Auto-Ethnography and the Other

Autoethnography and the Other - Spry (2016):

1. Communion with the Other:

   • Understanding oneself is intertwined with understanding the Other.

   • The self is constructed through relationships with others.

2. Collective Sensibilities:

   • Exploring how sensibilities become collective.

3. Theory and Healing:

   • Theory from a place of pain can be healing.

   • Autoethnography is not about staying in pain but rising above it.

   • Theory is liberating when intentionally sought.

   • Aesthetic literacy and craft are inherently political.

4. Performative Autoethnography:

   • A critical disruptive force.

   • Emphasizes the moral act of performing/autoethnography.

5. Central Question:

   • Focus on the societal question: "Who are we?"

   • Work doesn't need to answer the question but should allow exploration.

6. Ethical Necessity:

   • Examining how we conceptualize and portray the Other in ethnography.

   • A call for practiced vulnerability to truly listen to others' research.

7. Foundational Elements of Autoethnography:

   • Agency and identity of the Other are not in service of the self.

   • Embracing an unsettled 'I' influenced by sociocultural negotiations.

   • Autoethnography embodies utopian performances through the wilful embodiment of "we."

8. Care in Engagement:

   • Caution against inappropriate/damaging frameworks:

     • The other should not play a supporting role in service of the story.

     • Avoiding a colonizing attention to self.

     • Preventing the erasure of the bodied other.

9. Utopian Performances:

   • Utopian performances rooted in a commitment to hope.

10. Performative I:

    • Textualized body of the researcher.

    • Methodological interdependence of sociocultural reflexivity.

    • Assigning language to reflexivity on paper.

    • Embodiment of linguistic construction for an audience on stage.

11. Other Representation:

    • Emphasizes that the Other should not be merely a shadow of the self.

12. Autoethnographic Contributions:

    • Over the last 20 years, autoethnography is a profound contribution to post-theorizing.

    • Offers insights into epistemological, philosophical, sociocultural, and pedagogical aspects of personal and political representations.

13. Reflecting on Power Structures:

    • Autoethnography reflects on hegemonic power structures.

    • Considers how to navigate and arbitrate these structures in qualitative research.