Doing Autoethnography and Becoming a Doctor

Autoethnography is primarily viewed as a research method or as a style of scholarly writing; accordingly, the implications of doing autoethnography as an educational process have not been fully explored. This article, based on a collaborative project involving a medical student, a medical anthropologist, and a medical educator, explored this possibility in the context of medical education, particularly during clinical clerkships. In the project, the student wrote autoethnographic vignettes on clinical clerkships in particular departments and clinics, and then discussed with the medical educator and anthropologist who read the vignettes, and provided comments from their respective standpoints. During regular meetings, the three discussed how the ethnographic descriptions might be improved as well as the discoveries and insights contained within them. In this article, we present a meta-autoethnography, reflexively describing the educational and transformational process of autoethnographic activities. In doing so, we illustrate how “doing autoethnography” can be a vital part of “becoming a doctor.” We suggest that the practice of autoethnography can be seen as a medium through which to become a “reflexive practitioner” in Donald Schön’s sense of the term and argue that not only does the practice of writing autoethnographic vignettes but also the experience of one’s own vignettes being read and commented upon facilitates reflective and transformational processes. Several implications are drawn on the potential significance of autoethnography for professional education in general, and medical education in particular.