ABSTRACT
In the mini portrait ‘The happy and smiling, but inwardly crumbling gig academic; Reflections on early career precarity and anxiety’ Emily Yarrow explores her own lived experiences as a precariously employed academic, drawing on her reflections to explore the tensions between survival in the precarious academic world, career development, anxiety and scholarly engagement in the neoliberal academy. She argues that this is ‘gig-academia’ is short-termist and detrimental way of organising academic labour, which endangers the future of the profession, as well as the mental health of academics. Mobilising the metaphor of the sweaty blouse, the visceral and damaging nature of precarious employment is candidly discussed, aiming to share the important message of being kind to oneself and to others.
