Unveiling the subject behind diversity: Exploring the micro-politics of representation in ethnic minority creatives’ identity work

Abstract

Much literature on the cultural industries celebrates ethnicity as a source of creativity. Despite its positive connotation, this discourse reduces ethnic minority creatives to manifestations of a collective ethnic identity automatically leading to creativity, creating a paradox of creativity without a creative subject. Approaching creatives with an ethnic minority background as agents, this article investigates how they self-reflectively and purposely discursively construct ethnicity as a source of creativity in their identity work. Empirically, we analyze interviews with well-established creatives with an ethnic minority background active in Belgium. Most respondents construct their ethnic background as ‘hybrid’, ‘exotic’, or ‘liminal’ to craft an identity as creatives and claim creativity for their work. Only few refuse to discursively deploy ethnicity as a source of creativity, crafting more individualized identities as creatives. Our study contributes to the literature on power and ethnicity in the creative industries by documenting ethnic minority creatives’ discursive micro-struggle over what is creative work and who qualifies as a creative. Specifically, we show their counterpolitics of representation of ethnicity in the creative industries through the re-signification of the relation between the ‘west’ and the ‘other’ in less disadvantageous terms. Despite such re-signification, the continued relevance of the discourse of ethnicity as a key marker of difference suggests that ethnicity remains a principle of unequal organization of the creative industries.

Organizational inclusion and identity regulation: How inclusive organizations form ‘Good’, ‘Glorious’ and ‘Grateful’ refugees

“…The refugees demonstrate willingness to adopt the available identity templates rather than resist them in the sense of Collinson (2003). Moreover, and different from prior research indicating that ethnic minority professionals often draw on their ethnic background as a resource in their identity work (Essers and Benschop, 2009; Van Laer and Janssens, 2017; Zanoni et al, 2017), the refugees in our study overwhelmingly view their background as handicap.…”

“…Partly drawing on Alvesson and Willmott’s identity regulation framework, a large and still growing strand within the critical diversity literature analyses identity construction along the lines of social minority categories such as gender (Kelan, 2010; Ortlieb and Sieben, 2019), ethnicity (Van Laer and Janssens, 2017; Zanoni et al, 2017), religion (Essers and Benschop, 2009), sexuality (Rumens and Broomfield, 2014; Van Laer, 2018) and dis-/ability (Jammaers and Zanoni, 2020). Furthermore, several studies found that organizational practices aimed at fostering diversity and inclusion such as training and promotion procedures trigger identity work of minority group members (Jammaers and Zanoni, 2020; Villesèche et al, 2018; Yang and Bacouel-Jentjens, 2019; Zanoni and Janssens, 2007).…”

The Identity of Entrepreneurs: Providing Conceptual Clarity and Future Directions

“…In addition, some studies take a narrative approach to the identity of entrepreneurs, for instance, narratives of ethnicity (Zanoni et al . 2017) or environmental values (Phillips 2013). Such studies can be categorized as looking at the personal identity of entrepreneurs in terms of the ‘narrative self‐understanding’ of their beliefs and feelings (Hitlin 2012).…”

“…Albinsson 2018; Zanoni et al . 2017). While such empirical complexities will remain, it is essential to clearly differentiate the proposed terminology and operationalizations in future studies to allow for a more coherent understanding of what constitutes the identity of entrepreneurs, how it is formed, maintained, and changed over time, as well as which influences it may assert over individuals, teams, new ventures, or the broader environment.…”

Introduction: Critically interrogating inclusion in organisations

“…How should we understand the role of those who are subject to ‘being included’? Quite often individuals are ‘coercively’ included based on a certain identity characteristic, for instance, being a token representative of a minority group (Ponzoni et al, 2017; Zanoni et al, 2017). Does that lead to new forms of exclusion under the mantle of inclusion?…”