“Like Bubbles Floating on the Surface:” Reflections on Transcultural Doctoral Seminar Participation

Abstract

Four doctoral students and two professors from a Canadian university examined their reflections after returning from an international doctoral seminar held in Brisbane, Australia. Their research explored the transcultural experience to determine the students’ development as scholars in an international setting.  Using a collaborative autoethnographic approach, the authors scrutinized their placement on Slimbach’s continuum (2005) where they found themselves “like all others, like some others, and like no others,” at different times during the seminar. The authors identify story, language, place, and time as critical themes in their own transcultural progression and placement on the continuum. Based on their collaborative inquiry and the themes that emerged, the authors provide considerations for future international doctoral seminars.