Autoethnography is growing in popularity in qualitative research, mostly in the social sciences, but no crossing over into the humanities (art, painting, video). In its development over the pas 20 years, the method has been called systematic sociological introspection (Ellis, 1991a), emotional sociology (Ellis, 1991b), radical empiricism, reflexive ethnography, auto-anthropology, and so on. This anthology will lean towards authoethnography as a "first person sociology" (see Koker, 1996) (there may be a First Person Anthropology volume as well) that aims to cover many aspects of the social sciences, under the umbrella of autoethnography.

While the "rules" of autoethnography have been governed by a small cabal of academics during its early growth, there has been evidence of younger scholars rebelling from the constraints and expanding on approaches and methodologies (just as autoethnography once rebelled against conservative praxis) -- while the form is generally a written genre following the intro/lit review/data/conclusion mode, some researchers have been using images, video, the internet, podcasts, vlogs, and even reality programming to perform their autoethnographic texts that break away from the conventions. These is subaltern pedagogy. While autoethnographies "tend to focus on tragic and/or negative events" (Speedy, 2008, p. 159) such as cancer, suicide, bi-polarism, physical ailments, natural death of loved ones, and that autoethnography's remarkable diva and co-creator, Ellis (2004), contends it is not feasible to create emotionally evocative texts that use systematic sociological introspection (Ellis, 1991a) to study the self in culture when one is feeling happiness, joy, hope and love. New scholars working in the autoethnographical mode disagree and have found the evocative in humor (Jones, 2007; Hemmingson, 2008a), sensuality and sexuality (Charles, 2007; Jewett, 2008; Hemmingson, 2008b, all following Goode, 2002), and so on.

This anthology is open to all approaches of the study of self in culture, the autoethnography, the "mystory" (Denzin, 1989), the layered account/messy text (Speedy, 2008), the performative and the methodological. The editor is especially interested in long chapters (8-15,000 words) or even an autoethnographic haiku.

Please keep literature reviewing to a basic minimum -- the editor's introduction, which is 14,000 words long, reviews all the major works of auto/e, so any review would become redundant. Two or three sentences of your method or form (layered account, memory work, performance dialogue, self-interview, etc) is all that is needed. When discussing the work of previous autoethnograhers, do so in your analysis/reflection section and how your work was inspired or related or addresses the other work. Methodology essays have already been accepted, but the editor will read "autoethnographies about autoethnography" if "new" and unique takes on method are addressed. What is needed is radical empiricism, narrative and first person sociology right now.

The anthology will be c. 100-120,000 words (400+ pages), including c. 10-12 chapters/essays. About 1/3 of the book has been pre-accepted. The editor will look at abstracts and completed works...

Deadline is February 1, 2009 -- however, if enough good work comes in before that, the anthology will close. So it is best to get your submissions in early.

Submit via email: michael.hemmingson@yahoo.com

REFERENCES

Charles. L. (2007). Intimate colonialisms. Walnut Creek: Left Coast.

Denzin, N.K. (1989). Interpretive biography. Newbury Park: Sage.

Ellis, C. (1991a). Sociological introspection and emotional experience. Symbolic Interaction, 14, 23-50.

Ellis, C. (1991b). Emotional sociology. Studies in Symbolic Interaction, 12, 123-145.

Ellis, C. (2004) The Ethnographic I. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press.

Goode, E. (2002). Sexual involvement and social research in a fat civil rights organization. Qualitative Sociology 25(4), 501-534.

Hayano, D.M. (1979). Auto-ethnography. Human Organization, 38, 99-104.

Hemmingson, M. (2008a) Make them giggle: Auto/ethnography as stand-up comedy. Creative Approaches to Research, 1(2), np.

Hemmingson, M. (2008b). Zona norte: An auto/ethnography of desire and addiction. Newscastle-on-Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars.

Jewett, L.M. (2008). A delicate dance: Autoethnography, curriculum, and the semblance of intimacy. New York: Peter Lang.

Jones, K. (2007). How Did I Get to Princess Margaret? (And How Did I Get Her to the World Wide Web?). Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 8(3), Art. 3, http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/3-07/07-3-3-e.htm.

Kolker, A. (1996). Thrown overboard: The human costs of health care rationing. In Ellis, C. & Bochner, A. P. (Eds.), Composing ethnography: Alternative forms of qualitative writing. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.

Speedy, J. (2008). Narrative inquiry and psychotherapy. Houndsmills, UK: Palgrave.