The Silence of Women Casual Academics in Australian Universities

Abstract

This chapter exposes the voicelessness of women casual academics within Higher Education. It also establishes how a lack of contribution by women casual academics to academic scholarship serves to perpetuate the myth of meritocracy within Higher Education; privileges the already advantaged masculine voice; and limits the celebration of a multiplicity of stories, storytellers, and story forms within the academy. The story woven through this chapter therefore offers a compelling rationale for developing an Arts-based narrative inquiry into the lived experience of women casual academics. This chapter also introduces the bicultural form of communication with which the book weaves its research story where language is used to evoke affect as well as carry meaning.