Symposium: The borderlands of gender in management and organizations: Standpoint(s) and the Legacy of Ancestrality

Description

This symposium interrogates the knowledge borderlands between epistemic violence and epistemic justice. We put the concepts of standpoint epistemology (Pereira, 2018), knowledge from (Bispo, 2022), and situated perspectives (Harding, 1986; Comesaña, 2008) in conversation with the notion of borderlands (Anzaldua, 1987) to interrogate and challenge simplistic and binary conceptualisations of gender in management. Borderlands represent dynamic spaces of encounter where cultures, identities and social realities intersect and interact (Broad, 2000; Naples, 2010). Equally, these are spaces riddled with tensions, ruptures, and contradictions, framed by epistemic violence (Spivak, 1988) and epistemic injustice (Muzanenhamo & Chowdhury, 2023).

In this sense, we highlight that systems of oppression do not operate in isolation, but in intersection, forming a matrix of domination that defines which knowledge is valued and which is systematically silenced (Collins et al., 2021). In the context of gender coloniality (Lugones, 2008), this matrix is rooted in the imposition of a binary and Eurocentric gender system, which delegitimizes non-Western forms of social organization and existence.

By interrogating how power hierarchies shape knowledge production about gender in management and organizations, this symposium highlights ways to disrupt epistemic violence and promote alternative, pluriversal epistemologies and ontologies. We bring into this discussion the importance of ancestrality to highlight the coloniality of gender (Lugones, 2008) as an organizing principle that promotes a Western-centristic, universal understanding of gender (Patil, 2013). Coming from different epistemological, ontological perspectives, with our own histories, experiences and expertise, our dialogical engagement aims to create a critical reflexive space both about and within knowledge borderlands to illustrate the possibilities of a pluriversal roadmap to advance epistemic justice in discussions about gender in management and organizations.

Connecting the coloniality of gender with intersectionality helps us denounce the epistemic violence that shapes the field of management. It also allows us to envision new possibilities for knowledge production rooted in non-violence (Rodrigues Silva, C. et al.; 2025). This symposium aims to operate at the borders of knowledge, working to destabilize the fixed categories imposed by coloniality and to broaden the horizons of epistemic justice in discussions about gender and organizations.

Period	Sept 2025
Event title	British Academy of Management Annual Conference: On the Border: Management Challenges, Business Opportunities and Disrupted Institutional Contexts
Event type	Conference
Conference number	39
Location	Canterbury, United KingdomShow on map