Reflection on:
An a/r/tographic métissage: Storying the self as pedagogic practice
TRISH OSLER, ISABELLE GUILLARD, ARIANNA GARCIA-FIALDINI AND SANDRINE CÔTÉ
concordia University
Osler et al. (2019) illustrate how life writing and personal storytelling serve as powerful tools for self-discovery and pedagogical innovation. By embracing métissage, their work highlights the interconnectedness of personal narrative, artistic practice, and educational research, offering a model for educators seeking to integrate creative and reflective methodologies into their work.
Of all of the readings for this unit, this is one of the ones that stuck the most with me. Once in some staff training another colleague commented that I was often able to speak from the ‘inside of the problem’ with the students. This stuck with me and is something I often try to do. Using my own experiences, failures and successes as case studies and frameworks for lectures allows. I’ve always thought this presents a challenge though and I’m not entirely comfortable with always using myself as a case study. This quote makes me think of the importance of always involving external industry people – who always tend to talk from their own experiences. A positive of that model is there are multiple narratives the students can choose to combine their own.
“The immersive experience of storying oneself, by engaging in autoethnography (Chang 2008), presents a double challenge. The focus of the process has become the process itself, where self-reflexivity treads dangerously towards a vain attempt to capture infinite ephemeral images in facing mirrors.” (Osler et al., 2019)