No. 112/2021

IN THE UNITED STATES CHILDREN ARE CONFRONTED WITH THE TOPIC EARLY ON The term is most firmly established in the United States. “Americans are confronted with the topic from their ear- liest childhood; after all, the US is an immigration coun- try,” says Jeffrey Peck, former Dean at the City University of New York. “For example, I grew up in a corner of the United States where there are a lot of immigrants and a lot of African Americans.” After many years in Europe, he had a pivotal experience at his university in New York. “The fact that a society is highly heterogeneous does not automatically mean that people know how to deal with diversity.” He himself had only realised this in the course of his work as Dean and during his research on diversity. What was crucial was to incorporate differentness. Jef- frey Peck, who is also a member of the Board of Directors of the American Friends of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, quotes his favourite adage: “Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusivity is being asked to dance.” These were not just empty phrases: in a diverse environ- ment, ideas were questioned more rigorously; at best this would produce better answers. “Excellence and diversity are not opposite poles,” Peck emphasises, “they are mutu- ally dependent.” Empirical evidence for conclusions of this kind can be found, for example, in a recent study which appeared in the US journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Acad- emy of Sciences of the United States of America). The study followed the careers of thousands of doctoral candidates over a period of three decades – with unequivocal results: “Demographically underrepresented students innovate at higher rates than majority students,” the authors write, “but their novel contributions are discounted and less likely to earn them academic positions.” Jeffrey Peck himself had a transformational experi- ence when he was a student in Germany. “The fact that I, as a Jew, learned German was something special.” What he discovered was that when it comes to the diversity debate, you should not just think in terms of dualisms but consider various levels – that is, not just man or woman, black or white. “Diversity is different in every context,” he says, formu- lating what research refers to as intersectionality. Every individual combines the most diverse dimensions within WHAT DIVERSITY MEANS DEPENDS ON THE COUNTRY YOU ARE IN.” “ FOCUS 14 HUMBOLDT KOSMOS 112/2021