Doctoral Students’ Identities and Emotional Wellbeing in Applied Linguistics

Self-stories, when told with vulnerability and authenticity, have the power to move all kinds of readers across time and space, but locating those self-stories in the in-between spaces created along transnational and translingual personal-professional trajectories, especially within traditional academia, requires a different brand of courage. The editors and the contributors of this volume demonstrate that courage over and over again, as they take their readers on a collective multivocal journey through a diverse autoethnographic landscape, where they boldly and poignantly disrupt traditional academia's business-as-usual approach through their vulnerable and authentic writings. A must-read and a much-needed one. - Rashi Jain, Montgomery College, United States Grounded in the lived identities and experiences of three equity scholars, this edited collection showcasing (poetic) autoethnography is both timely and critical addition to doctoral education studies and qualitative research methods. By zooming in on the experiences of doctoral students and their (dis)(inter)connected academic and discoursal communities, the collection normalizes the humanizing of doctoral education by sharing their voices and experiences of victories and challenges. Finally, bringing together the identities in relation to agency, emotional well-beings, and investment is an important movement toward creating a space for the next generation of equity practitioners during global crises. - Gloria Park, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, United States A delightful collection of studies on autoethnography in graduate programs, which paints the life of PhD students articulately. The chapters speak to PhD students so directly and sincerely that resonate with most, if not all, of them worldwide. This is a must-read volume for many PhD students and graduates who can introspectively and retrospectively engage with the content to (re)define their identities, and track the emotions that underlie those identities. - Mostafa Nazari, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran This phenomenal work by a cadre of brilliant doctoral students provides fascinating autoethnographical accounts on the identity negotiation and construction. Reading each chapter, I was taken on a riveting, yet emotive journey through reflecting on my own experiences as a Black, first generation, international, doctoral student within the field of language learning. I highly endorse this work; I contend that it is groundbreaking, serving as the impetus for institutions of higher education to work towards discouraging harmful practices, thus, creating critically conscious and humanizing spaces particularly for students from historically underrepresented groups within higher education. - Valentino Rahming, Carnegie Mellon University, United States Bedrettin Yazan, Ethan Trinh, and Luis Javier Pentón Herrera have put together important autoethnographies that shed light on the identities and emotional wellbeing of doctoral students in our field. The editors combine their expertise on autoethnography, the contributing authors’ rich accounts of lived experiences, and their collective wisdom and vision for better academic and personal wellbeing. This collection is a significant resource for anyone concerned with the current and future health of our scholarly community. - Anwar Ahmed, University of British Columbia, Canada