![]() When I am in the water, surfing with others, it can be very intense and, at times, it can be aggressive. In the professional context, as racialized women we’re constantly being bombarded with the aggression, right? As Joyce Green says, we have to have our elbows up. ![]() But who I am inside and outside academia are the same. I do identify as a scholar, and we’ll talk more about the perils and pitfalls of that totalizing identity. ![]() Who am I outside academia? For me, the boundaries are really permeable. I’m a professor at Simon Fraser University. Genevieve Fuji Johnson : I’m Genevieve, and I’m based out here on the west coast of Turtle Island. I bake, I do origami, play Dungeons and Dragons and other role-playing games, and play other board games. I am a newly minted PhD and I’m currently teaching at Saint Mary’s University, Halifax. So, on today’s episode, we want to talk about all the ways that we can be more than work. Parts of our conversation are reproduced below, edited for clarity:Įthel Tungohan:How many times have we seen colleagues congratulated for working during their vacations and for publishing and writing while on leave? Or how many times have we received emails about department politics or service obligations in the middle of the night or on the weekend or holidays? This is why it’s so important to try and find something outside of academia. We shared our thoughts on how liberating it can be to participate and learn in these communities far away from the university. We talked about the necessity of unplugging and recharging, and about the joys of experimenting and failing. By engaging our bodies and muscles, in nature or in our imagination, we nourish different aspects of ourselves with others who share in that creative pursuit. Being “more than work” is important to our mental and physical health, as well as our creativity and capability in facing academic challenges. Academia can so often be isolating, competitive, and heartbreaking it demands that we are efficient, productive, and the “best” at what we do. In this episode, we discussed what inspired us to pursue these activities, and what they mean to us. In our conversation, we defined who we are outside our day jobs as university professors, delving into activities such as boxing, surfing, and playing Dungeons and Dragons.īy claiming our identities outside the academy, we pushed back against toxic academic work culture that venerates “productivity” above everything else. By claiming our identities outside the academy, we pushed back against toxic academic work culture that venerates “productivity” above everything else. In the episode entitled “#MoreThanWork,” we, the authors of this piece, addressed the need to fight against the belief that academia should define all facets of our lives. Dissident friends provide support, bear witness to each other’s journeys, and set the foundation for acts of resistance to academia’s many inequities.įinding yourself outside of work is one such act of resistance. Ultimately, Academic Aunties challenges listeners to build “dissident friendships” (to quote from the title of Elora Halim Chowdhury and Liz Philipose’s landmark 2016 edited collection). The core tenet of the podcast-take care, be kind to yourself, and don’t be an a**hole-is born out of the conviction that academia’s tendency to prioritize individual markers of professional success at the expense of people’s health and well-being, their communities and their families, and personal lives, is corrosive. In close to 40 episodes recorded over three seasons, guests have talked about topics including what really happens when academic job search committees deliberate, racial microaggressions experienced by women of colour, parenting challenges for academics, and income precarity for contract academic staff and faculty. Created in March 2021 during the pandemic, the podcast was a way for us as producers and our guests-most of whom are women of colour and first-generation scholars-to have frank discussions about the academy’s “hidden curriculum.” The podcast Academic Aunties, produced by Ethel Tungohan, Wayne Chu, and Nisha Nath, centres the importance of community in academia. How can academics create community for themselves and others? How does that quest intersect with community-based research? Ethel Tungohan, host of the Academic Aunties podcast, talks to guests about the value of hobbies, activities, and skills beyond work.
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