Hallie Flanagan and the federal theater project: a critical undoing of management history

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to accomplish two things: to build on current research which interrogates the role of management history in the neglect of women leaders and labor programs and 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 Flanagan and similarly remarkable programs like the Federal Theater Project. Flanagan managed arguably the most ambitious and novel labor program under the New Deal, which resulted in an average of 10,000 workers in the arts being employed over four years, in a project which engaged audiences of over 30,000,000 Americans.

Introducing ficto-feminism: a non-fiction, fictitious conversation with Hallie Flanagan, director of the Federal Theatre Project (1935–1939)

“…And success was evaluated against three priorities: a successful theater, a successful relief plan and a successful government arts program (Williams and Mills, 2018;Mathews, 1967). KW: please tell me about the Living Newspapers.…”

“…The arts are often neglected in MOS/MH (Williams and Mills, 2018). There were five arts-based programs under the WPA.…”

“…In this retelling, I went beyond the sources and played in the liminal spaces, to deliver a portrait of Hallie that revealed my passion and her personality. I wanted to build on prior work which has attempted to bring Hallie to the fore (Williams and Mills, 2018). Hallie's time with the FTP offers important lessons in leadership and management practice and in fusing creative output with social good and economic stimulus.…”

“…Women such as Mary Parker Follett have been recognized in the labour movement. Parker Follett and a few exceptional women have captured the attention of MH, but overall, the examples remain limited and hard fought-for inclusions (see Calas and Smircich, 1996; Williams and Mills, 2017, 2018). For example, until recently, Frances Perkins, the architect of labour practices now taken for granted, was not regarded as a key player in management theory (Williams and Mills, 2019a; Williams, 2020a).…”

Finding Viola: the untrue, true story of a groundbreaking female African Nova Scotian entrepreneur

“…As a feminist polemicist, I am interested in disrupting current and past patriarchal narratives with prowoman writing. Specifically, my research interests have focused on overlooked historical female figures who have been ignored by management and organizational studies and management history (Williams, 2017(Williams, , 2018. By adopting this standpoint, I am also signally that I reject 'the traditionally silencing of women' in favour of articulating independent and 'self constituted' female agency (Ferguson 1986, 457).…”