A Nomenclature for Critical Autoethnography in the Arena of Disciplinary Atomization

Abstract

This article proposes the nomenclatural shifting of “evocative” autoethnography (EVAT) from its apparent current position as a co-type of autoethnography to a lead or superordinate type of evocative-like autoethnography, with the suggested name of “critically-oriented evocative autoethnography as a methodology without methods and situated within critical qualitative inquiry” (CEAM-CQI). In this lead position, EVAT as CEAM-CQI could maintain a unified and mediated stance alongside its apparent nemesis, “analytical autoethnography” (ANAT), by way of “disciplinary atomization,” which at first seems undesirable but then proves beneficial if mediated by ego-less critique and polyvocality (Gergen), and as a result, EVAT, now CEAM-CQI, perhaps could more fully achieve its social justice agenda.