Abstract:
This chapter critically explores the lived experience of two academics through the amalgamation of teachers’ colleges with universities, and ongoing academic reviews. Coming from working-class backgrounds they first encountered the potential of Higher Education and then the subjection of neoliberal systems of accountability and management. Their working-class backgrounds and experiences continue to haunt their academic identities. Employing collaborative autoethnography, personal stories are juxtaposed alongside critical theory and relevant literature, illuminating how ongoing professional reviews and neoliberal changes in the University reinforce imposterism. Using the method of factionalisation and scripting the aim is to illuminate the complexity of academic imposterism and provide the conditions for deep emotional understanding. The authors argue that friendship and laughter are vital when living with uncertainty and constant change.
