Mentoring with: reimagining mentoring across the university

Abstract

Traditional, formal mentoring structures established within the space of the university can be rooted in patriarchal systems of power, hierarchy, and exclusion that perpetuate neoliberal and capitalist understandings of individualism and exceptionalism. This model privileges certain forms of knowledge and expertise, often that of senior, tenured faculty rather than those who are ignored or overlooked as ‘experts’ such as historically underrepresented tenured and untenured faculty, contingent faculty, and staff. In this paper, we seek to reimagine the concept of the traditional mentoring relationship rooted in power and hierarchy into a more democratic, empowering model across the space of the university. We do this by expanding upon the concept of power mentoring which emphasizes mentoring networks rather than individual relationships. Power mentoring centers reciprocal support and mutual benefit, infusing a feminist ethics of care into the spaces and structures of the neoliberal university. We draw on Joan Tronto’s caring with to frame mentoring as collective, collaborative, and democratic: mentoring with. Based upon a collective reading of Ensher and Murphy ’s Power Mentoring: How Successful Mentors and Protégés Get the Most Out of their Relationships and conversations from our faculty learning community about mentoring, we argue that mentoring relationships within the spaces of the university should emphasize the role of dynamic networks between faculty, staff, and administrators to build upon existing feminist praxis to develop a more inclusive, geographic system of mentoring, which enables participants to grow, develop, and learn with one another.     

文化适应背景下留学生的日常行为空间特征——以英国伯明翰市中国留学生为例

空间是文化适应的反映与表征,跨文化的社会学现象呈现了“人-地”关联研究的特征与脉络。本文对英国伯明翰市的中国留学生进行了“文化适应”及“日常行为空间”等的相关调查,分析了该群体在居住、消费等行为的空间特征,并探讨了“文化适应”对“空间行为”的影响。主要结论为:(1)留学生浅层的文化适应限定了活动空间,居住和日常消费就近在大学周边,中国城则成为周末通勤中心,对“住区与学校—中国城”以外的空间感知模糊。(2)人群分异明显,英国文化越融入,越喜欢光顾英式的空间;中国文化越坚守,对中国城越依恋。(3)空间的隔离性与重叠性加剧了对英国文化的疏离。无论是对中国城的更新、还是对大学周边的拓展,政府都需要寻求国际化的城市空间管制途径,加快留学生的文化适应。