“Autoethnography
is not simply a way of knowing about the world…it asks that we not only examine
our lives but also consider how we think and why we think, act, and feel as we
do. Autoethnography requires that we observe ourselves observing, that we interrogate
what we think and believe…” (Jones, Adams and Ellis 2013:10). By this
description of what autoethnography is and what it requires a researcher to do
when completing social research using autoethnography as a method, it can be
applied to almost anything within everyday life. An example is eating habits,
and whether or not you eat something because you enjoy the taste or if you just
eat it because that’s how you raised and it symbolizes something within life.
When I think of eating meat, I am rather picky about the types of meat I will and will not eat, an example is that I will eat beef burgers until there’s none left, but if a plate of roast beef is put in front of me at the dinner table I will push it around my plate until I have finished eating everything else. Using Jones, Adams and Ellis’s idea that autoethnography requires us to completely reevaluate why we do a certain thing, got me thinking about the things I will and will not eat and why I do this. I have always eaten chicken, turkey and ham; however, I have never enjoyed pork, lamb or beef. Despite this I have always eaten beef burgers and sausages, I just can't seem to bring myself to eat those types of meat when roasted and put on a plate in front on me. When different parts of the animal is cooked and offered, I often find myself cringing and turning away from what is put on my plate, the thought of eating an animals, tongue, liver, heart or kidneys just does not see, appealing to me at all, in fact it seems rather odd that someone would each such things.
“Robert Coles (1989, 47) tells us, “the beauty of a good story is openness-the way you or I or anyone reading it can take it in, and use it for ourselves” (Tillmann-Healy (n/d) cited in Ellis and Bochner 1996:104). Despite only really liking a very limited amount of animal meat, should the opportunity rise to eat animals that would not usually be eaten I think I would consider eating, shark, kangaroo, and crocodile.
References
Ellis, C.
Bochner, A. (1996) Composing Ethnography Alternative Forms of Qualitative Writing London:
SAGE Publications Ltd.
Jones, S. Adams,
T. Ellis, C. (2013) Handbook of Autoethnography USA: Left Coast Press, Inc.
A useful start, however, you need to write more critically. Where do you think your ideas about food come from? To do this, you need to engage with academic material - remember you were asked to refer to at least 3 pieces of academic material. 2
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