Doctoral rites and liminal spaces: academics without PhDs in South Africa and Australia

ABSTRACT

Academics without PhDs are common in developing countries and among lecturers from marginalised communities, yet the literature on doctoral education largely ignores them. This qualitative study aimed to address that gap by interviewing academics without PhDs in South Africa and Australia. Their narratives of betwixt and betweenness contribute to theories of liminality as well as doctoral education. Liminality is traditionally conceptualised as a linear, vertical process with clear rites of passage. However, in our study, the interviewees were not only facing a vertical trajectory between non-PhD and post-PhD status but also a lateral trajectory between staff and student identity. The research confirms the importance of distinguishing between transient and permanent liminality in an occupational context. For those who had given up studying, liminality was permanent. Liminality was also affected by dynamically interconnecting factors including age, gender, race, ethnicity, relations with supervisors, time and location.

KEYWORDS:

• Doctoral education
• liminality
• Indigenous academics
• academic work
• doctoral supervision

Acknowledgements

The financial assistance of the Australia-Africa Universities Network (AAUN) and the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) for this research is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at are those of the authors and are not necessarily to be attributed to the AAUN or the NRF.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Mignonne Breier is a researcher development specialist in the Research Office, University of Cape Town, and an associate of the School of Education, University of Cape Town. [email protected]

Chaya Herman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Education Management and Policy Studies, University of Pretoria. [email protected]

Lorraine Towers is a Lecturer in the School of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney. [email protected]

Notes

1 Note that the term ‘PhD’ is used interchangeably with ‘doctoral degree’ or ‘doctorate’ throughout this paper.