Special Issue of Adult Learning Call for Proposals
Deadline for abstracts (Extension): March 8, 2021
Autoethnography & Adult Education Practice: Voices from the Field
The editors of Adult Learning invite adult education learners, researchers, and practitioners to share their stories in autoethnographic narratives that reveal their experiences and knowledge of adult education classrooms, research settings, community organizations, and other contexts. Autoethnography “seeks to describe and systematically analyze (graphy) personal experience (auto) in order to understand cultural experience (ethno)” (Ellis et al., 2011, para. 1). It can facilitate the social justice goals of adult education by increasing understanding and enhancing empathy towards those who are unlike ourselves (Ellis et al., 2011, para. 4). Adult Learning has a history of publishing research related to social justice concerns, and this special issue is intended to amplify the many voices of individuals involved in the field.
We are looking for proposals that reveal a clear understanding of autoethnography as method and methodology. Autoethnographers have begun to distinguish themselves from one another by separating evocative from analytic autoethnography, and proposals should represent a well-defined position on this continuum. Analytic autoethnographers focus on developing theoretical explanations of broader social phenomena, whereas evocative autoethnographers focus on narrative presentations that open up conversations and evoke emotional responses (Ellingson & Ellis, 2008, p. 445).
Adult Learning seeks proposals that represent different points along this continuum. Whether writing evocatively or analytically, authors should still examine experience analytically: Otherwise [you’re] telling [your] story—and that’s nice—but people do that on Oprah (a U.S.-based television program) every day. Why is your story more valid than anyone else’s? What makes your story more valid is that you are a researcher. You have a set of theoretical and methodological tools and a research literature to use. That’s your advantage. If you can’t frame it around these tools and literature and just frame it as “my story,” then why or how should I privilege your story over anyone else’s I see 25 times a day on TV? (Mitch Allen, personal interview, May 4, 2006, as cited in Ellis et al., 2011, p. 276).
These tools can set personal stories within an adult education context, making connections between the theory and practice of the field. We are also seeking multivocal layered accounts that contain varied points of view revealing different representations of lived experience; forms of duoethnography are also welcome.
Possible topics that might be addressed include authors’ critical self-reflection on their own adult learning, their roles as adult educators, their fieldwork in adult education research, or their employment context. Other topics and combinations of topics will also be considered.
Ellis et al. (2011) identified several forms of autoethnography that Adult Learning is interested to include in this special issue such as:
1. indigenous/native ethnographies that tell the stories of colonized and economically disadvantaged people;
2. narrative ethnographies that include the researcher’s experiences in the analysis of others;
3. reflexive, dyadic interviews that concentrate on participants while reflecting on the researcher’s interactions with the participants during the interview process;
4. reflexive ethnographies that highlight the changes the researcher undergoes during research work;
5. interactive interviews that are collaborative and result from multiple interviews with a known subject;
6. community autoethnographies that are co-constructed within community relationships;
7. personal narratives that tell how the researcher views herself within a cultural group.
The proposal should clearly indicate the type and style of autoethnography, the connection to theory and practice in adult education, the rationale for including the narrative in Adult Learning, the topics for reflection, and the major events to be included.
Adult Learning publishes four categories of articles that can be used for autoethnographic proposals. The standard descriptions are adapted here for this Call for Proposals to provide authors with specific guidelines. The abstract you submit should identify the type of article you are proposing. They include:
Original Articles (Double-Blind Peer Review)
Autoethnographic accounts would provide readers with narratives that add to our knowledge of the experiences of learners, instructors, and researchers in adult education. They would be written so that readers can apply the findings to their own practice of educating adults. 4,000 – 5,000 words.
Conceptual and theoretical articles could explore current issues and challenges in autoethnographic writing. Their purpose would be to contribute to developing new or critiquing existing theory and concepts regarding the role of autoethnography that is specific to the field of adult education. 4,000-5,000 words.
Innovations in Practice (Double-Blind Peer Review) presents innovative and cutting-edge teaching and learning practices in the education of adults. They could add to the discourse in a variety of ways such as offering practical suggestions for how to get adult learners in a particular setting (like ABE and ESL) to use autoethnography to learn, how to use autoethnography in participatory action research, how to gather personal stories of adult education research participants, and how to teach the writing of adult education autoethnographies. They would provide enough detail and evidence of effectiveness that practitioners can use them to inform teaching. 2,000-3,000 words.
Personal Reflection (Editorial Review) are thoughtful reflections on and discussions of important learning and teaching issues in adult education. They may be first-person narratives of thought-provoking experiences in teaching adults or examinations of taken-for-granted practices about adult learning, teaching, program design and management in adult education. These articles would be briefer versions of autoethnographic accounts. For example, a reflection might examine the usefulness of autoethnography in an adult education context. 1,200-1,500 words.
Resources (Editorial Review) Reviews would evaluate books, YouTube videos, TEDtalks, 99 Percent videos, RSA animations, documentaries, software, resource manuals and workbooks that are useful for enhancing the use of autoethnography in the field of adult education. Full reviews are 500-750 words.
Interested authors should send a 250 word abstract to the editors, Davin Carr-Chellman, Lilian H. Hill, and Carol Rogers-Shaw at adultlearningjournal@gmail.com.
Authors will be notified if their abstracts are selected by March 15, 2021. Manuscripts will be due June 15, 2021. Subsequently, Original and Innovations articles will go through the Adult Learning double-blind peer review process. Reflection and Resource manuscripts will be reviewed by the respective feature editors. The special edition will be published in February 2022.
Please use the subject line of Adult Learning Special Issue re: Autoethnography