What is an Autoethnography?
Simply, an autoethnography is the combination of an autobiography (account of a person's own life) and an ethnography (the scientific description of the customs of individual peoples and cultures). While autoethnographies were mainly referred to as a study of the author's cultures, Carolyn Ellis now points out, "the meanings and applications of autoethnography have evolved in a manner that makes precise definition difficult." An autoethnography is writing in the form of self-reflection that explores the researcher's personal, cultural, social, and sometimes political experiences. In the process of recollecting personal stories and experiences, the author explores and analyzes a larger culture. Consequently, Carolyn Ellis defines an autoethnography as "an approach to research and writing that seeks to describe and systematically analyze (graphy) personal experience (auto) in order to understand cultural experience (ethno)." The combination of these three aspects help make this form of writing multimodal in nature. Some aspects of this form of writing include artifacts, interviews, story-telling, and cultural analysis. In this project, I will recount and analyze the integration of Indian culture in my American lifestyle. This multimodal project will help elucidate many features of both Indian and American cultures and how they've shaped my life.