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Surviving academia: Narratives on identity work and intersectionality

journal contribution
posted on 2024-10-30, 10:31 authored by Milena Tekeste, Amalina Zakariah, Evronia Azer, Sarah Salahuddin

This paper examines the lived experiences of four early career researchers (ECRs), from various intersecting backgrounds, who pursued their degrees at a prestigious UK university. Bonded through solidarity and care, the authors came together in an online writing group (OWG), which serves as a means of liberation from structural, colonial, and patriarchal oppression. Built upon autoethnographic vignettes, this paper reveals fragile narratives to capture subjective experiences of neglect through the lens of intersectionality and Goffmanian “passing” and “revealing”. Motivated to explore the coping mechanisms of marginalized ECRs, this paper's co‐constructed data collection and co‐generative analysis unpack how a meso‐organization (here, the OWG) allows foreign identities to transcend the constraints of the expected academic professional identity; thus freeing authors from stigma. This paper calls for help and advocates for the urgency of support groups for ECRs as they face issues around finances, political conflicts, and family from pre‐ to post‐COVID‐19 pandemic. Additionally, the research challenges internalized norms of academic productivity and responsibilization and calls for a re‐examination of systemic inequalities. By advocating for collaborative autoethnography and embodied personal storytelling, this study contributes to a richer, more inclusive exploration of intersectionality in academia and emphasizes the need for structural reforms to create more equitable academic environments.

History

Author affiliation

College of Business Marketing & Strategy

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Published in

Gender, Work & Organization

Publisher

Wiley

issn

0968-6673

eissn

1468-0432

Copyright date

2024

Available date

2026-10-22

Language

en

Deposited by

Dr Amalina Zakariah

Deposit date

2024-10-23

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