‘Playing it right?’ Gendered performances of professional respectability and ‘authenticity’ in Greek academia
Abstract
This paper draws on the career narrative interviews with 15 female academics to unravel the performative politics of gender in Greek Medical Schools. I explore the gender positioning and embodied performances of Greek women as they relate to the contingencies of participation, recognition, and esteem in academic medicine and framed within the wider gendered discourses and structures of the increasingly neo-liberal Greek academia and society. Drawing on Butler’s notion of performativity, I illustrate the possibilities of making the successful Greek female academic subject through subjection to normative, gendered discourses of respectability, encompassing integrity, respectable aesthetics, and affective work and scripted along intersecting privileges of class and heteronormativity. I argue that although Greek women’s gendered professional authenticity and respectability projects demonstrate intentionality and agency, they leave little, if any, room for displacement of gender norms. Gender transformation and promotion of gender equality in Greek academia requires institutional support and political action.Citation
Tsouroufli, Maria (2018) 'Playing it Right?’: Gendered Performances of Professional Respectability and ‘Authenticity’ in Greek Academia. Journal of International Women's Studies, 19(6), pp. 53-69.Journal
Journal of International Women's StudiesAdditional Links
https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol19/iss6/4Type
Journal articleLanguage
enCollections
The following licence applies to the copyright and re-use of this item:
- Creative Commons
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/