‘“Whose Shoes Are You in?” Negotiating Imposterism Inside Academia and in Feminist Spaces’

Grassi provides an account of sensations of ‘out-of-placeness’ in the context of career (mis)alignments, progressions and regressions, which are conditions shared by many in today’s academia. Employing mixed methods and methodologies to challenge the injunction towards disciplinary individualism, Grassi uses personal narratives to explore insider–outsider positions within (un)familiar academic environments. Focusing on feelings of being stuck ‘in the same shoes’—which are not the ‘right’ academic shoes—as a ‘working on the self’, the chapter looks at three empirical sites—classed academic spaces; transitioning across disciplines; and feminist spaces (online and offline)—to discuss the political affordances of sharing ‘imposter syndrome’ as a public feeling.