Critical Storytelling: Experiences of Power Abuse in Academia

Julie Hansen Ph.D. (2000), University of Michigan, is Associate Professor of Slavic Languages at Uppsala University. She has taught comparative literature, Slavic literatures and translation studies. Her research interests include memory studies and literary multilingualism. She is co-editor of the volume Living through Literature: Essays in Memory of Omry Ronen (Uppsala Studies on Eastern Europe, 2019).Ingela Nilsson, Ph.D. (2001), Gothenburg University, is Professor of Greek and Byzantine Studies at Uppsala University since 2010. Her research interests include all forms of narration and literary adaptation. Her most recent monograph is Writer and Occasion in Twelfth-Century Byzantium: The Authorial Voice of Constantine Manasses (CUP, 2021).

"The way one writes about abuse matters and we believe the authors [...] have done a good job. For all those who tackle this difficult topic in their publications, [this work is] a resource not to be missed." - Aleksandra Swatek, Adam Mickiewicz University and Stanisław Krawczyk, University of Wrocław, in: Higher Education (2023). 'DOI:

• 1 The Same Old Story? An IntroductionJulie Hansen and Ingela Nilsson2 The Polyphony of AcademiaIngela Nilsson3 What My CV Doesn’t Tell YouJulie Hansen4 Notes from the Margins of Academic LifeAnonymous 15 A Decisive Meeting in Department XDinah Wouters, Tim Noens, Thomas Velle and Anonymous 26 Phantom Libraries: Unspoken Words, Untold Stories and Unwritten TextsMoa Ekbom7 On the Occasion of My RetirementCecilia Mörner8 How to Be a Professor in the Twenty-First CenturyWim Verbaal9 Bad DaysAnonymous 310 On Diversity Workshops: Challenges and OpportunitiesKai Dowding, Hanna McGinnis and Ana Núñez11 Still a World to WinAnonymous 412 Fragments of Missed Opportunities: Or Unrealized Dialectical Exchanges with a MentorAnonymous 513 Flexing MusclesIngela Nilsson14 Lessons I Learned at UniversityRicarda Schier15 Benevolence or BitternessAntony Smith16 Observations from a Non-Academic on Academic LifeKen Robertson17 Harassment and Abuse of Power from a Global Perspective: Or the Importance of a ConversationAnonymous 618 What My Younger Self Would Have Said, Had She Spoken up, and How My Present Self Would Have RepliedIngela Nilsson19 The Ghosts of AcademiaVeronika Muchitsch20 The Unbearable Shame of Crying at WorkAnonymous 721 Panic Button 111Ingela Nilsson22 QuitThomas Oles23 Diving Deeper: The Redemptive Power of MetaphorHelen SwordEpilogue: The Privilege of Writing One’s Story and Reading Those of OthersIngela NilssonEpilogue: Gathering Voices for a Better Academic WorkplaceJulie Hansen