TY - JOUR
T1 - Expedition (Auto)ethnography
T2 - An adventurer-researcher’s journey
AU - Kennedy, Suzanne
AU - Macphail, Ann
AU - Varley, Peter Justin
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Institute for Outdoor Learning.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Adventure expeditions are characterised by their unique temporal and spatial separateness from the quotidian and their exploratory and oft times risky nature. As such they offer a multitude of possibilities in research terms for the inquisitive investigator. Few studies however have considered the researcher’s experience of exploring such settings. Primarily methodological in focus, this paper examines the challenges and management of the adventure-researcher’s multiple roles during a sea kayaking expedition. An expedition observation framework is constructed as a tool to aid the conceptualisation of the field. In a candid and reflexive social commentary, the relative and fluid positioning of the researcher in insider-outsider terms is probed and despite their nuanced differences, the interplay of ethnography and autoethnography in achieving this. The concept of existential authenticity as a complementary theoretical framework is used to illustrate the marginality and liminal nature of the adventure scape and the researcher’s task within it.
AB - Adventure expeditions are characterised by their unique temporal and spatial separateness from the quotidian and their exploratory and oft times risky nature. As such they offer a multitude of possibilities in research terms for the inquisitive investigator. Few studies however have considered the researcher’s experience of exploring such settings. Primarily methodological in focus, this paper examines the challenges and management of the adventure-researcher’s multiple roles during a sea kayaking expedition. An expedition observation framework is constructed as a tool to aid the conceptualisation of the field. In a candid and reflexive social commentary, the relative and fluid positioning of the researcher in insider-outsider terms is probed and despite their nuanced differences, the interplay of ethnography and autoethnography in achieving this. The concept of existential authenticity as a complementary theoretical framework is used to illustrate the marginality and liminal nature of the adventure scape and the researcher’s task within it.
KW - Adventure
KW - Autoethnography
KW - Ethnography
KW - Existential authenticity
KW - Expedition
KW - Sea kayaking
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85076359839&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/14729679.2018.1451757
DO - 10.1080/14729679.2018.1451757
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85076359839
SN - 1472-9679
VL - 19
SP - 187
EP - 201
JO - Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning
JF - Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning
IS - 3
ER -