Commentary Editor: Liam Clarke Submission address: School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Brighton, Robert Dodd Building, 49 Darley Road, Eastbourne, BN20 7UR, UK Burnard (2007): autoethnography or a realist account? This commentary is written in response to an earlier publication in the Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing by Burnard (2007), ‘Seeing the psy- chiatrist: an autoethnographic account’. Nigel: ‘So Alec, what did you think of the Burnard article?’ Alec: ‘Well I admired his honesty in telling us about his meeting with the psychiatrist. I was unsure though what I had learnt about autoethnog- raphy. What did you think?’ Nigel: ‘I thought it read like a realist account of his experience rather than autoethnography (Ellis & Bochner 2000). I was disappointed as I was looking forward to reading it. I thought Burnards account was just that: an account.’ Alec: ‘Yeah. I was left unsure about what this encounter felt like for him. Whilst he makes refer- ence to key writers of autoethnography he does very little to explain what autoethnography is or can be.’ Nigel: ‘I did recognise the Duckart (2007) list but there was no reference to the evocative nature of autoethnography. My understanding is that autoethnographic writing anticipates evoking an empathic and emotional response in its readers. I felt mildly irritated by it, sort of frustrated.’ Alec: ‘That’s interesting. So it sounds like he might have prompted an evocative response in us? Is this an example of what Barthes (1977) meant by the “Death of the author”. It is the way that we, as the reader, interpret and experience the article that is important?’ Nigel: ‘I wonder if this is autoethnography at work then? He is telling us about how he experi- enced some of the consultation.’ Alec: ‘Hmm. Do you remember we read that Ellis (2004) says that one of the goals of autoeth- nography is to write meaningfully and evocatively about topics that matter to us? My understanding of this is that we do not look for evocative moments we experience them. Tell me more about what you mean by “a realist account”.’ Nigel: ‘Well his article takes on many of the guises of what I consider to be a realist account. Let me give you some examples. He tells us that the paper is laid out in a form of a map of the interview and closes with a summary of his findings and a critical review. I understand autoethnography to be an opportunity to show self-expression in qualita- tive methodologies where academic focus has often hindered subjective experiences. Does that make sense?’ Alec: ‘Yes. I also think that autoethnography can be a journey away from the normal and predictable. While autoethnographers write about themselves the goal is to touch “a world beyond the self of the writer” (Ellis & Bochner 1996, p. 24). In that sense autoethnography is what autoethnographers do. Much of Burnards writing reads as a very tradi- tional and in my opinion is predictable. The paper is written in a particular format that follows a pattern that is unsurprising. I wonder if he is trying this approach on for size?’ Nigel: ‘Did you notice as well the way Burnard makes regular shifts between the third and first person? For example at one point he says “The writer is a healthcare professional” . . . then “I am an insider”. This way of representing himself undermines his claims to have produced an autoethnography.’ Alec: ‘It left me wondering how binary explana- tions “sit” with the subjective experience of the writer. Are we not ourselves wherever we are? Auto- ethnography acknowledges our multiple selves and multiple representations of the self and some autoethnographers would suggest that autoethno- graphic writing displays many different layers of our thinking, connecting the personal to the cul- tural (Ellis & Bochner 1996). His article seems to describe his visit to the psychiatrist on different levels; different layers of thinking. His presentation is what he considers to be an autoethnographic Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 2009, 16, 196–198 196 © 2009 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd