Leaving the blood in: autoethnodrama as a methodology in academic research

Abstract

Academic writing can be difficult to accomplish and disengaging to read and yet the ‘publish or perish’ culture makes writing a necessary part of nearly every academic role. This paper identifies autoethnography as a methodology that synthesises autobiography and social critique in order to resist dominant authoritative discourse. Autoethnography seeks to engage readers of the research in evocative texts that detail the complex and messy lives of the researcher and the researched. This paper reports on a research project at the University of Brighton where academics were interviewed in order to gain insights into their experiences with academic writing. The research data has been used to inform an Autoethnodrama set in a fictional university on the south coast, providing the reader with an emotional text that explores experiences with academic writing and the potential ‘Impact’ on academic culture and life.