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Every bite you take . . . food and the struggles of embodied subjectivity in organizations

Western State College of Colorado, mdriver{at}western.edu

The purpose of this article is to offer new insights on subjectivity in organizations by examining discourses of food and their implications for how the self is constructed and embodied at work. To this end, empirical material, consisting of 35 narratives about food in organizations, is explored from different vantage points including hermeneutic, critical, postmodern and psychoanalytic perspectives. Themes examined include discourses in which food practices are associated with social activities and organizational care but also with controlling the self and others and as embodied performances of conflicting ethics of production and consumption. The implications of the various perspectives are discussed highlighting the role of food discourse for more creative embodiments of subjectivity in organizations.

Key Words: discourse • embodiment • food • performativity • subjectivity

Human Relations, Vol. 61, No. 7, 913-934 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0018726708093902


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