Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

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) …

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 …

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 …

“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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

Through Army-Colored Glasses: A Layered Account Of One Veteran’S Experiences In Higher Education, Phillip A. Olt

The Qualitative Report

There is a lack of research on military veterans in higher education that captures the issues from an insider’s perspective. To that end, I sought to reflect upon my own experiences with higher education as military veteran—from a budding recruit all the way through to now being an administrator and faculty member. I utilized a layered-account autoethnographic approach (Ronai, 1995) to interrogate my multiple perspectives that developed over time on veterans’ issues in higher education. I found that the GI Bill—the modern iteration of the Serviceman’s Readjustment Act of 1944—was a powerful motivator both in starting my military career and …

A Digital Immigrant Venture Into Teaching Online: An Autoethnographic Account Of A Classroom Teacher Transformed, Karin A. Lewis

The Qualitative Report

This paper presents an autoethnographic account of a classroom teacher’s experience transitioning to teaching online within the shifting culture of academe in the 21^st Century. After decades as a classroom teacher, the author engages in autoethnography to reflexively analyze her challenging transition to teaching online. The author examines her perspectives, beliefs, thought process, learning, and development. Findings regarding her new way of teaching, thinking, and living as an online instructor may provide insights for others in academe.

Teaching Students How To Make Their Dreams Come True: An Autoethnography Of Developing And Teaching The Dream Research Methods Course, E. James Baesler

The Qualitative Report

How to make students’ dreams come true is the central focus of this autoethnography that chronicles the story of the transformation of a traditional undergraduate communication research methods course into a new and creative dream research methods course. Pedagogical and institutional issues in teaching the traditional methods course join personal influences in my life story to birth the new dream research methods course. The content and format of the new course are described chronologically using personal stories, student perspectives, advice to teachers, and reflection questions. I encourage teachers, by experimenting with the ideas in the dream research methods course, to …

Autoethnography As An Instrument For Professional (Trans) Formation In Pharmaceutical Care Practice, Daniela Álvares Machado Silva, Simone Araújo Medina Mendonça, Maureen O´Dougherty, Djenane Ramalho De Oliveira, Clarice Chemello

The Qualitative Report

The recent inclusion of pharmacists in primary healthcare in Brazil through the Family Health Support Team has encouraged them to reflect on the need to change from a professional focused on medications to one focused on individuals. This autoethnography allowed a pharmacist to confront her perspectives on clinical practice between 2014 and 2016, a period when she decided to challenge her traditional training as a pharmacist centered on medications. Using pharmaceutical care practice as the theoretical framework that prompted the profession of pharmacy to change its focus to the patient, the authors collaborated to construct a monologue that engages readers …

A Journey Toward Feminist Supervision: A Dual Autoethnographic Inquiry, Melissa J. Fickling, Jodi L. Tangen

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

The purpose of this study was to explore our development as new supervisors learning to apply feminist supervision principles. Autoethnography was used to analyze author histories and learning processes over the course of one academic semester. Using personal narratives and critical reflections, we investigated our work of supervising beginning-level supervisees from a feminist perspective, and embodying our developing feminist supervisor skills and identities. Our inquiry was informed by our encounters with supervisees, supervisors, and each other. Basic definitions of supervision and feminist supervision frame the study, and results are shared in light of current research and theory.

Between Paradigms: Becoming A Pathological Optimist, Carol Isaac

The Qualitative Report

Using an autoethnographic poststructural lens, I examined my academic journey in becoming a qualitative methodologist. I integrated my mentor’s maxims such as, “the institution will not love you back,” “prisoner of your words,” “make plans; if they don’t work, make new plans,” “one has mentors and tormentors and both help shape us,” “ever the opportunist,” “strategic groveling,” “a mosaic approach to mentoring” and “just get naked.” Despite paradigmatic contradictions between my doctoral and postdoctoral experiences, I gained much from working between the polarities of the social science and biomedical discourse. In time, I became a “pathological optimist,” one of the …

Of All Days: Critical Pedagogy Outside The Classroom, Lisa M. Tillmann Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

A student at the author’s college pens a racist column on immigration for the school newspaper. Two departments, including the author’s, send campus-wide emails denouncing the rhetoric. A firestorm erupts, as much over the emails as over the op-ed. Years later, the student visits the author unannounced.

Resident Advisors React: Autoethnographic Reflections On High-Intensity Situations, Brenna A. Merrill

Sustainability and Social Justice

Resident Advisors (RAs) are paraprofessional peer leaders who are trained to respond to high-intensity incidents. Upon witnessing a crisis situation, I found it difficult to reflect and maintain my own personal wellness. The intent of this research has been to learn of and to give voice to the multiple ways in which RAs respond to such scenarios.

Utilizing autoethnography, I incorporate my experience with the perspectives of my coworkers and multidisciplinary literature. Seven current RAs, who had self-identified experiencing such an incident, volunteered to be interviewed. These narratives are embodied in the text in order to establish a dialogue between …

Thinking Differently About Reflective Practice In Australian Social Work Education: A Rhapsody, Lynelle Watts

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

There are many different ways of thinking about reflective practice in social work education in Australia. This research utilises a musical metaphor to illustrate this diversity. Written as a piece of music with album notes, the study utilises a reflexive methodology with a qualitative mixed method approach. Three studies were conducted to explore how reflective practice is understood in social work education and practice in Australia. The first study examined my own learning and teaching of reflective practice through an autoethnographic process. The findings indicated a range of models of reflective practice potentially available to the educator. Also explored in …

Labor Pains In The Academy, Lisa M. Tillmann Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

This piece offers autoethnographic reflections on crossroads to which many academics come: whether to seek (or postpone or avoid) parenthood and when. The author deeply explores the personal (her own trajectories from daughter and sister to potential mother and from graduate student to full professor) in order to reflect on structural constraints associated with graduate education, the academic job market, and institutional policies and politics.