Mentorship, Critical Autoethnography and the Practices of Self-Reflexivity: Investing in an Academy that Does Not Yet Exist

Abstract

I explore the topic of mentorship as a powerful form of feminist contestation from within, particularly for students and faculty of color. Inspired by the scholarship of women of color Communications and Media Studies scholars and specifically the literature on critical autoethnography, I argue for a more self-reflexive approach to mentoring rooted in an awareness of the dynamics of power and in-/exclusion embedded in the smallest of everyday exchanges. I assert that critical autoethnography can serve as a powerful analytical tool for highlighting and contesting historic asymmetries of power within Media Studies, Communications and beyond, in a self-reflexive manner that can radically transform our mentorship and pedagogical practices.