ABOUT US
The Autoethnographer is an award-winning, non-profit, open-access, peer-reviewed, digital literary and arts magazine open for submissions. Our independent editorial team of international artists, performers, writers, and  scholars invites unpublished, unsolicited, evocative stories – sometimes textual, audio, visual, or multimodal – crafted in conjunction with autoethnography that celebrate the intersection of personal expression and cultural inquiry.

THE AUTOETHNOGRAPHER STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS 2023

Purpose? To recognize outstanding works of literary and artistic autoethnography by creatives who identify as active students at any age or level; to diversify digital content at The AutoEthnographer by providing opportunities for guest editors and new magazine features; and to promote autoethnographic creativity in the literary and arts communities.
Who can enter? Works must be nominated by an instructor, professor, tutor, or other educator; the author/artist must have been an enrolled student in the 2022-2023 school year. Submissions should be accompanied by the nominator's letter establishing their rationale for nomination in light of the quality of the submission as well as the potential for the student to actively contribute to the magazine's editorial processes. Work that has been previously published at The AutoEthnographer or elsewhere is not eligible.
Entry fee? There is no entry fee for this scholarship competition.
Requirements for submission? File 1: nominating letter and author bio. File 2: submission and author's or artist's memo.
Jury? The international editorial board of The AutoEthnographer will adjudicate this competition.
Prize? The prize consists of two $250 USD cash prizes paid via PayPal; publication in the digital version of The AutoEthnographer; publication in the print anthology of The AutoEthnographer; participation in the magazine podcast; the opportunity to join our Editorial Board for 6 months; and the opportunity to develop a column/feature at the magazine.
 *Additionally, applicants who are not awarded the cash prize may still be invited to publish their submissions ($25 USD payment); participate in the magazine podcast; and/or have their work published in the biennial print edition.
Categories? A) Writing (fiction, nonfiction, flash, essays, poetry, lyrics, B) Audio, visual, performance, artistic, multimodal
Deadline? July 1, 2024
Award date? October 1, 2024

WHAT IS AUTOETHNOGRAPHY?
 Autoethnography is a qualitative research method that utilizes lived experience as evidence with which to explore cultural phenomena. It is often described as a hybrid form of ethnography & autobiography in that autoethnographers use lived experience to explore cultural issues. Autoethnography then can be a purposeful short story, a video monologue, a gallery of images, a quilt, a song, a poem, a dinner menu, artwork, and even a live performance when such expressions also celebrate or investigate cultural experiences. We recommend the following article as a user-friendly primer on the basics of autoethnography:
 

• Autoethnography: An Overview (Adams, Ellis, & Bochner, 2011)

Consider the following discussions of autoethnography from the article above:
Autoethnographers recognize the innumerable ways personal experience influences the research process… Consequently, autoethnography is one of the approaches that acknowledges and accommodates subjectivity, emotionality, and the researcher’s influence on research, rather than hiding from these matters or assuming they don’t exist. [3] When researchers write autoethnographies, they seek to produce aesthetic and evocative thick descriptions of personal and interpersonal experience. They accomplish this by first discerning  patterns of cultural experience evidenced by field notes, interviews, and/or artifacts, and then describing these patterns using facets of storytelling (e.g., character and plot development), showing and telling, and alterations of authorial voice. Thus, the autoethnographer not only tries to make personal experience meaningful and cultural experience engaging, but also, by producing accessible texts, she or he may be able to reach wider and more diverse mass audiences that traditional research usually disregards, a move that can make personal and social change possible for more people (BOCHNER,  1997; ELLIS, 1995;  GOODALL, 2006; HOOKS, 1994). [14]
 

Adams, T., Ellis, C., & Bochner, A. (2011). Autoethnography: An overview. FQS, 12(1).
 

 ADVICE FROM THE EDITORS
 

• Video: What Do Editors Look for When Reviewing Evocative Autoethnography & How Have They Evolved Their Vetting Approach?
• Video: Technicolor Third Space: Why I Developed The AutoEthnographer Magazine
• Article: What Do Editors Look for When Reviewing Evocative Autoethnography?
• Article: How to Embrace Creative Nonfiction

EXAMPLES
 

• Essay Example: Stray Words, Turbulent Art: Translation, or How to Love English
• Video Example: The Pandemic Nature Project, Filmed Vignettes of Life During COVID
• Duoethnography Example: When Your Student Goes to War
• Fiction Example: Three Bangladeshi Women
• Flash Example: “The Things They Carried,” A Glimpse Into the Funeral Industry
• Poetry Example: “Tired”
• Art Example: Ode to Bygone Birds of Childhood, Part 1 – Drawings
• Multimedia Example: “Drifting,” an Exploration of Sibling Loss
• Dance Example: The Twerking Academic

FAQ's ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION
 

• https://theautoethnographer.com/
• The Autoethnographer is primarily an English language publication. However, we do welcome   trans-languaging, multilingualism, and code-switching. If multilingual,  the artist’s memo should provide useful context and translations that  can help the reader embrace the work. If translated, we encourage  submission of both the original language work and the English  translation to highlight and celebrate the author’s linguistic choices.
• Each year we also invite thematic submissions in addition to our general submissions; see our SUBMIT page for more info.
• Contributors may be at any stage of their creative journeys and need not have previously published work.
• If accepted, contributors may also be invited to participate in the magazine podcast and biennial print edition.
• Submissions are accepted 365 days of the year.
• Because  our focus is literary and expressive, works that are theoretical,  academic, and/or philosophical are recommended for submission to The Journal of Autoethnography (unaffiliated).
• We strongly encourage all contributors to review current articles at our magazine before submitting their work to us.
• Please review the Contract and Publication Rights at our website prior to submission; publication implies consent with this policy.
• View our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) HERE.
   

SUBMISSION CATEGORIES (2)
 Expressive works of any medium that have been created as, or in conjunction with, autoethnography are invited for submission. We may request to post longer works over a number of articles over time in order to create a more suitable audience experience. If accepted, contributors may also be invited to participate in the magazine podcast and biennial print edition.
 

• WRITING: FICTION or NONFICTION, ESSAY, FLASH, POETRY or LYRICS – No length requirement but please consider the attention span of your non-academic reader (aim for ~1000-2000 words if fiction, nonfiction, or essay); for longer works, we may request serialization. Please submit .doc/.docx files. Please follow APA 7 for general formatting of citations and references when applicable. Click me for more info. Single poems/lyrics are appreciated and welcomed; however, we tend to give preference to a collection of poems or lyrics (3-10 works) due to their tendency for breadth and depth. Please submit .doc/.docx files. For longer collections, we may request serialization. Additional media may be presented with the written work. Work should be presented in .wav/.mp4/.mp3/.mov or .jpeg/.png and may be externally hosted at the time of submission (send the link). HD images and video should be readily available if work is accepted. Contact the [editor at theautoethnographer dot com] if using another file format.
• AUDIO, VISUAL, PERFORMANCE: Creative, performing, and  fine arts such as singing, spoken word, photography, collage, assemblage, quilting, weaving, sculpting, dancing, potting, painting, drawing,  cooking, metalwork, landscaping, make-up, tattooing, jewelry-making,  fashion or home decor design, stand-up comedy, performative rituals,  etc. should be represented visually or multimodally. No length requirement but please be sensitive to your viewer; for longer works or  groups of images/videos/recordings we may request serialization. Work should be presented in .wav/.mp4/.mp3/.mov or .jpeg/.png and should be externally hosted at the time of submission (send the link). HD images and video should be readily available if work is accepted. Contact the [editor at theautoethnographer dot com] if using another file format.
   

PREPARE YOUR WORK FOR THE WEB

Note that as we are a digital magazine, our main goal is to see your  article rank highly in searches. To do this, we ask contributors to  adhere to the following guidelines as closely as possible. We realize  that some of the requirements may not be applicable for all submission  types. We strongly encourage all applicants to prepare their work prior  to submission in order to increase their chances of acceptance.

Click on any link below to learn more about developing that aspect of your work.

• Identify the keyphrase that best represents your work; this may be a single word or a brief phrase. The shorter, the better!
• This keyphrase MUST be used towards the beginning of your title, and MUST also be included in the first paragraph of your author’s/artist’s memo. If no memo is required, then it must be used in the first paragraph of your article.
• Use a title checker or headline analyzer to revise your current title as needed: https://www.monsterinsights.com/headline-analyzer/. Your title MUST score 70 or higher to be effective in a digital context.
• Avoid passive tense in your writing as much as possible; it weakens the web-friendliness of your text.
• Keep sentence length short rather than complex. Only 25% or less of your sentences should be longer than 20 words.
• Avoid starting 3 or more consecutive sentences with the same first word.
• Use headings as often as possible. Generally, no section should be longer than 300 words without a new heading.
• Paragraph lengths should be around 150 words, maximum.
• Use transition words as often as possible.
   

SUBMISSION PROCEDURES
 

1. In order to preserve a fair and impartial vetting process, submissions are refereed anonymously; please ensure that where possible, no identifying information accompanies the submission or memo; the nomination and bio will remain invisible to editors during the vetting process. Submissions are encouraged to use an alias if necessary for anonymity; this can later be changed for publication.
2. The AutoEthnographer is primarily an English language publication. However, we welcome multilingual and translated works. If mutlilingual, the artist’s memo should provide useful context and translations that can help the reader embrace the work. If translated, we encourage  submission of both the original language work and the English translation to highlight and celebrate the author’s linguistic choices.
3. All submissions should be prepared for publication on the web using the guidelines above. We understand that some genres of work cannot be edited as such.
4. We strongly encourage all contributors to review current articles at our magazine before submitting their work to us.
5. AUTHOR'S/ARTIST'S MEMO (300-500 words): An artist’s memo is the author/artist's opportunity to contextualize or explain the submission in relation to autoethnography; it answers the questions  “How is this work autoethnographic, and what cultural issue(s) is/are being addressed?” Submissions that do not include a clear, detailed memo will not be considered.
6. Use the form in Submittable to upload two documents: In the first document, please combine the A) nominating letter and B) author bio, and in the second document, please combine the C) submission (or link to the submission) and the D) author's or artist's memo