This Academic's Life

A deeply personal mission.

Making the invisible visible.

Obsession. Identity. Belonging.

Father. Son. Brother. Friend. Refugee. Academic. Political candidate. Journalist.

Having gone from activism to academia, and a conservative upbringing to being queer, Professor Mary Lou Rasmussen understands that there is more than one way to be – no matter your sexuality, religion or cultural identity.

As a non-native speaker of English, Dr Susanna Scarparo was told that she would never get a job in an English department, even though she has a PhD in comparative literature.

“I was told fairly early on that if I wanted to have a career in academia, it wouldn't be in an English department,” she says.

In this episode, we explore what it's like to live and work in a second language. Susanna shares her experiences and observations of bias against people with an accent, and how as an Italian woman, she's been a beneficiary of the “hierarchy of disadvantage”. She also talks about a fellow academic who championed her and believed in her abilities, and how her experiences have made her a champion for her colleagues and the students she supports.

In having her first child, biological anthropologist Dr Alison Behie experienced the sort of work/life struggles that would be familiar to many parents. Her second time around brought greater challenges: she spent over two years trying to conceive through IVF.

Alison suffered multiple setbacks, and the line of research she was pursuing took on a painful poignancy. The support she received however, from her supervisors and at an institutional level, meant she didn’t have to choose between career and family.

Life. Sociology. Snakes.