ABSTRACT
In this chapter we address the ‘time work’ engaged in by the academic study participants. Recent scholarly indications of accelerated and short-term temporal norms in academia are present to some extent, but more prevalent are personalised worklife rhythms that are subject to constant improvisation; a time orientation we are calling ‘reflexive rhythmicity’. This reflexive rhythmicity is characterised by myriad durations, intensities and scales of worklife rhythms, which shimmy or sputter along variously assuming eurhythmic (characterised by organic flow) and arrhythmic (negative disturbances in rhythmic flow) qualities. These academic participants describe the corollary time work of blending and splicing worklife rhythms, and those reflexive sociomaterial improvisations that help sustain the personal and professional meaningfulness of the work itself.
