Autobiography, feminism and the practice of action research

Abstract

This paper is a contribution to the development of the view that action research should be both personal and political. It is shown that the personal and particular, as expressed in autobiographical research methods, can also be political and critical. This claim is dependent on (1) the view that, to be epistemologically sound, a method needs to be critical and political and (2) the view that to be epistemologically sound, a method needs to be personal, and also to be revisable over time. Arguments are given for these two views, using feminist epistemology. It is recognised that the claim would be hollow if it were not possible to convert abstract requirements into actual methods. This possibility is demonstrated by (3) considering the method of autobiography in general, and ‘critical autobiography’ in particular, and (4) examining my own autobiographical writing in journals made during an action research project, using the criteria developed in (1) and (2).