Accessing the Research Community: Metaphors in Understanding the Processes of Becoming a Researcher

Abstract

This article examines the questions of professional identity formulation and the possibilities of young scholars to reflect on these processes. Relying on insights of collaborative autoethnography, this article is based on a four year long process of exploring our ways of participating in the community of academic practice. This process is studied through discussing various metaphors related to academic life. In this article, metaphors are used as methodological tools to characterize and reflect on young scholars' being and becoming in the academic world. First, we consider how different metaphors may help us to communicate with others, and then continue reflecting on the acquisition and participation in the communities within which we become scholars. Finally, we elaborate on two metaphors-methodological mess and endless scholarly immaturity-to navigate in the research community as (young) researchers.