Purpose, Power, Politics, Privilege, and Promise: A Review of International Perspectives on Autoethnographic Research and Practice

Authors

Kay Aranda Dr, University of BrightonFollow

Abstract

This collection of international critical scholarship seeks to question, provoke, unsettle and reengage with changing understandings of autoethnography, its research and practices. In this review I share my reading of these contributions by highlighting important themes running throughout the book. These involve the shared but differently positioned vulnerabilities present in knowledge making, alongside desires for recognition, visibility or belonging. However, equally present are processes of misrecognition, silencing and othering resulting from unequal distributions of power and privilege. This book reaffirms how autoethnographic research may recognise vulnerabilities, but these are always more than individual suffering. Vulnerability becomes political. The scope and reach of these international perspectives potentially promise grounds for action and resistance much needed from all our research.

Keywords

International, Autoethnographic, Autoethnography, Research Practice

Author Bio(s)

I am a Reader in the community health programme area in a School of Health Sciences at the University of Brighton, here in the UK, where I lead a postgraduate module in qualitative research. This module aims to introduce health practitioner students and researchers from many diverse disciplinary and professional backgrounds and roles to the philosophy, politics and practices of qualitative research. I have worked in the British NHS healthcare system as a nurse and researcher and in women’s health in the community and voluntary sector. Research interests have always included understanding and exploring how inequalities in health relate to intersecting differences, but especially of gender and sexuality. Many of my publications aim to question and challenge widespread assumptions regarding the value of post-feminist theories or social critical theories in healthcare and to advocate their use in qualitative research. Correspondence regarding this article can be addressed directly to: k.f.aranda@brighton.ac.uk.

Publication Date

12-29-2018

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2018.3873

Recommended APA Citation

Aranda, K. (2018). Purpose, Power, Politics, Privilege, and Promise: A Review of International Perspectives on Autoethnographic Research and Practice. The Qualitative Report, 23(12), 3153-3156. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2018.3873