Collaborative Becoming in Third Space: navigating professional identity through writing

This think piece examines the tension between embracing and resisting Third Space identity in higher education. Through a dialogic approach between two scholars positioned differently in relation to Third Space, with one moving fluidly across roles and the other located within but not confined by it, we explore the paradox of needing professional labels while seeking freedom from their constraints, with writing functioning both as a method and a subject. Arguing that hybridity can be adopted tactically, as a means of legitimising professional identity while resisting rigid categorisation, we propose an existential framing of identity as collaborative ’becoming’ rather than fixed ’being’. We suggest that the tension between resistance and engagement is not necessarily a contradiction to resolve but a productive condition to inhabit. In doing so, we contribute a dialogic and practice-based perspective to Third Space discourse, foregrounding identity work as an ongoing and relational process.