From space invaders to space interpreters: On spatial tactics as boundary work of women academics in the university

Abstract

This paper examines the spatial resistance tactics of early career academics (ECAs) against racism and sexism in academia. Drawing on 50 in-depth interviews with ECAs from five Belgian Dutch-speaking universities, I investigate how women ECAs’ everyday enactments of resistance are a way to navigate the exclusionary boundaries of academia. I identify three manifestations of everyday resistance in which women ECAs transgress and reconstitute symbolic and material boundaries: (1) innerspace-tactics occur “inside” the work-space breaking and blurring the symbolic boundaries of who the legitimate occupant can be, (2) outerspace-tactics are tactics to develop Other spaces “outside” the workspace aiming to become the “unencumbered” academic subtly touching the exclusionary boundaries while avoiding the label of a troublemaker, and (3) inner-outerspace blend tactics are tactics to establish counter-spaces developing new exclusionary boundaries on their own terms simulating a space of personal and academic support. I conclude by extending Puwar’s “space invader” concept to “space interpreter,” highlighting women ECAs’ active boundary work in developing an anti-racist-sexist academia.