For many of us who are working within academia, being an academic is a very important and almost organic part of our identity. No wonder, then, if you feel as if much is at stake whenever you experience that your performance is being assessed in some way.

In this video, you are encouraged to take some time to consider where and who you are at this point in time. What do you feel defines your academic identity? What parts of your academic role do you identify with and cherish the most? And do you feel that you are given space for your identity to develop and flourish within the context in which you work and in the way you would prefer?

Transcript for Your academic identity

Bruce Macfarlane (2007), a British Professor of higher education, has identified five different fields within what he calls our “academic citizenship”, which we, as academic teachers, have professional obligations and execute our “citizenship”:

- Student service
- Collegial service
- Institutional service
- Discipline-based or professional service
- Public service

Within your academic identity, you might feel that some parts weigh heavier or play a more prominent part than others. It might be a good idea to spend some time thinking about your own situation, to try to identify what these aspects of academic citizenships imply in your own job and how they fit in relation to your identity.

Identities, however solid they might appear, are never static. Your identity shifts and varies depending on what tasks you take on. Your identity is also negotiated by the sociocultural setting in which you find yourself and operate. Developing your identity is therefore an ongoing process.

Further reading:
Macfarlane, B. (2007). Defining and Rewarding Academic Citizenship: The implications for university promotions policy, Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 29:3, 261-273, DOI:10.1080/13600800701457863