Understanding Auto-ethnography

Hi, everyone, Dan again! As many of you may know, the students of DIGC330 have been asked to conduct an auto-ethnographic study on a topic related to the Digital Asian culture. Firstly I want to break down my interpretation of the term “auto-ethnography”, so as to ensure I’m on the right track, so get commenting, everyone!

To my understanding, the definition of ethnography is ‘an examination of a particular group or culture’. As the term “auto” in this context means “self”, it would be safe to assume an autoethnography is ‘a personal examination or reflection of a group or culture’. The part of an autoethnography that makes it a personal research topic is the emphasis on conducting primary research, and making myself the subject of the study. In the context of Digital Asia, I will be conducting a personal examination on my reactions and ideas to an aspect of Asian culture.

As part of my Auto-ethnographic study into Asian culture, I have decided to explore the exciting world of Anime, the style of Japanese animation that is vastly popular in both Asian and Western culture. I have decided to choose this topic as it is an avenue I took interest in, following the first blog I wrote on the topic. I spent a lot of time watching Anime at a young age, although at such a young age it was simply known to me as ‘cartoons’. I grew up watching the Pokemon anime series, up until Ash lost in the Pokemon League like the failure he is, and that is the extent of my Anime prowess.

For the purposes of the study, I have decided to watch a completely new anime series in order to gain the most of the study, and exposing me to more than just the familiar world of Pokemon, So I have chosen to continue with the work I have done with Fairy Tail for the most part, as it is a popular series, so resources should be relatively easy to find, and because I’ve really taken an interest in the series. See you next time!