Overview
- Explores experiences, feelings, and understandings of imposterism in higher education and beyond
- Questions for whom identifying as an imposter is a choice
- Asks how imposterism can relate to entrenched inequalities
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About this book
This handbook explores feeling like an ‘imposter’ in higher education and what this can tell us about contemporary educational inequalities. Asking why imposter syndrome matters now, we investigate experiences of imposter syndrome across social locations, institutional positions, and intersecting inequalities. Our collection queries advice to fit-in with the university, and authors reflect on (not)belonging in, with and against educational institutions. The collection advances understandings of imposter syndrome as socially situated, in relation to entrenched inequalities and their recirculation in higher education. Chapters combine creative methods and linger on the figure of the ‘imposter’ - wary of both individualising and celebrating imposters as lucky, misfits, fraudsters, or failures, and critically interrogating the supposed universality of imposter syndrome.
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Keywords
Table of contents (37 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Academic Identities—Locating Academic Imposters
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Front Matter
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Academic Identities—Constructing and Contesting Imposter Subjectivities
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Front Matter
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Imposing Institutions—Imposters Across the Career Course
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Front Matter
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Reviews
“The Palgrave Handbook of Imposter Syndrome in Higher Education gives brilliant insight into how people experience feelings of inclusion and exclusion in higher education. … The conclusion is insightful, entertaining and helpful for anyone within higher education. … The Handbook nonetheless gives fascinating insight into the concept of imposter syndrome and the range of ways in which different groups in higher education experience it, alongside practical advice for academic researchers and students.” (Christopher Featherstone, LSE Review of Books, blogs.lse.ac.uk, May 11, 2023)
Editors and Affiliations
About the editors
Michelle Addison is Assistant Professor at Durham University, UK. Michelle's research is concerned with inequality and a long-term vision of social justice for those facing the greatest social disadvantages in society.
Maddie Breeze is Chancellor's Fellow at the University of Strathclyde, UK. She researches inequalities in universities, including via imposter syndrome, widening participation, and queer/feminist approaches to higher education.
Yvette Taylor is Professor at the University of Strathclyde, UK. She is a feminist sociologist and researches intersecting social and educational inequalities, including manifestations of gender, social class and sexuality.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Palgrave Handbook of Imposter Syndrome in Higher Education
Editors: Michelle Addison, Maddie Breeze, Yvette Taylor
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86570-2
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Education, Education (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-86569-6Published: 12 April 2022
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-86572-6Published: 13 April 2023
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-86570-2Published: 11 April 2022
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXXII, 638
Number of Illustrations: 6 b/w illustrations, 4 illustrations in colour
Topics: Higher Education, Sociology of Education, Sociology of Education, Self and Identity, Sociology of Work, Philosophy of Education