Class 10: Evaluating and Publishing Autoethnography

Pg 249: *I feel like I'm taking a course here. Well done.

pg 252-3: on criteria for good autoethonography: "Art's position dovetails with Denzin's insofar as the important criterion is whether the work has the possibility to change the world and make it a better place. Does it advance the promise of 'radical democratic racial justice embodied in the post-civil rights, Chicano/Chicana, and Black Arts Aesthetic movements?' Denzin's position fits with Clough, who argues that good autoethnographic writing should motivate cultural criticism. Autoethnographic writing should be closely aligned with theoretical reflections, says, Clough, so that it can serve as a vehicle for thinking 'new sociological subjects' and forming 'new parameters of the social.' She challenges autoethnography as a practice - autoethnography has not critically engaged the distinction between private and public or western ideologies - while Denzin discusses how it can exist ideally."

"Denzin and Clough resonate for me," says Hector. "The paradigm Denzin is talking about is built on Afrocentic, Chicano/Chicana, Native American, Asian, and Third World views, and includes gender, class, and queer perspectives..."

"Denzin describes these critically engaged texts as poetic, performative, and narrative," I remind. "He argues that they also must be hopeful, well-written, and well-plotted stories that show memorable characters and unforgettable scenes."

pg 256: here she goes over Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

pg 263: here she lists some "mass audience" publications, including Writer's Market, which lists magazines which publish short stories, Chicago Review, Missouri Review and of course, The New Yorker, Harper's and The Atlantic, and she calls the three "crossovers that appeal to a highly educated mass audience." She does acknowledge that "you'll be competing with professional writers for space and most don't care about research authenticity" and that "it's hard to break into literary publications. The rules are stringent and you have to know people and have a record of having published in these outlets."