Academic CVs and their Personae as (Auto)Biographical Templates

The term "template" can be applied to academic curricula vitae (CVs) in different ways. Scholars use other scholars’ CVs, which represent available categories and biographical patterns of academics, as templates for their own positioning in the academic field. Actors thus draw on field-specific norms and ideas about what an epistemic subject should or should not look like. Recent STS work on peer review shows that reviewers mobilize ideals of “excellence” in evaluative practices, as well as their own experiences as researchers, and associated notions of linearity and ideal career paths (Kaltenbrunner/De Rijcke 2019, Kaltenbrunner et al. 2021). In my research, I analyse how epistemic subjects are produced through multiple practices involving academic CVs. I understand the use of CVs as a form of (auto)biographical practice that is interactive and situated between presentation and recognition (Miller/Morgan 1993). To understand this configuration, it is helpful to refer to the term “persona”. Gadi Algazi (2016) describes the concept of persona as an "established cultural template" that can be "adopted, transformed, ascribed or rejected." In my contribution, I show that the reference to such more or less legitimate personae is an integral part of creating and using academic CVs. I will discuss how templates in the form of different personae are taken up, affirmed, rejected, or reworked. My findings are based on qualitative interviews with historians and computer scientists.