Reframing the past to legitimate the future: Building collective agency for social change through a process of decolonizing memory

Abstract

Subaltern social groups do not see their conceptualizations of leadership represented by the images of leadership and leaders portrayed in the narratives of the “official” history of their countries. This article draws from the experience of an American Indian summer leadership camp in the United States (US) where memory is used by the organization as a resource for legitimizing their power and leadership perspectives to effect social change. Through a leadership work based on rhetoric and framing to decolonize the dominant history of the US, a process of collective sense and meaning-making is unfolded. This work of leadership builds collective agency that contributes to legitimize both American Indian memories and leadership perspectives. Through legitimacy, subordinated social groups develop the capacity to justify that they hold the power to govern themselves and not just to consent and submit to external actors. Eventually, legitimacy of memory and leadership perspectives can be leveraged as power since the group believes in their potential. Through a critical approach drawing from history and sociology, the study contributes insights to both the social change and the Indigenous leadership literature.

Examining the Contemporary Worker and the Workplace From a Leadership-as-Practice Perspective: A HRD Opportunity

“…Leadership-as-practice challenges the idea that agency appears separate from and outside of the social activity itself. Through legitimate social action, subordinated social groups may harness the power to resist colonizing discourses and govern themselves (Jimenez-Luque, 2021).…”

Leader's role in the development of collective competencies of fashion work teams

“…This role is essential to sustain the alignment between strategy, management practices and people's behavior (Bianchi et al , 2017). In this case, the leadership, perceived as social interaction, emphasizes the importance of playing the leader's role in the contexts in which it operates (Kwok et al , 2018) and is understood as a collective process of meaning construction (Jansson et al , 2021; Jimenez-Luque, 2021). This process implies increasing the collective agency of the participants and gaining the legitimacy of power as a social group that can be used to create social change (Jimenez-Luque, 2021), that develops through conversations and depends on a dynamic between personal and social resources that the participants bring in an interaction and, in your ability, to creatively mobilize these resources to accomplish tasks (Meschitti, 2019).…”

Latine evaluators and evaluation: Advancing representation and collective agency

“…Hood answered our requests in several ways, including hosting a Latine‐focused skill‐building session at every CREA conference, inviting recommendations for Latine plenary speakers, and encouraging us to apply to be CREA faculty affiliates. His efforts served to legitimize our experiences, perspectives, and promote our capacity to advocate and govern for ourselves, not merely consent or submit to others in the AEA community (Jimenez‐Luque, 2021). In the week leading up to his passing, he and the conference planning committee had been in touch with Leah via email to discuss recommendations for the Latine plenary at CREA 2023.…”