Tales of the unexpected: The lives and experiences of working‐class academics

Abstract

AbstractThis article explores and discusses some aspects of autoethnographies from a published collection written by working‐class academics. The original objective was for each academic to write an account of their life and their experiences of becoming who they are in an industry steeped in elitism. I was interested in how they experienced becoming a working‐class academic, what their journeys had been like, and how they navigated their way into their professional roles. I was also curious about their identities and if they continued to identify as working class, or if their social positioning and/or identities have undergone change. The autoethnographies are powerful and deeply personal accounts of the working‐class academics' lives; they make a significant contribution to the field of research on higher education by providing unique insight into personal experiences. Within this article I have explored some of the accounts and considered how the academics overcame, for example, feelings of failure from previous educational experiences, feelings of (un)belonging and tackling imposterism.