Writing Methods in Theological Reflection

Heather Walton

• Publisher: SCM Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780334051855
• eBook ISBN: 9780334051879
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

Writing Methods in Theological Reflection offers a stimulating, provocative and accessible book that will be of use to students and practitioners who are seeking ways to use their own experience in the work of spiritual and theological reflection.

part 1

Autoethnography

1

Approaching Autoethnography

What is Autoethnography?

Autoethnography can be defined as ‘an approach to research and writing that seeks to describe and systematically analyse (graphy) personal experience (auto) in order to understand cultural experience (ethno)’ (Ellis, Adams and Bochner 2011). The emphasis upon both ‘analysis’ and ‘cultural experience’ places autoethnography alongside other forms of social research that seek to observe and interpret cultural life.

The echoing of the word ‘ethnography’ within the term is an important marker of its meaning. Ethnography is the multi-layered study of cultural forms as they exist in everyday contexts. Its use links the autoethnographic project back to traditions of social investigation developed by pioneering anthropologists such as Franz Boas (1858–1942) and Bronislaw Malinowski (1884–1942). They developed traditions of inquiry based upon acute observational and interpretative skills in order to categorize and represent the ‘ways of life’ they encountered in their early ethnographic studies. A key part of this approach to research has always been the self-conscious use of the self as research instrument – indeed the acute, observing self is the guarantor of the authenticity of data. However, autoethnography takes this process a good deal further. Instead of the researcher being a disciplined observer of social processes ‘out there’, the project is brought much closer to home. The focus in autoethnography is upon the analysis and communication of those experiences that have shaped the researcher. Personal experience becomes a data source for ‘a critically reflexive methodology . . . [that] provides a framework to critically reflect upon the ways in which our personal lives intersect, collide and commune with others in the body politic’ (Spry 2011, p. 54).

This recognition of the significance of particular, located and embodied experience has been made possible by the postmodern reflexive turn in epistemology. It is critically linked to liberative movements such as feminism, postcolonialism and queer theory, which have all emphasized the importance of the standpoint from which we view the world (see previous chapter). Although autoethnography has taken a defined shape only within the past 20 years, it has been enthusiastically embraced by an emerging generation of researchers who are keen to write themselves ‘into a deeper critical understanding . . . of the ways in which our lives intersect with larger sociocultural pains and privileges’ (Spry 2011, p. 51). One reason why it has proved so attractive is that it has sought to communicate these ‘pains and privileges’ in strong, evocative ways that provoke empathetic responses. In so doing it has breached many of the boundaries between art and the social sciences and generated controversy and critique (see, for example, Denzin 2006). Although it is such a young movement, it is already possible to identify divergent streams within it that represent different interpretations of the ‘claims to truth’ made in autoethnographical texts (see Ellis, Adams and Bochner 2011). I have chosen to explore three of the main currents of contemporary autoethnographic research that have particular relevance to the reflective theological researcher.

Forms of Autoethnography

Telling Evocative Stories

This is the vision for autoethnography that is powerfully articulated in the work of two of its most well-known advocates: Caroline Ellis and Art Bochner. It was their essay in the second edition of the Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research entitled Collecting and Interpreting Qualitative Materials (Ellis and Bochner 2003) that heralded the emergence of autoethnography onto the world stage. In this early ‘manifesto’ they state quite clearly that the aim of autoethnography is to provoke feeling in order to generate an empathetic response to:

a self or some aspect of a life lived in a cultural context. In personal narrative texts authors become ‘I’, readers become ‘you,’. . . [and] take more active roles as they are invited into the author’s world [and e]voked to a feeling level about the events described . . .The goal is to write meaningfully and evocatively about things that matter and may make a difference . . . and to write from an ethic of care and concern. (Ellis and Bochner 2003, p. 213)

It is important to note that an emphasis still remains upon the interpretation of ‘cultural context’. Indeed, Ellis and Bochner show a particular interest in those areas of social life that are rarely publicly narrated or addressed. But this cultural analysis is made possible through recounting experiences of personal transformation,

‘epiphanies’ – remembered moments perceived to have significantly impacted the trajectory of a person’s life . . . times of existential crises that forced a person to attend to and analyze lived experience . . . and events after which life does not seem quite the same. (Ellis, Adams and Bochner 2011)

The hope is that the constructing narratives of such life-changing events (including, for example, bullying, bereavement, work challenges, consciousness of ethnic identity, sexual practice, abuse, childbirth, abortion, cancer treatment) will enable deeper perceptions to emerge. As generating these changed understandings has now become a major research goal, considerable attention has to be paid to constructing the autoethnographic text. It must be carefully crafted and is often written in narrative form, employing a variety of literary techniques to move hearts and change minds. ‘Autoethnography wants the reader to care, to feel, to empathize and to do something, to act’ (Ellis and Bochner 2006, p. 433).

This is not to say that the experiences being recounted and the events surrounding them have no significance beyond their emotive power. I think it is very interesting that, despite her frequent affirmations of the importance of literary style, Ellis is a very ‘realistic’, no-nonsense sort of writer who wants to make very clear that people’s actions and life choices take place within specific social contexts. It is, rather, that there is a frank acknowledgement of the importance of the writing process to research. Questions of the truth and reliability of an autoethnographic text are thus intimately bundled together with issues of style and representation. Those who advocate evocative autoethnography would argue that this has in fact always been the case even in traditional forms of ethnographic research. Ultimately, we are always drawn back to questions concerning our trust in a narrator and our response to the narrator’s voice.

I hope it will be clear that this form of autoethnography has a great deal to offer the reflective theological writer. Very often we will seek to speak out of epiphanic moments of transformation. Frequently these epiphanies will be linked to embodied experiences that are rarely voiced in institutional religious contexts but nevertheless carry great significance for us. Evocative autoethnographic writing can also convey the complexity and ambiguity of our religious selves. Schooled in traditions of Bible reading, preaching and liturgy, we are already imbued with a sense of the purpose and power of evocative language forms. The challenge is to use these anew in expressing accounts of everyday selves and contemporary spiritual life.

Analytic Autoethnography

While many autoethnographers are pursuing paths that take their work further and further away from the traditional forms of social investigation, there are others who believe that the pendulum has now swung too far in the direction of artistic creativity and emotional expression. These critics acknowledge that autoethnography makes a lively, timely and significant contribution to qualitative research. However, they wish to harness its energies to serve a more conventional research agenda – namely the desire to investigate and theorize about the social world.

This view was powerfully expressed in an influential article by Leon Anderson entitled ‘Analytic Autoethnography’ (2006). Anderson stated that he wished to celebrate ‘the value of autoethnographic research within the analytic ethnographic paradigm’ (2006, p. 374). It was his belief that the standard ethnographic methods involving journal keeping and note taking have been self-reflexive from their beginnings. Furthermore, insider perspectives have long been recognized and valued within dominant research traditions, provided that the normal critical assessment is made of these and that personal experience is not seen as the guarantor of truth. The position he advocates is that autoethnography be recognized as making a valuable contribution, within proper limits and among other methods, to the processes through which we seek to accumulate data and analyse the world.

This approach might seem modest and sensible. However, Anderson is operating out of what is termed a ‘realist paradigm’. He seeks to use autoethnographic material alongside other empirical data ‘to gain insight into some broader set of social phenomena than those provided by the data themselves’ (2006, p. 387). The processes of generalization, abstraction and theory building that constitute the analytic approach he espouses are anathema to some autoethnographers. They insist on retaining the focus upon particularity and see all social theories as constructed narratives masquerading as factual accounts.

I do not think it is necessary for the reflective theological writer to take up arms in this particular battle. Some of us will tend towards realist epistemologies, and indeed realist theologies, others of us will see the world as constructed and understand our theologies as similarly shaped by human hands. However, this does not mean that these worldviews should never communicate or that we should not see that there are social and political imperatives that require us at times to proceed in one way rather than another. I personally have supervised several doctoral theses in which autoethnography has been effectively combined with other forms of data generation that claim empirical credentials. Often this is the only way that the research would have been judged useful and trustworthy in the context it was intended to influence. I was happy to share in this research work despite the fact that I am personally suspicious of realist paradigms.

This may seem like a hopelessly pragmatic approach. However, perhaps the theologian in the world of social research can afford the luxury of not playing by the rules. Our theistic commitments mean any position we subscribe to is likely to be viewed as anomalous within the academic guild. Analytic discourses can be useful instruments for those seeking to promote political changes in the Church and society at large. Nor do I think that we should fear the contamination of theory – although we can view it in various ways ranging from analytic truth to social mythology. I am perfectly happy to append my autoethnographic reflections to articles that are otherwise written in theoretical terms – and have included an example of such practice in this book. In short, I think the reflective theological writer should understand what is at stake in debates between evocative and analytic autoethnographers but not feel the need to be unduly restricted by these considerations in terms of their own writing practices.

Performance Autoethnography

The last form of autoethnography discussed here is ‘performance autoethnography’. The term ‘performance’ is not used to imply it takes place in a theatre (although it may do so), but rather that speaking from experience can be a staged act, an intervention, a public and political display. It may be a display that takes place textually or in an educational context. However, even in such cases, its impact is intended to extend beyond the academic environment.

The understanding behind performance ethnography is that the social world is a performed world in which people act out their lives in accordance with the ‘big scripts’ of race, economics, gender and so on. However, within the performance of personal lives there is always the chance to improvise, invent and change – or simply forget your lines and thus make involuntary adaptations. This is why the insertion of personal testimony into the social arena is so important. It challenges the idea that there is just one way to be, just one form of the ‘good life’, and insists that experience is infinitely varied, particular and creative. As Spry writes, ‘Performative autoethnography is designed to offer stories alternative to normative, taken for granted assumptions that clog our understanding about the diversity of experience and the systems of power that hold “a single story” in place’ (2011, p. 56).

While there is a good deal of common ground between evocative ethnography and performance ethnography, it is the political commitment of the latter approach that is particularly significant. Performances are not simply retellings of personal narratives. Performance autoethnography also mimes dominant narratives in order to undermine them. ‘Performers’ use many different voices and often their ‘texts’ are collages (including visual and auditory elements) or br...

Table of contents

• Writing Methods in Theological Reflection
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction Reflective Theological Writing
• Part 1 Autoethnography
• 1 Approaching Autoethnography
• 2 Calls to Preach
• 3 Betraying Faith
• 4 Desiring Things
• Part 2 Journalling
• 5 Approaching Journalling
• 6 The Course Outline: Teaching Theology through Creative Writing
• 7 Between Ascension and Pentecost: Towards a Theology of Adoption
• 8 Sad Summer Days
• Part 3 Life Writing
• 9 Approaching Life Writing
• 10 Bindweed
• 11 The Divine Economy of Motherhood
• 12 Wild Gardens on the Edge of the World
• Part 4 Poetics, Theology and Practice
• 13 Approaching Poetics
• 14 Poetics and Practical Theology
• 15 Poetics and Public Theology
• 16 Poetics and Pastoral Care
• 17 Seeking Wisdom in Practical Theology:Phronesis, Poetics and Everyday Life
• Bibliography