Commodity diversity: Smiling faces as a strategy of containment

Swan, E

Commodity diversity: Smiling faces as a strategy of containment

Swan, E

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Organization, 2010, 17 (1), pp. 77 - 100
Issue Date:: 2010-01-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Swan, E https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4422-807X	en_US
dc.date.issued	2010-01-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Organization, 2010, 17 (1), pp. 77 - 100	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1350-5084	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/14049
dc.description.abstract	Arguing that commodities used in diversity management are relatively under-researched, this article examines a popular diversity image-a photograph of diversity as a mosaic-in order to explore what it can tell us about how racial difference is represented visually. In its close reading of the composition of the picture, the article argues that this diversity image acknowledges difference while at the same time it actually homogenizes it. The mosaic inscribes difference within a sameness grid and commodifies it. In so doing, it attempts to disable any political antagonism from minoritized groups, and placate the imagined white viewer, operating as a strategy of containment. The article contributes to critical diversity studies by drawing attention to visual techniques as technologies of 'race making' and visual images as important sites of power struggle. © The Author(s), 2010.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Organization	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1177/1350508409350043	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Business & Management	en_US
dc.title	Commodity diversity: Smiling faces as a strategy of containment	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	1	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	17	en_US
utslib.for	150310 Organisation and Management Theory	en_US
utslib.for	15 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services	en_US
utslib.for	16 Studies in Human Society	en_US
utslib.for	22 Philosophy and Religious Studies	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/e-Press
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - CMOS - Centre for Management and Organisation Studies
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - CPCE - Centre for Creative Practices and the Cultural Economy
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.issue	1	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	17	en_US

Abstract:

Arguing that commodities used in diversity management are relatively under-researched, this article examines a popular diversity image-a photograph of diversity as a mosaic-in order to explore what it can tell us about how racial difference is represented visually. In its close reading of the composition of the picture, the article argues that this diversity image acknowledges difference while at the same time it actually homogenizes it. The mosaic inscribes difference within a sameness grid and commodifies it. In so doing, it attempts to disable any political antagonism from minoritized groups, and placate the imagined white viewer, operating as a strategy of containment. The article contributes to critical diversity studies by drawing attention to visual techniques as technologies of 'race making' and visual images as important sites of power struggle. © The Author(s), 2010.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/14049