This paper draws on interviews of a mother and daughter concerning their experiences of working in higher education. It uses narrative research and its focus on temporality, sociality and place, to expose subject positionings, critical events, and the scope for 'activism' in the recent past and present. It is argued that the relationship between the two researcher-participants was a positive factor for the research enabling the exploration of their subjectivities as political actors, frequently in conditions not of their own making. At the same time, there were moments of discomfort, misunderstanding and critique. Similarities emerged between the two researchers in their capacities both to perform to work expectations and to take an activist position. There were substantial differences, however, due to generational intellectual schisms as well as changes in higher education.