Hallie Flanagan and the Federal Theater Project: A critical undoing of management history

Abstract

Purpose: This paper aims to accomplish two things: (1) to build on current research which interrogates the role of management history in the neglect of women leaders and labor programs; and (2) to draw attention to Hallie Flanagan and the Federal Theater Project and their lost contributions to management and organizational studies. Design/methodology/approach: This paper adopts a feminist poststructural lens fused with critical discourse analysis to capture the role of discourses in concealing a more fragmented view of history. Findings: The findings are openly discursive and aim to disrupt current knowledge and thinking in the practice of making history. The paper calls for an undoing of history and an examination of the powerful forces which result in a gendered and limited understanding of the past. Originality/value: The objective of this paper is to help scholarship continue to transform management and organizational studies and management history and to raise the profile of remarkable leaders, like ...