How Autoethnography Works

Abstract

The aim of the article is to reveal the modern autoethnographic approach to social research. The review of publications edited since the beginning of the 2000's has shown that autoethnography works as a planned, well-structured confession correlating with the outside world. The essentially open and uncompromising representation of each detail in the author’s personal story related to the subject matter, alongside with his/her shift away from neutrality and organized skepticism (according to Merton) in respect of the research issue, establish the principles for an autobiographical approach. The article reflects the peculiarities of modern autoethnographic schools, and describes the methods and techniques of autobiographical writing. There are two trends of autoethnography that are distinguished in Western tradition: evocative autoethnography, which is based on queer theory, and analytical autoethnography, traditionally oriented to conceptual apparatus. The first evocative trend is founded on the metaphors of emotional, authentic, and veracious representations of cultural realities through the autobiographical genre. The second trend, analytical autoethnography, is supported by three research prescriptions: the actual membership in the studied community, and avoidance of understatements, including the unspoken, non-prescribed details of ethnographic work; the desire for theoretical understanding of reality; and the rejection of any authentic reflection of the past. Over the past 20–30 years, there has not been any significant autoethnographic project implemented by the Russian research community appealing to the development of independent theoretical descriptive language. The only exception to the rule is Alexeyev’s so-called "dramaturgical sociology", adjacent to the queer ideology of some Western colleagues. The paper represents a detailed analysis of research innovation embedded by Alexeyev, as well as a logical and theoretical overlapping with the works of foreign authors.