Precarity among mobile academics: The price of a (successful) academic career?

In the early stages of their career, academics often move abroad for fixed-term positions, urged by the normative imperative to gain international experience and the need to accept academic opportunities where they arise. This paper examines the obstacles and challenges that three academics who engaged in a series of mobility episodes confronted and how they articulated competing demands from different domains of their lives. The analysis shows that the repetitive nature of mobility associated with fixed-term appointments is a significant aspect of academic precarity, and that academics believe that the repeated effort and sacrifice involved often do not lead to academic stability.