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Currere and Praxis
e‑ISSN 3065-4572 Open Access · CC BY 4.0
Vol. 3 · Issue 3 · 2026 Oct 1, 2026 Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of Currere

Working towards in-betweenness: A currere approach to the doctoral journey

DA
Dina Al-Madhoun Corresponding McGill University dina.al-madhoun@mail.mcgill.ca Canada
EC
Ezgi Ciftci-Sanal McGill University Canada
ZZ
Zhiyun Zhou McGill University Canada
EL
Elizabeth La Rocque Canada
TS
Teresa Strong-Wilson McGill University Canada
Pages340-357 PublishedOct 1, 2026 LicenseOpen Access
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VOL 3 · ISS 3 · 2026 Special Issue: 50th anniversary of Currere View issue

Abstract

To begin a doctorate is to enter a crossing. Institutions chart the journey through milestones and measurable outputs, yet the doctoral experience is often lived otherwise: uneven in its movement, rerouted by uncertainty, and shaped by moments of becoming that quietly re-form who we are as scholars. Situated in an Aokian space of betweenness, we—four first- and second-year doctoral students—formed a study group with our supervisor to dwell in betweenness as individually felt and collectively held, where subjective non-coincidence can become productive. Working through currere as an autobiographical method of subjective reconstruction, we attend to the inner experience of doctoral life in relation to the world of commitments, goals, and deadlines, seeking to reclaim this experience from narrow narratives of achievement. Using journaling, arts-based “rivers of experience,” and collective dialogue, we develop theoretical and methodological languages of betweenness through juxtaposition. In doing so, we draw on sideshadowing and affect theory to attend to the partial and unresolved aspects of doctoral becoming and to name the intensities that shape this process. In this article, currere emerges as a praxis of presence that helps us move out of inwardness and into relation. We close by framing in-betweenness as an aperture: an opening through which new meanings emerge when narratives of betweenness are shared.

Keywords

#Doctoral journey #betweenness #sideshadowing #juxtaposition #affect theory

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Copyright (c) 2026 Dina Al-Madhoun, Ezgi Ciftci-Sanal, Zhiyun Zhou, Elizabeth La Rocque, Teresa Strong-Wilson

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