The (Trans)formation of Scholarly Selves in International Higher Education: A Collaborative Autoethnography

• In Event: International Studies SIG Structure Poster Session

Abstract

This collaborative autoethnographic (CAE) study explores how four U.S.-based early-career scholars (ECSs) in international higher education (re)construct their scholarly selves within dynamic, transnational networks of norms, values, and ideologies. Informed by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s notion of assemblage, we conceptualize identity construction as relational, fluid, and continually emerging through one’s educational and career trajectories. Preliminary findings suggest that the formation of ECSs’ scholarly selves is anchored in the complex interplay between structure and agency, characterized by creative tensions among multiple forces, including institutional norms and one’s evolving understandings of possible ways of becoming. This study contributes to existing scholarship by foregrounding the affordances of CAE for elucidating the nuanced identity work of ECSs in international higher education.

Authors

• Peng Yin, University of California - Berkeley

• Yuriko Sato, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Sarang Kim, University of Oklahoma

• Marisa Lally, Georgia Southern University