Akbar's multiculturalism: lessons for diversity management in the 21st century

This paper challenges the hegemony of US-centric perspectives in the diversity management literature by explaining how non-Western histories and cultures may provide alternative contexts for understanding and managing diversity. In pursuit of this, the paper describes how Muslim ruler Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar conceptualized multiculturalism in 16th century India, and how his principles of sulh-i-kul, rah-i-aql, and rawa-i-rozi may be adopted to develop a sociopolitical environment conducive to managing cultural diversity in organizations, an environment currently lacking even in the majority of democratic countries in the world today.