Reconceptualising cleft habitus: belonging and inclusion at Australian regional universities

Abstract An autoethnographic exploration of the life and career experiences of ten academics across the Australian Regional University Network (RUN) unearthed a prevailing disjuncture between formative cultural experiences and academia that expands upon Binns’ revised notion of cleft habitus. It signifies a gap between the generative capacity of cleft experience and its predominant construction in the literature as loss, difficulty and perceived deficit. Drawing on a framework that combines ‘cleft habitus’ and principles of intersectionality, this paper examines how cleft experiences impact study and academic work in higher education. Key findings include how academics within a cleft habitus space occupy liminal insider/outsider positions of privilege and disadvantage and can leverage insights gained from these experiences to inform their broad scholarly practice. Reconceptualising cleft habitus as a resource provides a new contribution to discourses around equity, diversity and inclusion in higher education.