The Ethnographic I: A Methodological Novel about Autoethnography (Volume 13) (Ethnographic Alternatives, 13)

Carolyn Ellis, the leading proponent of autoethnography, weaves both methodological advice and her own personal stories into an intriguing narrative about a fictional graduate course she instructs. Through Ellis's interactions with her students, you are given useful strategies for conducting a study, including the need for introspection, the struggles of the budding ethnographic writer, the practical problems in explaining results of this method to outsiders, and the moral and ethical issues that get raised in this intimate form of research. The Ethnographic I......Page 1 Contents......Page 4 Cast of Characters......Page 7 Preface......Page 8 Introductions and Interruotions......Page 11 The Call of Autoethnographic Stories......Page 23 Autoethnography in Interview Research......Page 40 Autoethnographic Projects : Putting the Self into Research......Page 54 Writing Field Notes, Interviews, and Stories: Issue of Memory and Truth......Page 67 Writing Therapeutically, Vulnerably, Evocatively, and Ethically......Page 76 Living AutoEthnography: Life Informs Work Informs life......Page 89 Writing as Inquiry......Page 95 Artful Autoethnography......Page 103 Autoethnographic forms of Writing......Page 107 Final Projects......Page 120 Evaluating and publishing Autoethnography......Page 135 Taking Autoethnographic : Research t oa Domestic Abuse Shelter......Page 145 Autoethnographic conversations about Autoethnography......Page 153 Writing Methodological Novel : Thinking Like an Ethnographer, Writing Like a Novelist......Page 176 Suggested Readings and Assignments for an Autoethnography Class......Page 186 Chart of Impressionist and Realist Ethnography......Page 190 Guidelines for Personal Writing Papers......Page 193 Editing Personal Narratives......Page 195 Notes......Page 196 References......Page 205 Name Index......Page 217 Subject Index......Page 220 About the Auther......Page 224 A methodological textbook on autoethnography should be easily distinguishable from the standard methods text. Carolyn Ellis, the leading proponent of these methods, does not disappoint. She weaves both methodological advice and her own personal stories into an intriguing narrative about a fictional graduate course she instructs. In it, you learn about her students and their projects and understand the wide array of topics and strategies that fall under the label autoethnography. Through Ellis's interactions with her students, you are given useful strategies for conducting a study, including the need for introspection, the struggles of the budding ethnographic writer, the practical problems in explaining results of this method to outsiders, and the moral and ethical issues that get raised in this intimate form of research. Anyone who has taken or taught a course on ethnography will recognize these issues and appreciate Ellis's humanistic, personal, and literary approach toward incorporating them into her work. A methods text or a novel? The Ethnographic 'I' answers yes to both.