CHAPTER 2: The Borrowed Identity

I am constructing a window through which the reader can view some of the pleasure and pain associated with the antecedents of my pursuing an education and making career changes in adulthood. This exercise in reflexivity invites you, the reader, to “relive the experience through [my] eyes” (Denzin, 2000, p. 905). As I write this reflexive story, I am reminded of Brookfield’s (1991) discussion of the imposter syndrome related to the roadblocks perceived by adult learners. As adults, we are expected to be competent in all things, yet we assume the frame of mind of the imposter when feeling insecure. We sometimes borrow certain identities in order to help us blend into a given situation.