Autoethnography

(that's an old post I once wrote in a differnt blog of mine...)
I just read two articles of the book 'Composing Ethnography: Alternative Forms of Qualitative Writing' and I must say I am deeply disturbed.

One, by Lise Tillmann-Healy was of her experience of bulimia, the other, by Carol Rambo Ronai was about her growing up with a mentally retareded mother. Boths writing was very different from what one usually gets in ethnographic accounts. They frequently described scenes of their life, then switched to a more analytical style giving background information eg. how many young girls are bulimic.

The introduction (written as a conversation betwenn the two editors) puts the essays into context, and I guess I should start reading that part a bit more careful. Still, I don't know what to think about it. Is this 'scientific'? Is this 'allowed'? What if I'd write in such a style?

Apart from 'Autoethnography' there is also a chapter on 'Sociopoetics' and one on 'Reflexive Ethnography'. Funny is also an 'open-Ending' where a letter from the editors asks for comments on the book."
Here's a bookreview about the very book at the Forum for qualitative research.