On April 11, 2024, Six outstanding scholars gathered together to conduct an academic seminar titled "Selves as Methods: Transnational Scholars' Journey toward Pluriversality through Collaborative Autoethnography". The scholars included Professor WANG Ting from the University of Canberra in Australia, Professor LOU Jingjing from the Bryn Mawr College in the United States, Associate Professor YU Min from Wayne State University in the United States, Professor TENG Jun from IICE of Beijing Normal University, Lecturer XIANG xin from the IICE of Beijing Normal University, and Associate Professor YOU Yun from the Faculty of Education at East China Normal University. The seminar was chaired by IICE Professor TENG Jun.
At the beginning of the meeting, Professor WANG provided a detailed interpretation of the research topic, emphasizing the importance of transcending Western centrism and seeking a decentralized perspective on knowledge coexistence. Professor WANG pointed out that "self-ethnography" is not only the research method of this study but also constitutes the theoretical basis of this study. Lecturer XIANG shared key steps in the research process, including setting rules and expectations for dialogue among scholars, the starting point of dialogue, and the text transformation and encoding methods of dialogue data. Associate Professor YOU deepened the understanding and analysis of the concept of "self" from the perspectives of "relational self", "reflexive self", and "transformative self". Associate Professor YU emphasized the importance of differences in dialogue based on personal experiences and linked them to the conception of grand narratives. Professor LOU focused on discussing the significance of "nearby dialogue construction" in breaking Western centrism. This seminar sparked profound reflections among the attending faculty and students.
During the discussion session, faculty and students engaged in in-depth exchanges and discussions on important topics such as analytical pathways, identity identification, decolonization, and second-order thinking.
