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.
Zona. I have always thought that names of diseases sound so beautiful. This is the story of a disease that lives with me.
"A tree once taught me that those moments of ruin are only a pause, a passage really, on the way to something else."
"This autoethnographic poetry is born of my personal experience, witness, as well as currently chronicled and ancestral lore."
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.
"In this autoethnodrama, a woman terminates a pregnancy without telling her husband."
My weird depression showed up this summer like “hey sis!” And I was like “fuck my life”! I wasn’t ready. This time, it caught me off guard.
This piece explores the ways in which identity and esteem are interwoven into the topic of Black hair.
"My oil on canvas series, "Journey of Self Love," depicts a variation of obstacles I've personally had to endure throughout my life as a woman."
"Combining autoethnography and artwork, Supreme Justice aims to reveal the persistence of institutionalized oppression of women through history."
How do creatives find joy in artistic performance as a form of black feminist autoethnography? Podcast & video.
Ulla-Maija Matikainen·
All ContentAutoethnographic Literary FictionAutoethnographic PoetryAutoethnographic WritingVolume 2, Issue 1 (2022)
··12 min read"A woman alone doesn’t belong to any male power or protection sphere. She can be kidnapped into fears and dreams."