‘Mein Name ist Ausländer’. The Semra Effect in academia. Resisting symbolic and epistemic violence by applying Translingual Practice

Abstract

This study connects feminist epistemologies – examined through an intersectional lens – with migration, identity, and translanguaging studies. By moving from personal experience to analytical insight and employing institutional ethnography, I collect and interpret data. I utilise autobiographical narratives, a group discussion centred around these narratives and shared experiences, notes from different academic activities, and critical reflections on personal experiences within academia. This approach seeks to address a perspective and methodological gap in research by merging theory with personal biography, integrating subjectivity into objectivity, and shedding light on an overlooked academic group with minoritized identities. I introduce the Semra Effect in academia, which illustrates the experiences of migrant, working-class, non-native-speaking , and mother scholars to highlight the challenges faced by these minoritized identities. Ultimately, this study examines their translingual practices for navigating discrimination and intellectual gatekeeping across their multifaceted identities. The agency developed from these translingual practices empowers them to resist symbolic and epistemic violence, laying the groundwork for transformative processes and academic practices.