ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author reflects on the self of autoethnographic inquiry through the prism of care, in particular, Foucault’s reworking of the notion of the care of the self from ancient Greek philosophy. She considers Foucauldian ideas – and their classical origins – to help to frame and interrogate what reader are doing with self-disclosure and the processes of reflection that underpin it. Indeed, many of Foucault’s works are concerned with how it comes about that reader know something, and how some things get established and embedded as facts. Whilst appealing philosophically, challenging the ‘no brainers’ in practice is easier said than done. The prism of self-care has helped to make sense of own responses to such ‘management’. Through the prism of Foucauldian self-care, it may be precisely when a piece of work is most seemingly ‘confessional’, i.e., mostly overtly about oneself, that the ethics of relationality come most forcibly to light.
