Awareness & Critical Diversity Literacy (2023)

In the atelier “Awareness & Critical Diversity Literacy”, the connecting and dividing lines between two concepts of different theoretical origins were investigated: While the concept of “awareness” is based on a psychological concept of consciousness and individual mindfulness and aims at fostering appreciative and respectful interaction with one another and consensus-based action, the concept of critical diversity literacy is characterized by a perspective that critically examines society and power: critical diversity literacy analyses situation-specific phenomena against the background of social and historical power dynamics in order to instigate change.

The text Choosing the margin as a space of radical openness by bell hooks (The Journal of Cinema and Media No. 36, 1989) served as an introduction to this atelier. The participants were invited to “place” experiences of exclusion in the room and to analyze them from multiple perspectives by referring back to text of bell hooks, in which the terms “centre” and “margins” are problematized.

This first joint “movement of investigation” generated the common ground allowing for the setting of a second situation. In a close reading of film sequences promoting awareness, the participants analyzed the premises and the frameworks within which scenarios towards awareness were realized, discussing these in differing performative formats inspired by strategies of collective reading offered by Critical Diversity Literacy. These insights were carried into the conclusion round as productive material towards action strategies for diversity-orientated and heterogeneity-sensitive university teaching.