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autoethnographer: one who uses lived experience as evidence with which to explore cultural phenomena.
FROM OUR ARCHIVES
This writing is based on storytelling, common in Mexican culture.
I share the complexity of my frustration about a failed site visit to the British Museum and wonder about the meaning of the experience.
J. Sumerau·
All ContentAutoethnographic Flash NonfictionAutoethnographic Literary FictionVolume 3, Issue 4 (2023)
··19 min readThis short story about a night in a shed is an attempt to encourage any reader to think about the stories that circulate within communities.
Ash Watson·
All ContentAutoethnographic EssaysCelebrating Dr. Patricia Leavy's Social Fiction 2024Special Issues
··13 min readLeavy’s 2019 novel about a week-long all-inclusive Icelandic research seminar wends its way through meetings, planning sessions, excursions, debates and dinners to the heart of the paradigms and epistemological questions that structure and drive scholarly research.
Catholic Boy Fights the Devil in the Mohawk River Valley is a short story that’s set in upstate New York during World War II. At a time when America was fighting fascist devils abroad, many were struggling with the devil’s influence at home.
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.
In Breaking Free: Reclaiming Authenticity in a Capitalist World, I reveal how I overcame my mental health challenges and reconnected with my true self discovering the benefits of holistic therapies and shamanic healing.
You’re Still Here: Art and Grief in Autoethnographic Textiles Artist’s Memo You’re...
In the autoethnographic "Spinach Lasagna", the narrator joins a family of southern Italians and learns that grieving is cultural.
"My poems are not entirely mine. They belong to the people and events of my passage through life. For once the dam is breached its contents flow unabridged. - Milton Carp, poet at 91"
In this new issue from The AutoEthnographer, we introduce new features such as book reviews and autoethnographic art.
Dilek Isler Hayirli·
All ContentAutoethnographic Art & MultimediaEducationFrom the EditorsMoreReflections on MethodVolume 2, Issue 3 (2022)
··13 min read"I had not been aware that this emotional research was also performing autoethnography, collecting memories from the field"
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
AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC POETRY
AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC WRITING
"For me, being a feminist simply means I am a strong, independent woman who has ideas and thoughts of her own; but it also means something else, which is an idea that confuses even me. I mean, how could I be a feminist when I am also a conservative woman?"
"We began this autoethnographic essay thinking about the love the teachers have for their students."
"Have you ever crossed the desert in a circus train? I took such a detour—by choice— in 1978 when I hung up my pointe shoes to ride an elephant named Peggy."
AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC MULTIMEDIA
Terry Graff·
All ContentAutoethnographic Art & MultimediaAutoethnographic EssaysAutoethnographic WritingClimate Change Special Issue, 2022Special Issues
··15 min read"As the world’s bird populations decline precipitously, will the many winged creatures we knew as children live only in the mists of memory?"
The poem driving this experimental film about television considers the insomniacs who wake at the same time each night in rhythm.
Marlen Harrison·
All ContentAutoethnographic Art & MultimediaClimate Change Special Issue, 2022InterviewsMorePodcastsSpecial Issues
··15 min read"Award-winning artist, Suzanne Hughes, talks about autoethnography and painting. Suzanne is responsible for the cover art for our special issue based on climate change."
"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."
"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."
I write out of the consciousness that I am both a product of the violence of war and a migratory being—not only in the strictest sense of physical displacement, but also in belonging.
"It is my hope that these words will serve as the beginning of an ongoing dialogue about what it means to live autoethnography."
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.
Dilek Isler Hayirli·
All ContentAutoethnographic Art & MultimediaEducationFrom the EditorsMoreReflections on MethodVolume 2, Issue 3 (2022)
··13 min read"I had not been aware that this emotional research was also performing autoethnography, collecting memories from the field"
“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.
Christine Sleeter·
All ContentAutoethnographic EssaysCelebrating Dr. Patricia Leavy's Social Fiction 2024MoreReflections on MethodSpecial Issues
··23 min readChristine Sleeter writes about Dr. Patricia Leavy's new genre, Sleeter's own books and her reflections on the social fiction series.
This work is part of a larger ethnography of scars, one that addresses the intersection medicine, religion, and body politics in (among other places) Nebraska.
NEWS, INTERVIEWS & REVIEWS
"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)."
"In our latest chat, Patricia Leavy discusses the evolution of the self-coined social fiction genre and offers a sneak peek at her latest publication, Film Blue."
We invite you to participate in National Poetry month with us by reading and writing over at The AutoEthnographer's new Facebook group.
SPECIAL ISSUES
EDUCATION, INTERVIEWS, PODCASTS, & REVIEWS
REFLECTIONS ON METHOD




























































































































