Indigenous Peoples and Organization Studies

Abstract

This essay encourages scholars of Management and Organization Studies (MOS) to critically reflect on how Indigenous peoples and their knowledges have been, and continue to be, systemically discriminated against. This discrimination is the result of colonization; it has deeply impacted and continues to affect which knowledges and practices are valued and embraced. The impact of colonization is mirrored in MOS via processes and actions within the academic setting and our business schools. The result is the continued marginalization of Indigenous peoples and their knowledges. We propose a shift in how MOS scholars approach research in relation to non-western societies to counter, and hopefully end, these continued practices of discrimination in our business schools. Specifically, we argue that demarginalizing Indigenous research in academia and going beyond ‘cosmetic indigenization’ in our business schools are new, collaborative ways of rethinking indigeneity and breaking down the current barriers in MOS that reinforce and perpetuate the systemic discrimination against Indigenous peoples, their knowledges, and practices.

A Call for Activist Scholarship in Organizational Theorizing

“…Notably, in teaming up with marginalized groups to elevate their rights, we cannot come to this work as “the experts.” The importance of guarding against this diminution of indigenous knowledge cannot be underscored enough. By approaching problems as partners, rather than experts, activist researchers can come to appreciate alternative knowledge and come to understand how indigenous wisdom has been depreciated by colonization and systemic discrimination (Bastien, 2023). Giving voice to indigenous knowledge and adapting Western practices to resonate with the contours of the context in which it is being conducted is paramount to preventing recolonization.…”

A story-net approach to qualitative research: having tea with stories!

“…As part of institutions attempts to legitimize their reconciliation programs, Indigenous peoples are often being asked to represent and perform their culture (Evans, 2012). However, Bastien et al (2023) explain that this is cosmetic Indigenization, which they describe as engaging in shallow, surface level cosmetic actions. These are not reconciliation.…”

“…Business schools are formal mechanisms used to legitimate and perpetuate western patterns of dominance such as racism, misogyny, cisheteronormativity and anthropocentrism and are reinforced by the scientific norms of academic writing which excludes particular ways of transmitting knowledge, including heartful stories (Gilmore et al ., 2019; Mandalaki, 2021). To combat this, Indigenous scholars have been calling to create safer (Evans and Sinclair, 2016), more humane and inclusive (Bastien et al ., 2023), relational (Doucette et al ., 2021), strengths-based (Salmon et al ., 2022) and trauma-informed (Price et al ., 2022b) spaces in MOS. And, they clearly outline that these spaces cannot be “confined to the non-scientific fringes of our discipline” (Bastien et al ., 2023, p. 665).…”

“…To combat this, Indigenous scholars have been calling to create safer (Evans and Sinclair, 2016), more humane and inclusive (Bastien et al ., 2023), relational (Doucette et al ., 2021), strengths-based (Salmon et al ., 2022) and trauma-informed (Price et al ., 2022b) spaces in MOS. And, they clearly outline that these spaces cannot be “confined to the non-scientific fringes of our discipline” (Bastien et al ., 2023, p. 665). The story-net approach is intended to support relational journeys towards reconciliation and recognizes that before this can happen the truths of historical and ongoing injustices need to be revealed.…”

Straw craft, imperial education and ethnographic exhibitions as tightly braided sites of gender production in Haiti and Curaçao

“… 14. The lakou is the traditional Haitian multi-household compound where a male patriarch heads the extended family (Bastien, 1961: 481; Mintz, 1974: 241).…”