SARCHi Chair in Critical Diversity Studies
In the 21st century, ‘diversity’ has become a root concept in discourse about our contemporary social condition.
Professor Nicky Falkof currently holds the South African National Research Chair in Critical Diversity Studies.
In the 21st century, ‘diversity’ has become a root concept in discourse about our contemporary social condition. At the same time, the notion of diversity is under attack from a growing populist right wing, suggesting that social progress that seemed probable a decade is now under threat. Both locally and globally, diversity is a divisive issue, a social marker and an important field of study.
Diversity is often still addressed in South Africa in the same way as in the global North. The focus remains on bringing in representative numbers of marginalised groups into organisations which continue essentially unchanged. There is a mismatch between the social imaginary which is being imported with these models and the context in which they are being applied. We need to think about these dynamics in relation to colonial history, and our situation in the Global South and in Africa.
Legislative reform in South Africa has attempted to redress social injustice along a number of axes of difference (for example race, gender, age, ability and sexuality) with less success than might have been hoped. This Chair addresses these dynamics by unpacking the ways in which powerful systems of sense-making shape subjectivities that are invested in retaining forms of organisation that are dominated by, centred on, and identified with, their interests. These hegemonic systems, such as whiteness, masculinities, able-bodiedness and heteronormativity, intersect and co-construct each other. As such, the kind of knowledge produced by this chair is integral to unlocking our national potential.
Studying diversity from a critical perspective helps to support the development of a more just social and economic milieu. Attention to the advantages of developing inclusive approaches to difference and the negative consequences of othering can only lead to better social, political and economic outcomes. Perhaps most importantly, the fault lines formed along lines of difference represent a risk to society if not properly understood and transformed to create more sustainable and socially just foundations.