Autoethnography

and the Archive

What anthropological

research methods can do for

the archive professional

Why do researchers

choose their methods?• Objectivity versus Subjectivity

• Researcher versus Subject

• How a researcher situates

themselves in their project can

determine their results• Our research methods shape

our work as professionals

Alexander Randall (1917-1982)

Register entry for the birth of Alexander Randall accessed via www.familysearch.org [30th July 2011]

Judit

h E

thert

on, ‘T

he

Role

of

Arc

hiv

es

in t

he

Perc

epti

on o

f Self’

‘The advice from care

professionals is that we [as archivists] must never underestimate the

need to know, especially for people

separated from family

or a family member, or

the emotional upheaval that the search itself can cause.’ (p. 235)

Mart

in B

ash

fort

h,

‘Abse

nt

Fath

ers

,

Prese

nt

His

tori

es’

, in

People

and t

heir

Past

s

‘One can be simultaneously the gatherer of materials...

and the one who interprets the materials

and presents this interpretation to the

world... while physically

and emotionally being

the object of research.’

(p. 204)

What

can w

e d

o?

How can I tap into my empathy for family historians and other potentially vulnerable researchers?

Can anthropology help us investigate the cultural and human value of archives and records?

What is autoethnograph

y?

Auto

eth

nogra

phy

“Auto-”

Autos: Greek

term for

‘self’ or

‘one’s own’

“Ethnography

” A scientific

description

of the

customs of

peoples and

cultures.

Ethnos:

People

Grapho: to

write

Definitio

ns o

f

auto

eth

nogra

phy

A form of self-narrative

that places the self

within a social context.

Autoethnographies

compare the

experiences of the

author with those of

other people.

Deborah Reed-Danahay, (ed.),

Auto/Ethnography: Rewriting the

Self and the Social, (1997)

Definitio

ns o

f

auto

eth

nogra

phy

‘… a qualitative research

method which utilizes

ethnographic methods to

bring cultural interpretations

to the autobiographical data

of researchers with the

intent of understanding

self and its connection

with others’

Heewon Chang, Autoethnography

as Method, (2008)

Definitio

ns o

f

auto

eth

nogra

phy

An engagement in a

relationship between your

personal experiences and

your research

A selection of creative ways

to demonstrate your findings

Immense satisfaction from

the personal growth that

(sometimes) ensues

Tessa Muncey, Creating

Autoethnographies, (2010)

Definitio

ns o

f

auto

eth

nogra

phy

Autoethnography uses:

‘systematic sociological

introspection and

emotional recall to try to

understand an experience

we’ve lived through. Then

we write our experience

as a story’.

Carolyn Ellis and Arthur P. Bochner,

‘Autoethnography, Personal Narrative,

Reflexivity: Researcher as Subject’, in Handbook

of Qualitative Research, 2nd edn. (2000)

AutoethnographyAutoethnography is a branch of

postmodern ethnography which

uses the researcher’s life

experiences as a device to

frame the investigation and as a

source of data in its own right.

Data

Colle

ctio

nField notes: Caribbean

Family History Group

Meetings

Diary: research the life

of my maternal grandfather

Interview with a family

historian

Betra

yed b

y

the R

eco

rd

Detail from the death certificate

of Alexander Randall

Inte

rvie

w E

xtra

ct

“The technology helps in presentation at least, yeah it is useful. I haven’t really mastered it either. It’s about finding time to do all of these things and it’s- it’s only when you find time to put a few hours in that you do and that goes in. I might put it down for months and go back to it. But at least uh I would say that it’s- I’ve had a lapse- a lapse in the sense that I found who owned my great great great grandfather and... and just finding out the name of that... owner uh... I wouldn’t say it was sort of shock but there’s some subconscious traumatised situation that stops you from going further and it’s very difficult to go further in Barbados because Barbados did not ah import a lot of slaves uh after a certain period. They bred their own and uh and they were mainly women for- and though it was an entry point from Africa it was just a clean up job and sent off to other islands to order etcetera. So uh linking it with Africa, which was the step that I wanted to take, uh was a little frustrating because the records that... direct me there and haven’t really got into uh... really researching that because that’s the big one because the records are here and uh I think there’s a subscription for that and... I haven’t pursued it.”

Auto

eth

nogra

ph

y: why / w

hy

not?

The Case for

the

Prosecution

Time (or lack

thereof)

Being

vulnerable is

for the

fearless

Ethics:

sharing

stories that

don’t belong

to you

The Case for

the Defence

It’s fun (no,

really!)

Autoethnograp

hy is

complementary

Autoethnograp

hy can teach us

how to be

better at what

we do

Thank

you

for

liste

nin

g!

Thank

you

for

liste

nin

g!

Martin Bashforth, ‘Absent Fathers, Present Histories’, in

People and their Pasts: Public History Today, ed. by Paul

Ashton and Hilda Kean (Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan,

2009), pp. 203-222

Heewon Chang, Autoethnography as Method, (California:

Left Coast Press, 2008)

Carolyn Ellis and Arthur P. Bochner, ‘Autoethnography,

Personal Narrative, Reflexivity: Researcher as Subject’, in

Handbook of Qualitative Research, 2nd edn. ed. by Norman

K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln (California: Sage

Publications Inc., 2000), pp. 733-768

Judith Etherton, ‘The Role of Archives in the Perception of

Self’, Journal of the Society of Archivists, 27:2 (2006), 227-

246Ruth Finnegan, ‘Family Myths, Memories and Interviewing’,

in The Oral History Reader, ed. by Robert Perks and Alistair

Thomson, pp. 177-183

Ellen T Luepker, Record Keeping in Psychotherapy and

Counselling: Projecting Confidentiality and the Professional

Relationship (New York: Brunner-Routledge, 2003)

Tessa Muncey, Creating Autoethnographies, (London: Sage

Publishers Ltd., 2010)

Deborah E. Reed-Danahay, (ed.), Auto/Ethnography:

Rewriting the Self and the Social, (Oxford: Berg, 1997)