“I’m an artist and a scholar who is trying to find a middle point”: A textographic analysis of a Colombian art historian's thesis writing

• This study examines texts surrounding a second language writer's thesis writing.
• Multilingual writers utilize translingual academic literacy practices.
• Thesis writing is a story-laden activity that carries traces of identity.

As the number of periphery scholars who pursue graduate studies in the U.S. increases, there is an urgent need to understand how these multilingual writers build knowledge on academic writing in their second language (L2) and join the academic dialogs of their disciplinary communities. Drawing on theories of translingualism (e.g., Horner, Lu, Royster, & Trimbur, 2011) and cultural-historical activity (e.g., Prior, 1998), this textographic study reports on a multilingual graduate student's knowledge construction during the process of thesis writing. The central research questions of this study include: (i) What are some of the rhetorical enactments and literacy practices this multilingual writer developed around his thesis writing? (ii) What writerly identities are constructed in art oriented, new humanities thesis/dissertation writing? As results illustrate, navigation of academic writing with multiple modalities and languages during thesis writing help multilingual writers carve a creative space for theory construction which eventually contributes to the writer's scholarly identity growth. Examining some of the key translingual academic practices in their engagement with multiple texts around thesis writing, this paper reveals how an experienced multilingual writer utilized his cultural and symbolic capital as he constructed his identity both as an art historian and an emerging scholar.