Applied Autoethnography: Process, Product, and Innovation for Educational Practice and Policy

Session Type: Professional Development Course

Abstract

The purpose of the session is to provide information to participants, graduate students, prospective and novice university professors, on how to innovatively apply autoethnography to address culture (e.g., politics, race, class, gender, and religion). This session will target qualitative and mixed-methods researchers longing for a methodological alternative from neutral, anonymous, and objectivist orientations to educational policy and practice. Instead of ignoring assumptions or viewing them as limitations, autoethnography allows educational researchers to unravel policy issues and develop innovative solutions. Information will be provided related to applied autoethnography as a process involving six key decisions, epistemologies of practice/critical reflexive action research, integrating autoethnography into research and teaching, as well as publishing defensible autoethnography findings in reputable journals. Participants will leave our 1-day course with information to begin the process of adding autoethnography as an alternative tool in their methodological toolkits for augmenting their own research and teaching agendas...and hopefully, they will be encouraged to find some new critical friends in the course.

Sub Unit

• Professional Development and Training Committee

Instructors

• Sherick A. Hughes, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Julie L. Pennington, University of Nevada - Reno

• Nitasha M. Clark, Educational Specialities