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autoethnographer: one who uses lived experience as evidence with which to explore cultural phenomena.
FROM OUR ARCHIVES
The poems in this collection are a reflection on my zero waste aspirations (and the values behind the movement at large).
This piece recounts a trip I took to the Czech Republic and it is proof that language barriers similarly embolden people to speak cruelly.
Humor acts as a defense mechanism, a pressure release valve, a teaching tool. As a heart surgeon, I have used laughter for all these reasons.
“Woken Word” was born as my inner voice was awakening and the world, ironically was becoming “woke” while simultaneously retreating into isolation.
Narrating Estrangement is written by those who have decided to distance themselves from, or have been driven out by, their families.
From all there is something to be learned, as the river itself has been victimized, has not escaped its own environmental terrorism.
This video explores how editors have developed their approach to reviewing creative autoethnography and highlights strategies for contributors.
"I called out the demons one by one. I named them. I gave them precise blocking and ultimately, I controlled where they stood, breathed, and bourréed. I gave them an entrance, and a stage, and then I sent them away."
Poems As a Form of Powerful Activism and Barrier-breakers is a compilation of three poems which mean a lot for me.
Nothing prepared me for the xenophobia and homophobia I would encounter in Italy. No one warned me how to avoid becoming their victim
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.
"My poems for this special issue seek to document a history of my choice, not just personally but humanly, to use autoethnography to weave through the personal and the political."
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
"One can’t write poetry without love. It is the strongest and the most vital root in poetry."
"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."
This piece of original short fiction contains plot elements based on my recent adventures hiking remote trails in Ecuador and Colorado.
AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC MULTIMEDIA
Vivian Wagner·
All ContentAutoethnographic Art & MultimediaAutoethnographic PoetryClimate Change Special Issue, 2022Special Issues
··8 min read“We noticed signs of climate change and felt a sense of impending doom, even as we witnessed how human beings across the continent are trying to keep alive a sense of culture, art, and kindness.”
"I danced each morning with Pina Bausch. I became her pupil lifting my leg up in the air like a flamingo except feeling more awake than I’ve ever been."
“A Seat at the Table” is the autoethnographic manifestation of my vulnerability, anger, and anguish, of my black feminist grit."
We invite you to participate in National Poetry month with us by reading and writing over at The AutoEthnographer's new Facebook group.
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.
"Damned," the first publication in The AutoEthnographer's Bodily Autonomy issue, is the product of my confused reflection and internal conversations with the culture that raised me."
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.
Marlen Harrison·
All ContentAutoethnographic Art & MultimediaEducationFrom the EditorsMoreReflections on MethodVolume 2, Issue 1 (2022)
··5 min read"In this brief, animated autoethnography, I utilize the concept of a sociocultural third space to consider why evocative autoethnography can benefit from its own literary and arts journal."
"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."
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."
Jessica Smartt Gullion·
All ContentAutoethnographic EssaysCelebrating Dr. Patricia Leavy's Social Fiction 2024Special Issues
··12 min readLeavy is more than the mother of the social fiction movement in the social sciences; she’s its fairy godmother.
Sandra L. Faulkner·
All ContentAutoethnographic EssaysCelebrating Dr. Patricia Leavy's Social Fiction 2024Special Issues
··21 min readAs a feminist poet and (auto)ethnographer, I found Leavy's themes of Film Blue speak to what I want my work to do and be.
NEWS, INTERVIEWS & REVIEWS
"The AutoEthnographer is excited to announce the 2022 International Symposium on Autoethnography and Narrative (ISAN), a fully online conference. The conference will occur via Zoom on January 2-5, 2022."
"I’ve already resisted that scholarship is not creative and poetry is not part of my scholarly self. I think the idea of autoethnography allows for that cultural divide between the creative and academic to be really disrupted."
How do creatives find joy in artistic performance as a form of black feminist autoethnography? Podcast & video.
SPECIAL ISSUES
Visitation, an Autoethnodrama in One Act
In this autoethnographic play, a woman terminates a pregnancy without telling her husband.
EDUCATION, INTERVIEWS, PODCASTS, & REVIEWS
REFLECTIONS ON METHOD
