Autoethnography is both a way of writing and a research method that reflects the situated position and biography of the ethnographer. It indicates the various ways in which a researcher may choose to integrate their autobiographical data into their research. Autoethnography can be understood as a response to the “reflexive turn” in cultural anthropology in the early 1970s, which called for self-critical reflection of anthropologists regarding their role in the research process, and awareness of their cultural biases and prejudices. Yet autoethnography is controversial and its epistemological value and validity is often questioned. As a method of radical self-reflexivity in theory and practice, autoethnography can provide ethnographers with tools to relate to and write about their fields from a self-reflexive standpoint that is empathic, affective, and highly sensitive towards the agency of the researcher’s biography in the field.
In this seminar we will explore both the potentials and limitations of autoethnography. We will discuss different theories and examples of the method, which vary from ‘classical’ to ‘innovative’ and artistic approaches. We will also see how autoethnography plays a particularly critical and constructive role in the researchers’ conceptualizations of ‘the familiar’. Throughout the semester, we will provide a space for students to explore and experiment with ways of writing their own short autoethnographic texts, and learn how to make use of autobiographical data in ethnographic writing.
In diesem Seminar finden keine Prüfungen statt. |
