Diversity scholarship naturalises plurality and hides how racial distinctions are made
Evidence
This body of scholarship seems to operate within what we might call the ‘diversity problematic’, rather than a racism problematic. In this work, the fact of (super)diversity and ‘ethnic plurality’ is naturalised as an objective descriptor of certain societies, and this ‘diversity’ then sets the stage for convivial encounters (see e.g. Heil, 2014; Nowicka & Vertovec, 2014). This obscures the question of how particular ethnic/racial distinctions and divisions get made and remade (de Noronha, 2019; Hall, 2017). Indeed, it is the very production of some differences as the differences that matter which forms the most urgent political and intellectual question. — Luke de Noronha, The conviviality of the overpoliced,…, 28
Categorization
- DEFINE: Defines the ‘diversity problematic’ as opposed to the ‘racism problematic’.
- corroborated: 4 independent passages support this claim — Luke de Noronha, The conviviality of the overpoliced,…, 28
- XREF: connects to: Superficial diversity strategies conceal rather than resolve persistent representational racism; Institutions deploy diversity rhetoric to mask unchanged institutional racism — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The…, 1208; Pluralist race theories remain descriptive rather than properly analytic (+3 more)
Related
- Race functions as a naturalized line of difference, not merely skin color (similarity 0.81)
- Racial divisions remain socially powerful even when their conceptual foundations are false (similarity 0.78)
- Institutions deploy diversity rhetoric to mask unchanged institutional racism (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Superficial diversity strategies conceal rather than resolve persistent representational racism
#corroborates(0.90) - Institutions deploy diversity rhetoric to mask unchanged institutional racism
#corroborates(0.88) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 1208 - Representative diversity in media can co-opt rather than defeat racism
#expands(0.88) — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 1416 - Color-blind ideology masks ongoing discrimination while appearing egalitarian
#corroborates(0.85) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1850 - Race functions as a naturalized line of difference, not merely skin color
#expands(0.85) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 1116 - Pluralist race theories remain descriptive rather than properly analytic
#expands(0.78)