Autoethnography and the Archive What anthropological research methods can do for the archive professional

Why do researchers choose their methods? Objectivity versus Subjectivity Objectivity versus Subjectivity Researcher versus Subject Researcher versus Subject How a researcher situates themselves in their project can determine their results How a researcher situates themselves in their project can determine their results Our research methods shape our work as professionals Our research methods shape our work as professionals

Alexander Randall ( ) Register entry for the birth of Alexander Randall accessed via [30 th July 2011]

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

Martin Bashforth, ‘Absent Fathers, Present Histories’, in People and their Pasts   ‘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 we do? 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 autoethnography?

Autoethnograph y “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

Definitions of autoethnography   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)

Definitions of autoethnography   ‘… 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)

Definitions of autoethnography   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)

Definitions of autoethnography   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, 2 nd edn. (2000)

Autoethnography Autoethnography 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 Collection  Field notes: Caribbean Family History Group Meetings  Diary: research the life of my maternal grandfather  Interview with a family historian

Betrayed by the Record Detail from the death certificate of Alexander Randall

Interview Extract “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.”

Autoethnography: why / why 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!)  Autoethnography is complementary  Autoethnography can teach us how to be better at what we do

Thank you for listening!

  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   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, 2 nd edn. ed. by Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln (California: Sage Publications Inc., 2000), pp   Judith Etherton, ‘The Role of Archives in the Perception of Self’, Journal of the Society of Archivists, 27:2 (2006),   Ruth Finnegan, ‘Family Myths, Memories and Interviewing’, in The Oral History Reader, ed. by Robert Perks and Alistair Thomson, pp   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)