Autoethnography of “My Autoethnography”

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on “My Autoethnography” that I performedduring 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 – aconnection to mentors, a presentation of poetic narrative in a class, a proposal forthis research, and the dissemination of “My Autoethnography”. I present anevocative narrative of ‘the parallels’ connecting childhood experiences with blissfuleternal dance. I analyse it from the perspective of methodological, relational andethical lenses. I present some merits and caveats of autoethnography as a method ofresearch based on my experience of using the approach. This also helped me to seenot only to the past and present, but it also opened my eyes to envision the future interms of learning and teaching mathematics. The other merit was access to myprivate world through the construction of thick and rich evocative narratives with avariety of textual expressions and a sense of mental emancipation. The major caveatsof this approach were associated with the extent of focus in writing the narratives,vagueness with mystical expression and imaginative connections between the eventsof different time, an indulgence on personal stories making forceful connection withtheories, self-disclosure of sensitive issues, and ethical issues related to the narrativesabout the others. I conclude the paper with a reflection and poetic reminiscent of‘My Autoethnography’.