The 2025 International Conference of Autoethnography will take place from Sunday 13th to Tuesday 15th of July 2025 online (via Zoom) and in-person at The Engineer’s House, Clifton Village, Bristol, UK. Please scroll down the page for additional information, or navigate through the menu at the top of the page.
Draft schedule above
This year’s conference theme:
Breathing Spaces
We all breathe. We have this in common with each other — and with the flora and fauna of planet Earth. We may take our breath for granted — for a time. Yet breath, the act of breathing, is far from assured. We exist in atmosphere that is precarious, environments that have been violated, cities that are congested, societies driven toward inequality and division, and workplaces that threaten health and morale. ICAE2025 offers breathing space; an invitation to story, perform, challenge, theorise, resist or reimagine spaces, relationships, and new ways of being in/for the human and more-than-human world.
Conference Chair
A message from the 2025 Conference Chair Jamie Barnes
Over the years, I have often wondered about the felt vibrancy of autoethnographic spaces, what makes them distinctive, how and why they tend to become imbued with a certain sense that is, in some mysterious way, mutually experienced by those who share within them. I think it’s something about similarity and difference, mixed together with healthy measures of humility, reflexivity and respect.
When we come together – in spaces such as ICAE – we turn up shaped by our own unique histories and experiences, bravely willing to voice these in whatever way we can. We also come with an openness to witness the lives of others willing to do the same. Within this mutual atmosphere of reverential respect, a strange resonance often develops, a resonance that emerges as we are invited to venture across that sometimes terrifying bridge into the foreign and fascinating lives of others, lives both completely different and yet somehow similar to our own. On such occasions, how is it that we can be rendered speechless by the life of an other, an uncanny experience of meeting something startlingly strange and yet deeply familiar? Autoethnographic spaces open up such possibilities of vibrant encounter. So come and join us this summer, seasoned with your own measures of humility, reflexivity and respect, and therefore with the promise of truly meeting others once more.
Jamie.Barnes@sussex.ac.uk
If you have any question about or ideas for how we might develop our community, or indeed if you would like to volunteer to serve on one of the committees please contact Jamie:
Jamie.Barnes@sussex.ac.uk
Pre-Conference Workshops
Our pre-conference workshops are at the planning stage. If you would like to give a workshop please contact Jamie.Barnes@sussex.ac.uk
These workshops take place on the Sunday before the conference. For information about these, please use the menu at the top of the page or follow this link https://boomerang-project.org.uk/workshops-2/
IN-PERSON ATTENDANCE
VENUE: The Engineer’s House, Clifton Village, Bristol
Cost of the in-person registration includes two course hot lunch and unlimited coffees/teas/fruit and biscuits each day.
Delegates can engage in as little or as much of the main programme as suits their interest and needs. There are numerous intimate spaces to share conversations, food or just to rest, along with areas for larger groups and collegiate dining.
Select this link to register https://boomerang-project.org.uk/registration/
Clifton Village is an area of the city bursting with contemporary independent cafes, bars, restaurants, and boutiques as well as typical cosy English pubs.
The venue is also situated adjacent to Clifton Gorge and the Bristol Suspension Bridge. It backs onto the Bristol Downs park, and a short stroll over the suspension bridge takes you into Ashton Park and Leigh Woods.
Awards
Please nominate someone for our awards. Each year the ICAE makes a number of awards –
Lifetime Contribution
Previous holders of the award include Kim Etherington, Carolyn Ellis & Art Bochner, Alec Grant and Gayle Letherby.
Film award
Dissertation/thesis Award
Please consider nominating someone you feel has made not just a substantial contribution to our field, but has done so with a spirit of generosity, care and compassion.
If you would like to register for the conference or submit an abstract please use the main navigation tools at the top of the page.
Looking for inspiration
If you have never attended our conference we invite you to gain a feeling for the diverse types of presentation, performances and contributions, via our YouTube conference page https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWNYTUbli3wRLda7ZmbpqOQ/videos
How should I present my work at the ICAE conference?
There is (fortunately) not an unequivocal answer to this. We encourage you to present your work in a manner that communicates with the audience, in a form you feel comfortable with. We want this to be an inspiring experience for you and the audience. The ICAE is not an “ordinary research conference” where the aim is to present research findings in a scientific IMRAD structure. Thus, PowerPoint presentations with bullet points might not be the best way to share your work. We encourage you to find other ways of presenting – for example reading, performing, photo or film. Feel free – just remember to stick to the time frame.
