“There’s a Human Being Here”: A Doctoral Class Uses Duoethnography to Explore Invisibility, Hypervisibility, and Intersectionality

Aim/Purpose This paper contributes to the scholarly literature on intersectionality and social injustice (invisibility, hypervisibility) in higher education and serves as a model for enacting doctoral education where research, theory, and practice converge. Background Invisibility and hypervisibility have long been documented as social injustices, but very little literature has documented how doctoral students (who are also university employees) make meaning of intersecting privileges and oppressions within post-secondary hierarchies. Methodology This study used a 10-week Duoethnography with co-researchers who were simultaneously doctoral students, staff, instructors, and administrators in higher education settings. Contribution This paper offers a unique glimpse into currere—the phenomenon of theory and practice converging—to offer an intensive interrogation of life as curriculum for five doctoral students and a professor. There’s a Human Being Here 638 Findings This paper illuminates rich meaning-making narratives of six higher educators as they grappled with invisibility and hypervisibility in the context of their intersecting social identities as well as their varied locations within post-secondary hierarchies/power structures. Recommendations for Practitioners Duoethnography can be an effective strategy for social justice praxis in doctoral programs as well as other higher education departments, divisions, or student organizations. Recommendations for Researchers Researchers can use Duoethnography to explore a plethora of social justice issues in doctoral education and across staff, faculty, and Ph.D. student experiences within the power structures of post-secondary education. Future Research Future research can more deeply explore social injustices and the intersections of not only social identities, but also social locations of doctoral students who are simultaneously employees and students in a university hierarchy.