Autoethnography of “My Autoethnography”

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on “My Autoethnography” that I performed during writing dissertation for M.Phil. in Education at a university in Nepal. For this, I reflect on my experience of doing autoethnography with four turning points – a connection to mentors, a presentation of poetic narrative in a class, a proposal for this research, and the dissemination of “My Autoethnography”. I present an evocative narrative of ‘the parallels’ connecting childhood experiences with blissful eternal dance. I analyse it from the perspective of methodological, relational and ethical lenses. I present some merits and caveats of autoethnography as a method of research based on my experience of using the approach. This also helped me to see not only to the past and present, but it also opened my eyes to envision the future in terms of learning and teaching mathematics. The other merit was access to my private world through the construction of thick and rich evocative narratives with a variety of textual expressions and a sense of mental emancipation. The major caveats of this approach were associated with the extent of focus in writing the narratives, vagueness with mystical expression and imaginative connections between the events of different time, an indulgence on personal stories making forceful connection with theories, self-disclosure of sensitive issues, and ethical issues related to the narratives about the others. I conclude the paper with a reflection and poetic reminiscent of ‘My Autoethnography’.