Autoethnography as an ethically contested terrain: some thinking points for consideration

In this article, I select items from various lists of published ethical guidelines for autoethnographers and use them as starting points prior to subjecting each to interrogation. This interrogation takes place via the following six thinking points: The (im)possibility of anonymity and confidentiality, the ownership of stories, informed consent, member checking, do no harm to others, and do no harm to self. Each of these reveals a contested and messy terrain as opposed to the neatness implied in the recommendations of ethical guidelines about how such research should be conducted. Throughout, I seek to demonstrate that autoethnography, like any other qualitative research approach, poses difficult, but not insurmountable ethical challenges. These need to be addressed in a principled and informed manner that necessarily rejects rigid assertions of ‘should do’ in favour of a more fluid notion of ‘it depends’ on time, context, culture and purpose

‘The second I got the phone call, everything changed.’ Exploring the temporal experiences of the spouses and partners of spinal cord injured sportsmen

Just as those who suffer a disabling spinal cord injury (SCI) through sport become wounded storytellers so do their spouses/partners. Little however is known about the experiences of such spouses/partners and even less is known about how time operates to shape these experiences. This article, therefore, draws on life story data to explore the experiences of three women whose male spouses/partners have become disabled due to a SCI received whilst playing rugby. A thematic narrative analysis revealed how this event instigates a temporal-relational disruption that catapults these women into living in, by and through different types of time that operate in a multi-dimensional manner to shape how they construct their identities and come to understand themselves and others with a past, and a present, that has consequences for their future. The implications of this process for health care professionals in supporting those who face similar sets of circumstance are considered

Making a Spectacle of Oneself in the Academy Using the H-Index: From Becoming an Artificial Person to Laughing at Absurdities

This article offers autoethnographic insights into the consequences of making a spectacle of oneself in the audit culture of the academy. Spectacle 1 explores my experiences of using the h-index as part of an annual salary review and how this made me feel like an artificial person. Spectacle 2 shows how, at a conference, I used laughter to expose some absurdities of the h-index and felt better for doing so. Stories that tell different truths about ourselves in combination with the corporeality of laughter, I suggest, can assist us to re-attune ourselves and resist the process of becoming artificial persons

Stories as actors causing trouble in lives: A dialogical narrative analysis of a competitive cyclist and the fall from grace of Lance Armstrong

This article examines how stories as actors can cause trouble in lives by focusing on the reactions of a competitive cyclist, named David, to the public confession by Lance Armstrong of being a drug cheat and a bully. We begin by providing a context for this trouble by considering the affective dynamics of fandom and the part this plays in the social construction of sporting heroes by self and others as part of an interactive process. Next, we examine the ways in which David’s narrative habitus draws him towards Armstrong’s heroic story as a gift that leads him to develop a strong athletic identity as a competitive cyclist and also become a committed fan that continually denies evidence regarding the behaviours of his hero. Following this, we focus on David’s emotional reactions to Armstrong’s betrayal and the identity management strategies he uses to disassociate himself from his disgraced hero. The role that material biographical objects perform in this process and the affective dilemmas they pose for David over time are highlighted. Attention is then given to issues of tellability and narrative silence regarding Armstrong’s story and their impact on David’s family and the wider cycling community. In closing, we offer some reflections on the ways that David’s story is shaped by the performative demands of specific kinds of masculinities prior to considering the narrative consequences of demonising Armstrong and making him the finalised villain of the piece

Teaching non-normative bodies : simulating visual impairments as embodied pedagogy in action

© 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. In an attempt to better prepare prospective PE teachers for teaching pupils with disabilities, our research takes up the call of Sparkes, A., Martos-Garcia, D., & Maher, A. (2019). Me, Imperfect Osteogenesis and my classmates in physical education lessons: A case study of embodied pedagogy in action. Sport, Education and Society, 24(4), 338–348 [for an accumulation of ‘case studies involving teacher educators attempting to put embodied pedagogy into action’ (p. 10). We used snapshot vignettes to reflect on our experiences of delivering learning activities that endeavoured to enable 90 prospective PE teachers to (1) simulate visual impairment (VI); and (2) plan and deliver learning activities to peers who were simulating VI. Our discussion centres on the authenticity of simulations and the pedagogical development of prospective PE teachers. From our observations, we remain sceptical about the extent to which the non-disabled Self can empathise with the disabled Other through embodied simulation because of the ease at which the Self could and would step out of the shoes of the Other by removing blindfolds. This disrupted attempts to blur the lines between the prospective PE teachers’ Self and the disabled Other, and thus the extent to which knowledge of the disabled Other in PE was embodied. We did observe, however, some positive pedagogical developments during simulations. These included increased: clarity and precision of verbal instructions; use of pedagogical touch; knowledge of how to adapt learning activities; and critical thought about the concept of educational inclusion. To finish, we argue that the simulation of VI appears to impact positively of the inclusive pedagogies of our prospective teachers, but we call for future research that explores the ethics of these simulations

‘It’s better than going into it blind’: reflections by people with visual impairments regarding the use of simulation for pedagogical purposes

Disability simulations have been advocated as a tool to facilitate pedagogical learning among prospective physical education (PE) teachers. However, much of the research currently available neglect the views of people with disabilities about the development and use of such simulations. To address this omission, this study used vignettes and telephone interviews to elicit the views of nine people with visual impairments (VI) regarding the value (or not) of simulating this impairment with prospective PE teachers. Data were analysed thematically and the following themes were constructed in the process: (1) Involving people with VI in simulations; (2) Diversity and complexity of VI; (3) Adapting learning activities; (4) Grouping pupils in relation to ‘ability’; and (5) Seeking the senses and touch as a pedagogical tool. Our findings suggest that simulating VI can (a) facilitate learning about how to plan and teach activities that are tailored to the needs and capabilities of pupils with VI thereby responding creatively to the challenges of inclusion in PE lessons, (b) broaden prospective teachers’ beliefs about ability beyond the physical to include the social, affective and cognitive domains, (c) act as a potential avenue for prospective PE teachers to develop more complex and nuanced views about VI and their own sightedness, and (d) contribute towards disrupting ocular centric, ableist notions of pedagogy in PE as a way of enhancing the meaningful experiences of pupils with VI in lessons. In closing, we reflect on the need for research into the ethics of constructing and delivering VI simulations without involvement from people living with this impairment

Volunteering for Research in Prison: Issues of Access, Rapport and Ethics and Emotions During Ethnography

Gaining access to formal institutions can be problematic for ethnographers. This is especially so when it comes to prisons where people are incarcerated by the state against their will for various crimes committed by them. Here, in such highly controlled environments, some authors have pointed out the lack of openness of correctional facilities to inquiry and the limited cooperation forthcoming from the various authorities that oversee them. Accordingly, this article examines the difficult processes undertaken to negotiate access to a high-security prison in Spain, and then maintain his role there for a 2-year period as a volunteer sports educator in order to explore the multiple meanings given to sport and physical activity in the prison setting by the prisoners, educational staff and the guards. The emotional costs and ethical dilemmas of sustaining working relationships with these different groups over time in order to achieve specific research goals are highlighted and reflections for future studies of prison life are offered