Conversations from around the coffee table: Exploring subaltern leadership

Abstract

Moving towards social justice requires a deconstruction of the current work and leadership systems that contribute to and are rooted in oppression. (Re) visioning leadership must exist outside to dismantle the dominant discourses. In the community, social justice work has the opportunity to use love and hope to guide the processes. This article presents the findings from our, the coauthor’s convivio – we are a group of women living in Canada, members of the Central American and South American diaspora. We gathered around a coffee table to discuss how leadership currently operates and the possibilities for a more collective future. What we term “subaltern leadership” represents the how we navigate our positions as leaders amidst marginalization as newcomers and as women. What evolved in this dialogue was the question of “can the subaltern lead in the current structure and nature of work?”. The findings support the notion that representation is only the beginning and can mirror tokenism when the same structures remain. To truly support subaltern leadership, a more radical shift must occur.