Decoupling Racial Stereotypes from the Body of Knowledge Utilized in a Network of Organizations Managed by Meditation Practitioners in Brazil

In a network of organizations managed by meditation practitioners in Brazil, how to decouple racial stereotypes from its body of knowledge? How to more effectively respect the rights of black individuals interacting with anthroposophical organizations without racially discriminatory stereotypes being reinforced in Brazil? Are there alternatives to Dan McKanan’s (2017) field observations of “hermeneutics of veneration” causing study groups to uncritically accept stereotypical sentences in books authored by Rudolf Steiner? An organizational science action-research methodology was performed following the approach of Otto Scharmer’s “Theory U”, in order to find some steps towards answering these questions. Dialogue interviews with black individuals in the context of anthroposophical organizations and a contemplative inquiry meditation for mental receptivity to insights were instrumental to create simple potential solutions to be tested in focused social experiments (“prototypes”). In the first prototype, a group of decision makers in Brazil accepted the recommendation to decouple racial stereotypes from two books. A second prototype proposed a change management communication plan to be tested, which was based on Robert Livingston's approach for racial equality in organizations and based on the implementation of Steiner's “ethical individualism” concept applied as practical criteria for the change management process. In this communication plan, a change management coordinating team is recommended to ask key questions individually to meditation practitioners representing anthroposophical humanism in Brazil, in order to invite them to support the decision above to decouple racial stereotypes from the two books. Evaluation of resulting answers and reactions to those key questions will provide additional data for checking to what extent the ideas of “ethical individualism” can be applied as practical criteria to a new evidence based change management process, in order to decouple racial stereotypes from the body of knowledge of a network of organizations managed by meditation practitioners in Brazil.