Interrogating the Histories and Futures of “Diversity”: Transnational Perspectives

• Published in: Public culture Vol. 31; no. 2; p. 197
• Main Authors: Partridge, Damani J, Chin, Matthew
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Durham Duke University Press, NC & IL 01.05.2019
• Subjects: Admissions policies; Affirmative action; Court decisions; Discourses; Global local relationship; Inequality; Multiculturalism & pluralism; Supreme Court decisions; Transnationalism; United States > US
• ISSN: 0899-2363; 1527-8018
• DOI: 10.1215/08992363-7286777

Drawing on insights and examples from scholars from around the world, this volume thinks through the effects of the transnational discourses and practices of “diversity” in local, nation-state-based, and global arenas. We begin with the Regents of University of California v. Bakke (1978) and Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) US Supreme Court decisions as a way of grounding our approach. In the introduction, the authors examine the extent to which these decisions ultimately led public universities in the United States to shift away from the original intent of affirmative action, which worked to redress historical inequality, and toward the concept of “diversity.” The authors scrutinize the consequences of this shift and how inclusion has come to be theorized through “diversity,” in the United States and transnationally, as an approach that systematically denies access to minoritized populations.