A decolonial critique of ‘diversity’: theoretical and methodological implications for meta-intercultural education

Abstract

ABSTRACT This essay puts in conversation notions of diversity, interculturalism and multiculturalism with decolonial scholarship, and then discusses the theoretical and methodological implications for meta-intercultural education – that is, a perspective that reconceptualises intercultural education anchored in critical and decolonial perspectives. It is suggested that a decolonising diversity approach opens new pathways for critical responses to the global discourses and practices of diversity that reinforce particular forms of colonial violence through intercultural education policies and practices. It is argued that this approach offers new insights that enable practical, everyday education interventions which disrupt institutionalised diversity work. Importantly, this approach does not mean a blanket rejection of everything that is ‘Western’ or ‘European’ and replacing it with other centric forms of knowledge production, but rather building upon decolonial critique to critically interrogate key concepts and transform our ways of thinking about interculturality and diversity in education.