Decolonising management and organisational knowledge (MOK): Praxistical theorising for potential worlds

Abstract

This special issue (SI) editorial contributes to ongoing efforts worldwide to decolonise management and organisational knowledge (MOK). A robust pluriversal discussion on the how and why of decolonisation is vital. Yet to date, most business and management schools are on the periphery of debates about decolonising higher education, even as Business Schools in diverse locations function as contested sites of neocolonialism and expansion of Western neoliberal perspectives. This editorial and special issue is the outcome of a unique set of relationships and processes that saw Organization host its first paper development workshop in Africa in 2019. This editorial speaks to a radical ontological plurality that up-ends the classical division between theory and praxis. It advocates praxistical theorising that moves beyond this binary and embraces decolonising knowledge by moving into the realm of affect and embodied, other-oriented reflexive, communicative praxis. It underscores the simultaneous, contested and unfinished decolonising-recolonising doubleness of praxis and the potential of borderlands locations to work with these dynamics. This special issue brings together a set of papers which advance different decolonising projects and grapple with the nuances of what it means to ‘do’ decolonising in a diversity of empirical and epistemic settings.

Caring about the unequal effects of the pandemic: What feminist theory, art, and activism can teach us

“…We must also consider how we review and edit academic papers as well as how we handle our relationships with authors, other editors, reviewers, and all actors participating in our academic processes. To create meaningful space for unheard voices that speak of embodied experiences that matter, we need to challenge standardized norms of knowledge production in their different dimensions (Jammulamadaka et al., 2021). Thus, we regard editing and reviewing as relational practices rooted in care, from which meaningful knowledge can emerge.…”

“…By exploring these interconnections, we embrace the idea that both content and format matter in academic research and writing. In so doing, we challenge long vested epistemic practices, which traditionally limit possibilities for meaningfully speaking of social inequalities and vulnerabilities insofar as such practices tend to render social and economic inequalities invisible (Jammulamadaka et al., 2021; Ul‐Haq & Westwood, 2012). In contrast, the articles included in this Special Issue, individually and collectively, offer multi‐disciplinary dialogue between feminism, art, and activism; therein, illustrating the political capacity of genre‐blending engagements and non‐traditional methodologies to create inclusive spaces in which different voices can be expressed and heard.…”

“…First, they push back against dominant white, western, masculine, and anthropocentric academic normativity, confronting us with diverse realities of injustice and calling us to action. Second, feminist theorizations bring novel and more inclusive approaches to knowledge production by making space for the conceptualization of diverse experiences and practices of historically marginalized groups (e.g., Ahmed, 2016; Barad, 2017; Benschop, 2021; Butler, 2004; Eddo‐Lodge, 2017; Georgiadou et al., 2021; Holvino, 2010; Jammulamadaka et al., 2021; Mandalaki & Fotaki, 2020; Nkomo et al., 2019; Zulfiqar & Prasad, 2021).…”

Decolonizando business history: o caso da historiografia Unilever

“…Ou seja, a teorização pós-moderna que informa a virada histórica euro-britânica em EOG desafia e reproduz o binarismo Norte-Sul que inferioriza povos sem história e teoria e dinâmicas de apropriação-contenção de "histórias outras" sulistas vividas no Sul e no Norte. Ao desafiarem e reproduzirem disputas inter-imperiais por um futuro (imperial) melhor, intensificadas apela ascensão de um Sul Global com pretensões imperiais (Pradella & Marois, 2015;Santos & Meneses, 2020) que 'invade' e ameaça a vida cotidiana no Norte Global (Duffield, 2005) o mito da modernidade universalista autogerada que vem sendo desafiada pela transmodernidade decolonial, reforçando o temor da ascensão do Sul Global com pretensões imperiais no Sul e no Norte, subalternizando a praxis decolonial tolerante a ambivalências e contradições mobilizadas pela maioria vivendo "histórias outras" interconectadas, incluindo pesquisadores no Norte e no Sul que também vivem presentes coloniais/imperiais (Jammulamadaka, Faria, Jack, & Ruggunan, 2021). Por exemplo, ainda que a crítica decolonial em EOG que defende uma alternativa à história dirigida para os EOG (Ibarra-Colado, 2006) continue sendo negada pelo contestado e crescente campo de organizational history (Durepos et al, 2020), colegas do Norte têm tentado desafiar a radicalização do binarismo Norte-Sul restringidos pelo padrão de pluralidade conformista 'dentro da história' por meio da inclusão de historiografia decolonial latino-americanista (Cooke & Alcadipani, 2015;Wanderley & Barrros, 2019;Wanderley & Faria, 2012) como história pós-colonial, historiografia do Sul, história sob a perspectiva latino-americana, história sob a perspectiva decolonial e outras denominações de inferioridade que poderiam ajudar a promover um futuro (imperial) melhor dentro da história.…”

Te Pā Auroa nā Te Awa Tupua: the new (but old) consciousness needed to implement Indigenous frameworks in non-Indigenous organisations

“…Colonisation was created through European ideas about how things should be (Thomas, 2020). Transformative praxis, therefore, is about non-Indigenous organisations taking action (Jammulamadaka et al, 2021), to allow Whanganui iwi to assert their rights and responsibilities while removing barriers and predetermined orders historically imposed through political, socio-cultural, legal and economic life (Hsiao, 2012). As previously stated, access to a degree of tribal and Indigenous education and cultural infrastructure is needed for non-Indigenous organisation to proceed with the paradigm shift.…”