Academic Women In Neoliberal Times

Description

This book investigates the gendered dimensions of academic life in the contemporary Australian university. It examines key discourses – most notably academic performativity and identity – through a feminist lens, and scrutinises how discourses of neoliberalism and feminism are entangled in the structure, systems, operations and cultures of the university. Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews with academic women in Australia, the author uses a mix of experimental methods to emphasise the performative and discursive decisions women make with regard to their academic careers. In doing so, this book reveals how women themselves generate neoliberal and feminist shifts, how they manage the contradictions they produce, and how they carve spaces of influence and authority. Moving towards a re-evaluation of existing discourses, this book offers new insights into gender inequality in the Australian university in neoliberal times. Acknowledgements......Page 7 The ‘Willful’ Secretary......Page 9 References......Page 12 Contents......Page 13 List of Figures......Page 15 1: Introduction......Page 16 The Research Project......Page 21 Organisation of the Book......Page 26 Conclusion......Page 29 References......Page 30 2: Inventive Methods of the Intimate Insider: Possibilities for Feminist Research......Page 36 Towards a Feminist Methodology......Page 37 Writing Through the Body......Page 39 The (Im)possibilities of Writing with L’écriture Feminine......Page 42 Poststructuralism, Postmodernism, and New Materialism......Page 43 Questions of Intersectionality......Page 45 Becoming an Intimate Insider......Page 50 The ‘Willful’ Secretary......Page 52 A Narrative Approach......Page 56 Critical Autoethnography......Page 62 Anecdote......Page 64 Research Poetry......Page 66 Photography......Page 67 Conclusion......Page 69 References......Page 71 3: Cruel Measures: Gendered Excellence in Research......Page 79 The Measured University......Page 81 Academic Promotion......Page 82 The ‘Cruel Optimism’ of the Measured University......Page 86 Cruel Measures......Page 88 Quality Assurance......Page 89 Meritocracy......Page 91 The Paradox of Academic Women’s Participation......Page 93 A Commitment to Measurement......Page 95 Publish or Perish......Page 99 Co-author Statement......Page 106 Research Opportunity and Performance Evidence......Page 108 ‘Yes’ (Wo)Men......Page 112 Conclusion......Page 121 References......Page 123 4: Academics Online: Reflections on Gendered Precarity and Digital (Self) Surveillance......Page 130 Rethinking Academics’ Time......Page 133 Precarious Work......Page 135 Got Milk......Page 141 Work-Life Time-Debt......Page 142 Flexibility and the Cost of ‘Freedom’......Page 146 Working Remotely......Page 149 Isolation......Page 150 Slowing Down......Page 154 Making Time......Page 157 The Course of My Life......Page 159 Aspirational Academic Labour......Page 162 Conclusion......Page 170 References......Page 172 5: Academic Conferences: Collegiality and Competition......Page 178 Collegiality......Page 181 Collectivity......Page 184 Collegiality in the Margins......Page 186 A Critique of Mentoring......Page 190 Collegiality at Conferences......Page 192 On Flying and Saying Thank You......Page 200 Baby’s First Conference......Page 201 Baby’s Second Conference......Page 206 Baby’s Third Conference......Page 207 Conclusion......Page 208 References......Page 210 6: Unruly Academic Women: Laughter, Affect, and Resistance......Page 215 Emotions in the University......Page 216 The Affective Turn and Emotional Intelligence......Page 218 Interrupting the Libidinal Affective Economy......Page 222 Empirical Laughter......Page 224 Humour and Laughter......Page 226 Unruly Academic Women and ‘Willful’ Laughter......Page 228 Laughing into the Silence......Page 230 If We Didn’t Laugh, We Might Well Cry......Page 231 Laughing at Leadership......Page 234 Saying No and Saying Yes......Page 236 Complicity......Page 239 Killing the False Woman......Page 240 Conclusion......Page 243 References......Page 244 7: Conclusion......Page 249 References......Page 255 An Ode to the Pauline Griffin Building......Page 256 References......Page 261 References......Page 262 Index......Page 288