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Should business school scholars engage in intellectual activism? This article explicates the origin, the intellectual tradition and politics of intellectual activism, making a case for why management scholars might want to become intellectual activists. Intellectual activism has been elaborated in Patricia Hill Collins' contributions and the work of other black feminist intellectuals and activists such as Angela Davis. Together with the writings of Antonio Gramsci and Judith Butler, intellectual activism is reframed here as a particular type of critical performativity to help scholars make a difference in the world. This article invites scholars to answer the challenges posed by the crisis of neoliberalism, and to re-articulate the values of equality, freedom and solidarity by embodying an academic praxis that is progressive, intersectional, critical and concretely engaged in the service of social, economic and epistemic justice. The article also provides examples of intellectual activism by showcasing the activities of the critical management association, Vida.

In April 1977 the debut story of a very young and unknown Andrea Pazienza appears on the pages of the magazine Alter Alter. The short story was the first of what would later become a real saga entitled The Extraordinary Adventures of Pentothal, whose protagonist is none other than the alter ego of the same author. A unique debut work by Pazienza, a visionary concentrate of personal events and collective experiences in Bologna in the second half of the seventies, of student protest and of that inextricable intertwining between artistic and political avant-garde, between artistic action and action in the streets defined movement of '77. Through a reconstruction of the material conditions, needs and experiences, which somehow ideally and materially stimulated the realization of the story, the contribution tries to restore the practical and political experience of the urban reality, symbol of one of the most controversial seasons in recent history national. ; Nell'Aprile del 1977 appare sulle pagine della rivista Alter Alter la storia d'esordio di un allora giovanissimo quanto sconosciuto Andrea Pazienza. Il breve racconto era il primo di quella che sarebbe poi diventata una vera e propria saga dal titolo Le Straordinarie Avventure di Pentothal, il cui protagonista altri non è che l'alter ego dello stesso autore. Un lavoro d'esordio unico quello di Pazienza, concentrato visionario di vicende personali ed esperienze collettive nella Bologna della seconda metà degli anni settanta, della contestazione studentesca e di quell'inestricabile intreccio tra avanguardia artistica e politica, tra azione artistica e azione di piazza poi definito movimento del '77. Attraverso una ricostruzione delle condizioni materiali, delle necessità e delle esperienze, che in qualche modo hanno idealmente e materialmente stimolato la realizzazione del racconto, il contributo prova a restituire il vissuto pratico e politico della realtà urbana simbolo di una delle stagioni più controverse della recente storia nazionale.

What is the relation between conflict and organization studies? Is conflict theorized today and, if so, how? I look first at what students of management are taught about organizational conflict – the knowledge imparted to them, its assumptions and ethico-political consequences. By reactivating Mary Follett's insight of conflict as 'differences in the world' I consider more broadly how organization studies, with its different theoretical apparatuses, treats conflict and in so doing participates in the co-constitution of the social order: what it means to work, to organize and to live specific ways of life. Organization studies attempts to domesticate conflict by reference to a fundamental fantasy that modulates, controls and stabilizes differences. Harmonious fantasies in the 'functionalist perspective' and the 'behavioural theory of the firm' are discussed. Special attention is paid to the 'organizational economic perspective' with its economist fantasy for the part it has played in cementing our contemporary hegemonic market governance. At present, cracks in the market governance are becoming glaring and differences are emerging that the specific apparatus of conflict domestication is struggling to accommodate. I suggest that organizational theorists rethink the theorizing apparatus of organization studies, and consider taking on a form of theorizing called 'demiurgic theorizing'. This forwards a type of knowledge production that puts differences at centre stage and faces up to the contemporary conflict demands of our time with responsibility and accountability.

In July 1967 Hugo Pratt published the first episode of a long comic book with the evocative title The Ballad of the Salty Sea. The story represented in many respects an absolute novelty in the international and national comics scene. By introducing more complex and broader themes and narrative modules, it has opened in the heart of a well-established entertainment production, an unprecedented perspective, on an Elsewhere no longer stereotyped but suspended between new political instances that are certainly anti-colonial. ; Nel luglio del 1967 Hugo Pratt pubblica il primo episodio di un lungo racconto a fumetti dall'evocativo titolo Una ballata dal mare salato. Il racconto rappresentò sotto molti punti di vista un'assoluta novità nel panorama internazionale e nazionale del fumetto. Introducendo tematiche e moduli narrativi più complessi e di più ampio respiro ha aperto, nel cuore di una produzione d'intrattenimento ben consolidata, una prospettiva inedita su un altrove non più stereotipato ma sospeso fra nuove istanze politiche apertamente anticoloniali.

This article is a call to embrace and work towards a specific form of intellectual activism in business schools. Based on the inspiring work of Professor Patricia Hill Collins and other Black feminist and post-colonial scholars, intellectual activism is here defined as 'the myriad ways in which people place the power of their ideas in service to social justice'. This article calls for and delineates a positive response to the current crisis by identifying key features and areas of work that scholars can engage with in 'walking the talk' of critical work in business schools.