Race and racism in an elite postcolonial context: reflections from investment banking

Abstract

The question of how race manifests at work in postcolonial contexts has been an understudied phenomenon by management and organization studies researchers. This article seeks to address the void in the extant literature by drawing on the rich experiences of a visible minority investment banker who worked in several countries with colonial legacies. Presented as a narrative, the banker’s experience conceptualizes how race ubiquitously materializes in both the field of high finance and the broader postcolonial communities in which it is situated. Indeed, the narrative illuminates the contemporary complexities of race as it unfolds discursively within the organizational setting of high finance. Finally, the article considers some of the implications of racism on visible minority professionals in the era of postcoloniality.