Reclaiming freedom and friendship through postgraduate student supervision

Postgraduate student supervision at the level of doctoral and masters studies can be enjoyable, frustrating and demanding. In this article I identify some of the challenging moments in postgraduate student supervision I have encountered over the past few years, focusing on the notion of learning as understood by some students. My contention, based on my interactions with doctoral and masters candidates,1 1. By far the majority of students I have supervised over the past seven years have been Black and historically disadvantaged. is that learning is understood by students as something that can at best be associated with a consumer and market-oriented ‘logic’, but that this conception of learning works against what ought to constitute ‘authentic’ learning. Hence, I argue for higher levels of freedom and friendship to become more prevalent in postgraduate student supervision in order to cultivate a culture of ‘authentic’ learning different from one that advocates a consumer, market-driven ‘logic’.