Rewriting History / Reimagining (Critical) Management Studies

Abstract

This symposium addresses some of the limitations of current historical research in (Critical) Management Studies, including a dearth of critically-oriented historical research, relative absence of epistemological interrogations of the modern Western discipline of ‘history’, and a failure to engage with ‘other’ cultural ways of reconstructing the ‘past’. The first presentation employs an ANTiHistory perspective with a view to underscoring the discursive character of history, and exploring various ideas for developing critical organizational history. The second presentation further builds on the notion of discursivity and draws upon Foucauldian genealogy, institutional theory and Cultural Studies in the process of rewriting the history of Corporate Social Responsibility in the United States as a product of negotiation and contestation across multiple discursive fields. Next, a revised historical understanding of the microfinance movement in the ‘Third World’ is offered with the goal of understanding the agency of the ‘other’. Finally, situating itself in Postcolonial Theory, the fourth presentation highlights the limitations of the modern Western discipline of ‘history’, identifies a range of devices for rewriting history in management studies, and examines the implications of rewriting history along the lines proposed in the symposium. Overall, the symposium seeks to strengthen critical understandings of management ‘history’ and of the wider social scientific enterprise. Rethinking History: An ANTiHistory Perspective Presenter: Albert J. Mills; Saint Mary's U. Microfinance: A Neoliberal Instrument or a Site of the 'Other's' Resistance? Presenter: Nimruji Jammulamadaka; Indian Institute of Management Calcutta