Affective disruption: Walter Benjamin and the 'history' of Ireland's industrial schools

Kenny, Kate. (2013). Affective disruption: Walter Benjamin and the ‘history’ of Ireland's industrial schools. Management & Organizational History, 8(1), 10-22. doi: 10.1080/17449359.2013.749676

Abstract

What role do organizations play in writing history? In this paper, I address the part played by organizations in the enactment of large-scale violence, and focus on the ways in which the resulting histories come to be written. Drawing on the case of Ireland's industrial schools, I demonstrate how such accounts can act to serve the interests of those in power, effectively silencing and marginalizing weaker people. A theoretical lens that draws on ideas from Walter Benjamin and Judith Butler is helpful in understanding this; the concept of 'affective disruption' enables an exploration of how people's experiences of organizational violence can be reclaimed from the past, and protected in a continuous remembrance. Overall, this paper contributes a new perspective on the writing of organizational histories, particularly in relation to the enactment of violence.Â

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Rights

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Ireland

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Management (Scholarly Articles)