Session Time and Date: May 22, 2.30 pm CET 

Presenter: Dr. Lily Herakova, Associate Professor and Director of Communication Education, University of Maine, Orono, USA

Presenter bio: Dr. Herakova utilizes critical narrative, performance, and autoethnographic methodologies to study the production and negotiation of relational identities and cultures of support and equity in interpersonal, health, and higher education contexts. She is moved by a lasting interest in engaging (with) differences toward world-building. Methodologically, this translates into bringing  in dialogue critical social scientific and creative, arts-based approaches. Her work is published in international journals and edited collections across communication, education, healthcare, library science, and feminist pedagogies. Personally, Dr. Herakova is rooted in the traditions and rituals of her intercultural and transnational family, her love of Bulgarian language, storytelling, and poetry, and her experiences of immigration, parenting, and activism. 

Title: Autoethnography as a Method of Cultural Analysis, Critique, and Healing

Abstract: This workshop introduces autoethnography as a critical interdisciplinary research method, focusing both on its epistemological and ontological underpinnings and on practical steps. We will review a succinct genealogy of autoethnography and its movement from the academic fringes toward becoming more widely used and recognized. Participants will learn autoethnography's connection to broader calls for and processes of de-westernizing Communication Studies and academia as a whole. Through guided discussion and practical exercises, we will explore what kinds of questions are best addressed autoethnographically and how to move from questions and aha-moments to narrative to analysis and back again. We will consider the frequent critique that autoethnography lacks rigor and reflect on how relational ethics, vulnerability, and accountability can re-define rigor, especially in collaborative and engaged autoethnographies.  

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Once you have signed up, you will receive a zoom link to join the workshop as a calendar invite a week before the session.