Going to Sea: Co‐creating the Aesthetic Dimension of Shipboard Organizational Life

Abstract

Aesthetic approaches seek to enrich knowledge about the ‘sensible’ aspects of experience. The ‘aesthetic dimension’ of shipboard organizational life is evoked and co‐created through multiple aesthetic categories such as the agogic, the sacred, and the sublime rendered through multiple sensory experiences of life aboard. A researcher and sailor‐informant co‐authored aesthetic reading contributes to a growing niche of aesthetic‐based research within organization studies. Our article explores collaboration as an important element of the aesthetic project. Possibilities for future aesthetic inquiries are also considered.

Key words:

• Aesthetics
• Shipboard
• Co‐authorship

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Culture and Organization reviewers for their insightful feedback and encouragement of a truly co‐authored aesthetic inquiry. We also acknowledge anonymous reviewers from the Southern Management Association (SMA) for comments on an earlier version of this paper presented at the 2005 SMA conference.