Dare i write about oppression on sacred ground [emphasis mine]

Abstract

Autoethnography and Spoken Word1 are utilized here to describe the reaction of a Black female professor impacted by microaggresssions2 after publishing an autoethnographic chapter about multilayered oppression. This evocative performance narrative is created from journal entries, conversations, text messages, emails, and uses the process of sociological introspection to reconcile reactions emanating from dialogues. This work contributes to larger sociopolitical discourse on oppression in the academy, the implications, and professional dilemmas embedded in such talk when one dares to write about one's own professional experiences. Additionally, this piece illustrates the conflicts inherent in Academic Freedom, perceptions of autoethnography, and the dilemma of representation in critical qualitative research traditions. Finally, this piece challenges the academy to consider the power of Spoken Word as a valuable method of storytelling; and, as an essential epistemology to enact and enliven representations of the self, and of others, with the greater purpose of engaging in activist3 scholarship. © 2011 SAGE Publications.