The systems psychodynamics of
Decolonising Minds, Workplaces & Curricula
for a better future
🔖 PRESENTATION
Paper (parallel)
📆 DATE
Wednesday 20 Nov 2024
⏰ MELBOURNE TIME
9.00 - 11.00 am
⏰ LOCAL START TIME
time start
Joanna Campbell
Coach, Consultant and NIODA PhD Candidate
Joanna is based back in Aotearoa New Zealand after more than 20years in advisory, functional and consulting roles to leadership, development, and change across Asia Pacific, Europe and Middle East.
She is studying for her PhD in board dynamics with NIODA and working globally as an executive coach consultant with Insead. In New Zealand, she works primarily with indigenous leaders of tribal and family businesses and non-profits, most often focused on succession dynamics, relationship and strategy challenges.
She is learning to speak and think in Māori after years of speaking English with small amounts of Arabic everyday.
⏰ DURATION
120 minutes
He Awa Whiria – weaving socioanalytic and Māori knowledge systems in PhD research
I have begun to engage with the ‘decolonisation challenge’ (Tuhiwai Smith 2022) during the early stages of PhD research into the psychodynamics of leadership and governance work focussed on the experiences of Māori (indigenous) board directors in Aotearoa, New Zealand (Joseph and Benton 2021).
My research is informed by the hopeful idea that different knowledge systems, primarily mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) and socioanalytic, may be woven in a useful and reparative hybrid, strong enough to honor and contain each stream of thought and its ontologies without permanent splitting and regression (Petriglieri and Petriglieri 2022).
I use the metaphor and methodology of he awa whiria – a braided river – to explore the possibilities and tensions in acknowledging and working within these different knowledge streams (MacFarlane, Derby and Macfarlane 2024). I will outline the principles, ontologies, epistemologies and ethics suggested for research with Māori (Tuhiwai Smith 2022) and the identity work (Caza, Vough and Puranik) and supervision system that this requires (Macfarlane, Derby and Macfarlane 2024).
I then discuss the ‘hoped for’ contribution of socioanalytic concepts and methods to my research and how these might braid with kaupapa Māori methods. The psychodynamics of decolonization requires consideration of how historical trauma, resistance and struggle is likely to manifest in unconscious as well as conscious dynamics in the object of study as well as in the research system. I will share my thoughts about the difficulties in working at the boundary of what can and cannot be thought or said in this research (Petriglieri & Petriglieri 2020).
The paper concludes with the a working hypothesis about the contributions of each knowledge stream and encourages the reader to think deeply and widely about their cultural position and the societal dynamics which may be impacting their relationship to knowledge and research.
References
Caza BB, Vough H, Puranik H. Identity work in organizations and occupations: Definitions, theories, and pathways forward. J Organ Behav. 2018; 39:889–910. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2318
Joseph, R. and Benton, R. eds. Waking the Taniwha: Māori Governance in the 21st Century. Thomson Reuters.
McFarlane, A., Derby, M. and Macfarlane, S. eds. (2024) He Awa Whiria: Braiding the knowledge streams in research, policy and practice. Canterbury University Press.
Petriglieri G. & Petriglieri J. (2020). The return of the oppressed: a systems psychodynamic approach to organization studies. Academy of Management Annals 2020, 14(1): 411– 449.
Petriglieri G. & Petriglieri J. (2022). The work is alive! Systems psychodynamics and the pursuit of pluralism without polarization in human relations. Human Relations, First Published April 21, 2022, Research Article https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267221089208
Tuhiwai Smith, L. (2022) Decolonising Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. 3rd edition Bloomsbury Academic
Day(s)
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Hour(s)
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Session schedule
5 MINS
Introduction
30 MINS
Paper presentation
20 MINS
Small group discussion; impressions of the paper and developing questions for the presenter
20 MINS
Discussion forum with the presenter; moderated for the speaker to elaborate their ideas
10 MINS
Discussion forum with the presenter; themes from the discussions
5 MINS
Break
30 MINS
Whole symposium open reflection discussion
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Parallel Paper Presentations
The following are presenting at this time
JOANNA CAMPBELL
He Awa Whiria - weaving socioanalytic and Māori knowledge systems in PhD research
ALICE FENG & DR ANITA TAN
Jumping into the Messiness: Decolonising Allyship through Intersectional Reflexivity
