Migrant Academics’ by Olga Burlyuk
Migrant Academics’ by Olga Burlyuk and Ladan Rahbari (Editors) – Narratives of Precarity and Resilience in Europe – is a book by academics on how they felt working in western academia. In the volume there are 21 chapters, which means on average they are about 10 pages each. Each chapter is written by a different academic originating from non-western countries who did their studies and are employed in western academia.
The chapters are stories people tell about their experiences, in an everyday language and in an interesting way. I recommend the book, especially as it is free to download, see at the end of the post the link for it.
With 21 chapters it is obviously that not all as interesting, but 2 of them shouldn’t have been there. For example, a chapter is about getting a visa for UK. Very little in that chapter is about academia and more is about the long complicated forms one needs to fill before getting a visa to UK. It was very aggressive and also insensitive to the realities in UK. Yes, there is a need to ask if anyone has extreme views because there were many terrorist attacks in UK. We had a big attack in 2017, the year she wanted her visa for UK. She was in Belgium and they had a big terrorist attack in 2016, so she was aware of the general risk to the population.
The vast majority of the stories though are about the western attitudes towards non-westerners, the westsplaining, the “jokes”, the “your country”, and “your accent”. I was not surprised, just disappointed that my experiences were similar to those in Belgium and the Netherlands and Germany, those who had their PhDs and worked in academia. I think this is a book which should be read by academics and general public. I also think this book (or chapters) should be read by westerners so they can understand that their jokes are not funny and the questions might be just stupid and also by non-westerners so they can understand that there is nothing wrong with you.
Migrant Academics’ by Olga Burlyuk
Details about the picture: –
My rating: 4/5 Stars
Would I recommend it: yes
Published by: Open Book
Year it was published:
Format: e-book
Genre(s): Memoir – psychology
Pages: 243
About the author:
Website & Social Media Links: the book is available on their website, free of charge – openbookpublishers
What an interesting premise for a book! Of course the “ugly Americans” have a bad reputation world wide, but even within our own country, there are prejudices and insensitivites between different regions of the country. I say this a someone from the rural south who has experienced first hand the assumptions and judgments that can arise from where one lives and how they sound when they speak.
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I agree with you, there are prejudices even within the country we were born with, but this shouldn’t happen in academia, where people are either doing their PhDs or teaching. The expertize should matter more than country of origin or accent.
I had an American lecturer at university, he was one of my favourite, his lectures were amazing, engaging and funny. I have no idea who other lecturers saw him, but he was very popular among students. 🙂