Fear, Fellowship, and Finding a Voice: An Autobiographical Narrative of Being and Becoming in an Established Research Community

This autobiographical narrative inquiry re-stories three experiences from my work as a postdoctoral research fellow. In the re-visitation, I found echoings of fear, fellowship, and finding a voice shaping my shifting identity. These themes surface cyclically amidst the shared experiences and reveal my battle with early career Impostor Syndrome. This phenomenon is explored as the core of my narrative of liminality, and negotiation of space as a new member of an established community of researchers called Faculty Academy, with former professors as found mentors in new relationship dynamics.