Autoethnography and the Other: Unsettling Power Through Utopian Performatives - Paperback

by Tami Spry (Author)

Challenging the critique of autoethnography as overly focused on the self, Tami Spry calls for a performative autoethnography that both unsettles the "I" and represents the Other with equal commitment. Expanding on her popular book Body, Paper, Stage, Spry uses a variety of examples, literary forms, and theoretical traditions to reframe this research method as transgressive, liberatory, and decolonizing for both self and Other. Her book

• draws on her own autoethnographic work with jazz musicians, shamans, and other groups;
• outlines a utopian performative methodology to spur hope and transformation;
• provides concrete guidance on how to implement this innovative methodological approach.

Author Biography

Tami Spry is a Professor of Performance Studies in the Communication Studies Department at St. Cloud State University (SCSU) in Minnesota. Spry's performance work, publications, directing, and pedagogy focus on the development of cultural critique that engenders dialogue about difficult sociocultural issues; specifically, her work engages issues of race, sexual assault, grief, shamanism, and mental illness. She was the director of the Players Performance Group at SCSU, teaches abroad in Alnwick, England, and has conducted ethnographic work in Chile with Mapuche and Peruvian shaman on the performative dimensions of healing rituals. Tami received the 2010 Central States Communication Association Award for Outstanding Scholar in Performance Studies and the 2014 Leslie Irene Coger Award for Outstanding Achievement in Performance through the National Communication Association. Her book Body, Paper, Stage: Writing and Performing Autoethnography was nominated for the 2012 Qualitative Book Award through the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry.