Differential and resonant solidarities: A materialist approach to the early career experience

Main author: Leicht, Caroline V
Other authors: Bengtsson Meuller, Elsa
Borowetz, Taylor
Hiraide, Lydia
Pruszynski, Katie
Format: Journal Article           
Online access: Click here to view record


id eprints-42656
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
description Navigating academia as early career academics (ECAs) is increasingly challenging, with many facing structural inequities, the rise of precarious work, and the increased marketisation of higher education in the United Kingdom and beyond. The purpose of this article is to provide a platform for learnings and insights gleaned from our experiences as five ECAs who worked together to lead the ‘early career network’ for a learned association between 2021 and 2023. In the article, we explore some of the challenges, opportunities, and call for actions that come out of our own encounters with the neoliberal higher education landscape as both students and workers in the social sciences. We propose a dual conceptualisation of solidarity as both resonant and differential, and mobilise this theoretical contribution to reflect on themes of community, materiality, care, knowledge, and labour as key strands which shape the interface between ECAs and complex higher education ecologies. Theoretically and practically, we aim to facilitate solidarity in early career communities, mobilising ‘ECA’ as more than a purely temporal category. Finally, we make recommendations to colleagues across the discipline for forging and nourishing collaborative, healthy, and inclusive environments in which ECAs can thrive.
format Journal Article
author Leicht, Caroline V
author_facet Leicht, Caroline V
Bengtsson Meuller, Elsa
Borowetz, Taylor
Hiraide, Lydia
Pruszynski, Katie
authorStr Leicht, Caroline V
author_letter Leicht, Caroline V
author2 Bengtsson Meuller, Elsa
Borowetz, Taylor
Hiraide, Lydia
Pruszynski, Katie
author2Str Bengtsson Meuller, Elsa
Borowetz, Taylor
Hiraide, Lydia
Pruszynski, Katie
title Differential and resonant solidarities: A materialist approach to the early career experience
publisher Sage
publishDate 2024
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/42656/