Abstract
This chapter is a collective autoethnography that reveals the messiness and fractured identities of (non)mothers and (non)researchers in and out of academic contexts. Luce Irigaray’s writing on breath, interiority and autonomy brings together the reflections. In Between East and West, Irigaray (2002) has learnt “the importance of breathing in order to survive, to cure certain ills, and to attain detachment and autonomy” (p. 10). She explores “a sexuation of breathing” as a woman “by practicing, by listening (to myself), by reading, by awakening myself” (2002, p. 10). Collectively, the stories in this chapter reveal living with and letting go of the demands of academia and the complexities of caring for selves and others.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bosanquet, A. (2017). Academic, woman, mother: Negotiating multiple subjectivities during early career. In R. Thwaites & A. Pressland (Eds.), Being an early career feminist academic (pp. 73–91). London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. London, UK: Routledge.
Butler, J. (1993). Bodies that matter: On the discursive matter of “sex”. New York, USA: Routledge.
Connelly, F. M., & Clandinin, D. J. (1990). Stories of experience and narrative inquiry. Educational Researcher, 19(5), 2–14.
Ellis, C., Adams, T. E., & Bochner, A. P. (2011). Autoethnography: An overview [online]. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 12(1). http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1589/3095.
Irigaray, L. (1985). This sex which is not one (C. Porter & C. Burke, Trans.). Ithaca, NY, USA: Cornell University Press.
Irigaray, L. (1993). Sexes and genealogies (G. C. Gill, Trans.). New York, USA: Columbia University.
Irigaray, L. (2002). Between East and West: From singularity to community (S. Pluháček, Trans.). New York, USA: Columbia University Press.
Irigaray, L. (2004). The age of breath. In Luce Irigaray: Key writings. London, UK: Continuum.
Jones, A. (2011). Seeing the messiness of academic practice: Exploring the work of academics through narrative. International Journal for Academic Development, 16(2), 109–118.
Kamler, B., & Thomson, P. (2007). Rethinking doctoral writing as text work and identity work. In B. Somekh & T. A. Schwandt (Eds.), Knowledge production: Research work in interesting times (pp. 166–179). London, UK: Routledge.
Lorde, A. (1988). A burst of light, essays. London, UK: Sheba Feminist Publishers.
Mayuzumi, K. (2017). 5 minute guided meditation before writing. http://lazyslowdown.com/guided-meditation-before-writing/.
Škof, L., & Holmes, E. A. (Eds.). (2013). Breathing with Luce Irigaray. London, UK: Bloomsbury.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bosanquet, A. et al. (2020). Breathing Room. In: Henderson, L., Black, A., Garvis, S. (eds) (Re)birthing the Feminine in Academe. Palgrave Studies in Gender and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38211-7_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38211-7_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-38210-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-38211-7
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)