Virginia Tech
    • Log in
    View Item 
    •   VTechWorks Home
    • ETDs: Virginia Tech Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • Doctoral Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   VTechWorks Home
    • ETDs: Virginia Tech Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • Doctoral Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Defining diversity: the politics of identity in a rural community

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    LD5655.V856_1995.K568.pdf (6.630Mb)
    Downloads: 294
    Date
    1995-04-05
    Author
    Kimball, Stephanie L.
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    This ethnographic study examines the meaning of "diversity" in a rural community, along with related issues of social identity. Data collected through participant observation, public documents, and interviews has shown that as in most places, "diversity" is typically defined in Montgomery County, Virginia in terms of ethnic differences. However, conflict and tensions within the county usually occur not between ethnic groups, but between the public associated with the university here, Virginia Tech, and the public of "rural" community members not associated with the university. Furthermore, there is little interaction between these two polarized publics. The dissertation shows how boundaries between them are created and sustained partly by discursive productions of categories like "rural" and "Appalachian" and partly by institutionalized mechanisms such as tracking in schools that redefine social differences as "natural" and unchangeable. However, these practices are functional for each group too, since they serve to maintain groups' identities. While democratic dialogue could produce new understandings and alter the polarized relations between the groups, it could also be threatening to those involved because either group could become subsumed by the other. One possibility for furthering the democratic project is to work through schools to develop multicultural education that enables students to be critically reflective of their own publics. Such awareness could allow publics to define themselves in less rigid ways, opening possibilities for interpublic dialogue. But if the discursive practices operating in the community that separate groups are left intact, there is little hope that critical reflection learned in schools will be sustained as students grow up and enter the adult community.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10919/40309
    Collections
    • Doctoral Dissertations [14976]

    If you believe that any material in VTechWorks should be removed, please see our policy and procedure for Requesting that Material be Amended or Removed. All takedown requests will be promptly acknowledged and investigated.

    Virginia Tech | University Libraries | Contact Us
     

     

    VTechWorks

    AboutPoliciesHelp

    Browse

    All of VTechWorksCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    Log inRegister

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    If you believe that any material in VTechWorks should be removed, please see our policy and procedure for Requesting that Material be Amended or Removed. All takedown requests will be promptly acknowledged and investigated.

    Virginia Tech | University Libraries | Contact Us