Pernicious ignorance and the marginalisation of third space professionals: reflections on lived experience
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.vi33.1234Keywords:
epistemic violence, testimonial quieting, silencing, third space identityAbstract
This article is part reflection and part case study based upon my work as a third space worker (Whitchurch, 2023a) since at least 2010. I will surface a recurring challenge encompassing the recognition and visibility of third space professionals in higher education as educators who experience silencing stemming from pernicious ignorance. Accordingly, I use Dotson’s notion of pernicious ignorance (2011, p.238) to analyse a reflective vignette to illustrate a challenge that undermines third space practitioners. The aim is to equip readers with theory that they can use to counter negative workplace behaviours, whether observed, experienced, or both, while strengthening their positions as third space professionals.
References
AdvanceHE. (2023) Professional Standards Framework for teaching and supporting learning in higher education 2023. Available at: https://advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/professional-standards-framework-teaching-and-supporting-learning-higher-education-0 (Accessed: 18 November 2024)
Arday, J., and Mirza, H. S. (2018) Dismantling race in higher education: racism, whiteness and decolonising the academy. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.
AlWaer, H. (2020, February 24) Silo-busting is key to developing successful communities. Available at: https://www.dundee.ac.uk/stories/silo-busting-key-developing-successful-communities (Accessed: 9 August 2024).
Ball, S. J. (2021). The education debate. (4th edn). Bristol: Policy Press.
Brown, W. (2015) Undoing the demos: neoliberalism’s stealth revolution. New York, NY: Zone Books.
Buckley, C., Syska, A., and Heggie, L. (2024) ‘Grounded in liquidity: writing and identity in third space’, London Review of Education, 22(1), Available at: https://doi.org/10.14324/LRE.22.1.26
Call-Cummings, M., Dazzo, G. P., and Hauber-Özer, M. (2024) Critical participatory inquiry: an interdisciplinary guide, London: Sage.
Collins, P. H. (2019) Intersectionality as critical social theory. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Collins, P. H. (2022) Black feminist thought, 30th anniversary edition: knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment, New York, NY: Routledge. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003245650
Cranston, J. (2011) ‘Relational trust: the glue that binds a professional learning
Community’, Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 57(1), pp.59–72. Available at: https://doi.org/10.11575/ajer.v57i1.55455
Dale, V. H. M., Adekola, J., Tasler, N., and Murray, J-A. (2021) ‘Editorial: transitions to remote and blended learning’, Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice, 9(2), Available at: https://doi.org/10.14297/jpaap.v9i2.512
Dotson, K. (2011) ‘Tracking epistemic violence, tracking practices of silencing’, Hypatia, (2), pp. 236–257. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1527-2001.2011.01177.x
Dular, N. (2021) ‘Mansplaining as epistemic injustice’, Feminist Philosophy Quarterly, 7(1). Available at: https://doi.org/10.5206/fpq/2021.1.8482
Freire, P. (2000) Pedagogy of the oppressed (M. Bergman Ramos, Trans.). London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Fricker, M. (2007) Epistemic injustice: power and the ethics of knowing. New York: Oxford
University Press.
hooks, b. (1994) Teaching to transgress: education as the practice of freedom.
New York: Routledge.
hooks, b. (2003) Teaching community: a pedagogy of hope. New York: Routledge.
hooks, b. (2009) Belonging: a culture of place. New York: Routledge.
hooks, b. (2010) Teaching critical thinking: practical wisdom. New York: Routledge.
Hosseini, D. D. (2024) Generative AI: a problematic illustration of the intersections of racialized gender, race, ethnicity. Available at: https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/987ra
Hunt, J. (2017, March 17) Death to silos. Available at: https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/call-action-marketing-and-communications-higher-education/death-silos (Accessed: 9 August 2024).
Hutton, M.,and Cappellini, B. (2022) ‘Epistemic in/justice: towards ‘Other’ ways of knowing’, Marketing Theory, 22(2), pp.155–174. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/14705931221076563
Keshishi, N., and Hosseini, D. (2023) Generative AI: a problematic illustration of the intersections of racialized gender, race, ethnicity (Version 3). National Teaching Repository. Available at: https://doi.org/10.25416/NTR.24680895.v3
Kinouani, G. (2020) ‘Silencing, power and racial trauma in groups’, Group Analysis, 53(2), pp.145–161. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0533316420908974
Lodge, D. M. (2023, November 21) Breaking academic silos and brokering university expertise: the importance of working with partners toward large-scale societal impact. Available at: https://atkinson.cornell.edu/blog/breaking-academic-silos-and-brokering-university-expertise/ (Accessed: 9 August 2024).
Lugones, M. (2007) ‘Heterosexualism and the colonial/modern gender system’, Hypatia, 22(1), pp.186-219. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1527-2001.2007.tb01156.x~
Maldonado-Torres, N. (2007) ‘On the coloniality of being’, Cultural Studies, 21(2–3), pp.240–270. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09502380601162548
Quijano, A. (2000). ‘Coloniality of power, Eurocentrism, and Latin America’, Nepantla: Views from South, 1(3), pp.533–580. Available at: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/23906 (Accessed: 18 November 2024).
Quijano, A. (2007) ‘Coloniality and modernity/rationality’, Cultural Studies, 21(2–3), pp.168–178. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09502380601164353
Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D., Jasper, M. (2001) Critical reflection in nursing and the
helping professions: a user’s guide. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Smith, L. T. (2021). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples (3rd
ed.). Zed Books.
Spivak, G. (1998) ‘Can the subaltern speak?’ in C. Nelson and L. Grossberg (eds.) Marxism and the interpretation of culture, Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
UCU (n.d.) Identifying bullying and harassment. Available at https://www.ucu.org.uk/media/2723/If-you-believe-that-you-are-being-bullied-the-chances-are-you-are---UCU-member-factsheet/doc/identify_bullying.doc (Accessed: 27 June 2024).
University of Glasgow (n.d.) World Changing Glasgow Strategy 2025. Available at: https://www.gla.ac.uk/explore/strategy/ (Accessed: 27 June 2024).
Viaene, L., Laranjeiro, C., and Tom, M. N. (2023) ‘The walls spoke when no one else would: Autoethnographic notes on sexual-power gatekeeping within avant-garde academia’, in E. Pritchard and D. Edwards (eds.). pp.208-225. Sexual Misconduct in Academia: Informing an Ethics of Care in the University. London: Routledge.
Whitchurch, C. (2008) Shifting Identities and Blurring Boundaries: The Emergence of
Third Space Professionals in UK Higher Education. Higher Education Quarterly,
(4), pp.377–396. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2273.2008.00387.x
Whitchurch, C. (2023a) ‘Rehabilitating third space professionals in contemporary higher education institutions’, Workplace: A Journal for Academic Labor, 34, pp.23–33. Available at: https://ices.library.ubc.ca/index.php/workplace/article/view/186839 (Accessed: 15 November 2024)
Whitchurch, C. (2023b) ‘From ‘working in third space’ to ‘third space professionals’. Third Space Perspectives’, Exploring Integrated Practice. Available at: https://www.thirdspaceperspectives.com/blog/tothirdspaceprofessionals (Accessed: 15 November 2024).
Wong, P. (2022) ‘Surviving institutional racism as a Chinese female in UK higher education’, Studies in Technology Enhanced Learning, 2(3). Available at: https://doi.org/10.21428/8c225f6e.da3e28ac
Wynter, S. (2003) ‘Unsettling the coloniality of being/power/truth/freedom: towards the human, after man, its overrepresentation – an argument’, CR: The New Centennial Review, 3(3), 257–337. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1353/ncr.2004.0015
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).