Topic: Decolonizing Business Schools in Africa
Date: Friday 12 March, 2021
Time: 12.00-13.30 (GMT) 11.00-12.30 (WAT) 7.00- 8.30 (EST)
Zoom Link: Register in advance for this webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_RCL1kW6iTtquMzSlGWb-lA
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Panellists:
Prof. Kenneth Amaeshi, University of Edinburgh, UK
Prof. Mehdi Boussebba, University of Glasgow, UK
Dr. Mundia Kabinga, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Prof. Shaun Ruggunan, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Dr. Baniyelme D. Zoogah, AFAM President, Xavier University, USA
Facilitator:
Dr. Nceku Nyathi, Royal Holloway University of London, UK
The global support of the Black Lives Matter movement re-ignited discussions on the role of institutions, including Business Schools, in propagating racial, tribal and social injustices. Historical legacies of injustice and inequality are often perpetuated through what is taught (including a Eurocentric curriculum) or not taught, the kind of research undertaken, and the nature of external partnerships forged by business schools and accreditation bodies in Africa. Moreover, the cultures of inequality and silencing of voices is often perpetuated through internal structures, systems and processes of institutions. This reality calls for reimagining business schools for the future and their role in Africa’s development. This webinar will discuss decolonization and indigenisation efforts within institutions in Africa, and how they might transform business schools in Africa to develop a more equal, prosperous and just society.
Webinar Series Organisers:
Prof. Amanuel Tekleab, Wayne State University, USA
Dr. Judy N. Muthuri, Nottingham University Business School, UK
Panellists Profiles:
Kenneth Amaeshi is a Professor of Business and Sustainable Development at the University of Edinburgh. Kenneth's research interest currently focuses on sector-level policies for sustainability and sustainability strategy in organisations. He has an expert level knowledge of developing and emerging economies. He has an extensive network in Africa. He was recently a Scholar in Residence at the National Pension Commission, Nigeria, and is currently a Visiting Professor of Strategy and Governance at the Lagos Business School, Nigeria, and an Honorary Professor of Business in Africa at the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town, South Africa. Besides teaching and researching, Kenneth works closely with businesses and governments in Africa, Europe, and Asia. He leads executive capacity building engagements and consultancy projects in the broad areas of sustainable finance, sustainability strategy, leadership, ethics, and governance
Mehdi BOUSSEBAA is Professor of International Business at the University of Glasgow, where he also leads the International Business & Enterprise research cluster. His research examines diverse aspects of corporate globalization from a broadly sociological perspective and with a focus on North-South relations. He has a particular interest in the relationship between globalization and imperialism and, empirically, concentrates on multinationals in knowledge-intensive and professional service sectors. In recent years, he has also researched the geopolitics of knowledge production and currently contributes to ongoing efforts to decolonise knowledge within business schools. Mehdi is Associate Editor of Critical Perspectives on International Business and serves on the editorial boards of Human Relations, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of World Business, Organization Studies, and Journal of Professions and Organization. He is currently also a Visiting Professor at the UIBE Business School in Beijing, China.
Mundia Kabinga is a Senior Lecturer in Development Finance and Strategy at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB), Senior Research Fellow with Research ICT Africa (RIA), and Co-Editor of the Oxford University Press Handbook on the Zambian Economy. His core competencies are in applied economic analysis and transformation advisory in sub-Saharan Africa and frontier markets with a bias towards institutional reform analysis, tax administration, macroeconomic modelling, and optimization in complex and resource constrained environments. His most recent work focusses on: evaluating the impacts of COVID-19 and its public policy responses on poverty, inequality, social protection, firms, informality, financial flows, fintech, taxation, and cross-border trade in Africa’s largest economies, namely, South Africa and Nigeria; industrialization, structural economic transformation and diversification in Africa; implications of the fourth industrial revolution on development finance, business models, and governments in frontier economies; and utility and electricity sector reform management in resource constrained environments. He is Co-Chair of Transformation, Innovation, and Organizational Change (TIOC) sub-committee of the UCT GSB Academic Committee (AC); a member of the American Economic Association (AEA), Economic Research Southern Africa (ERSA) and Institute of Directors Southern Africa (IoDSA); and a regular contributor to business newspapers and magazines in emerging markets on issues of development finance, business, economic, and infrastructure sector reform.
Shaun Ruggunan is an Associate Professor of Human Resources Management at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa. He has researched and published on maritime human resources. More recently, Shaun’s research has focused on what it means to decolonise management studies in a South African context. He has written about teaching human resources management for social change. Together with Gavin Jack, Nimurji Prasad and Alex Faria, Shaun hosted a paper development workshop in Durban, South Africa on decolonising management and organisational knowledge for the journal Organization. His most recent book with R. Sooryamoorthy explores the trajectory of management studies in South Africa using a bibliometric methodology. Their book shows what the patterns are in knowledge production in management studies in South Africa and how these patterns shape scholarship in the area. Crucially the book demonstrates how management studies was very much an apprentice to the Apartheid state’s policies on labour and work.
Baniyelme D. Zoogah (PhD - The Ohio State University) Associate Professor of Management at the Williams College of Business, Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA teaches Strategic Human Resources Management and International Human Resources Management, Strategy and Organizations. He has published several articles in numerous top tier journals and book chapters on Africa-centered Management, Green Management, Strategic Followership, and Strategic Human Resources Management. He has authored two books on strategic followership - Strategic Followership: How Employees Contribute to Organizational Productivity, and Theoretical Perspectives of Strategic Followership, edited a book on Advancing Research Methodology in the African Context: Techniques, Methods, and Designs (Volume 10 of Research Methodology in Strategy and Management Series), and co-authored a textbook, Managing Organizational Behavior in the African Context. He is currently working on his fifth book, Ethnos Oblige: Theory and Evidence. His research generally focuses on development of individuals, groups, organizations, and nations. His current areas are strategic followership, corporate environmental sustainability, and Africa-centered management. He is a founding executive and current President of the Africa Academy of Management (AFAM), an affiliate of the Academy of Management. He served as Executive and Chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Theme Committee of the Academy of Management.
Stay Informed
