ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the potential transformative agency for academic thinking and authorships in using reflective and creative non-fiction writing is explored. Texts written by 11 participants on a PhD course in the early spring of the pandemic year 2021 are analysed using theory of rhetoric and composition, in combination with approaches to biographical learning, pedagogy of place, and place-based writing. The students were instructed to go for a walk and reflect on how their surroundings could be viewed as a learning resource. The explorative study points in a clear direction: that using reflective, essayistic, place-based writing can be a learning resource for a “holistic” approach connecting life and profession, and that using this kind of writing in the education of novice scholars is relevant for improving engagement in the research profession and academic writing – something that is beneficial for a society that wants engaged scholars and citizens.
