Customer Reviews

Fields of Play: Constructing an Academic Life

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This book is a collection of previously published/presented sociology papers, accompanied by a reflection on each piece by the author, Laurel Richardson: what was happening in her professional and personal life when she wrote it, how the article was received, etc. This sounds on the surface like a mildly interesting read for someone interested in sociology, but in reality it is a harrowing look at the true behind-the-scenes struggle of a woman forging an academic career, from its seeds in childhood onwards. The pieces are very personal and autoethnographic in approach(Richardson mentions both Carolyn Ellis and Norman K. Denzen in her acknowledgments).

What I appreciated most in this book is that Richardson spells out the politics and unspoken undercurrents of academic hierarchies and rivalries. Richardson is brave and forthright in speaking openly about things that are usually unspoken. She shares her feelings of failure, shame, anger, rage. Richardson describes the personal effect of the changes that occurred in universities with the introduction of a business management model, and for this reason alone I think the book should be essential reading for anyone contemplating an academic career who doesn't realise what a tense, bitter minefield a university faculty truly can be.

It was interesting that I found it hard to be open to Richardson's sociological plays and poetry. I have no experience with reading poetry, or with academic prose forms other than traditional texts, so I had no frame of reference with which to approach her work. However, I enjoyed 'Louisa May's Story of Her Life' enormously: more than enough to continue to work towards a better appreciation of other texts such the script representation of the 1990 Postmodernism and Cultural Studies discussion (even 19 years later it seems unconventional).

I recommend this book to anyone interested in autoethnography, sociology, cultural studies, or who is considering a career as an academic .

What a woman! Laurel Richardson's thinking is revolutionary.
Thank you for paving the way on new ways of thinking and writing.
Marcia Howard