedness, which reflected participant responses related to
experiences of the self in relation to others that included social
responsibility, increased sense of belonging or connection, and considerations
regarding their positioning in the academy; and d) transpersonal experience
which reflected participant descriptions of qualities beyond the person’s
control and contributed to their sense of wholeness and spiritual growth.
Findings also suggested that participants
associated the assertion of voice with notions of authenticity and truth
telling; challenging traditional ways of doing research, or “academic
imperialism;” and relational ethics. Autoethnography facilitated personal
growth, greater self-awareness, greater awareness of contexts and systems in
which one participates, and provided a meaningful educational experience for
participants. This study, further, suggests that concerns regarding positioning
in the academy are very much present and informed by the academy’s continued
privileging of traditional approaches of conducting research.
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