Re-Evaluating the Legitimate Parameters of Corporate Power

Posted on May 12, 2023

During the monthly research seminar hosted by the Department of Jurisprudence, the following question was posed: "What is the purpose of reframing corporate subjectivity?" ...and how it is of the highest necessity to re-evaluate the lawful bounds of corporate power and the validity of recognising that power in the first place.

Reframing (Corporate) Subjectivity: Systemic Inequality and the Company at the Intersection of Race, Gender, and Poverty is the title of the published research article that was presented by Charmika Samaradiwakera-Wijesundara, who is a senior lecturer, a PhD candidate, and a researcher at the University of Witwatersrand. 

She began her presentation by unpacking the link between the corporation and racial as well as gendered systemic oppression in the context of South Africa, but emphasised that it was not exclusive to the context of South Africa. She then demonstrated the fact that the design of the corporation is not organic and is rather fundamentally about the centralization of power and has both material and ontological implications. She finally discussed the process of revising the narrative of corporate neutrality and attempted to show in line with critical scholarship, the true and continued purpose of corporations and discussed the various ways it sanitises its operations and conceals what seems to be the underpinning ideology behind the corporate structure’s intended function.

She further interrogated the reframing of corporate or company subjectivity, systemic inequality and the company as well as the intersection of race, gender and poverty through challenging the commonly held idea that corporations are natural or organic and a given, particularly in the framing of corporate commercial law.

The enriching seminar stimulated lively academic participation as attendees engaged with the intellectually stimulating research paper. Attendees shared valuable feedback, posed insightful questions that she responded to in great depth and committed to considering some valuable comments and suggestions made in the session as she embarks on another research endeavour continuing on this topic. The seminar is yet another effort by the Department of Jurisprudence at the faculty of law to invite rich intellectual engagement both in the faculty and university wide. 

 

 
- Author Palesa Mbonde

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