Autoethnography as Method

by Heewon Chang

This methods book will guide the reader through the process of conducting and producing an autoethnographic study through the understanding of self, other, and culture. Readers will be encouraged to follow hands-on, though not prescriptive, steps in data collection, analysis, and interpretation with self-reflective prewriting exercises and self-narrative writing exercises to produce their own autoethnographic work. Chang offers a variety of techniques for gathering data on the self―from diaries to culture grams to interviews with others―and shows how to transform this information into a study that looks for the connection with others present in a diverse world. She shows how the autoethnographic process promotes self-reflection, understanding of multicultural others, qualitative inquiry, and narrative writing. Samples of published autoethnographies provide exemplars for the novice researcher to follow.

Genres: Nonfiction, Academic, Anthropology, Research, Writing

230 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 2008

Reviews

[Diz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an easy-to-follow introductory text for the field of autoethnography, which is a field that applies the research methods of ethnography to self-narratives. The author introduces ideas for collecting, analyzing and interpreting data, and introduces four writing approaches to autoethnography. At the end of the book, there is an example of autoethnography, which is useful for those who find it easy to learn from examples than from explanations.

[Faye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Autoethnography as Method has been an ongoing process in my life since about July 2014. Chang's writing has been immensely helpful in understanding the autoethnographic process of data collection and analysis, though at times I felt there were places where she could've been a little clearer (in terms of how you go from data collection to 'topics' to the formation of themes and sub-themes) but overall this has been a very useful book and one of the few I have found which actually goes into some depth as to how to get started with analytic autoethnography in particular (as opposed to evocative autoethnography) as it is still a rarely-used type of methodology.

[Philip Mills · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must read for anyone who is doing autoethnographic research and is suggested reading to anyone who wants to write a book. It is comprehensive as to subject matter and is written in a comfortable style. Of the millions of books I was forced to read during my college years, this one is one of the very few I kept.

[Noa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear and concise read -- Chang guides the reader through the mechanics and goals of autoethnography. She inserts several workshops throughout to help the reader engage with/start an autoethnography. I used this in a course I took one-on-one with a professor in my PhD on autoethnography and we used this book as the main course text. I found it really clarifying and helpful.
Some of these assignments, paired with others, and in the purpose of creating analytical and interpretive writing, would work well in the HS writing classroom. It could combine the narrative and research genres.

[Simão Cortês · Rating 4 out of 5]

As interesting as a methodological book can get. I was relatively skeptical of autoethnograpy's value as a method but the author really convinced me. The writing is compelling and the examples/exercises are colourful and abundant. It is interesting to get to know a whole new world of the academic humanities where radical approaches to method and epistemology are being taken, especially when these approaches unapologetically include the researcher into the research.

[Arda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Notes from thesis:
First coined by Hayano in 1979 who comes from an anthropological background, “autoethnography” uses personal inquiry as a research method to understand social phenomena (Chang, 2013).

[Margaret Robbins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was helpful to me, both for my comprehensive exams process and in my additional writing endeavors. I look forward to completing some of the writing activities that the author suggests! :)

[Said AlMaskery · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new way for presenting research

This was a methodological book that I wish I came across earlier in my research career. Autoethnography has been directed and explained in a simple straightforward manner, with an easy language and loaecaof examples.

It reminded me of Yins book on case study research.

I highly recommend this book for anyone planning to do social research and might benefit from self reflection and narration as a tool to extract an inside-out perspective on the self and the context.

[Yassir Morsi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the book provided a clear and well-written overview of Autoethnography as a method. Still, it spoke in normative/institutional academic, albeit accessible language. As a result, both the structure and content of the book embedded how autoethnography can do anthropological, methodological, and practical work.

The author divides the book into three parts. In the end, they present six appendices, which provide an overview of some essential auto-ethnographic works.

Part one outlines the tradition of self-narratives and the development of autoethnography. In this first part, the author discusses c culture from an anthropological perspective, and they affirm autoethnography as an ethnographic method that focuses on cultural interpretation.


Part two discusses data collection in autoethnographic fieldwork, research design, and ethical considerations. Since I use this myself, I enjoyed reading about how personal memory works and how self-observational and self-reflective work as data.

The potential writer gets both the theory and examples of auto-ethnography. Since the book also speaks to writers who may wish to use auto-ethnography, it always offers practical strategies and writing exercises. In this section, we find a list of ways to aid their data collection. In addition to writing exercises, we find corresponding writing samples further collated in Appendices.

Perhaps the most interesting part for me is the book’s third section. It provides “additional methodological chapters”, which suggest “a variety of practical strategies of data management, data analysis and interpretation, and autoethnographic writing”.

[Volha · Rating 5 out of 5]

clear and concise, well structured introduction into autoethnography. guides you from conceptual framework, through data collection to the final analysis\interpretation and examples. It was very useful for me to start my research using this method.

[Tarmia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very basic information. The beginning was useful information but a lot felt like filler. AShame that a book on such an interesting topic made it feel so dull.

[Louise Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid primer for those using autoethnography as a method.

[Amy Colbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Natalie]

read for class

[Ebony · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book would make a great undergraduate introduction to autoethnography. I like the writing exercises for students, but for a researcher they seem tedious. There is no bridge in the book between autoethnography and other types of research and that crossover could help justify the method and make it more feasible for writers and students who already do similar work.

[Mills College Library]

305.8 C45642 2008