Nomadic analysis of belonging

A strong sense of student belonging is often emphasised as essential to higher education. This emphasis is often supported by the positive relationship between belonging and student perceptions of quality (Bridgeman, 2019; MIT Teaching + Learning Lab, 2023). Building on the previous blog Belonging & Learning (Menner, 2023), we aim to discuss alternative concepts to understanding belonging through nomadic analysis.

Student belonging: fixed or unfixed? 

Much of the literature on student belonging positions it as a fixed-linear achievement (Guyotte et al., 2021, p.543). Yet a limitation of linear achievement belonging is the invisibility of how we experience belonging. Gravett & Ajjawi’s recent research opens up the discussion on the experience of belonging: 

“belongingness becomes not a bounded or achievable state, located in stable or neutral places and spaces, but a nomadic process…” (2022, p. 1391). 

Nomadic belonging emphasises a constant state of change and negotiation in belonging. This challenges assumptions around belonging (and higher education) as a highly structured and fixed experience. By dislocating belonging as an achievement, nomadic belonging reflects the increasingly disparate and open-ended ways students now engage in higher education. 

WLPL 2023: nomadic “multiple belongings“ 

Drawing on the University of Sydney Business School’s student voice project, Work. Live. Play. Learn (WLPL) we explored the socio-spatial dimensions of student belonging. We draw on the work of Guyotte et al’s (2021) ‘cartographies of belonging’ : 

To enact the principles of nomadism, we use cartographic practices of mapping. Cartographic practices entwine with nomadic theory in a nonlinear, zigzagging fashion to create relations between the previously unconnected; mapping the relations, and flows of belonging between people, places, and encounters.

Guyotte et al. 2021, p. 549

We were interested in how ‘spaces’ were understood and used by students in alternative ways. Relatedly, we wanted to understand how the same spaces meant different things to students and how the presence of human and non-human actors changed these spaces for students.  

In partnership with the learning media team, we developed an innovative multi-media prompt that asked students to locate spaces and places on campus that were significant and important to them.

Supported by the student experience digital storytelling (SEDS) methodology (Bryant, 2023), student co-researchers facilitated discussions around these student-identified spaces. 

Nomadic analysis: Learner belonging modes 

We examined over 60 student-to-student conversations, collected through the WLPL project (Ethics #2022/531). Of these we developed five learner-belonging modes. The purpose of these learner-belonging modes is to identify spaces not simply by their physical infrastructure or location but by the socio-emotional attachment students place on them. In doing so, we hope to stimulate discussions around spaces and emotions that are important to student belonging: 

1. Contemplative – students talked about in-between places that were part of getting ready or unwinding from campus. For many this was about taking a slightly longer route to campus, to walk through a park or by some water. 

2. Focused – students articulated the importance of having a ‘spot to focus’ e.g. the library, at home. It was often quiet, but not always solitary (think of a busy library) 

3. Connected – this was about having the right resources and equipment to study (good WiFi, a camera and microphone, privacy, links and technology working) 

4. Social – students talked about the importance of being able to have places to meet-up and socialise easily with other students. Students talked about this in a longing and idealised way, inferring perhaps it was a desire rather than a reality. 

5. Inspired – symbolic places on campus, such as the Quadrangle (an old, central building at the University of Sydney). This had interesting connections to why students were studying and ‘what they wanted to do next’. 

Opportunities for student belonging 

Our exploration of student belonging is about understanding the multiple ways students can ‘belong’. Utilising a socio-spatial exploration we can emphasis physical and non-psychical elements of spaces, representing the dynamic forms of belonging that occur withing them.  

We found that how students experience belonging departs from mainstream notions of group membership to the nomadic and disparate forms of belonging explored by Guyotte et al., 2021; Gravett & Ajjawi 2022 and others. Given the increasing emphasis of belonging in relation to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) (e.g. West, 2022) – nomadic explorations of belonging allow us to more critically consider belonging and the multitude of ways it can manifest. 

Reference list:

Bridgeman, A. (2019) Developing a sense of belonging, Teaching @ Sydney Blog, University of Sydney https://educational-innovation.sydney.edu.au/teaching@sydney/developing-a-sense-of-belonging/

Bryant, P. (2023) Student experience and digital storytelling: Integrating the authentic interaction of students work, life, play and learning into the co-design of university teaching practices. Education and Information Technology DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11566-8

Gravett, K. & Ajjawi, R. (2022) Belonging as a situated practice. Studies in Higher Education 47 (7) 1386-1396. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2021.1894118

Guyotte, K.W., Flint, M.A., & Latopolski, K.S. (2021) Cartographies of belonging: mapping nomadic narratives of first-year students, Critical Studies in Education, 62 (5), 543-558, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17508487.2019.1657160

Menner, R. (2023) Belonging & Learning: How important is belonging to our students? Disruptive Innovations in Business Education Research Blog, University of Sydney https://diberg.blog/2023/04/28/belonging-learning-how-important-is-belonging-to-our-students

MIT Teaching Lab (2024) Students’ Sense of Belonging Matters: Evidence from Three Studies https://tll.mit.edu/sense-of-belonging-matters/

West (2022) Belonging: Why it is the next step on the equity, diversity and inclusion ladder, Times Higher Education https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/belonging-why-it-next-step-equity-diversity-and-inclusion-ladder