POPULAR ARTICLES
autoethnographer: one who uses lived experience as evidence with which to explore cultural phenomena.
FROM OUR ARCHIVES
"One can’t write poetry without love. It is the strongest and the most vital root in poetry."
In Saying Goodbye: A Father's Last Minute Parting Gift to His Son, I channel the moments I remember from the night before my mother died.
"Autoethnography and culture: Embodied inquiry is not a formula, or methodology, but a way of being, being open to the body as a source of knowledge, wonder, difficulty, fragility and utter joy."
Alexandra Lasczik·
All ContentAutoethnographic EssaysCelebrating Dr. Patricia Leavy's Social Fiction 2024Special Issues
··20 min readPatricia Leavy is a genuine trailblazer, the real deal, an inspiration.
I worry about survival. Bluntly put, according to the Academy of Sciences almost every person on earth will be affected by climate change.
“Cold Snap” is about two disparate adults, caught in the tumult of abrupt weather change, caused by the accidental detonation of an experimental meteorological weapon.
I channel Kincaid’s ironic and critical tone, while atoning for my failures to recognize dominant racist and classist discourses.
This is a piece I wrote in desperation after being confronted with the failures of the foster system in the United States today.
"As fragrance, and perfume in particular, has played a major role in the shaping of my writer’s voice, and participation in cultures of fragrance has had a major impact upon my identity, it is impossible to situate myself outside of these cultures. It is because of this privilege of “insider identity” within the global fragrance community and my natural inclination towards narrative research that I turned to autoethnography."
"I wrote Asha’s story to give voice to all the women in rural Bangladesh who cannot speak out against their abusers or society."
"Congratulations to Shanita Mitchell, Editorial Board member of The AutoEthnographer and multimedia artist, for her recognition by the International Association of Autoethnography and Narrative Inquiry (IAANI)."
Patricia Leavy·
All ContentAutoethnographic EssaysCelebrating Dr. Patricia Leavy's Social Fiction 2024Special Issues
··30 min readIn Part One, I situated my work within the context of the work of writers. Now, I’m situating my work within the context of women writers.
FROM OUR ARCHIVES
autoethnographer: one who uses lived experience as evidence with which to explore cultural phenomena.
What is autoethnography? The AutoEthnographer's international team of editors offer definitions & suggested readings.
“The AutoEthnographer is an award-winning, non-profit, open-access, peer-reviewed literary and arts magazine dedicated to presenting the creative side of autoethnography, a qualitative research method uniting ethnography and autobiography that utilizes lived experience as evidence with which to explore cultural phenomena." ISSN: 2833-1400
AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC WRITING
Visitation, an Autoethnodrama in One Act
In this autoethnographic play, a woman terminates a pregnancy without telling her husband.
AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC POETRY
AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC WRITING
This autoethnographic narrative describes the growth and development I experienced once I found mentors who, despite my lack of “natural musical abilities” or “talent,” believed I could learn.
"Unspeakable is a consideration of the silencing effects of stuttering, political censorship, unspeakable wartime atrocities, and the silent communication within virtual relationships."
Commercial genetics has become a cultural phenomenon. In this piece, I use autobiography to document discovering my biological father.
AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC MULTIMEDIA
Jill Boyles·
All ContentAutoethnographic Art & MultimediaAutoethnographic Literary NonfictionVolume 4, Issue 2 (2024)
··4 min readA Private Life in Rural Idaho Challenges Living in Rural Areas Living a private life can be enticing....
Sandra L. Faulkner·
All ContentAutoethnographic Art & MultimediaAutoethnographic PoetryFrom the EditorsMoreVolume 3, Issue 1 (2023)
··15 min read"Bringing up Baby” is a collection of collage and erasure poems that function as praise for and critique of (white) mothering.
"Dr. Nadine Khair discusses why autoethnography is essential to successful businesses in this latest podcast."
Military culture includes a rich collection of symbols, beliefs, values, language, dress, behaviors, relationships, and work.
It is a reckoning on sisters and queers after themes of family violence, sibling disconnection and queer isolation emerge.
"I see myself as someone whose organic inquiry and teaching are shaped by radical love, and I am willing to let myself be changed by my students."
Laurel Richardson and U. Melissa Anyiwo·
All ContentAutoethnographic EssaysCelebrating Dr. Patricia Leavy's Social Fiction 2024MoreReflections on MethodSpecial Issues
··14 min readLaurel Richardson and U. Melissa Anyiwo writes the introduction to this special issue celebrating Dr. Patricia Leavy’s work.
U. Melissa Anyiwo·
All ContentAutoethnographic EssaysCelebrating Dr. Patricia Leavy's Social Fiction 2024MoreReflections on MethodSpecial Issues
··31 min readThis piece is intended to give you a sense of the ways in which I use Low-Fat Love in the classroom and why just using it makes the world a better place.
"Once I have the first line or two, the rest of the poem seems to flow rather easily. I write whatever comes to mind. Somewhat like a story rather than a poem. I then start to take out the excess words and phrases and pare it down to the essence of what I wish to say. Other times I do not change a word. The muses come and go on their own. I also believe poetry has chosen me."
This piece situates me in a set of sour in-laws relationships that also involved the legal system and it is in the form of autoethnography.
This piece recounts a trip I took to the Czech Republic and it is proof that language barriers similarly embolden people to speak cruelly.
"This poem is rumination on how the personal experience of volunteering in never-before-seen flood relief efforts in the remote north reinforces the research that 'many of the changes observed in the climate are unprecedented in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years.'"
NEWS, INTERVIEWS & REVIEWS
The Autoethnographer, an award-winning, non-profit, peer-reviewed, digital literary & arts magazine, invites you to submit your work.
"The AutoEthnographer is proud to announce that it has been selected by the United States Library of Congress for inclusion in their collections!"
"Editor Guillermo Gil reviews Renata Harden Ferdinand's An Autoethnography of African American Motherhood: Things I Tell my Daughter."
SPECIAL ISSUES
EDUCATION, INTERVIEWS, PODCASTS, & REVIEWS
REFLECTIONS ON METHOD


































































































































