Colonialism as context in diversity research

Abstract

Diversity management practice and research are both direct responses to the conditions that European colonialism of other parts of the world has produced. We argue that diversity research thus functions within a colonial episteme, a way of thinking and producing knowledge about the world that is structured by colonial logic. Taking colonialism seriously as a context is not only about acknowledging culturally different ways of knowing, but also about recognizing and undoing the authority of the West to determine what diversity is around the world and what constitutes diversity research. We propose there may be other ways to conceptualize the relationship between difference and diversity, and offer some provisional ideas about how we can begin to do this in our research.