Hi everyone!
When I read the statement that autoethnography can also be “associated with narrative inquiry and autobiography. I do not understand.
Can you please share with me the difference between narrative inquiry and autobiography?
Thank you!
khu
Hello Khu
These two sites may be of help:
Ellis, C., Adams, T. E., & Bochner, A. P. (2011). Autoethnography: an overview. Historical Social Research/Historische Sozialforschung, 273-290.
http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1589/3095%3Cbr
Trahar, S. (2009, January). Beyond the story itself: Narrative inquiry and autoethnography in intercultural research in higher education. In Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research (Vol. 10, No. 1).
http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1218/2653
In the first link above - see section 2 - Ellis et al. describe how authors write autobiographical material when they write from their own experiences, retroactively, selecting past experiences, using hindsight.
Now quoting from: https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/user-centred-design/user-research/ethnographic-research.html
Ethnography is the study of people and cultures,"in their natural, real-world setting, rather than in the artificial environment of a lab or focus group. The aim is to gather insight into how people live; what they do; how they use things; or what they need in their everyday or professional lives".
However, autoethnography - (again see Ellis et al. - but section 1) "seeks to describe and systematically analyze (graphy) personal experience (auto) in order to understand cultural experience (ethno)". It is worth reading Ellis et al. further, to fully understand the point.
Narrative inquiry (see section 1 of Trahar) is a form of qualitative research that involves the gathering of narratives—written, oral, visual—focusing on the meanings that people ascribe to their experiences, seeking to provide "insight that (befits) the complexity of human lives" . . . "Narrative inquirers strive to attend to the ways in which a story is constructed, for whom and why, as well as the cultural discourses that it draws upon". Autobiographical material may be used as material for narrative inquiry.
. . . So, while an autobiography is when an individual writes retroactively, selecting past experiences, using hindsight, narrative inquiry is a form of research where the researchers seek the meaning, background, etc. of the narrative, which may be autobiographical.
I hope that helps and does not confuse the issue further for you. I will see if I can find further material to help to explain these terms.
Very best wishes
Mary
The statement that it is "associated with" means it is similar to or shares features with autobiography and narrative inquiry.
Autobiography is when people tell their own life experiences. They may only tell the events, but they may also include their interpretations.
Autoenthnography means to analyze one's personal experiences in the specific context of the surrounding culture.
Narrative inquiry has to with studying HOW a story is told.
So I think that the statement you quote simply means that autoethnography is similar to and shares features with the other two techniques, as if the three techniques were three overlapping circles.
Perhaps a simpler response lies in the 'auto' - the 'self'. In narrative inquiry we - or certainly I - tend to gather 'narratives' from others while drawing on our own 'narratives' to understand the meanings that we attribute to life events. Thus autobiography and autoethnography have parts to play. In autobiography/autoethnography, we are writing about our 'selves' and/or our 'selves' in our 'cultures'. Clearly other people have parts in our stories but we may not be involving them 'formally'. This is, of course, ethically complex - which is a story for another day!
Hope that helps a little.
When you say 'autobiography' it is personal events and personl thoughts on a personal event will be described. And 'narrative' means a story told by someone that is not personal and emphasis will be put on how the story is being told rather than the story itself. Interestingly sometimes personal stories can be told in the narrative style as well.
Wish it is helpful. Thanks.
I agree with some aspects of all the above statements.
There are a couple different aspects here that need to be "sussed out." As an someone who does autoethnography, just a few things to add.
First ethnography is, in its simplest terms, writing about culture. "Ethno" = culture. "Graphy" = writing. Autoethnography is "self writing about culture." As such it uses personal experience to critically examine socio-historical grand narratives and discourses in which we find ourselves embedded. As such it critiques both the self (our own actions and concepts) as well as cultural ones. This is something that autobiography doesn't necessarily do. Auto ethnographers have written about everything from familial relationship, the discourses of the American Dream, and careerism. There are many different kinds of autoethnography: analytic autoethnography, personal narrative auetoethnography, etc. (Sometimes also called narrative ethnography and "the new ethnography.') For me, whatever autoethnography is, it is a critical research method.
A sample of very good autoethnographies that look at different topics:
Tony Adams, “Seeking Father: Relationally Reframing a Troubled Love Story.” Qualitative Inquiry 12 (2006): 704–23.
Boylorn, R. M. (2008). As seen on TV: An autoethnographic reflection on race and reality television. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 25, 413–433.
Herrmann, A. F. (2012). “I know I’m unlovable”: Desperation, dislocation, despair, and discourse on the academic job hunt. Qualitative Inquiry, 18, 247–255.
Krizek, R. L. (1992). Goodbye old friend: A son’s farewell to Comiskey Park. Omega, 25, 87–93.
Minge, J. M. (2007). The stained body: A fusion of embodied art on rape and love. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 36, 252–280.
Nick Trujillo, “In Search of Naunny’s History: Reproducing Gender Ideology in Family Stories.” Women’s Studies in Communication 25 (2002): 88–118.
Narrative Inquiry examines the narratives themselves. The way in which stories are build and told. Much of this research can be traced back to Walter Fisher's concept of the narrative paradigm.
Fisher, Walter. Human Communication as Narration: Toward a Philosophy of Reason, Value, and Action. Columbia: U of South Carolina P, 1987.
This was expanded upon by Art Bochner in this fantastic piece:
Bochner, A. P. (2001). Narrative’s virtues. Qualitative Inquiry, 7, 131–157.
Hope all of this helps.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Linguistics
- Composition Studies
- Writing