Queer Autoethnography: Telling Untold Stories Stacy Holman Jones Department of Communication Studies Queer Autoethnography: Telling Untold Stories demonstrates the ability of queer theory to generate novel and empowering understandings of difference, minority discourses, and identities through telling queer stories—stories of being recognized and valued and being ignored and dismissed, of being heard and being silenced—stories that are, as of yet, untold but that desperately need to be told. While queer theory is a powerful framework for understanding difference, minority discourses, and identities, it is often overlooked or dismissed by researchers and students because it is perceived to be jargon-laden, difficult, and impersonal. What’s often missing in queer theory texts and analyses are specific, engaging, and personal examples of the ideas at work—in context, in practice, in people’s lives. Queer Autoethnography will provide researchers and students with those examples, linking the personal storytelling of autoethnography with the intellectual and political commitments of queer theory. I received PFSP support to begin work on the manuscript during spring 2014. Work included inviting authors to provide brief exemplar texts that demonstrate the themes and ideas illustrated in each of the context/theme chapters. In addition, I drafted the introduction and context/theme chapter on queering selves and identities and presented this work in a keynote address at the UNC Charlotte Communication Studies Spring Colloquium (April 2014). In addition, I developed a draft of the queering relationships context/theme chapter and presented this work with my coauthor Tony E. Adams as part of a workshop at the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (May 2014). The manuscript is on track for December 2014 submission to Left Coast Press.

Always Strange and Strangely Familiar: Changing our Words and Worlds Using the Power of Theory and Storytelling featuring Dr. Stacy Holman Jones April 21, 2014 10 am – 12 pm

 

   Queer Autoethnography Stacy Holman Jones and Tony Adams 10th Annual International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry May 21, 12:30-3:30 The purpose of this workshop is to interrogate intersections of queer theory and autoethnography—particularly what queer theory can offer to/for autoethnography, what autoethnography can offer to/for queer theory, and how queer theory and modes of autoethnographic storytelling can enhance qualitative inquiry and motivate cultural and social change. Workshop participants are encouraged to bring a non-normative story to share. Together we will engage, write, and perform these stories as part of an effort to manifest, document, and illustrate how/why queer theory and autoethnography can enhance, and serve as a critical intervention into/for qualitative inquiry.