Research for Social Change: Using …

1 Research for Social change : Using autoethnography to FosterTransformative LearningBy Michette Gtowacki-Dudka, Marjorie Treff, and Irianti UsmanIn this column, we address the fijturedirections issue of how to integrateresearch and practice into increasinglydiverse classroom and Social have a critical responsibility toacknowledge, respect, and understandpeople from diverse backgrounds. In thecurrent classroom environment wheremany diverse cultures are represented, autoethnography may be an importanttool to aid in our understanding of eachother's backgrounds. As a sociologicalform of autobiography, autoethnographyhelps people step outside their immediatepersonal constraints to examine their socialworld through new eyes.

2 Thus, we believeautoethnography, as a Research method andeducational practice, may be a promisingway to promote personal transformationwhich, in tum, may lead to cross-culturalunderstanding and Social following example illustrates howautoethnography can shift one's inwardly-focused attention to an outward socially-oriented focus:Five years after an immersiveexperience of ving and working in Jeddah,Saudi Arabia, personal circumstancesand professional opportunity intersected:it was time for me (Michelle) to beginsynthesizing, analyzing, and writing aboutthis extraordinary, hfe-changing with two colleagues, I began myanalysis Using autoethnography The storyand experience began in 2002, whenI accepted an invitation to work at awomen's college in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia,as Director of Continuing Education.

3 Iaccepted an invitation to work in Jeddah,from a Saudi fiiend who studied for herdoctorate with me in the United had collaborated on Research andprojects in classes. Our families were interacted and ate together. We weresisters here. Because of this relationship,I expected and assumed much about theSaudi culture that proved very differentin real experience. Th mystique of theculture was difficult to penetrate even whenworking daily in an educational a Director of Continuing Education,working with my friend and colleague, Iassumed that I would be respected in mywork at the college, and I would have theequal opportunities to participate in thedecision making and implementation ofprograms developed through our I was reprimanded for askingquestions about the expectations of ourwork, and accused of betrayal when Ianswered a request for a program, I wasshocked and hurt.

4 This autoethnographicprocess helped me to Research culturaldifferences between Saudi Arabia and theUnited States. For instance, a hierarchicalrelationship is accepted as a norm inSaudi Arabia; therefore, the concept ofcollaboration does not include equal andshared power. If one person has a titleabove the other, this status cannot bechallenged. Also in Saudi Arabia, peoplewithin the same group are expectedto support each other at all times, andindividual achievement is not as importantas maintaining group harmonyThis knowledge has helped me tounderstand that my friend, now home, wasfunctioning in her cultural did not intend to hurt me through thisprofessional relationship.

5 Systematicallyrewriting this experience through adifferent lens has facilitated healing,wrought from the pain of preceding vignette illustrateshow I used autoethnography to processmy life and work in Saudi Arabia, toembrace the joumey to the "self' throughreflective self-examination. It also showsthat autoethnographic stories can teachby letting us view our own life experiencesthrough the lens of new seff-understandingsand the understandings of requires sociologicalintrospection about a personal , the author will retell it with , the author will reinterpret theexperience through a self-refiective lens. Itincludes the researcher's vuhierable seff,body, and spirit, producing evocative storiesthat create the effects of reality, celebratingconcrete experience and intimate detail,and endowing human experience withmeaning (Ellis, 1999).

6 Likewise, sharingone's experience, may invite others torecognize some point of similarity to theirown lives, which, in tum, may lead toself-refiection and transformative leaming(Cranton, 2006).Classroom practices that useautoethnographic methods include creatingcase studies, joumaling, writing experience-focused autobiography, or answering semi-structured questions such as Brookfield'sCritical Incident Questionnaires (1995),and clearly support leaming. Leamersare encouraged to eng^e in "self-talk,"inquiry about how they think about andexperience extemal events, and reflectionon how they clarify and expand their ownunderstandings and feelings. Finally, sharingautoethnographical stories in the classroomallows people to witness and leam fromeach other's our "world" continues to expand,we will increasingly encounter individualsin adult education programs who comefrom cultures other than our own.

7 Adulteducation must expand its vision to includethese individuals. Autoethnographyprovides a powerful, effective methodthat may accomplish just that. By30 A Adult Learninghelping leamers develop self-reflectiveabilities, autoethnography potentiallybecomes a tool for Social change . Adulteducation classrooms provide a necessaryenvironment to give access to many , S. (1995). Becoming a criticaiiyrejiective ieacher. San , P. (2006). Understanding andprotnoting transformative ieaming: Aguide for educators of aduits (2"^ ed.).San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. TA 31