A Reflexive Autoethnography of Doctoral Supervision: Lone Mother, Lone Researcher

This article traces elements of the learning of a doctoral student. It concerns attempts to bridge a number of gaps between supervisor and student in the process of studying for a PhD. In particular, it portrays differences in culture, gender, family, age, and experience and how those differences in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International review of qualitative research 2015-12, Vol.8 (4), p.419-441
Main Authors: Bibi-Nawaz, Sajida, Stronach, Ian, Grant, Diane, Frankham, Jo
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:This article traces elements of the learning of a doctoral student. It concerns attempts to bridge a number of gaps between supervisor and student in the process of studying for a PhD. In particular, it portrays differences in culture, gender, family, age, and experience and how those differences influenced the thinking of the student. A layered discourse of readings, misreadings, and rereadings is developed, drawing on the substantive literature on ‘lone motherhood’, on studies of doctoral supervision, and on anthropological insights into the nature of cultural differences. It is a case study in finding the ‘missing’ (or not yet known) person who is the lone mother and the lone researcher who ‘reveals’ herself to herself through interaction with her supervisors. The supervisors are also ‘rewritten’ in their situated self-understandings during this process.
ISSN:1940-8447
1940-8455
DOI:10.1525/irqr.2015.8.4.419