Exploring Autoethnography as a Method and Methodology in Legal Education Research

Abstract

Legal education is a new area for autoethnographic research. Indeed, there is a significant lack of autoethnography located in higher education generally. This article explicitly seeks to fill a considerable gap in the literature by fixing the narrative in the law school. Drawing on her own autoethnographic vignettes and reflexive journal entries, the author provides a first-hand account of entering the world of autoethnography. She argues that the hyper-reflexivity at the heart of a narrative approach is valuable and appropriate for legal education research. Yet, she also addresses and explores the challenges of such an approach, including subjectivity, ethics and the politics of discontent.

Doing ‘dangerous’ autoethnography on Islamophobic victimization

“…Founded on postmodern ideas, autoethnography rejects positivist notions of truth and validity. Rather, it focuses on the researcher’s experiences, feelings and emotions, and uses self-reflexivity to connect the ‘self’ with the ‘social’ (Campbell, 2016).…”

Socio-Technological Enrollment as a Driver of Successful Doctoral Education

“…The limitations of my approach coincide with the general critique of autoethnography itself as a research method in a context of prevailing well-established scientific philosophy and tenets. By opting for the ethnographic self-discovery and narrating openly several pieces of stories on my relationship with my supervisor, I will certainly be reproached for being non-formal, very literal, not methodologically rigorous, highly subjective, less ethical, emotional, or "emphasizing a single" (Anderson, 2006;Campbell, 2016;Dean, 2018;Wall, 2006). However, I found it more authentic in reporting my feelings and ideas in connection with my doctoral experience, which could also serve to strengthen the autoethnographic culture among doctoral students.…”

Should I Share My Journal Entry With You? A Critical Exploration of Relational Ethics in Autoethnography

“…36 I have argued elsewhere that legal education lends itself well to autoethnography. 37 Sadly, other law lecturers have failed to follow Mytton's lead and make use of auto/biographical methodologies. My hope is that we will come to utilize autoethnography to provide a deep insight into our teaching function; how we build connections with our students, our responses to students of varying abilities and needs, our pastoral mentoring role, and the characters we adopt for different educational scenarios.…”

“…60 I think back to my first publication about autoethnography, in which I mention my partner and replicate what he said to me about my love of autoethnography. 61 Despite having concerns about the ethics of autoethnography, I did not ask his permission to do this. I think I mentioned in passing that I was using his words, but my chief memory is of him expressing delight at being included in my work and wanting to know if he was featured anywhere else.…”