The notion of diversity, which has originally been designated a role of a ‘quality product’ for markets, institutions and even whole nations to lay evidence of their tolerance, has been criticized for implicating some forms of discrimination while offsetting others (Ahmed 2012). In our project, developed two years ago at the Technical University in Darmstadt, Germany, we challenge the classical channels of knowledge production and distribution by inviting external actors to diversify university curricula. In a larger sense, Vielfalt bildet project points to new tendencies that aim at de-polarising the historical and recent notions of diversity.

We start by arguing that diversity as an inherently paradoxical discourse needs to be introduced and discussed from different perspectives, especially standpoints disenfranchised by inequalities confronted with dominant (hegemonic) positions (e.g. the educators and activists who lived through non-normative experiences. In its theoretical part, this paper draws on a discussion about the negativity and positivity in the diversity discourses in the last twenty years. We agree with Sara Ahmed (2012) that positive readings of diversity are as much conducive to good practices as fostering liberal conviviality although we claim that they do not, typically, give in to liberal trends. The problematic notion of integration - used interchangeably with diversity - has in some cases led to less diversity as a result (Badiou 2009). Drawing on recent readings of Balibar’s and Wallerstein’s Race, Nation, and Class (Bojadžijev and Klingnan 2018) and on the practical solutions for more heterogeneous curriculum within German Educational Sciences (Walgenbach 2014; Kasatchenko & Zitzelsberger 2020), we stress the necessity to rethink epistemological ties between learning in a white, Western academia and teaching in a multi-cultural society.

Moving on to praxis, we introduce the work of our project in the third year of its existence, linking the experience with a conception of diversity that opts for a two-way education through a reflexive process and professional praxis. The ViBi Project (2020-2024) is funded by a state organization Living democracy (Demokratie leben). The work of ViBi is based on organizing events (discussions, lectures, workshops, etc.), in which civil society actors, such as activists and leaders of local minority groups, speakers and teachers, exchange their experiences and knowledge with educational science students. The activities of Vielfalt bildet (Diversity educates) project aim at opening the walls of the university towards the external public by including organizations and charities founded by minority groups into the teaching curricula and events proposed to students. The premise is that shaping academic knowledge must be diversified to help young professionals in the field of educational science understand the myriad ways in which human mind shape and is shaped by in multicultural contexts.

Similar to the two-stage presentation, our research design combines the theoretical and practical methods. Firstly, we base our analysis of diversity on the intersectional approach to difference in education (Hill Collins 2009; Walgenbach 2014). Secondly, we describe and interpret the hitherto conducted work within the ViBi project. Intersectionality is a concept that, on one side, considers the differences between individual identities such as gender, race, class and (dis)ability. On the other side, intersectionality is critically involved with power structures and social inequalities or privileges resulting from these differences (Lykke 2010; Bilge 2013). The description and interpretation part concern the educational events prepared and conducted by the participants in ViBi project – the regional Sinti and Roma organization, the feminist Charity run by Kurdish Women, the Training Institution Anne Frank and the Migrant Women’s Self-Organisation. How do they contribute to shaping the perceptions and arguments about anti-racist work and racist experiences in everyday life? These collectively shared experiences and types of knowledge are analysed here as possible trajectories of common solutions for diversifying teaching methods without resorting to academic jargon and theorization and at the same time circumventing the essentialization that characterizes the approach to minority interest groups (Messerchmidt 2009; Riegel 2016).

Based on the analysis of the crucial milestones in ViBi's work in early 2023, we conclude that diversifying teacher education by bringing in extra-curricular actors and providing exchange platforms for future teachers and educators should be continued in further German states and intenrationally. The outcome of the model project conducted at TU Darmstadt has so far been positive and the contested notion of diversity has become central to the modules proposed for our students following increased demand.

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