conferences as a site of body htt

This article explores conferences as an inter-corporeal space wherein body pedagogics are enacted, enabling the acquisition of techniques, skills and dispositions that al low newcomers to demonstrate their proficiency as members of a cul ture.The bodies of conference participants consti tute the surface onto which culture is inscribed, these normalizing practices enabling academic power relations to be constructed and identities internalized.An autoethnographic analysis of critical management studies (CMS) conferences forms the basis for identification of the bodily dispositions of contro l and endurance which characterize the proficient CMS academic.The article considers the potential silencing effects associated w i th these practices that generate a between-men culture that excludes difference and reinforces patriarchal values. It concludes by reviewing the implications of body pedagogics for understanding how other organizational cultures are constructed.