NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
PDF on ERIC Download full text
ERIC Number: EJ1005510
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1052-0147
EISSN: N/A
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.
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
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A