The doctoral viva voce as a cultural practice: the gendered production of academic subjects

Abstract

This article reports on a recent small‐scale phenomenological study into the student experience of the doctoral viva voce. It was prompted by strong concerns about viva voce processes on the part of a Director of Graduate Studies in an English university. The study involved semi‐structured interviews with 20 respondents from eight English universities in a range of disciplinary areas. An initial analysis of the interviews illuminated the powerful affective dimensions of the viva voce and the gendered nature of its processes. Resisting the binary separation of reason and emotion, the paper draws upon discursive theories of affect, gender and subjectivity to consider the affective economies that are illuminated in this data and suggests that this involves the reproduction of gendered hierarchies.

Keywords:

• doctoral education
• doctoral assessment
• doctoral viva voce
• poststructural theory
• sociology of assessment
• gender and assessment
• assessment and affect

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Paul Yates for instigating this study and creating the opportunity for my involvement, as well as for his considerable insights. I would also like to acknowledge the rich contributions of Valerie Hey. My final thanks go to all the interview participants for their willingness to share their experiences.