ABSTRACT

Tami Spry provides a methodological introduction to the budding field of performative autoethnography. She intertwines three necessary elements comprising the process. First one must understand the body – navigating concepts of self, culture, language, class, race, gender, and physicality. The second task is to put that body on the page, assigning words for that body’s sociocultural experiences. Finally, this merger of body and paper is lifted up to the stage, crafting a persona as a method of personal inquiry. These three stages are simultaneous and interdependent, and only in cultivating all three does performance autoethnography begin to take shape. Replete with examples and exercises, this is an important introductory work for autoethnographers and performance artists alike.

chapter |22 pages

The Textualizing Body

chapter Chapter One|36 pages

Body

Conceptualizing Performative Autoethnography

chapter Chapter Two|38 pages

Paper

Writing the Body

chapter Chapter Three|42 pages

Paper

Composing Performative Autoethnography

chapter Chapter Four|22 pages

Stage

Performing the Autoethnographic Body

chapter Chapter Five|30 pages

Stage

Embodying Performative Autoethnography

chapter Chapter Six|4 pages

Body, Paper, Stage

and Back Again