International Conference of Autoethnography, Zoom (!) 20th-21st July 2020

Tim Buescher writes:

This year has been rather different for all of us in many ways. Lockdown, travel restrictions, increased workloads and caring duties have made meeting up difficult for all of us and an academic conference sounds like an impossibility. Or so it seemed in February when the steering committee for the International Conference of Autoethnography (formerly the British International Conference of Autoethnography) had to admit that we wouldn’t be gathering in Bristol for the 7th annual conference this year. 

However, we agreed to look at moving the thing online and relaunching/announcing this through the twitter account @_ICAE_. It has been an eye-opening experience to see people from as far afield as Kazakhstan, Aruba, Brazil, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, Norway, Chile, Turkey and various US states come together online for two days and share autoethnographic work in a wide variety of styles on a wide range of topics from an array of disciplines.

The theme for this year was Reclamation:

The process or act of claiming something back; of reasserting a right Restoration, regeneration, recapture, recovery, repossession or retrieval Reclamation as an act of telling a continuing narrative with what is salvaged from the wreckage of crisis. Something new.

Paraphrased from Barker and Buchannan-Barker, 2003

Panels included surviving lockdown, stories of survival/loss/reclaiming self, Reclaiming voices through poetic and lyrical understandings, Black motherhood /girlhood/womanhood, Methodological challenges and insights, Disrupted and problematic bodies, and many others.

The full programme is available here:

A YouTube channel has been established to curate some of the presentations including keynotes from Sophie Tamas and David Carless and the lifetime contribution award, which went to Alec Grant. You can access the channel here.

Many attendees spoke of how the online format allowed them to contribute in a way which would be financially impossible in a traditional setting, a serious consideration in thinking about decolonising academic institutions. The whole thing has been exhausting, but so very rewarding.

Impact Acceleration Funding bid success for the Un-tiques Roadshow (Tim Buescher)

Do you find yourself arguing with a partner or relative over what to keep and what to let go of? Do you keep things for different reasons? Most of us do, be these reasons of sentimentality, usefulness, or value. Or do you find clutter stressful and intrusive? Perhaps some of these things cause friction between family members. Now a set of interventions is to be offered for these objects to try and help repair the relationships they have with people and that people have with each other.

Tim Buescher has secured funding to carry out a public engagement project about holding on to and letting go of possessions. This will take place in the new year and will involve partnership with Chris Westoby, Hull History Centre, Hull libraries of stuff CIC, Hawley’s antiques, ltd., Anna Bean photography and many other parties.

If you would like to find out more, please contact  Tim .

‘What about me?’ The cross-disciplinary group facilitating writing the self and autoethnography

Chris Westoby, Ros Masamha and Tim Buescher write:

‘What about me?’ was established earlier this year as a space for colleagues interested in writing the self – academically, artistically, therapeutically – to meet, share work and discuss which directions they wish to take their ideas.

Throughout summer we have ran monthly sessions, and it has proven to be a comfortable, inspiring and supportive space to share ideas and reflections concerning writing the self. We saw an attendance from every corner of the university, working in entirely different disciplines, approaching writing the self in different ways, and for different purposes.

Now, we’re excited to continue this momentum and invite any and all academics and post-graduate researchers from every department – whether writing the self/autoethnography is an element of your research, or if it exists outside of it in a separate pursuit or purely personal practice.

Each session will invite a speaker to present their angle on writing, perhaps sharing their unique research methodologies, their personal investment, or the work of an author who inspires their practice. We will have time for group discussions, and most importantly time to write in a safe space. In the first session, Ros Masamha is presenting on Scholarly Personal Narratives: challenging methodologies in academia and academic writing.

With marking rolling in in January, it’s a busy time; taking two hours to focus purely on one’s self is more vital than ever, before needing to focus elsewhere!

Come along on 8th January, 13:00-15:00. The venue is Nidd Boardroom, complete with a selection of biscuits.

Report from the 6th British International Autoethnography Conference 22nd-23rd July, Bristol

Tim Beuscher writes:

Chris Westoby presents

The theme this year was activism, social justice and collaboration. Delegates came from all over the UK, Bangladesh, the USA, Norway, Denmark, representing disciplines across health, the arts, humanities, social sciences, computer science, sport. Presentations and performances took many forms, including sketching, song, theatre, poetry and film. 

This year, Hull University had double representation with Chris Westoby performing his work “narrative’s power to educate and inspire open discourse about mental health” and Tim Buescher on the organising committee as well as performing “a shared silence”.

The committee and guests

The committee have agreed to run the conference again next year at Bristol harbourside. For those interested in trying out or finding out more about writing for and about the self, the next “What about me?” group for writing about the self/ autoethnography will take place on 29^th August, 13:00-15:00, venue TBC.

What a coincidence!

Tim Buescher writes:

 

I sat down on a plane to Cork, heading for the 10^th Critical Voices Network Ireland conference and heard a familiar voice coming from the seats behind me. I turned round and found one of the external examiners at my viva exam, sat right behind me! I was introduced to other academics from UCLAN who made feel like a welcome part of their group. This spirit of welcome and inclusion pervaded the conference, even though there were about 600 attendees.

This conference brings together activists, academics, service users, survivors of mental health services and systems and their supporters, clinicians, alternative practitioners, students (the conference runs around and within the usual teaching curriculum) and it’s free to attend. My presentation on compulsive hoarding and co-production was well received by those present and I can see future projects arising from this. In addition, people in my session managed to find local sources of help for people struggling with their possessions.

For anyone interested in finding out more about the conference, the book of abstracts can be viewed here

Some of the plenary sessions were live streamed and are available to view here

 

For anyone interested in developing coproduction in mental health research and practice, mad studies, peer workers, recovery, mad politics there is a lot to think about here.

Dr Tim Beuscher

Great news – our colleague Tim had his Viva recently and passed

Tim Buescher presents at International Conference

Last week I presented at the 5^th British International Authoethnography Conference in Bristol. There were approximately 100 people in attendance from a range of academic disciplines from institutions in the US, Norway, Malta, Portugal and all over the UK, including Hull alumni.

Here I am, addressing a full auditorium (no parallel sessions on the first day)! It went well and I made some new friends.

Panel Session 2: Collaborative autoethnographies: working at the border and as a member of a research team.

Tweets from the conference can found using the hashtag #reimaginingexperience.

A short film featuring some highlights from the conference can be viewed here.

More information is available here.

Help-seeking and mutual recruitment into work in compulsive hoarding

Tim Buescher

Tim Buescher and Tracy Pallett (co-researcher and expert by experience) presented:
A participatory narrative of help-seeking and mutual recruitment' into their work in compulsive hoarding at Public Engagement and Performance Conference (see YouTube) 2017 17-18 March in York.

Tim Buescher in YouTube video

Well done to Tim Buescher who attended and presented his work at this innovative conference where diversity and creativity in research methods is welcomed and supported.  

Tim Buescher

This short clip identifies some of the challenges and joys that our more creative colleagues experience and it encourages us to embrace and support difference and creativity in research. 

Tim Buescher reports on RCN Research Conference Glasgow 2014

In April I attended the Royal College of Nursing 2014 International Research Conference at the University of Glasgow where my poster entitled How Compulsive Hoarding Affects Family Relationships won poster of the day on the final day.  Over the course of the three day conference I had the opportunity to meet clinicians, academics and students engaged in a diversity of research and I attended a variety of seminars and presentations on a diversity of subjects.  It was particularly helpful to see Hull University colleagues, my supervisors and fellow PhD students presenting their research and describing the various challenges that they have overcome.  Attending the conference gave me a confidence boost and meeting so many people who are using so many different techniques helped me to consolidate my ideas about what I want to achieve with my research and how I would like to progress my research opportunities for the future.  

Hull PhD student wins prize

Tim Buescher, a PhD student in the Faculty won the prize for:

Best poster of the day on 4 April 2014 at the Royal College of the United Kingdom International Research Conference 2014 in Glasgow this year for the poster:

How compulsive hoarding affects family relationships

Tim has also published:

Buescher TK, Cowdell F (2013) The effects of hoarding disorder on families: an integrative review Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing doi: 10.1111/jpm.12098