The philosophical concept of the self has had a hard time for a long time. The scepticism that lay behind Hume’s ‘bundle’ theory has been made manifest in ‘post-philosophical’ claims that the self or subject is not so much a ‘something’ that ties together a bundle of sense impressions, but is rather to be seen as an effect of a system of power relations, or an illusory presupposition of the relational properties of syntax.

The media presents us with a world that is increasingly violent. News agencies report on conflict, war, ethnic cleansing and torture. Yet another young man is stabbed to death on the streets of a major city, sportsmen or celebrities are in court accused of monstrous sexual assaults. These news stories have one thing in common: they are about men and male aggression. There is an unvoiced understanding that this violence is male, or originated by men. If this seems a strange (...) thing to point out, try to imagine how these events would be reported if the instigators were female. This chapter sets out to examine why that suggestion makes us pause for thought, and to explore ideas about female aggression, its motives and outcomes, possibly exploding a few myths on the way. (shrink)

Ethnography per se offers insights into complex social processes and its potential has relevance for the increasingly difficult notion of 'leadership'. Understanding complex leadership situations from the perspective of serial narratives has the potential to reveal the ‘dark matter’ of leadership practice. Thin descriptions of ‘real time’ practice are more pervasive and plausible than the thick descriptions of observation and behaviourism. Auto-ethnography invites the practitioner to reveal how they, within a particular setting, create meanings around their leadership activity.