Academic development on the margins

Abstract

Academic developers have typically moved into development from another discipline, and have been described as ‘academic migrants’. In this theoretical exploration, the authors examine how studies of marginality can add to our understanding of this process of migration, situating their work alongside studies that describe the academy with geo-political and topographical metaphors. They map the different types of marginality affecting academic developers, and draw on Stonequist's study of migration to explore ways that they, as academic developers, define their ‘hybrid’ academic identities, and how developers may find marginality a beneficial position when working with and around the power dynamics of institutions. Finally, they suggest a new way to conceptualize academic development work, and pose questions for future empirical studies investigating the ways in which a homeland on the margins is simultaneously peripheral and vital.