ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author talks about her insecurity feeling during and after her PhD. She met Bryn at a symposium in 2017. She was excited by Bryn’s work that she asked him there and then if he would mind taking part in the book. The author initially thought she was going to London tell Bryn something about autoethnography that might help with his PhD. Instead, his explanation of his ethical concerns and dilemmas about the writing process, and if his work would ever pass at viva, inspired her to reveal her own stories and the professional and personal insecurities and vulnerabilities she hoped would dissipate when she finished her thesis but which often dominate, overpowering her confidence and self-belief. The sharing of personal stories can dismantle the hierarchies and stimulate new ways of being in academia that are personal and more inclusive, ethical and democratic, and that offer a challenge to the dominant narratives that are reductive and stifling.
