Narrative inquiry is a type of qualitative research that explores human experiences through lived or told stories to understand a phenomenon. Narrative researchers collect data through spoken or written stories and life experiences of an individual (subject). The data is examined in chronological order to understand the meaning of the phenomenon…

This article shares my experiences writing an autoethnographic dissertation in a creative split-page format that presents both systematic scientific analysis and artistic storytelling. It joins the evocative and analytic styles of autoethnography. It analyzes my experiences as an adult with a disability in an ableist society, offering a…

Malika Oufkir of Morocco recounts her story in "Stolen Lives." Loung Ung of Cambodia relates her story in "First, They Killed My Father." Susan McDougal of Arkansas, USA, tells her story in the aptly named, "The Woman Who Wouldn't Talk." This paper looks at the struggles of these three very different women from very…

Based on the premise that the most viable form of discovery for the ethnographer is the personal essay--which has been called "the expression of the self thinking" (Alfred Kazin) or writing as learning and thinking--this paper examines the work of anthropologist Clifford Geertz in the light of that definition. Particular attention is…

Sylvia Plath's confessional poem, "Lady Lazarus" can be used to illustrate a connection between autobiography and social critique. "You poke and stir" among the institutions that form social relations--the educational system, the court system, the economic system--to find individuals whose lives, whose joys and pains, and…

The ability to function independently as a reader and writer in the society is defined here as "functional literacy" and includes, for gay or lesbian students, access to their own cultural literature and the recognition of a multi-cultural literacy that includes gay and lesbian culture. Two central beliefs are at the heart of the…

The struggle in the composition community regarding the place of personal narrative in academic writing became particularly acute for a class of undergraduate Critical Writing students undertaking ethnographic work. By mid-semester, students had read and produced a series of texts about culture and found themselves reading and writing about…

A study examined the narrative structures present in one young girl's writing and the way those themes were incorporated into a group's oral story creation. Stories were collected during a summer reading and writing group as part of a qualitative study exploring narrative structures being used by preadolescent girls. Subjects were 14 girls from…

This paper tells the story of its authors' living and teaching experiences in Afghanistan from 1967 to 1969. The paper explains that "Don" taught at Kabul University, "Alleen" taught at the American International School of Kabul, and their three young children were in elementary school. It describes their day-to-day activities…

Autobiography is now debated as ultimately problematic, a charge that may impede the growth of a growing cultural pedagogy. As a tool in the classroom, it is under siege for many reasons: because it does not teach "real-world" skills; because in asking students to deal with painful memories, it may impede intellectual and emotional growth; and…

In "The Uses of Diversity," the interpretive anthropologist, Clifford Geertz, says that it is impossible to completely get inside the point of view of another culture. Geertz contends, however, that despite multiple voices in the growing body of reflexive ethnographies there is still an author composing the work. Besides Geertz,…

A hypertext entitled "Reading the Map" comes from the exploration of an individual's own life. Observations, experiences, whatever comes to mind, become part of the text. This constant addition of information adds physically to the text, making a perceived move outward into the social. However, this additional information actually moves…

For one Sansei (third-generation Japanese American) university student who had been brought up by her Japanese grandparents, questions of who she was and how much upbringing and personal experiences had molded her were with her constantly. She questioned how much of her grandfather's and her mother's high expectations had to do with her lack of…

Literacy is inextricably linked to the social context in which literacy is taught, and in which the language is used. Cultural expectations require the use of specific literacies. Who a person is, in terms of a literacy user and a literacy worker are dictated by the culture in which a person chooses to operate. Literacy is not neutral, but an…

This paper intersperses events and experiences from the poet Nikki Giovanni's life--she emerged from the Black Rights Movement in the late 1960s--with student assignments in prereading, reading, discussion, and writing about Giovanni's poetry, specifically the poem "Nikki-Rosa." In addition, the paper describes an oral history project…