A Collaborative Autoethnography of Organising the First Online Conference for Southern African Students of Psychology

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic necessitated the accelerated adoption of online technologies for teaching and learning globally, including academic conferencing. This was a challenging, yet welcomed, learning experience for the academic organisers of the 7th Southern African Students’ Psychology Conference that was held virtually for the first time in 2021. Using collaborative autoethnography, we articulate our personal experiences of organising the conference in our various capacities. We do so within the context of the nationwide lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic and at an open distance e-learning tertiary institution in a state of flux. Isolation, the imposter syndrome and burnout thematically unified our collective experiences, reminding us that we are academics in context. We respond to gaps in the literature by prioritising the experiences of female academics in the Global South and academics at an open distance e-learning university within the context of the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa.