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Writing materiality into management and organization studies through and with Luce Irigaray

Yes / There is increasing recognition in management and organization studies of the
importance of materiality as an aspect of discourse, while the neglect of materiality in
post-structuralist management and organization theory is currently the subject of much
discussion. This article argues that this turn to materiality may further embed gender
discrimination. We draw on Luce Irigaray’s work to highlight the dangers inherent in
masculine discourses of materiality. We discuss Irigaray’s identification of how language
and discourse elevate the masculine over the feminine so as to offer insights into ways
of changing organizational language and discourses so that more beneficial, ethicallyfounded
identities, relationships and practices can emerge. We thus stress a political
intent that aims to liberate women and men from phallogocentrism. We finally take
forward Irigaray’s ideas to develop a feminist écriture of/for organization studies that
points towards ways of writing from the body. The article thus not only discusses how
inequalities may be embedded within the material turn, but it also provides a strategy
that enriches the possibilities of overcoming them from within.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/10282
Date07 April 2014
CreatorsFotaki, M., Metcalfe, B.D., Harding, Nancy H.
Source SetsBradford Scholars
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeArticle, Accepted Manuscript
RightsThe final, definitive version of this paper has been published in Human Relations, vol 67/issue 10 by SAGE Publications Ltd, All rights reserved. © 2014 SAGE Publications Ltd.

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