Academic Aunties

On this #AskAnAcademicAuntie, Dr. Alison Smith (@AliSmith_UdeM), Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto Mississauga, tells us about some of her tips and hacks to stay afloat amidst our competing responsibilities.

Have a question? Tweet us at @AcademicAuntie, or send us an e-mail at [email protected].

When we think about academic relationships, we often think of romantic partnerships between two academics. We might also think about the power relationships between, say, a supervisor and a student, or a dean and a professor. But we often don’t think about our research collaborations as an important kind of relationship. That’s surprising because research collaborations are, arguably, the most important relationships that you will ever have in academia. 

In this episode, we talk to Dr. Yasmeen Abu-Laban, a Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Alberta and Dr. Abigail Bakan, a Professor in the Department of Social Justice Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. They are research collaborators, friends, and an inspiration for those of us who are doing work that is intensely contested and political.

Related Links

• Israel, Palestine and the Politics of Race, by Yasmeen Abu-Laban and Abigail Bakan
• Dissident Friendships, edited by Elora Halim Chowdhury and Liz Philipose

Thanks for listening! Get more information and read all the show notes at academicaunties.com. Get in touch with Academic Aunties on Twitter at @AcademicAuntie or by e-mail at [email protected].

We're talking about Encanto, the newest Disney animated film, featuring songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, about a magical family living in the mountains of Colombia. Why are we talking about a kids movie on a podcast about academia? Well, first, because we loved the film. Second, our aunties, Natasha Sofia Martinez (@natysofia_) and Dr. Mariam Georgis (@mariamgeorgis) have plenty to say about intergenerational trauma, the immigrant experience, and who gets to decide which stories are valid.

Thanks for listening! Get more information and read all the show notes at academicaunties.com. Get in touch with Academic Aunties on Twitter at @AcademicAuntie or by e-mail at [email protected].

On Part II of our pandemic parenting series, we talk to Dr. Yolande Bouka (@YolandeBouka), Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Studies at Queen's University. In this episode, we talk about how the pressures of being a parent in academia, and in a pandemic, are hitting us personally. Auntie Yolande talks about prioritizing our health and our needs. In doing so, we are modelling to the people in our lives, including our children, why it is important to advocate for ourselves.

Related Links

• Yolande Bouka, PhD
• COVID Parenting Has Passed the Point of Absurdity
• The Nap Ministry

Thanks for listening! Get more information and read all the show notes at academicaunties.com. Get in touch with Academic Aunties on Twitter at @AcademicAuntie or by e-mail at [email protected].

We're talking about Pandemic Parenting. We will be talking about the compromises we’ve had to make, the hard decisions we’ve had to take, and also, more importantly, the reminder that we are enough and that blaming ourselves for not being able to be as ‘productive’ means that we let structures off the hook.

In Part I of our 2 part pandemic parenting series, we're talking with Dr. Sheila Colla (@SaveWildBees), Associate Professor in the Faculty of Environment and Urban Change at York University, about the expectations of academia while raising kids in a pandemic, and how science isn't as always as objective as it likes to say it is.

Related Links

• Being a Scientist Means Taking Sides
• Sheila Colla Native Pollinator Research Lab
• National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity
• Finding Flowers Project

Thanks for listening! Get more information and read all the show notes at academicaunties.com. Get in touch with Academic Aunties on Twitter at @AcademicAuntie or by e-mail at [email protected].

On this extended year-end episode, Dr. Rita Dhamoon, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Victoria, and Dr. Nisha Nath (@nnath), Assistant Professor in the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies at Athabasca University grab a few drinks with Dr. Ethel Tungohan to talk about remembering who you are outside of the academy, rebuilding your strength, and how maybe it's the institution that has to get it's shit together.

Thanks for listening! Get more information and read all the show notes at academicaunties.com. Get in touch with Academic Aunties on Twitter at @AcademicAuntie or by e-mail at [email protected].

Oh advice. It seems like you can’t turn a corner without someone telling you how you’re professor-ing or grad schooling wrong. Sometimes it’s a colleague. Sometimes it’s a random person on social media. Sometimes it’s sought for, but usually it’s unsolicited. 

On this episode, we’re breaking down academic advice. What makes for good advice? And why is bad advice...so bad? And why is it that so much academic advice assumes that we’re all cis, het, white guys? Joining us to talk about good academic advice, bad academic advice, shadow advising, and the expectations of "academic mommy" and "academic daddy" are Dr. Shanti Fernando (@ShantiFernando), Associate Professor of Political Science at Ontario Tech University, and Dr. Sule Tomkinson (@sule_tomkinson), Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science at Université Laval and Director of Le Centre d’analyse des politiques publiques.

Get in touch with Academic Aunties on Twitter at @AcademicAuntie or by e-mail at [email protected]. Need some auntie wisdom? Send an #AskAnAcademicAuntie question to academicaunties.com/ask.

Related Links

Promoting the value of unofficial academic mentorship

(https://www.natureindex.com/news-blog/promoting-the-value-of-unofficial-shadow-academic-mentorship)

Common pieces of academic advice from listeners

(https://twitter.com/AcademicAuntie/status/1461027530819911680)

On this #AskAnAcademicAuntie, a listener asks "how do you maintain a sense of peace in the face of such enormous stress?" Joining us to answer this question is Jennifer Chouinard (@JenniferChouina), a PhD student in Public Policy at the University of Regina.

Have a question? Send a voice message to #AskAnAcademicAuntie at academicaunties.com/ask, tweet us at @AcademicAuntie, or send us an e-mail at [email protected].

We talk a lot about toxic work environments and strategies of survival. But there are moments when you just have to leave. And that is what today’s episode is about.

It is sometimes hard to figure out when to stay or when to go. A lot of us are trapped. A lot of us are in situations where we know that we’re being bullied, that we’re being set up to fail, that we’re not valued. But even as we know this viscerally, we second guess ourselves. “If it’s bad here, how can I guarantee that it won’t be worse somewhere else?” we ask. We end up gaslighting ourselves.

On this episode, Dr. Jo Davis-McElligatt (@jcdmce), Assistant Professor of Black Literary & Cultural Studies at the University of North Texas, and Dr. Rita Shah (@TheRitaPhD), Associate Professor of Criminology at Eastern Michigan University, talk about wading through the hierarchies of s**t in academia, and tell us how and why they made the decision to leave, the importance of ultimately prioritizing and loving ourselves.

Related Links

• Warning Signs That You and Your Campus Are a Bad Fit by Manya Whitaker