The ‘Peripheral’ Student in Academia: An Analysis

Pulling together the various themes that emerged within and across the narratives, this chapter explores four broad categories of challenges and opportunities: Demands associated with being a ‘peripheral’ student and the function of social networks in developing a sense of belonging. Issues related to supervisory and other faculty relationships. Struggles related to identity, language and/or culture. The role of expert, novice and ‘impostor’ labels in internalizing a scholarly identity. Each category is unpacked, while also examining the personal characteristics and institutional features that helped the authors along the journey to becoming scholars. After each section, implications for institutional policy and planning are also discussed