Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
This chapter focuses on the experience of relocation, being a domestic student who moved between Australian capital cities to undertake my doctoral research, and then subsequently undertook periods of movement throughout my candidature. Using playlists as affective memory, they explore the various challenges and expectations at each stage of this journey, and how they struggled to establish a place as an insider/outsider within this new context. They reflect on the identity work attached to undertaking a doctoral journey and the singular nature of the experience. In the face of relocation, creating networks and support systems, yet these are also vital aspects of building an academic life and identity. Ultimately, the doctoral journey is only a fragment of yourself and your life, and a sense of balance, distance, and perspective are vital to maintaining mental health throughout the experience.