Posted on by ijeomaopara

The End of One Road is the Start of Many Others 

It’s that time of the year when things start winding down work-wise and the end-of-year fatigue starts kicking in. But for many academics, the end of the working year doesn’t mean the end of work itself. Some of us may still be busy with our research over the holiday season, but this final blog marks the end of my journey with writing with SAYAS. The time truly flew by, and there is a lot to reflect on when it comes to what I’ve learned about science communication.

A Note of Thanks 

Firstly, it’s been an honour to collaborate with some amazing fellow emerging researchers across South Africa. From Mukhtaar’s ability to craft such beautifully witty takes in his blogs (his first vlog was my favourite!) to learning about how Jo deftly applies an intersectional approach to their research and creating a newfound sisterhood with Lonwabo, interacting with the 2023 cohort has been unquantifiably wholesome. Likewise, a massive thank you to our coordinator, Jen, who has been supportive and dedicated to pushing us to write throughout this year. Her time and engaged approach to pushing our newly fortified science communication skills cannot be taken for granted. Thank you, Jen!

Mirrors and Doors

In terms of reflecting on the year, it feels pre-emptive to discern whether or not it was ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Post-2020, there has definitely been a shift in how as a collective, we process the enormity of daily life on a different scale. That there’s almost this sense of mourning for what we had planned prior to March 2020. So, to echo the sentiments of my September blog, whilst every day may look different, it brings us closer to where we need to be. That being present in how we show up in our work requires the ability to be adaptable in our self-reflexiveness. Although I am still looking forward to setting time aside to reflect on my goals and achievements, it is not lost on me that there are lessons I am still in the process of uncovering and learning from. And that is the beauty of it all. So where does that leave you, the reader, to learn more about my academic journey? I am currently in the first round of my data collection and am so excited to embed myself in fieldwork. Envisioning the end of my PhD journey seems elusive, but I am closer than I think. My journey with SAYAS has been one important piece of a puzzle that is me becoming the scholar I aspire to become; caring, kind, compassionate, principled and relentless in the pursuit of creating knowledge that centres these values. 

Final thoughts

In an interview with The Republic, South African author Mpho Matsipa was asked what the most meaningful piece of writing advice she’d ever received, to which she said the following: 

“Writing will be all that remains after the bullsh*t institutional battles are lost and/or won.”

 

Writing for the sake of profit or glory has never been the allure for most researchers. We care about what we write about because solidarity is more important than complicity. Therefore, it would be disingenuous not to bring to the forefront what is happening in Palestine as I type this. As of 21st November 2023, more than 13,300 people have been killed by attacks from Israel, with 5,500 being children and 3,500 women.

There is no freedom from all the oppression we sit and talk about without the liberation of Palestinians.

There is no freedom from oppression without the liberation of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

There is no freedom from oppression without the liberation of Haiti.

There is no freedom from oppression without the freedom of West Papua New Guinea.

There is no freedom from oppression if we remain silent while pretending our insulated sensibilities keep us safe from another person’s reality eventually becoming our own. As academics, we have the privilege to engage with the real world through an ivory tower. Because of this, we must be cognizant of how our work ties into the bigger threads of humanity so that we may never lose who we are in the face of a world on fire.

Posted on by ijeomaopara

The Gift/Burden of Hindsight: Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting my PhD

Starting a PhD is never for the faint-hearted. And yet, that is exactly what I decided to do three years ago, when I was freestyling research ideas with friends over white wine on a summer evening in 2021. Since then, a lot has happened by the second-year mark of this degree. So, as a gift to you the reader (and myself), here are five lessons I have learned that I wish I knew before starting my PhD.

1. Discernment is a Practice

Knowing the difference between who your colleagues, acquaintances and friends are such an important part of forming your support system. We are all aware that being a postgraduate student is a lonely process, and with that, we work in anticipation that many of the long diligent writing sessions will be just us and our laptops trying to get our thoughts out. But that does not mean we don’t make connections – academia does requires some community. But by being so caught up in connections for the sake of connections over instead of practicing discernment and self-preservation is something that I wish I had been more cognisant of. Unfortunately, not everyone in academia is your friend – where you are seeing a kinship forming, others may be seeing as an opportunity to size up their own trajectory against yours. And this comes with its own reasonings – we know that jobs in the academic sector are scarce, and this seems to have filtered down into people’s mindsets of how they can also treat other people. Which is sad but a sobering experience.

2. Harness Technology to Work Smarter

Another thing I would be aware of, is knowing what software or AI tools I would like to use for research. What academia looks like now compared to even 10 years ago when I was in undergrad is a completely different experience. But new technology aside, we know that working smarter and not harder will always pay off in the long term. Therefore, cluing myself up on the relevant tools that will speed up the research process is something that I would want to ensure beforehand. Examples include the well-known Mendeley and Open Knowledge Maps.

3. Double down on a Reliable Routine

Another thing – routine, routine, routine! As a neurodivergent person, I know that I struggle with sticking to a work plan that isn’t affected by my oscillating feelings towards wanting to work. But at the same time, that does not mean certain delimitations must be put in place to make it easier to have systems in place. Compared to my Masters and Honours, this PhD is the one project that requires way more premeditative effort. This is scary – a last-minute situation is just not going to cut it at this stage in the game. Therefore, knowing that I am aiming towards incorporating writing as a daily practice as opposed to fury-fueled writing bursts is something I’d need to practice beforehand. Being the ‘best’ researcher has nothing to do with writing the most profound thoughts at the strike of innovation. It’s about committing to the practice of showing up and trying over and over again. As someone who finds it difficult to deal with rejection, when I get comments back from my supervisors or am simply “not in the vibe” for writing, knowing that there is a routine that allows for writing regardless of how I’m feeling eases the burden of feeling overwhelmed. And this leads to the next thing…

4. Be Flexible Amid Uncertainty

BE 👏🏽 MORE 👏🏽 FLEXIBLE! 👏🏽 NOT EVERYTHING WILL GO THE WAY THAT YOU EXPECT IT TO! 👏🏽

Since my first blog, I have talked about waiting for my ethical clearance. From then until now, I had my resubmissions rejected thrice before they were accepted. If I had been more flexible, the idea of working on my chapters would not have been an issue. But because I was so fixated on when I was supposed to get the ethical clearance, when I was supposed to start doing my fieldwork, and when I was supposed to start writing, it created a mental block for the majority of 2023. Furthermore, many young black researchers often experience the inability to simply ‘do’ their research because the pressure to not only produce the work itself is an impediment but when they are often at the forefront of discovering novel ontologies and research methodologies, it creates heightened pressure. In a chapter titled ‘Carrying a Double Load’, Dunlap (2022) notes that much of the academic research that black scholars do involves searching for solutions that “only the eradication of settler-colonialism can solve”. This is further complicated by the idea that for many black women scholars, hegemonic knowledge production often does not recognise marginalised voices. Ditto to doubling down on ensuring that you can cover all your theoretical bases lest you are deemed unable to have the range within your discipline. So, being less hard on myself and knowing that due processes are part of the journey, while also having practices to remind me that my worth is not tied to following the ‘right’ timeline is something I would be more aware of if I had to restart this journey.

5. Put Self-Care Practices in Place

This ties into the next point: you have to prioritise your wellness. In an upcoming podcast episode I recorded with AVReQ, I talked about how other than gym and consuming different forms of media (TV shows, movies, and music), there was not much else I did (or did) to contribute to my well-being. I think when you are so caught up in ‘living your life’, the optics and spectacle of trying to build your profile as a young researcher can be all-consuming. But something I would definitely be more intentional about is choosing healthier activities that prioritise holistic re-balancing.