Resilience in the academic context. A phenomenological proposal about the exceed one’s self

Abstract

Introduction: This article describes the results of a phenomenological study which aimed to understand the dynamics of resilience in students who have been in an academic risk situation in three universities at Cartagena city. Method: The methodological approach was carried out through a qualitative phenomenological study, from which the phenomenology of the exceed one’s self was established as a method and in which the analysis of three new existentials that are involved in the dynamics of the resilience in the academic context were proposed: nausea, evasion and exceed one’s self (Levinas, 2011). To collect the information, it was conducted the phenomenological interview, which was carried out with students from three universities of Cartagena city in Colombia, who had been in an academic risk condition. Results: The results of the study have to do with the senses, emotions and experiences that mediate the academic spaces inhabited by students in terms of nausea (risk factors), evasion (protective factors) and exceed of one’s self (resilience). Finally, to understand the dynamics of resilience it is necessary to take into account some external elements to the student; but which are connected with the educational process, and others that are part of the individual configuration of the human being in the educational process. Discussion: Resilience is presented in the academic context as the student's ability to overcome the (internal and external) factors that pose at risk their permanence and performance at university. Thus, the university context is understood as a place where risk and overcoming it are a fundamental part of professional training.