ERIC Number: EJ1005510
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1052-0147
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Available Date: N/A
Democratizing Academic Writing: A Revision of an Experience of Writing an Autoethnographic Dissertation in Color
Polanco, Marcela
Qualitative Report, v18 Article 33 2013
In this paper, I revise my experience of writing an autoethnographic (Ellis, 2004) dissertation in the field of family therapy as a Colombian mestiza. I discuss how I grappled with my writing, and, in the process, stumbled into matters of democratizing texts. I problematize male-dominant academic standards, telling of the tensions when maneuvering at marking cultural and gender differences in my text. I focus on the storywriting of my storytelling when writing aesthetic, evocative, and emotional stories as a woman of color, at the intersection between autobiography and ethnography (Ellis, 2004). I discern elements of my handicraft as an artisan autoethnographer in training, taking from my local knowledge and family therapy training, in particular narrative therapy (White & Epston, 1990). I include excerpts of my dissertation to illustrate how my narrative therapy practices, intermingled with my cultural storytelling traditions, assisted me in shaping my idiosyncratic autoethnographic stories. I hope to add to the diversification of writing in the academia to make it more democratic and accessible; and to continue conversations about alternative ways to go about it.
Descriptors: Academic Standards, Therapy, Ethnography, Autobiographies, Indigenous Knowledge, Family Counseling, Gender Differences, Story Telling, Academic Discourse, Writing (Composition), Hispanic Americans, Cultural Differences, Aesthetics, Females, Counselor Training, Doctoral Dissertations
Nova Southeastern University. 3301 College Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33317. Tel: 954-262-5389; Fax: 954-262-3970; Web site: http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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Author Affiliations: N/A