ABSTRACT
This chapter uses the metaphor of the Bushland and arts-based methods to unpack how diverse academics make sense of their individual identity and the conditions necessary for them to flourish. Like the Bushland, academia offers both possibility and beauty, as well as increasing threats from overuse and an unpredictable climate. Although these challenges and opportunities are universal, individual academics require unique conditions to thrive. This chapter explores how 13 Australian academics make sense of their individual identity and bring together soil, water, air, and light in their own way to support both self and the collective. Importantly, this chapter steps away from a focus on understanding academic identity and careers through the written word. By contrast, this chapter makes use of a mixture of drawing, poetry, creative writing, painting, photography, and reflective writing. The arts-based methods work in parallel with the metaphor of the Bushland to create intimate and insightful portraits of academic identity and career. Ultimately, the chapter poses questions for the reader to examine their own Bushland of academia and how they might nurture supportive conditions with others.
