autoethnographer: one who uses lived experience as evidence with which to explore cultural phenomena.
FROM OUR ARCHIVES
This autoethnography is the first-hand experience and exposure of imposter syndrome from a new adjunct instructor's point of view.
In the women’s history month, The AutoEthnographer supported "Her Story Leads: Amplifying Women’s voices through digital storytelling".
The process of seeking pregnancy alone (by necessity, not choice) showed me how limited reproductive rights in the U.S. truly are—even before the recent loss of Roe vs. Wade, that policy that had so shaped my generation’s belief in our bodily autonomy.
"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."
The AutoEthnographer is excited to announce its new Call for Submissions, 2023 Special Issue: “Laughter”
MILK, ANTHOLOGIES, HORSES, & JOUISSANCE contained work as a meta-performance of the idea of texts passing through other texts.
"The Christening Gown' is an autoethnographic exploration of the significance of a family heirloom for an Irish Catholic family in the USA."
The poem driving this experimental film about television considers the insomniacs who wake at the same time each night in rhythm.
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.
Gratitude is a recurring theme I hear from readers of Patricia Leavy’s social fiction. This is an essay about Patricia Leavy novels.
"Armored Corps: The spirit of combativeness and human resilience" is the theme of a graphic narrative project.
Commercial genetics has become a cultural phenomenon. In this piece, I use autobiography to document discovering my biological father.
LATEST POSTS
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 LITERARY NONFICTION
AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC LITERARY FICTION
Visitation, an Autoethnodrama in One Act
In this autoethnographic play, a woman terminates a pregnancy without telling her husband.
AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC POETRY
Patricia Leavy is a genuine trailblazer, the real deal, an inspiration.
Leavy is more than the mother of the social fiction movement in the social sciences; she’s its fairy godmother.
Gratitude is a recurring theme I hear from readers of Patricia Leavy’s social fiction. This is an essay about Patricia Leavy novels.
Nothing prepared me for the xenophobia and homophobia I would encounter in Italy. No one warned me how to avoid becoming their victim
This is a humorous narrative nonfiction account of the strangest job I ever had working for a kooky fitness guru in Manhattan for six years.
A Startling Note: "Looking for Gay Friends" in the Triangle Place narrates a gay man’s experience of sexual awakening on a university campus.
I wrote a study of my own faith, bankrupt as it may be, using story of my father, through the lens of Jewishness as I define it for myself.
This artwork is based on a startling and memorable encounter at the local vet while attempting to get Anaïs spayed.
"This is my childhood memory of realizing the power of laughter when everything interior and exterior makes me scared."
This collection of poems is a glimpse into the lives lived on the margins, where the laws put in place to protect basic rights and bodily autonomy cease to apply.
"This essay on bodily autonomy specifically discusses abortion access and rights in the United States and Canada, and the politics that often follow."
In this story I shifted my attention to the young woman –a nurse or a volunteer– who sat beside me and held my hand throughout abortion.
"I have continued to explore the usefulness of various poetic forms as a mechanism for providing access to suppressed internal voices."
"The Pandemic Nature Project is a 35-minute short autoethnographic film that traces a series of personal experiences, emotional reactions, and critical responses to COVID across a series of short vignettes."
"This autoethnographic poem is a question about the power of autoethnography in the face of the climate crisis. It is an expression of my dark fears, my depression that keeps me away from writing."
AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC WRITING
“Four Essays on Being Trans in the Anthropocene” in one of autoethnographic works on my queerness and informed by speculative anthropology.
This short story about a night in a shed is an attempt to encourage any reader to think about the stories that circulate within communities.
This autoethnographic essay offers a musing on the intricate relationship between language, writing and identity through an autoethnographic account of my reading and writing experience from childhood to present, and from China to the UK via Germany.
AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC MULTIMEDIA
"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."
In today's new podcast & video Marlen Harrison talks with current marketing interns about the role of culture in using Google Ads.
Today we're talking with the award-winning author, researcher, and performer, Shanita Mitchell about performance and autoethnography.
"Armored Corps: The spirit of combativeness and human resilience" is the theme of a graphic narrative project.
The focus of this piece is to highlight and celebrate the asexual and aromantic community and what it means to exist outside of the expectation to be partnered.
This piece explores the ways in which identity and esteem are interwoven into the topic of Black hair.
In this work, I unpack how realizing my queerness has influenced how I write my poetry.
"I tend to take every loss of rainforest personally. My autoethnographic poetry 'The Threat' and 'John Doe' are reflective of this."
"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.'"
"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."
"It is my hope that these words will serve as the beginning of an ongoing dialogue about what it means to live autoethnography."
I introduce artistic autoethnography and how the term a/r/tifact opens up the imagination to the possibilities of autoethnographic artmaking.
NEWS, INTERVIEWS & REVIEWS
How do creatives find joy in artistic performance as a form of black feminist autoethnography? Podcast & video.
"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)."
Students at any age or level can be nominated for our student scholarships which come with an opportunity to join our editorial board!
AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC ESSAYS
NEWS, INTERVIEWS & REVIEWS
REFLECTIONS ON METHOD
SPECIAL ISSUE 2024: PATRICIA LEAVY & SOCIAL FICTION
SPECIAL ISSUE 2023-24: QUEER
SPECIAL ISSUE 2023: LAUGHTER
SPECIAL ISSUE 2022-23: BODILY AUTONOMY
Visitation, an Autoethnodrama in One Act
In this autoethnographic play, a woman terminates a pregnancy without telling her husband.
SPECIAL ISSUE 2022: CLIMATE CHANGE