ABSTRACT

In this work, we explore first-year students’ experiences of belonging through the theoretical and methodological lens of nomadism. Specifically, we problematize conceptions of belonging subjects and spaces as bounded and static, instead taking up belongingness as a dynamic process that enfolds complex experiences and spaces. Using feminist poststructuralism, we move toward an understanding of belonging that disrupts stasis and fixity, conceptualizing belonging as requiring continual negotiation. Our analysis produces a cartography across participants, a narrative mapping of the connections, relations, and flows of belonging that parallel and disrupt static understandings of what it means to belong in higher education. This work suggests new methodological and theoretical possibilities for considering and understanding narratives of belonging in the nebulous, multiplicitous, and shifting places and spaces of higher education institutions.

摘要

在这项工作中，我们通过游牧主义的理论和方法论视角探索一年级学生的归属感。具体来说，我们将归属主体和空间的概念问题化为有界和静态的，而不是将归属视为包含复杂体验和空间的动态过程。使用女权主义后结构主义，我们开始理解打破停滞和固定的归属感，将归属感概念化为需要持续协商。我们的分析产生了一个参与者之间的制图，一个关于联系、关系和归属感流动的叙事映射，平行并破坏了对高等教育归属感的静态理解。