Epistemic injustice and hegemonic ordeal in management and organization studies: Advancing Black scholarship

Penelope Muzanenhamo,Rashedur Chowdhury

doi:10.1177/00187267211014802

Penelope Muzanenhamo, Rashedur Chowdhury

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267211014802

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Abstract

Why do the majority of (White) academics within management and organization studies (MOS) endorse discourses of equality, diversity and inclusion on the one hand yet ignore the epistemic injustice suffered by Black scholars on the other? We demonstrate how White supremacy within a historically racist academia marginalizes non-White bodies from knowledge production and dissemination by embedding epistemic injustice in MOS, and diminishing their utility globally. To expose the multifaceted harm caused by White supremacy, we reflect on Black scholars’ experiences of epistemic injustice, conceptualizing their work (i.e. Black scholarship) as underpinned by epistemic struggle and epistemic survival. We conceptualize epistemic struggle as striving to produce and disseminate knowledge in the face of difficulties and resistance generated by structural and agential powers. Epistemic survival denotes the sustained presence of Black scholarship through compromise, collusion and radicalism. Subsequently, we propose collective intellectual activism based on cross-racial coalitions to eliminate epistemic injustice and locate Black scholarship at the center of MOS.

Highlights

It is not a novel observation that academic institutions are breeding grounds for racism, as articulated in the experiences of Black scholars in management and organization studies (MOS) (Minefee et al, 2018; Settles et al, 2019; Stewart et al, 2008)
In focusing on Black scholarship, we sought to highlight the potential effects of epistemic injustice on non-White bodies in MOS
We suggested the inclusion of Black scholarship as one way to counter hegemonic theories that may render MOS more relevant to diverse communities across the world

Summary

Introduction

It is not a novel observation that academic institutions are breeding grounds for racism, as articulated in the experiences of Black scholars in management and organization studies (MOS) (Minefee et al, 2018; Settles et al, 2019; Stewart et al, 2008). When the traditionally underrepresented Black scholars join academia, they face an almost insurmountable barrier in the form of lacking access to resources and social networks available to White academics (Stewart et al, 2008) This challenge is linked to powerful White actors’ ostracism of research by Black bodies on other Black bodies, and the trivialization of Black individuals as samples for scientific inquiry within MOS, promoted by White supremacy (Cox, 2004). Exercising such dominance over Black scholars positions them as incapable of engaging on a par with their presumably epistemically authoritative White peers, which de-humanizes and emotionally bruises the individuals (Chowdhury, 2019; Fricker, 2010) Central to such hegemonic demands for scientific rigor and legitimacy is the White supremacist idea that the ‘standard for normality and comparison is White’, scholarship (Stanley, 2006: 703) and samples (Cox and Nkomo, 1990). Such actions indicate the potential of Black and Brown scholars, and White comrades, in dislodging White supremacy to ensure equality in scientific knowledge production and dissemination processes

Discussion and conclusion

Concluding remarks