The politics of intersectional (un)belonging: a duoethnographic mapping study with academic women

In this paper, we develop duoethnographic mapping methods to explore how gender and intersectional identities shape belonging in higher education. Belonging is often presented as fixed and unambiguously positive, however, such framings neglect the complex and contingent experience of (un)belonging. Drawing on our experiences as early career academic women we investigate how institutional norms interact with embodied (dis)advantages to produce diverse forms of (un)belonging, highlighting the importance of attending to affective-socio-material configurations. Through duoethnographic mapping, we trace dimensions of (un)belonging across a range of cartographies (bodies and spaces), territories (university campuses and nation states) and temporalities (intergenerational and everyday rhythms). We show how not belonging can be both constraining and generative, producing feelings of imposterism but also unexpected empowerment and ambivalence. Beyond challenging simplified conceptions of belonging, we contribute knowledge on how combining mapping and duoethnographic methods can surface nuanced understandings of intersectional experience in academia.