Abstract

This performance (auto)ethnography confronts the continuing controversy surrounding qualitative inquiry via examination of the tenure process in a particular case. The perils and delights of the performative/autoethnographic voice take center stage as “transgressions” against the status quo. This is a story about the call of autoethnography, about the perils and delights of engaging the autoethnographic voice. It's also about the broader (and deeper) reasons for pursuing the autoethnographic life, even in an academy that often seems hostile to the impulse that drives so-called qualitative inquiry. In the end, it's about the courage to transgress, to reach across the boundaries that threaten to contain us—or even shut us down.