Redefining our Identities through Social Cohesion: A Poetic Inquiry of Early Career Academics in a Teacher Education Institution

Transitioning Between Spaces: An Intersectional Account of how We are Becoming Academics

“…Plunging in self-doubt and low self-esteem, the impostor syndrome found fertile ground to set in because we saw ourselves as incapable and unfit to be in academia (Mbatha et al, 2021). Despite this, an inkling of hope remained that the academy could be better than we had experienced.…”

“…We were called izingane za Dean [the Dean's children] (Mbatha et al, 2021), suggesting that we were token appointments because of our age (Naicker, 2013). We also had some of the older colleagues belittle us by making comments such as "you are of the same age as my child" (Mbatha et al, 2020, p. 33).…”

“…Nokukhanya had a demeaning experience with sexist undertones. She repeatedly received benevolent sexist comments from male senior colleagues within the discipline who referred to her as a "rose" (Mbatha et al, 2021) and further remarked on her sense of fashion, commenting that she looked better in dresses than in pants. Whether innocent or not, these comments are sexist and made within the context of the academy, a space filled with intelligent people.…”

“Navigating unchartered waters”: lived experiences of novice principals leading in deprived school contexts

“…Professor Phumlani Myende iii 3 Room32 is a small unused room located in a campus building commonly used for janitorial services and student extra-curricular activities on the outskirts of campus. It an alternative space where we retreated to rescue ourselves and in which we organically formed a critical friendship that has enabled us to find ourselves and aid our personal and professional development (Mbatha et al, 2021;.…”

“…As they engage in these diverse tasks and with others, they continually reconstruct their professional and personal identities (Spillane & Lee, 2014;Oplatka, 2012). They engage in identity work, co-constructing these identities against the grain of the ascribed social identities (Mbatha et al, 2021;Watson, 2009).…”