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The great Barbadian cultural critic, historian, and poet — Kamau Brathwaite — authored a book, published in 2000, entitled “Words Need Love Too.” The long-awaited collection was an exploration of the power of words and represented yet another of Brathwaite’s signature works in creating a revisionary literary and communication tradition out of the diverse rhythms and nation languages that form our world views. Indeed, before the proliferation of I.D.E.A. positions (e.g., chief diversity officer, VP of inclusion and equity, etc.) in higher education, Kamau Brathwaite for many years had been examining diversity from literary, communication, historical, and political positions, which can lend clarity to our current discussions of I.D.E.A. As a Brathwaite scholar, I was and continue to be empowered by loving words, which requires more than the casual glance at and use of words. It requires a studied and continuous care for and embrace of words borne, of discovering ways of knowing, and approaching the use of words. Over these last two decades, I have come to embrace Brathwaite’s message with a new clarity, particularly so, in the cyclical global discussions and foci on inclusion, diversity, equity, and access (hereafter referred to as I.D.E.A.).
As we engage in contemporary understandings of the plurality of I.D.E.A. work, which is the focus of my edited collection “Diversity Matters: The Color, Shape, and Tone of Twenty-First Century Diversity,” it is clear that how we enter into dialogues [in the higher education workspace] about I.D.E.A. requires foundational work — “word love work” — to engage individuals in the meanings (denotatively and connotatively) of inclusion, diversity, equity, and access. Words are ultra-powerful, so it is fundamental that leaders of I.D.E.A. work engage fully and often in deciphering how [these] words show up in the environment and how faculty, staff, students, board members, and external community members define and acknowledge the reality, or not, of I.D.E.A. as integral to the institution’s identity and daily work cadence.
How Can Leaders of I.D.E.A. Spark the Dialectic?
Discussions could begin with defining the words — inclusion, diversity, equity, and access — which subsequently expands the discourse toward artful investigations and discussions on stakeholders’ opinions, experiences, and approaches — subliminal and intended — about I.D.E.A. This may seem extremely simplistic to engage in definition work; however, the art of negotiating and navigating differences of opinions in the defining process will require respect and cultivation of trust. Engaging with respect and trust is crucial for opening the door and keeping it open as I.D.E.A. work is continuous and evolving.
Let me briefly examine how such discussions could begin through a foundational definition filtering of the words — inclusion, diversity, equity, and access. I suggest a series of “defining sessions” consisting of workshops where one word is defined in each workshop. This should be followed by a culminating master workshop that synthesizes institutional understandings of individuals’ foundational I.D.E.A. terminology. These sessions can occur in specific cohorts or in collective sessions. Here, I provide a brief entryway into catalyzing a discussion on the meaning(s) of one word — diversity.
At a primal denotative level, diversity equates to difference. In the higher education space, the first question for an I.D.E.A. leader might be how difference is recognized, or not, in institutional roles of faculty, staff, students, board members, and external community members.
Consider the following questions in leading an initial diversity discussion/training toward synthesizing the denotations of diversity with the connotations within the higher education institution:
- What is [your] definition of diversity?
- Is there an institutional definition of diversity?
- What kinds of diversity exist within this workplace?
- What is [your] understanding of protected classes within the institutional work of diversity?
- What is the relationship of inclusion to diversity?
- Is diversity a process or an outcome?
- Can an individual person be diverse? Why [so] or why not?
- How is critical mass important in workplace diversity?
Encourage participants to write down their responses [face-to-face sessions] and/or insert their responses in the chat section of Zoom, Teams, et.al. At the end of the initial session, ask to collect responses from those who feel comfortable sharing. This can provide session leaders with initial data to inform the next discussion/training.
Earlier, I asserted that engaging with respect and trust is crucial for opening the door in diversity discussions/trainings and keeping that door open as I.D.E.A. work is continuous and evolving. Respect and trust cannot be built on a flimsy foundation of stand-up exhortations filled with endless PowerPoint presentations.
Simply put, the focus of I.D.E.A. work is “continuing and evolving engagement” in discussions to include stakeholders’ opinions, experiences, and approaches to diversity understandings and tangible visible actions. The engagement I am describing is not a semester-long, academic year-long, or any fixed period-long “exercise” wherein persons emerge “shored up” in a knowledge of diversity and subsequent actions that inform diversity. Instead, one tangible outcome of initial institutional diversity discussions can consist of a synchronized understanding of how diversity shows up within the workspaces and how this understanding is implemented and actionable.
In short, how does the institution move beyond rhetoric to actions?
In closing this introductory post, I must say that the type of dialogic that I suggest for higher education institutional diversity work is how this collection of essays, “Diversity Matters: The Color, Shape, and Tone of Twenty-First Century Diversity,” was created.
In 2018, I began to think daily of convening individuals from differing vantages to discuss race matters in the twenty-first century. That thinking led to my development and directing of a conference in June 2019 entitled, “Catalyzing 21stCentury Discourse and Engagement of Race” with keynote speakers Nikki Giovanni and Matthew Knowles. I reached out to colleagues near and far to join in this inaugural event to discuss race within the space of difference — diversity — and to use the ultra-powerful word to move us regionally, nationally, and internationally to positive actions in continuing the work on race matters.
Indeed, in my welcome address to the conference attendees, I offered: “…this conference event is more than an academic event; it is a life event that enables us all — through the power of both the spoken and written word- to capture past and present strivings toward future implementations for racial equity and inclusion around the globe.”
And, thus, our discussions on inclusion, diversity, equity, and access began during the period of the conference — June 11-14, 2019. The power of the word was so intense during the conference that I reached out to key presenters and asked if they would join me in collecting their words in a publication to both memorialize and activate our ongoing work of I.D.E.A.
My Advice: In your I.D.E.A. work, start with the word(s) and walk forward. Words Need Love Too.
