Autoethnography and Identity Essay

This essay’s primary task is to use the method of autoethnography to make a claim about the U.S. identity/identities developed within and in relationship to an item of popular culture. 

Eli (Roth, “Eli the Fanatic”) has clothes; the daughters of My American Girls have music and dance; the Filipinos in Espiritu’s study have Life magazine and coca cola; Deloria stresses the importance of how his grandfather’s negotiation of Native and U.S. identities happened through sports; Abdurraqib details for us the intimacy and power of music and dance. Popular culture, Lipsitz tells us, has, through American Studies and European cultural theory, been made visible as “a crucial site for the construction of social identity, but also as a key terrain for ideological conflict” (313).

To write the essay, you will want to choose an item of U.S. popular culture that you can approach as an autoethnographer with the goal of understanding how that item participates (from your perspective) in the making or unmaking of American identity/ies. 

Steps needed: 

• You will need an introductory paragraph that establishes your choice of item, some introductory discussion of your own knowledge/experience with it, and the larger claim that you’re making about how it serves as a “site for the construction of social identity.” [Caution: choose a “small” item. In other words, instead of choosing “the Blues,” choose a particular song; instead of choosing “social media” or even “TikTok,” choose a particular video. If you feel at a loss as to what item to choose, let’s talk!] 

• The body of the text should include a rich description of your own experience with the item, which needs to include (1) a description of the item itself; (2) a narrative about your experience with it that includes evidence of your own “motivations for and emotions in” doing this writing (Adams et al 4). 

• The body of the text should work through your description and narrative as a source of knowledge by understanding/theorizing your experience in conversation with our readings. You should cite at least three of our recent readings in order to qualify/ground your understanding of the kinds of/variations on Americanness for which the item provides space and use Lipsitz to bolster your theorizing (for a total of at least 4 texts cited, beyond your chosen popular culture item). [Remember to use Chicago style endnotes.]

• The conclusion of your essay should offer up final observations and the claim that you’ve arrived at after sorting through your experience alongside the conversation you’ve developed with our course texts.

• The endnotes do not count towards your word or page count.

This assignment invites you to place yourself as a knower and theorizer whose grounded observation and experience can be made more knowable/communicable through scholarly conversation. Your writing should be concise and tight. You may use the first-person “I” if you’d like–you’re the one making the argument.