Unlearning

How are migrant academics trained to think of their own place within the profession and the society writ large? The essay explores this question, from a first-person perspective, and proposes that allegiance to one origin, and to one disciplinary model, is routinely requested, performed, and internalized. Consequently, finding one’s own way must pass through a continuous process of unlearning. Being a good academic, just like being a good migrant, is a weight to be slowly chipped away, until one becomes light enough to walk upright.