Partial, (in)authentic, and masked: an exploration of power in doctoral students’ identity development as scholars through collaborative autoethnography

Abstract

As three doctoral students, we conducted a collaborative autoethnography to explore how power dynamics in higher education played a role in our identity development as scholars. Through the lens of Wenger-Trayner and Wenger-Trayner’s Landscapes of Practice and Foucault’s notions of power, we specifically attended to how our attempts to gain entry into various communities of practice in academia were either supported or hindered by our supervisors and other conduits of power who occupy positions of power in academia. Looking across our three unique yet related stories, we discuss the manifestation of power in doctoral education by way of our four main themes: students as assets or burdens, (in)validation and (dis)empowerment, competition for scarce resources, early and ongoing tensions. We conclude with a call for students, faculty, and other members of academia to consider how power dynamics impact doctoral students’ development as scholars.