Relational Collaborative Autoethnography: Post-Doctoral Fellowship in South Africa

Year 2018, Volume: 5 Issue: 1, 60 - 73, 01.06.2018

Nm Nel

Abstract

During
a relational collaborative autoethnographic process, a post-doctoral fellow
(PDF) and his mentor, reflect on their challenges and experiences as mentor and
mentee during a two-year PDF programme at an open and distance learning (ODL)
university. They recognise the benefits of the PDF programme from both a mentor and mentee
perspective, despite the challenges they faced. Credit is awarded to the sound
relationship that they forged within a collaborative climate where they agreed
upon common goals, which were beneficial for both parties. The focus for the
PDF was the research area since great emphasis is placed it at the hosting
university. Since the dominant mode of enquiry is a relational collaborative
autoethnography, they were able to lay a good foundation and lean on positive
psychology and mentoring and learning theories to solidify the message of their
stories. In so doing they believe that the research question has been addressed
and that it may lend strength to the notion of an improved PDF programme to be
offered at the particular university.

Keywords

relational collaborative autoethnography, post-doctoral fellow, mentor, open and distance learning (ODL) university

Thanks

I’d like to thank Dr O Stephens (my mentee in the PDF programme discussed in this article) for his contribution and time he sacrificed to participate in this relational collaborative autoethnography.

References

• Allen, D.C. (2015), Learning autoethnography: A review of autoethnograpy: Understanding qualitative research, The Qualitative Report, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 33-35.
• Butcher, J. and Sieminski, S. (2006), The challenge of a distance learning professional doctorate in education Open Learning, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 59-69.
• Chang, H. (2013), Individual and collaborative autoethnography as method: a social scientist’s perspective: In Jones, S.H. (Ed.), Handbook of autoethnography, Left Coast Press, INC., Walnut Creek, pp. 107-122.
• Chang, H., Longman, K.A. and Franco, M.A. (2014), Leadership development through mentoring in higher education: a collaborative autoethnography of leaders of color, Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, Vol. 22 No.4, pp. 373-389.
• Coe, E. and Keeling, C. (2000), Setting up peer-mentoring with postgraduate research students, Open University Press, London.
• De Vos, A.S., Strydom, H., Fouche, C.B. and Deport, C.S.L. (2011), Research at Grassroots, Van Schaik, Pretoria.
• Ferdinand, R. (2015), Writing home: an autoethnography of space, culture, and belonging in Burkina Faso, West Africa, Space and Culture, Vol. 18 No.1, pp. 69-80.
• Giorgio, G.A. (2015), Reflections on writing through memory in autoethnography. In Jones, S.H., Adams, T.E. and Ellis, C. (Eds.), Handbook of autoethnography, Left Coast Press, INC., Walnut Creek, pp. 406-424.
• Hernandez, K.C., Ngunjiri, F.W. and Chang, H. (2015), Exploiting the margins in higher education: a collaborative autoethnography of three foreign-born female faculty of color, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Vol. 28 No. 5, pp. 533-551.
• Holness, L. (2015), Growing the next generation of researchers. UCT Press, Cape Town.Kafar, M. and Ellis, C. Interview with Carolyn Ellis: Autoethnography, Storytelling and Life as Lived: A Conversation Between Marcin Kafar and Carolyn Ellis, Qualitative Sociology Review, Vol. 3, pp. 124-143.
• Kidd, J. and Finlayson, M. (2015), She pushed me, and I flew: a duoethnographical story from supervisors in flight, Forum: Qualitative Social Research Sozialforschung, Vol. 16 No.1, Art.15.
• Law, H. (2013), The Psychology of Coaching, Mentoring and Learning. Second Edition. Wiley Blackwell Singapore.
• Lemmer, E. (2012), Constructing the scholarly habitus: an analytic autoethnography of twenty-five years in academe, LitNet Akademies, Jaargang Vol. 9 No. 3, November 2012.
• Matthieu, M.M., Bellamy, J.L., Peña, J.B. and Scott Jr., L.D. (2008), Accelerating research productivity in social work programs: perspectives on NIH’s postdocatoral T32 research training mechanism, Social Work Research, Vol. 32 No 4, pp. 242-248.
• Muller, R. (2014), Acing for what? Anticipation and acceleration in the work and career practices of academic life science postdocs, Forum: Qualitative Social Research, Vol. 15 No. 3, Art.15.
• Patton, M.Q. (2002), Qualitative research and evaluation methods, Sage, London.
• Pelias, R.J. (2013), Writing autoethnogarpy, In Jones, S.H., Adams, T.E. and Ellis, C. (Eds.) Handbook of autoethnography, Left Coast Press, INC., Walnut Creek, pp. 384-405.
• Simon, G. (2013), Relational ethnography: writing and reading in research relationships, Forum: qualitative social research, Vol. 14 No. 1, Art.4.
• Simonsson, M. and Muñoz, A.J. (2012), Mentoring relationships in higher education. In Murakami-Ramalho, E. and Pankake, A. (Eds.), Educational leaders encouraging the intellectual and professional capacity of others: a social justice agenda, Information Age Publishing, USA, pp. 321-334.
• Snoeren, M.M.W.C., Raaijmakers, R., Niessen, T.J.H. and Abma, T.A. (2015), Mentoring with(in) care: a co-constructed autoethnography of mutual learning, Journal of Organizational Behavior DOI: 10.1002/job.
• Whitaker, T., Zoul, J. and Casas, J. (2015), What connected educators do differently, Taylor & Francis, New York.
• Zachary, R.J. (2012), The mentor’s guide: facilitating effective learning relationships, Second Edition, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.