Letter Writing and Critical Self-Reflection: An Insiders Account of Academic Casualisation in the Australian Neoliberal University. Issue 3 (November 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Murphy, Jennifer Joy; Down, Barry; Price, Anne Elizabeth
• Is Part Of: International review of qualitative research. Volume 15:Issue 3(2022)
• Page Start: 347
• Page End: 362
• Publication Date: 2022-11
• Subjects: Critical autoethnography -- neoliberalism -- critical theory -- narrative inquiry; Qualitative research -- Periodicals; Social sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; Social justice -- Periodicals; Qualitative research; Social justice; Social sciences -- Research; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 001.42
• DOI: 10.1177/19408447221079410
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1940-8447

Abstract

Sharing the lived experience of academic casualisation is challenging, based on a power imbalance with many oppositional points, including cost savings versus fair wages, precarity versus security. As researcher/participant, Jennifer initially struggled with sharing experiences emotionally and academically without stripping humanity and affect from her writing. Drawing on the tradition of critical autoethnography, this article uses letter writing as a means of investigating personal-professional experience through critical self-reflection. These letters are written to a fictional colleague (Q) for the purpose of 'wondering aloud' about her experience of casualised labour and the difficulties of constructing a personal-professional identity within the context of the Australian neoliberal university.