Abstract
If democratisation in the tertiary sector is to be taken seriously, then we must carefully survey how previously disadvantaged groups are incorporated into higher education. In response to the words of my ex-postgraduate, I sent emailed questions to my six female doctoral students. Their testimony was then labelled ‘A’ through to ‘F’ to connote the seniority of their candidature. I then pleated their answers against DEST surveys of the Australian academy and theoretical/historical approaches to the university’s purpose. Via this approach, the attitudes of my students wedge the page, providing an intervention in the calm facade of DEST documents stressing science, training and vocationalism. We do not hear—let alone read—the experi- ences of postgraduates in sufficient depth. When presented in this way, different approaches to the postgraduate journey are revealed that are distinct from the imperatives of completion rates, supervisory training and professional competencies.
Highlights
A few months ago, I had lunch with one of my ex-students: the first woman who gained a PhD through my supervision
A recent edition of the International Journal of Cultural Studies suggests that ‘while cultural studies has been valorised for its insights into everyday life and the ordinary culture of various social groups, it tends to shy away from any coherent, explicit analysis of its own daily practices’
Margrit Eichler researched the remarkable biographies of women who struggled to gain an academic career. She found that the potent work of leading female Canadian sociologists born before 1930 has been lost through ‘a politics of gender and a politics of knowledge’
Summary
A few months ago, I had lunch with one of my ex-students: the first woman who gained a PhD through my supervision. I am pessimistic because I know I am entering a competitive job market and the academic position I could have expected even fifteen years ago is no longer there. The women at the lower end of the seniority spectrum are the most vulnerable, but are undertaking the most teaching in overcrowded and under-resourced classrooms.[3] Teaching at this level has always been tough, but it is worse than when I moved countries to attain my first full-time academic job.
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