Storying the Self

The telling and sharing of stories is synonymous with what it is to be human. The narrative threads reaching back through our personal histories help us make sense of who we are. We use stories anecdotally, at school, on dates, or over coffee, to connect with people and social worlds. In academia, storytelling that engenders meaning making is becoming legitimised as a branch of qualitative research that informs us about our culture and identity. Autoethnography is a methodology that links the self (auto) with ethno (culture) to research (graphy) (Reed-Danahay, 1997) and it is this approach that has driven the ethos guiding the developemmt of a creative writing module for undergraduets that the autohors co-devised. This article uses autobiographical storytelling to demonstrate the author’s pedagogic practice and research into storying the self.