“I stand with them”. .. united and secure

Abstract

This chapter maps the author’s life from her move from the West Riding of Yorkshire to university in the south-east as a mature student, recounting how she navigated her class identity amongst a predominantly southern and middle-class student/academic body. University offered the chance to shape her own destiny-initially by attempting to edit her past by ‘erasing’ her working-class identity. Studying feminist-oriented histories of class and gender, however, revealed links between the past and her present which challenged any need to purge her working-class roots. Re-examining the lived experiences of nineteenth century working-class women uncovered not only the stories of victimhood, vulnerability and ignorance, but also ‘hidden histories’ of power, independence, control, capability and works-based ‘rights’-a ʼnew narrative’ providing ‘foundational knowledge’ on which to build a more secure working-class academic identity in the present.