Keeping the Conversation Going: on Mentorship, Otherness, and Belonging

In this autoethnographic essay, I reflect on my experience of meeting Dorothy and working with her during my graduate studies at McMaster University. Drawing on the concepts of “otherness” and “belonging,” I reflect on the role Dorothy played in introducing me to the social constructionism and to the dynamic of relationship between graduate students in their mentors. Following my own professional transitions, I structure the paper as a set of personal diary entries that are focused on my conversation with Dorothy as my course instructor and my mentor post-graduation. In these entries, my thoughts or ideas are presented as “responses” to the questions, ideas, and discussions posed or initiated by Dorothy. The last reflection considers how Dorothy’s role as my mentor shaped my own experiences of mentoring students and became pivotal in my academic and personal development.