Feminine subjectivities and aspirational learner identities: Asian–Australian young women navigating possible selves in the first year of university

ABSTRACT

In educational research, girls are frequently depicted as success stories, able to effortlessly navigate academic excellence as empowered females. However, these depictions lack nuance and often fail to capture the complexity of young women’s experiences as they shift from compulsory schooling into higher education. Using a methodology of semi-structured interviews and focus groups occurring at three points over the course of the first year of university, we explore the experiences of two young women, Joy and Naomi, both from Asian backgrounds. Focusing on possibilities, positioning and performances of femininities in relation to academic experiences, the article considers how their time in an Australian university informs their aspirations and subjectivities where the university is theorised as a site for the (re)making of identities. We draw on the model of possible selves which deepens our understanding of identities in formation allowing us to nuance processes of ‘change’ and ‘transformation.’

KEYWORDS:

• Girlhood
• possible selves
• learner identities
• aspirations
• first-year university experience

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Associate Professor Sue Nichols for her feedback on an earlier version of this article. 

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) is the primary criterion for entry into most undergraduate-entry university programs in Australia.

2 A census date in an Australian university finalises enrollement. If students withdraw before this date they do not need to pay fees.

Additional information

Funding

We acknowledge funding received by the University of South Australia.

Notes on contributors

Garth Stahl

Garth Stahl, PhD (@GarthStahl) is an Associate Professor in Sociology of Education at the School ofEducation, University of Queensland and Research Fellow, Australian Research Council (DECRA). His research interests lie on the nexus of neoliberalism and socio-cultural studies of education, identity, equity/inequality, and social change. Currently, his research projects and publications encompass theoretical and empirical studies of learner identities, gender and youth, sociology of schooling in a neoliberal age, gendered subjectivities, equity and difference, and educational reform.

Sarah McDonald

Sarah McDonald (@Sarah_McDonald_) is a PhD candidate in UniSA Education Futures at the University of South Australia. Her doctoral research focuses on how the intersection between gender and class interacts with higher education, and how this interaction impacts upon the construction of feminine identities for young women transitioning into university. She is interested in gendered subjectivities, social mobility, social barriers, and inequalities in education.

Cassandra Loeser

Cassandra Loeser, PhD is a Lecturer in Research and Innovation Services at the University of South Australia and Co-Director of the Research Network for Studies in Gender, Sexualities and Equity. Her publications and research interests are in the broad fields of gender, sex and sexualities, disability, higher education and doctoral supervision.