Abstract
When inviting graduate students in Education Studies to expand any preconceived boundaries of what counts as research, I turn to novels that share the research process, particularly qualitative research, either via fiction or autoethnographic narratives. As facilitator of a multi-session research methodology workshop in Morocco, I use The Ethnographic I (Ellis, 2004) as a pedagogical guide while sharing Spark (Leavy, 2019) as a novel entry into critical discussion. Student communications on the first day regarding prior research experience includes: “I learned what not to do!” I needed to change the negative (undergraduate) experiences from their first research forays. To see if and how this change may be encouraged with this new workshop, in a new cross-cultural context (American instructor in Morocco), I adopted a critical autoethnographic approach to examine my own teaching. I contextualize my narrative in hermeneutical ways, draw from multiple experiences over time, and make connections to theoretic and practice-based research. Similar to the student workshop using guided reflexivity via researcher reflective journals, I approach this reflective study through a systematic (and cyclical) meaning-making process. The critical autoethnographic practice has the potential to initiate conversations about care, collaboration, and community (academic community, classroom community, critical/social community). The agenda to encourage more accessible and more flexible views of qualitative research is an optimistic endeavor; however, as new(er) and emerging methodologies expand to more contexts, the next generation of researchers may be better able to enact change through research frameworks that hold reflexivity, empowerment, and self/Other complexities at its core.
Presenters
Julie Dell-JonesVisiting Professor Mohammed V in Rabat, Fulbright Scholar in Morocco, Morocco
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
KEYWORDS
Teaching Qualitative Research, Autoethnography, Cross-cultural, Reflexivity, Higher Education, Teacher Education
