Doctoral supervisor as assemblage:
Doctoral supervisor as assemblage: Rethinking what it means to be a doctoral supervisor, rethinking possibili8es for resistance Barbara M. Grant The University of Auckland HERDSA Conference, Melbourne, 2015
Doctoral supervision • Exhausted (and captured) as an object of research always seeking to determine ‘good supervision’ • But “there is more to be said, more to think, regarding the subject of supervision” (Green, 2005, p. 151) • A pracSce under significant pressure – parScularly in the Arts, HumaniSes and qualitaSve Social Sciences? • Specialised form of academic work inside an overloaded bundle.
The Research QuesSon
What are the effects of contemporary poliScal changes in higher educaSon on the work of supervising doctorates in the Arts, HumaniSes and qualitaSve Social Sciences?
Scoping phase: Two retreats with 10 AHqSS colleagues
• Scoping phase comprised: • Two 3-‐day retreats for 10 colleagues/key informants from AHqSS, with daily workshops and acSviSes, • CollaboraSve planning of project proper. • Project proper is three-‐year ethnography of doctoral supervision comprising: • Two 4-‐day retreats to generate data together • Several in-‐depth interviews with each KI • A shared blog • Two site visits for each KI • An occasional journal to be kept by each KI.
Supervisors as assemblages With some data from the scoping study, let us think less about who supervisors are (good, bad etc) and more about …
“what [supervisors] are enabled to do through the forms into which they are machinated or composed … the linkages established between the [supervisor] and other humans, objects, forces, procedures the connecSons and flows made possible, the becomings and capaciSes engendered, the possibili8es thus foreclosed, the machinic connecSons formed that produce and channel the relaSons that [supervisors] establish with themselves, the assemblages of which they form elements, relays, resources, or forces.” (Rose, 1996, p. 182, reworked a liile, with my italics)
Assemblage 1: A woman academic, a supervision agreement, a teacup, two cards, some >ssues & a pen “I fill out an agreement with every student and we each have a copy; this reduces student anxiety so I don’t have to manage it. It makes things explicit around mee8ngs, feedback 8meframes, authorship, although it can be renego8ated. I think the student feels treated as a professional, listened to and so on.
At the beginning of a mee8ng, I make tea with the student and have a chat, or some8mes the student makes tea for me. I talk a lot with a lot of students, and I get dehydrated and headachy if I’m not careful. A card from a student: I feel like I fill in the gaps (consciously and unconsciously) that students have experienced in other rela8onships, I provide safety that allows the work to go forward. The card shows the cover of a Penguin classic (note the 8tle, The lost girl) and the message reads: “Thank you for being a shining light at the end of a very dark tunnel”. I have 2ssues in my office because there are usually tears from the students along the way, about all sorts of things – not just the work, also unexpected things. And I always use a pen – never a pencil. Another card from an interna2onal student in the field (in a SE Asian country): among the students I supervise, there are lots of different cultures, ways of knowing and doing research, I have to do mental gymnas8cs some8mes. The cover of the card reads: “If you do not listen to the advice of a woman, you will not have any rice seed next year.” It’s a proverb from the student’s home country.”
Assemblage 2: A woman academic, a postgrad handbook, a coffee cup & a liCle green plant “My objects are representa8ve of my lack of experience in supervision. I’ve just been on yet another postgraduate training seminar, although the handbook is quite good! I always have ad hoc supervision mee8ngs, to which I take my cup of coffee, and they are never in my office because I’m always a co-‐supervisor. The li:le green plant is a succulent and it represents my hope for supervision. At the moment, though, supervision is not wonderful for me at all.”
Assemblage 3: A woman academic, an ins>tu>onal form, a photo & a business card ² An ins>tu>onal form ² A photo of a group of people around a dinner table ² A business card Photo not included to protect anonymity
“The form is one I recently filled in for a student’s leave of absence. I’m always aware of the ins8tu8onal aspects of everything, they’re important. I’m doing ins8tu8onal work as I’m supervising, even if I’m placing myself with or against the ins8tu8on in various ways. I know there is an intensifica8on of bureaucra8c requirements but I also find the refusal to comply (that I’ve no8ced from some colleagues) sugges8ve of a refusal to acknowledge the power rela8ons of supervision: supervision is made possible by the ins8tu8on. Then there is the pleasure of having documents that I’ve signed approved! The photo is of a celebra8on gradua8on dinner with two interna8onal students: my husband came along, as well as someone from one student’s consulate, and rela8ves from a home country. The student took me out for dinner: she was determined to do so. I find the celebra8on at the end very important – the sociality, the joy, the rela8onship, the love as well as the formality.
The business card is from the one that got away, the student who did not complete. This was the most personally meaningful supervision I’ve experienced: the student was a giSed leader in her community, who had dropped out of school, but was a brilliant writer. But she disappeared. I had supported giving her funding to aUend a conference rather early on against my beUer judgment; I think I failed to draw my boundaries as a supervisor. She has since re-‐established the rela8onship with me: at the 8me she disappeared, she said, she felt too much shame.”
Supervisors-‐as-‐assemblages Gendered academic selves who are … • tethered to other humans:
– students, co-‐supervisors, HODs, Associate-‐Deans PG, DOGS and professional staff, academic developers (‘trainers’), someSmes students’ families, employers, country/scholarship representaSves
• propped (enabled and constrained) by objects:
– some ‘chosen’ eg cups, Sssues, pens, business cards – some not eg insStuSonal handbooks, forms
• impressed by forces:
– insStuSonal regulaSons, training, students’ needs for comfort
• impelled into pracSces:
– giving feedback, filling out/signing contracts and forms, note-‐keeping, finding funds, celebratory events, providing comfort and safety, etc
• suffused with (buffeted by?) emoSons:
– enjoyment, sorrow, hope, shame, confidence, anxiety, uncertainty, sympathy, pride.
Tiny acts of resistance (Inspired by Lenz Taguchi, 2013)
• Imagining resistance is becoming harder • But we can (and must) ask: what 8ny acts of resistance are possible? – What objects can we include/refuse? – What forces can we withstand/bend? – What pracSces can we eschew/create? – What emoSons can we hold onto/let go?
• We can experiment with ourselves as supervisor-‐ assemblages! (Or student-‐assemblages, or …)
References Green, B. (2005). Unfinished business: SubjecSvity and supervision. Higher Educa8on Research & Development, 24(2), 151–163. Lenz Taguchi, H. (2013). ‘Becoming molecular girl’: Transforming subjecSviSes in collaboraSve doctoral research studies as micro-‐poliScs in the academy. Interna8onal Journal of Qualita8ve Studies in Educa8on, 29(9), 1101–1116. Rose, N. (1996). Inven8ng our selves: Psychology, power and personhood. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Doctoral supervision • Exhausted (and captured) as an object of research always seeking to determine ‘good supervision’ • But “there is more to be said, more to think, regarding the subject of supervision” (Green, 2005, p. 151) • A pracSce under significant pressure – parScularly in the Arts, HumaniSes and qualitaSve Social Sciences? • Specialised form of academic work inside an overloaded bundle.
The Research QuesSon
What are the effects of contemporary poliScal changes in higher educaSon on the work of supervising doctorates in the Arts, HumaniSes and qualitaSve Social Sciences?
Scoping phase: Two retreats with 10 AHqSS colleagues
• Scoping phase comprised: • Two 3-‐day retreats for 10 colleagues/key informants from AHqSS, with daily workshops and acSviSes, • CollaboraSve planning of project proper. • Project proper is three-‐year ethnography of doctoral supervision comprising: • Two 4-‐day retreats to generate data together • Several in-‐depth interviews with each KI • A shared blog • Two site visits for each KI • An occasional journal to be kept by each KI.
Supervisors as assemblages With some data from the scoping study, let us think less about who supervisors are (good, bad etc) and more about …
“what [supervisors] are enabled to do through the forms into which they are machinated or composed … the linkages established between the [supervisor] and other humans, objects, forces, procedures the connecSons and flows made possible, the becomings and capaciSes engendered, the possibili8es thus foreclosed, the machinic connecSons formed that produce and channel the relaSons that [supervisors] establish with themselves, the assemblages of which they form elements, relays, resources, or forces.” (Rose, 1996, p. 182, reworked a liile, with my italics)
Assemblage 1: A woman academic, a supervision agreement, a teacup, two cards, some >ssues & a pen “I fill out an agreement with every student and we each have a copy; this reduces student anxiety so I don’t have to manage it. It makes things explicit around mee8ngs, feedback 8meframes, authorship, although it can be renego8ated. I think the student feels treated as a professional, listened to and so on.
At the beginning of a mee8ng, I make tea with the student and have a chat, or some8mes the student makes tea for me. I talk a lot with a lot of students, and I get dehydrated and headachy if I’m not careful. A card from a student: I feel like I fill in the gaps (consciously and unconsciously) that students have experienced in other rela8onships, I provide safety that allows the work to go forward. The card shows the cover of a Penguin classic (note the 8tle, The lost girl) and the message reads: “Thank you for being a shining light at the end of a very dark tunnel”. I have 2ssues in my office because there are usually tears from the students along the way, about all sorts of things – not just the work, also unexpected things. And I always use a pen – never a pencil. Another card from an interna2onal student in the field (in a SE Asian country): among the students I supervise, there are lots of different cultures, ways of knowing and doing research, I have to do mental gymnas8cs some8mes. The cover of the card reads: “If you do not listen to the advice of a woman, you will not have any rice seed next year.” It’s a proverb from the student’s home country.”
Assemblage 2: A woman academic, a postgrad handbook, a coffee cup & a liCle green plant “My objects are representa8ve of my lack of experience in supervision. I’ve just been on yet another postgraduate training seminar, although the handbook is quite good! I always have ad hoc supervision mee8ngs, to which I take my cup of coffee, and they are never in my office because I’m always a co-‐supervisor. The li:le green plant is a succulent and it represents my hope for supervision. At the moment, though, supervision is not wonderful for me at all.”
Assemblage 3: A woman academic, an ins>tu>onal form, a photo & a business card ² An ins>tu>onal form ² A photo of a group of people around a dinner table ² A business card Photo not included to protect anonymity
“The form is one I recently filled in for a student’s leave of absence. I’m always aware of the ins8tu8onal aspects of everything, they’re important. I’m doing ins8tu8onal work as I’m supervising, even if I’m placing myself with or against the ins8tu8on in various ways. I know there is an intensifica8on of bureaucra8c requirements but I also find the refusal to comply (that I’ve no8ced from some colleagues) sugges8ve of a refusal to acknowledge the power rela8ons of supervision: supervision is made possible by the ins8tu8on. Then there is the pleasure of having documents that I’ve signed approved! The photo is of a celebra8on gradua8on dinner with two interna8onal students: my husband came along, as well as someone from one student’s consulate, and rela8ves from a home country. The student took me out for dinner: she was determined to do so. I find the celebra8on at the end very important – the sociality, the joy, the rela8onship, the love as well as the formality.
The business card is from the one that got away, the student who did not complete. This was the most personally meaningful supervision I’ve experienced: the student was a giSed leader in her community, who had dropped out of school, but was a brilliant writer. But she disappeared. I had supported giving her funding to aUend a conference rather early on against my beUer judgment; I think I failed to draw my boundaries as a supervisor. She has since re-‐established the rela8onship with me: at the 8me she disappeared, she said, she felt too much shame.”
Supervisors-‐as-‐assemblages Gendered academic selves who are … • tethered to other humans:
– students, co-‐supervisors, HODs, Associate-‐Deans PG, DOGS and professional staff, academic developers (‘trainers’), someSmes students’ families, employers, country/scholarship representaSves
• propped (enabled and constrained) by objects:
– some ‘chosen’ eg cups, Sssues, pens, business cards – some not eg insStuSonal handbooks, forms
• impressed by forces:
– insStuSonal regulaSons, training, students’ needs for comfort
• impelled into pracSces:
– giving feedback, filling out/signing contracts and forms, note-‐keeping, finding funds, celebratory events, providing comfort and safety, etc
• suffused with (buffeted by?) emoSons:
– enjoyment, sorrow, hope, shame, confidence, anxiety, uncertainty, sympathy, pride.
Tiny acts of resistance (Inspired by Lenz Taguchi, 2013)
• Imagining resistance is becoming harder • But we can (and must) ask: what 8ny acts of resistance are possible? – What objects can we include/refuse? – What forces can we withstand/bend? – What pracSces can we eschew/create? – What emoSons can we hold onto/let go?
• We can experiment with ourselves as supervisor-‐ assemblages! (Or student-‐assemblages, or …)
References Green, B. (2005). Unfinished business: SubjecSvity and supervision. Higher Educa8on Research & Development, 24(2), 151–163. Lenz Taguchi, H. (2013). ‘Becoming molecular girl’: Transforming subjecSviSes in collaboraSve doctoral research studies as micro-‐poliScs in the academy. Interna8onal Journal of Qualita8ve Studies in Educa8on, 29(9), 1101–1116. Rose, N. (1996). Inven8ng our selves: Psychology, power and personhood. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
