Autoethnography: Embracing Vulnerability in Social Justice

This paper explores how vulnerability, often framed as weakness, can be a powerful and ethical force in social justice research. Drawing on feminist, Indigenous, and arts-based methodologies, I reflect on my doctoral autoethnography as a marginalized mother healing from global displacement and transgenerational trauma. Using practices such as yoga, journaling, text spinning, and meditation, I examine how embodied and relational research methods generate critical insights and foster healing.Guided by thinkers like Audre Lorde, Loretta Ross, and Indigenous scholars, I argue that vulnerability is not only lived but methodologically vital. It challenges dominant academic norms, surfaces internalized oppression, and invites accountability and collective care. This work calls for academic spaces that support reflexive, embodied, and relational inquiry. Embracing vulnerability can catalyze transformation within researchers, institutions, and the communities we aim to serve.