Doctoral Students' Experiences with Pedagogies of the Home, Pedagogies of Love, and Mentoring in the Academy

Adapting to the Transitional Stage of the Doctoral Environment: An Autoethnography of Socialization

“…Poor relationships, or even a lack of close relationships with peers, may leave students feeling too isolated and dissatisfied with their academic lives to continue, but creating and maintaining close relationships with a network of peers can offer students both academic and emotional support to help them persist. Advising or mentoring relationships can also play a positive role in persistence (Esposito et al, 2017;Gardner, 2010;Mason, 2016). Mentors who are social and accessible to their students (Barnes et al, 2010) and who display empathy and emotional support for their student mentees may be especially well suited to encourage persistence (Duffy et al, 2018).…”

“…Women and underrepresented minorities may be less likely to feel as though they belong in their departments than men and well represented minorities (Gibbs et al, 2015;Esposito et al, 2017), so predominantly white universities need to make sure they create a supportive environment to allow marginalized groups to feel as though they are welcomed. Even first-generation students may also face challenges and social disconnect that may hinder their ability to access and benefit from social capital at their institution (Gardner & Holly, 2011).…”

“…If we define doctoral socialization as interacting and integrating into an environment to become a part of that group (Johnson et al, 2017), then doctoral socialization occurs when a student engages with other members of the doctoral culture-fellow students, faculty, and staff-so the student becomes familiar enough with the norms and expectations, the skills, abilities, and even values of their departments to eventually become a member of the community. Recent attention has been given to socializing doctoral students into their future professions (Elliot et al, 2019;Rubinstein-Avila & Maranzana, 2015;Russell et al, 2016) and the benefits of mentoring (Anekstein & Vereen, 2018;Duffy, et al, 2018;Esposito et al, 2017;Malin & Hackmann, 2016); however, less attention has been given to the experiences of incoming students as they navigate the unfamiliar territory of new expectations and academic uncertainty during their first year of doctoral coursework, and even less attention has been given to students resistant to social learning. This article fills that gap by sharing an autoethnographic narrative of my adaptation process during the first year of my doctoral program.…”

‘It wasn't just the academic stuff, it was life stuff’: the significance of peers in strengthening the Indigenous health researcher workforce

“…The current findings are consistent with other studies that reveal the importance placed by people doing higher research degrees and research employed on peer support. The international research education literature on minoritised populations has described how researchers, both emerging and established, find their peers make a great difference such as in navigating typically alienating settings (Elg and Jonnergard, 2003; Esposito et al ., 2017). A distinctive meaning of ‘peer’ here is not a gathering ‘of randoms’, but a shared historical experience and recognition of marginalisation.…”

“…Peers figure positively in experiences of research education, research employment and research collaboration—during PhD candidature (Meschitti, 2019), early career (Pyhältö et al ., 2017), mid and later career (Agee and Li, 2018). Peer relationships appear to be important instigators in creating more supporting spaces in research and education settings, especially local peer-initiated groups (Esposito et al ., 2017)—for instance, women supporting one another during the PhD (Barata et al ., 2005), and career progression at the faculty level (Elg and Jonnergard, 2003; Hernandez et al ., 2015). For Indigenous researchers specifically, journey-long narratives of peers and mentoring have been provided through autobiographical accounts (Bainbridge et al ., 2016) as well as reflective pieces on presenting at and taking part in Indigenous health conferences (Bessarab et al ., 2009; Roe et al ., 2010).…”