Autoethnography as Pedagogy: Writing the "I" in IR. (November 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Barr, Michael
• Is Part Of: Qualitative inquiry. Volume 25:Number 9/10(2019)
• Page Start: 1106
• Page End: 1114
• Publication Date: 2019-11
• Subjects: autoethnography -- narrative -- international relations -- academic writing -- learning and teaching; Social sciences -- Methodology -- Periodicals; Social sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; 300.72
• DOI: 10.1177/1077800418792940
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1077-8004

Abstract

While autoethnography has established itself as a research method, its utility in the classroom remains underexplored. Many writers use autoethnography to describe their roles as educators and students but far fewer detail an actual autoethnographic course. I analyze a highly original MA-level class on autoethnography in international relations. Students report that the course had the "potential to revolutionize" learning and teaching as a means of questioning themselves in relation to the social and political worlds they studied. Autoethnography has transformed the way we approach ourselves and our research; it is now time we let it change how we teach.