Toward a Moderate Autoethnography

Abstract

Autoethnography is an avant-garde method of qualitative inquiry that has captured the attention of an ever-increasing number of scholars from a variety of disciplines. Personal experience methods can offer a new and unique vantage point from which to make a contribution to social science yet, autoethnography has been criticized for being self-indulgent, narcissistic, introspective, and individualized. Methodological discussions about this method are polarized. As an autoethnographer and qualitative methodologist with an interest in personal experience methods, I have had the opportunity to review several autoethnographic manuscripts over the years. As my reviews accumulated, I began to see themes in my responses and it became apparent that I was advocating for an approach to autoethnography that lies in contrast to the frequently offered methodological polemics from philosophically divergent scholars. In this article, I draw from the reviews I have done to address topics such as applications and purposes for autoethnography, the degree of theory and analysis used within the method, data sources and dissemination of findings, and ethical issues. I then connect the concerns I see in the reviewed manuscripts to examples in the autoethnographic literature. Ultimately, I propose a moderate and balanced treatment of autoethnography that allows for innovation, imagination, and the representation of a range of voices in qualitative inquiry while also sustaining confidence in the quality, rigor, and usefulness of academic research.

Aging Adventure Athletes Assess Achievements and Alter Aspirations to Maintain Self-Esteem

“…I adopt a qualitative analytical autoethnographic methodology ( Anderson, 2006 ; Tolich, 2010 ; Anderson and Austin, 2012 ; Buckley, 2012 , 2015a , , 2016 ; Chang, 2016 ; Jones et al, 2016 ; Pace, 2016 ; Stahlke Wall, 2016 ; Winkler, 2017 ). Autoethnographic approaches can yield particular accuracy, precision and subtlety in the identification of emotional responses ( Buckley, 2015b , 2016 ; Gardner et al, 2015 ; Morin et al, 2015 ).…”

Serving, Contemplating and Praying: Non-Postural Yoga(s), Embodiment and Spiritual Capital

“…In other words, the empirical material and the methodological tools here discussed, are the outcome of ex-post authoethnographic reflections on my experience at the ashram. Focusing on what Sarah Wall has recently called moderate autoethnography [46], namely a form of autoethnography that keeps together evocative thick description, analysis and theorising, I attempted to use my own experiences to link them to theoretical debates and macro processes. In fact, rather than following Anderson's [47] conceptualisation of autoethnography as either evocative or analytical, I believe that the present contribution is located on a continuum between the evocative, as particularly evident in the extracts provided and the analytical, considering the theoretical and analytical focus that this work contends to discuss.…”

“…In line with the emplaced and reflexive nature of autoethnography [46,48,49] I decided to reconstruct my experience at the ashram through a multi-sensory ethnographic approach [50] because it allows for a close consideration of the bodily dimension of karma, bhakti and jnana yoga(s) from the perspective of apprenticeship and full participation. In line with a long standing ethnographic tradition of participant observations, apprenticeship is seen as particularly fruitful, not only in learning about a specific practice but in learning how one learns [51] (p. 53), [49,52,53].…”

Imagined Community, Imagined Identity, and Investment in Language Learning: an Autoethnograpical Account

“…Data collection and data analysis, according to autoethnography researchers (e.g. Richardson, 2000;Wall, 2016), should be done simultaneously rather than sequentially. Characterized by a participant-free approach, autoethnography owes its data primarily to the researcher's memory (Chang, 2008).…”

“…my story and emotions are exposed to judgements, and my future vulnerability, i.e. the story, in written form, might be subject to changing personal and social perspectives and attitudes as life continues (Tolich, 2010;Wall, 2016). Thus, I tried to be as faithful to my lived experiences as I could, but at the same time not to push my emotions and arguments to the extreme point.…”