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The Autoethnography Assignment
The Autoethnography Assignment
The autoethnography assignment is often a challenging one for a several reasons. First, you're being asked to reflect in a way that might be totally new to you, and perhaps question things that you have never paused to even consider. Additionally, you're tasked with choosing an in-group or an aspect of your personality to research and we want to be honest with you: some topics are really hard to research - for any number of reasons.
We hope that the resources here can help you navigate both of these aspects of your assignment - but we are available in several ways to help beyond this site.
Quick tips for beginning your assignment
Quick tips for beginning your assignment
Below are some quick tips for approaching your Autoethnography assignment. For more detail, click through the slides below.
Choose an in-group or identity that you want to explore and that is also of interest to researchers.
Use the identity matrix worksheet to brainstorm in-groups and identities to explore.
Consider how any of your identities intersect or are related to one another that make your experience unique.
Think about the narrative aspect of your assignment. What story do you plan to tell about being a part of this in-group? What are your experiences being a part of this group?
Translate your identities and experiences to keywords for researching.
Identity Matrix Worksheet
Identity Matrix Worksheet
Since the autoethnography is asking you to reflect on yourself or certain parts of your identity or personality, this worksheet might help you get started generating ideas .
This worksheet is for you and is only a starting point. You don't have to answer all of the questions, and you can answer them to whatever extent you're comfortable with. The more you dig in at this point in your process, the more you'll have to guide you along the way as you think about how you'll write your narrative and as you begin your research.
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