Welcome to the Labyrinth
During the Doctoral Seminar 1 which was held at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, one of the additional opportunities was a labyrinth walk, which many of my classmates completed, but I did not. I regretted this missed opportunity, so during the Doctoral Seminar 2 experience held at Brock University in St. Catherine's I was excited to read that there was a recently created labyrinth on campus. I contacted the PhD coordinator to connect me to the individuals who could provide a guided walk in this new labyrinth. A guided walk was offered to as an opportunity to both DS1 and DS2 students, but I was the sole participant for this experience. I was able to make the most of this personal labyrinth outing and was struck by the relevance of this physical and reflective experience as a metaphor for my PhD journey.
When I applied and was accepted into the Joint PhD program, I considered how I would capture the story of this journey. I knew it was going to be a long process, with many forgotten moments that I wanted to capture along the way. As I was familiar with blogging, and was aware of others in my personal learning networks who blogged through their PhD process, I started a new blog site titled Step By Step on January 3, 2018 with a few posts about First Steps. It's an explicit connection to how a labyrinth is experienced - step by step.
This comprehensive portfolio captures my journey, step by step, into the center of the labyrinth, the center of the PhD experience. This journey is one of becoming - an academic, a scholar, a writer, a researcher, - of becoming literate in my field of study. Saldana (2016) suggests the "products we create embody who we are ... the environments we establish for ourselves may also embody who we are" (p. 61). This labyrinthine portfolio is an embodiment of not only the steps taken, but my reflexivity as I step into these PhD spaces, places, and experiences. After the completion of my courses, I began to research into the labyrinths as a metaphor and practice, not only for the PhD odyssey, but for my journey into academia. The more I read and discover, the more I understand how this metaphor is a relevant visual, physical, and metaphoric image for my PhD experience.
Next, I will explain how the labyrinth is representative as an overarching metaphor for academic and scholarly work. This is followed by an exploration of a labyrinth experience from a Joint PhD student perspective. I will conclude with a constructed labyrinthine pathway through the Joint PhD program that will metaphorically end in the centre of the labyrinth, just as my time and experiences as a PhD student must also end with a centering and centered moment, before I begin the outward journey toward a completed research and dissertation experience.
References
Saldaña, J. (2016). The coding manual for qualitative researchers. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.