Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The supervisory relationship is at the heart of the institutional and interpersonal structures that make up graduate education, but it is rarely problematized (publicly) or used as a site for the analysis of university adult education. This article results from the challenge issued by a (feminist) woman graduate student to her male nonfeminist adviser to do just that. It aims to encourage others in the field to join the dialogue, to demonstrate how a personal narrative methodology can deepen understandings of the student-supervisor relationship, and to explore how the power dynamics of this relationship affect both knowledge creation (and its legitimation) and the socialization process in graduate education. We alternate between telling our stories, connecting them to the existing literature on supervision, and drawing (different) conclusions about ethics, power relations, institutional and interpersonal responsibilities, research, gender, and the (re) production of academic and (inequitable) social structures in university adult education.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Aguinis, H. , Nesler, M. S. , Quigley, B. M. S. , Lee, S.-J. ,& Tedeschi, J. T. (1996). Power bases of faculty supervisors and educational outcomes for graduate students. Journal of Higher Education, 67(3), 267-297.

Baker, R. L., Jr. (1996). The ethics of student-faculty friendships. In L. Fisch (Ed.), Ethical dimensions of college and university teaching: Understanding and honoring the special relationship between teachers and students (New Directions for Teaching and Learning, No. 66, pp. 25-32). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Birren, J. , & Deutchman, D. E. (1991). Guiding autobiography groups for older adults: Exploring the fabric of life. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Chapman, V.-L. , & Sork, T. J. (1997). Passports please! Crossing borders in a university graduate program. In P. Armstrong , N. Miller , & M. Zukas (Eds.), Proceedings of the 27th Annual SCUTREA Conference (pp. 104-107). London: University of London, Birkbeck College.

Chapman, V.-L. , & Sork, T. J. (1998). Changing relations: Power, ethics, and responsibility in graduate supervision. Proceedings of the 39th Annual Adult Education Research Conference (pp. 301-306). San Antonio: University of the Incarnate Word/Texas A&M University.

Clark, M. C. (1997). Learning as a non-unitary self: Implications of postmodernism for adult learning theory. In P. Armstrong , N. Miller , & M. Zukas (Eds.), Proceedings of the 27th Annual SCUTREA Conference (pp. 108-111). London: University of London, Birkbeck College.

Denzin, N. K. (1997). Interpretive ethnography: Ethnographic practices for the 21st century. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Ellis, C. ,& Bochner, A. P. (2000). Autoethnography, personal narrative, reflexivity. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 733-768). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Foucault, M. (1990). The history of sexuality, Vol. 1. (R. Hurley, Trans.). New York: Vintage Books.

10.

French, J.R.P., Jr. , & Raven, B. (1959). The bases of social power. In D. Cartwright (Ed.), Studies in social power (pp. 150-165). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research.

11.

Griffiths, M. (1995). Feminisms and the self: The web of identity. London: Routledge.

12.

Haraway, D. (1991). Simians, cyborgs, and women: The reinvention of Nature. London: Free Association Books.

13.

Heshusius, L. , & Ballard, K. (Eds.). (1996). From positivism to interpretivism and beyond: Tales of transformation in educational and social research. New York: Columbia University, Teachers College Press.

14.

Jarvis, C. , & Zukas, M. (1998). Feminist teaching, feminist research, feminist supervision: Feminist praxis in adult education. In Proceedings of the 39th Annual Adult Education Research Conference (pp. 197-201). San Antonio: University of the Incarnate Word/Texas A&M University.

15.

Le Doeuff, M. (1991). Hipparchia’s choice: An essay concerning women, philosophy, etc. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

16.

Leggo, C. (1997). The story always ends with etc.: Autobiography and poetry. English Quarterly, 29(3-4), 67-86.

17.

EMarkie, P. J. (1990). Professors, students, and friendships. In S. M. Cahn (Ed.), Morality, responsibility, and the university: Studies in academic ethics (pp. 134-149). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

18.

Miller, N. (1989). Personal experience, adult learning, and social research. Ph.D. thesis, University of Manchester, published in book form by the University of South Australia, Adelaide, 1993.

19.

Noddings, N. (1984). Caring: A feminine approach to ethics and moral education. Berkeley: University of California Press.

20.

Piantanida, M. (1996). Solipsism, sentimentalism, and other pitfalls of personal narrative. In Disturbing our universe: The dissertation as personal narrative. An interactive symposium, paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York.

21.

Sork, T. J. , Chapman, V.-L. , & St. Clair, R. (2000). Proceedings of the 41st annual adult education research conference. Vancouver: University of British Columbia, Department of Educational Studies.

22.

Tisdell, E. J. (1993). Interlocking systems of power, privilege, and oppression in adult higher education.Adult Education Quarterly, 43(4), 203-226.

23.

Usher, R. , Bryant, I. , & Johnston, R. (1997). Adult education and the postmodern challenge: Learning beyond the limits. London, New York: Routledge.

Confessing Regulation or Telling Secrets? Opening up the Conversation on Graduate Supervision

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References