ABSTRACT

This article is based on the journeys of four women who completed their doctorates in the discipline of Sociology. The four former doctoral students studied at the same distance education institution in South Africa, but they hail from Nigeria, Lesotho and Cameroon, respectively. Together with their former supervisor, autoethnography is used to reflect on their academic journeys. In addition to their academic journeys, they also had to navigate personal journeys that included being employed fulltime and regulating expectations towards completing the doctorate within their home country. Moreover, not only difficulties are highlighted but also strategies in overcoming obstacles, such as actively building various supportive networks. The journeys continue after completing a doctorate, for example, when visas to international conferences are denied to scholars with certain African passports. By focusing on the doctoral journeys and beyond, other inequalities in the global academic world is touched upon.

摘要

本文基于四位完成社会学博士学位的女性的旅程。前四名博士生在南非的同一所远程教育机构学习，但他们分别来自尼日利亚，莱索托和喀麦隆。与他们的前任主管一起，民族志被用来反思他们的学习历程。除了他们的学术旅程，他们还必须导航个人旅程，包括全职工作并调节对在自己的国家获得博士学位的期望。此外，不仅强调了困难，而且还强调了克服障碍的策略，例如积极建立各种支持网络。例如，获得博士学位后，旅程将继续进行，当持某些非洲护照的学者被拒绝参加国际会议的签证时。通过专注于博士的旅程以及其他，全球学术界的其他不平等现象也得到了解决。