Dictionary

autotheory en · NOUN

Etymology

From auto- + theory.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) A challenge to the dominant perspective and theoretical framework through the use of subjective and autobiographical material.
   • In autotheory as contemporary feminist practice, artists, writers, philosophers, activists, curators, and critics use the autobiographical, first person, and related practices of self-imaging (Jones, Self/Image 134) to process, perform, enact, iterate, subvert, instantiate, and wrestle with the hegemonic discourses of "theory" and philosophy. 2018, Lauren Fournier, “Sick Women, Sad Girls, and Selfie Theory: Autotheory as Contemporary Feminist Practice”, in Auto/Biography Studies, volume 33, number 3:
   • Preciado's creative narrative introduces us to a different kind of book: part memoir (what Preciado classifies as 'autotheory'), part queer theory. 2015, Karmele Mendoza Perez, “Book Reviews: Testo junkie: sex, drugs, and biopolitics in the pharmacopornographic era”, in Nordic Journal of Science and Technology Studies, volume 3, number 1, page 46:
   • Encounters with autotheory are not about a "warm fuzzy" effect for the reader: though possible, it is equally likely that one might be made distinctly uncomfortable while engaging honestly with the challenging analyses that autotheories present. 2011, M. Johnson, S. Mintz, On the Literary Nonfiction of Nancy Mairs: A Critical Anthology, →ISBN, page 55:

Forms

Deriveds

autotheoretic