Why do Black and Brown scholars struggle for legitimacy as knowers; why do millions of Black and Brown Africans struggle to secure a decent meal each day despite living on a continent richly endowed with natural resources; and, why does AI recommend that “speakers of African American English be assigned less prestigious jobs, be convicted of crimes, and be sentenced to death”? I attribute these dehumanizing social realities to normalized marketplace violence. As marketplace violence, I denote “the actions and narratives of powerful market actors that perpetuate inequalities” for the “less powerful market actors” through manipulative interference with organizations and interconnected individuals. To illuminate the ways in which marketplace violence becomes normalized, this lecture will utilize three case studies on vulnerable Black ‘workers’ in Zimbabwe, Black scholars in a Western-centric scientific knowledge production and dissemination system, and the entrenchment of covert racism in AI technology. I will also invite the community of scholars, practitioners and ordinary citizens to reflect on the potential effects of coping mechanisms in normalizing marketplace violence, and the instrumentality of intellectual activism in inspiring a quest for positive change and achieving the same outcome.

Penelope Muzanenhamo

Dr Muzanenhamo is Assistant Professor in Marketing and Society at University College Dublin Business School, Ireland. Her research has been published in top tier academic journals such as Human Relations, Business Ethics, and Work-Employment-and-Society. She is the Winner of the Human Relations Paper of the Year 2023 for her co-authored research on epistemic injustice and advancing Black scholarship. Penelope is a recipient of multiple other best paper awards and research grants. She holds several international academic positions that include Co-Chair-Academy of Management-Critical Management Studies Division, and Media and Artefacts Review Editor for the journal Organization. She has featured on several high-level panel discussions on epistemic (in)justice, racial equality, and vulnerable market actors. Penelope also serves as member of the UCD-Africa-Advisory Group, Africa Lead–UCD College of Business Centre for Business and Society; Academic Advisor–Proudly Made in Africa; Committee–member Ireland-Africa-Rural-Development; and Co-Director–‘People, Work, Society’ UCD Earth Institute. Prior to pursuing an academic, Penelope worked as Marketing consultant strategist in Austria.

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