1st Edition

Debating Diversity Analysing the Discourse of Tolerance

By Jan Blommaert, Jef Verschueren Copyright 1998
    248 Pages
    by Routledge

    252 Pages
    by Routledge

    Immigration, racism and nationalism have become hotly debated issues in the Western world. This highly original and controversial work focuses on the language used by the vast majority who regard themselves as being open to a multi-cultural society.
    Using Belgium as a case study and drawing parallels with the UK, US, Europe and the former Yugoslavia, the authors analyse this language and reveal a remarkable consistency between these liberal voices, such as in news-reporting, and the language used by radical racist and nationalist groups.

    Introduction PART I Diversity: the issue 1 The management of diversity 2 Group relations, cognition and language PART II The ingredients of an ideology 3 The ‘migrant problem’ 4 The central concepts 5 Homogeneism PART III Homogeneism at work 6 Training for tolerance 7 Educating the public 8 Anti-racism, Epilogue

    Biography

    Jan Blommaert is Professor of African Linguistics at the University of Ghent, Belgium. Jef Verschueren founded the IPrA (International Pragmatics Association) in 1986 and currently directs its research centre at the University of Antwerp. Both authors have previously collaborated on The Pragmatics of Intercultural and International Communication (1991).