Auto-ethnography as Resistance

Curtissa Odi
Aug 24, 2017 · 3 min read

One of the things that I adore about becoming a sista anthropologist is the beauty of being able to articulate my story. As I grew throughout my life as a woman in all aspects, I began to understand just why it was important to dictate what I desired to be said about who I was. I remember reading a written piece on Anthropologist Irma McClaurin and she was talking about to be feminist black progressive was to take a step towards decolonizing your life. This registered (and still registers) with me. The beauty of decolonization is that you are taking steps towards deconstructing mindsets, behaviors, people and ideas that have been set up to destroy you ( please see the article by my big sis Rachael Edwards on her site on decolonizing yourself as a black woman).

Sitting in my anthropology research session I began learning about the anthropological method of auto-ethnography. From a black feminist perspective, auto-ethnography is a method of using your experiences as a point of departure in dictating the various experiences that occur with your life as a whole (cultural, spiritual, racial, gendered etc). As I began to read about black women such as Robin Boylorn, Carolyn Shaw, even Muva Zora Neale Hurston herself who were decolonizing anthropology in order to articulate the experiences of people of color, I began to see my own life as one that deserved to be told. I began to understand that I had a place in this discipline. I also began to understand that anthropology was giving me a method of studying the aspects of life I was most interested in from expressive cultures to black women’s intellectual histories.

For some, this last year with the election of y’all president 45, has been the worst. For me, I always knew that this country was capable of manifesting such hatred, violence and discrimination because thats what this country founded on. 45 aint new to me. 45 was seen in the faces of people who refused to walk on the same sidewalk as me. The KKK didn’t always have white hoods but they were present when in those same people who would yell racial slurs and obscenities at me and my sisters. But I digress…..

Amidst all that happens in this world, I have found that using auto-ethnography as tool of resistance simply means that I have become insistent on telling my story. This is not rooted in a egotistical method of only caring about myself, but rather a methodology that gives me SPACE. Space to articulate who I am as a black woman. Space to manifest a comfortability with all that I am and the world around me. Autoethnography has taught me many things

  1. Your story matters
  2. Do not wait for someone else to validate your experiences
  3. Decolonizing your mind is key to freeing yourself

I still have so much to learn about this aspect of autoethnography and I do not expect perfection but rather I am learning about this process step by step. It is not about “arriving” somewhere I am here now.

)

Black Feminist Writer. Cultural Artist. Creative Writing Teacher🌹

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade