Using autoethnography to examine the effects of power relations in society on which lives have been written

In this paper, I demonstrate how I have used autoethnography as a method of life-writing to examine the effects of power relations in society on which lives have been written. I bring to attention how the Key Stage 2 history curriculum in England and Wales instructs teaching for learning the story of Britain’s past through an exclusive focus on stories of migrant White-European minority-ethnic groups of people i.e. Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. This has influenced my use of autoethnography in analysis of Afro-Caribbean migration to Britain in the 20th century where I focus particular attention on their presence in a story of Britain’s past - the Brixton Riots of 1981 (Brixton 1981). I discuss Wright-Mills’ notion of the sociological imagination in synthesis with Rusen’s competencies of historical consciousness. Both are applied for enquiry and reflection to help with exploring future possible reconceptualised approaches to teaching and learning about stories of migration by minority-ethnic group of people over the ages.