Università degli Studi di Cagliari
Antigone Speaks: Reading Contemporary Leadership Claims With The Ancient Tragedy; Let’s Up The Ante: A Call To Intellectual Activism In Academia
23 giugno 2017
Nell’ambito del Visiting Professor Programme 2017 finanziato dalla Regione Autonoma della Sardegna, la Prof.ssa Alessia Contu, Chair of the Management Department University of Massachusetts - Boston, terrà una serie di lezioni:
venerdì 23 giugno 2017 - Ore 10:30 Aula Magna (Facoltà di Scienze Economiche Giuridiche e Politiche--‐Viale S. Ignazio 78, piano terra)
Antigone Speaks: Reading Contemporary Leadership Claims With The Ancient Tragedy
Abstract. Antigone is centered on the decision of a leader, Creon, that, it turns out, is the wrong decision. Antigone indicates that leadership decisions have a tragic dimension and invites us to ask what is the potentially tragic aspect of leadership decisions, and how one has to behave in order to examine such a tragic dimension and act properly. This ‘how’ question invites us to consider that leadership decisions are embedded in a complex context with dynamic intersecting differences and resulting potential tensions. These affect the options and possibilities to produce a good and timely leadership decision for the whole community. When the context, with its different tensions and dynamics, is brought into focus it helps us to explain what is going on in the play and the reasons behind the tragic occurrence. Creon’s leadership decision appears as the resolute act to eliminate conflict and uncertainty, and to steer the city into its prosperous future. But Antigone shows us how such resolution is controversial and steeped in patriarchal relations. Creon’s decision embodies the logic of the authoritarian ‘strong man’ where effective leadership is at one with the actions of a ‘know-it-all’, ‘take-no-prisoners’ masculinity. Antigone warns us of the potential tragic consequences of this ‘strong man’ logic as it limits options and opportunities for good decisions. Importantly, Antigone shows us the centrality of phronesis to leadership and how one is to make good and timely leadership decisions by exercising legitimate power.
giovedì 29 giugno 2017 - Ore 16:30 Aula Magna (Facoltà di Scienze Economiche Giuridiche e Politiche--‐Viale S. Ignazio 78, piano terra)
Let’s Up The Ante: A Call To Intellectual Activism In Academia
Abstract. This paper is a call to embrace and work towards a specific form of intellectual activism in business schools and academia in general. Based on the inspiring work of professor Patricia Hill Collins, and other black feminist and post-colonial scholars, intellectual activism is here defined as ‘the myriad ways in which people place the power of their ideas in service to social justice’. This paper calls for and delineates a positive response to the current crisis of hegemony by identifying key areas of work that scholars in business schools and other locales can engage with. This intellectual activist praxis invests the key dimensions of our work: teaching, research activities, and our work as employees and managers in academia. In a systematizing and pro-positive effort I indicate that such academic praxis has four key features. It is progressive, critical, engaged and concrete. These features are elaborated and then I introduce specific tactics/practices for engagement and offer examples. In summary, intellectual activism in business schools is (i) a form of political work; (ii) a form of ‘building work’; and (iii) not easy. Nonetheless this is one of the biggest challenges of our time.
I seminari saranno coordinati da Marco Zurru (zurru@unica.it) e Barbara Barbieri (barbara.barbieri@unica.it)
Dipartimento di Scienze Sociali e delle Istituzioni