Fitting the Methodology with the Research: An exploration of narrative, self-study and auto-ethnography

This self-study follows my work on three professional knowledge landscapes (Clandinin & Connelly, 1996). It was an effort at revealing both my knowledge-in-practice and knowledge-of-practice (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2004) in order to uncover understandings about my own use advocacy as a classroom teacher, a new teacher mentor, and a teacher educator on a university campus. Through the course of the study, my attention turned toward my own use of advocacy as a classroom teacher, a new teacher mentor, and a teacher educator on a university campus—the places where tensions occurred. Advocacy experiences in all three of these roles tended to be dependent on maintaining a delicate balance of positioning between myself, the student, the new teacher, or mentee, and another school official. I was also able to see the ways my personal practical knowledge was lived in and out in the various situations.

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Storytelling as Self-Study: Exploring the Bildungsroman of Teacher Educators

LEARNing Landscapes ◽

10.36510/learnland.v11i2.967 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 345-353

Author(s):

The Self-Study Group

Keyword(s):

Lived Experiences ◽

Teacher Educators ◽

Life Story ◽

Teacher Educator ◽

Literary Genre ◽

Narrative Self ◽

Individual Teacher ◽

Self Study ◽

Group A ◽

Self Formation

This article presents the reflections of The Self-Study Group, a community of teacher educators and scholars. In this article, we utilize the theoretical framework of Bildung and the literary genre of Bildungsroman to explore the work of being a teacher educator. Drawing upon the results of a narrative self-study, we explore how, for individual teacher educators, the significance of teacher education stems from one’s life story, including lived experiences from being a child, being a student, and being a teacher. We argue that the acts of authoring and telling of stories have the potential to illuminate the interconnected nature of the personal and the professional dimensions of teacher educator self-formation.

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A narrative self-study : how do I demonstrate my multi-cultural origins in my art of fashion?

10.51415/10321/1348 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Thandiwe Elsie Madubela

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

Lived Experiences ◽

Visual Analysis ◽

Digital Camera ◽

Fashion Design ◽

Narrative Self ◽

Self Study ◽

Cultural Origins ◽

Born Again ◽

Mix And Match

My study is a qualitative research self-study. The aim of the study is to demonstrate how my multi-cultural origins have created in me my unique South African-ness and how this uniqueness has manifested in my art of fashion design. As a critically reflective practitioner-researcher trying to improve my professional practice, I have used multiple methodologies to answer the question in the title of my introspective study, “A Narrative Self-Study: How do I demonstrate my multi-cultural origins in my art of fashion?” I have used critical reflection, action research, narrative enquiry, and auto-ethnography to account for how my discovery of my amaXhosa and amaMpondo roots has interacted with my Bosotho-ness, and my Born-again Christian awareness. I have thus transformed my understanding of myself, my values, my beliefs about myself and the world around me. I collected the data in a number of different ways: I reflected on the lived experiences of my childhood; I observed and participated in cultural rituals, and reflected on these lived experiences; I used unstructured interviews to talk to many people who provided information which I recorded using a digital camera and took notes. These experiences and reflections enabled me to develop a Mix-and-Match Fusion Fashion design range of outfits. My Mix-and-Match Fusion Fashion design range incorporates a number of elements which identify with all of my cultural origins. I believe that my Mix-and-Match Fusion Fashion range demonstrates my South African-ness in my art of fashion design. It represents and expresses, symbolizes and celebrates the transition of my beliefs and understanding of my journey of self-discovery involving my five personas. I have used visual methodologies to analyse my designs and employed visual analysis to discuss my findings. I believe that Africans are increasingly proudly wearing and accepting their traditional attire as high fashion. I believe that the design of my Mix-and-Match Fusion Fashion range is suitable for the Southern African market, and demonstrates that I have effectively used my multi-cultural origins to improve my art of fashion.

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