How do we conceptualize the terms of “diversity” and “social justice” in education?
Diversity is a value neutral concept. Diversity signifies quantity—it does not highlight a normative impulse. And, when a normative impulse is highlighted, it is usually in a manner that is inattentive to the ideological and systemic structural conditions that marginalize and oppress. For instance, while the language of diversity is used by numerous educational institutions to claim engagement with social injustice (especially, but not limited to, racial inequality), the reality of most institutional policy is that engagement rarely extends beyond simply advocating increasing the number of under-represented populations. While we certainly advocate numerical diversity, our concerns are much deeper than numerical representation. We advocate engaging and eliminating systemic injustice. So, what is social justice? There is little question that social justice is a contested concept; it has ideological fluidity. We embrace this. Yet, while the language of social justice is broad enough to al
