Scholars have drawn some damning conclusions on the current state of the academy. They arguethat neoliberal developments such as corporatization and privatization are undermining researchand teaching quality, disrupting social relations and impacting negatively on the health and wellbeingof academic staff. Academia is, according to these scholars, coming to be peopled byhypercompetitive and combative ‘ninjas’, cynical and unmotivated ‘zombies’ and jaded andanxious ‘nervous wrecks’. Against this negative depiction of academics, the aim of this paper is toprovide an illustration of an alternative identity that is formed and performed within the field ofphysical education and sport pedagogy (PESP). This illustration is achieved through thepresentation and analysis of an account that shows some of the individuals inhabiting the world ofPESP. The account is based on autoethnographic research and relies largely on reported speechand reflective notes to build a description of the author, in the early stages of mid-career, workingwith his colleagues to write a section of this paper. A Foucauldian framework that includes theconcepts of governmentality and care of the self is employed to consider how the author becomesa neoliberal subject with some possibilities for resisting technologies of power. The paper isconcluded with reflections on the process of resisting and the significance of local socio-politicalcontexts as issues for further discussion.