Like a bridge over troubled landscapes: African pathways to doctorateness

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article is based on the journeys of four women who completed their doctorates in the discipline of Sociology. The four former doctoral students studied at the same distance education institution in South Africa, but they hail from Nigeria, Lesotho and Cameroon, respectively. Together with their former supervisor, autoethnography is used to reflect on their academic journeys. In addition to their academic journeys, they also had to navigate personal journeys that included being employed fulltime and regulating expectations towards completing the doctorate within their home country. Moreover, not only difficulties are highlighted but also strategies in overcoming obstacles, such as actively building various supportive networks. The journeys continue after completing a doctorate, for example, when visas to international conferences are denied to scholars with certain African passports. By focusing on the doctoral journeys and beyond, other inequalities in the global academic world is touched upon.