As we approch the middle of Semester 2, and many people are starting to have assessments (not to mention election tasks, job dramas, family issues, partner problems, and all the other ‘real life’ stuff) piling up, let’s make sure we don’t get down on ourselves and keep positive about getting through it all.
The Crunk Feminist Collective have posted a list of academic survival tips that couldn’t be more timely, and whether you are undegrad or postgrad, hopefully they will strike a chord for a lot of us. Reposted with permission below:
- Be confident in your abilities.
- If you feel like a fraud, you very likely are suffering from impostor syndrome, a chronic feeling of intellectual or personal inadequacy born of grandiose expectations about what it means to be competent. Women in particular suffer with this issue, but I argue that it is worse for women-of-color (particularly Blacks and Latinas) who labor under stereotypes of both racial and gender incompetence. The academy itself also creates grandiose expectations, given the general perception of academicians as hypercompetent people. Secret: Everybody that’s actin like they know, doesn’t really know. So ask your question. It’s probably not as stupid as you think. Now say this with me: “I’m smart enough, my work is important, and damn it, I’m gonna make it.”
This website was created on Wurundjeri land. We respectfully acknowledge the traditional owners of the stolen lands and waters of this area. We also acknowledge that those of us who live, study, and work here and are not indigenous are thus beneficiaries of the dispossession of Aboriginal people.
