The dreams and promises of the university: Narratives of first-generation students in doctoral education
type: CreativeWork
description: For those who are the first in their family to undertake higher education imaginings about what the university is, and what it may promise, can be of great importance. In the absence of access to university experience via these individuals' parents and sometimes wider social networks, these imaginings may underpin these students' aspirations, choices and plans as they seek a higher education. Moreover, these often hopeful, university imaginings can have particular resonance and stay with individuals even after they have spent considerable time in higher education. This study takes seriously the role of student imaginings and considers why first-generation students continue to invest in higher education through until doctoral study, especially in "the new times of contemporary academia" (Archer, 2008, p. 265) marked by neoliberalism and its concomitant high levels of individualism, competition and precariousness. This question is central to this research and underpins my efforts to trace the stories of first-generation students so as to gain insights into their higher education choices and pathways. In this study I drew on a variety of data collection methods including focus groups and interviews with 15 first-generation students studying for doctorates in Education. I also utilised autoethnographic and duo-ethnographic data and undertook narrative analysis of two cultural texts to understand the ways the university and the doctorate is imagined and understood by these students and in the wider cultural domain. In examining the student accounts gathered in this thesis I identify the role of a number of established social imaginaries including the Ivory tower, Liberal university, Hollywood pop culture university and Neoliberal university imaginaries in shaping these students' university understandings. These imaginaries, in different ways, position the university as a site of learning, opportunity and privilege. I also identify the significance of the mainstream disco…
abstract: For those who are the first in their family to undertake higher education imaginings about what the university is, and what it may promise, can be of great importance. In the absence of access to university experience via these individuals' parents and sometimes wider social networks, these imaginings may underpin these students' aspirations, choices and plans as they seek a higher education. Moreover, these often hopeful, university imaginings can have particular resonance and stay with individuals even after they have spent considerable time in higher education. This study takes seriously the role of student imaginings and considers why first-generation students continue to invest in higher education through until doctoral study, especially in "the new times of contemporary academia" (Archer, 2008, p. 265) marked by neoliberalism and its concomitant high levels of individualism, competition and precariousness. This question is central to this research and underpins my efforts to trace the stories of first-generation students so as to gain insights into their higher education choices and pathways. In this study I drew on a variety of data collection methods including focus groups and interviews with 15 first-generation students studying for doctorates in Education. I also utilised autoethnographic and duo-ethnographic data and undertook narrative analysis of two cultural texts to understand the ways the university and the doctorate is imagined and understood by these students and in the wider cultural domain. In examining the student accounts gathered in this thesis I identify the role of a number of established social imaginaries including the Ivory tower, Liberal university, Hollywood pop culture university and Neoliberal university imaginaries in shaping these students' university understandings. These imaginaries, in different ways, position the university as a site of learning, opportunity and privilege. I also identify the significance of the mainstream disco…
author: Mitchell, Catherine
license: https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm
date published: 2019
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:03:18Z
provider: University of Auckland
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: ResearchSpace@Auckland

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/2292/47448