Published
August 18, 2010
Keywords
- autoethnography,
- multivocality,
- researcher,
- subjectivity,
- reflexivity
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Abstract
This article analyzes and discusses the notion of including multivocality as an autoethnographic method to: (a) illustrate that there is no single and temporally-fixed voice that a researcher possesses, (b) unfix identity in a way that exposes the fluid nature of identity as it moves through particular contexts, and (c) deconstruct competing tensions within the autoethnographer as s/he connects the personal self to the social context. After providing a short, multivocal vignette based on the author’s previous work assignment as a teacher educator in Kosovo, the author offers a reflective analysis of his approach. His analysis includes a critical discussion around the benefits and challenges of using such a method in autoethnography. The author concludes that research-oriented institutions might be resistant to validating multivocality as research practice given the myopic view that “voice” is linear, categorizable, and one-dimensional. In this way, the use of multivocality in autoethnography can also be understood as a way to liberate research practices from oppressive institutional rules and restrictions.