TY - JOUR

T1 - Hacking feminist futures

T2 - Collective memories of polyphonic organizing

AU - Dahlman, Sara

AU - Christensen, Mia Lunding

AU - Friis, Henriette

AU - Petersen, Linea Munk

AU - Just, Sine Nørholm

AU - Kristiansen, Nanna Würtz

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2025

PY - 2015/12/15

Y1 - 2015/12/15

N2 - Many feminist organization and management scholars align with feminist activists, offering their research as a form of intervention. Thus, research engagement with/as organizational practice may be influenced by feminist epistemologies that emphasize situated and embodied becoming. Assuming that knowledge cannot exist independently of action, the present study explores the potentials of polyphonic feminist organizing as a mode of “knowing-as-action.” More specifically, we work with collective memories of organizing Feminist Futures Copenhagen (FFC), an activist hackathon in which we were all involved. Using polyphony to identify dynamics of in- and exclusion in our own organizing practices, we find three tensions that simultaneously pull centripetally toward unison and push centrifugally toward difference: resistance/recognition, solidarity/difference, and research/practice. Reflecting on their various articulations across our memories, we examine these tensions and explore their productive potential under the labels of “Emergent subject positions,” “Giving and taking space,” and “Staying with the process.” Thus, we, as feminist organizers, and researchers, configure our “knowing-as-action” of FFC polyphonically. Methodologically, we show how creating and remembering moments of embodied feminism may facilitate the integration of research and activism around polyphonic tensions. By sharing our experiences with feminist organizing, we create an opportunity to reflect upon the role of activism within feminist management and organization studies. We suggest that methods of polyphonic feminist organizing offer productive means to navigate and articulate ongoing tensions between research and practice.

AB - Many feminist organization and management scholars align with feminist activists, offering their research as a form of intervention. Thus, research engagement with/as organizational practice may be influenced by feminist epistemologies that emphasize situated and embodied becoming. Assuming that knowledge cannot exist independently of action, the present study explores the potentials of polyphonic feminist organizing as a mode of “knowing-as-action.” More specifically, we work with collective memories of organizing Feminist Futures Copenhagen (FFC), an activist hackathon in which we were all involved. Using polyphony to identify dynamics of in- and exclusion in our own organizing practices, we find three tensions that simultaneously pull centripetally toward unison and push centrifugally toward difference: resistance/recognition, solidarity/difference, and research/practice. Reflecting on their various articulations across our memories, we examine these tensions and explore their productive potential under the labels of “Emergent subject positions,” “Giving and taking space,” and “Staying with the process.” Thus, we, as feminist organizers, and researchers, configure our “knowing-as-action” of FFC polyphonically. Methodologically, we show how creating and remembering moments of embodied feminism may facilitate the integration of research and activism around polyphonic tensions. By sharing our experiences with feminist organizing, we create an opportunity to reflect upon the role of activism within feminist management and organization studies. We suggest that methods of polyphonic feminist organizing offer productive means to navigate and articulate ongoing tensions between research and practice.

KW - Collaborative research

KW - collective memory work

KW - feminist organizing

KW - hackathon

KW - polyphony

KW - Management studies

KW - Gender and Diversity

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105025544160&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/13505084251383286

DO - 10.1177/13505084251383286

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:105025544160

JO - Organization

JF - Organization

SN - 1350-5084

ER -