Finding comfort in discomfort: how two cross-disciplinary early-career researchers are learning to embrace ‘failure’

Aurelie Brockerhoff; Maíra Magalhães  Lopes

doi:10.1016/j.emospa.2020.100671

Finding comfort in discomfort: how two cross-disciplinary early-career researchers are learning to embrace ‘failure’

Aurelie Brockerhoff, Maíra Magalhães Lopes

Emlyon Business School

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)

59 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In this intervention, we, two cross-disciplinary early career researchers (ECRs), reflect on our paths into academia, focusing on how our experiences of ‘failures’ are intertwined with feelings of shame, fear or disappointment. We turn our attention towards the “cluster of affective modes that have been associated with failure” (Halberstam, 2011: 23). We join those whose voices seek to move beyond the individualising negative affects often associated with failures towards recognising their productive and insurgent potential. We share how failures have been constant companion to our academic journeys so far and reflect on our own embodied experiences of discomfort and comfort associated with our failures as we navigate through multiple normativies in academia. We then outline why, as we continue along our academic paths, we may choose to seek out, embrace and celebrate failures. Finally, we realise, like Halberstam (2011), we not only want to fail more, but better by failing together with others.

Original language	English
Article number	100671
Journal	Emotion, Space and Society
Volume	35
Early online date	27 Feb 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emospa.2020.100671
Publication status	Published - May 2020

Bibliographical note

NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Emotion, Space and Society, Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Emotion, Space and Society, 35, (2020)
DOI: 10.1016/j.emospa.2020.100671

© 2020, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Keywords

Comfort
Discomfort
Early-career researchers
Failure
Messiness

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Social Psychology
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

Access to Document

10.1016/j.emospa.2020.100671

Post-PrintAccepted author manuscript, 830 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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abstract = "In this intervention, we, two cross-disciplinary early career researchers (ECRs), reflect on our paths into academia, focusing on how our experiences of {\textquoteleft}failures{\textquoteright} are intertwined with feelings of shame, fear or disappointment. We turn our attention towards the “cluster of affective modes that have been associated with failure” (Halberstam, 2011: 23). We join those whose voices seek to move beyond the individualising negative affects often associated with failures towards recognising their productive and insurgent potential. We share how failures have been constant companion to our academic journeys so far and reflect on our own embodied experiences of discomfort and comfort associated with our failures as we navigate through multiple normativies in academia. We then outline why, as we continue along our academic paths, we may choose to seek out, embrace and celebrate failures. Finally, we realise, like Halberstam (2011), we not only want to fail more, but better by failing together with others.",

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Finding comfort in discomfort: how two cross-disciplinary early-career researchers are learning to embrace ‘failure’

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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