Reminders of the abject in teaching: Psychoanalytic notes on my sweaty, pedagogical self

•I theorize the implications of a professor's sweaty body.•I reference Julia Kristeva's psychoanalytic theory of the abject.•I discuss the broader relational implications of abjection in formal spaces of schooling.•I discuss how the abject can serve as a prompt for the development of ethical relations.

In this paper, I explore the question of what, in the context of university teaching and in psychical terms, the appearance of my sweat might be a reminder of. With reference to Julia Kristeva's theory of abjection, I argue that my sweat represents a threat to the unitary pedagogical self, as it also serves as a reminder of the condition of teaching as one of primal and primary dependence: that, as teachers and professors, we are never whole unto ourselves. Though my tendency to sweat profusely may be an unwelcome feature of my personal, genetic inheritance, I also argue that, in teaching, we each have our own unique breed of abject reminders that, if thought in relation to our own incompleteness, can serve as a prompt for the development of ethical relations.