What's In A Name?

In the past few weeks of my doctorate coursework, my research interests have taken an interesting turn. Originally, I had intended to conduct an autoethnography on my experiences as a racialized and immigrant Canadian navigating reconciliation in the K-12 education system as both a student and a teacher. The broad intent and general design of my intended research was an extension of my master's degree capstone research, where I had interviewed teachers who were also racialized. With my doctorate research, I wished to look inward and focus on my own lived experience to conduct a similar inquiry.

My current course is guiding me toward a more concrete process and method when it comes to my intended doctorate research. This is my first time conducting an autoethnography, let alone any ethnography, and I am in the process of learning and discovering more about it and the many different ways of doing it. So a few weeks ago, I was prompted to narrow down my broad and generalized research design with more tangible and concrete methods. I reflected on my life history and how I could demonstrate the changes I have experienced as an immigrant from Korea, and from student to teacher in the K-12 system. I could distinguish between my roles as a student and teacher, or even different age ranges from childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. I thought of grounding the different stages of my life in locations and places where I have lived and learned, imagining myself revisiting those locations to engage in deeper reflection and to write what comes up regarding my roles, beliefs, and values at the time, to be used as data in my research.

Then it hit me. I was known by a different name at those places, during those times. Throughout my life, I had presented myself using different combinations and variations of names for reasons I could not remember. Peering deeper into the motivations and influences behind each name change could be a fascinating autoethnographic exploration and a way to me to reflect on how I arrived at my current name. This also allows me to design a research project that is uniquely tailored to me, as an autoethnography ought to be.

When I shared this new refinement with my research supervisory peer group, they were fully supportive and offered additional guidance, such as looking into literature that discusses the importance of names in education, particularly in cross-cultural contexts. My lived experience of adopting an "English name" as a newcomer to Canada was not uncommon for my peers who have careers in English as an Additional Language (EAL) education. They were excited that my research had narrowed to include this element and they celebrated the tangible evolution in my previously abstract autoethnography. This feels like the right move and advancement in my project.

Now I have extensive revisions to make in my research proposal, with new literature to explore and include. It will be a lot of work, but I am looking forward to this new path in my journey.