“Doing it Herself: Cultivating a Feminist Ecological Ethos as a Female Graduate Student”

by Sarah Fischer, Laura Rosche, and Megan McCool | Xchanges 15.1, Spring 2020

Conclusion

When maneuvering through graduate school, it is difficult for anyone to make sense of how they fit in. We must, however, consider the ways that some women can cultivate their scholarly ethē more easily than others (Sales, 2020). For instance, our positions as white women in the academy situate us to more readily interrupt, advocate, and relate. We all felt more comfortable in our acts of resistance because of our whiteness, whether we were entirely conscious of it or not. But moreover, because of the multitude of ways in which the university inherently caters to us—to our needs and our desires—it is also our duty to help others cultivate their scholarly ethē; we must interrupt, advocate, and relate not only for ourselves, but for––and with––all persons who exist in marginalized spaces.

Ultimately, we hope these stories prompt Rhet-Comp programs, and the discipline as a whole, to consider how they can make institutional changes that better represent and support their graduate student body. And above all, we hope that they remind you, female graduate students, that there is a place for you here; that you belong here; that you are not alone. We hope they inspire and equip you to actively struggle for what is yours when you may need to. This space is yours. Interrupt it. Advocate for it. Relate in it.