19th Dealing with Difference Institute
Tuesday & Wednesday, May 15-16, 2012
Western Illinois University
Macomb, IL 61455
The 19th Dealing with Difference Institute (DWDI) will begin Tuesday afternoon, May 15, 2012, at 1:00 p.m. in the Multicultural Center on the Western Illinois University Macomb campus. The focus, as in all previous institutes, will be on understanding the value, the challenges, and the increasing significance of cultural diversity in our world, with particular emphasis on its importance in education. The 19th DWDI will revolve around the theme Multiculturalism and/or Assimilation?
How do we live in a pluralist society, honor our cultural differences, and maintain community? Is it possible on both an individual and a national level to honor diversity and simultaneously maintain our personal and national identity and integrity? These seem to be difficult questions to answer, as evident from our continuing struggle to achieve equity in the face of our multifaceted diversity. The struggle has become a major concern in Europe as immigration patterns have changed, but it is likely to become increasingly relevant, and possibly problematic, in the U.S.A. as people in general and educators in particular prepare—or fail to prepare--for the projected demographic changes that indicate Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Americans will become the majority population here by 2041.
Dr. Pedro Noguera, the Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education and a faculty member in New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Development as well as the Department of Sociology, will address this demographic transformation and its consequences in his 1:00 p.m. DWDI keynote presentation May 15, 2012. Will the change, he asks, result in more conflict and polarization between ethnic groups or will schools help create a more integrated and equitable society? What role must educators, whatever their position in P-12 or higher education, play to further integration and equity?
While Dr. Noguera will focus on “Preparing for the New Majority: The Role of Schools in Building a More Inclusive and Equitable Society,” other DWDI presentations and discussions will explore the conundrum of assimilation and multiculturalism from a number of perspectives suggested by more questions: What strategies do educators and communities have at hand to insure a successful transformation from a country with a white majority to a nation with a majority composed of people of color? How do we build coalitions under such circumstances? Is it useful, for example, to consider possible parallels between how we maintain personal relationships and how organizations--and nations--might sustain themselves in the face of major change? Can training in non-violence and in grassroots organizing be adapted to help meet the challenges of such change?
The questions posed will not be answered easily or succinctly, but, given their significance in light of the demographic transformation taking place in the country, not asking them seems irresponsible, especially for educators who are in a position to contribute substantially and positively to the discussions that can lead to answers. From this vantage point, the 2012 DWDI theme is an invitation to participants to join in the conversation.
Questions can be directed to Janice Welsch (309-298-2057 / jr-welsch@wiu.edu) or J. Q. Adams (309-298-3698 / jq-adams@wiu.edu). The institute is sponsored by WIU’s Expanding Cultural Diversity Project and Center for Innovation in Teaching and Research and by the Illinois Association for Cultural Diversity.
