It’s time to look at what auto-ethongraphic studies are and why they needed to be conducted. Auto-ethnographic studies are needed so we can understand our experiences and helps us study the unknown. As the human species has evolved so too has our thirst for knowledge and understanding. Auto-ethnography is a really good way to learn about our own experiences looking at something new and exciting. Christiane Kraft Alsop looks at Auto-ethnography in her article Home and Away: Self-Reflexive Auto-Ethnography. In this article she compares her experiences at home vs being away from home and immersing herself in another culture. At the end of the day that is a key part of Auto-ethnography studies, being able to talk about your experiences immersing yourself in another culture.
That is the overall plan of the final assignment for this class, is to expose myself and immerse myself in the culture that is Dragonball Z. I loved Dragonball Z as a kid and now I am excited to see where the culture has gone since I left it all those years ago. The culture around anime and Dragonball Z has obviously changed for me personally since I was a younger kid, back then I had no idea what cosplay was or any of the stigmas surrounding anime. I was just a kid watching my cartoons of a morning while I waited to go to school. Now I can look at all sorts of different things and draw in from so many other things that surround the cultures to complete my study.
So that’s about it, learning from experiences and understanding the unknown is how I understand Auto-ethnography. To be good at writing Auto-ethnography I feel you need to be good at recounting and talking about your experiences and how you have learned from them. This is what I plan to do to learn about the anime culture using Dragonball Z as the anime example I will use. I plan to draw on experiences and research outside of the show and see if I can find the comparisons in the show. Let’s just hope there is stuff there that I can draw on.
Digital Asia 