Traces and shards of self-injury: Strange accounting with “Author X”
Abstract
In this strange account autoethnography, three or four authors explore their lived experiences with self-injury. Strange accounting is both a post-modern style of text, and a method for keeping identities concealed when risks and secrets are in play. Author X, a post-modern place-keeper for an anonymous author who may or may not have contributed to this manuscript, introduces a new dimension and layer of concealment. With Author X in-play and under erasure, the reader will never be sure if there were three or four authors on this manuscript. Through strange accounting, a post-structuralist/postmodernist frame will be applied to understanding the self-injury experience. We frame self-injury as a social practice and, for some, an everyday norm, while remaining acutely aware of the stigma surrounding the topic of self-injury. Each of us, coupled with Author X, provide the others cover to trace stories of self-injury through the literature, our flesh, and our lives.
Publication Title
Advances in Autoethnography and Narrative Inquiry: Reflections on the Legacy of Carolyn Ellis and Arthur Bochner
Recommended Citation
Presson, B., Barnes, B., Rambo, C., & Author, X. (2021). Traces and shards of self-injury: Strange accounting with “Author X”. Advances in Autoethnography and Narrative Inquiry: Reflections on the Legacy of Carolyn Ellis and Arthur Bochner, 123-141. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003035763-14
