DIVERSITY! I think I just saw a collective cringe. Diversity is one of those words that just pops up all the time in contemporary higher education circles. We have endless forums, surveys, discussions, etc., all about this idea of pluralism we like to call diversity. But is all this awareness of different views, this so-called multicultural consciousness, really making things more diverse in our society today?
In three days you will have the chance to hear an interesting answer, because that is when University of California-Berkeley Sociology Prof. Robert N. Bellah is coming to present his provocatively titled lecture, "The Protestant Structure of American Culture: Multiculture or Monoculture?" This is an issue of the greatest importance for our generation, and participating in a dialogue about it will help lay the groundwork for what we hope our culture will become in future years.
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First, a little background on the diversity issue. If there is one guaranteed commonality in every admissions viewbook for top 25 American Universities it is this: You are bound to see a picture, probably in a lush, verdant outdoor setting, of a group of young people laughing and talking, clearly pursuing the joys of college life and education. This group will be comprised of a black guy, a Latino girl, an Asian guy, a white girl and a guy with a shirt on that says, "I'm gay." Okay, probably not the last guy, but you get the idea. Every top university is obsessed with diversity, with being the most diverse of the diverse.
And surely, not without good cause. Having a variety of viewpoints and people from different backgrounds certainly is important in helping to create an atmosphere that truly can pursue truth in its multifaceted forms. There is an interesting question to pose, however: How different is the culture of those people in the picture, if they all grew up in the U.S.? And how do the so-called multicultural movements throughout secondary and higher education really teach us to think about our differences?
The large commitment to forge ahead with movements of cultural diversity is sometimes justified with the goal of breaking down barriers and making people realize what they have in common. This has its merits, but it also sends a more subtle, subversive message. When schools blare from the rooftops the status of all the cultural groups on campus, and the image of harmony and equality that exists for everyone, the subtext is really, "We can all get along because we are not that different."
This is a tricky issue. In strongly advocating multicultural policy, there is sometimes a trivialization of the very cultures which the policy claims to uplift and affirm, because they all are lumped together in the same pot.
Which brings us to Bellah. One of the sponsoring parties of this lecture is the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture here at the University. The institute provides a summary of what Prof. Bellah will address, saying that, "... he will consider how America has proved surprisingly hospitable to the idea of multiculturalism, despite the power of its assimilationist tradition." Our country was founded by Protestants, and much of the pervasive mentality that exists from those roots still influences contemporary culture. While multicultural proponents favor a "salad bowl" metaphor instead of the "melting pot" one - which was so prevalent during the early part of the century - Bellah is going to argue that they may be basically the same. When the multicultural movement shouts things like "We're all different! We're all unique!" that may actually be a sign of the residual influence of the individualist ideology which was so important to our Protestant forefathers. This means that the supposed diversity which we see now may simply be expounding and supporting the "monoculture." Prof. Bellah "will conclude by considering what a genuine challenge to the dominant culture might actually look like."
As college students at the University we all have an idea of what the dominant culture looks like. The University clearly has its own individual culture, which some may love and affirm and others may find distasteful. Either way, with the movement towards globalization and the rapidity with which our country diversifies and the world absorbs American culture, questions like the ones Prof. Bellah will be addressing will be crucial.
To find out more about the culture that you think you know about or want to learn how to fight against, be in Minor Hall auditorium this Thursday at 3:30 p.m. You will hear the dreaded D-word, but maybe you will be challenged to think about it and society in ways that you have not before.
(Luke Godwin is a Cavalier Daily viewpoint writer.)
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