Autoethnography

Autoethnography is an autobiographical genre of ethnography that emphasizes the lived experiences of researchers to access culture as communicative accomplishment. Autoethnographers research and write selves in relation with others, as they make meaning and construct life through social interaction. Autoethnography describes an array of qualitative approaches centered on interpretive and/or critical methods. As researchers continue to grapple with issues of representation, reflexivity, and self in their research practices, a burgeoning corpus of autoethnographic research in communication has prompted special issues of journals, book series, awards, a handbook, and an academic conference dedicated to autoethnography. This entry offers an overview of autoethnography, elements of autoethnographic research, autoethnographic approaches, and considerations for reading autoethnographies.