1 Why bother with diversity? The endless debate (An addendum to Carl James ’ book entitled Seeing ourselves: Exploring race, ethnicity and culture, 2003)

Introducing the salience of identity With so much discussion about diversity, and the obvious reference to the undeniable reality that Canada and the world are becoming more multicultural, do we really need to study diversity? What is it that we need to know to live in a pluralistic society? What are the advantages to learning about diversity? Is there a right and wrong way to teach about diversity? Isn’t it just commonsense how we should treat people? What is the connection between identity, culture and diversity? These questions frame the core of this chapter, which discusses the diversity problematic within the educational context, paying particular attention to the themes of identity, power and transformational change. Since there are many approaches to discussing, teaching and learning about diversity, as there should be, it might be helpful if I briefly outline my starting-point. How am I qualified to discuss diversity? Have I achieved encouraging results in getting people engaged in/with/about diversity? Do I cover all of the bases, implications and consequences of diversity? How does my identity affect my conceptualization of