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Diversity: A New Approach to Difference

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European Cities, Municipal Organizations and Diversity

Part of the book series: Global Diversities ((GLODIV))

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Abstract

The second chapter discusses the notion of ‘diversity’, examining the set of ideas it is associated with, as well as its concrete uses as a policy concept. Developing a genealogy of diversity, I first trace the US-American roots of diversity policies and their appropriation in the European context. I then analyze the ideas associated with the concept of diversity and compare them to the ideas developed under the header of multiculturalism. This chapter identifies the relevance of the concept of diversity and lays the conceptual groundwork for understanding the concurrence of scholarly and policy uses of the notion.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See for example: Steinberg (2004, pp. 35–37).

  2. 2.

    A more encompassing discussion about whether the Netherlands had a policy inspired by multiculturalism will be provided in Chap. 4.

  3. 3.

    This conceptualization of identity also reflects Anthias’ proposal to replace the concept of identity with ‘translocational positionality’ (Anthias, 2002b) and complements it with a vision for interaction between individuals.

  4. 4.

    For a theoretical discussion of the production of ‘color line’ and ‘color consciousness’ and its problematic aspects, see Appiah and Gutman (1998) and Gilroy (2000).

  5. 5.

    ‘Equality’ is used here, in the context of Leeds, as a generic term depicting the current integration policy. In Leeds, and more generally in the UK, the term equality in public discourse was used in a much more common-sense way and with a much less heavily utopian connotation than in most of continental European cities. There, the term equality is also in use, but is more strongly connected with an emphasis on its utopian quality and therefore often stimulates debate about what activities it should imply.

  6. 6.

    This has historically been the case in all three cities.

  7. 7.

    The aldermen (‘wethouders’ in the Netherlands; ‘schepenen’ in Flanders) are the day-to-day authorities of a local government. Their role can be compared to the role of ministers at the national level. Together with the mayor, they form the ‘college’ which makes most day-to-day decisions of the local government. They are appointed by the local council for a set number of years and for a specific portfolio. Together with the local council, they form the local government.

  8. 8.

    One has to note, though, that an essentialist use of the concept was not necessarily something unprecedented, as it has both been part of the anthropological application of the concept in putting far-away ‘cultures’ into boxes one could grasp (see Phillips, 2007), but had also been reflected in the formerly widespread notion of cultures as reflecting a clear national boundary, as in depictions of e.g., ‘Indian culture’, ‘French culture’, and so on (Gupta & Ferguson, 1992, pp. 6–7).

  9. 9.

    For reasons of space, I will refrain from going more deeply into the debates this has created within the discipline of anthropology (Brumann, 1999; Sahlins, 1999) and the ways the concept of culture has at the same time experienced a revival in more ‘mundane ways’ in the neighbouring debates and disciplines of social science, such as cultural studies (Bhabha, 1994).

  10. 10.

    Anti-discrimination, anti-radicalization/social cohesion, citizenship, emancipation of women/girls, and emancipation of homosexuals were the five work programmes at the moment of my fieldwork.

  11. 11.

    Ahmed studied the introduction of a diversity policy in the university sector.

  12. 12.

    The term ‘communities’ is generally used in the UK for what are mostly called minority ‘groups’ in continental Europe.

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  1. multireligiöser Gesellschaften, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen, Germany

    Maria Schiller

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Schiller, M. (2016). Diversity: A New Approach to Difference. In: European Cities, Municipal Organizations and Diversity. Global Diversities. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52185-9_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52185-9_2

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