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In this chapter, I reflect on my experiences researching women's football in Argentina as a professional player in the teams I was studying, UAI Urquiza and Argentina's national team. First, I explore some theoretical aspects of auto-ethnography and ethnography. Before entering into the main discussion of the text; however, I contextualise my work, starting with my access to the field and briefly summarising my own football career as an Argentine-American. Then, I articulate the categories of insider/outsider and native/non-native with my fieldwork and the transformations in the players, the sport and myself that I observed throughout my time in the field. Finally, the text concludes with a reflection on the limitations and opportunities offered by auto-ethnography in the social study of sport.

The present paper narrates the methodological and analytical experience of ethnographic fieldwork conducted on a neighbourhood shopping-square in the suburb of a provincial Dutch town. In the multi-ethnic and male-dominated space of this research site, I am firmly rendered as The Other. I reflect on how a group of male adolescents that reside on the square hone in on my quality as a female and I discuss two of my experiences with verbal and physical sexual harassment. Building on the discourse on auto-ethnography, I describe how embodied experiences and the analysis of these experiences eventually lead to theoretical insights pivotal to my research. My personal struggle on the square sensitizes me to understanding how law, both in creation and enforcement, permeates social interactions in public space.

This chapter provides discursive space for story-telling to provide narrative reflection on the experiences associated with struggles and advantages attributed to advancing non-traditional perspectives into practice. I utilize an auto-ethnography (L. Anderson (2006). Analytical autoethnography. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 35(4), 373–395; C. Ellis & A. P. Bochner (2000). Auto-ethnography, personal narrative, reflexivity: Researcher as subject. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 733–768). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage; L. Richardson (2000). Writing. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 923–948). London: Sage) to detail my lived experiences as a scholar who has encountered the outsider-within status in academe (Collins, P. H. (2002). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. Routledge.). I detail my dual role as a social agent and as an African-American female scholar and the complexities of teaching social justice while promoting the need for activism of social justice and equity in our U.S. schools. Therefore, this study amplifies silenced voices regarding challenges for African-American female scholars engaged in transformative pedagogy in academe. I will utilize a Critical Race Theory lens to examine the racialized experiences that persist for African-American faculty seeking to advance transformational perspectives in academe, and thus through teaching, helping students to realize inequities in K-12 classroom settings (Grant, C. (2012). Advancing our legacy: A Black feminist perspective on the significance of mentoring for African-American women in educational leadership. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 25(1), 101–117.).

In this paper, we responded to recent calls for the use of a greater variety of qualitative methods in the study of inter-organizational encounters, including mergers and acquisitions (M&As). The paper provided a reflection on the authors’ experiences in carrying out two studies of merger processes in the UK and Finland, one ethnographic and one combing also auto-­ethnographic methods. Contrasts between the former case of an “outsider” entering into an ethnographic study and the latter case of an auto-ethnographer with a dual role as a researcher and integration team member were highlighted. The paper offered three contributions to extant research. First, the paper extended the methodological debate in the study of M&As to the level of individual methods. Second, the paper identified the finding types that emerge when using ethnographic methods in the study of mergers. Third, the paper discussed the unique challenges posed when conducting ethnographic work investigating organizational combinations in times of mergers as opposed to ethnography in traditional, single organizational settings.

In this chapter the authors take an auto-ethnographic approach to draw from recent experiences of being integrally involved in the death rituals pertaining to a close family member, ranging across three different cultural backgrounds, all located in Aotearoa New Zealand and involving intercultural complexities. All of these funeral proceedings were unusual circumstances, due to the status of the deceased, meaning that in all three instances, the rituals were very public, due to cultural expectations. Through narrative descriptions, this chapter illuminates the ways in which traditional cultural values are played out in contemporary contexts and their importance in providing a framework of support for the bereaved families through the mourning period, albeit in the public gaze. Despite the impacts of colonization, immigration, and globalization, these traditional practices, passed down through generation after generation, demonstrate their resilience and contemporary application in service of the emotional and spiritual well-being of the respective collectives.

This chapter is about physicality in virtual space, where one generally does not expect to find any physicality according to research and literature. Here, working in virtual space includes interactions and cooperation through the mail, internet, Skype and video-conferencing. The authors use their own experience of collaborating and leading in a virtual project team. Their own personal accounts, impressions and insights reveal a story of organizational cooperation where physicality matters for developing relations and leadership in virtual space. The piece reveals how an aesthetic consciousness of self and others intensifies in virtual communication, especially in relation to the senses of seeing and listening. For instance, the authors describe perception of the self is possible on SKYPE in a way that is not possible in face-to-face meetings (allowing one to realize if one is not dressed ‘properly’). They argue it is important to identify the physical ‘digital self’ and realize the challenges of being fit to operate across time zones, having personal and public boundaries blurred, as well as the heightened sensitivity to imagine what is left out in a virtual relationship. The examples illustrate what kind of sensuous cues become central in virtual communication. The chapter brings forth the need to sensitize to the physicality and to develop skills to perceive and act on it.

As a tenured associate professor whose career has engaged various social justice issues, this chapter discusses the collaborative and shared decision-making process used to found and maintain basketball teams for seven years. The chapter also focuses on personal reflections of coaching club basketball as part of an auto-ethnography. The chapter explains the experiences that influenced a praxis focused on social justice as an attempt to infuse principles of equality and inclusiveness in opposition to harsh traditional coaching practices. Youth embraced an approach with little yelling, but some parents disapproved. Finally, this work discusses the limitations and successes of utilizing a social justice approach, including professional and health consequences.

This chapter is based on experiences from two field studies, conducted in Tanzania and Pakistan, with a focus on women entrepreneurs. When conducting research in the global south, there are several ethical challenges to carefully consider, especially when research involves vulnerable groups of people. The aim of the chapter is to shed light on the complexities of power dynamics and to reflect on how to handle ethical dilemmas that may arise. Stories of women I met during the field work are placed at the centre and used as starting points for reflections on power dynamics. These stories lead to a discussion on whether it is legitimate for (privileged) Westerners to engage in research in the global south. The value of ethnography and auto-ethnography within entrepreneurship research is thereafter discussed in hopes of assisting future studies, where different power structures have to be considered.

This chapter explores the personal experiences of the author as an American Indian woman working as a faculty member at a research university. The author identifies three conceptualized themes that inform her work: identity, mentorship, and research. These three themes are discussed as a catalyst for the ways in which research culture may shift in the twenty-first century university.