Creating safety : Group reflections on surviving as a female, social work early career academic in the neoliberal academy

Journal article


Newcomb, Michelle, Saxton, Katherine, Lovrić, Esha, Harris, Sera and Davidson, Danielle. (2022). Creating safety : Group reflections on surviving as a female, social work early career academic in the neoliberal academy. Qualitative Social Work. pp. 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1177/14733250221122361
AuthorsNewcomb, Michelle, Saxton, Katherine, Lovrić, Esha, Harris, Sera and Davidson, Danielle
Abstract

Female social work early career academics (ECAs) face many challenges within a neoliberal university context. The tension between balancing the social justice mission of the profession against the consumer model of higher education is conflicting and contributes to feelings of isolation and alienation. This article documents a group of female ECAs experiences by drawing on critical, post-modern and feminist knowledge traditions. The qualitative methodology used was collective autoethnography and critical reflection where the group documented and collectively analysed individual experiences of teaching social work education as female ECAs. The purpose of collating these experiences was to explore the emancipatory capacity of female agency as well as embodying what it is to be a female ECA. Vignettes were thematically examined in a three-part process including (1) reading and reviewing data; (2) categorising and group data and (3) finding themes and connecting these to the original data (Chang et al., 2016). Analysis of the vignettes highlighted the tensions of working as female social justice educators within a neoliberal university causing feelings of oppression and discomfort. In finding one another, sharing and writing stories as well as a collective response this challenged the masculinist model which has been the norm within neoliberal universities. Female led support strategies coupled with the utilisation of feminist methodologies contributes to the emergence of a new, feminist and collectively safer academic culture.

Keywordsautoethnography; feminism; social work education; social justice; methodology
Year2022
JournalQualitative Social Work
Journal citationpp. 1-16
PublisherSAGE Publications
ISSN1741-3117
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1177/14733250221122361
Scopus EID2-s2.0-85137220428
Page range1-16
Publisher's version
License
All rights reserved
File Access Level
Controlled
Output statusIn press
Publication dates
Online22 Aug 2022
Publication process dates
Deposited20 Sep 2023
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