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PhD Barbie Gets a Makeover! Aesthetic Labour in Academia

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Aesthetic Labour

Part of the book series: Dynamics of Virtual Work ((DVW))

Abstract

In this chapter, I explore the role of aesthetic labour in academic research through an auto-ethnographic account of aesthetic labour when preparing for and conducting elite interviews. During my PhD, at the suggestion of my supervisor and my sponsor organisation, I worked with a presence coach or ‘image consultant’, who helped me prepare for interviewing elites. I had been recruited to conduct research that addressed the poor representation of women on corporate boards, but I was told that my appearance was ‘not professional enough’, and that to do the PhD I needed to ‘look good and sound right’ (Warhurst and Nickson 2001, p. 2). In this chapter I show how expectations about ‘acceptable’ professional appearance are embodied; how they went from being something ascribed onto my body to something my body had to do (Crossley 1995). As a young, female, feminist academic preparing for interviews in professional environments, my aesthetic labour also reflected social expectations about (acceptable) femininity, the female body, professionalism and what it means to be a good researcher. This highlights how the body can be a site where conflicting discourses play out, and how the boundary between aesthetics and the self can become blurred.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Management and Business, King’s College London, London, UK

    Scarlett Brown

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  1. Scarlett Brown
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. King’s College London, London, United Kingdom

    Ana Sofia Elias

  2. King’s College London, London, United Kingdom

    Rosalind Gill

  3. City, University of London, London, United Kingdom

    Christina Scharff

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Brown, S. (2017). PhD Barbie Gets a Makeover! Aesthetic Labour in Academia. In: Elias, A., Gill, R., Scharff, C. (eds) Aesthetic Labour. Dynamics of Virtual Work. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-47765-1_8

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