{"id":16569,"date":"2018-12-10T14:50:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-10T13:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.zdv.uni-mainz.de\/gleichstellung-und-diversitaet\/2018\/12\/10\/article-anchoring-diversity-as-a-topic-in-teaching-by-caroline-schmitt\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T10:22:45","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T08:22:45","slug":"article-anchoring-diversity-as-a-topic-in-teaching-by-caroline-schmitt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gleichstellung-und-diversitaet.uni-mainz.de\/en\/2018\/12\/10\/article-anchoring-diversity-as-a-topic-in-teaching-by-caroline-schmitt\/","title":{"rendered":"Article: ‘Anchoring diversity as a topic in teaching’ by Caroline Schmitt"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/jgu-base-pageheader>\n
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Within the framework of the working group \u201cSocial Pedagogy\u201d and beginning in the winter semester of 2014\/2015, we have regularly offered bachelor and master seminars on the topic of \u201cDiversity\u201d at the Institute for Educational Science. During these seminars, we focus on theoretical and practical perspectives on diversity. \u201cDiversity\u201d is derived from the Latin word \u201cdiversitas\u201d and means difference. <\/p>\n\n\n<\/jgu-base-heading>\n\n\n\n

Diversity-approaches perceive people on the basis of categories (Emmerich\/Hormel 2013: 184). Categories are, for example, \u201cnationality\u201d, \u201cethnicity\u201d, \u201ccountry of origin\u201d, \u201cage\u201d, \u201cphysical constitution\u201d, \u201cgender\u201d, \u201csexual identity\u201d, or \u201cideology\u201d. Some of these categories are addressed in the General Act on Equal Treatment (AGG), which came into force in Germany in 2006. In the seminar group, we reflect on sorting people into these and other categories. These categories don\u2019t exist, per se, rather it is we who define, based on classifications, when someone is considered \u201clearning impaired\u201d, for example. Differentiating based on so-called \u201cethnicities\u201d is also problematic \u2013 what does \u201cethnic\u201d mean? As cultural anthropologist Elisabeth Timm (2000) put it, \u201cit\u2019s always the others who are ethnic\u201d. \u201c\u2018Koreans in Los Angeles\u2019 are \u2018ethnic\u2019, \u2018Chinese in New York\u2019, \u2018North Africans in Lyon\u2019, \u2018Jews in France\u2019 or \u2018Turks in West Berlin\u2019\u201d (ibid, 364). Calling something \u201cethnic\u201d changes it. It creates an \u201cus\u201d and \u201cthem\u201d mentality within the framework of a particular understanding of \u2018normalcy\u2019. In this seminar, we try to become sensitized to these differentiation practices. We, too, add to alienation, social inequality, and exclusion with the decisions we make (Kourabas\/Mecheril 2015). It is these practices of differentiation we aim to become aware of and examine if they lead to social inequality and a lack of participation. This central element of the seminar can be described as reflexive diversity-competence (Beate Aschenbrenner-Wellmann, 2009). <\/p>\n\n\n<\/jgu-base-heading>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, we are working on diversity on the organizational level. The challenge is in designing organizations (social work organizations, but also educational organizations such as the university) which do not exclude others. We get to know the approaches \u201cDiversity Management\u201d and \u201cIntercultural Opening\u201d. Diversity management began as a business strategy in the United States during the mid-1980s. Employee diversity is used in a resource-oriented manner and to gain profit in business enterprises and appeal to a wide range of customers. For example, single mothers championing the developments they see necessary in mini vans, which will benefit other single mothers as well (Schmitt\/Tuider\/Witte 2015). Or a financial institution which purposefully hired employees with a \u2018Turkish background\u2019. Those employees are in turn meant to win over customers with Turkish backgrounds (Arslan 2014). Although diversity management usually \u2013 but not always \u2013 follows economic principles, social justice is at the center of the approach of \u201cIntercultural Opening\u201d. The basic idea stems from a 1995 anthology titled \u201cThe Intercultural Opening of Social Services\u201d (\u201cInterkulturelle \u00d6ffnung sozialer Dienste\u201d), by Klaus Barwig and Wolfgang Hinz-Rommel. The two authors advocate for a critical look at social services\u2019 organizational structures and at unequal societal structures. Their concept was developed out of a critique. In the 1960s and 1970s, the diversity of language, the different nationalities and socializations of people with international backgrounds was seen largely as a problem, which was to be remedied through a \u201cspecial pedagogy for foreigners\u201d. \u201cSocial Services for Foreigners\u201d and \u201cpedagogical institutions for foreign employees and their families\u201d were created (Mecheril 2010: 56). The children of so-called \u201cguest-workers\u201d were taught separately, in some cases. Barwig and Hinz-Rommel are critical of the creation of special, separate systems. They advocate viewing the diverse population not as a \u201cproblem\u201d, social services and other societal institutions should rather be responsible for creating programs accessible to all. Examples for intercultural opening could be extending the internet times for young refugees in pedagogical resident groups, so that they can reach their family members and friends on Skype in other time zones (Sch\u00e4fer 2013), checking your own facility for accessibility, writing flyers and homepages in easy language, supporting employees who are parents with flexible work hours or the possibility of working from home, recording the support of and taking into account diversity in mission statements, and making that support visible. <\/p>\n\n\n<\/jgu-base-heading>\n\n\n\n

During the seminar, we discuss different examples of implementing diversity management and intercultural opening, during which the conflict areas become obvious. Diversity approaches focus on diversity, and therefore on differences between people. By focusing on those differences, however, it can be easy \u2013 and dangerous \u2013 to categorize people, seeing them first and foremost as \u201crefugee\u201d, \u201cMuslim\u201d, \u201cwoman\u201d, \u201chomosexual\u201d. Such categorizations run the risk of being closely connected to stereotypes and lead to viewing everything a person says or does as \u2018typical\u2019 of a \u201crefugee\u201d, a \u201chomosexual\u201d, or a \u201cMuslim\u201d. It would be especially problematic if diversity approaches contribute to the creation and maintenance of a binary \u2018us\u2019 and \u2018them\u2019 difference from the perspective of the dominant culture (Kubisch 2003: 5). We can become aware of this area of conflict by critically broadening our views on the living situations and lives of others and reflecting on how and if we perceive, categorize, and address others. A further danger on the organizational level is that \u201cwell-meaning support\u201d can tip: on the one hand, organizations want to cater to the specific needs of a diverse range of people, but on the other hand, target-group-oriented approaches can easily lead to a kind of negative specialization. The discussion of case examples allows questions of discrimination, racism, and participation to move to the center of our discourse, rather than reducing people to their culture. <\/p>\n\n\n<\/jgu-base-heading>\n\n\n\n

Students regularly incorporate their own experiences in this seminar. They speak of what studying at the university as a parent is like, how it was to take part in mostly German-language seminars as a non-native German speaker, or of the challenges they face combining a (side) job with their studies. The participants\u2019 experiences are a valuable resource. For one, they show the participants how \u201cconnected\u201d we all are to the topic of diversity, and they also can act as impetus for the university\u2019s development. It is a central and future-oriented task, then, to combine the students\u2019 (and university employees\u2019) perspectives together with organizational developments. Several seminar participants have continued working with the topic after the seminar had ended and written qualitative-empirical theses on the topic (see the interview with Kira-Maria H\u00f6ll and Anne Pike). Examples of topics are \u201cStudent Discrimination Experiences at the University\u201d or \u201cStudying as a Young Mother\u201d. The findings from these papers have provided a range of possible approaches for the university and specific, concrete hints on how institutional structures can be co-developed with a diverse student body. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Arslan, B. (2014): Beispiel f\u00fcr interkulturelle \u00d6ffnung in der Wirtschaft: Die Deutsche Bank AG. In: Mayer, C.-H.\/Vanderheiden, E. (Hrsg.): Handbuch Interkulturelle \u00d6ffnung. Grundlagen, Best Practice, Tools. G\u00f6ttingen\/Bristol: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, S. 250-251.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aschenbrenner-Wellmann, B. (2009): Vielfalt, Anerkennung und Respekt. Die Bedeutung der Diversity-Kompetenz f\u00fcr die Soziale Arbeit. In: Sanders, K.\/Bock, M. (Hrsg.): Kundenorientierung \u2013 Partizipation \u2013 Respekt. Neue Ans\u00e4tze in der Sozialen Arbeit. Wiesbaden: VS, S. 47-73.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barwig, K.\/Hinz-Rommel, W. (Hrsg.) (1995): Interkulturelle \u00d6ffnung sozialer Dienste. Freiburg im Breisgau: Lambertus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emmerich, M.\/Hormel, U. (2013): Heterogenit\u00e4t \u2013 Diversity \u2013 Intersektionalt\u00e4t. Zur Logik sozialer Unterscheidungen in p\u00e4dagogischen Semantiken der Differenz. Wiesbaden: Springer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kourabas, V.\/Mecheril, P. (2015): Von differenzaffirmativer zu diversit\u00e4tsreflexiver Sozialer Arbeit. In: Sozialmagazin. Die Zeitschrift f\u00fcr Soziale Arbeit 9\/10. Schwerpunktheft: Diversity und Soziale Arbeit, S. 22-29.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kubisch, S. (2003): Wenn Unterschiede keinen Unterschied machen d\u00fcrfen \u2013 Eine kritische Betrachtung von \u00bbManaging Diversity\u00ab. (Link<\/a>, ab S. 36) (Stand: 24.04.2013).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mecheril, P. (2010): Die Ordnung des erziehungswissenschaftlichen Diskurses in der Migrationsgesellschaft. In: Mecheril, P.\/Castro Varela, M. d. M.\/Dirim, \u0130.\/Kalpaka, A.\/Melter, C. (Hrsg.): Migrationsp\u00e4dagogik. Weinheim und Basel: Beltz Juventa, S. 54-76.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sch\u00e4fer, A. (2013). Die Betreuung unbegleiteter minderj\u00e4hriger Fl\u00fcchtlinge als transnational orientierter Hilfekontext. In: Sozialmagazin. Die Zeitschrift f\u00fcr Soziale Arbeit 38, S. 62-71. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schmitt, C.\/Tuider, E.\/Witte, M.D. (2015): Diversityans\u00e4tze \u2013 Errungenschaften, Ambivalenzen und Herausforderungen. In: Sozialmagazin. Die Zeitschrift f\u00fcr Soziale Arbeit 9\/10. Schwerpunktheft: Diversity und Soziale Arbeit, S. 6-13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Timm, E. (2000): Kritik der \u201eethnischen \u00d6konomie\u201c. In: PROKLA 120. Zeitschrift f\u00fcr kritische Sozialwissenschaft. Themenheft \u201eEthnisierung und \u00d6konomie\u201c 30, S. 363-376. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Within the framework of the working group \u201cSocial Pedagogy\u201d and beginning in the winter semester of 2014\/2015, we have regularly offered bachelor and master seminars on the topic of \u201cDiversity\u201d at the Institute for Educational Science. During these seminars, we focus on theoretical and practical perspectives on diversity. \u201cDiversity\u201d is derived from the Latin word … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":979,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[219],"tags":[295,231,225],"class_list":["post-16569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tip-for-university-teaching-staff","tag-sensitization","tag-teaching","tag-tip-for-university-teaching-staff"],"primary_category":{"id":219,"name":"Tip for university teaching staff","slug":"tip-for-university-teaching-staff","parent":0,"breadcrumb":"Tip for university teaching staff"},"media":{},"image":{"url":false,"credit":false},"index":"Sensitization","assigned_date":"","external_link":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gleichstellung-und-diversitaet.uni-mainz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gleichstellung-und-diversitaet.uni-mainz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gleichstellung-und-diversitaet.uni-mainz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gleichstellung-und-diversitaet.uni-mainz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/979"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gleichstellung-und-diversitaet.uni-mainz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16569"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/gleichstellung-und-diversitaet.uni-mainz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19565,"href":"https:\/\/gleichstellung-und-diversitaet.uni-mainz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16569\/revisions\/19565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gleichstellung-und-diversitaet.uni-mainz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gleichstellung-und-diversitaet.uni-mainz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gleichstellung-und-diversitaet.uni-mainz.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}