What is autoethnography?

When I began reading the introduction to ‘Autoethnography: an overview’ by Ellis (et al. 2011), I was not prepared for the level of academic jargon I would need to sift through in order to understand a complex research topic. To my surprise, my encounter with the reading was much less confronting.

“Autoethnography is an approach to research and writing that seeks to describe and systematically analyze (graphy) personal experience (auto) in order to understand cultural experience (ethno)” – (Ellis et al. 2011)

To put it simply, autoethnography is about exploring and understanding your experience with another culture. Is this practice limited to academic research, or is it more common in our lives than that? Well, if you are planning to ‘systematically analyse’ this experience, then – probably. But the practice of subjecting your personal identity to a new cultural experience? We do that when we go on vacations. We do that when we consume foreign media, or foreign food. Thus, in a sense, we are all autoethnographers.

Ellis et al. refer to a so-called ‘crisis of confidence’. This crisis; inspired by postmodernism in the 1980s emerged when “scholars began illustrating how the “facts” and “truths” scientists “found” were inextricably tied to the vocabularies and paradigms the scientists used to represent them” (Ellis et al. 2011). In other words, the social sciences shifted, becoming more aware of the ‘social’, rather than just the ‘science’. 

“When researchers do ethnography, they study a culture’s relational practices, common values and beliefs, and shared experiences for the purpose of helping insiders (cultural members) and outsiders (cultural strangers) better understand the culture (MASO, 2001). Ethnographers do this by becoming participant observers in the culture—that is, by takingfield notes of cultural happenings as well as their part in and others’ engagement with these happenings” – (Ellis et al. 2011)

What I have begun to understand about autoethnography, is that as a researcher, you should constantly be asking yourself a series of questions. Your research must be self-aware. Meta research. All of the social, political, historical, geographical, personal factors that have led you to experience something and understand it in this specific way.

Not only the what – but the why. Why is your experience different from your relative’s, your friend’s or somebody halfway across the world. Autoethnography is about picking apart all of these little details until you have built a true understanding of what a culture means.