Gender and sexuality in the field: a female ethnographer's experience researching drug use in dance clubs

Doing autoethnographic drugs research: Some notes from the field

This article is concerned with the processes of doing research with people who use drugs, as someone who has a history of using drugs. It offers a brief introductory review to autoethnographic research methods and how they might be used to enhance the practice of drugs research. Through illustrative examples from the author's own experiences of researching heroin use, the article cautiously makes the case for an increased focus upon our drug-using experiences in drugs research. The positive and negative implications of this for research methods in drug studies are discussed, as well as their potential intersections with drug policy debates.

Chapter 9. Drug user researchers as autoethnographers: "doing reflexivity" with women drug users

This article explores autoethnography, based upon transcribed, narratives, conversations, and research notes, as a useful method of creating social and cultural insights into the lives of women drug users and their particular kinds of problems and to related issues of reflexivity, reliability, and validity. A critical issue is raised by asking the question "where do we go from here?" contending that we must challenge outdated methodological traditions and canons that deny autoethnographers their voice and close the door to their claims of authenticity.