The Core of Critical Performative Autoethnography

Abstract

Taking its cues from, and lending support to, the assertion in the autoethnographic literature that performative autoethnography (PA) is “moral” and “democratic” in its critical engagement, this article theoretically constructs the concepts “moral” and “democratic” in the context of PA. It does this by intersecting the performative theory of Conquergood with the moral philosophy of Dewey and the paradigmatic theory of Adorno, while including an expressionist narrative thread based on urban writer Algren’s critical prose-poem “Chicago: City on the Make,” and while drawing on examples from autoethnography written by the author of this article. As a result, the article, primarily theoretical, situates PA within the long-overlooked and very rarely discussed paradigm “Adorno-esque ‘longing’” where PA is able to “perform” its moral and democratic disposition in a nondogmatic or non-hegemonic manner while seeking social justice.

A Nomenclature for Critical Autoethnography in the Arena of Disciplinary Atomization

“…In other words, autoethnography had proudly arrived at a social justice orientation. This, according to Sughrua’s (2019) summary of the classic definition set forth by Rawls (1971/2003), can be considered a belief system “that disqualifies . .…”

“…708-710; cf. Sughrua, 2019). Exemplifying key parts of this definition leads to the construction of what I would term critical-oriented evocative autoethnography (CEA), which can be considered a research methodology (M) under the umbrella of CQI.…”

“…Performative : Author-research not only enacting “rhetorical performativity” (cf. above) but also being driven by the desire to move or will one’s actions and desires toward the “moral” and “democratic” center of performativity (Denzin, 2010, 2017, 2018a, 2018b; Spry, 2001, 2016a, 2016b; Sughrua, 2019), including “heightened performative” (Sughrua, 2016)— examples : Denzin (2016b, 2018a), Spry (2001, 2016a), and Sughrua (2016).…”

“…It is already saddened by, yet wisened to, the memory and ongoing possibility of “being hustled with dice or a deck or a derringer,” as urban novelist/poet Algren describes the blatant oppression suffered by the indigenous Pottowattomie people at the hands of the businessmen who founded the city of Chicago by violently appropriating indigenous lands during the turn of the 19th century (Algren, 1951/2011, p. 12; cf. Sughrua, 2019).…”

“…This is because, as commented in Sughrua (2016), “[n]ew paradigms may appear in the space between paradigms” such as “‘longing’ proposed by Adorno (1951/1978),” other paradigms may reside parallel to extant paradigms such as “‘transmodernism’ proposed by Dussell (1993, 2000) and Mignolo (2011),” and others may emerge at any time (p. 65; also cf. Sughrua, 2019).…”