On being included
Subtitle: racism and diversity in institutional life
By: Sara Ahmed
Publisher: Duke University Press; Duke University Press Books
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Durham
Language: eng
Number of pages: 256
ISBN-13: 9780822352211; 9780822352365
Subjects: Sociological aspects; Higher Education; Social aspects; Racism in higher education; Minorities in higher education; Cultural pluralism; Universities and colleges
Description: "What does diversity do? What are we doing when we use the language of diversity? Sara Ahmed offers an account of the diversity world based on interviews with diversity practitioners in higher education, as well as her own experience of doing diversity work. Diversity is an ordinary, even unremarkable, feature of institutional life. Yet diversity practitioners often experience institutions as resistant to their work, as captured through their use of the metaphor of the "brick wall." On Being Included offers an explanation of this apparent paradox. It explores the gap between symbolic commitments to diversity and the experience of those who embody diversity. Commitments to diversity are understood as "non-performatives" that do not bring about what they name. The book provides an account of institutional whiteness and shows how racism can be obscured by the institutionalization of diversity. Diversity is used as evidence that institutions do not have a problem with racism. On Being Included offers a critique of what happens when diversity is offered as a solution. It also shows how diversity workers generate knowledge of institutions in attempting to transform them." -- Publisher's description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: On arrival; title: Institutional life; title: The language of diversity; title: Equality and performance culture; title: Commitment as a non-performative; title: Speaking about racism; title: Conclusion: a phenomenological practice.