This project seeks to understand the construction of a personal narrative concerning a primary parental figure using the process of collaborative autoethnography. In order to properly encapsulate the author’s lived experience, primary influential factors were considered imperative in allowing for a fuller representation. Thus, the author’s story joins those of her siblings to highlight the paradoxical process inherent in unearthing one’s singular perception. This project primarily aims to explore the complexity of autoethnography while simultaneously interrogating the cultural discourse surrounding motherhood and academic writing. By having a close and personal understanding of the subject matter as well as the research participants, the author was provided a unique glimpse into the ways family stories are both co-constructed and individually recounted

Denna uppsats ämnar redovisa en kollaborativ autoetnografisk studie utifrån begreppen värdskap, sociologi, kommensalitet och främlingen. Studiens övergripande syfte är att skapa en förståelse kring hur måltidsevent anordnade i Umeå via mobil-applikationen Airdine upplevs ur värdens perspektiv. Studien bygger på tre event upprättade med aktionsforskning som grund, det vill säga en iscensättande och deltagande roll intas av oss som värdar. Metoden kollaborativ autoetnografi innebär i denna uppsats att två personer dokumenterar varsin uttömmande autoetnografi om sina innerliga tankar och reflektioner kring värdskapet, dessa reflektioner utgör studiens empiri. Studien har resulterat i djupa uttömmande reflektioner kring värdarna kopplat till det induktiva teoretiska ramverket. Slutsatsen pekar på aktionsforskning tillsammans med kollaborativ autoetnografi att kunna fungera som ett komplement till varandra och vara ett intressant nytt verktyg för framtida forskning inom hospitality-fältet. / This paper aims to account for a collaborative autoethnography study based on the concepts of hospitality, sociology, commensality and the stranger. The general purpose of the study is to create an understanding around how meal-events arranged in Umeå through the mobile-application Airdine are percieved from the perspective of the host. The study revolves around three events executed with action research as its base, in other words a staging and participatory roll is taken by us as hosts. In this paper collaborative autoethnograpy means that two people each document a complete and exhaustive field-journal regarding their innermost thoughts and reflections around their hospitality, these reflections will then make up the empirics of the study. The study has resulted in profound exhaustive reflections surrounding the hosts connected to the identified theoretical framework. The conclusion points at action research paired together with collaborative autoethnography to compliment each other and of being a possibly interesting tool for future research within the hospitality field.

As the state of the world continues to evolve through means of social justice and technology, the discussion of cultural humility as the evolution of cultural competence is a growing topic in the field of mental health and the art therapy community. The following mixed- method research explores the impact of art materials, group processes, and creative practices in the development of cultural humility. Six graduate students from the Marital and Family Art Therapy Program at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) designed the following collaborative ethnography. Utilizing both quantitative and qualitative data to answer the question: How can group art-based practices (e.g., materials, group processes) develop cultural humility among art therapists? The data collected include pre and post-survey statistics in addition to art responses and dialogue reflection. The data revealed that art-based group processes and the intentional choice of material may facilitate the growth surrounding the four principles of cultural humility. Critical self-reflection was achieved through a deep exploration of individual experiences surrounding socioeconomic status, race, colonialism, gender, family, and spirituality. Participants were able to readdress the power imbalance by taking on the role of participant and facilitator taking into consideration how information and materials are both presented and received. Through group art-making, sharing, and discussing systemic changes, participants developed partnerships with communities and maintained institutional accountability. In order to build upon our findings, we propose future research on group-based art practices with mental health professionals and trainees that focus on the development of cultural humility in different social and environmental contexts.

Mémoire en recherche-création / Inscrites au sein de notre société actuelle hétéronormée (Butler 1990), les représentations visuelles sont toujours teintées de codes culturels prescrits et genrés dont il est impossible de se défaire. Ces images actualisent et véhiculent des rapports de pouvoir (Foucault 1973) que l’on incorpore à travers nos identifications personnelles et nos pratiques artistiques. Les objectifs de cette maîtrise en études cinématographiques sont d’une part de contribuer au développement d’une méthodologie de recherche-création (Boutet 2018) critique et située (Haraway 1988) comme exercice de recherche académique en questionnant les rapports de pouvoir, et, d’autre part de proposer une alternative à la photographie de nu à travers la conception d’une installation lumineuse et sonore éphémère. Ma question de recherche se déploie à la fois à travers une posture politique et une méthodologie de recherche. D’une part, comment une recherche-création autoethnographique collaborative (Chang, Hernandez et Ngunjiri 2012) permet-elle de réfléchir les rapports de pouvoir au sein d’une pratique artistique afin de créer des images d’un corps féminin sans pour autant reproduire certains réflexes hétéronormatifs ? D’autre part, comment une posture critique et auto-réflexive féministe queer permet-elle de développer des stratégies de résistance et, par le fait même, d’échapper aux codifications culturelles genrées de son contexte ? J’avance l’hypothèse qu’en dématérialisant le corps au sein d’une pratique installative lumineuse et sonore, fondée sur une méthodologie collaborative, il serait possible d’offrir une résistance aux réflexes hétéronormatifs présents dans la représentation visuelle d’un corps féminin. Cette forme artistique qui se détache d’une narration visuelle traditionnelle serait ainsi une manière de résister au Male gaze (Mulvey 1993). Mon projet est une enquête méthodologique qui investigue la démarche intuitive et qualitative de l’autoethnographie collaborative en tant que méthode inclusive qui permet de questionner l’éthique d’une représentation. Au sein d’une recherche-création, le processus créatif est appréhendé comme recherche académique et me permet d’inclure mes autres pratiques artistiques parallèles au sein d’un mémoire protéiforme. / Among our current hetero-normed society (Butler 1990), visual representations are always tainted with prescribed and gendered cultural codes that are impossible to get rid of. These images actualize and convey power relations (Foucault 1973) that we unconsciously incorporate through our personal identifications and artistic practices. This master's degree in film studies aims, on the one hand, to contribute to the development of a critical and situated (Haraway 1988) research-creation methodology (Boutet 2018) as an academic research exercise by questioning power relations, and, on the other hand, to offer an alternative to nude photography through the conception of an ephemeral light and sound installation. My research question includes a political approach and a research methodology. On the one hand, how does a collaborative autoethnographic research-creation (Chang, Hernandez and Ngunjiri 2012) allows us to rethink the power relations within an artistic practice in order to create images of a female body without reproducing some heteronormative reflexes? On the other hand, how does a critical and self-reflexive feminist queer approach can develop strategies of resistance and consequently avoid the gendered cultural codifications of its context? I argue that by dematerializing the body though a light and sound ephemeral installation practice, based on a collaborative methodology, it would be possible to offer resistance to the heteronormative reflexes currently involved in the visual representation of a female body. This artistic form that intentionally stands out from a traditional visual storytelling would thus become a way of resisting the Male Gaze (Mulvey 1993). My project is a methodological inquiry that investigates the intuitive and qualitative approach of collaborative autoethnography as an inclusive method that allows us to question the ethics of representation. Within the framework of a research-creation methodology, the creative process is regarded as an academic research and allows me to include my other parallel artistic practices into a protean master’s thesis.

Between March 11, 2020 and May of 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) counted over 100 million cases of COVID-19, resulting in three million deaths worldwide (WHO, 2021). In order to examine the effects of art-making on social and psychological well-being, seven graduate students from the Marital and Family Art Therapy Program at LMU conducted the following study utilizing a qualitative, arts-based research approach through collaborative autoethnography (CAE). The research question — What are the effects of personal art-making on well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic? — was posed by the seven graduate student authors. The data revealed that pandemic-time art-making impacted well-being through three primary avenues: by acting as a means to cope, to adapt, and to process. Each of our emerging themes highlighted the use of art-making as a tool, and each theme described this phenomenon in a unique and pointed way. First, our art-making impacted our well-being during the pandemic by serving as a tool to cope with the stressors of the pandemic by minimizing, banishing, or making them tolerable. Going one step further than coping, art-making also served as a tool for adapting. It acted as the mediating force between the pandemic’s external impacts and our ensuing internal experiences. Finally, art-making impacted well-being throughout the pandemic by serving as a tool to process corporeal experiences, emotional experiences, and other personal realities. In order to build upon our findings, we propose future research on the impacts of personal art-making on wellness through collaborative autoethnography by participant-researchers representing diverse cultures within their social and environmental contexts.

Spelindustrin är gigantisk och kontinuerligt växande, där detta inkluderar spelutveckling samt spelande av spel. Detta medför att en betydande mängd akademiker i sina yrkesliv kommer att beröra ämnesområdet spelutveckling. Trots detta faktum finns det en avsaknad av akademisk litteratur som behandlar ämnesområdet spelutveckling, specifikt med ett IS-perspektiv. För att fylla avsaknaden ämnar denna undersökning utöka det specifika konceptet inom spelutveckling som är “skapande av en 2D-spelmotor med tillhörande spel”. Att spela innebär hedonistiska upplevelser. Gäller denna hedonism också vid spelutveckling? Vilka utmaningar och vilken problematik uppstår vid utveckling av en spelmotor? För att utreda detta används en kvalitativ undersökning med en induktiv metodik via forskning genom design (eng. Research through Design, RtD) tillsammans med kollaborativ autoetnografi (Collaborative Autoethnography, CAE). Detta skapar ett unikt perspektiv som används för att producera välmotiverad vägledning för introduktion till ämnesområdet. Datainsamling utgörs av loggbok och dagbok där dessa används för att reflektera kring problem, utmaningar, framgångsfaktorer samt hedonistiska upplevelser inom processen. Undersökningens bakomliggande teori är baserat på Hedonic-motivation system adoption model (HMSAM) samt kriterier för utvärdering av ett lyckat RtD-projekt. Resultaten visar att spelutveckling är en komplicerad process, där egenskaper av spelutveckling identifierats och som bildat riktlinjer som förbereder akademiker inför framtida forskning och arbete. / The gaming industry is gigantic and continuously growing, which includes game development and gaming. This means that a significant number of academics will touch on the subject area of game development during their professional lives. Despite this fact there is a lack of academic literature which deals with the subject area of game development, specifically with an IS perspective. To fill the gap, this study aims to expand the specific concept in game development that is “creation of a 2D game engine with an associated game”. Gaming involves hedonistic experiences. Is this also associated with game development? What challenges and problems arise when developing a game engine? Answering this involves a qualitative study with an inductive methodology via Research through Design (RtD) together with Collaborative Autoethnography (CAE). This creates a unique perspective that is used to produce well-motivated guidance for introduction to the subject area. Data collection consists of a journal and diary where these are used to reflect on problems, challenges, success factors and hedonistic experiences within the process. The study’s underlying theory is based on the Hedonic-motivation system adoption model (HMSAM) and criterias for evaluating successful RtD projects. The results show that game development is a complicated process, where characteristics of game development have been identified which developed guidelines that prepare academics for future research and work.