"I feel like I'm changing people's lives, even if it's just two hours at a time": Understanding contingent instructors' emotion management in university teaching

This article extends existing scholarship on contingent or temporary-contract university instructors' emotional agency by employing the Bolton's emotion management and Cottingham's emotional capital typologies in tandem. In interviews with 40 instructors from universities across Canada, participants described acquiring both primary and secondary emotional capital as an embodied psychosocial resource through past education, upbringing and culture, and knowledge and skills from previous work and training experiences respectively. They then deployed this capital through emotion management based in both social and organizational feeling rules in their capacity as professors. This allowed instructors to reinforce their own sense of purpose, authority and competence as instructors, and to establish fulfilling relationships with students through teaching and mentoring which they infused with personal meaning. However, instructors' agency was also curtailed to varying degrees, by both institutional attitudes around academic contingency and sexist, and in some cases, racist or otherwise patronizing attitudes from students. Despite this, instructors were often able to reaffirm their identities as instructors by using emotion management in self-affirming ways, such as by drawing on self-confidence gained through previous occupations and training, and facilitating cultural backgrounds shared with students through emotional management. Cet article & eacute;largit la recherche existante sur l'agence & eacute;motionnelle des enseignants universitaires occasionnels ou temporaires en utilisant les typologies de la gestion des & eacute;motions de Bolton et du capital & eacute;motionnel de Cottingham en tandem. Lors d'entretiens avec 40 enseignants d'universit & eacute;s canadiennes, les participants ont d & eacute;crit l'acquisition d'un capital & eacute;motionnel primaire et secondaire en tant que ressource psychosociale incarn & eacute;e, gr & acirc;ce & agrave; l'& eacute;ducation et & agrave; la culture ant & eacute;rieures, ainsi qu'aux connaissances et aux comp & eacute;tences acquises lors d'exp & eacute;riences de travail et de formation ant & eacute;rieures, respectivement. Ils ont ensuite d & eacute;ploy & eacute; ce capital & agrave; travers une gestion des & eacute;motions bas & eacute;e sur des r & egrave;gles sociales et organisationnelles en tant qu'instructeurs. Cela a permis aux instructeurs de renforcer leur propre sentiment d'utilit & eacute;, d'autorit & eacute; et de comp & eacute;tence en tant qu'instructeurs, et d'& eacute;tablir des relations & eacute;panouissantes avec les & eacute;tudiants gr & acirc;ce & agrave; un enseignement et un mentorat, auxquels ils ont donn & eacute; un sens personnel. Cependant, l'action des instructeurs a & eacute;galement & eacute;t & eacute; limit & eacute;e & agrave; des degr & eacute;s divers par les attitudes institutionnelles concernant les contingences acad & eacute;miques et les attitudes sexistes et, dans certains cas, racistes ou condescendantes de la part des & eacute;tudiants. Malgr & eacute; cela, les instructeurs ont souvent & eacute;t & eacute; en mesure de r & eacute;affirmer leur identit & eacute; d'instructeurs en utilisant la gestion des & eacute;motions de mani & egrave;re & agrave; s'affirmer, par exemple en s'appuyant sur la confiance en soi acquise gr & acirc;ce & agrave; des professions et des formations ant & eacute;rieures, et en facilitant les contextes culturels partag & eacute;s avec les & eacute;tudiants par le biais de la gestion des pr & eacute;sentations.