Abstract
Dominant conceptions of solidarity economy, social enterprise, and innovation (SSEI) remain poorly positioned for understanding the diverse models emerging across the global South. The purpose of this paper is to examine the power relations between the global North and South in the production and dissemination of SSEI knowledge, highlighting the importance of recognizing alternative discourses in the global South. This contextual analysis is developed through consideration of the construction of the hybrid SSEI model in Colombia, drawing upon postcolonial theory and using Nicholls’ framework on the legitimacy of SSEI discourses. This paper offers the first application of postcolonial theory to the analysis of SSEI in the global South. This research has demonstrated that the construction of the SSEI sector in Colombia is a reflection of the dynamic interplay of the hybrids, as it incorporates the hero entrepreneur and business-like discourses within the traditional community discourse, which indeed is a combination of domestic (indigenous collective practices) and colonizer influences (e.g., cooperatives, associations). This paper also identifies the current tensions that have emerged from such hybridity within the country.
Highlights
Solidarity economy, social enterprise, and innovation (SSEI) initiatives have gained greater visibility and recognition in recent years (Defourny and Nyssens 2010)
The expansion of meanings attached to the SSEI sector in Colombia is a reflection of the dynamic interplay of the hybrids, as it incorporates the hero entrepreneur and business-like discourses within the traditional community discourse, which is a combination of domestic and colonizer influences
This paper had made both theoretical and practical contributions to advance the debate on the construction of the SSEI sector in a global South context, and the legitimacy of dominant SSEI discourses and the power relations between global North and South in the production and dissemination of knowledge (Nicholls 2010, 2012; Lounsbury and Strang 2009; Teasdale 2011; Calvo and Morales 2015, 2017)
Summary
Solidarity economy, social enterprise, and innovation (SSEI) initiatives have gained greater visibility and recognition in recent years (Defourny and Nyssens 2010). These types of initiatives are understood differently by different people, they have generally been defined as initiatives that earned profits, but are motivated to address complex societal and environmental challenges The authors have used a broad term ‘SSEI’ to encapsulate the different practices identified within the sector in Colombia, including the hero (social innovation), business-like (social enterprise), and community discourses (solidarity economy) (Nicholls 2012).
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