Postgraduate Course: Autoethnographic Research Methods in the Social Sciences (CNST11079)
Course Outline
| School | School of Health in Social Science |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This interdisciplinary course will provide a systematic and critical introduction to autoethnography. It will introduce students to the theoretical foundations for this type of work, the range of approaches available, and to specific issues that arise in autoethnography, including matters of ethics. Participants will critically engage with the ways in which autoethnographic texts both critique and illuminate the situated self, in socio-cultural contexts. Finally, threaded throughout the course will be opportunities to experiment with, discuss, and give and receive feedback on, autoethnographic writing. |
| Course description |
The course provides opportunities to study and develop specialist expertise in an emerging methodological approach within qualitative inquiry. It is especially relevant for those planning to use qualitative methods for their dissertations or theses.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Students should have passed BCR1, Research Skills in the Social Science, or another introductory PG research course that provides an overview of debates about qualitative research approaches. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Utilise a range of approaches to autoethnography as a vehicle for researching personal and social life and to the theoretical understandings that underpin them.
- Display an increased capacity to analyze how different approaches to autoethnography relate to different ontological and epistemological positions.
- Engage with the debates surrounding the use of autoethnography in social science research, exploring the position of autoethnography as an interdisciplinary research genre and as a legitimate site for inquiry into the interplay between selves, identities and cultures.
- Develop a critically informed appreciation of creative and evocative research studies of 'lived experience'.
- Employ autoethnography in/as their own research.
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Reading List
Holman Jones, S., Adams, T., & Ellis, C. (Eds.). (2013). Handbook of autoethnography. Walnut Creek: Left Coast.
Adams, T. E. (2006). Seeking father: relationally reframing a troubled love story. Qualitative Inquiry, 12(4), 704-723.
Gannon, S. (2006). The (im)possibilities of writing the self-writing: French poststructural theory and autoethnography. Cultural Studie «=» Critical Methodologies, 6(4), 474-495.
Russell, L. (2004). A long way toward compassion. Text and Performance Quarterly, 24(3), 233-254.
Spry, T. (2010). Call it swing: A jazz blues autoethnography. Cultural Studies «=» Critical Methodologies, 10(4), 271-282.
Lee, K. V. (2005). Neuroticism: end of a doctoral dissertation. Qualitative Inquiry, 11(6), 933-938.
Spry, T. (2011). Performative autoethnography: Critical embodiments and possibilities. In N.K. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln (Eds.). The Sage handbook of qualitative research, pp. 497-509. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Tamas, S. (2011). Autoethnography, ethics, and making your baby cry. Cultural Studies«=»Critical Methodologies, 11(3), 258-264.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Identify, conceptualise and define new and abstract problems and issues.
Critically review, consolidate and extend knowledge, skills, practices and thinking in a subject/discipline/sector.
Communicate with peers and specialists.
Take responsibility for own work.
Exercise substantial autonomy and initiative in professional and equivalent activities. |
| Keywords | Autoethnographic Research Methods Social Science |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Jonathan Wyatt
Tel: (0131 6)51 3974
Email: Jonathan.Wyatt@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Leopoldine Barde
Tel: (0131 6)50 3890
Email: L.Barde@ed.ac.uk |
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