Autoethnography in Indigenous Research Contexts: The Value of Inner Knowing

Indigenous researchers have focussed on decolonising conventional research methodologies by strongly asserting the validity of their own diverse and unique epistemologies and ontologies in the construction of knowledge. Advocating the value of epistemological and ontological grounding in research, this paper presents an epistemological rationale for the veracity of autoethnography as an Indigenous research method and how Indigenous researchers might work from an ‘epistemology of insiderness’ to construct and theorise knowledge. The paper examines an autoethnographic approach, where the researcher’s life and understandings are assimilated into the research, by exploring how the embodiment of my own Aboriginal identity worked to influence my choices and experiences in my doctoral research, which examines the development and expression of self-identity for Aboriginal women