Colonialism, diversity and difference:

How radical is difference and how it impacts academic debate? How Eurocentric can we allow our academic production to be?

               Scholars from BRICS, that alone contain more than half of the population of the globe, seldom have their works approved at the main congresses in the world. And those who actively participate either studied or worked abroad, then they “learn” the language of closed circles of academic exchange and chose to play their game.

               Our empirical works are often described as “outside the range of interest” of the readers of the main academic journals. It forces a hard choice: making relevant research to advance the local situation or publishing in main journals or being accepted in main congresses. The choice is even harder because local universities BRICS countries tend to adjust the researchers career plans to the “relevance” of one’s production as measured by the rate of approvals at Northern congresses and journals …..

               We know that culture and institutions matter as the background for business. We know that differences exist between unequal countries like the BRICS countries and rich, more equal countries. But today a metaphor hit me like a stone, making me give up overtaken by a huge feeling of tiredness…..

I was planning to write a sub-theme proposal for the 38th EGOS Colloquium. The tittle: Organizing, the beauty of imperfection” – called my attention. With this theme, we would be able to dialogue having the Brazilian experience as the base…… Imperfection is our “middle name”….. Then I read the call and the requirements….

The public call for the colloquium describes imperfection as below:

“Vienna, as the hosting city for the EGOS Colloquium 2022, epitomizes the beauty of imperfection. Austrian culture is well known for appreciating the imperfections that characterize daily life, and for making the impossible possible through compromise.

 Imperfections are visible throughout the fabric of the city – be it buildings beaten by weather and worn by experience, the conspicuously missing number 5 line in the metro system, and the never fully realized second spire of St. Stephen’s Cathedral.

The WU Vienna University of Economics and Business campus is a patchwork of diverse architectural styles, with each of the buildings designed by different architecture offices in Hamburg, London, Sendai, Barcelona, Madrid and Vienna. This daring juxtaposition of colors, designs, and spaces comes together in an unusual harmony of aesthetic tension – giving life to an environment of active interchange and learning.

Exploring the beauty of imperfection provides opportunities to bring together an array of theoretical perspectives, methodological approaches, levels of analysis, and diverse contexts. We invite proposals for sub-themes that challenge traditional understandings of what it means to be perfect or imperfect; that spark reflexivity in the ways we organize and how we engage with pressing societal and world-societal issues; and those that embolden experimentation and expand the frontiers of theory development and organizational research. Our interest is to encourage lively discussions that blend different disciplines, perspectives, and methodologies – sparking new debates and collaborations around organizing in a time of political turmoil and significant global challenges.”

Then I looked at my window….. hundreds of people walking from the beach to the bus to reach Rio’s slums… . The new right in government denying the health risks. The inequality. The lack of basic education. The erratic behaviors amidst the pandemic…. The heavily armed police chatting under my window ignoring the boys from favela who daily steal at the same place…. The taxi-driver who always complain of police corruption and inefficiency pointing to a group of boys obviously plotting something and smiling at me at the window…..

Then I think of the business organizations trying to cope with huge institutional uncertainty, large populational heterogeneity and the challenges in building very basic agreements to reduce labor accidents, the fancy buildings of Leblon looking at Vidigal slums…..  

How imperfect can imperfection be?

What would it be to give up the search for perfection here and there?

How to you argue for “diversity in teams” in a place in which homogeneity is hard to find?

Are there any point of contact between the civilized eye looking at art and architecture and the social scientist at Brazil looking through the window to the chaotic Rio de Janeiro streets?

Can we make the impossible possible through compromise? Is compromising here the same as compromising there? The processes of compromise-building are equivalent?

Still exhausted by the efforts invested in politics….. Still mourning the horrible elections results…..

Suddenly I felt as if we inhabit different planets….. the effort to build bridges seemed too overwhelming.

I gave up……

Two much effort for basically no chance of being understood…..

It is time for us to face this immense precipice that keeps us apart.

And think of ways of bringing BRICS scholars together…..

I think it is time to invest my time in this direction. It can be very tiring to swing against the currents …. I look at the ocean. The strength of the water ….. It seems so similar to the academic currents ….. impossible to chance. Useless to face.