Open AccessAutoethnography of Bouncing Forward: Adaptation or Resilience?
Author(s) -
Madiha Mohsin Syeda
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of critical thought and praxis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2325-1204
DOI - 10.31274/jctp.12935
Subject(s) - autoethnography , adaptation (eye) , feeling , soul , resilience (materials science) , graduate students , psychology , psychological resilience , pedagogy , mathematics education , sociology , visual arts , social psychology , art , gender studies , epistemology , philosophy , physics , neuroscience , thermodynamics
I write my own story of bouncing forward as a graduate teaching assistant highlighting the fact that adaptation is not resilience. As a Brown, Muslim, female teaching assistant, Iam permanently discriminated against while teaching Undergraduate students. I have received poor semester feedback and discouraging comments through all the semesters I taught. I was feeling fine with all that until after a sordid incident shook my soul. I feel I should share what it feels like to pretend you are resilient as a doctoral student whereas you are permanently struggling to adapt yourself to be competent enough to teach your American students. My autoethnographic reflections reflect the modern survival of minoritized graduate students in the United States.