Critical Autoethnography

Writing Lives: Ethnographic Narratives

by Robin M. Boylorn (Editor), Mark P. Orbe (Editor)

Critical Autoethnography: Intersecting Cultural Identities in Everyday Life , Second Edition, examines the development of the field of critical autoethnography through the lens of social identity. Contributors situate interpersonal and intercultural experiences of gender, race, ethnicity, ability, citizenship, sexuality, and spirituality within larger systems of power, oppression, and privilege. Approachable and accessible narratives highlight intersectional experiences of marginalization and interrogate social injustices. The book is divided into three sections: Complexities of Identity Performance, Relationships in Diverse Contexts, and Pathways to Culturally Authentic Selves. Each thematic section includes provocative stories that critically engage personal and cultural narratives through a lens of difference. The chapters in the book highlight both unique and ubiquitous, extraordinary and common experiences in the interior lives of people who are Othered because of at least two overlapping identities. The contributors offer first person accounts to suggest critical responses and alternatives to injustice. The book also includes sectional summaries and discussion questions to facilitate dialogue and self-reflection. It is an excellent resource for undergraduate students, graduate students, educators, and scholars who are interested in autoethnography, interpersonal and intercultural communication, qualitative studies, personal narrative, cultural studies, and performance studies.

Genres: Research, Nonfiction

248 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2013

Reviews

[Yassir Morsi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The authors in this edited volume on critical auto-ethnography examine interpersonal and cultural lives. They all have a heavy appreciation regarding the ways in which an intersectional approach reveals power relations in contemporary culture, and the way intersectionality shapes communication, informs identity, and moulds emotions.

It might be worth first defining "critical auto-ethnography"

In social theory, the term “critical” often refers to a scholarly engagement/judgement of what lays beyond the surface, what is commonsensical, the doxa, the thing that comes to us without saying because its true without saying; critical hence refers to deeper meanings in any given situation, often searching for political possibilities with resistance and cultural transformation in mind

Whereas, typically, auto-ethnography welcomes readers into the author's experiences, encourages the reader to compare and interrogate perceptions, and reveals the challenges and opportunities we face in negotiating worldviews.

as a method then, CAE is an opportunity to produce analytical, yet accessible works, that inherit a political call to see (and change) social structures, by making the author the first site of examination.

The volume introduces a "multiplicity of evocative narratives and theoretical lenses, readers are engaged by the lived experience of similarity and difference at the intersections of diverse racial, class, ethnic, gender, spirituality, age, sexuality, and able-bodied identities".

As a scholar keen to resist the jargon of political writing, I was interested in seeing how thinkers weave stories into their thesis about discrimination, difference and commonalities. I enjoyed the writing, and in particular the defence by the editors at the end for the political purpose of such works.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book helped me get familiar with critical autoethnography as a qualitative methodology.
The authors offer clear yet vulnerable examples demonstrating the connection between identity, culture, and social structures. Their willingness to expose personal aspects of their lives for knowledge is appreciated and a task I need to get more comfortable with. However, now I face the challenge of replicating this approach in my work. Engaging in this level of personal and critical reflection requires a vulnerability that is difficult to navigate. Still, this book provides a helpful guide and reminder that this research is SOOOOOOO important.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is going to help me immensely with my dissertation, I wish that I had read it sooner.

[Arda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good autoethnography examples in this book. Some obviously were better than others, but all touched on how significant it is when experience is communicated as based from personal experience. Some of the examples from this book include issues of race, class, language, disability, religious conversion, body image in homosexuality (bear vs. ‘perfect physique’), dealing with cancer, ethnicity, privilege, and marginalization.

[Sydney Brammer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific collection.