Was it autoethnography? Reflections of writing myself in and then out of my research This paper will consider what counts as autoethnography. I claimed my doctoral research was autoethnographic and this was contested during my viva, resulting in my reframing of the research as participatory ethnography. In this paper I reflect on the ways in which this change matters. Drawing upon feminist theory and my new engagements with mad studies, I aim to explore the politics of “lived experience,” identity and identification, and situated research subjectivities. In doing so, I question the ideals of authenticity and authority that autoethnography infers, through autoethnographic means.