Abstract

As three doctoral students, we conducted a collaborative autoethnography to explore how power dynamics in higher education played a role in our identity development as scholars. Through the lens of Wenger-Trayner and Wenger-Trayner’s Landscapes of Practice and Foucault’s notions of power, we specifically attended to how our attempts to gain entry into various communities of practice in academia were either supported or hindered by our supervisors and other conduits of power who occupy positions of power in academia. Looking across our three unique yet related stories, we discuss the manifestation of power in doctoral education by way of our four main themes: students as assets or burdens, (in)validation and (dis)empowerment, competition for scarce resources, early and ongoing tensions. We conclude with a call for students, faculty, and other members of academia to consider how power dynamics impact doctoral students’ development as scholars.

摘要

作为三名博士生，我们进行了一项合作性的自我民族志研究，以探索高等教育中的权力动态如何在我们作为学者的身份发展中发挥作用。通过温格-特雷纳和温格-特雷纳的实践景观的镜头和福柯的权力概念，我们特别关注我们进入学术界各个实践社区的尝试如何受到我们的主管和在学术界占据权力职位的其他权力渠道的支持或阻碍。纵观我们的三个独特但相关的故事，我们通过四个主题讨论了博士教育中权力的体现：学生作为资产或负担，（in）验证和（剥夺）赋权，对稀缺资源的竞争，早期和持续紧张局势。最后，我们呼吁学生、教师和学术界其他成员考虑权力动态如何影响博士生作为学者的发展。