Envisioning More Equitable and Just Futures: Feminist Organizational Communication in Theory and Praxis

Self Cite

The ideas of this forum germinated at the Organizational Communication Division’s pre-conference at the 106th annual convention of the National Communication Association (NCA) in 2020. A group of scholar-teachers, committed to addressing various critical social issues, came together to challenge dominant ideas, paradigms, and structures within and beyond organizational communication. We engaged with decolonization and social justice as an ongoing project that cultivates scholarship, pedagogy, and public engagement. Our discussions left us with a sense of urgency and inspiration to work substantively toward thinking differently about organizational communication. Our goal in this forum is to present the collective as a sharp provocation to decenter the spaces of theorizing and pedagogical practices in organizational communication and beyond.

Section: Mahuya Pal and Heewon Kimmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Toward a Relational Praxis For Resisting Colonial Logics In ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Decolonizing Organizational Communication

Pal

Kim

Harris

et al. 2022

Self Cite

“…An intersectional reinscription analysis captures changing intersectional power dynamics in situated social scripts. To demonstrate the complex and dynamic constitution of intersectionality in situ, we study women’s experiences from multiple cultural contexts, expanding empirical communication research on intersectionality that too often focuses on/in the United States (Linabary et al, 2021; for exceptions, see Cruz, 2015; Long, 2016). Our study is guided by the following research question: How do women entrepreneurs resist (and conform to) intersectional power structures in situated episodes of entrepreneuring ?…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this way, we highlight that dominant power structures of gender, race, and class intertwine with less-studied power asymmetries of age, body, expertise/knowledge, work experience, social capital, family background, and/or national culture to (re)constitute intersectional power structures in women's entrepreneurial activities. The study responds to calls for communication scholars to advance intersectional theorizing and methodology (e.g., Cruz et al, 2020;Harris, 2013;Linabary et al, 2021;McDonald et al, 2020;Yep, 2016).…”

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confidence: 95%

Constituting Intersectional Politics of Reinscription: Women Entrepreneurs’ Resistance Practices in China, Denmark, and the United States

Long

Buzzanell

2021

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Guided by feminist politics of reinscription and intersectionality theory, this study theorized how women entrepreneurs from China, Denmark, and the United States depicted their situated struggles to resist simultaneous interlocking oppressions in everyday entrepreneuring based on 40 in-depth interviews. Participants described that they experienced inscription whereby multiple power asymmetries of gender, age, culture, race/ethnicity, and so on emerged and entangled to prescribe social scripts that constrained their entrepreneurial agencies. Simultaneously, participants engaged in reinscription to deconstruct intersectional controls and rework hegemonic scripts in situated entrepreneurial activities. They deployed three resistance strategies: recontextualizing their intersectionalities in different discursive contexts to legitimize and elevate their entrepreneur identities; reformulating their intersectionalities by invoking privileged positions to counterbalance marginalization; and re-envisioning by transcending their intersectional subordination to create opportunities for change. Instead of focusing on pre-existing and fixed power structures and identities in intersectional resistance-control processes, we demonstrate how intersectionalities are (re)constituted in situ through complex and fluid inscription-reinscription dynamics in women’s entrepreneurship.

“…Critical organizational communication scholars have critiqued how social systems reproduce inequities for marginalized social identities that differ from privileged social identities (Allen, 2011; Linabary, et al, 2021). This social identity work in context of systems of oppression is situated at the intersection of gender, race, class, sexuality, ability, and age.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Storytelling Networks that Build Community Power: Urban Equity Advocacy From a Communication Infrastructure Lens

Villanueva

2022

Urban scholars suggest that communication can be key to equity advocacy and organizing for social justice in cities, but a gap exists in studies grounded in communication theory. This article theorizes everyday urban equity advocacy through communication infrastructure theory (CIT), an ecological framework grounded in the notion that communities are discursively constructed. Sourced from 34 semi-structured interviews in Chicago, this article examines how organizers from social change-focused organizations activate community storytelling network actors (residents, community organizations, and local media) to advocate for equity. I find that organizers activate this network to cultivate consciousness, build capacity, and amplify equity work for marginalized communities. The study is important in demonstrating how advocating for equity is best when it is an intentional process that activates multi-stakeholder engagement in urban neighborhoods year-round.