In April and July of 2023, the BERA Social Justice special interest group (SIG) held an event titled ‘Beyond “Navel-gazing”: Autoethnography as a Catalyst for Change’. This event brought together educational researchers, practitioners and students to discuss the possibilities afforded by autoethnography to advance social justice in education. Following the webinar, participants were invited to contribute to this BERA Blog special issue.

This special issue consists of a range of applications of autoethnography when it is used as a methodology to illuminate social justice issues in education and as a tool for deepening one’s research skills. The author contributions reflect themes of amplifying voices within their respective settings, sharing personal experiences to deepen intersectional perspectives, and advocating for change.

The contributions to this issue explore: 

• the value of storytelling in advancing understandings of social realities and challenging academic discourses of ‘rigor’ and ‘objectivity’
• the power of autoethnography for individual and broader social change, and using autoethnographic methods in her research to connect personal narratives to larger social issues, highlighting reflection and reflexivity
• the significance of personal narratives in examining how adultification bias impacts Black girls before, during and after their time in local authority care
• experiences as a Black male teacher, using autoethnography to examine discourses on teacher diversity amid disproportionately low numbers in English schools
• challenging claims of inclusiveness in higher education through autoethnography
• using autoethnography to explore journey as a mature postgraduate researcher.