Situating Leadership in the Aesthetics of the Everyday in Higher Education Kinesiology

Abstract

ABSTRACT The aim of this theoretical discussion is to examine leader and follower dynamics within the context of the aesthetics of the everyday philosophy. The author theorizes that leadership is an everyday aesthetic and, if practiced well, will lead to beautiful leading. The aesthetics of the everyday – a postmodern and pluralistic philosophy – honors the beauty in the everyday and is a way to unravel the complexities of leadership studies. Supporting this theory are Chinese and African ideas that promote the idea that good moral, harmonious, and ethical conduct constitutes the inclusion of different categories of aesthetics that include social interactions. Everyday aesthetics puts into practice embodied knowing and intersubjectivity through the recognition and analysis of negative, ambient, and social aesthetics. The aesthetics of the everyday is grounded in the notion that we are embodied and bring our first-person perspectives and experiences with us to the university. The author uses this reflective philosophy to challenge Kinesiology leaders and followers to relate to each other in ways that lead to equality and justice for marginalized populations.