Researching Sensitive Topics through Autoethnographic Means

Abstract

This study argues for the utility of autoethnographic self-reflective approaches for the study of sensitive topics such as cabaret sex work, Internet pornography, codependence, and sexual addiction. Self-reflective accounts, derived from personal documents such as diary entries, interviews with significant others, personal recollections, and correspondence, constitute the primary data resource for autoethnographic research. Themes and by-themes are derived from such accounts, and they are carefully recorded and analyzed to ensure validity and reliability. Self-reflective accounts also have considerable therapeutic utility, since they can be utilized in narrative techniques to enable clients to retell, relive, and reconstruct their subjugated stories, thereby empowering them for positive change.

Sexual Harassment in the Hospitality Industry in the Republic of Cyprus: Theory and Prevention

“…Creating General Awareness Kleinman (1998) and Kleinman and Copp (1993) suggest that when sensitive issues such as sexual harassment are brought to the forefront of personal consciousness and academic scrutiny, they tend to create or amplify general awareness and may even create the spark for political agendas (Philaretou & Allen, 2006). This study's aim has also revolved around creating general awareness concerning the plight of disadvantaged individuals-such as female employees in the hospitality industry-struggling with oppressive socio-cultural backgrounds and stigmatized sexual identities-specifically, how essentialist conceptions of male/female sexuality and capitalist economic trading are intertwined.…”

The ghost of nativespeakerism: The case of teacher classroom introductions in transnational contexts

“…Unlike other qualitative research methods, the data collection in autoethnography most often occurs even before the researcher intends to conduct the study. Philaretou and Allen () warn autoethnographic researchers not to “mold” (p. 68) their recollections and analysis to fit emerging themes. Ideally, as in Case 2, Teaching ESL Composition in the United States, I could provide some unprompted student voices to show how students responded to my introduction.…”

“…One external datum that I utilized to enhance the content richness of my recollection is the teaching journal that I kept since teaching in the United States. Philaretou and Allen () note that personal diaries can be an effective tool to understand a person’s “moods, intrapsychic states of being, and most intimate thoughts and actions” (p. 68). While triangulating my self‐narrative with the teaching journal, I was aware that I did not keep a journal when I was teaching in Indonesia.…”

Three generations of Lancashire women

“…There is a developing interest in the exploration of personal narratives from the researcher, also known as narratives of the self or autoethnographies (Sparkes, 2000). These personalised, revealing narratives become possible when we accept that the researcher and subject are one (Philaretou & Allen, 2006). This style of writing aims to combine the outward gaze of ethnography with the inward reflection of autobiography (Schwandt, 2001cited in Havitz, 2007.…”