As I sat down to brainstorm my thoughts for this chapter, I was reminded of an exercise I recently completed for a ‘Faculty Development Center Bootcamp’ (Yes, yes, I know many of you reading this just faltered over the spelling of ‘center’ – bear with me, strange spelling is just one of the many side effects of full immersion into life in the United States). A few weeks into the programme, we were charged with a reflection task: how did we get here and where do we want to go? In both regards, I took a path slightly less travelled. First, a four-year sabbatical between my undergraduate and graduate school experiences, in which I travelled the world and set up my own business, then to the USA to pursue an academic career. I have been asked to reflect on both of these here, particularly the challenges and rewards I have experienced as an overseas early-career sociologist.

Awakening my sociological imagination

I discovered sociology relatively late. A state-educated girl from south-east London, I completed my A-levels in English literature, business studies and physical education and was barely even aware of the discipline that would come to shape so much of my life. The first in my family to attend university, I headed to Durham to earn a BA in ‘sport in the community’. The curriculum adopted a broad approach to the study of sport, but sociology was notably absent. My sociological awakening was facilitated by the arrival, in my final year, of Dr Emma Poulton, a sociologist of sport who became my early mentor and dissertation adviser. However, my initial introduction to the subject was short-lived. Struggling to deal with recent life events (death of my boyfriend and my parents’ acrimonious divorce), I reached graduation completely burnt out and packed my bags for a two and a half year trip around the world. In part to emotionally re-charge but also to expand my world view beyond Europe and the life I had become so familiar with.

The trip had a profound effect on several elements of my life. Spending 30 months as a perennial cultural outsider fuelled my inherent curiosity about the world around me and piqued my interest in the dynamic power relations and subsequent inequities contained within diverse global societies. Stereotypes were challenged, critical questions were raised and my world view was indelibly altered.