The Core of Critical Performative Autoethnography

Abstract

Taking its cues from, and lending support to, the assertion in the autoethnographic literature that performative autoethnography (PA) is “moral” and “democratic” in its critical engagement, this article theoretically constructs the concepts “moral” and “democratic” in the context of PA. It does this by intersecting the performative theory of Conquergood with the moral philosophy of Dewey and the paradigmatic theory of Adorno, while including an expressionist narrative thread based on urban writer Algren’s critical prose-poem “Chicago: City on the Make,” and while drawing on examples from autoethnography written by the author of this article. As a result, the article, primarily theoretical, situates PA within the long-overlooked and very rarely discussed paradigm “Adorno-esque ‘longing’” where PA is able to “perform” its moral and democratic disposition in a nondogmatic or non-hegemonic manner while seeking social justice.