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Autoethnography

The advent of autoethnography, a form of qualitative social science research that combines an author’s narrative self-reflection with analytical interpretation of the broader contexts in which that individual operates (e.g. Etherington, 2004; Chang, 2008), has come at a critical time for the discipline of music. In the UK, the expectation of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) that creative practice outputs will be contextualised through an accompanying commentary signals the urgency for establishing scholarly structures suited to the discussion of one’s own work by performers, composers, and music technologists alike.

The recent inauguration of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), meanwhile, places a renewed emphasis on pedagogic research, for which autoethnography will increasingly prove to be critical in facilitating discourse on individual teachers’ experiences, in anticipation of the upcoming subject pilot for TEF and discipline-level evaluation being implemented more widely thereafter. As a methodology, autoethnography also yields enormous breadth of potential elsewhere in music studies, with the capacity to support academic enquiry encompassing individual experiences as listener or concert-goer, habits and modes of music consumption, and conduct as fans or aficionados.

Research Outputs 

  • Christopher Wiley and Peter Gouzouasis (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Autoethnography and Self-Reflexivity in Music Studies (under contract, publication 2022). 25 chapters.
  • Christopher Wiley, ‘Exploring the integration of teaching and research in the contemporary classroom: An autoethnographic enquiry into designing an undergraduate music module on Adele’s 25 album’, Arts & Humanities in Higher Education: An international journal of theory, research, and practice. doi: 10.1177/14740222211013759.
  • Christopher Wiley, ‘Autoethnography, autobiography, and creative art as academic research in music studies: A fugal ethnodrama’, Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education, Vol. 18, No. 2 (July 2019), pp. 73–115. doi: 10.22176/act18.2.73. Available online at <http://act.maydaygroup.org/volume-18-issue-2/act-18-2-wiley/>.
  • Two-day international online conference, ‘The Autoethnography of Composition and the Composition of Autoethnography’, hosted by the University of Glasgow and the University of Surrey, 17–18 June 2020. Conference programme: https://christopherwiley.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/conference-brochure-17.06.20.pdf
  • Two-day international conference, ‘Beyond “Mesearch”: Autoethnography, self-reflexivity, and personal experience as academic research in music studies’, Institute of Musical Research, University of London, 16–17 April 2018. Conference programme: https://christopherwiley.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/imr-beyond-mesearch-conference-programme-16-17-april-2018.pdf

Bibliography of autoethnography in/and music studies 

Armstrong, T., & Desbruslais, S. (2014) Composer and Performer: An Experimental Turn and its Consequences. Paper presented at the Institute of Musical Research, 2 June 2014. <http://www.academia.edu/8823063/Composer_and_Performer_An_
Experimental_Turn_and_its_Consequences>.

Bakan, D.L. (2014). A song of songs: A/r/tography, autoethnography, and songwriting as music education research. PhD diss., University of British Columbia. <http://circle.ubc.ca/handle/2429/51903>

Bakan, D.L. (2016). ‘The fountain pen’: Song and storying through a/r/tographical conversation with senile dementia. Creative Approaches to Research, 9(1), 4–18.

Bartleet, B.-L., & Ellis, C. (2009) (eds.) Music Autoethnographies: Making Autoethnography Sing/Making Music Personal. Bowen Hills: Australian Academic Press.

Bonfield-Brown, J. (2018) Assessing Musical Ability: An Action Research Study in Instrumental Music Tuition. EdD diss., Nottingham Trent University.

Findlay-Walsh, I. (2018) Sonic autoethnographies: personal listening as compositional context. Organised Sound, 23(1), 121–130.

Gouzouasis, P. (2018) A/r/tographic inquiry in a new tonality: The relationality of music and poetry. In P. Leavy (ed.) Handbook of Arts-Based Research. New York: Guilford, pp. 233–246.

Gouzouasis, P. (2019) (ed.) Special Issue. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education, 18(2). <http://act.maydaygroup.org/volume-18-issue-2/>

Gouzouasis, P., & Bakan, D. (2018) Jamming on a tune: Arts-Based Educational Research in community music research. In B-L. Bartleet & L. Higgins (Eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Research in Community Music. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 573–592.

Gouzouasis, P., & Ihnatovych, D. (2016) The dissonant duet: An autoethnography of a music teacher-student relationship. Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies, 14(2), 14–32. <http://jcacs.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/jcacs/article/view/40268/0>.

Gouzouasis, P., & Leggo, C. (2016) Performative research in music and poetry: A pedagogy of listening. In P. Burnard, L. Mackinlay, & K. Powell (eds.) The Routledge International Handbook of Intercultural Arts Research. Abingdon, UK: Taylor & Francis/Routledge, pp. 454–466.

Gouzouasis, P., & Regier, C. (2015) Adolescent love and relationships: An autoethnography of songwriting and guitar playing. Journal of Artistic & Creative Education, 9(1), 68–98.

Gouzouasis, P., & Ryu, J.Y. (2015) A pedagogical tale from the piano studio: Autoethnography in early childhood music education research. Music Education Research, 17(4), 397–420.

Gouzouasis, P., & Yanko, M. (2018) Reggio’s arpeggio: Becoming pedagogical through autoethnography. In W. Parnell & J.M. Iorio (eds.) Meaning making in early childhood research: Pedagogies and the personal. New York: Routledge, pp. 56–70.

Gouzouasis, P., & Yanko, M. (2019) Learning stories and Reggio Emilia-inspired documentation: Formative methods of assessment for the elementary school music classroom. In P.P. Trifonas & S. Jagger (eds.) Handbook of Cultural Studies and Education. New York: Routledge, pp. 486–582.

Harrison, C.M. (2016) A songwriter’s journey from little-c to Pro-C creativity: An applied analytical autoethnography. PhD diss., University of Newcastle, Australia. <http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1315652>.

Hawley, R. (forthcoming) A reflexive study of musician practice in a paediatric hospital setting. PhD diss., SOAS, University of London.

Kinchin, I.M. & Wiley, C. (2017) Tracing pedagogic frailty in arts and humanities education: An autoethnographic perspective. Arts & Humanities in Higher Education, 0(0), 1–24. <http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/813547/>.

Kennett, C. (2008) A Tribe Called Chris: Pop music analysis as idioethnomusicology. Open Space, 10, 8–19.

Lee, K.V. (2008) Scrabble: An autoethnography about adoption. Iowa Journal of Communication, 40(1&2), 115–25.

Lee. K.V. (2008) A slice of fruitcake: An autoethnographic reflection. Journal of Aging, Humanities and Arts, 2(1), 41–7.

Lee, K.V. (2010) An autoethnography: Music therapy after laser eye surgery. Qualitative Inquiry, 16(4), 244–8.

Lee, K.V., & Gouzouasis, P. (2016) Suicide is painless: An autoethnography of tragedy. LEARNing Landscapes, 9(2), 339–50.

Lee, K.V., & Gouzouasis, P. (2017) Tommy’s tune: Autoethnographic duet. Qualitative Inquiry, 23(4), 316–20.

Manovski, M.P. (2014) Arts-Based Research, Autoethnography, and Music Education: Singing Through a Culture of Marginalization. Rotterdam: Sense.

Spry, T. (2010) Call it swing: A jazz blues autoethnography. Cultural Studies <=> Critical Methodologies, 10(4), 271–82.

Wiley, C., & Franklin, J. (2017) Framed autoethnography and pedagogic frailty: A comparative analysis of mediated concept maps. In: I.M. Kinchin and N. Winstone (eds.) Pedagogic Frailty and Resilience in the University. Rotterdam: Sense, pp. 17–32. <http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/821076/>.

Wiley, C. (2019) Autoethnography, autobiography, and creative art as academic research in music studies: A fugal ethnodrama. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education, 18(2), 73–115. <http://act.maydaygroup.org/volume-18-issue-2/act-18-2-wiley/>.

Williams, B. (2018) Preparation, rehearsal, performance, and reflection: A conductor’s autoethnographical study of the process of interpretation. PhD diss., University of St Andrews.

Yanko, M., & Gouzouasis, P. (2019) Storied forms of assessment and the aesthetic experiences of young learners: The timbre of a rainbow. In P.P. Trifonas (ed.) Handbook of Theory and Research in Cultural Studies and Education. Netherlands: Springer, pp. 1–18. <https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01426-1_61-1>

General bibliography on autoethnography

Acosta, S., Goltz, H.H., & Goodson, P. (2015) Autoethnography in action research for health education practitioners. Action Research, 0(0), 1–21.

Anderson, L. (2006) Analytic autoethnography. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 35(4), 373–95.

Austin, J., & Hickey, A. (2007) Autoethnography and Teacher Development. The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 2. <http://eprints.usq.edu.au/3287/>.

Banks. S., & Banks, A. (2000) Reading ‘the critical life’: Autoethnography as pedagogy. Communication Education, 49(3), 233–8.

Belbase, S., Luitel, B., & Taylor, P. (2008) Autoethnography: A method of research and teaching for transformative education. Journal of Education and Research, 1(1), 86–95.

Bickel, B. (2005) From artist to a/r/tographer: An autoethnographic ritual inquiry into writing on the body. Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, 2(2), 8–17.

Bochner, A.P., & Ellis, C. (2016) Evocative autoethnography: Writing lives and telling stories. New York: Routledge.

Chang, H. (2008) Autoethnography as method. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast.

Chang, H., Ngunjiri, F., & Hernandez, K. (2013) Collaborative autoethnography. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast.

Denzin, N., & Lincoln, Y. (eds.) (2000) The handbook of qualitative research, 2nd edn. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Dyson, M. (2007) My Story in a Profession of Stories: Auto Ethnography – an Empowering Methodology for Educators. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 32(1), 36–48.

Ellis, C. (2000) Creating criteria: An autoethnographic short story. Qualitative Inquiry, 6(2), 273–7.

Ellis, C. (2004) The ethnographic I: A methodological novel about autoethnography. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira.

Ellis, C. (2009) Autoethnography as method. Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, 32(2), 360–3.

Ellis, C., & Bochner, A. (2006) Analyzing Analytic Autoethnography: An Autopsy. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 35(4), 429–49.

Ellis, C., Adams, T., & Bochner, A. (2010) Autoethnography: An overview. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 12(1). <http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1589/3095>.

Etherington, K. (2004) Becoming a Reflexive Researcher: Using our selves in research. London: Kingsley.

Hayler, M. (2011) Autoethnography, self-narrative and teacher education. Rotterdam: Sense.

Hernández, F., Sancho, J., Creus, A., & Montané, A. (2010) Becoming university scholars: Inside professional autoethnographies. Journal of Research Practice, 6(1), Article M7. <http://jrp.icaap.org/index.php/jrp/article/viewFile/204/218>.

Holt, N.L. (2003) Representation, legitimation, and autoethnography: An autoethnographic writing story. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 2(1), 1–22.

Jones, S., Adams, T., & Ellis, C. (eds.) Handbook of Autoethnography. Walnut Creek, CA: West Coast.

Learmonth, M., & Humphreys, M. (2011) Autoethnography and academic identity: glimpsing business school doppelgängers. Organization, 19(1), 99–117.

Meneley, A., & Young, D. (eds.) (2005) Auto-ethnographies: The anthropology of academic practices. Peterborough, ON: Broadview.

Pelias, R. (2014) An autoethnographic writer’s request to readers. International Review of Qualitative Research, 7(3), 279–82.

Reed-Danahay, D. (ed.) (1997) Auto/ethnography: Rewriting the self and the social. New York: Berg.

Roth, W. (ed.) (2005) Auto/biography and auto/ethnography: Praxis of research method. Rotterdam: Sense.

Shreeve, A. (2009) ‘I’d rather be seen as a practitioner, come in to teach my subject’: Identity Work in Part-Time Art and Design Tutors. International Journal of Art & Design Education, 28(2), 151–9.

Spry, T. (2001) Performing autoethnography: An embodied methodological praxis. Qualitative Inquiry, 7(6), 706–32.

Spry, T. (2011) Body, paper, stage: Writing and performing autoethnography. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast.

Tolich, M. (2010) A critique of current practice: Ten foundational guidelines for autoethnographers. Qualitative Health Research, 20, 1599–610.

Trahar, S. (2013) Autoethnographic Journeys in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. European Educational Research Journal, 12(3), 367–75.

Vasconcelos, E. (2011) ‘I Can See You’: An Autoethnography of My Teacher-Student Self. The Qualitative Report, 16(2), 415–40. <http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR16-2/vasconcelos.pdf>.

Wiley, C. (2014) Academic leadership in learning and teaching in higher education: A personal reflection on one programme director’s professional development. Learning at City Journal, 4(2), 39–49. <http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/4896/1/L%40C_Journal_Volume_4_Number_2_-_Article_4.pdf>.