Institutionalising campus diversity in South African higher education: Review of diversity scholarship and diversity education

Increasingly the social, educational, cultural, linguistic, religious and racial diversity of South African society is finding expression within South African institutions of higher education. Consequently, "diversity", "diversity issues" and "diversification", have become part of the education debate and policy, and pose new challenges to South African tertiary institutions. Most institutions are attempting to respond to these challenges within the context of a transformation process which impacts on every aspect of academic life from student access and support, outreach programmes, staff recruitment and retention, to academic programme development, research, scholarship and the social and learning environment on campus. This paper looks at how South African higher education institutions have met these challenges. It highlights how the ideas, initiatives or practices around diversity have been appropriated and made part of the mainstream intellectual and academic discourses. It also investigates the social and epistemological conditions of possibility for meaningful scholarship and curriculum practices in addressing the challenges posed by social diversity on campuses. More specific questions in this regard include: What counts as knowledge in diversity scholarship? Who produces and disseminates it? Who accesses it or utilises it? What is its space in the curricula?