“Why even bother?” The defiant practice of the independent scholar

In her chapter, “‘Why even bother?’: The defiant practice of the independent scholar,” Molly Hand reflects on her efforts to research and publish while working off the tenure track and considers the implications of such work for the majority of scholars who are “doing academic careers differently.” Part personal meditation, part call to action, this piece asks readers to acknowledge what and who we are missing when the majority of academic scholarship is produced and published by the tenure-stream minority. Hand proposes defiance as a praxis, suggesting that more scholars in and out of the academy become “defiant academics,” opposing the structures of power that would preclude the non-tenured majority from researching, publishing, and having their voices and ideas heard.