Self-Reflexive Methodologies

Self-reflexivity in research brings to the fore a focus on examining, questioning, and theorising researchers’ lived experiences and selves. The Self-Reflexive Methodologies special interest group (SIG) of the South African Education Research Association (SAERA) has been active since 2014. Each year a collaborative SIG symposium is held at the annual SAERA conference. The symposia have focused on narratives (2015), poetic inquiry (2016), object inquiry (2017), memory-work (2018), methodological inventiveness in self-reflexive research (2019), and integrating research, teaching, and learning through self-reflexive scholarship (2021). More than 100 academics from 19 higher education institutions have participated in SIG activities since 2014. SIG participants are located within a range of academic and professional disciplines. All share an interest in research methodologies that require self-reflexivity – including, but not limited to, self-study of practice, autoethnography, and narrative inquiry. The SIG works to facilitate the growth of our research learning community through a range of virtual and face-to-face activities that open new spaces for innovative, self-reflexive educational research within and beyond South Africa.