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Relation to Carolyn Ellis
In my auto ethnography, I decided to base my interviews on Carolyn Ellis’ interactive interviewing. Since I decided to dedicate my auto ethnography to a personal experience, I thought creating an environment of comfort and in a way conversation between the interviewee and me (the interviewer) was key to achieving my goal. Through an interactive interview, I was able to share my experience on the topic while learning about the interviewees’ experiences. Choosing two sports, soccer and tennis, also made me realize the differences in preferences and expectations each of my interviewees had about freshman year. I personally was able to relate best with the interviewee that played soccer in high school, but through the interviewee that played tennis, I was able to understand her perspective and compare it with mine. Soccer, being a team sport, creates more of an extroverted individual and therefore being surrounded by other people is of great importance when talking about a college experience; tennis on the other hand, being an individual sport, creates more of an introverted individual which leads the person to greatly appreciate his or her alone time. If it would not have been for the approach I took to create this auto ethnography, I would have not been able to relate my perspective and ideas with those I interviewed and I would not have probably gotten as much feedback from them either.
I also decided to take a narrative ethnographic approach, which is based on one of the many approaches Carolyn Ellis mentions in her book The Ethnographic I. I thought this approach would work best with my auto ethnography because through this approach, I would be able to contribute to the interview and relate my experiences and opinions on the subject with those of the interviewee. As Carolyn Ellis mentions in her book, this approach is one in which “ the ethnographer’s experiences are incorporated into the ethnography description and analysis of other and the emphasis is on the ethnographic dialogue or encounter between the narrator and members of the group being studied”. (Ellis 48).
In my auto ethnography, I decided to base my interviews on Carolyn Ellis’ interactive interviewing. Since I decided to dedicate my auto ethnography to a personal experience, I thought creating an environment of comfort and in a way conversation between the interviewee and me (the interviewer) was key to achieving my goal. Through an interactive interview, I was able to share my experience on the topic while learning about the interviewees’ experiences. Choosing two sports, soccer and tennis, also made me realize the differences in preferences and expectations each of my interviewees had about freshman year. I personally was able to relate best with the interviewee that played soccer in high school, but through the interviewee that played tennis, I was able to understand her perspective and compare it with mine. Soccer, being a team sport, creates more of an extroverted individual and therefore being surrounded by other people is of great importance when talking about a college experience; tennis on the other hand, being an individual sport, creates more of an introverted individual which leads the person to greatly appreciate his or her alone time. If it would not have been for the approach I took to create this auto ethnography, I would have not been able to relate my perspective and ideas with those I interviewed and I would not have probably gotten as much feedback from them either.
I also decided to take a narrative ethnographic approach, which is based on one of the many approaches Carolyn Ellis mentions in her book The Ethnographic I. I thought this approach would work best with my auto ethnography because through this approach, I would be able to contribute to the interview and relate my experiences and opinions on the subject with those of the interviewee. As Carolyn Ellis mentions in her book, this approach is one in which “ the ethnographer’s experiences are incorporated into the ethnography description and analysis of other and the emphasis is on the ethnographic dialogue or encounter between the narrator and members of the group being studied”. (Ellis 48).