1st Edition

Navigating Voices of Higher Education A Poetic Ethnography of a University

By Justin Nicholes Copyright 2026
308 Pages 10 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

308 Pages 10 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This fascinating book comprises a poetic ethnography, featuring poems that capture the experiences of students, professors, administrators, custodians, a chancellor, and other people who work in institutions of US higher education. Using established poetic research methods, it invites readers to consider various points of view, while providing granular, concrete insight into working life at a... Read more

Foreword
Prologue

1. Setting Sail: Poetry, Work, and the University

2. Maintenance: The Shipwrights

3. Faculty: The Navigators

4. Students: The Voyagers

5. Administration: The Officers

6. Chancellors: The Captains

7. The University as a Community of Voyagers

Biography

Justin Nicholes is Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Composition at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, USA.

"A lively voyage, navigating higher education in poetry. An imaginative ethnography of contemporary academe. Creatively manifest here are the people around a college, each with a voice, all with a role. At its core, this is a fascinating experiment in both story-telling and poetic discovery."
Graeme Harper, Editor, New Writing: The International Journal for the Practice and Theory of Creative Writing

"Creative, inclusive, and powerful rendition of a poetic ethnography portraying a university community. Amplifying voices and experiences of every individual that makes up the university at large, Justin Nicholes centers on “embodied cognition” delving deeper into the experiences within the university community, ultimately influencing the future of the higher education landscape in the current tumultuous era."
Gloria Park, Professor of English, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA