Navigating epistemological borders: A reflective autoethnography of postgraduate supervision in transnational contexts

Abstract

This autoethnographic study investigates the epistemological transitions encountered by an international postgraduate student within South African higher education institutions, with a specific focus on how these transitions influence transformative supervision practices. Drawing upon my personal trajectory from primary school teaching in Nigeria to doctoral studies in South Africa, I analyse the complex cognitive, cultural, and pedagogical shifts inherent in traversing educational borders. The study utilises solo autoethnography as a methodological framework, employing retrospective narrative analysis to critically examine experiences related to academic writing development, supervisory relationships, and identity transformation. Theoretically, the research is anchored in academic literacies theory, communities of practice, border crossing and third space theory, as well as decolonial perspectives on postgraduate supervision. Through thematic analysis of my lived experiences, I delineate two critical epistemological transitions: from technical accuracy to critical reflexivity and the shift from certainty to scholarly uncertainty. The findings indicate that effective supervision in transnational contexts necessitates cultural competence, explicit acknowledgement of students' pre-existing knowledge systems, and the establishment of dialogic spaces in which epistemological dissonance can be navigated productively. I propose a framework for transformative supervision that honours students' existing expertise while scaffolding their development of new scholarly identities. This study contributes insider perspectives that are rarely captured in the supervision literature and offers practical implications for supervisors working with international students who are navigating epistemological transitions in higher education contexts.