What do we Talk about when we Talk about Ethnic Entrepreneurship?

Abstract

This chapter seeks to engage with and extend the current debate in the literature of ethnic entrepreneurship. It critiques the concept of ethnic entrepreneurship and its theoretical underpinnings. It argues that research in ethnic entrepreneurship bears little reflection of the current changes and new realities in the composition of modern societies. Based on qualitative primary data from interviews combined with secondary sources of data, it suggests that the term ‘ethnic entrepreneurship’ is discriminatory and creates a narrative of Othering in the discourse of entrepreneurship, thus, portraying entrepreneurship as a western phenomenon. It argues that it is contradictory to think entrepreneurship is fundamentally contextual, socially and culturally embedded, and then define enterprise with ethnic bias. The concept of ethnic entrepreneurship propagates entrepreneurial Othering and a reductionist view of non-western forms of entrepreneurship. What constitutes ethnic enterprise should not be based on the identity of the owner. The ethnic enterprise is not confined to a geographical boundary; and the ethnic economy and the mainstream economy are not mutually exclusive. In this era of superdiversity and globalisation, researchers are encouraged to rethink the concept of ethnic entrepreneurship and embrace difference without Othering.

Citation

Korede, T. (2021), "What do we Talk about when we Talk about Ethnic Entrepreneurship?", Vershinina, N., Rodgers, P., Xheneti, M., Brzozowski, J. and Lassalle, P. (Ed.) Global Migration, Entrepreneurship and Society (Contemporary Issues in Entrepreneurship Research, Vol. 13), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 35-53. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2040-724620210000013003