Bringing Personal Identity Into Our Learning Spaces, Sobha Kavanakudiyil

The Vermont Connection

Abstract

This paper will integrate a personal narrative with published work to examine the journey and thoughts of a South Asian female theatre educator working in theatre education. The paper will discuss stories of identity, the impact it has had, and the intentionality of what should be done with this information. It will illuminate the need for further research to engage more South Asian female voices in theatre education.

Keywords: ethnic identity, teacher preparation, South Asian, theatre teacher, autoethnography, female voice

I Didn’T See It Coming: Navigating An Uncomfortable Episode During Doctoral Research Fieldwork, Narina A. Samah

The Qualitative Report

In this article, I revisit my experiences during my doctoral fieldwork from the lens of a novice qualitative researcher. Initially embracing the role of narrative inquirer, I was in the midst of navigating my inquisitive journey by re-examining my personal practical knowledge as a means to confront my puzzle of practice. Six months of fieldwork allowed me to re-experience my classroom teaching practice through a pair of new eyes. As my research was ending, events took an unexpected turn, leading to the delicate issue of female teacher/lecturer-student relationships during research fieldwork and the dilemma of deciding whether to include or …

A Journey To A Global Scholar Identity: An Autoethnography Of Agricultural And Extension Faculty’S Experiences, Lacey Roberts-Hill, Richie Roberts, T. Grady Roberts

Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education

Working in the academy can be a very rewording career, but more and more faculty and graduate students are considering non-academic careers. Understanding the career journey of faculty in academic positions working in international agricultural and extension education (AEE) could be insightful to better understand this niche discipline and be informative to other faculty and graduate students along their own journeys. This article explores the journeys of three faculty members in international AEE. We used an autoethnography to our stories. We are an assistant professor, an associate professor, and a professor. We conducted a focus group and then examined: (a) …

Ensuring Quality In Qualitative Research: A Researcher's Reflections, Niroj Dahal

The Qualitative Report

This reflective paper is the outcome of my qualitative research engagement aligned with quality standards. I began with autoethnography in my master's research in mathematics education (see Dahal, 2013), then moved on to narrative inquiry in my MPhil research (see Dahal, 2017), and collaborative autoethnography in my doctoral research (see Dahal, 2023). With the above, this paper aims to clarify the quality criteria used in autoethnography, narrative inquiry, and collaborative autoethnography based on my experiences to evaluate the robustness of qualitative research from various ontological and epistemological vantage points. Likewise, this article offers a comprehensive overview of the key elements …

Breaking Bridges: A Latina's Role In Familismo And Higher Education, Desiree Trejo

Theses and Dissertations

This research and collective experiences have been recorded to bring together an autoethnography that demonstrates my personal experiences of being the eldest daughter in a Latino family and how these experiences situate within a social context. The primary purpose of this autoethnography is to provide insight on Latino culture expectations placed upon first born daughters. My own experiences connect to my research covering Latino culture and gender expectations to further understand social meanings and understandings of this culture. This autoethnography presents qualitive research that allows me to self-reflect and apply these findings to my personal experiences within my family to …

The Erasure Of Rural West Texas Voices In Higher Education Institutions An Autoethnographic Study Of Minoritized Students Of West Texas In Their Journey To Obtain Success In Higher Education Institutions, David Whaley-Weems Sr

All Dissertations

I was once told there is a person in the world who has locked within his or her mind the framework for the cure for cancer or even the ability to create an energy model that will revolutionize how society consumes natural resources. Now imagine if I told you I have seen that person alive and well working as an oil well driller on a rig in Mentone, Texas. The first question most people would ask is, “Why is the person drilling in the middle of nowhere Texas instead of impacting the world by way of displaying his or her …

Factors That Led To Crossing The Picket-Line: An Autoethnography Of A Faculty Striker, Giovanna Follo

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

Historically, academic strikes are not frequent and are short. Much of the research examines why academic strikes occur; however, few explore the individual multidimensional striker. The research question in this autoethnographic essay explored, “What factors led me, a pro-union advocate, to cross the picket line?” Crossing the picket meant going back to work before the strike was declared over. The self-reflexive narrative examines several themes, including the mental health burden of anxiety and stress, the place of coercive power used when the administration pursues extreme threats, the role that unions play in setting up expectations at the outset of a …

Reinventing Identity In Transition From Principal To Professor: A Collaborative Autoethnography, Forrest J. Kaiser, Jennifer Bailey

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

School leadership is a fast-paced job where stakeholder feedback is frequent, and decision-making requires quick thinking and strong organization. When school leaders transition from practitioner to scholar, they face a dramatic change in pace and responsibility. Unlike their peers who come from academia, practitioner-scholars experience a unique context and career shift that requires navigating unfamiliar organizational structures and translating existing skills into new contexts. This collaborative autoethnography explores the lived experiences of two junior faculty who recently transitioned from the campus principalship to the tenure track professoriate during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through a process of individual writing, group reflection, and …

Advising For Persistence: Faculty Women Of Color Reflect On Equitable Practices For Doctoral Student Program Completion, Natalie D. Rasmussen, Beatriz Desantiago-Fjelstad, Courtney Bell-Duncan

The International Journal of Equity and Social Justice in Higher Education

In the United States, doctoral students of color do not complete their programs at the same rate as White doctoral students. The coursework is not usually the issue. The common point of the delay is almost always the time spent at all but dissertation (ABD). This autoethnographic study is of three university faculty––all women of color––their experiences navigating their individual doctoral programs and ABD statuses, and how they now parlay those experiences into culturally constructing how they advise their doctoral students of color to persist until completion. The review of literature is woven among their stories to bring forth a …

An Endarkened Autoethnographic Approach To Peer Co-Curricular Dialogue Facilitation Training, Amari L. Boyd

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is a qualitative study drawing on endarkened feminist epistemology (Dillard, 2001), autoethnography (Jones, Adams,& Ellis, 2013), and Blackgirl autoethnography (Boylorn, 2016), each of which challenges the traditional roles between researchers and the researched, educators and students, and in the case of this study, dialogue facilitators in-training, and their dialogue facilitation educator. The purpose of this study was to capture the ways in which six Peer Dialogue Facilitators (PDFs) and myself, a Black woman and facilitation educator, perceive ourselves as facilitators of color and navigate facilitation obstacles amidst our new global pandemic reality. This study will utilize group interviews …

Photovoice Gives Students A Voice, Lynne Meade

TFSC Publications and Presentations

Students often struggle with ways to turn their experiences into meaningful stories. Photovoice is a way to use photography for positive social change and to help people tell their stories. I used Photovoice to help students process the uncertainty of moving back home when the university switched to remote in Spring 2020. Since I teach public speaking, I used those stories to teach public speaking skills as well.
For example, one prompt I used was “an unexpected use of something.” I showed them a small hand weight that I used as a doorstop. I took creative pictures of the weight …

Γλύκοπικρος & Bittersweet: An Autoethnographic Approach To Studying Abroad In Greece, Margaret Rieckman

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to answer the question: How can reflection via an autoethnographic approach promote sought-after outcomes of a semester studying abroad? Through an anthropological lens, I completed field work, kept field notes, and wrote a reflexive blog to navigate the social processes of learning to belong in another place within the context of a multicultural environment of study abroad program with Erasmus students. Through autoethnography as a methodology and a text, I utilized linguistic analysis to identify key themes that represent my transformative experience. The personal, emotional, and intellectual growth I experienced was made transformative by …

The Color Of Conduct: A S.I.S.T.A.'S Tale Of Race, Housing, And Higher Education, Natasha Gibson-Winston

Dissertations

S.I.S.T.A., suffering in silence to be acknowledged, is an acronym that symbolizes the hidden voices of Black women in higher education and abroad. This study examined the experiences of a graduate student woman of color impacted by university housing policies and practices as a judicial student conduct officer at a historically white institution. Using autoethnography as a methodology, grounded in critical race theory (CRT) as a theoretical framework, this qualitative study aims to highlight the ways Black women can and have been harmed in predominantly white spaces and processes within higher education. The application of the aforementioned frameworks found the …

Autoethnography As A Recent Methodology In Applied Linguistics: A Methodological Review, Ufuk Keles Dr

The Qualitative Report

In this methodological review, I explore how recent autoethnographic studies in the field of applied linguistics have used autoethnography as a research methodology. I examine 40 autoethnographies published in peer-reviewed journals between 2010 and 2020. The findings show that a large number of the researchers employed autoethnography as “an umbrella term” without opting for a specific type of autoethnography. Second, a great majority of the autoethnographers diverted from traditional third-person academic prose, although most of them approached their stories with an analytic lens. Third, the absence or scarcity of (auto)biographical information decreased both the evocative and analytic qualities of autoethnographic …

New Voices From Intersecting Identities Among International Students Around The World: Transcending Single Stories Of Coming And Leaving, Katie Koo, Charles Mathies

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

In this article, we introduce our special issue: International students’ lived experiences in the era unprecedented by uncertainty and challenges: New voices from intersectional identities. Our motivation and intention, focus, and overall methodological approach for this special issue are discussed. In addition to presenting the contributions of each article to this issue, we also discuss how our (all authors of this special issue) voices reflect our unique experiences of coming to new countries as international students by unfolding our stories and multiple intersecting identities that we experienced.

“I Finally Marginalized Myself From The Mainstream”: An Autoethnography Study Of Chinese International Student’S Development Of Intercultural Communicative Competence, Yuqi Lin, Hongzhi Zhang

The Qualitative Report

In the higher education market, the cross-border flow of international students has become increasingly apparent. For Australia, China has been a major student source and most of these students have been enrolled in the higher education sector. Such a phenomenon has rendered the innovation of higher education management necessary, and its socio-cultural influence has attracted attention from the Australian government. This study suggests that international students’ intercultural communicative competence (ICC) deficits could influence their self-perceptions thus compromising their ability to communicate with peers. Using a qualitative research approach, the study explores the extent to which China’s College English influences Chinese …

Spaces And Societal Interactions: Foundations Of The Critical Disabled Cultural Lens Of A Child Of Disabled Adults, Amelia-Marie Altstadt

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

CoDisA are present on our campuses, but not present within research. This autoethnographic study focuses on providing the foundation of the critical disabled cultural lens of a Child of Disabled Adults (CoDisA) for future study of CoDisA within higher education research. The findings of spaces and societal interactions are presented through the accessible format of autoethnodrama. This two act show is a fun and immersive way to take you on a college tour trip “up the 5," from San Diego, California to Rohnert Park, California in Sonoma County. Act 1, the findings chapter with thorough scene descriptions, helps frame where …

Disability Injustice: A Latino’S Creative Autoethnographic Testimonio On The Organizational Culture Of Higher Education, Leonel A. Diaz Jr.

Organization, Information and Learning Sciences ETDs

Using creative autoethnographic testimonio (CAT), a story is told about the injustices within the learning environment and work environment of higher education toward a person with disabilities: sleep apnea, learning disabilities, negative mental health. The author explores the health difficulties of addressing sleep deprivation while attending graduate school and working full-time as a professional. With sleep apnea impacting his health, his mental health declines. As his health declines, there is an increase in discrimination, hostility, oppression, bullying, and toxic masculinity. Initially, the medical system dismisses his declining health and refuses to look further into it. Once he receives medical care …

Merging Motherhood And Doctoral Studies: An Autoethnography Of Imperfectly Weaving Identities, Vicki L. Schriever Dr

The Qualitative Report

In this autoethnography I share my lived experiences of merging motherhood and doctoral studies and reveal the journey of imperfectly weaving the identities of mother, wife, doctoral student, and academic. I present seven vignettes to provide glimpses of experience and a window into not only the challenges and tensions of intersecting motherhood and doctoral studies, but to also share the joys, strengths, and benefits of embracing these multiple identities. The literature and autoethnographic accounts offer insights into the contradiction that is mothering during doctoral studies, as academic mothers simultaneously carry guilt and gratitude, and acknowledge the sacrifice and privilege that …

An Autoethnographic Self-Study Navigating The Transition To Becoming A Stem Teacher Educator, Miriam Hamilton Dr

The Qualitative Report

This paper reports on a self-study where I take an autoethnographic stance in narrating my cultural origins, trajectory and identities as a teacher turned teacher educator working in the field of education in Ireland. Using self-study, I explore how my habitus has influenced my experiences of being a biology teacher at second level to teaching STEM education on initial teacher education programmes. Autoethnographic self-study is the hybrid approach used to describe and systematically analyse my experiences and learning as I struggle with a transitioning identity. The integrated use of both self-study and autoethnographic approaches enabled a deepened understanding of my …

No Future For Academic Crips: An Autoethnographic Crippling Of Academic Futurity, A. Adams

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

No Future for Academic Crips attempts to situate crip theory, critical disability studies, and communication theory squarely in the context of academia, problematizing the constraints placed on autistic identity by the demands of a graduate education. Utilizing autoethnographic vignettes along with theoretical writings regarding the creation and consolidation of crip identity, this thesis theorizes what a “neuroqueer future” looks like for academics. Six vignettes are presented to demonstrate strategies for survival employed in academic spaces, followed by analysis contextualizing and criticizing those strategies. Finally, implications for neuroqueer futurity and identity are discussed.

Autoethnography As A Decolonizing Methodology: Reflections On Masta’S What The Grandfathers Taught Me, Dung T. Pham, June E. Gothberg

The Qualitative Report

As an Asian graduate student and a Native professor at a U.S. Midwestern Predominantly White Institution, we reflected upon Masta’s (2018) article, What the Grandfathers Taught Me: Lessons for an Indian Country Researcher, to examine the decolonizing aspects of autoethnography. Masta’s use of autoethnography to explore her experiences provides a deeply personal view into the phenomenon of living and researching Indigenous in an America that is inherently White in character, tradition, structure, and culture. The use of participatory and constructivist Indigenous autoethnography places the lived experience of an Indigenous woman at the center of the study, using the Indigenous …

Contentment Or Torment? An Analytic Autoethnography Of Publication Aptitude In Doctor Of Philosophy, Atiqur Sm-Rahman, Yasmin Jahan

The Qualitative Report

The burgeoning trend of pursuing publication in a leading journal, as a benchmark of standard doctoral research, has become an appealing expectation of early-stage doctoral researchers (ESDR). However, recent pedagogical studies showed limited attention to exploring the dynamic relations between doctoral education and the academic publication process. Our aim was to investigate and understand (if and) how this intricately intertwined relation contributes to the scholarly publication practice in doctoral education from an individual and institutional context. We used a duo-analytic autoethnography approach and presented a comprehensive narrative based on the authors’ self-reflections by using a range of data sources namely …

On Being A Zebra: Negotiating A Professional Identity Whilst Coping With A Rare And Recurrent Illness, Phyllis Jones Professor

The Qualitative Report

In this autoethnography I discuss some of the impacts of a chronic and long -term illness on my professional identity of a professor. I examine issues of lack of control throughout the discussion. I also discuss the contribution of phenomenological accounts in the form of autoethnography in serving to challenge society’s view of disability. I suggest the individual intersection of disability and identity demand that the scholarly community listen more to the stories of people who have actual experience of long-term chronic illness. In doing this, we may develop nuanced understandings of the impact of chronic long - term illness …

Confessions Of A Novice Researcher: An Autoethnography Of Inherent Vulnerabilities, Laura M. Kennedy

The Qualitative Report

In the field of doctoral student education, novice researcher identity literature is largely authored by research supervisors or other senior scholars. Novice researchers’ firsthand accounts of their triumphs and tribulations are relatively un(der)represented. This autoethnography draws on data generated through reflexive analytic memos and conversations with my academic advisor to offer just that: a firsthand account of my researcher debut, including the inherent vulnerabilities I experienced throughout the practicum process. The paper then asks the reader to consider what it might look like for doctoral education programs to make visible the ongoing internal negotiations of one’s researcher identity.

Reading Autoethnography: The Impact Of Writing Through The Body, Katarina Tuinamuana, Joanne Yoo

The Qualitative Report

In this paper, we explore alternative ways in which academic writing can have impact, specifically in how it can move from the clearly measured to the deeply felt. We do this by writing a creative nonfiction narrative of our experimentation with autoethnography, detailing our responses to four published autoethnographic articles. We found that reading and engaging with these papers meant that we also had to listen and reconnect to our bodies in ways that initially seemed foreign to us as academics. But we persevered, and this project strengthened our resolve to create time/space to engage writing/research that deeply moves and …

First-Generation Etc: Agency, Inequality, Practice, Habitus, And Reflection, Jon Hunsberger

Master’s Theses

This autoethnography explores the author’s first two years transitioning and acclimating to a selective college as a first-generation student from a working-class background who attended rural public schools. Grounding itself in post-structural theory, this thesis first explores how the author experienced upward social mobility in contrast with structuralist theories that suggest he would reproduce his social-class origins. Second this thesis concludes that the relative degree of legitimization the author’s agency received is itself informed by structural inequality and a world that advantages certain cultural embodiments, dispositions, actions, and ways of being over others. Agency is seldom explicitly acknowledged in literature …

An Autoethnographic Narrative Of The Relation Between Sexuality And University In Post-Revolutionary Iran, Nassereddinali Taghavian

The Qualitative Report

The main question that is addressed in this presentation is how we can interpret the situation of sexual relations in the context of higher education in Iran. The article is formed as an autoethnography, focusing on the relationship between sexuality and university in post-revolutionary Iran. Data are gathered from my own lived experiences at university both as a student and as a lecturer during about 25 years of academic life and interpreted by the technique of systematic introspection. I explore specific problems regarding sexuality at Iranian universities, such as sexual harassment and the relationship between male university professors and their …

Pedagogical Perspectives On Counselor Education: An Autoethnographic Experience Of Doctoral Student Development, Anna Elliott, Beronica M. Salazar, Brittany L. Dennis, Lynn Bohecker, Tiffany Nielson, Kirsten Lamantia, David M. Kleist

The Qualitative Report

There is minimal literature related to understanding what training factors contribute to the development of qualified counselor educators. Specifically, we wondered if counselor education doctoral students are effectively prepared for their roles as instructors. We chose an autoethnographic phenomenology method as a means for exploring the experiences of doctoral students’ pedagogical development in a doctoral instructional theory course. We sought to understand the essence of our experience through written reflection, photography, and group reflective processes. Analysis revealed the value we all obtained through the instructional theory course, experiential learning, and self-reflection, which contributed to increased self-efficacy as emerging counselor educators. …

In The Name Of Merit: Racial Violence In The Academy, Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt

Faculty Publications

Racial violence in the academy is enacted upon faculty of color, particularly women, in multiple disciplines. This essay attempts to both expose and suggest that everyday systemic racism has become a pervasive and normalizing feature within disciplines that continue to privilege white and Eurocentric forms of knowledge-making while devaluing others. Furthermore, attempts to challenge such supremacies are immediately countered by calls and charges of incivility. This is an essay about the costs of unmasking norms of civility as it bears upon constructions of both whiteness and meritocracy.