Reconstructing Academic Resilience: Space, Body, and Mobility Metaphors From Underrepresented Scholars

• In Event: Nurturing Faculty Success and Resilience: Mentorship, Identity, and Well-Being in Academia

Abstract

This paper shares findings from a study of academic resilience among underrepresented scholars. The study examined scholars’ metaphorical thinking around their resilience, drawing on the case of the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants’ metaphors characterized academic resilience around space, body, and mobility. These findings challenge normative notions of resilience as grit and perseverance and offer critical insights into underrepresented academics’ unique perceptions of resilience. This research highlights resilience's affective and sensory dimensions to humanize the labor and trauma that underrepresented scholars bear to fulfill higher education teaching, scholarship, and service responsibilities. We aim for these findings to ignite a conversation among HEI leaders and scholars about nurturing resilience and safeguarding the well-being of underrepresented scholars, particularly during crises.

Authors

• Jay Yague de los Reyes, University of Southampton

• Priya Goel, California State University - Dominguez Hills

• Ga-Young Chung, University of California - Davis