Walking on the Seesaw: Academic Identity Construction of Chinese Academic Returnees Through Publications

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 10:50 am Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Adolescents and Young Adults' Academic Identity, Aspirations, and Outcomes (Table 5)

Abstract

Academic identity shapes the performance of academics. This study qualitatively investigates how Chinese academic returnees construct their academic identity through publications in domestic higher education institutions. Thirteen Chinese academics were interviewed. The narratives are analysed from three aspects: being systematically trained overseas, their lack of domestic academic networking and their agency of being identified. Driven by the concept of academic identity theorised in a poststructural lens, the findings show that their academic identity construction experienced integration and exclusion interchangeably as if they were walking on the seesaw in Chinese academia, and thus developed their unique academic identity as independent researchers and ‘hollow’ academics. This study has implications for Chinese universities regarding providing a diversified environment for academic returnees.

Authors

• Li Bao, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications

• Zhoumin Yuan, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications