Workplace hate speech and rendering Black and Native lives as if they do not matter: A nightmarish autoethnography

Abstract

The #BlackLivesMatter movement has been met with resistance and hostility by many whites who do not see the need for assertions regarding the value and worth of Black lives. Those who seek to disrupt this emerging discourse tend to regard instances of white violence against Black people as individual incidents that do not reflect larger societal patterns. This paper addresses these assertions by drawing on discussions of slurs and other racially abusive language in the workplace. Using autoethnography, I provide rich descriptions of how hateful language circulates in whitespaces through both interpersonal interactions and through group-level consumption of racially problematic mass media creating organizations that are hostile to people of color, even in their absence. Major implications of this study include that the devaluation of Black and Native lives is pervasive within many predominantly white organizations and that this reality negatively effects both the life chances and the personal safety of people of color.

Enslavement and the Foundations of Human Resource Development: Covert Learning, Consciousness Raising, and Resisting antiBlack Organizational Goals

“…Over the last 15 years, the HRD community has developed a critical mass of scholarship on Black experiences in the workplace and antiBlack racism (Bass, 2009; Bohonos, 2021a; 2021b; Byrd, 2009; Henry, 2021; Hughes, 2014; Jean-Marie et al, 2009; Sparkman, 2017; Rosser-Mims et al, 2020; Rudel et al, 2021; Sisco, 2020, Sisco et al, 2021; Wicker, 2021). But none of these studies focus on the history of enslavement or its implications for contemporary practice despite calls from HRD thought leaders (Byrd, 2018; Hughes, 2014) for further historical contextualization of diversity and social justice in HRD.…”

Resistance from the margin: An autoethnographic account of academic ableism

“…This study also brings forth the importance of autoethnographic research in diversity and inclusion literature in HRD. Since autoethnography attempts to connect personal experiences to the larger sociocultural conditions under which we live, work, and learn, it is a particularly useful method for those from marginalized communities to reveal facets of their work environments that need change, and at times can become even more powerful when written from positionalities of privilege by invoking a sense of allyship (Bohonos, 2021). Through deliberate efforts that link self with theory, the autoethnographic stories of those who identify with marginalized communities are no longer mere personal narratives or autobiographies but become stories of critical, social, and political implications.…”

Identity work by a young petite female academic home comer: quest for social power in masculine settings

“…But in the masculinised construction industry, as a young petite female researcher, Nelly is almost an intruder (Naoum et al, 2020). Through his "joke", Sachin was able to assert his power over Nelly (Huber and Brown, 2017;Bohonos, 2021). Power is the "influence" over others, and Sachin's comment causes Nelly to question her identity.…”

“…, 2020). Through his “joke”, Sachin was able to assert his power over Nelly (Huber and Brown, 2017; Bohonos, 2021). Power is the “influence” over others, and Sachin's comment causes Nelly to question her identity.…”