Independent Scholars Maintaining Academic Identities: "Keeping Our Boots on the Ground"

• In Event: Mentoring as a Touchstone for Reinvention, Transforming, and Transitioning

Abstract

Objectives

There is increasing research that examines the careers of non-tenure-track instructors and research associates (Basten, 2012; Feldman & Turnley, 2004; Goldman & Schmalz, 2012). However, the perspectives and experiences of women maintaining their academic careers outside of tertiary institutions is under-examined and not often explored (Knight, Baume, Tait & Yorke, 2007). As three women independent scholars, who were once faculty members in traditional institutional settings, we explore how the continuity of academic life and identity is navigated outside the cultural and political context of the academy. Thus, in this paper we seek to answer the question: How does our affiliation with a global network of women academics legitimize and support our exploration of our identities as independent scholars outside academia?

Theoretical Framework

We interrogate the notion of an academic identity beyond ‘place’ or location in an educational system (Elbaz-Luwisch, 2004). We extend the boundary of the identity construct through established affiliations in professional collaborations and scholarly activity. We frame our interrogation and draw from the literature on paradox (Wood & Conrad, 1983), feminist co-mentoring (McGuire & Reger, 2003), and critical dialogue (Freire,1993) as a frame for reflective examination of academic pathways as professionals.

Mode of Inquiry

This paper is based on our lived experiences of the time between leaving employment in the academy and the present. Employing narrative inquiry methodology (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000) is useful to help us make sense of the lived experience and stories that we tell. We used collaborative autobiographical methods to help uncover the meanings in our stories and the social and cultural contexts that help inform them (Chang, Ngunjiri, and Hernandez, 2012). We also used co-mentoring dialogue to help us make sense of our narrative data.


Data Sources

We each wrote an auto-biographical account of our experiences of maintaining academic research work through our C-Y-F network during the time we were no longer involved with the academy and the present. We then shared our personal narratives and examined these stories through a dialogue framed by the constructs of paradox of academic identities and feminist co-mentoring perspectives. Through monthly dialogues, we further reflected on the Ann questions: What does it mean to be an academic? What privileges, benefits, and limitations to being in this “place”?

Results

Three themes emerged from our preliminary data analysis:
1. The paradox of life as an independent scholar in terms of the dualism of risk and courage, confidence and vulnerability, and instability and hope shapes our dynamic identities as academics.

2. Reinventing and rebranding ourselves as professionals to highlight our diverse academic abilities and various employment opportunities.

3. Building social capital and achieving scholarly markers of status quo achievements.

Scholarly Significance

Traditional routes for academic careers that were once clearly laid out are more nuanced and complex as the enterprise of academia continuously re-invents itself. In an attempt to create a more comprehensive view of the experiences and scholarly practices of academics, our study provides important insights into professional experiences and the psychosocial journeys of independent scholars who are not connected with a university.

Authors

• Makini Z. Beck

• Ann Unterreiner, Education Consultant/Independent Scholar

• Joyanne Beverly De Four-Babb, Caribbean Educators' Research Initiative