When "The Research" is Me: Women's Experiences as Contingent Instructors in the Contemporary Academy

Abstract

This paper is a small auto/biographical slice from a long-term qualitative project on the experiences of female adjunct instructors and graduate teaching assistants in the contemporary academy. The author, a contingent faculty member, juxtaposes contextual information about female contingent instructors with her own experiences and reflections on the teaching/research process, as well as personal narratives from women who have taught in varied college and University settings in a mid west state, to contribute to the continued expansion of feminist work on narrative forms. These women, with varying degrees of elation and despair, have helped to constitute the category of ââ¬Åcontingent workerââ¬Â imperative to the machinations of the contemporary University.