Doctoral Supervision in Complex Contexts: A Duoethnography

• In Event: Belonging and inclusion in higher education: Students' experiences at home and abroad (II)

Proposal

We are Alex and Liberty, and this is our story. We employ our case to reflect on complex processes of doctoral work and supervision from individual and shared vantage points, through the methodological process of duoethnography (Sawyer and Norris 2015).

Higher-degree research occurs within sets of complex processes and relationships that can entail challenges, growth and opportunities for both supervisors and supervisees. These include connections and disconnect between parties, health-related concerns and economic issues, with institutional requirements and workload factors. Recently, these aspects have been further compounded by the exponential negative impact of the global pandemic.

In this duoethnographic study, we offer insights from our reflective analysis of our shared doctoral supervision between 2016 and 2022. The project was in comparative and international education research, involving multi-scalar geographical and policy locations, including six fieldwork iterations within three national contexts. It was completed in 2021, during the second wave of lockdowns in the slowly, unevenly decolonising national context now known to many as Australia, against a backdrop of higher-degree studies in a major metropolitan city (Andreotti et al., 2015; Land, 2015). It was completed in 2021, during the second wave of lockdowns in Australia, against a backdrop of higher-degree studies in a major metropolitan city, and within slowly, unevenly decolonising Australian contexts (Andreotti et al., 2015; Land, 2015).

We aim to highlight complexity, particularly its affective dimensions as relating to higher education. Complexity, in this work, is delineated by our individual yet connected positionalities within structurally and systemically influenced contexts. Cultural theorist John Urry (2011, p.3) explored our era of hypercomplexity, highlighting that:

"Almost all systems significant in the contemporary world are simultaneously economic, physical, technological, political and social. And there is increased interconnectedness or the linking of system components through software, cybernetic architecture and a networked character of life."

We consider that the contexts in which the doctorate was completed - personal and pandemic-related - could be classified as more complex than ‘usual’, noting manifestations of ‘usual’ as, paradoxically, contingent, even unusual.

Deriving from our collaborative analysis, we offer our structured reflections and report on our engagement in a critical dialogue and elaborate on our process, as guided by Sawyer and Norris’ (2015) method of duoethnography. Autoethnographic and collaborative methodologies have been used increasingly in educational research, and in comparative and international education (see Brissett 2019; Fonua et al 2021; Shah et al 2017), to better understand intercultural dimensions (interpreted along multiple axes) of work in learning and teaching, including class, gender, nationality and race. We contend that the approach can offer useful insights for ongoing professional development as educators and researchers. Overall, we consider the affective dimensions of supervision, recalling Paulo Freire’s ‘pedagogy of love’, and argue that collaborative analysis that engenders vulnerability could be a window of opportunity to empower supervisors and supervisees. Such approaches may serve in protest against recent drives to accelerate completion rates and quantification that can shape doctoral outcomes and relationships.

Sources

Andreotti, V., Stein, S., Ahenakew, C., & Hunt, D. (2015). Mapping interpretations of decolonization in the context of higher education. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 4(1), 21-40.

Brisset, N.O. M. 2019, Teaching like a Subaltern: Postcoloniality, Positionality, and Pedagogy in International Development and Education. Comparative Education Review 64(4), pp. 577–597.

Fonua, S. M., McCormick, A., & Spratt, R. (2022). Becoming Comparative and International Educationalists in Oceania. Annual Review of Comparative and International Education 2021, 42, 71-80.

Land, 2015, Decolonizing Solidarity: Dilemmas and Directions for Supporters of Indigenous Struggles. Zed Books, London.

Sawyer, R. and Norris, J. (2015). Duoethnography: A Retrospective 10 Years After. International Review of Qualitative Research, 8(1), 1–4.

Shah, R., McCormick, A. Thomas, M.A.M., 2017. Shifting tides: Reflecting on regional aspects of our roles as comparative and international educators. International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives, 16(3), 49-68.

Urry, J. (2011) Complexities and futures? Revista CIDOB d’afers internacionals, 95. Retrieved from https://www.cidob.org/en/publications/publication_series/revista_cidob_d_afers_internacionals/emerging_realities_in_the_european_space_complexity_mobility_and_intercultural_dynamics

Authors

• Alexandra McCormick, University of Sydney

• Liberty de Rivera, Southern Cross University