This book explores how academics at conferences co-construct their own and each other's professional identities. It is based on the detailed sequential analysis of audio recordings of conference discussions in the field of the humanities, the working languages being French and English.

The analyses show that the delegates who actively participate in these interactions, whether as presenters, chairpersons or as members of the audience, carry out a considerable amount of identity work, attributing self and other to various categories of professional identity. The discussion participants...