Abstract
In 2022, academics from Australia’s regional universities started meeting to investigate issues of access, inclusion, and academic career advancement. Our research project employs autoethnographic writing and thematic analysis to illuminate key issues for academic advocacy. Through engaging with narratives of lived experiences and deploying critical theoretical lenses, we have identified a series of clefts between our early and later dispositions and behaviours within academia as students and scholars. The ‘clefts’ allow us to stand outside the traditionally middle-class university environment and examine challenges to inclusive participation.
This workshop proposes a collaborative process to discuss how academics’ identification with non-traditional identity factors might impact their university experience and how this knowledge provides insight into challenges to inclusive participation for students and academics, particularly those in regional areas. Participants will be invited to share ‘cleft’ experiences in university contexts. Common themes will be discussed, with a view to conceptualising possible initiatives for change and formulating responses for universities to improve access, engagement and career pathways, especially for people with intersectional disadvantage.
The workshop engages ‘cleft habitus’ (Bourdieu, 2003) to discuss narratives of social mobility and diversity and develop potential solutions to initiate change. By highlighting problems of access, retention, and equity, our workshop provides a valuable opportunity for developing initiatives designed to unsettle dominant middle-class, heterosexist, hegemonic, ableist cultures within higher education.
A central critique of Bourdieu’s (2003) concept of habitus is that it provides limited opportunity for cultural change and agency. The workshop challenges determinist notions of habitus by illustrating how ‘clefts’ that illuminate personal change might be used to envision institutional disruption. Theoretically, we will work with and beyond Bourdieu to contribute insights for potential political, systemic and institutional change within the university habitus.
References
Bourdieu, P. (2003). Participant Objectivation. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 9(2), 281–294.
This workshop proposes a collaborative process to discuss how academics’ identification with non-traditional identity factors might impact their university experience and how this knowledge provides insight into challenges to inclusive participation for students and academics, particularly those in regional areas. Participants will be invited to share ‘cleft’ experiences in university contexts. Common themes will be discussed, with a view to conceptualising possible initiatives for change and formulating responses for universities to improve access, engagement and career pathways, especially for people with intersectional disadvantage.
The workshop engages ‘cleft habitus’ (Bourdieu, 2003) to discuss narratives of social mobility and diversity and develop potential solutions to initiate change. By highlighting problems of access, retention, and equity, our workshop provides a valuable opportunity for developing initiatives designed to unsettle dominant middle-class, heterosexist, hegemonic, ableist cultures within higher education.
A central critique of Bourdieu’s (2003) concept of habitus is that it provides limited opportunity for cultural change and agency. The workshop challenges determinist notions of habitus by illustrating how ‘clefts’ that illuminate personal change might be used to envision institutional disruption. Theoretically, we will work with and beyond Bourdieu to contribute insights for potential political, systemic and institutional change within the university habitus.
References
Bourdieu, P. (2003). Participant Objectivation. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 9(2), 281–294.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - 2024 |
| Event | 20th Gender and Education Association Conference 2024 - Charles Sturt University, Port Macquarie, Australia Duration: 17 Jun 2024 → 20 Jun 2024 https://gea.seiirg.csu.domains/ https://gea.seiirg.csu.domains/program/ (Program) https://gea.seiirg.csu.domains/?eventid&event_name=20th%20Gender%20and%20Education%20Association%20Conference http://csu.edu.au/gea2024 |
Conference
| Conference | 20th Gender and Education Association Conference 2024 |
|---|---|
| Abbreviated title | Be the change |
| Country/Territory | Australia |
| City | Port Macquarie |
| Period | 17/06/24 → 20/06/24 |
| Other | The 20th Gender and Education Association Conference will be held at Charles Sturt’s Port Macquarie Campus in partnership with the Gender and Education Association (GEA). The conference will bring together education practitioners from all levels and backgrounds to increase diversity and inclusion in education, improving equal opportunities for all in 2024. The event will explore local, national and global inequalities in education, breaking down the one-size-fits-all approach and analysing systemic and structural barriers that have led to disadvantage among different groups. The conference theme of ‘Be the change’ aims to be a catalyst for discussion and action to address global and institutional inequality through the power of education and knowledge. You will need to be a member of the GEA to attend the conference. Not a member? Please visit the GEA website http://www.genderandeducation.com/join to join. |
| Internet address |
