“It's not a simple thing, co-publishing”: Challenges of co-authorship between supervisors and students in South African higher educational contexts

Abstract

Knowledge production in South Africa remains framed by the legacies of apartheid. Developing emerging authors and local knowledges through co-authorship between supervisors and post graduate students is an important strategy aimed at challenging these legacies. This paper draws on in-depth interviews with students and supervisors to explore their experiences of co-authorship. Findings indicate that while insisting that co-authoring has value, several students also note their discomfort with elements of the process. While insisting students' work be disseminated, and expressing willingness to engage in the mentoring that this requires, supervisors also articulate discomfort with processes offering opportunities for personal career development. Given increasing emphasis on co-authorship we suggest the power inequalities expressed through the supervisor/student relationship be made more transparent. Knowledge production through co-authorship is best served by collaborations between authors who are more equally empowered and who are more critically aware of the challenges such collaborations are likely to present.

Experiences of mentorship with academic staff doctoral candidates at a south african university

“…Another question is when and for which staff conducting doctoral studies mentorship is necessary. While the literature often frames mentorship as a desirable resource for junior/emerging, and within the South African context, staff from previously disadvantaged backgrounds (Clowes and Shefer 2013), arguably mentorship is a key component of any supervision practice (Louw and Muller 2014). Thus, rather than viewing mentorship within a deficit model, mentorship could also be offered more generally to staff who themselves feel that they would benefit from such support, which allows for more collegial, non-hierarchical frameworks for inducting staff and students into a scholarly community of practice.…”

“…Thus, mentorship is increasingly being introduced as a practice for supporting emerging scholars in their research, whether at student or postdoctoral level (Clowes and Shefer 2013;Mullen, Fish and Hutinger 2010;Paglis, Green and Bauer 2006). The form that such mentorship takes varies within and across universities according to perceived needs, with peer mentorship and mentorship by more senior established academics of junior emerging staff being two of the current models (Geber 2010;Leidenfrost, Strassnig and Schutz 2014;Nundulall and Reddy 2011;Schulze 2010).…”

The Scholarly Advancement of an Academic Project on Gender Justice

“…Notably Tamara Shefer coedited an international volume with Vivienne Bozalek, Rosi Braidotti and Michalinos Zembylas emerging out of an NRF-funded project which was published last year (Bozalek et al, 2018). Of further importance have been our efforts to facilitate student and emerging authors' publishing through writing workshops, critical co-authorship and mentorship (see Clowes & Shefer, 2013), facilitating scholarly development and publishing by students from undergraduate levels (see Ngabaza et al, 2013Ngabaza et al, , 2015 critical reviewing (Bozalek, Zembylas & Shefer, 2019) and postgraduate supervision, training and support.…”

Untitled

“…Except for a number of studies on South Africa, existing literature is virtually silent on the matter of student voice in graduate training. Clowes and Shefer's (2013) study of graduate supervision emphasizes the significance of co-authorship between supervisors and students. Despite the challenges such scholarly collaborations may pose, Clowes and Shefer argue that students consider these hands-on experiences with senior academics an enriching and empowering component of training that should provide them with the basic skill sets for independent thought.…”