ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the context of academic life. It reviews current discourse about academic life, and specifically examines the impact on workloads and academic identity. It explores the challenges of being an academic ‘teacher’, and provides some tongue-in-cheek categories against which readers can self-identify. This chapter establishes a baseline for reflection. It introduces the analogies of treadmills, which are always moving, and tornadoes, which spin out of control, spinning with minor points of touchdown/impact, which provide the basis of discussion throughout the book. It asks readers to reflect on why they like being academic, and which category they identify with.
