Stance in Academic Bios

Abstract

This chapter examines the genre of academic bio which, as a common practice in scholarly publishing, accompanies a research article to provide information about the author. As such, academic bio is an extended form of auto/biographical practices where a person is called upon to provide a narrative about themselves, or in Goffman's words, to engage in the `presentation of self' (Goffman, 1959). This explicit self-representation in academic bio sits in stark contrast to the prescribed anonymity of the article itself, for whereas too much personal exposure is conventionally discouraged in the objective report of research findings, in academic bios authors are invited to unmask their presence and compose a narrative of their scholarly self and professional credentials. While such self-portrait is typically restricted to a little space of 50-100 words, its brevity and self-reflexive nature may render it a periphery status compared with other academic genres. At first glance, its relevance to the key academic goals of establishing claims and knowledge seems minimal and its condensed and relatively unvarying form does not seem to invite in-depth linguistic exploration. But as I shall demon-strate in this chapter, authors are able to manipulate this limited space to manage a public voice and claim a specialist position in their communities.