It is hard to decouple thinking about management and organization from a pervasive sense of catastrophe these days. To name just two prominent ‘big picture’ issues: In the financial sphere academics and practitioners alike are awaiting the next financial crisis – ‘the really big one’ now that the financial firepower and policy levers of sovereign states seem to have been exhausted. In the matter of climate change we may have already reached a critical point where we could be simply “stumbling towards collapse” (Leahy et. al, 2010). Are we then to be helplessly left “to ponder the apocalyptic possibility of widespread systemic crisis and breakdown” as stated in the call for sub-theme proposals? What is to be done? An obvious answer would be to put our faith in innovation and entrepreneurship – stick with the Enlightenment ideal of progress and keep on doing what we’re doing but only in more ingenious (and perhaps more profitable) ways, thus allowing us to postpone catastrophe indefinitely. Or is living with the constant spectre of impending doom a normalization of the catastrophic? Through this sub-theme we aim to offer up some latent possibilities and connections for CMS by assembling a collection of papers that explore the flip-side of entrepreneurship and innovation studies and offer ways of conceptualizing and problematizing social and organizational destabilization, collapse and despair.
We are particularly interested in contributions which aim to explore the following themes:
The catastrophe is now: Perhaps catastrophe is not something awaiting us, but is simply the fact that everything goes on, continues to go on, exactly as it does. Our task then becomes, as Benjamin puts it: “the introduction of a real state of emergency” (Thesis VIII –
Theses on the Philosophy of History). How do we introduce such shock or emergency?
The strange attraction of catastrophe: The depiction of catastrophe finds rich expression in popular culture such as disaster novels, plays and films. From Samuel Beckett’s
Catastrophe to Marvel superheroes, we are promised saviours and heroes. So who is to save us from our impending doom? Who populates the heroic narratives of catastrophe?
Catastrophe ethics: Registering catastrophe need not be defeatist. Taking catastrophe seriously places unprecedented demands on our moral imagination; through our experience of catastrophe reality is perhaps telling us things we do not wish to know about ourselves, organization or society. What could catastrophe ethics mean for CMS?
Catastrophe concepts: Various theorists assume some form of future or present catastrophe in their thinking: Badiou (2008) talks about “endurance within the impossible”; Berger (2006) about “undefeated despair”; Benjamin (2002) about “weak messianic power”, a kind of hope that is no longer connected to an expected success. How can various theoretical notions enrich our thinking about catastrophe?
Counterperformativity and Catastrophe: In fully assuming catastrophe in our assumptions, theories, or models, we may lessen the chance of its manifesting itself. An analogue would be the adoption by the Options Clearing Corporation of Mandelbrot's wildly random infinite-variance Levy distributions: By assuming wild randomness, the Options Clearing Corporation hopes to keep randomness mild (McKenzie, 2006). In what ways can we operationalise this concept of counterperformativity?
Catastrophe as disturbance and emergence: how does catastrophe destabilise thinking? How does it re-establish or re-stabilise discourse? Is catastrophe a catalyst for change? By creating schisms and breaks, are we able to construct catastrophe as possibility, or as an opening of a schism that invites new thinking?
Catastrophe and the future: Catastrophe has to do with our inability to imagine a better/different future. What are the symbolic effects and mechanisms that prevent productive impulses towards the future? Are we bound by lessons of retribution and blame from the past? How do catastrophes shape futures?
Catastrophe as creation and transition: Catastrophe also signals movement against the backdrop of the stagnant and unchanging. The moral panic instituted by catastrophic events such as economic collapse institute various rhythms of shock and dissent. Can catastrophe move the bowels of the constipated economy? Does the joy, shame, fear and loathing of catastrophe eventuate the possibility of a passionate catastrophe beyond the zeitgeist?
Submission of abstractsPlease send abstracts or any questions to [log in to unmask] by 30 April 2013.
Abstracts should be a maximum 500 words, A4 paper, single spaced, 12 point font. Deadline
31st January 2013Notification of paper acceptance:
22nd February 2013Full papers will be expected by
1st May 2013