Contrasting Differences in Gendered Academic Mobility Strategies: An Analysis of Two Interview Datasets

In this unit we analyze challenges in using two different interview data sets to compare differences in gendered academic mobility strategies of researchers from different countries. In our study, the themes shared by two interview data sets were analyzed to answer a novel research question (developed jointly by the coauthors). It must be noted that the original data framing in each case differed somewhat from the research topic presented herein. In secondary analysis, contextualization is important. For one, interviews occur in time and space, both of which are constantly changing. Furthermore, in our case, they take place somewhere on the academic “map” of important centers and less important peripheries, which provides common ground for comparisons. Diversity is in this case related to the postcolonial hierarchical order of academia. Additionally, divisions between centers and pheripheries must be understood as intertwining with the gendered nature of academic positions in the local academic order.