Cruzando fronteras : the contribution of a decolonial feminism in organization studies

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to introduce decolonial feminist theorizing to the field of organizational history to explore issues of historical revisionism, hierarchy, power, and coloniality. This paper is a theoretical work and uses empirical material from the archive of the company Pan American Airways (PAA) to exemplify possible interpretations when using decolonial feminist frameworks. We analyzed how representations of Latin Americans explore ideas of race, gender, and nationality? Drawing on the feminist and decolonial literature we suggest that the field of organizational history can profit from the reflexive nature of the colonial past and the possibility of thinking about the future by reflecting on the past (the mestiza way). In short, this work is a contribution to the ‘decolonial turn’, that shifts the way we produce knowledge by understanding that most social problems should be understood through consideration of the implications of modernity and coloniality. The work is part of a larger project on Pan American Airways (PAA) and the production of intersectionality – involving extensive archival research, including analysis of a range of documents such as letters between the airline’s Latin American Division (LAD) and its head office, tourist brochures, magazines, maps, as well as pictures of landscapes and people from the so-called Latin American region.