SCLG 2604 Social Inequality in Australia 代写
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SCLG 2604 Social Inequality in Australia 代写
SCLG 2604 Social Inequality in Australia Semester 1, 2017
Auto-ethnography Assignment
…It was no longer appropriate to reflect on “other people” as if being a sociologist
entitled one to be apart from these cultural shifts, emotional tides and personal feelings.
(Carol Smart, Personal Lives, 2007: 3-4)
Length: Approximately 2000 words; double-spaced, 12 point font.
Due: 24 April by midnight (submit through Blackboard)
Assignment instructions:
Write an auto-ethnography that critiques your personal experience as it relates to an
issue of inequality or privilege (for example, gender, health, education, material
resources, cultural inequality, etc.).
The auto-ethnography should be composed of two sections. The first, comprising
approximately 1/2 of the paper, should recount in careful detail a “scene” from your life
(for example, a conversation, a choice, a turning point, a moment in which something
happened that illustrates an example of access to resources or inability to access
resources) and your perceptions of that scene. You may choose to explore an event or
memory that defines your place in a particular culture. You may want to reflect on your
childhood experiences—for example, your family or particular events that have shaped
who you are. You may choose to reflect on an incident at University, for example,
something you learned that changed the way that you think about the world. You may
choose to think about a particular moment in which you had access/did not have access
to education/privilege/the labour market, etc. Or perhaps a moment in which you
encountered your own difference because of gender, race, ethnicity or religion. The
second part of the paper (approximately 1/2) will be your analysis of the ways in which
inequality or privilege (utilising the frameworks discussed in class, tutorial readings and
at least 3 outside sources) elucidate that scene. Your goal is not to “solve” or “fix” the
situation you have described, but to illuminate some of the structural, functional or social
relationships and causes that are operative.
References:
At least 2 scholarly references (academic journals or books); a list of references should
be included at the end of your paper. These may be from the books or articles listed on
the library site for this unit of study, however you are free to use whatever SCHOLARLY
material you wish (this does not include magazine articles). You are expected to read
the first 4 references listed below (under “Auto-ethnography as a method”) so that you
will have a better understanding of what ethnography is. The additional scholarly
references that you choose should be about the concepts discussed in your paper, for
example, if you are discussing the ways in which educational inequality has impacted
your life, then I would expect you to have academic references on educational inequality.
What is “auto-ethnography”?
Auto-ethnography is simply a reflexive account of one's own experiences situated in
culture. It is ‘a self-narrative that critiques the situatedness of self with others in social
contexts’ (Spry, 2001, p. 710). This definition highlights the self-critical element entailed
in writing about oneself. Ellis and Bochner (2000) advocate auto-ethnography as a form
of writing that "make[s] the researcher's own experience a topic of investigation in its
own right" (p. 733) rather than seeming "as if they're written from nowhere by nobody"
(p. 734). Auto-ethnography is "an autobiographical genre of writing that displays multiple
layers of consciousness, connecting the personal to the cultural" (p. 739); auto-
ethnographers "ask their readers to feel the truth of their stories and to become co-
participants, engaging the storyline morally, emotionally, aesthetically, and intellectually"
(p. 745).
In an auto-ethnography it is important to connect personal experience with theory. For a
nice example of this see the auto-ethnography written by Boyd, listed below.
Part of the work of this exercise is to challenge the positivist “objective” ways of
conducting ethnography. However it can still be challenging as we try to represent and
make claims about ourselves in a critical auto-ethnography. Will the reader like us and
sympathise with us and our motivations? Will our story be the objective and true one, as
it “really” happened? It is important to remember that in an auto-ethnography the writer
allows the reader to be part of a story, emotionally, morally, aesthetically – in other
words, to feel the story rather than think it (Ellis 1999). The reader becomes a co-
participant in the story, and the writer is not expected to disengage emotionally or
otherwise from the observations (Ellis and Bochner 2000).
Rationale:
• The act of writing an auto-ethnography leads to greater reflexivity on the part of
the author. Here reflexivity entails “self-conscious introspection guided by a
desire to better understand both self and others through examining one’s actions
and perceptions in reference to and dialogue with those of others”
• Researchers gain an understanding of self in relation to others. This may be
termed “mutual informativity”. When the researcher has a strong sense of his/her
own biography, then every insight is “both a doorway and a mirror”, a way to see
both into your own experience and into the experiences of your subjects.
• This sense of mutual understanding is particularly important when doing
sociology in subjects such as inequality, when researchers must be particular
aware of their own positions and assumptions
Marking Criteria:
The auto-ethnography is not evaluated in the same way that a standard essay would be.
You are expected to discuss yourself and use the first person “I”, for example. These are
the four generally accepted criteria for evaluating the validity of auto-ethnographies in
sociology, and these are the criteria I will look for in your papers. In addition, I will also
look for the marks of a well-written paper, i.e., it should not contain errors in grammar or
syntax, paragraphs should be well constructed and flow logically one to another.
1. Substantive contribution. Does the piece contribute some greater understanding
of inequality or privilege, using the student’s story as an illustration?
2. Reflexivity. Is the student reflective about the experience and its impact? Has the
student fully considered the importance of the event on his/herself and made
connections with wider course themes?
3. Impactfulness. Does this affect me intellectually and/or emotionally? Does it
generate new questions or encourage new understandings of everyday
experiences?
4. Expresses a reality. Does this story give me a sense of lived experience? Auto-
ethnographic manuscripts might include dramatic recall and strong metaphors to
invite the reader to ‘relive’ events with the author.
Examples
On Blackboard you can find several examples of excellent auto-ethnographies written by
students for this unit of study last year (2016). I have removed the names and other
identifying details of the students concerned.
References to more examples are listed below, although these are written for academic
publications. They will help you to further understand what is meant by an auto-
ethnography.
Reference List:
Auto-ethnography as a method:
Ellis, C., & Bochner, A. P. (2000). Autoethnography, personal narrative, reflexivity:
Researcher as subject. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The handbook of
qualitative research (pp. 733-768). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
McIlveen, P., Beccaria, G., du Preez, J. and Patton, W. (2010). Autoethnography in
Vocational Psychology: Wearing Your Class on Your Sleeve. Journal of Career
Development 37(3): 599-615.
Reed-Danahay, D. (1997). Introduction. In Reed-Danahay, D., ed. Auto/Ethnography:
Rewriting the self and the social (pp. 1-20). Oxford: Berg.
Spry, T. (2001). Performing autoethnography: An embodied methodological praxis.
Qualitative Inquiry, 7(6), 706–732.
Examples of autoethnographies:
Boyd, D. (2008). Autoethnography as a tool for transformative learning about white
privilege. Journal of Transformative Education 6: 212-225.
Ettorre, E. (2010). Nuns, dykes, drugs and gendered bodies: an autoethnography of a
lesbian feminist’s journey through ‘good time’ sociology. Sexualities 13: 295-315.
Jones, S. H. (2005). (M)othering loss: telling performativity. Text and Performance
Quarterly. 25:2, 113-135.
Rambo-Ronai, C. (1996). My mother is mentally retarded. In Ellis, C. and Bochner, P.,
eds. Composing Ethnography: alternative forms of qualitative writing. Oxford, UK:
Alta Mira Press, 109-131.
Reed-Danahay, D. (1997). Auto-Ethnography: Rewriting the self and the social. Oxford:
Berg, 1997.
SCLG 2604 Social Inequality in Australia 代写
T. Schoepflin (2009). ‘On being degraded in public space: An autoethnography’. The
Qualitative Report 14 (2): 361-373.
Tillmann-Healy, L. (1996). A secret life in a culture of thinness: reflections on body, food
and bulimia. In Ellis, C. and Bochner, P., eds. Composing Ethnography:
alternative forms of qualitative writing Oxford, UK: Alta Mira Press, 76-108.
SCLG 2604 Social Inequality in Australia 代写
