#STS: Abuse of Mentor Power

I arrived in a new country for a postdoc and sought out a senior scholar who my PhD supervisor had recommended as a possible mentor. They invited me for coffee, and we sat in their office. They grilled me in a harsh and threatening way for nearly an hour, undermining my research and diminishing the direction I wanted to go. They warned me off "their" topic. I changed research direction and have not been able to imagine working in that field since. I see that meeting now as a power move that redirected my entire career: they were in a position of power over me within a new environment and national context, and it was more than being unfriendly or unwelcoming.

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