Auto/Ethnography and the Question of Ethics

Authors

  • Wolff-Michael Roth University of Victoria

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-10.1.1213

Keywords:

auto/ethnography, ethics, Self, Other

Abstract

Auto/ethnography has emerged as an important method in the social sciences for contributing to the project of understanding human actions and concerns. Although the name of the method includes "ethnography," auto/ethnography often is concerned exclusively with an abstract (i.e., undeveloped) and abstracting understanding, and therefore the writing, of the Self rather than the writing of the "ethno." Auto/ethnography, such conceived, is a form of therapy, in the best case, and a form of narcissism and autoerotic relation, in the worst case. But because the Self exists in relation to the world, becomes in and through participation in everyday events, and because the human relation is inherently ethical, there are inherent ethical questions where the Other may come to be harmed as much as the Self. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0901381

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Author Biography

Wolff-Michael Roth, University of Victoria

Wolff-Michael ROTH is Lansdowne Professor of Applied Cognitive Science at the University of Victoria.

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How to Cite

Roth, W.-M. (2008). Auto/Ethnography and the Question of Ethics. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-10.1.1213

Issue

Section

FQS Debate: Qualitative Research and Ethics

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