LAUSR

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic amplified existing inequities in higher education. This paper documents the stories of four precariously employed communication instructors in their transition to emergency remote teaching in March 2020. Through collaborative autoethnography, the instructors share their stories of reliance and compliance within the gig academy, using their support networks to foster resilience and create points of resistance. In the Spring 2020 semester, we experienced the same storm but with different nightmares. Technological frustrations, mental health concerns, accent barriers, financial stresses, care work, and illness were pushed to the background while we dealt with suddenly teaching online during the pandemic. The relentless uncertainty about job security hanging overhead persists. From our subaltern counterpublic, we posit a resistance to the gig academy. We urge departmental leadership to use this paper to inform policy making and practice and for other contingent instructors to expose their stories in scholarship.