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SoSe 21: Diversity and the Politics of Belonging

Jennifer Ailed Chan de Avila

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The concept of belonging has been utilised, praised, contested and criticized in the political field for a long time. However, in the area of Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) work it has resurged as a key term that could help transcend the limitations posed by terms such as equity or inclusion. Indeed, the future of D&I points to the notion of belonging as a brave new frontier from which to develop policies that could bring about a much needed transformation of institutions beyond “welcoming” into “co-produced” by social groups that have been historically marginalised and excluded from these spaces. But what does it mean to belong? What are the politics associated with belonging? How does the concept relate to borders and spaces, both physical and metaphorical? How does it relate to bodies and emotions? What are the tensions and synergies in the relation between diversity and belonging? This seminar focuses on the concept of belonging and explores it from a variety of academic perspectives. Firsts, we will approach the notion from a political perspective but then, in a multidisciplinary manner, weave into the discussion elements from affect-, gender-, intersectional- and space- theories. In this way, we will find the possibilities and limitations that thinking of belonging brings into the D&I debate. close