Haeri Mazanderani, Fawzia, Danvers, Emily, Hinton-Smith, Tamsin and Webb, Rebecca (2022) Contortion, loss and moments for joy: insights into writing groups for international doctoral students. Teaching in Higher Education. pp. 1-16. ISSN 1356-2517

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Abstract

The idealised internationally mobile doctoral student is often presented as seamlessly transitioning across space–translating and neutralising themselves within globalised higher education. However, for those positioned as ‘international’, writing can be experienced as disconnecting. This paper considers the tensions of writing, as experienced by international doctoral students. It draws on 19 semi-structured interviews and a focus group with international doctoral students to explore their experiences of research writing within a writing group. These data revealed accounts of the contortions involved in continuous acts of translation and its resulting sense of ‘othering’ and dislocation. Alongside these revelations emerged feelings of loss in terms of perceived ‘mastery’ over language and the experience of the writing group as a space for both joy and vulnerability. Consequently, we argue for the importance of doctoral writing groups that subvert and reinvent dominant narratives of writing, writers and the ‘international’.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	International students, doctoral writing, academic writing groups
Schools and Departments:	School of Education and Social Work > Education
SWORD Depositor:	Mx Elements Account
Depositing User:	Mx Elements Account
Date Deposited:	15 Mar 2022 09:36
Last Modified:	15 Mar 2022 09:45
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/104865

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