why do we need to study cultural diversity of literature essay

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Multicultural Literature: Reflecting Diversity in Literature for Youth

Diversity in literature goes beyond ethnicity. Diversity may include the various facets of sexuality and gender, cultural, and societal groups. Whether characters in the books we read reflect others or ourselves, what is most important is connecting with them in ways that help us understand who we are today. Sometimes learning about our history through the eyes of diverse characters can be unsettling or even painful, but it also can be an awakening to the unknown. In this collection, I focus on books that reflect multiple cultures in the text or illustrations, sometimes subtle, other times more direct. I believe these books reflect the mosaic beauty of our world.

Ages 4–8

Ada Twist, Scientist . Andrea Beaty. Ill. David Roberts. 2016. Abrams.

The Airport Book. Lisa Brown. 2016. Neal Porter/Roaring Book.

Emma and Julia Love Ballet. Barbara McClintock. 2016. Scholastic.

A Piece of Home. Jeri Watts. Ill. Hyewon Yum. 2016. Candlewick.

Who We Are!: All About Being the Same and Being Different (Let’s Talk About You and Me series) . Robie H. Harris. Ill. Nadine Bernard Westcott. 2016. Candlewick.

Ages 9–11

Children Just Like Me: A New Celebration of Children Around the World . DK. 2016. DK/Penguin Random House.

Elizabeth Started All the Trouble. Doreen Rappaport. Ill. Matt Faulkner. 2016. Disney/Hyperion .

Miss Mary Reporting: The True Story of Sportswriter Mary Garber. Sue Macy. Ill. C.F. Payne. 2016. Simon & Schuster.

What Is a Veteran, Anyway? Robert C. Snyder. Ill. Ron Himler. 2016. Blue Marlin.

Ages 12–14

I, Humanity. Jeffrey Bennett. 2016. Big Kid Science.

The Inquisitor’s Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog. Adam Gidwitz. Ill. Hatem Aly. 2016. Dutton/Penguin.

Women Who Changed the World: 50 Amazing Americans. Laurie Calkhoven. Ill. Patricia Castelao. 2016. Scholastic.

Pride: Celebrating Diversity & Community. Robin Stevenson. 2016. Orca.

Stan Steiner teaches Children’s/Young Adult Literature at Boise State University. He has had a long relationship with bringing awareness to multicultural literature through his teaching and publications.

These reviews are submitted by members of the  International Literacy Association's Children's Literature and Reading Special Interest Group (CL/R SIG)  and are published weekly on  Literacy Daily .

Diverse Books Means Literature for All

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• How to Write a Diversity Essay | Tips & Examples

How to Write a Diversity Essay | Tips & Examples

Published on November 1, 2021 by Kirsten Courault . Revised on May 31, 2023.

Table of contents

What is a diversity essay, identify how you will enrich the campus community, share stories about your lived experience, explain how your background or identity has affected your life, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about college application essays.

Diversity essays ask students to highlight an important aspect of their identity, background, culture, experience, viewpoints, beliefs, skills, passions, goals, etc.

Diversity essays can come in many forms. Some scholarships are offered specifically for students who come from an underrepresented background or identity in higher education. At highly competitive schools, supplemental diversity essays require students to address how they will enhance the student body with a unique perspective, identity, or background.

In the Common Application and applications for several other colleges, some main essay prompts ask about how your background, identity, or experience has affected you.

Why schools want a diversity essay

Many universities believe a student body representing different perspectives, beliefs, identities, and backgrounds will enhance the campus learning and community experience.

Admissions officers are interested in hearing about how your unique background, identity, beliefs, culture, or characteristics will enrich the campus community.

Through the diversity essay, admissions officers want students to articulate the following:

• What makes them different from other applicants
• Stories related to their background, identity, or experience
• How their unique lived experience has affected their outlook, activities, and goals

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

Think about what aspects of your identity or background make you unique, and choose one that has significantly impacted your life.

For some students, it may be easy to identify what sets them apart from their peers. But if you’re having trouble identifying what makes you different from other applicants, consider your life from an outsider’s perspective. Don’t presume your lived experiences are normal or boring just because you’re used to them.

Some examples of identities or experiences that you might write about include the following:

• Race/ethnicity
• Gender identity
• Sexual orientation
• Nationality
• Socioeconomic status
• Immigration background
• Religion/belief system
• Place of residence
• Family circumstances
• Extracurricular activities related to diversity

Include vulnerable, authentic stories about your lived experiences. Maintain focus on your experience rather than going into too much detail comparing yourself to others or describing their experiences.

Keep the focus on you

Tell a story about how your background, identity, or experience has impacted you. While you can briefly mention another person’s experience to provide context, be sure to keep the essay focused on you. Admissions officers are mostly interested in learning about your lived experience, not anyone else’s.

When I was a baby, my grandmother took me in, even though that meant postponing her retirement and continuing to work full-time at the local hairdresser. Even working every shift she could, she never missed a single school play or soccer game.

She and I had a really special bond, even creating our own special language to leave each other secret notes and messages. She always pushed me to succeed in school, and celebrated every academic achievement like it was worthy of a Nobel Prize. Every month, any leftover tip money she received at work went to a special 509 savings plan for my college education.

When I was in the 10th grade, my grandmother was diagnosed with ALS. We didn’t have health insurance, and what began with quitting soccer eventually led to dropping out of school as her condition worsened. In between her doctor’s appointments, keeping the house tidy, and keeping her comfortable, I took advantage of those few free moments to study for the GED.

In school pictures at Raleigh Elementary School, you could immediately spot me as “that Asian girl.” At lunch, I used to bring leftover fun see noodles, but after my classmates remarked how they smelled disgusting, I begged my mom to make a “regular” lunch of sliced bread, mayonnaise, and deli meat.

Although born and raised in North Carolina, I felt a cultural obligation to learn my “mother tongue” and reconnect with my “homeland.” After two years of all-day Saturday Chinese school, I finally visited Beijing for the first time, expecting I would finally belong. While my face initially assured locals of my Chinese identity, the moment I spoke, my cover was blown. My Chinese was littered with tonal errors, and I was instantly labeled as an “ABC,” American-born Chinese.

I felt culturally homeless.

Speak from your own experience

Highlight your actions, difficulties, and feelings rather than comparing yourself to others. While it may be tempting to write about how you have been more or less fortunate than those around you, keep the focus on you and your unique experiences, as shown below.

I began to despair when the FAFSA website once again filled with red error messages.

I had been at the local library for hours and hadn’t even been able to finish the form, much less the other to-do items for my application.

I am the first person in my family to even consider going to college. My parents work two jobs each, but even then, it’s sometimes very hard to make ends meet. Rather than playing soccer or competing in speech and debate, I help my family by taking care of my younger siblings after school and on the weekends.

“We only speak one language here. Speak proper English!” roared a store owner when I had attempted to buy bread and accidentally used the wrong preposition.

In middle school, I had relentlessly studied English grammar textbooks and received the highest marks.

Leaving Seoul was hard, but living in West Orange, New Jersey was much harder一especially navigating everyday communication with Americans.

After sharing relevant personal stories, make sure to provide insight into how your lived experience has influenced your perspective, activities, and goals. You should also explain how your background led you to apply to this university and why you’re a good fit.

Include your outlook, actions, and goals

Conclude your essay with an insight about how your background or identity has affected your outlook, actions, and goals. You should include specific actions and activities that you have done as a result of your insight.

One night, before the midnight premiere of Avengers: Endgame , I stopped by my best friend Maria’s house. Her mother prepared tamales, churros, and Mexican hot chocolate, packing them all neatly in an Igloo lunch box. As we sat in the line snaking around the AMC theater, I thought back to when Maria and I took salsa classes together and when we belted out Selena’s “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom” at karaoke. In that moment, as I munched on a chicken tamale, I realized how much I admired the beauty, complexity, and joy in Maria’s culture but had suppressed and devalued my own.

The following semester, I joined Model UN. Since then, I have learned how to proudly represent other countries and have gained cultural perspectives other than my own. I now understand that all cultures, including my own, are equal. I still struggle with small triggers, like when I go through airport security and feel a suspicious glance toward me, or when I feel self-conscious for bringing kabsa to school lunch. But in the future, I hope to study and work in international relations to continue learning about other cultures and impart a positive impression of Saudi culture to the world.

The smell of the early morning dew and the welcoming whinnies of my family’s horses are some of my most treasured childhood memories. To this day, our farm remains so rural that we do not have broadband access, and we’re too far away from the closest town for the postal service to reach us.

Going to school regularly was always a struggle: between the unceasing demands of the farm and our lack of connectivity, it was hard to keep up with my studies. Despite being a voracious reader, avid amateur chemist, and active participant in the classroom, emergencies and unforeseen events at the farm meant that I had a lot of unexcused absences.

Although it had challenges, my upbringing taught me resilience, the value of hard work, and the importance of family. Staying up all night to watch a foal being born, successfully saving the animals from a minor fire, and finding ways to soothe a nervous mare afraid of thunder have led to an unbreakable family bond.

Our farm is my family’s birthright and our livelihood, and I am eager to learn how to ensure the farm’s financial and technological success for future generations. In college, I am looking forward to joining a chapter of Future Farmers of America and studying agricultural business to carry my family’s legacy forward.

Tailor your answer to the university

After explaining how your identity or background will enrich the university’s existing student body, you can mention the university organizations, groups, or courses in which you’re interested.

Maybe a larger public school setting will allow you to broaden your community, or a small liberal arts college has a specialized program that will give you space to discover your voice and identity. Perhaps this particular university has an active affinity group you’d like to join.

Demonstrating how a university’s specific programs or clubs are relevant to you can show that you’ve done your research and would be a great addition to the university.

At the University of Michigan Engineering, I want to study engineering not only to emulate my mother’s achievements and strength, but also to forge my own path as an engineer with disabilities. I appreciate the University of Michigan’s long-standing dedication to supporting students with disabilities in ways ranging from accessible housing to assistive technology. At the University of Michigan Engineering, I want to receive a top-notch education and use it to inspire others to strive for their best, regardless of their circumstances.

If you want to know more about academic writing , effective communication , or parts of speech , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Academic writing

• Writing process
• Transition words
• Passive voice
• Paraphrasing

 Communication

• How to end an email
• Ms, mrs, miss
• How to start an email
• I hope this email finds you well
• Hope you are doing well

 Parts of speech

• Personal pronouns
• Conjunctions

In addition to your main college essay , some schools and scholarships may ask for a supplementary essay focused on an aspect of your identity or background. This is sometimes called a diversity essay .

Many universities believe a student body composed of different perspectives, beliefs, identities, and backgrounds will enhance the campus learning and community experience.

Admissions officers are interested in hearing about how your unique background, identity, beliefs, culture, or characteristics will enrich the campus community, which is why they assign a diversity essay .

To write an effective diversity essay , include vulnerable, authentic stories about your unique identity, background, or perspective. Provide insight into how your lived experience has influenced your outlook, activities, and goals. If relevant, you should also mention how your background has led you to apply for this university and why you’re a good fit.

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Cultural Diversity Essay & Community Essay Examples

If you’ve started to research college application requirements for the schools on your list, you might have come across the “cultural diversity essay.” In this guide, we’ll explore the cultural diversity essay in depth. We will compare the cultural diversity essay to the community essay and discuss how to approach these kinds of supplements. We’ll also provide examples of diversity essays and community essay examples. But first, let’s discuss exactly what a cultural diversity essay is. 

The purpose of the cultural diversity essay in college applications is to show the admissions committee what makes you unique. The cultural diversity essay also lets you describe what type of “ diversity ” you would bring to campus.

We’ll also highlight a diversity essay sample for three college applications. These include the Georgetown application essay , Rice application essay , and Williams application essay . We’ll provide examples of diversity essays for each college. Then, for each of these college essays that worked, we will analyze their strengths to help you craft your own essays. 

Finally, we’ll give you some tips on how to write a cultural diversity essay that will make your applications shine. 

But first, let’s explore the types of college essays you might encounter on your college applications. 

Types of College Essays

College application requirements will differ among schools. However, you’ll submit one piece of writing to nearly every school on your list—the personal statement . A strong personal statement can help you stand out in the admissions process. 

So, how do you know what to write about? That depends on the type of college essay included in your college application requirements. 

There are a few main types of college essays that you might encounter in the college admissions process. Theese include the “Why School ” essay, the “Why Major ” essay, and the extracurricular activity essay. This also includes the type of essay we will focus on in this guide—the cultural diversity essay. 

“Why School” essay

The “Why School ” essay is exactly what it sounds like. For this type of college essay, you’ll need to underscore why you want to go to this particular school. 

However, don’t make the mistake of just listing off what you like about the school. Additionally, don’t just reiterate information you can find on their admissions website. Instead, you’ll want to make connections between what the school offers and how you are a great fit for that college community. 

“Why Major” essay

The idea behind the “Why Major ” essay is similar to that of the “Why School ” essay above. However, instead of writing about the school at large, this essay should highlight why you plan to study your chosen major.

There are plenty of directions you could take with this type of essay. For instance, you might describe how you chose this major, what career you plan to pursue upon graduation, or other details.

Extracurricular Activity essay

The extracurricular activity essay asks you to elaborate on one of the activities that you participated in outside of the classroom. 

For this type of college essay, you’ll need to select an extracurricular activity that you pursued while you were in high school. Bonus points if you can tie your extracurricular activity into your future major, career goals, or other extracurricular activities for college. Overall, your extracurricular activity essay should go beyond your activities list. In doing so, it should highlight why your chosen activity matters to you.

Cultural Diversity essay

The cultural diversity essay is your chance to expound upon diversity in all its forms. Before you write your cultural diversity essay, you should ask yourself some key questions. These questions can include: How will you bring diversity to your future college campus? What unique perspective do you bring to the table? 

Another sub-category of the cultural diversity essay is the gender diversity essay. As its name suggests, this essay would center around the author’s gender. This essay would highlight how gender shapes the way the writer understands the world around them. 

Later, we’ll look at examples of diversity essays and other college essays that worked. But before we do, let’s figure out how to identify a cultural diversity essay in the first place. 

How to identify a ‘cultural diversity’ essay

So, you’re wondering how you’ll be able to identify a cultural diversity essay as you review your college application requirements. 

Aside from the major giveaway of having the word “diversity” in the prompt, a cultural diversity essay will ask you to describe what makes you different from other applicants. In other words, what aspects of your unique culture(s) have influenced your perspective and shaped you into who you are today?

Diversity can refer to race, ethnicity, first-generation status, gender, or anything in between. You can write about a myriad of things in a cultural diversity essay. For instance, you might discuss your personal background, identity, values, experiences, or how you’ve overcome challenges in your life. 

However, don’t feel limited in what you can address in a cultural diversity essay. The words “culture” and “diversity” mean different things to different people. Above all, you’ll want your diversity essays for college to be personal and sincere. 

How is a ‘community’ essay different? 

A community essay can also be considered a cultural diversity essay. In fact, you can think of the community essay as a subcategory of the cultural diversity essay. However, there is a key difference between a community essay and a cultural diversity essay, which we will illustrate below. 

You might have already seen some community essay examples while you were researching college application requirements. But how exactly is a community essay different from a cultural diversity essay?

One way to tell the difference between community essay examples and cultural diversity essay examples is by the prompt. A community essay will highlight, well, community . This means it will focus on how your identity will shape your interactions on campus—not just how it informs your own experiences.

Two common forms to look out for

Community essay examples can take two forms. First, you’ll find community essay examples about your past experiences. These let you show the admissions team how you have positively influenced your own community. 

Other community essay examples, however, will focus on the future. These community essay examples will ask you to detail how you will contribute to your future college community. We refer to these as college community essay examples.

In college community essay examples, you’ll see applicants detail how they might interact with their fellow students. These essays may also discuss how students plan to positively contribute to the campus community. 

As we mentioned above, the community essay, along with community essay examples and college community essay examples, fit into the larger category of the cultural diversity essay. Although we do not have specific community essay examples or college community essay examples in this guide, we will continue to highlight the subtle differences between the two. 

Before we continue the discussion of community essay examples and college community essay examples, let’s start with some examples of cultural diversity essay prompts. For each of the cultural diversity essay prompts, we’ll name the institutions that include these diversity essays for college as part of their college application requirements. 

What are some examples of ‘cultural diversity’ essays? 

Now, you have a better understanding of the similarities and differences between the cultural diversity essay and the community essay. So, next, let’s look at some examples of cultural diversity essay prompts.

The prompts below are from the Georgetown application, Rice application, and Williams application, respectively. As we discuss the similarities and differences between prompts, remember the framework we provided above for what constitutes a cultural diversity essay and a community essay. 

Later in this guide, we’ll provide real examples of diversity essays, including Georgetown essay examples, Rice University essay examples, and Williams supplemental essays examples. These are all considered college essays that worked—meaning that the author was accepted into that particular institution. 

Georgetown Supplementals Essays

Later, we’ll look at Georgetown supplemental essay examples. Diversity essays for Georgetown are a product of this prompt: 

As Georgetown is a diverse community, the Admissions Committee would like to know more about you in your own words. Please submit a brief essay, either personal or creative, which you feel best describes you. 

You might have noticed two keywords in this prompt right away: “diverse” and “community.” These buzzwords indicate that this prompt is a cultural diversity essay. You could even argue that responses to this prompt would result in college community essay examples. After all, the prompt refers to the Georgetown community. 

For this prompt, you’ll want to produce a diversity essay sample that highlights who you are. In order to do that successfully, you’ll need to self-reflect before putting pen to paper. What aspects of your background, personality, or values best describe who you are? How might your presence at Georgetown influence or contribute to their diverse community? 

Additionally, this cultural diversity essay can be personal or creative. So, you have more flexibility with the Georgetown supplemental essays than with other similar diversity essay prompts. Depending on the direction you go, your response to this prompt could be considered a cultural diversity essay, gender diversity essay, or a college community essay. 

Rice University Essays

The current Rice acceptance rate is just 9% , making it a highly selective school. Because the Rice acceptance rate is so low, your personal statement and supplemental essays can make a huge difference. 

The Rice University essay examples we’ll provide below are based on this prompt: 

The quality of Rice’s academic life and the Residential College System are heavily influenced by the unique life experiences and cultural traditions each student brings. What personal perspective would you contribute to life at Rice? 

Breaking down the prompt.

Like the prompt above, this cultural diversity essay asks about your “life experiences,” “cultural traditions,” and personal “perspectives.” These phrases indicate a cultural diversity essay. Keep in mind this may not be the exact prompt you’ll have to answer in your own Rice application. However, future Rice prompts will likely follow a similar framework as this diversity essay sample.

Although this prompt is not as flexible as the Georgetown prompt, it does let you discuss aspects of Rice’s academic life and Residential College System that appeal to you. You can also highlight how your experiences have influenced your personal perspective. 

The prompt also asks about how you would contribute to life at Rice. So, your response could also fall in line with college community essay examples. Remember, college community essay examples are another sub-category of community essay examples. Successful college community essay examples will illustrate the ways in which students would contribute to their future campus community. 

Williams Supplemental Essays

Like the Rice acceptance rate, the Williams acceptance rate is also 9% . Because the Williams acceptance rate is so low, you’ll want to pay close attention to the Williams supplemental essays examples as you begin the writing process. 

The Williams supplemental essays examples below are based on this prompt: 

Every first-year student at Williams lives in an Entry – a thoughtfully constructed microcosm of the student community that’s a defining part of the Williams experience. From the moment they arrive, students find themselves in what’s likely the most diverse collection of backgrounds, perspectives, and interests they’ve ever encountered. What might differentiate you from the 19 other first-year students in an Entry? What perspective would you add to the conversation with your peer(s)?

Reflecting on the prompt.

Immediately, words like “diverse,” “backgrounds,” “perspectives,” “interests,” and “differentiate” should stand out to you. These keywords highlight the fact that this is a cultural diversity essay. Similar to the Rice essay, this may not be the exact prompt you’ll face on your Williams application. However, we can still learn from it.

Like the Georgetown essay, this prompt requires you to put in some self-reflection before you start writing. What aspects of your background differentiate you from other people? How would these differences impact your interactions with peers? 

This prompt also touches on the “student community” and how you would “add to the conversation with your peer(s).” By extension, any strong responses to this prompt could also be considered as college community essay examples. 

Community Essays

All of the prompts above mention campus community. So, you could argue that they are also examples of community essays. 

Like we mentioned above, you can think of community essays as a subcategory of the cultural diversity essay. If the prompt alludes to the campus community, or if your response is centered on how you would interact within that community, your essay likely falls into the world of college community essay examples. 

Regardless of what you would classify the essay as, all successful essays will be thoughtful, personal, and rich with details. We’ll show you examples of this in our “college essays that worked” section below. 

Which schools require a cultural diversity or community essay? 

Besides Georgetown, Rice, and Williams, many other college applications require a cultural diversity essay or community essay. In fact, from the Ivy League to HBCUs and state schools, the cultural diversity essay is a staple across college applications. 

Although we will not provide a diversity essay sample for each of the colleges below, it is helpful to read the prompts. This will build your familiarity with other college applications that require a cultural diversity essay or community essay. Some schools that require a cultural diversity essay or community essay include New York University , Duke University , Harvard University , Johns Hopkins University , and University of Michigan . 

New York University

NYU listed a cultural diversity essay as part of its 2022-2023 college application requirements. Here is the prompt:

NYU was founded on the belief that a student’s identity should not dictate the ability for them to access higher education. That sense of opportunity for all students, of all backgrounds, remains a part of who we are today and a critical part of what makes us a world class university. Our community embraces diversity, in all its forms, as a cornerstone of the NYU experience. We would like to better understand how your experiences would help us to shape and grow our diverse community.

Duke university.

Duke is well-known for its community essay: 

What is your sense of Duke as a university and a community, and why do you consider it a good match for you? If there’s something in particular about our offerings that attracts you, feel free to share that as well.

A top-ranked Ivy League institution, Harvard University also has a cultural diversity essay as part of its college application requirements: 

Harvard has long recognized the importance of student body diversity of all kinds. We welcome you to write about distinctive aspects of your background, personal development, or the intellectual interests you might bring to your Harvard classmates.

Johns hopkins university.

The Johns Hopkins supplement is another example of a cultural diversity essay: 

Founded in the spirit of exploration and discovery, Johns Hopkins University encourages students to share their perspectives, develop their interests, and pursue new experiences. Use this space to share something you’d like the admissions committee to know about you (your interests, your background, your identity, or your community), and how it has shaped what you want to get out of your college experience at Hopkins. 

University of michigan.

The University of Michigan requires a community essay for its application: 

Everyone belongs to many different communities and/or groups defined by (among other things) shared geography, religion, ethnicity, income, cuisine, interest, race, ideology, or intellectual heritage. Choose one of the communities to which you belong and describe that community and your place within it. 

Community essay examples.

The Duke and Michigan prompts are perfect illustrations of community essay examples. However, they have some critical differences. So, if you apply to both of these schools, you’ll have to change the way you approach either of these community essays. 

The Duke prompt asks you to highlight why you are a good match for the Duke community. You’ll also see this prompt in other community essay examples. To write a successful response to this prompt, you’ll need to reference offerings specific to Duke (or whichever college requires this essay). In order to know what to reference, you’ll need to do your research before you start writing. 

Consider the following questions as you write your diversity essay sample if the prompt is similar to Duke University’s

• What values does this college community have? 
• How do these tie in with what you value? 
• Is there something that this college offers that matches your interests, personality, or background?  

On the other hand, the Michigan essay prompt asks you to describe a community that you belong to as well as your place within that community. This is another variation of the prompt for community essay examples. 

To write a successful response to this prompt, you’ll need to identify a community that you belong to. Then, you’ll need to think critically about how you interact with that community. 

Below are some questions to consider as you write your diversity essay sample for colleges like Michigan: 

• Out of all the communities you belong to, which can you highlight in your response? 
• How have you impacted this community? 
• How has this community impacted you?

Now, in the next few sections, we’ll dive into the Georgetown supplemental essay examples, the Rice university essay examples, and the Williams supplemental essays examples. After each diversity essay sample, we’ll include a breakdown of why these are considered college essays that worked. 

Georgetown Essay Examples

As a reminder, the Georgetown essay examples respond to this prompt: 

As Georgetown is a diverse community, the Admissions Committee would like to know more about you in your own words. Please submit a brief essay, either personal or creative, which you feel best describes you.

Here is the excerpt of the diversity essay sample from our Georgetown essay examples: 

Georgetown University Essay Example

The best thing I ever did was skip eight days of school in a row. Despite the protests of teachers over missed class time, I told them that the world is my classroom. The lessons I remember most are those that took place during my annual family vacation to coastal Maine. That rural world is the most authentic and incredible classroom where learning simply happens and becomes exponential. 

Years ago, as I hunted through the rocks and seaweed for seaglass and mussels, I befriended a Maine local hauling her battered kayak on the shore. Though I didn’t realize it at the time, I had found a kindred spirit in Jeanne. Jeanne is a year-round resident who is more than the hard working, rugged Mainer that meets the eye; reserved and humble in nature, she is a wealth of knowledge and is self-taught through necessity. With thoughtful attention to detail, I engineered a primitive ramp made of driftwood and a pulley system to haul her kayak up the cliff. We diligently figured out complex problems and developed solutions through trial and error.

After running out of conventional materials, I recycled and reimagined items that had washed ashore. We expected to succeed, but were not afraid to fail. Working with Jeanne has been the best classroom in the world; without textbooks or technology, she has made a difference in my life. Whether building a basic irrigation system for her organic garden or installing solar panels to harness the sun’s energy, every project has shown me the value of taking action and making an impact. Each year brings a different project with new excitement and unique challenges. My resourcefulness, problem solving ability, and innovative thinking have advanced under her tutelage. 

While exploring the rocky coast of Maine, I embrace every experience as an unparalleled educational opportunity that transcends any classroom environment. I discovered that firsthand experience and real-world application of science are my best teachers. In school, applications of complex calculations and abstract theories are sometimes obscured by grades and structure. In Maine, I expand my love of science and renourish my curious spirit. I am a highly independent, frugal, resilient Mainer living as a southern girl in NC. 

Why this essay worked

This is one of the Georgetown supplemental essay examples that works, and here’s why. The author starts the essay with an interesting hook, which makes the reader want to learn more about this person and their perspective. 

Throughout the essay, the author illustrates their intellectual curiosity. From befriending Jeanne and creating a pulley system to engineering other projects on the rocky coast of Maine, the author demonstrates how they welcome challenges and work to solve problems. 

Further, the author mentions values that matter to them—taking action and making an impact. Both facets are also part of Georgetown’s core values . By making these connections in their essay, the author shows the admissions committee exactly how they would be a great fit for the Georgetown community. 

Finally, the author uses their experience in Maine to showcase their love of science, which is likely the field they will study at Georgetown. Like this writer, you should try to include most important parts of your identity into your essay. This includes things like life experiences, passions, majors, extracurricular activities for college, and more. 

Rice University Essay Examples

The Rice University essay examples are from this prompt: 

The quality of Rice’s academic life and the Residential College System are heavily influenced by the unique life experiences and cultural traditions each student brings. What personal perspective would you contribute to life at Rice? (500-word limit)

Rice university essay example.

Like every applicant, I also have a story to share. A story that makes me who I am and consists of chapters about my life experiences and adventures. Having been born in a different country, my journey to America was one of the most difficult things I had ever experienced. Everything felt different. The atmosphere, the places, the food, and especially the people. Everywhere I looked, I saw something new. Although it was a bit overwhelming, one thing had not changed.

The caring nature of the people was still prevalent in everyday interactions. I was overwhelmed by how supportive and understanding people were of one another. Whether it is race, religion, or culture, everyone was accepted and appreciated. I knew that I could be whoever I wanted to be and that the only limitation was my imagination. Through hard work and persistence I put my all in everything that I did. I get this work ethic from my father since he is living proof that anything can be accomplished with continued determination. Listening to the childhood stories he told me, my dad would reminisce about how he was born in an impoverished area in a third world country during a turbulent and unpredictable time.

Even with a passion for learning, he had to work a laborious job in an attempt to help his parents make ends meet. He talked about how he would study under the street lights when the power went out at home. His parents wanted something better for him, as did he. Not living in America changed nothing about their work ethic. His parents continued to work hard daily, in an attempt to provide for their son. My dad worked and studied countless hours, paying his way through school with jobs and scholarships. His efforts paid off when he finally moved to America and opened his own business. None of it would have been possible without tremendous effort and dedication needed for a better life, values that are instilled within me as well, and this is the perspective that I wish to bring to Rice. 

This diversity essay sample references the author’s unique life experiences and personal perspective, which makes it one example of college essays that worked. The author begins the essay by alluding to their unique story—they were born in a different country and then came to America. Instead of facing this change as a challenge, the author shows how this new experience helped them to feel comfortable with all kinds of people. They also highlight how their diversity was accepted and appreciated. 

Additionally, the author incorporates information about their father’s story, which helps to frame their own values and where those values came from. The values that they chose to highlight also fall in line with the values of the Rice community. 

Williams Supplemental Essay Examples

Let’s read the prompt that inspired so many strong Williams supplemental essays examples again: 

Every first-year student at Williams lives in an Entry—a thoughtfully constructed microcosm of the student community that’s a defining part of the Williams experience. From the moment they arrive, students find themselves in what’s likely the most diverse collection of backgrounds, perspectives and interests they’ve ever encountered. What might differentiate you from the 19 other first-year students in an entry? What perspective(s) would you add to the conversation with your peers?

Williams college essay example.

Through the flow in my head

See you clad in red

But not just the clothes

It’s your whole being

Covering in this sickening blanket

Of heat and pain

Are you in agony, I wonder?

Is this the hell they told me about?

Have we been condemned?

Reduced to nothing but pain

At least we have each other

In our envelopes of crimson

I try in vain

“Take my hands” I shriek

“Let’s protect each other, 

You and me, through this hell”

My body contorts

And deforms into nothingness

You remain the same

Clad in red

With faraway eyes

You, like a statue

Your eyes fixed somewhere else

You never see me

Just the red briefcase in your heart

We aren’t together

It’s always been me alone

While you stand there, aloof, with the briefcase in your heart.

I wrote this poem the day my prayer request for the Uighur Muslims got denied at school. At the time, I was stunned. I was taught to have empathy for those around me. Yet, that empathy disappears when told to extend it to someone different. I can’t comprehend this contradiction and I refuse to. 

At Williams, I hope to become a Community Engagement Fellow at the Davis Center. I hope to use Williams’ support for social justice and advocacy to educate my fellow classmates on social issues around the world. Williams students are not just scholars but also leaders and changemakers. Together, we can strive to better the world through advocacy.

Human’s capability for love is endless. We just need to open our hearts to everyone. 

It’s time to let the briefcase go and look at those around us with our real human eyes.

We see you now. Please forgive us.

As we mentioned above, the Williams acceptance rate is incredibly low. This makes the supplemental essay that much more important. 

This diversity essay sample works because it is personal and memorable. The author chooses to start the essay off with a poem. Which, if done right, will immediately grab the reader’s attention. 

Further, the author contextualizes the poem by explaining the circumstances surrounding it—they wrote it in response to a prayer request that was denied at school. In doing so, they also highlight their own values of empathy and embracing diversity. 

Finally, the author ends their cultural diversity essay by describing what excites them about Williams. They also discuss how they see themselves interacting within the Williams community. This is a key piece of the essay, as it helps the reader understand how the author would be a good fit for Williams. 

The examples provided within this essay also touch on issues that are important to the author, which provides a glimpse into the type of student the author would be on campus. Additionally, this response shows what potential extracurricular activities for college the author might be interested in pursuing while at Williams. 

How to Write a Cultural Diversity Essay

You want your diversity essay to stand out from any other diversity essay sample. But how do you write a successful cultural diversity essay? 

First, consider what pieces of your identity you want to highlight in your essay. Of course, race and ethnicity are important facets of diversity. However, there are plenty of other factors to consider. 

As you brainstorm, think outside the box to figure out what aspects of your identity help make up who you are. Because identity and diversity fall on a spectrum, there is no right or wrong answer here. 

Fit your ideas to the specific school

Once you’ve decided on what you want to represent in your cultural diversity essay, think about how that fits into the college of your choice. Use your cultural diversity essay to make connections to the school. If your college has specific values or programs that align with your identity, then include them in your cultural diversity essay! 

Above all, you should write about something that is important to you. Your cultural diversity essay, gender diversity essay, or community essay will succeed if you are passionate about your topic and willing to get personal. 

Additional Tips for Community & Cultural Diversity Essays

1. Start Early

In order to create the strongest diversity essay possible, you’ll want to start early. Filling out college applications is already a time-consuming process. So, you can cut back on additional stress and anxiety by writing your cultural diversity essay as early as possible. 

2. Brainstorm

Writing a cultural diversity essay or community essay is a personal process. To set yourself up for success, take time to brainstorm and reflect on your topic. Overall, you want your cultural diversity essay to be a good indication of who you are and what makes you a unique applicant. 

3. Proofread

We can’t stress this final tip enough. Be sure to proofread your cultural diversity essay before you hit the submit button. Additionally, you can read your essay aloud to hear how it flows. You can also can ask someone you trust, like your college advisor or a teacher, to help proofread your essay as well.

Other CollegeAdvisor Essay Resources to Explore

Looking for additional resources on supplemental essays for the colleges we mentioned above? Do you need help with incorporating extracurricular activities for college into your essays or crafting a strong diversity essay sample? We’ve got you covered. 

Our how to get into Georgetown guide covers additional tips on how to approach the supplemental diversity essay. If you’re wondering how to write about community in your essay, check out our campus community article for an insider’s perspective on Williams College.

Want to learn strategies for writing compelling cultural diversity essays? Check out this Q&A webinar, featuring a former Georgetown admissions officer. And, if you’re still unsure of what to highlight in your community essay, try getting inspiration from a virtual college tour . 

Cultural Diversity Essay & Community Essay Examples – Final Thoughts

Your supplemental essays are an important piece of the college application puzzle. With colleges becoming more competitive than ever, you’ll want to do everything you can to create a strong candidate profile. This includes writing well-crafted responses for a cultural diversity essay, gender diversity essay, or community essay. 

We hope our cultural diversity essay guide helped you learn more about this common type of supplemental essay. As you are writing your own cultural diversity essay or community essay, use the essay examples from Georgetown, Rice, and Williams above as your guide. 

Getting into top schools takes a lot more than a strong resume. Writing specific, thoughtful, and personal responses for a cultural diversity essay, gender diversity essay, or community essay will put you one step closer to maximizing your chances of admission. Good luck!

CollegeAdvisor.com is here to help you with every aspect of the college admissions process. From taking a gap year to completing enrollment , we’re here to help. Register today to receive one-on-one support from an admissions expert as you begin your college application journey.

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Is It Important to Study Cultural Diversity? Essay

Cultural diversity became one of the most discussed topics of modern time, along with economic crises, military conflicts in the Middle East, and the pandemic. Unfortunately, it is often perceived as a problem of non-white minorities in the United States (Verkuyten & Yogeeswaran, 2020). However, multiculturalism and interculturalism are the two concepts that should remove barriers between different races and ethnicities, creating mutual interest, compassion, and communication (Verkuyten & Yogeeswaran, 2020). Therefore, it is essential to study cultural diversity to comprehend the disparities, find common contact points, and prevent conflicts.

The main reason why cultural diversity should be studied is that it can help representatives of various minority and dominant groups better understand other individuals’ traditions and values, resulting in mutual respect and consensus. Notably, research in this sphere not only investigates the history and customs of a distinct group, but it involves dimensions, demographics, and forms of intercultural interaction (Verkuyten & Yogeeswaran, 2020). It also tries to analyze the difference between groups in terms of their psychology, which can help determine the root cause of disagreement between cultures (Verkuyten & Yogeeswaran, 2020). However, the opponents of this view claim that studying this topic does not prevent antipathy and conflicts between different races and ethnicities. It would be a valid argument if knowledge about cultural diversity were perceived without thinking critically about the causes and consequences of historical events associated with intercultural discord. Conversely, understanding one’s culture generates an empathetic attitude that can replace hostility, leading to peaceful coexistence and cooperation.

In summary, cultural diversity is a crucial area of study that can prevent conflicts and facilitate integration and open dialogue between various racial and ethnic groups. Although the opposing views argue that research in this field may be useless because knowledge about customs and history cannot prevent hatred. However, clear comprehension of other people’s psychology, values, traditions, and cultural beliefs can help individuals be more tolerant of each other.

Verkuyten, M., & Yogeeswaran, K. (2020). Cultural diversity and its implications for intergroup relations. Current Opinion in Psychology , 32 , 1-5. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2023, May 13). Is It Important to Study Cultural Diversity? https://ivypanda.com/essays/is-it-important-to-study-cultural-diversity/

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1. IvyPanda . "Is It Important to Study Cultural Diversity?" May 13, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/is-it-important-to-study-cultural-diversity/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Is It Important to Study Cultural Diversity?" May 13, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/is-it-important-to-study-cultural-diversity/.

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Hooked on Classics

• Posted August 28, 2019
• By Jill Anderson

With every new book English teacher Jabari Sellars , Ed.M.’18, introduced to his eighth graders, Shawn had something to say:

“This is lame.”

“This is wrong.”

“Are you serious?”

At first Sellars dismissed the reaction as 13-year-old Shawn just not liking to read.

After all, the book selection for Sellars’ Washington, D.C., class resembled the lists used in a lot of American schools. The Iliad . Romeo & Juliet . The Book Thief . Lord of the Flies . So when Shawn suggested alternative titles — demonstrating how well-read and interested he truly was — Sellars realized he had a different problem: All we’re reading are books about white people.

In a quick attempt to offer something different, Sellars turned to another genre rarely used in schools — a comic book — only to fail again when students identified in the Astonishing X-Men another white male protagonist. Having grown up cherishing the classics, like many English teachers, Sellars hadn’t strayed too far from the influential and often very “white” literary canon — the books and texts considered to be the most important.

It’s been more than 50 years since literacy experts first stressed the need for more diverse books in the classroom, and yet reading lists look surprisingly the same as they did in 1970.

“People teach what they’re comfortable with, so the choices become this narrow realm of what you liked and what you’re familiar with,” says Senior Lecturer Pamela Mason , M.A.T.’70, Ed.D.’75, who directs the Ed School’s Language and Literacy Program. Moving away from the classics toward more diverse books can stretch “people’s imaginations and pedagogy,” she says, but it can also reveal how educators aren’t equipped for that change.

The canon has long been revered in public education as representing the “depth and breadth of our national common experience,” Mason says, the books that many believe all high school students should be studying. The problem is that what was once defined as “common” — middle class, white, cisgender people — is no longer the reality in our country. Unfortunately, Mason says, “making a case for new literature by different authors of color, authors who are not cisgendered, or even just female authors” is a challenge.

Liz Phipps Soeiro, Ed.M.’19, an elementary school librarian in Cambridge, realized the canon’s power after returning to the White House 10 Dr. Seuss books donated by First Lady Melania Trump in 2017. In a now viral blog post explaining her reasons, she wrote about disappearing school libraries, policies that work against underprivileged communities, and how although considered a classic, Dr. Seuss was “steeped in racism and harmful stereotypes.” People responded harshly through personal attacks and threats on Soeiro and her family.

“It’s more complex than ‘I want to throw Dr. Seuss away,’” she says, disputing the charge that she hates Dr. Seuss. While attending a children’s book conference 10 years ago, she saw no diverse books being highlighted and asked the book vendor why, only for the question to be dismissed. It forced Soeiro to think more deeply about inequities, realizing that books — even the most beloved — are part of systemic issues. “Knowing the history of this country and the history of our educational system really puts into sharp focus just how urgent it is to have representation in our books, stories, narratives, and media that we share with children,” she says.

Literacy experts have long called for more representation in children’s literature. In 1965, literacy champion Nancy Larrick’s Saturday Review article, “The All-White World of Children’s Books,” noted how millions of children of color were learning from books that completely omitted them.

Then, nearly 25 years later, children’s literary expert Rudine Sims Bishop reiterated children’s need for mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors in books to “understand each other better” and “change our attitudes toward difference.” As she wrote in the 1990 publication Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom , “When there are enough books available that can act as both mirrors and windows for all our children, they will see that we can celebrate both our difference and our similarities, because together they are what makes us all human.”

Yet, in the past 24 years, multicultural content, according to book publisher Lee & Low, represents only 13% of children’s literature. Despite national movements like We Need Diverse Books and DisruptTexts, and despite a growing number of diverse books, only 7% are written by people of color.

Considering that the American student population is now 50% nonwhite, the need for that mirror — for opportunities for children to see themselves and navigate a more diverse world — seems more pressing. Much like Sellars’ students, children notice the lack of representation surrounding them. English teachers interviewed for this story, particularly at middle and high school levels, described how students complain about representation, cultural relevance, and boredom in text. Those complaints, especially boredom, signal to Mason a greater need for variety in the classroom.

The solution seems obvious: Add more books that represent LGBTQ issues, gender diversity, people of color, people with disabilities, and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities. But even as teachers appear aware of a need to diversify the curriculum, there can be roadblocks to making it happen. For example, there’s a diversity gap in the book publishing industry regarding who gets published (mostly white authors), who gets awarded (mostly white authors), and which books make it onto school vendor booklists (mostly white creators). Add in the fact that new books are typically more expensive than classics, says Christina Dobbs, Ed.M.’06, Ed.D.’13, an assistant professor of English at Boston University, and it can be hard to make a case for change.

Even when teachers have the support of school administrators, funding, and autonomy over book selection, they still might feel lost.

“Some teachers might think, ‘I want to diversify the literature,’ but don’t know what to do with it,” says Lecturer Vicki Jacobs , C.A.S.’80, Ed.D.’86, a former English teacher who retired this summer as director of the Ed School’s Teacher Education Program. “They need to understand the multiple contexts — including background knowledge and lived experiences — that both they and their students bring to their reading and interpretations of those texts.”

This lack of understanding could explain why an elementary teacher of color from Virginia who attended a literature institute last year at the Ed School reported that she had discovered that other teachers in the school, who were predominantly white, weren’t using the more representative books she pushed for in the school library.

“It’s a mistake to think having the books gives people the tools to teach the books,” Dobbs says. In her role training teachers, she sees that many want to have conversations about diverse books but don’t know how. “We don’t have evidence that teachers can close that gap independently.”

Mason noticed similar apprehensions among educators, prompting her to create two professional learning experiences — an online module called Culturally Responsive Literature Instruction and its companion workshop on campus, Advancing Culturally Responsive Literature . Both programs, offered through the Ed School’s Professional Education program, focus on instructional literary practices that support and value the many identities present in the 21st-century classroom.

Last fall 51 educators, mostly teachers from the United States, gathered on the Ed School campus for a weekend spent learning how to bring new texts into their classrooms. There was plenty to discuss, like how to vet new books and develop a diverse curriculum to more predictable topics about meeting standards. (Common Core doesn’t identify required reading or tell you how to teach.)

Rachel Schubert, an 11th and 12th grade English teacher at Martha’s Vineyard High School in Massachusetts, attended the workshop to learn from other educators who are prioritizing this work. In her diverse classroom, she aims to strike a balance between the “classics” and multicultural texts like Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me and Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake . Still, she knows many teachers who stick to a classics-only approach, insisting there are ways to teach old books with a different lens too.

Schubert finds new books and methods helpful in creating space for students to grapple with tough issues and questions about identity. “The kids I teach are extremely hungry for these experiences. Diversifying the curriculum is one way to reach them,” she says. “Once you start doing it, it’s not that scary anymore.”

Fear can be a powerful deterrent to making change in the classroom. When adding diverse books and readings, Schubert and Sellars already know the tricky scenarios — how to address stereotypes or not being able to answer a student’s question — that might keep teachers away from the work.

In a lot of ways, learning how to understand and discuss difference with students connects back to the need for diverse books in the first place.

“In our nation, we haven’t been good at learning how to talk across differences in a respectful way,” Mason says. “And that is supposed to be the fabric of our democracy.” When you add in the fact that teacher training hasn’t always included work about race and identity, or even about addressing cultural assumptions, it becomes easy to see how adding diverse books to the curriculum can seem like treacherous territory.

New books come under scrutiny even though they often contain similar elements as classics. For instance, consider the racialized language in Huckleberry Finn , or the treatment of disabilities in Of Mice and Men , or even the sexual content in Romeo & Juliet . But those books still maintain a place in classrooms around the country, whereas new books like The Hate U Give get challenged as “anti-cop” and for profanity, drug use, and sexual references, according to the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. The book also happens to deal with racial injustices and police brutality, and is written by a black female.

“It’s kind of odd that we don’t have a problem giving students of color books written by dead white men, but we get a little queasy when we give white students literature written by African American authors, Latinx authors, transgender authors, Asian American authors,” Mason says. She suggests that, rather than banning books, we instead lead students through a balanced analysis of literature.

As educators try to diversify texts in their classrooms, they need thoughtful intent when choosing which books are appropriate or in determining the methods to teach material. Without that clear purpose, Jacobs fears teachers get lost, along with students, in the text. That purpose also helps safeguard against backlash when you know why you’ve selected certain work.

“A lot of people will see a brown child on the cover of a book and think that’s enough,” Soeiro says. But it’s not. “We have to look critically at the agency of that child, who wrote the book, the dominant narrative in the book. It takes a lot of work.”

It’s work, say educators like Soeiro and Dobbs, that teachers need to do.

“If all you read is one book by an author of color and five books a year by dead white guys, how does that shape your ideas about how stories get told, who they’re about?” Dobbs says.

In some ways, we already know. Today’s educators and students still exist in a canonized world, where prized books both teach and constrain us.

“An inherent part of developing culturally responsive instruction is coming to terms with our narrow view of literature,” Sellars says. “Making our classes culturally responsive may mean bringing in new texts and media, which means teachers will relinquish their position as experts. Many teachers are reluctant to introduce a new text, or even teach an old text from a different perspective, because doing so doesn’t allow them to rely solely on previous lesson plans and teaching strategies.”

After Sellars’ student made him see his “blind spots,” he could have kept everything the same. It would have been easier. But he spent the summer rethinking the reading list. The following year his eighth graders read newer, less canonized books: Ultimate X-Men , Persepolis , Black Boy White School , and excerpts from The Song of Achilles . The experience moved Sellars from what he describes as just talking about being culturally relevant to actually doing the work.

Mason believes a new culture of teaching literature will emerge, one classroom success at at a time, as long as we chip away at the lingering notion that diverse books aren’t worthy of teachers’ time and attention.

“When teachers learn about the cultural assumptions that made them leery about including new, multicultural literature, then learn how to teach the books, that sets them off in a stance of strength and knowledge. Then they have a couple of successes in the classroom,” Mason says. Describing the potential for that success to then snowball among fellow teachers, she adds, “Another teacher tries with their support, and they get successful too, and the new book starts to become part of a larger repertoire of literature to share.” When confronted with a book from the canon, it becomes, ‘Do we have to teach that book again on this theme?’ Well, here are some other options that might be worth a try.’”

Jill Anderson is a senior digital content creator at the Ed School and host of the Harvard EdCast .

Reloading the Canon

Ed. Magazine

The magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education

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The Diversity College Essay: How to Write a Stellar Essay

What’s covered:, what’s covered in a diversity essay, what is a diversity essay, examples of the diversity essay prompt, how to write the diversity college essay after the end of affirmative action, tips for writing a diversity college essay.

The Diversity Essay exists because colleges want a student body that includes different ethnicities, religions, sexual orientations, backgrounds, interests, and so on. The essay asks students to illuminate what sets them apart so that admissions committees can see what kind of diverse views and opinions they can bring to the campus.

In this post, we’ll be going over what exactly a diversity essay is, examples of real prompts and essays, and tips for writing a standout essay. You’ll be well prepared to answer this common essay prompt after reading this post!

Upon hearing the word diversity, many people assume that they have to write about gender and sexuality, class, or race. To many, this can feel overly personal or forced, or can cause students to worry that their identity isn’t unique or interesting enough. In reality, the diversity essay is much broader than many people realize.

Identity means different things to different people, and the important thing is that you demonstrate your uniqueness and what’s important to you. You might write about one of the classic, traditional identity features mentioned above, but you also could consider writing about a more unusual feature of yourself or your life—or even the intersection of two or more identities.

Consider these questions as you think about what to include in your diversity essay:

• Do you have a unique or unusual talent or skill? For example, you might be a person with perfect pitch, or one with a very accurate innate sense of direction.
• Do you have beliefs or values that are markedly different from the beliefs or values of those around you? Perhaps you hold a particular passion for scientific curiosity or truthfulness, even when it’s inconvenient.
• Do you have a hobby or interest that sets you apart from your peers? Maybe you’re an avid birder, or perhaps you love to watch old horror movies.
• Have you done or experienced something that few people have? Note that if you choose to write about a single event as a diverse identity feature, that event should have had a pretty substantial impact on you and your life. Perhaps you’re part of the 0.2% of the world that has run a marathon, or you’ve had the chance to watch wolves hunt in the wild.
• Do you have a role in life that gives you a special outlook on the world? Maybe one of your siblings has a rare disability, or you grew up in a town of less than 500 people.

Of course, if you would rather write about a more classic identity feature, you absolutely should! These questions are intended to help you brainstorm and get you thinking creatively about this prompt. You don’t need to dig deep for an extremely unusual diverse facet of yourself or your personality. If writing about something like ability, ethnicity, or gender feels more representative of your life experience, that can be an equally strong choice!

You should think expansively about your options and about what really demonstrates your individuality, but the most important thing is to be authentic and choose a topic that is truly meaningful to you.

Diversity essay prompts come up in both personal statements and supplemental essays. As with all college essays, the purpose of any prompt is to better understand who you are and what you care about. Your essays are your chance to share your voice and humanize your application. This is especially true for the diversity essay, which aims to understand your unique perspectives and experiences, as well as the ways in which you might contribute to a college community.

It’s worth noting that diversity essays are used in all kinds of selection processes beyond undergrad admissions—they’re seen in everything from graduate admissions to scholarship opportunities. You may very well need to write another diversity essay later in life, so it’s a good idea to get familiar with this essay archetype now.

If you’re not sure whether your prompt is best answered by a diversity essay, consider checking out our posts on other essay archetypes, like “Why This College?” , “Why This Major?” , and the Extracurricular Activity Essay .

The best-known diversity essay prompt is from the Common App . The first prompt states:

“Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.”

Some schools also have individual diversity essay prompts. For example, here’s one from Duke University :

“We believe a wide range of personal perspectives, beliefs, and lived experiences are essential to making Duke a vibrant and meaningful living and learning community. Feel free to share with us anything in this context that might help us better understand you and what you might bring to our community.” (250 words)

And here’s one from Rice :

“Rice is strengthened by its diverse community of learning and discovery that produces leaders and change agents across the spectrum of human endeavor. What perspectives shaped by your background, experiences, upbringing, and/or racial identity inspire you to join our community of change agents at Rice?” (500 words)

In all instances, colleges want you to demonstrate how and what you’ll contribute to their communities.

In June 2023, the Supreme Court overturned the use of affirmative action in college admissions, meaning that colleges are no longer able to directly factor race into admissions decisions. Despite this ruling, you can still discuss your racial or ethnic background in your Common App or supplemental essays.

If your race or ethnic heritage is important to you, we strongly recommend writing about it in one of your essays, as this is now one of the only ways that admissions committees are able to consider it as a factor in your admission.

Many universities still want to hear about your racial background and how it has impacted you, so you are likely to see diversity essays show up more frequently as part of supplemental essay packets. Remember, if you are seeing this kind of prompt, it’s because colleges care about your unique identity and life experience, and believe that these constitute an important part of viewing your application holistically. To learn more about how the end of affirmative action is impacting college admissions, check out our post for more details .

1. Highlight what makes you stand out.

A common misconception is that diversity only refers to aspects—such as ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status. While these are standard measures of diversity, you can be diverse in other ways. These ways includes (but aren’t limited to) your:

• Interests, hobbies, and talents
• Perspectives, values, and opinions
• Experiences
• Personality traits

Ask yourself which aspects of your identity are most central to who you are. Are these aspects properly showcased in other portions of your application? Do you have any interests, experiences, or traits you want to highlight?

For instance, maybe you’re passionate about reducing food waste. You might love hiking and the outdoors. Or, maybe you’re a talented self-taught barber who’s given hundreds of free haircuts in exchange for donations to charity.

The topic of your essay doesn’t have to be crazy or even especially unique. You just want to highlight whatever is important to you, and how this thing shapes who you are. You might still want to write about a more common aspect of identity. If so, there are strong ways to do so.

If you do choose to write about a more common trait (for example, maybe your love of running), do so in a way that tells your story. Don’t just write an ode to running and how it’s stress-relieving and pushes you past your limits. Share your journey with us⁠—for instance, maybe you used to hate it, but you changed your mind one day and eventually trained to run a half marathon. Or, take us through your thought process during a race. The topic in itself is important, but how you write about it is even more important.

2. Share an anecdote.

One easy way to make your essay more engaging is to share a relevant and related story. The beginning of your essay is a great place for that, as it draws the reader in immediately. For instance, the following student chose to write about their Jewish identity, and opened the essay with a vivid experience of being discriminated against:

“I was thirsty. In my wallet was a lone $10 bill, ultimately useless at my school’s vending machine. Tasked with scrounging together the $1 cost of a water bottle, I fished out and arranged the spare change that normally hid at the bottom of my backpack in neat piles of nickels and dimes on my desk. I swept them into a spare Ziploc and began to leave when a classmate snatched the bag and held it above my head.

“Want your money back, Jew?” she chanted, waving the coins around. I had forgotten the Star-of-David around my neck, but quickly realized she must have seen it and connected it to the stacks of coins. I am no stranger to experiencing and confronting antisemitism, but I had never been targeted in my school before.”

An anecdote allows readers to experience what you’re describing, and to feel as if they’re there with you. This can ultimately help readers better relate to you.

Brainstorm some real-life stories relevant to the trait you want to feature. Possibilities include: a meaningful interaction, achieving a goal, a conflict, a time you felt proud of the trait (or ashamed of it), or the most memorable experience related to the trait. Your story could even be something as simple as describing your mental and emotional state while you’re doing a certain activity.

Whatever you decide on, consider sharing that moment in media res , or “in the middle of things.” Take us directly to the action in your story so we can experience it with you.

3. Show, don’t tell.

If you simply state what makes you diverse, it’s really easy for your essay to end up sounding bland. The writer of the previous essay example could’ve simply stated “I’m Jewish and I’ve had to face antisemitism.” This is a broad statement that doesn’t highlight their unique personal experiences. It doesn’t have the same emotional impact.

Instead, the writer illustrated an actual instance where they experienced antisemitism, which made the essay more vivid and easier to relate to. Even if we’re not Jewish ourselves, we can feel the anger and pain of being taunted for our background. This story is also unique to the writer’s life⁠—while others may have experienced discrimination, no one else will have had the exact same encounter.

As you’re writing, constantly evaluate whether or not you’re sharing a unique perspective. If what you write could’ve been written by someone else with a similar background or interest, you need to get more granular. Your personal experiences are what will make your essay unique, so share those with your reader.

4. Discuss how your diversity shapes your outlook and actions.

It’s important to describe not only what your unique traits and experiences are, but also how they shape who you are. You don’t have to explicitly say “this is how X trait impacts me” (you actually shouldn’t, as that would be telling instead of showing). Instead, you can reveal the impact of your diversity through the details you share.

Maybe playing guitar taught you the importance of consistent effort. Show us this through a story of how you tackled an extremely difficult piece you weren’t sure you could handle. Show us the calluses on your fingers, the knit brows as you tinkered with the chords, the countless lessons with your teacher. Show us your elation as you finally performed the piece.

Remember that colleges learn not just about who you are, but also about what you might contribute to their community. Take your essay one step farther and show admissions officers how your diversity impacts the way you approach your life.

Where to Get Your Diversity Essay Edited

Do you want feedback on your diversity essay? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

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3 Understanding Diversity as Culture

Eduardo Salas, Department of Psychological Sciences, Rice University

Maritza R. Salazar, School of Behavioral and Organizational Sciences, Claremont Graduate University

Michele J. Gelfand, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland

• Published: 01 October 2013
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Cultural diversity—the degree to which there are differences within and between individuals based on both subjective and objective components of culture—can affect individual and group processes. However, much is still unclear about the effects of cultural diversity. We review the literature on cultural diversity to assess the state of the art and to identify key issues for future research. This review emphasizes the importance of understanding different types of cultural diversity and their independent and combined effect on team performance. We identify key contributions to the study of cultural diversity and discuss frontiers for future research.

Introduction

One of the most significant changes taking place in today’s work environment is globalization (Arnett, 2002 ). Given the proliferation of multicultural corporations and the globalization of business, understanding the impact of cultural diversity on individual and team functioning in the work force is critical. Cross-cultural research addresses this need with a focus on the study of similarities and differences in processes and behaviors across cultures (Gelfand, Erez, & Aycan, 2007 ). Differences across cultures have been found to predict variation in key individual, team, and organizational processes and outcomes such as decision making, negotiation, conflict management, organizational citizenship behaviors, and innovation (Gelfand & Dyer, 2000 ; Gelfand, Erez, & Aycan, 2007 ; Kirkman, Lowe, & Gibson, 2006 ). In contrast, relatively little work has focused on the impact of diversity in multicultural interactions that occurs within multinational corporations and teams. Challenges to accessing multicultural teams and conceptualizations about how to measure culturally diverse teams may be some of the reason for the sparse research focused on multicultural interactions. In this chapter, we draw on organizational diversity research, cross-cultural comparative studies, and a few studies that examine multicultural teams to provide directions for the study of cultural diversity at multiple levels of analysis.

We provide an overview of the theoretical frameworks that tend to be used by diversity researchers. We do so to explore whether and how these frameworks can be leveraged to explain the effects of cultural diversity across and within people and teams. Throughout this chapter the relationship between cultural diversity and outcomes at the individual and team level will also be explored. We conclude with suggestions for future research. It is our aim to provoke diversity researchers to consider and conceptualize how culture affects perceptions and responses to diversity at multiple levels, the effects of cultural diversity on organizational behavior processes, and the contextual and social psychological condition under which cultural diversity may most affect key organizational outcomes.

Culture defined

Culture is a way of perceiving, thinking, and deciding that has endured over time and has become institutionalized by a social entity, such as a team or nation, guiding everyday behavior and practices (Gelfand, Erez, & Aycan, 2007 ). According to Triandis ( 1972 ), culture consists of two types of elements: (1) objective elements, which consist of visible aspects of culture such as language, religion, demography, social structures, and other political and social systems, and (2) subjective elements, which constitute more covert aspects such as values, beliefs, norms, and roles that characterize a culture and the way people experience their social world. Additionally, culture is considered to be a human part of the environment (Herskovits, 1955 ) that is transmitted across time and generations (Triandis, 1994 ).

Culture has also been defined as collective programming of the mind (Hofstede, 1991 ) that is shared among members (Shweder & LeVine, 1984 ). Following this logic, it is assumed that members of different cultures, who do not share a common meaning system, are more likely to respond to the same external stimuli in distinct ways. However, more recent advances challenge this notion of culture and suggest that it is also malleable and fragmented across individuals within the same culture (D’Andrade, 2001 ). For instance, Rohner ( 1984 ) suggests that many subcultures exist within a nation and that national culture may not be completely shared among fellow countrymen. Hofstede ( 1991 ) similarly described individuals as carrying several layers of culture within themselves.

Understanding the complexity of cultural diversity and measuring it appropriately is critically important for cross-cultural researchers who seek to understand how variation among people and societies affects a variety of social phenomenon. This chapter draws upon a generally accepted definition of diversity, which refers to the differences between individuals based on attributes that elicit the perception that another person is different from the self (Jackson, 1992 ; Triandis, Kurowski, & Gelfand, 1994 ; van Knippenberg, De Dreu & Homan, 2004 ; Williams & O’Reilly, 1998 ). From a cross-cultural perspective, individuals can answer the question “Who am I?” and teams can answer “Who are we?” based on a variety of both surface- and deep-level attributes that make them similar or different from others given their cultural heritage.

The next sections aim to identify various dimensions of cultural diversity that can exist within and across individuals and collections of individuals, ranging from small groups to societies. Scholars suggest that the culture exists at multiple levels of analysis (e.g., individual, team, organizational, and national levels) and that these different levels reciprocally influence one another (Erez & Gati, 2004 ). Empirical and theoretical research has focused on the cultural values and attitudes of individuals and on measuring these individual attributes using self-report measures (Hofstede, 1980 ; Schwartz, 1999 ). Culture has also been conceptualized and measured as a property of a team or larger collection of individuals, such as an organization or nation (Enz, 1988 ; Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005 ; Martin & Siehl, 1983 ; Schein, 1985 ; Weiner, 1988 ).Through repeated social interaction, culture emerges within the collective and is believed to consist of “sets of rules and actions, work capability expectations, and members’ perceptions that individuals develop, share and enact” after interaction together (Earley & Mosakowski, 2000 , p. 27). Cultural differences across collectives tend to be measured by comparing similarities and differences among individuals within one collective and comparing them to members of others using aggregation techniques. Within collectives, culture emerges around a shared system of values and assumptions that tend to guide behavior, norms, rituals, and other cultural activities of members. Hence, variation in perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors across individuals and collections of individuals can often be attributed to their cultural differences.

In the remaining sections we talk about different sources of cultural diversity, when these differences affect behavior, measurement approaches, and implications for key organizational behavior outcomes at the individual and team level. This chapter focuses on understanding cultural diversity within and across individuals in teams. We conclude with recommendations for future directions.

Types of cultural diversity

The taxonomy of diversity as deep and surface level developed by Harrison, Price, and Bell ( 1998 ) is a useful starting point for classifying cultural differences, and we extend this classification system to introduce two ways of conceptualizing and measuring cultural diversity. First, we elaborate upon a type of deep-level diversity, subjective cultural diversity, which refers to the distribution of attributes that reflect culturally shaped values, attitudes, norms, roles, and beliefs that are not easily observed. Second, we discuss objective cultural diversity, which refers to the surface-level attributes of cultural difference that are readily detectable and easily perceived by individuals, such as one’s age, gender, or ethnicity. Using this classification system, we outline and define various types of cultural diversity in the following section and also provide insight into how they are related. In doing so, we present connections to empirically supported findings linking these types of diversity to various individual- and team-level outcomes.

Objective attributes of cultural diversity

To differentiate one culture from another based on objective and subjective components, this chapter provides key insights into the means by which cultures of individuals and collections of individuals conduct everyday social processes. The degree to which cultures, either at the individual or collective level, are diverse can depend on how much variation there is based on the subjective and objective components of culture. Although not always the case, objective components of culture are used as a proxy for more deep-level differences that are associated with these visible features. In turn, subjective cultural components shape the way aspects of objective components of culture are perceived. The following elaborates on the connection between objective cultural components and subjective cultural components.

The focus on the relationship between objective and subjective components stems from a long tradition in psychology. Whiting and Whiting ( 1975 ) examined the effects of institutional differences on behavior by focusing on how children learn across societies. They characterized the institutional environment, and its effect on social processes, with the following categories: physical environment (e.g., climate and terrain), history (e.g., migrations), and maintenance systems (e.g., social structure). Previously, Berry ( 1966 ) explored the link between the different ecologic environments and their effect on social processes. His research demonstrated that individuals living in tightly structured agricultural settings displayed lower psychological differentiation and greater compliance in their childrearing practices than individuals from hunting and fishing communities. Extending this research further and connecting it to the field of modern cross-cultural psychology, Triandis ( 1972 ) further delineated a theoretical and methodologic framework for understanding how the subjective psychological experience of individuals is shaped by the objective human-made and physical, cultural components of their environment. Triandis’ book, Analysis of Subjective Culture , catalyzed research that focused on understanding the association among deep-level, subjective culture (e.g., values, beliefs, expectations, norms, attitudes) across environments characterized by different objective components of culture.

In this chapter, we differentiate objective culture into two broad categories: (1) institutions at the macro level and (2) sociodemographic characteristics at the individual level. Characteristics of macro institutions include features such as language, political systems, physical setting, history, and social structure. Sociodemographic characteristics, such as race and ethnicity, are physical features of individuals within a collective that can differ across cultures due to different ancestry. Gender is also included as a biologic indicator because subjective experience of sex can vary across cultures. We elaborate on these classifications below.

Macro components of objective culture

Language Systems. One of the greatest barriers to cross-cultural collaboration is differences in the languages used to communicate. Drawing on the metaphor of a family tree, linguists have clustered languages around the world into families based on common sounds, syntax, and lexicon. Languages that are more similar are believed to stem from and be closely linked to a common ancestry, whereas distant languages may not have a common genealogy. They may be so far removed that comparison would demonstrate few similarities. Regardless, linguistic distance between two cultures can be discerned by locating the distance between these cultures on a map of these linguistic clusters. Strategies for communication can also vary cross-culturally, increasingly the likelihood of performance losses. This dimension of cultural diversity has also been explored in a study of multicultural teams. In particular, Ayoko, Hartel, and Callan ( 2002 ) found that discourse management strategies helped teams to avoid unproductive conflict and improve task performance in teams composed of people from different national cultures. In particular, discourse strategies that facilitated the use of explanation and mutual understanding were a major feature of productive conflict, whereas interrupting one another resulted in destructive conflict. Culturally diverse teams were also most effective when leaders assisted teams when communication breakdowns occurred and when all cultural subgroups were included in the discussion (Ayoko, Hartel, & Callan, 2002 )

Social Structures. Social structures also distinguish nations and cultures from one another. Of particular interest are the patterns of social interaction that vary among people across cultures. Morris, Podolny, and Sullivan ( 2008 ) examined how social interactions among individuals are shaped by national culture and norms. These researchers examined informal ties among coworkers within American, Chinese, German, and Spanish cultures. Results suggest that employees’ interaction with coworkers vary in terms of content and structure based on national norms. For instance, these researchers found evidence that the influence of a market transaction orientation in the United States led to less tie overlap among coworkers and to rather short-term connections. Chinese norms on filial responsibility, focused on the relationship between son and father, led to a greater tendency for instrumental exchanges to focus on subordinates, whereas an emphasis on formality in Germany led to more instrumental job-related connections at work compared to affective ties. Finally, Morris and colleagues ( 2008 ) found that norms of sociability tended to be associated with expressive content of communication, rather than on task-related topics, among the Spanish. This research provides evidence of how national culture and norms shape social structure in the form of interaction between people embedded within different countries.

Political Systems, Political scientists have identified various characteristics that differentiate one political regime from another and the factors that may lead to the use of various political systems around the globe (Bueno de Mesquita & Siverson, 1995 ). Forms of government across cultures are numerous, but political scientists have identified eight broad types of government, including full presidential republics, parliamentary republics, absolute monarchies, and single-party states. These political states vary in the extent to which participation of the population in developing policy is encouraged and allowed. Predictors of political structure and political decision making have been linked to differences in collectivist versus individualist orientation and to orientations regarding power (Schmitter, 1981 ). Research also demonstrates how the procedures used within one’s national government can also shape everyday decision making. Specifically, Earley ( 1999 ) provides initial qualitative evidence of how American teams opt to use more democratic techniques, such as polling, whereas other countries leverage more authoritarian techniques, such as discussing the views of the leader, to reach collective consensus.

Physical Terrain and Climate. The physical features of the location where one once lived or currently lives have been found to have a strong association with cultural values (Berry, 1966 ; Triandis, 1972 ; Whiting & Whiting, 1975 ). Features of the physical environment can include climate, temperature, urban versus rural, region or country, latitude, or distance from water. Vliert, Huang, and Parker ( 2004 ) compared people in locations distinguished by their climate (hotter vs. colder) and found that people who have more wealth in cold climates tend to be less altruistic than those who are poor; the reverse is found to be true in hot climates. Examining geographic location, Little ( 1968 ) found that Mediterranean people prefer shorter distances for social interaction than do northern Europeans. Finally, societies that are more rural and rely on agriculture have been found to be more collectivist compared to industrial, urban societies, which are more individualistic (Kluckhohn & Strodtbeck, 1961 ; Triandis, 2009 ).

Sociodemographic Cultural Components. Similar cultures are likely to arise in a context where members share the same race or ancestry (Triandis, 1995 ). Race is considered to be one of the major divisions among humankind, revolving around physical or biologic features that are shared (Fernando, 1991 ). Ancestry is equated to the national origins of one’s descendents, and these ancestors tend to share common physical features. Both race and ancestry may be considered a form of surface-level diversity, and these visible characteristics enable people to categorize others into social groups such as one’s nation or country. Ethnic group differences have also been shown to be associated with deep-level differences in values and behaviors. For instance, Cox, Lobel, and McLeod ( 1991 ) provided results that suggest that different cultural norms among three distinct ethnic groups led to different behaviors on a group task. At an individual level, these scholars demonstrated that Asian, Black, and Hispanic individuals tend to have a more collectivist/cooperative orientation toward a task than their Anglo counterparts.

Gender is also tied to cross-cultural differences. Gender is a multidimensional phenomenon that not only is a sociodemographic characteristic, but also consists of other psychological aspects such as gender-role traits, attitudes, and values (Bem, 1993 ). Schwartz and Rubel ( 2005 ) suggested that men and women differ from one another across cultures in the degree to which they place importance on particular values. For instance, their study suggests that there are smaller sex differences for self-direction values across countries that are more autonomous (compared to embedded) and more individualistic (rather than collectivistic).Similar findings were found related to differences in the value of power and benevolence across nations depending on the degree to which there was gender equality within the country. These studies provide evidence of how gender, an objective component of culture, can affect differences in values across cultures.

Subjective attributes of cultural diversity

The subjective aspects of culture include one’s beliefs, identities, values, norms, and attitudes that can be derived from the groups with which one is associated (Triandis, 1972 ). Specifically, individuals develop a sense of identity from the groups to which they belong (Tajfel & Turner, 1986 ). Individuals can belong to several groups, such as their families, religious organizations, political parties, or social clubs. From a social identity perspective, the answer to “Who am I?” is informed by a person’s knowledge of the memberships he or she has in social groups and the value and emotional significance attached to those memberships (Tajfel, 1981 ). Identification with these associations can define the way people categorize others as in-group or out-group members and the values, norms, beliefs, and attitudes they hold (Deaux, 1996 ; Hogg & Abrams, 1988 ). For instance, defining oneself as a member of an organization has been shown to predict positive attitudes about the organization and the willingness to act in the organization’s best interest (Mael & Ashforth, 1992 ).

One type of social identity is a cultural identity, which arises among individuals based on the deep tacit knowledge that is shared among members stemming from interpersonal interaction over time (Chao & Moon, 2005 ). Research has shown that people who identify strongly with their culture tend to endorse the culture’s core values (e.g., Feather, 1994 ; Jetten, Postmes, & McAuliffe, 2002 ). A value has high perceived cultural importance when participants as a group believe that the average member in the group would strongly endorse it (Wan, Chiu, Tam, Lee, Lau, & Peng, 2007 ). Association with groups related to one’s religion, family, profession, political interest, or avocation shapes and reinforces the values that members of these groups possess.

Data collected from different national groups provide evidence of how differences in values can distinguish people from different nations around the globe (Hofstede, 1980 ; Schwartz & Bilsky, 1987 ; Triandis, 1995 ). These national cultural value differences have been found to be associated with workplace behaviors, attitudes, and other organizational outcomes (e.g., Kluckhohn & Strodtbeck, 1961 ; Hall, 1976 ; Hofstede, 1980 ; Ronen & Shenkar, 1985 ; Schwartz, 1994 ; Trompenaars, 1993 ). Hofstede’s ( 1980 ) extensive work classifying over 40 countries along four different dimensions of culture has strongly influenced cross-cultural research focused on investigating the effects of these national differences on individuals, teams, and organizational outcomes. Individualism versus collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity versus femininity were the dimensions of culture that were found to distinguish one nation from another. Although Hofstede’s ( 1980 ) research has been criticized for being oversimplified and ignoring cultural heterogeneity within countries (Sivakumar & Nakata, 2003 ), studies of cultural diversity tend to rely on the national value differences he outlined several decades ago to delineate the effects of cultural values on outcomes across countries (Taras, Kirkman, & Steel, 2010 ).

Values are not the only internalized aspect of the self that can be derived from group memberships. When a social identity is activated and made salient, it can induce conformity to in-group norms (Reicher, 1984 ; Spears, Lea, & Lee, 1990 ; Wilder & Shapiro, 1989 ). A recent study by Adarves-Yorno, Postmes, and Haslam ( 2006 ) found that the behavior of individuals on creativity tasks was informed by the normative context when their group identity was activated. Specifically, when operating as a member of a group, identification and belonging were found to be associated with adhering to the norms of the group when engaging in their work. Research elucidates that norms of tightness and looseness vary across countries, differentiating societies from one another (Gelfand, Nishi, & Raver, 2006 ; Pelto, 1968 ; Triandis, 1972 ). In particular, some can be characterized as “tight,” imposing a high degree of constraint on behavior, whereas others evolve to be “loose,” affording a high degree of freedom to determine one’s own behavior (Gelfand, Nishii, & Raver, 2006 ). We suggest that the identification one has to one’s culture or society can determine the extent to which one is likely to conform to the norms or deviate from them. The adherence or deviance from cultural norms will shape the predictability or the consistency of an individual’s actions.

Individual-level cultural diversity

The construct of culture at the individual level is one that is evolving. Although individuals within the same nation or group continue to be lumped together as one homogeneous population in cross-cultural studies, research and theory advance the notion that a single individual can have various cultural influences within himself or herself (Sackmann, 1997 ). This point is best exemplified by research on bicultural individuals in the way that they are able to alter cultural frames depending on situational factors through the use of primes (Hong, Morris, Chiu, & Benet Martinez, 2000 ). Given the importance of culture as an antecedent to behavior, the knowledge that multiple cultural values can be simultaneously present within an individual requires new conceptualization and measurement techniques for the study of cultural diversity.

Chao and Moon ( 2005 ) classify the several cultural identities that exist within a single individual as being shaped by associative, demographic, and geographic factors from one’s heritage and background. These authors draw on the metaphor of a mosaic and consider these three factors as different cultural “tiles” that make up an individual’s cultural mosaic. They define demographic tiles of the cultural mosaic within a person as being physical in nature or inherited from one’s parents, such as age, gender, race, and ethnicity. Geographic tiles can be connected to the notion of surface-level diversity because geography has to do with the natural or human-made physical features of a region that can shape an identity. Finally, associative tiles refer to the formal and informal groups that individuals choose to be a part of and with which they identify. We propose that associations with one group can be classified as deep-level diversity, as feelings of social identification, and as surface-level diversity, when people display their associations with groups through clothing or artifacts. Differences in core values across the many groups to which a person belongs can result in a variety of cultural identities that coexist within a person. In the following section, we expand on Chao and Moon’s ( 2005 ) theoretical paper and explore how the structure and salience of cultural diversity can shape the cultural identity and behavior of individuals.

Configuration of cultural identities within individuals

To identify which cultural aspects of diversity will or will not be invoked, we suggest that the content of an individual’s cultural identity; the importance of his or her cultural identities, values, and norms; and the broader context must be taken into account. As individuals move between the groups to which they belong to at home, school, and the workplace, different and multiple cultural values may coexist and have the potential to become simultaneously activated. These identities can merge in concordance or discordance with one another to affect the cohesiveness and strength of an individual’s value set (Chao & Moon, 2005 ). If these identities are not in harmony, it can be a source of stress because conflicting values may be guiding behavior. Discordant cultural identities can enhance the salience of conflicting cultural identities. Drawing on social dissonance theory, dissonance may be aroused when people believe that there are discrepancies between their beliefs and behaviors, which can cause anxiety (Festinger & Carlsmith, 1959 ). Without coherence among values, behavior is likely to be less consistent, whereas harmonious cultural identities will be less salient to an individual and may more consistently shape behaviors.

The degree to which values drive behavior may depend on the importance or self-relevance one places on values. Values are conceptions of what is preferable, desirable, and important in a culture. Behaviors, preferences, and judgments can be justified or guided by values and they can also shape the affective evaluation of life experiences (Feather, 1996 : Kluckhold, 1951 ; Rokeach, 1973 ; Schwartz & Bilsky, 1987 ). A value that is important culturally can be one that most members of that group consider to be important to the self or to their culture (Wan et al., 2007 ). The degree to which a cultural value is important to a particular person can vary across people (Schwartz & Sagie, 2000 ; Triandis & Gelfand, 1998 ). When cultural values have great self-importance and a person has high identification with his or her cultural identity, the accessibility of the practices, norms, meanings systems, and mental responses associated with this identity may be higher. With the use of the mosaic metaphor of Chao and Moon ( 2005 ), particular tiles of the mosaic may be activated more when particular cultural identities are highly self-relevant and there is great identification with a cultural group.

Through membership in a collective, individuals garner knowledge about the beliefs and behaviors of the groups to which they belong (for a review, see Cialdini & Trost, 1998 ). Descriptive norms about how to behave tend to be regarded as cognitions that individuals possess (Cialdini &Trost, 1998 ), but they can also be conceived of as a society-level construct as well (Durkheim, 1985 ; Pelto, 1968 ). Descriptive norms about what is socially acceptable behavior can vary across nations and can be an expression of culture (cf., Tett & Burnett, 2003 ). Recent research suggests that differences in the perceptions of these norms can also affect psychological processes and behavior across cultures (Shteynberg, Gelfand, & Kim, 2009 ; Wan, Chiu, Tam, Lee, Lau, & Peng, 2007 ). Shteynberg, Gelfand, and Kim ( 2009 ) provide evidence that individuals with lower collectivist descriptive norms perceived a greater harm after rights violations than individuals with higher collectivistic descriptive norms. This research emphasizes the importance of considering norms as a subjective component of culture that can shape the way individuals perceive their environment.

The degree to which cultural identities affect behavior may be associated with the degree to which they are activated. The salience of cultural diversity categories or attributes is likely to depend on the degree to which the identity is meaningful and the extent to which the cultural identity is perceived depending on the social situation. We explore when cultural identities are made salient within individuals and the implications for predictable and normative behavioral outcomes.

Situational triggers of cultural identity salience

Cultural identities, or the tiles of the cultural mosaic, may also be activated by the triggers in the situational context. Much like social identities, cultural identities are malleable and can be activated when contextual conditions make a particular identity salient. For instance, Hong, Morris, Chiu, and Benet-Martinez ( 2000 ) demonstrate how situational attributions are activated through the use of cultural symbols (e.g., Chinese dragon and Statue of Liberty) across American and Chinese samples. They find that the activation of cultural knowledge through stimuli in the external environment depends on the extent to which it is cognitively accessible. They also demonstrate how cultural knowledge, when activated, can be a potent driver of behavior. Along related lines, Kitayama, Markus, Matsumoto, and Norasakkunkit ( 1997 ) elucidate how social situations, such as those that increase or decrease self-esteem, can elicit different cultural identities and responses across American and Japanese samples. These two studies underscore the importance of examining how the salience of cultural knowledge, identities, norms, and values can be sensitive to features of the sociocultural context, such as social artifacts, and shape behavior.

The activation of cultural identities can also be facilitated based on the extent to which similarities and differences between people are perceived. Perceived surface-level dissimilarity is an individual’s perceptions of the differences between himself and herself and others in terms of overt, physically observable characteristics, whereas deep-level similarity perceptions are based on differences in terms of nonvisible characteristics such as personality, values, beliefs, norms, and attitudes. Drawing on the similarity-attraction paradigm (Byrne, 1971 ), similarities and differences between people can form the basis for interpersonal attraction. Research suggests that the degree to which one’s cultural identity is made salient can affect subsequent team interaction. For instance, research by Randel ( 2003 ) finds that cultural identity salience can be triggered based on contextual conditions, such as whether team members share the same country of origin of a few or very many fellow team members, and that the dispersion of team members’ cultural salience assessments are positively associated with team citizenship behavior. Van der Zee, Atsma, and Brodbeck ( 2004 ) provide further evidence that when one’s cultural identity is salient in diverse teams, well-being and commitment to the team are both enhanced.

The social organization of different societies can affect systems of thought and how people from different cultures see aspects of the social world (Nisbett, Peng, Choi, & Norenzayan, 2001 ). For instance, Nisbett, Peng, Choi, and Norenzayan ( 2001 ) suggest that individuals from contexts characterized as being collectivist and holistic tend to be more tolerant of contradiction. Hence, when individuals from these contexts experience identity discordance, it may be the case that this conflict may not be perceived or attended to. It is possible that individuals who live in more culturally diverse environments may be less affected by the simultaneous presence of different cultural identities. We anticipate that these past experiences will also attenuate the effect of dissimilarity perceptions related both to deep- and surface-level cultural differences when interacting with culturally diverse others.

Contextual elements can also activate the salience of culturally derived norms and values. For instance, Gelfand and Realo ( 1999 ) found that the degree of accountability in the task environment can make descriptive norms salient. Specifically, accountability to constituents was found to enhance the propensity of collectivists to be cooperative and for individualists to be competitive in negotiation (Gelfand & Realo, 1999 ). Along related lines, other research demonstrates that when the individuals are held responsible to an in-group audience for their behavioral choices (Briley et al., 2000 ), their behavior is more culturally normative. Time pressure and need for closure, or the desire to reduce ambiguity in a social context, are additional contextual conditions that have been found to motivate individuals to use cultural knowledge to guide information processing. Researchers also provide evidence that cultural differences tend to be amplified when there is a high need for closure (Fu et al., 2007 , Morris & Fu, 2001 ). Finally, cultural norms and values can also be brought to the surface in situations of uncertainty, such as uncertainty about the groups to which one belongs (De Cremer & Van Hiel, 2008 ; Van den Bos, 2005 ).

This section provides evidence that supports the notion that cultural identities are dynamic and subject to activation based on features of the broader social context in which people are embedded (Hong et al., 2000 ). In the section that follows, we explore the impact of the types, structure, and salience of cultural diversity within teams on team processes and performance. Just as cultural diversity can reside within an individual, cultural diversity can also be the characteristic of a social group that reflects the degree to which there are objective or subjective cultural differences between people within the group. Diversity within teams has been found to have a pervasive impact on both collective functioning and performance (e.g., Guzzo & Dickson, 1996 ; van Knippenberg & Schippers, 2007 ). Next, we discuss the complex influence of cultural diversity and the salience of this diversity in teams.

Team cultural diversity

A team refers to three or more individuals who interact for the accomplishment of a common goal (McGrath, 1984 ). Over the past decade, the use of teams across a variety of domains has increased (Wuchty, Jones, & Uzzi, 2007 ). Academicians and practitioners alike have struggled to understand how to improve the performance of teams, especially when they are composed of diverse members. Much of the empirical research on diversity in teams has focused on understanding the conditions that enable some diverse teams to effectively pool and use their differences to achieve optimal performance, while avoiding the dysfunctional processes often associated with heterogeneity.

Comparing national differences across teams

Cross-cultural studies comparing differences across nations elucidate many key insights about how collaboration and teamwork are enacted across nations (Gelfand & Dyer, 2000 ; Gelfand, Erez, & Aycan, 2007 ; Kirkman, Lowe, & Gibson, 2006 ). For instance, studies of teams with more collectivist orientation were found to view groups as having greater agency than teams composed of more individualist individuals (e.g., Chiu et al., 2000 ; Kashima et al., 2005 ; Morris et al., 2008 ). Team members’ evaluations of their collective efficacy were also found to vary across teams where high-status members were present, depending on the mean level of power distance of members (Earley, 1999 ).

Differences with regard to the culture-specific meanings ascribed to interpersonal work styles across teams have also been found across nationalities. In particular, Sanchez-Burks, Nisbett, and Ybarra ( 2000 ) found that Mexicans attend closely to the interpersonal atmosphere of work relations whereas mainstream Americans tend to focus on task-specific concerns. For instance, Probst, Carneval, and Triandis ( 1999 ) found that individualists tended to be least cooperative in a single-group dilemma and more cooperative in an intergroup dilemma in which personal outcomes were improved through group cooperation. In contrast, collectivists were found to be most cooperative in the single-group dilemma and less cooperative in the intergroup condition in which group outcomes were positively affected. Research also suggests that groups of decision makers from Japan were found to expect that others would share their similar orientations to collaboration and behave cooperatively much more than were Americans (Wade-Benzoni, Okumura, Brett, Moore, Tenbrunsel, & Bazerman, 2002 ).

Rewards motivating cooperation in culturally diverse teams also require consideration of cross-cultural differences given findings that suggest that collectives find personal credit embarrassing (Triandis, 1988 ; 1990 ), whereas individual recognition is highly desirable in achievement-oriented individualist cultures. Rewarding work that is interesting and opportunities for promotion are most attractive to American students, whereas rewards in the form of pay and bonuses were the preference among Chinese and Chilean students (Corney & Richards, 2005 ; King & Bu, 2005 ). These examples of the distinct motivations, expectations, and rewards for collaboration of culturally diverse members are examples of the differences and similarities between members that can cause them to clash during team interaction.

Culture also influences team processes associated with motivation. Collectivist samples in Israel were found to experience fewer performance losses when given a group goal compared to individualist samples that were told to do their best for the team (Erez & Somech, 1996 ). Earley ( 1989 ) found that the relationship between accountability and shared responsibility and performance in a team was moderated by collectivism. In particular, Earley ( 1999 ) found that individualist people performed worse when under conditions of shared responsibility and low personal accountability. In contrast, highly collectivistic people performed best under conditions of shared responsibility, regardless of the accountability.

Drawing upon foundational models of collective cognition theory (Gibson, 2001 ; Hinsz, Tindale, & Vollrath, 1997 ), cross-cultural research has elucidated how collective cognition can vary across cultures. For instance, Gibson and Zellmer-Bruhn ( 2001 ) found that metaphors about teamwork varied across four different nations. The divergent cognitive construal of teamwork across France, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and the United States resulted in different expectations regarding team roles, membership, scope, and objectives. Likewise, the cognitive schemas for what constitutes a “successful” team can also vary across cultures. Sanchez-Burks, Nisbett, and Ybarra ( 2000 ) found that Mexicans perceived behaviors oriented toward interpersonal needs and harmony to be more important for success than Anglos, who perceived success to depend on the team’s focus on the task. Taken together, these studies demonstrate that collective cognitions about work conducted in collectives can also vary across cultures.

Few scholars have addressed the special concerns that face multicultural teams (Gibson & McDaniel, 2010 ). However, working collaboratively in these culturally diverse teams can be quite a challenge. Differences in values, norms of behavior, cognitions about collaboration, and communication styles are frequent sources of irritation, conflict, and misunderstanding in teams composed of representatives from different nations (Brett, Behfar, & Kern, 2006 ). In fact, many multicultural teams can be characterized as having high levels of ethnocentrism (Cramton & Hinds, 2005 ) and task and/or emotional conflict (Elron, 1997 ; Von Glinow et al., 2004 ). Understanding how to leverage the cultural diversity within multicultural teams is critically important, especially considering the extent to which these teams are being leveraged within corporations across the globe. We explore these ideas in the following section.

Cultural differences within teams: multinational teams and cultural diversity salience

Within cultures, research has elucidated how collaboration within teams is shaped by largely similar cultural values, attitudes, norms, and cognitions. When individuals from different cultures come together to work within multicultural teams, both deep-level, subjective cultural differences and visible, surface-level features across cultures often hinder collaborative processes and outcomes. Drawing on social categorization and information-processing theories, we elaborate on how cultural differences that are both overt and concealed affect collaboration in multinational teams.

Multicultural teams can be leveraged to accomplish a broad variety of tasks, including execution, decision-making, and creativity tasks. Although individual team members may have the knowledge, skills, and ability to accomplish their shared goal, social processes can inhibit their ability to combine their collective resources and achieve their mission. When working in cross-cultural settings where objective components of cultural diversity are salient, anxiety and threat can arise and can narrow the focus of attention (Kahneman, 1973 ; Stephan & Stephan, 1985 , 1996 ), restricting information processing (Staw, Sandelands, & Dutton, 1981 ). More recently, it has been argued that it is important to consider the salience of diversity when trying to understand the effect of diversity on team performance (van Knippenberg, DeDreu, & Homan, 2004 ). Along these lines, the salience of diversity in multinational teams is also likely to play a significant role in explaining the social identification and information processes that occur within these teams.

Various factors may influence when cultural differences become salient in multinational teams. Due to the overt nature of surface-level diversity, cultural diversity characteristics that are visible are more salient and activate social dynamics and information processing much sooner than deep-level characteristics. However, both time and the nature of the work may change the effects of diversity over time. For example, Pelled, Eisenhardt, and Xin ( 1999 ) found that the negative effects of surface-level diversity were weaker in teams with longer tenure. Extended tenure may lead group members to determine that their assumptions about holding similar attitudes and beliefs with like others may have been overestimated or underestimated. In addition, results from a study by Staples and Zhao ( 2006 ) suggest that reducing the salience of surface-level diversity in culturally diverse teams through virtual interaction can improve performance. This finding highlights the potential negative impact of cultural diversity salience on multicultural team processes and outcomes.

When a surface-level cultural characteristic is salient and individuals have this attribute in common, they are likely to assume that they hold more similar attitudes with one another compared to people who are different (e.g., Allen & Wilder, 1975 , 1978 , 1979 ; Chen & Kenrick, 2002 ; Holtz & Miller, 1985 ; Phillips, 2003 ; Tajfel, 1969 ; Wilder, 1984 ). The similarities and differences between team members can form the basis for categorizing oneself and others into in-groups and out-groups. From a social categorization perspective (Brewer & Brown, 1998 ), “we–they” distinctions are likely to arise in multicultural teams because people with the same cultural backgrounds tend to group together. However, the degree to which diverse groups experience subgroup categorization depends on the salience of these subgroups.

The salience of cultural diversity within a multinational team may not always trigger the same intensity of social categorization and social identity processes. The perceived social distance, or the degree to which two cultural groups are viewed to be similar or different, can vary (Triandis & Triandis, 1960). Determinants of perceived social distance include several factors such as in-group importance (Urban & Miller, 1998 ), personality (Liao, Chuang, & Joshi, 2008 ), or previous intergroup contact (Allport, 1954 ; Amir, 1969 ). In culturally diverse teams, history of war between nations, cultural orientation, and ethnocentrism (Triandis, 1992 ) may also predict social distance perceptions. These determinants are important to investigate because they can affect the magnitude of social distance perceptions, which could exacerbate subgroup tension, making the divide between cultural subgroups appear insurmountable. The degree to which diversity becomes salient and has an effect on team interaction processes and outcomes is likely to be determined by situational characteristics, including spatial arrangements, task requirements, and reward structure (Van der Vegt & Van de Vliert, 2005 ).

In contrast to the social categorization and social identity perspective, the information processing perspective emphasizes that the diversity of the team can enhance the elaboration of information and perspectives of the group to improve task performance (van Knippenberg, DeDreu, & Homan, 2004 ). Information-diverse teams are likely to possess a breadth and depth of task–relevant knowledge, skills, abilities, and perspectives that may be brought to bear on a task involving decision making, problem solving, or creativity. Research suggests that error detection (Davis, 1969 ), brainstorming (Paulus & Nijstad, 2003 ), and overall higher performance (Bantel & Jackson, 1989 ) tend to be associated with greater information diversity in teams. In culturally diverse teams working on problems related to the global marketplace, deep-level cultural knowledge, attitudes, and perspectives may be particularly relevant and useful to the functioning and performance of multinational teams.

Deep-level cultural components, such as values, norms, and cognitions, may alter social categorization and information processes in teams, and further investigation of these influences in multicultural teams is needed. For example, individualist societies are characterized by having a loose social framework where individuals are more likely to take care of themselves and their immediate families (Hofstede, 1980 ). Collectivist societies, on the other hand, can be described as having tight social frameworks where the distinction between in-groups and out-groups is quite clear and people expect that in-group members will take care of them and be loyal to one another (Hofstede, 1980 ). Research provides evidence that social categorization processes will likely be stronger in collectivist societies (Kirkman & Shapiro, 2001 ), suggesting that efforts to inhibit in-group favoritism and out-group derogation will be much more challenging in multicultural teams composed of both collectivists and individualists because of their different approaches to this collective interaction.

Social norms, cognitions, and values about various aspects of collaboration can vary across cultures (Gibson & Zellmer-Bruhn, 2001 ; Sanchez-Burks et al., 2000 ; Shteynberg, Gelfand, & Kim, 2009 ). These cultural differences can be exacerbated in situations of high ambiguity (Morris et al., 2008 ), such as working with dissimilar others in a multicultural team. Uncertainty, which can arise when in unfamiliar social environments, can lead individuals to be more likely to identify with groups (e.g., cultural groups) and to conform to group norms (Kruglanski, Pierro, Mannetti, & De Grada, 2006 ). In multicultural teams, team members may be more likely to engage in ways that are normative within their own cultures, yet discordant with others. For instance, ethnic groups in the United States have been found to use different conflict styles (Toomey, Yee-Jung, Shapiro, Garcia, Wright, & Oetzel, 2000 ). For instance, Latino-Americans and Asian-Americans were found to use more avoiding and third-party conflict styles than African-Americans. When working together, culturally diverse team members may approach conflict in discordant ways, which may have a negative impact on the quality of team processes and outcomes.

It is also critical to investigate what types of diversity may facilitate these processes within multicultural teams. Research suggests that the diversity will affect social processes and outcomes only to the extent to which the diversity is meaningful to the parties involved (van Knippenberg & Schippers, 2007 ). In multicultural teams, many characteristics of cultural diversity among members may be present, such as ethnicity, language, and race. It is difficult to know which characteristics of diversity will shape group dynamics, especially given that some cultural diversity characteristics may have greater importance in some cultures than others, such as religion or age. Social judgments that vary cross-culturally, and that may influence how cultural differences are perceived and valued, are critically important to consider when studying the effects of social processing in culturally diverse teams.

One factor believed to shape the subjective perceptions of and reactions to particular cultural diversity characteristics within a multinational team is cultural intelligence. Earley and Ang ( 2003 ) identified the cultural intelligence factors that increase an individual’s ability to effectively deal with cultural diversity from a sample of 51 individuals across six teams. These cultural intelligence factors were found to be associated with the integration of members into multinational teams (Flaherty, 2008 ). Other studies demonstrating the effects of personality and cognitive factors, such as openness to diversity and need for closure, also underscore the importance of examining the moderators that can explain the positive and negative effects of diversity on performance (Kearney, Gebert, & Voelpel, 2009 ; Homan, Hellenbeck, Humphrey, van Knippenberg, Ilgen, & van Kleef, 2008 ). Further research examining the moderators of the effect of cultural diversity on team performance is also essential for understanding how the impact of cultural diversity will affect team processes based on team members’ diversity attitudes and personalities.

Contextualizing cultural diversity

The broader organizational context can shape the effect of diversity on behavior (Jackson, Joshi, & Erhart, 2003 ). Cultural diversity in teams may be more or less salient given the broader context in which work is conducted. One feature of the proximal environment that can affect collaboration in a culturally diverse team is its task. The team task is defined in terms of the nature of work performed by the team and can be characterized by a variety of different features, including the task type, task interdependency, and task complexity (McGrath, 1984 ). A complex task is one in which high cognitive demands are placed on the individuals completing a task (Campbell, 1988 , p. 43; Jehn, 1995 ; Kankanhalli et al., 2006 ). The ability of a team to complete a complex task is further challenged by external stressors, such as time pressure or stressful work conditions. On the one hand, stress may activate cultural identities, facilitating in-group bias, and thus making it difficult for culturally diverse teams to work together. On the other hand, facing a stressful situation together might heighten a superordinate identity, facilitating effective collaboration. Drawing on pro-diversity attitude research, it may also be the case that a team climate that values diversity may further stimulate the integration of the members’ heterogeneous information, viewpoints, and perspectives (Chen & Eastman, 1997 ; Ely & Thomas, 2001 ; van Knippenberg & Haslam, 2003 ) in culturally diverse teams. Furthermore, inclusive leaders can also shape the task environment by enhancing social harmony and reducing turnover in diverse teams (Nishii & Mayer, 2009 ). This research suggests that various characteristics of the proximal task environment can influence the performance of culturally diverse teams.

If a multicultural team is collaborating within an organization where diversity is characteristic of the broader workforce, interaction with people who differ along a variety of dimensions will be more frequent. The perceptions of differences may become less salient to individuals in these diverse work environments who become accustomed to interacting with diverse others compared to people who work in more culturally homogeneous organizations. Consequently, studies of multicultural teams must take into account not only factors internal to the team that might affect diversity salience, but the broader contextual environment as well.

Multicultural teams are often embedded in a broader world context. Studies show how the composition of the organization in which teams are embedded can reflect and reinforce power and status based on demographics (Pfeffer, 1983 ). Along these lines, international relations between countries may also influence social dynamics within teams where representatives from these nations are working together. For example, individuals from nations with greater power, resources, and stability may have greater external social capital to leverage. From a network perspective, this external social capital may provide a means to garner resources from groups, such as nationally based organizations, outside of the team to benefit team effectiveness (Ancona & Caldwell, 1992 ).

In multicultural teams, where cultural values, norms, and cognitions vary among team members, leaders may have the potential to shape team functioning and performance. Recent research by Klein, Knight, Ziegert, Lim, and Saltz ( 2011 ) demonstrates how leaders attenuated the effect of value diversity on team conflict when they engaged in task-focused leadership compared to person-focused leadership. Drawing on social identity theory (Brown, 2000 ; Tajfel, 1972 ; Hewstone, Rubin & Willis, 2002 ), team leaders may also be able to harness the benefits of cultural diversity in teams by shaping contextual conditions to make both superordinate (e.g., we are all on one team, we are all citizens of the same world) and subgroup (e.g., ethnic or national groups) identities salient. In doing so, members’ need for distinctiveness will be satisfied (Brewer, 1991; 1993 ) and in-group favoritism will not be limited to those members contained within subgroup boundaries, but rather will be extended to out-group members from other cultural groups as well. We encourage future research to further explore how leaders may enable multicultural teams to leverage the virtues of their diversity to improve functioning and performance.

The association with a high- or low-status nation can also affect interaction. Drawing on social dominance theory, people with a higher social dominance orientation are likely to support and seek to maintain the hierarchical relationship between groups. Evidence suggests that racism and attitudes towards race-conscious policies are associated with people who have a greater social dominance orientation (Haley & Sidanus, 2006 ). In a team composed of individuals with high- and low-status cultural and country identities, it is important to examine how this orientation may trigger power and status dynamics between members affecting team processes and outcomes. Readers interested in the intersection of culture, status, and power should also see Chapter 9, which discusses these topics at length.

It is also critically important to take into account the role of social status and dominance when considering the effects of cultural subgroups on the outcomes of multicultural teams. Status is attributed to particular characteristics and associations (age, gender, education level). These status attributes are shaped by the broader sociocultural context and the meaning associated with or given to these characteristics. For instance, in the real world, groups often hold either majority or minority positions vis-à-vis each other (Farley, 1982 ; Tajfel, 1981 ). Across nations and within different cultures, particular parties enjoy higher status than others, and this can lead to variation in the ways that people from different societies may confer status. Earley ( 1999 ) found evidence of this variation in status hierarchies across societies when he asked managers from different countries to list the characteristics that would define someone of status within their country. This finding underlies the point that attributes of diversity will be perceived and interpreted differently across culturally diverse team members given their cultural backgrounds and the meaning attributed to various demographic characteristics.

Although cultural diversity can be composed of characteristics that are both objective and subjective, a considerable amount of research on the effects of diversity at the individual and team level has focused on cultural values, with a particular focus on the individualism and collectivist dimensions (Kirkman, Lowe & Gibson, 2006 ). Research on cultural values has demonstrated that it is valuable and important to examine each cultural value separately (see reviews of work in Gelfand, Erez, & Aycan, 2007 ; Kirkman, Lowe & Gibson, 2006 ; ; Tsui, Nifadkar, & Ou, 2007 ). Research that extends beyond the use of a single measure of deep-level culture is needed, as well as the consideration of other sociocontextual factors. In the following section, we discuss these issues in more depth and provide ideas about how research on cultural diversity can be advanced.

Key frontiers of cultural diversity research

The goal of this chapter was to provide a snapshot view of the trends, advances, and methodologic developments in the study of cultural diversity over the years. It is clear from this review that the study of cultural differences has been done at the individual and team level of analysis and is increasingly capturing the complexities and adaptable nature of culture. The overview of research also illustrates that cultural diversity research has focused primarily on comparative country analysis and that research on cultural diversity in multicultural teams is much more scarce. In the section that follows, our aim is to provide a summary of the areas and key themes that were discussed above and that may be fruitful for future research focused on cultural diversity.

Reviews of workplace diversity suggest that research has largely originated from the United States, using mostly North American samples (Tsui, Nifadkar, & Ou, 2007 ). Could the effects of different types of diversity of individual and team behaviors be biased by a reliance on a narrow, largely American sample? Might diversity types be perceived and responded to differently across societies with different social histories, economic structures, and political regimes? Cross-cultural studies examining the effects of diversity on key organizational behavioral outcomes, using both objective and subjective measures of diversity and perceived social distance, would provide a great deal of insight and narrow this research gap. Although great strides have been made over the years to resolve this dilemma, much of the literature on diversity has been primarily concerned with contemporary American society (Wise & Tschirhardt, 2000 ). Important questions about the effects of cultural diversity in teams remain to be explored and answered, especially given that some research on the effects of diversity conducted in the United States could not be replicated in other societies (Wiersema & Bird, 1993 ).

Researchers of organizational diversity have increasingly begun to examine context as a potential moderator of diversity effects (Joshi & Roh, 2009 ). A recent meta-analysis revealed the importance of considering the moderating effect of context on the relationship between diversity and a variety of performance outcomes, and further information about the effect of context can be found in Chapter 12 (Joshi & Roh, 2009 ). It is also desirable to consider some aspects of the contextual environment that may alter the effects of cultural diversity on key outcomes. Specifically, contextual features such as the composition of diversity within the social system where the unit of focus is embedded, the climate, the task environment, temporal conditions, and task characteristics may be important to examine as moderators in future research. Exploring this line of inquiry opens up interesting and unanswered questions, such as “What is the effect of perceptions of democracy on explaining cultural diversity in teams?” and “How might fatalism or psychological experiences tied to experiences of war or severe poverty shape interaction within multicultural teams?”

We speculate that certain dimensions of diversity will affect processes and outcomes differently depending on the broader national cultural context. This, in turn, may expand diversity research that has been conducted from a largely Western perspective. For example, status diversity might have different implications in high- versus low-power-distance cultures, and this question merits further investigation. Earlier in this chapter we also discussed the idea that discordant identities are problematic, but we encourage researchers to investigate whether this might be the case across all national contexts. Further motivating this question is research that suggests that individuals from societies that are more collectivistic and holistic might not be affected by this internal conflict due to their high tolerance for contradiction (Nisbett et al., 2001 ). Additional research is needed to explore this and other links that consider the relationship between national culture and diversity dynamics on individual, team, and organizational outcomes. Doing so creates the opportunity for discovering a new theoretical territory and advances our understanding about the contextual conditions under which diversity affects important processes and outcomes.

Studies of cultural diversity tend to be limited to a single level of analysis in their research design. If we draw from the view that cultures are nested or embedded (Erez & Gati, 2004 ), it is critical to consider the effects of cultural diversity across many different levels of analysis. Almost all multicultural interactions will possess features and aspects that cross the levels of analysis between individuals, work groups, organizations, and nations. Understanding the effects of cultural diversity at one level of analysis may be incomplete if characteristics of other levels of analysis are not taken into consideration (Kozlowski & Klein, 2000 ). For example, how might cultural diversity within an organization shape interaction processes and outcomes for individuals and teams nested within this organization? Furthermore, it would be particularly valuable to study whether the relationships between cultural diversity and outcomes at one level of analysis can be generalized to other levels of analysis. This multilevel approach would be useful for identifying the boundary conditions under which particular theoretical perspectives will be most predictive when examining the effects of cultural diversity.

In addition, national origin is often used as a proxy for the cultural values in cross-cultural research (Tsui, Nifadkar, & Ou, 2007 ). This approach can be problematic because national and deep-level culture do not completely overlap (Au, 1997 ). For this reason, it is important to better understand the psychological dimensions that demographic or proxy differences are associated with, if applicable (Beyer et al., 1997 ; Chattopadhyay et al., 1999 ; Cox et al., 1991 ). For example, variation in math performance on aptitude tests between boys and girls may not be directly caused by gender differences, but rather by the gender socialization practices employed by people in their surroundings that may expose them to different experiences and education, which ultimately affects performance outcomes (Eccles & Jacobs, 1986 ). Different socialization experiences among people who lived before or after World War II have also been shown to predict distinct values and attitudes about work among these groups (Fertig & Schmidt, 2001 ; Smola & Sutton, 2002 ). Given that societies change over time due to world events and modernization, relying on characterizations of national culture that were drawn from research conducted decades ago may be problematic and not generalizable today.

Much of the research done within cross-cultural teams is also focused on only one characteristic of diversity at a time, such as nationality. One downside of this approach is that we cannot explain how a combination of cultural characteristics influences teams simultaneously. To date, little research has investigated the interaction effects of cultural variables. The rarity of the interaction effects of culture is particularly striking given that there are no compelling theoretical reasons to suspect that cultural values operate independently to influence outcomes. One notable exception is the interest in conceptualizing collectivism and individualism in combination with other cultural variables, such as orientations to power (Chen et al, 1997 ; Singelis, Triandis, Bhawuk, & Gelfand, 1995 ). Research that conceptualizes the effects of cultural variables in combination with one another on team outcomes is both warranted and welcomed.

Recent advances in research suggest that nations differ in many aspects beyond cultural values, suggesting that differences in processes and outcomes in cross-cultural studies could stem from other sociocultural and situational factors (Busenitz, Gomez, & Spencer, 2000 ; Erez & Earley, 1993 ). We encourage scholars interested in understanding the effects of cultural diversity to broaden their studies to include aspects of the historical, political, social, geographic, and economic context of nations in order to identify how these factors affect perceptions and reactions to objective and subjective dimensions of diversity. Examining the effects of diversity across a variety of social situations will also provide insight about the conditions under which cultural variation in responses to diversity affect outcomes. For instance, what psychological factors may be driving the main effects of cultural differences identified in studies of rural location and climate? How might psychological factors and past societal history explain differences associated with ethnicity and race across different societies and the way that these differences are perceived and responded to?

Measurement of cultural diversity in teams may benefit from recent advances in that examines multiple dimensions of diversity in combination through the use of composite measures. Research on the diversity of organizations often relies on faultline measures that analyze the effects of many characteristics of diversity in combination with rather than in isolation from each other (Lau & Murninghan, 1998 ). Creating cultural profiles for each individual in a team based on demographic characteristics, as well as culturally relevant knowledge, values, and beliefs, would provide an opportunity to assess the alignment of multiple attributes of cultural diversity among team members. The outcome of using this method may be a better understanding of the complex relationship between diversity and performance in multicultural teams. Readers interested in this approach should also read Chapter 4 in this book.

Studies comparing teams across cultures also tend to use the mean score on cultural values scales, and this metric is considered to be a shared property of the group. Considering the within-country variation of cultural values that has been identified by cross-cultural scholars, it may be valuable to recognize the cultural differences among team members even when they share a common nationality. Recent advances in the measurement of diversity in organizations suggest the theoretical and empirical importance of examining difference as variation, separation, and disparity (Harrison & Klein, 2007 ). Drawing on this perspective, conceptualizations and assessments of cultural diversity must be updated to advance our empirical investigation of culturally diverse teams from the same nation or different nations.

Just as cultural differences among people within nations have been identified, the structure of cultural diversity within individuals and teams has also been conceptualized in more complex ways over recent years (Chao & Moon, 2005 ). The cultural profiles of individuals have attributes that reflect both objective and subjective aspects of their cultural backgrounds. When interacting with culturally diverse others, efforts to capture the interaction of this cultural diversity within and among individuals is particularly scarce. In sum, most research continues to focus on one particular type of diversity, such as nationality or collectivism and individualism, rather than using a multidimensional approach to assessing cultural diversity. Faultline theory, latent cluster analysis, and social network theory all provide new ideas about how to capture the multidimensionality of cultural diversity. To address the reliance on a unidimensional assessment of culture, research on cultural diversity at the various levels of analysis would benefit from the use of these methodologic tools.

This chapter aimed to motivate scholars to hypothesize about how various types and configurations of cultural diversity trigger and shape individual and team processes and outcomes. We posit that the social categorization and information processing at the individual and team level are mediated by psychological mechanisms, including cultural diversity and cultural identity salience, that are facilitated from the context and the cultural diversity inputs. We encourage researchers to draw on complex methodologic approaches to consider and test how and when various aspects of the contextual environment, such as social, physical, and political features, affect the relationship between cultural diversity and behavior at the individual and team level.

Much of this chapter has focused on the challenges that can arise in teams composed of culturally diverse individuals. However, we also encourage research that elucidates the factors that enable multicultural teams to leverage the benefits of their diversity. In particular, we hope that cultural researchers will engage in research aligned with the field of positive psychology, which is focused on studying the “conditions and processes that contribute to the flourishing or optimal flourishing or people, groups, and institutions” (Gable & Haidt, 2005 , p. 104). For instance, multicultural teams have the potential to far surpass culturally homogeneous teams in their ability to prevent, detect, and manage errors because of their cultural diversity (Gelfand, Frese, & Salmon, 2011 ). Also, Mauro, Pierro, Mannetti, Higgins, and Kruglanski ( 2009 ) compared the performance of three groups composed of locomotors (individuals oriented toward action), assessors (individuals oriented toward evaluation) or both locomotors and assessors. These researchers found that groups containing a mix of locomotors and assessors were as fast and accurate as the teams composed only of locomotors or assessors. This finding motivates future studies that explore how the cultural diversity of team members within multicultural teams may generate outcomes that could counter the negative consequences of diversity to achieve outcomes that could not be attained by unicultural teams.

The focus on culture as values, beliefs, and attitudes has resulted in advancing our understanding of the perspectives, orientations, and assumptions that shape behavior across cultures. Although the values approach to understanding culture has made quite a contribution to cross-cultural research across nations, little attention has been paid to the factors that shape values and the relationship between multiple sources of values that coexist within a person or social unit. The variety of cultural values that coexist within an individual presents an opportunity to examine the conditions under which particular cultural values are invoked and shape cognition, affect, and behavior either individually or in combination with one another. Moreover, when several individuals, each with a multiplicity of cultural influences, or values, interact within a team, it is critically important to better understand the implications of cultural diversity structure and salience on individual and team outcomes.

This work was partially supported by funding from the Army Research Office MURI Grant to Dr. Michele Gelfand, Principal Investigator, UMD (W911NF-08-1-014), subcontracted to UCF (Z885903). The views expressed in this work are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the organizations with which they are affiliated, their sponsoring institutions or agencies, or their grant partners.

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Diversity in Literature

Aframer 180z. freedom writers: race and literary form.

Instructor: Jesse McCarthy Monday & Wednesday, 10:30-11:45 am | Location: Emerson 104

What does freedom have to do with our ability to read and write? How have writers addressed the conflicting and contradictory concept of race by writing about it? This course will investigate the history and practice of writing about the vexed relationship between race and freedom, the role of writing in political struggles for civil rights and the abolition of slavery, and the quest for a meaningful life and artistic freedom under conditions that deny that opportunity. We will read widely, primarily—though not exclusively—texts from (and about) the African diaspora from the 16th century to the present. Authors will include Ottabah Cugoano, Phillis Wheatley, Bartolomé de Las Casas, Sylvia Wynter, C.L.R. James, David Walker, Frederick Douglass, Anna Julia Cooper, Ida B. Wells, W. E. B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, Toni Morrison, Hilton Als and Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah. The final assignment will involve using the resources of the course to produce an original essay on a topic of your choice related to our themes. This course satisfies the English Concentration "Diversity in Literature" requirement for students on the “Common Ground” curriculum.

This course satisfies the “1700-1900 Guided Elective" requirement for English concentrators and Secondary Field students.

English 90rc. Re-mediating Colonialism

Instructor: Pamela Klassen Tuesday, 12:00-2:00pm | Location: Barker 269 Enrollment: Limited to 15 students

This seminar focuses on the public memory of settler colonialism and Indigenous dispossession in North America and Turtle Island, with a focus on stories told within museums. We will be oriented by remediation in two senses: telling a story in a new medium and efforts of remedy and repair. In addition to readings and class discussions, we will have multiple class visits with curators and staff at three Harvard museums: the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, the Harvard Art Museum, and the Harvard Natural History Museum. Students will have the opportunity to engage directly with museum collections for their assignments, which will include reading reflections, cultural item biographies and labels, and a summative project in the form of a reflexive podcast, digital project, essay, or another genre of remediation.  

Registration information: This course has no prerequisites—I welcome students from any concentration. We will be discussing narratives and systems of colonialism that shape all of us, and various disciplinary perspectives will enrich our conversation. To gain access to the course, you will need to submit a petition via my.harvard.edu. One or two sentences telling me about your interests is enough.

If you have questions about the seminar, you can email me anytime or come to Zoom office hours on January 17, 12-2. Here's my email and Zoom room:

[email protected]

https://harvard.zoom.us/my/pamelaklassen

This course satisfies the English Concentration "Diversity in Literature" requirement for students on the “Common Ground” curriculum. This course satisfies the “1900-2000 Guided Elective" requirement for English concentrators and Secondary Field students.

English 90ex. The Exorcist

Instructor: David Levine Tuesday, 3:00-5:45pm | Location: Farkas 303 Enrollment: Limited to 15 students

Briefly America’s most terrifying movie, now an inexhaustible source of camp, reference, and technique, William Friedkin’s The Exorcist is a rich allegory of postwar America. But its very deficiencies, blind spots, and occlusions also make a powerful lens onto the present day. This advanced workshop in devising, adaptation, and critical intervention will perform (literally) an examination of the significance, meaning, and unholy afterlife of The Exorcist , created over the semester using historical research, conversations, attempts at re- staging, religious rites, death-metal growls, and head turns of 180 degrees or more. The Exorcist is horror fiction. The book and film contain offensive language, depictions of sexual and domestic violence, sacrilegious treatment of religious icons, realistically depicted invasive medical procedures, and expulsion of bodily fluids. We will be treating these subjects with care, but we will be discussing disturbing images and themes throughout the semester. Students who have taken English 10 and 20, or at least two practice-based/studio courses in TDM (or TDM 97), will be prioritized for enrollment. This course satisfies the English Concentration "Diversity in Literature" requirement for students on the “Common Ground” curriculum.

English 90ah. Asian American Theater and Performance

Instructor: Ju Yon Kim Tuesday, 12:45-2:45pm | Location: Barker 024 Enrollment: Limited to 15 students Course Site

This seminar will explore Asian American theater and performance. We will examine how Asian American theater and performance artists have responded to popular images of Asian immigrants and cultures; how Asian American theater companies have cultivated and expanded our understanding of American theater and Asian American identity; and how artists and productions have experimented with conceptions of racial and gender performance.  This course satisfies the “1900-2000 Guided Elective" requirement for English concentrators and Secondary Field students.

English 90rv. Empire and Revolution, Sex and Gender, Race, Slavery, and Abolition

Instructor: James Engell Wednesday, 12:45-2:45pm | Location: Barker 269 Enrollment: Limited to 15 students Course site

The literatures of race and slavery, gender, empire, democracy, and revolution that shaped our modern world.  Excerpts from Dryden, Astell, Behn, Pope, Swift, Montagu, Johnson, Equiano, Gibbon, Paine, Burke, Wollstonecraft, Blake, and Shelley.  Some fiction as well. This course satisfies the English Concentration "Diversity in Literature" requirement for students on the “Common Ground” curriculum.

This course satisfies the English Concentration "Migrations" requirement for students on the “Common Ground” curriculum. This course satisfies the “1700-1900 Guided Elective" requirement for English concentrators and Secondary Field students.

English 90dr. Digital Race Studies: Storytelling, Power, Community

Instructor: Maria Dikcis Thursday, 12:45-2:45pm | Location: Lamont Library 401 Enrollment: Limited to 15 students Course site

This course will introduce students to critical race approaches to digital culture, primarily through Asian American, Black, Indigenous, and Latinx perspectives on and experiences with settler colonialism, racial capitalism, state violence, war, and empire. Together, we will explore how racial formations in the U.S. have shaped and been shaped by the infrastructures and interfaces of our digital world, as well as how communities of color give voice to their histories, desires, and creativity through digital cultural production. To guide our explorations, each week we will examine several projects that foreground the intersection between race, politics, and culture, including curated digital archives, mapping projects, database storytelling, network visualizations, born-digital literature, and longform, media-rich journalism. Additionally, this course is designed to be very hands-on and oriented toward digital humanistic research (also known as Digital Humanities) as an applied field of knowledge. Students will therefore have the opportunity to experiment with and engineer their own digital tools that center communities of color. (No prior technical knowledge is required.) This course satisfies the English Concentration "Diversity in Literature" requirement for students on the “Common Ground” curriculum.

English CVLP. Plundering the Americas: Histories of Extractive Violence and Creative Resistance in the Americas

Instructor: Valeria Luiselli Wednesday, 12:45-2:45pm | Location: Lamont 401 Enrollment: Limited to 12 students

This course focuses on the histories of extractivism and violence against land and bodies in the Americas, centering on ways in which writing, art and activism have responded to systemic violence across the region.

We will be considering works from across different languages, cultures and disciplines –such as literature, sound art, visual art and performance–  and will be grounding our discussions in the history of global commodities, such as gold, silver, coffee, cotton, sugar, bananas, avocados and bodies. Students will write weekly responses to readings, and work on their own hybrid forms of prose, which will be read in class and workshopped collectively.

Authors include: José Martí, Aimé Césaire, Natalie Díaz, Dolores Dorantes, Gabriela Wiener, Audra Simpson, Rita Segato, and Yasnaya Elena Aguilar.  This course satisfies the English Concentration "Diversity in Literature" requirement for students on the “Common Ground” curriculum.

Apply via Submittable  (deadline: 11:59pm EDT on Sunday, August 21)

English CQN. “Queer Stories, Queer Lives”: A Fiction Workshop on Queer Narratives

Instructor: Nick White Thursday, 12:00-2:45 pm | Location: Lamont 401 Enrollment: Limited to 12 students Is there a queer aesthetic? Or is there a particularly queer way to tell a story? Do our lived experiences as queer folk affect the kinds of stories we tell? In this workshop, we will explore how queer writers have endeavored to tell their stories, and then we will craft and workshop our own. Readings to include excerpts or full texts from: Alexander Chee’s Edinburgh, Garth Greenwell’s Cleanness, Jewelle Gómez’s The Gilda Stories, Randall Kenan’s A Visitation of Spirits, Andrea Lawlor’s Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl, Morgan Thomas’s Manywhere, as well as others. You will write one flash piece and one short story/novel chapter (around 5k words). Your final project will be a substantial revision of the short story/novel chapter.  This course satisfies the English Concentration "Diversity in Literature" requirement for students on the “Common Ground” curriculum.

Supplemental Application Information:  Prior experience writing fiction is helpful but not required. Please submit a writing sample of 3-5 pages of fiction, along with an application letter explaining your interest in this course, any writing experience you feel is relevant, and listing examples of work that moves and/or influences you, explaining why it does.

English 90ni. The Novel in India

Instructor: Tara Menon Monday, 12:45-2:45pm | Location: TBA Enrollment: Limited to 15 students

This course examines a range of realist novels set in India. We will read novels set during British colonial rule by British writers (Kipling, Forster, Orwell); early examples of anglophone novels by Indian writers (Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan); novels in English by writers who came to global attention after winning the Booker Prize (Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, Aravind Adiga); and works in translation by contemporary novelists who write in Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam (Perumal Murugan, Vivek Shanbhag, K.R. Meera). As we read, we will consider issues of identity, religion, caste, gender, politics, the nation, the family. We will also pay careful attention to style and literary form as well as audience, publication context, and reception. 

English 90eb. Elizabeth Bishop and Others

Instructor:  Vidyan Ravinthiran Wednesday, 12:45-2:45pm | Location: Sever 104 Enrollment: Limited to 15 students

This course introduces students to the poetry, literary prose, and artful correspondence of one of the major poets of the twentieth century, considering her innovations in all these genres. We will look at her writing in multiple genres alongside the mid-century shift from ‘closed’ to ‘open’ verse forms, and relate stylistic issues to the intellectual and social changes, and political and historical developments of the period. Bishop’s critique of received ideas about nationality, race, power, gender, sexual orientation, and the overlap between culture and nature, is connected with her status as a cosmopolitan poet with links to Canada, the U.S. and Brazil.  ‘Others’ refers both to how her writing comes to terms with the (sociopolitical) reality of other people, and to the comparisons we’ll draw between her writing and that of other poets.    This course satisfies the “1900-2000 Guided Elective" requirement for English concentrators and Secondary Field students. This course satisfies the English Concentration "Diversity in Literature" requirement for students on the “Common Ground” curriculum.

English 90rj. Race and Jurisprudence

Instructor: Louis Menand Wednesday, 12:45-2:45pm | Location: Barker 018 Enrollment: Limited to 15 students How has the American judicial system dealt with racial discrimination, racial segregation, racial exclusion, and systemic or institutional racism? Has the design of the American legal system made it easier or harder to remedy cases of racial inequality and injustice? What should we expect from the courts in the future?

We study cases involving Americans of African and of Asian ancestry, beginning with Dred Scott and ending with the Harvard College admissions case. Visitors include Drew Faust, Mae Ngai, Richard Pildes, and William Lee and Felicia Ellsworth, the trial lawyers in the Harvard College case.

The primary readings are legal documents: the Constitution, judicial opinions, and the statutes judges interpret. We’ll analyze the opinions in order to understand the legal logic that led to their outcomes. We will see, by doing this, how courts are constrained by the system that was designed by the Constitution’s framers and by the traditions of the common law. We will also consider the historical context in which these cases were decided. Two papers and class participation required. This course satisfies the English Concentration "Diversity in Literature" requirement for students on the “Common Ground” curriculum. This course satisfies the “1900-2000 Guided Elective" requirement for English concentrators and Secondary Field students.

English 90cp. Contemporary American Plays

Instructor: Derek Miller Tuesday, 9:45-11:45am   Location: Barker 269 Enrollment: Limited to 15 students.

This course examines recent scripted theater by American playwrights. We will consider the shape of the American theater, contemporary theatrical styles, thematic interests in contemporary issues of identity and politics, and more. Readings may include plays by Annie Baker, Clare Barron, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Michael R. Jackson, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Lucas Hnath, James Ijames, and Sanaz Toossi. This course satisfies the English Concentration "Diversity in Literature" requirement for students on the “Common Ground” curriculum.

English CJK. Poetry Workshop: BIPOC Context and Craft

Instructor:  Joan Naviyuk Kane Day & Time: Thursday 12-2:45pm Course Website This poetry workshop centers the work of BIPOC writers through intensive study of poetry writing and the writing process, focusing on craft techniques of imagery, rhythm, and poetic structure. This workshop will initially focus on the generation of new work but will move toward revision-based instruction and discussion. Each student will have their poems workshopped at least twice per semester. Students are responsible for reading assigned texts, submitting required work for workshop, reading and writing critiques of fellow students’ work, accessing (livestreamed or archived) readings, reading and (writing about) one poem closely each week, and memorizing and recording two poems.

Supplemental Application Information:  Applicants are requested to submit a maximum of 10 pages of poetry (not more than one poem to a page), and a 2-3 page cover letter in which they may address how long they’ve been writing seriously, what previous study they have done in literary arts, any additional experiences that seem relevant to their application, what type of direct criticism and revision they are seeking from the workshop, craft approaches they would like to know more about, and discussion of any other writers in which the writers’ craft and/or ways in which the writers’ work has served as a model for the applicant’s own literary ambitions.

Applications due by 11:59 PM ET on 8/19. Apply via Submittable

English 195ec. Growth, Technology, Inequality, and Education

Instructor: James Engell  and Benjamin Friedman Tuesdays & Thursdays, 1:30-2:45 pm | Location: Harvard Hall 101 Course site An economist and a humanist, together with professors from the natural sciences, analyze familiar conceptual and policy-relevant issues from viewpoints of their respective disciplines. For example, how do we measure inequality, and at what point does it become problematic (and how do we know)? How then should it be addressed (e.g., tax code, minimum wage)? What are the best policies to confront job losses from technology? What does sustainable growth mean? The goal is not merely to examine four intertwined issues “growth, technology, inequality, and education” but also to understand the distinct concerns and methods of the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.

 Sections will separately accommodate concentrators in English/Humanities and Economics/Social/Natural Sciences/SEAS. Jointly offered as Econ 1000a/b This course satisfies the English Concentration "Diversity in Literature" requirement for students on the “Common Ground” curriculum.

English 182. Science Fiction

Instructor: Stephanie Burt Monday & Wednesday, 12:00-1:15 pm | Location: Harvard Hall 202  Course site

Utopias, dystopias, artificial intelligence, life on new planets, and much, much more-- from the late 19th century to the present, *mostly in novels and short stories but also in comics, poetry, games, film and TV.* Likely readings include Mark Twain, H. G. Wells, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Robert A. Heinlein, James Tiptree, Jr. (Alice Sheldon), Octavia Butler, William Gibson, Nalo Hopkinson, Ted Chiang, Tillie Walden, Charlie Jane Anders, N. K. Jemisin…. We will also be playing a tabletop role playing game as part of the class. This course satisfies the English Concentration "Diversity in Literature" requirement for students on the “Common Ground” curriculum. This course satisfies the “1900-2000 Guided Elective" requirement for English concentrators and Secondary Field students.

• Open Elective (2)
• Literary Forms (2)
• Common Courses (6)
• Guided Elective: pre-1700 (18)
• Guided Elective: 1700-1900 (15)
• Guided Elective: 1900-2000 (31)
• Diversity in Literature (17)
• Arrivals (1)
• Migrations (2)
• Shakespeare (2)
• General Education (1)

Tips for Online Students , Tips for Students

What Is Cultural Diversity And Why Is It Important?

The things you do and the practices you were taught inform who you become. Culture is a broad term that encompasses beliefs, values, norms, behaviors, and overall can be understood as our “way of being.” When you go out into the world, you will come into contact with people from different backgrounds and walks of life. It’s a good rule of thumb to honor cultural diversity with your actions. So, what is cultural diversity and why does it matter?

Let’s get into the details of how cultural diversity can take shape in professional settings, within educational institutions, and overall, in most aspects of life.

Photo by Omar Lopez on Unsplash

Cultural diversity – defined.

Cultural diversity is synonymous with multiculturalism. Multiculturalism is defined by the Encyclopedia Britannica as, “the view that cultures, races, and ethnicities, particularly those of minority groups, deserve special acknowledgment of their differences within a dominant political culture.”

The importance of cultural diversity can be interpreted on the basis of these related actions:

• Recognizing that there is a large amount of cultures that exist
• Respecting each other’s differences
• Acknowledging that all cultural expressions are valid
• Valuing what cultures have to bring to the table
• Empowering diverse groups to contribute
• Celebrating differences, not just tolerating them

So, what are some examples of cultural diversity?

Cultural diversity looks like this:

• In A Workplace: Having a multilingual team, having a diverse range of ages working together, having policies that are vocally against discrimination, etc.
• In A School Setting: Having students from all over the world (like at the University of the People ), being accepting of all religious practices and traditions that students part take in, supporting students to share their cultures with one another, etc.

The Importance Of Cultural Diversity In Education

Cultural diversity is important in every setting in life, but it can be even more pivotal when it happens within education. Students around the world have the right to equal access of quality education , and as such, there are many upsides that come along with it when institutions believe in the power of diversity.

Cultural diversity in education helps to support:

1. Deep Learning

Learning happens within the curriculum and outside of it. With a diverse student population, students have the privilege of gaining more understanding about people and backgrounds from all over. This also contributes to diversity of thought and perspectives that make learning more interesting and dynamic.

2. Confidence And Growth

When students participate with people from varied cultures, it provides them with more confidence in dealing with things outside of their comfort zones. It can build strength of character, pride, and confidence.

3. Preparation For The Future

If a workplace has done the necessary work, it’s bound to be culturally diverse. Attending a culturally diverse institute of education will prepare students for their future in a workplace.

4. More Empathy

Interacting with people who have diverse practices, beliefs, life experiences, and culture promotes empathy. While you can never fully understand someone’s life without being them, you can learn, listen, and understand.

Benefits Of Cultural Diversity

The world is naturally multicultural. Approaching cultural diversity with a mindset and actions that embrace this fact leads to many benefits, like:

• Compassion: Communication and understanding of differences leads to increased compassion instead of judgment.
• Innovation: Varied perspectives and lens of looking at the world lend to innovative thinking.
• Productivity: People who come together and bring their own style of working together tend to support a more productive team.
• New Opportunities: The diversity opens the door to new opportunities and the blending of ideas which would otherwise have been homogeneous.
• Problem-Solving: Challenges are layered, so having people with different backgrounds can lead to better problem-solving with richness of opinions.

How To Support Cultural Diversity

Individuals and institutions alike have the agency to support cultural diversity. If you’re unsure how you can take action to do so, consider these ideas:

• Interact with people outside of your culture
• Be open-minded to listen and let go of judgment
• If you see anyone who is being culturally insensitive, speak out against it
• Accept that differences are beneficial and not harmful
• Don’t force your beliefs on people with opposing views
• Advocate to hire people or work with people who are not within your same culture
• Travel the world as much as you can to take part in cultures and understand them from the source
• Read literature and learn from different cultures
• Absorb media and art from around the world
• Learn a new language and communicate in a friend’s native language rather than your own

How UoPeople Supports Diversity

The University of the People was founded with the mission to offer accessible education that’s affordable to students from the entire globe. We believe that our differences bring strength and can help to promote world peace, just like education. That’s why we have a global student body with students attending our online degree programs from over 200 countries and territories.

While our institution is set up to be affordable to all because programs are tuition-free, we also extend specific scholarships that help to grow cultural diversity.

Some of our scholarships include :

• Scholarship for Syrian Refugees
• U.S. Embassy in Burkina Faso Scholarship
• Viatnamese Scholarship Fund
• Botari Women’s Scholarship Fund

Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash

Cultural diversity is worth celebrating.

The world is filled with people who have different beliefs, religions, traditions, and ways of living. It is within our differences that we can find beauty. Both in educational and professional environments, cultural diversity benefits everyone. It paves the way to better problem-solving, more empathy and compassion, deepened learning, and approaches the world from various perspectives.

Related Articles

New Approaches to Literature for Language Learning pp 81–97 Cite as

Literature and Culture

• Jeneen Naji 4 ,
• Ganakumaran Subramaniam 5 &
• Goodith White 6  
• First Online: 11 April 2019

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Many theoretical approaches to literary studies assume that the relationship between literature and culture is an important one, in the sense that literature both reflects and is a means of reflecting on the culture in which it is produced. In defining culture, the writers describe the effects of global culture on what is read, and the notion that any literary text cannot help being a partial and biased representation of the culture it portrays. Students need to be supported in questioning the cultural assumptions made in texts and questioning stereotypes. The components of cultural awareness are explored and illustrated, and the chapter ends with a discussion of high and low culture as they apply to the texts students read.

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Department of Media Studies, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Maynooth, Kildare, Ireland

Jeneen Naji

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Ganakumaran Subramaniam

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Naji, J., Subramaniam, G., White, G. (2019). Literature and Culture. In: New Approaches to Literature for Language Learning. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15256-7_4

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• Mol Biol Cell
• v.31(25); 2020 Dec 1

Diversity through equity and inclusion: The responsibility belongs to all of us

James A. Olzmann

a Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology, and the Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, and Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA 94158

Despite the recognized benefits of diversity and the decades of programs targeted at increasing diversity in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine, the underrepresentation of historically excluded groups continues due to persisting systemic inequalities. It is imperative that we reassess our current recruitment strategies and reimagine our campus and workplace environments to provide an inclusive and equitable culture that is free of institutional barriers, affording equal opportunities for each individual to succeed, thrive, and be their whole self. For too long this vision has been the fight of a heroic few, but it must become the fight of all in order to achieve true change. I am working toward, and look forward to, a future where contributing to diversity, equity, and inclusion is fully integrated into the core mission of our institutions and is an expectation for all of us.

“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” —Audre Lorde

I am honored and grateful to receive the Günter Blobel Early Career Award from the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB). As a graduate student, I was fortunate enough to receive a travel award through the ASCB Minorities Affairs Committee that allowed me to attend the 2005 ASCB annual meeting. I recall my first meeting as both a daunting and exhilarating experience, and I excitedly attended talks from my science heroes. Over the years, the excitement of the annual meeting has never faded for me, and it now feels much like a reunion of friends and colleagues. I have also come to appreciate that ASCB is much more than just the annual meeting—it is a community of amazing cell biologists and it is our community! Everything has come full circle and I am privileged to be a member of the ASCB Minorities Affairs Committee, striving to pay it forward to students from diverse backgrounds and to cultivate an inclusive community where we all feel that we belong and are welcomed.

During a typical year, I would take this opportunity to discuss my path to become a cell biologist and how I became fascinated by lipid droplets, offer some tips for success in science and research, and perhaps wax poetic about the power of collaboration and mentorship. However, I think we can all agree that 2020 is not a typical year. Our world continues to reel from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and we are in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement, the fire for this an anti-racism revolution rekindled by the needless and heartbreaking deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many others. These events, which are just the most recent examples of all too common racially motivated violence, shine a light on our reality born out of a legacy of racism that permeates all aspects of our society. It is an understatement to say that our scientific community is not exempt from these systemic injustices, biases, and inequalities. To gain some small insight into the scope of the problem, we only need to look towards the #blackintheivory and #blackinivory hashtags on Twitter and recently published stories ( Simmons, 2020 ) that chronicle the lived experiences of our black colleagues—the microaggressions, implicit and explicit bias, tokenism, etc. It is with these current events as the backdrop that I focus this essay on the need for systemic change and the importance of achieving diversity through equity and inclusion in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM).

WHAT IS DIVERSITY AND WHY SHOULD WE CARE ABOUT IT?

Diversity refers to differences within a group ( Gibbs, 2014 ), which can include, but are not limited to, differences in race, ethnicity, disability, nationality, socioeconomic stratum, gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation. Numerous studies agree that historically excluded and marginalized groups such as Blacks/African Americans, Latinx, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, women, and persons with disabilities continue to be underrepresented in STEMM ( National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2019 ; National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, 2019 ). For example, in 2017, in the fields of science and engineering, women received 41% of research doctorates despite composing 51.5% of the population, and persons excluded because of their ethnicity or race (PEERs) received 11% of research doctorates despite composing 27% of the population ( National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, 2019 ; Asai, 2020 ). Furthermore, there continues to be a lack of diversity in departmental faculty, editorial and scientific advisory boards, academic and industry leadership positions, award recipients, conference speaker lists, and the list goes on.

Why is diversity important? A common argument for diversity is a business model, that a variety of opinions and perspectives leads to more creative problem-solving and innovation ( National Institutes of Health, 2019 ). In addition, due to the changing demographics in the United States and the increase in historically excluded groups, diversity enables a field to better utilize the full talent pool. Perhaps this is the most compelling argument for some audiences, particularly those driven by achieving maximum market success. However, the moral argument is just as important, and it is often not given adequate weight. We should not simply value the increase in success brought by diversity, we should value an equitable and just system that provides equal access to opportunities, recognizes talent is distributed across all groups independent of identity, and acknowledges each of us are human beings deserving of dignity.

RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION: SUCCESSES AND FAILURES

Despite decades of programs aimed at increasing diversity, underrepresentation and exclusion remain issues at all levels of academia ( Gibbs et al. , 2016 ; NIH, 2019 ). Excuses are easy to find, and often assumptions that have been thoroughly debunked are raised as explanations for exclusion, such as that there are insufficient numbers of qualified candidates or that PEERs have less interest in scientific research ( Poodry and Asai, 2018 ). These excuses avoid blame and are the easy way out. The path that scientists from well-represented groups and in positions of power must take is difficult because it requires facing the reality of why underrepresentation persists, acknowledging biases and contributing to a system that perpetuates inequities, and implementing innovative solutions to overcome the problem. The problem is not insurmountable, but it requires making a choice to do the work required to solve it.

Although the rate of progress continues to be glacial, there have been increases in representation of historically excluded groups at the bachelor’s and doctoral degree levels. We should celebrate these hard-won successes! Some of these successes are due to terrific programs directed at the recruitment and persistence of students at the undergraduate level ( Estrada et al. , 2016 ), such as the University of California (UC) Berkeley Biology Scholars program ( Matsui, 2018 ), the University of Maryland Baltimore Meyerhoff Scholars program ( Maton et al. , 2016 ), and the Louisiana State University hierarchical mentoring program ( Wilson et al. , 2012 ). Successful programs such as these should be valued, provided with long-term financial support by the campus instead of unpredictable extramural sources, and used as models for the construction of similar programs at other universities ( Sto Domingo et al. , 2019 ). Widespread undergraduate summer research programs have also been successful in providing research experiences to students from diverse backgrounds ( Lopatto, 2004 , 2007 ; Seymour et al. , 2004 ; Ghee et al. , 2016 ), but it is important to emphasize that these programs are not a substitute for addressing institutional barriers and for building an inclusive culture. Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and high-Hispanic-enrollment institutions (HHEs) continue to play vital roles, training a large portion of Black or African American, Hispanic, and Latinx students who go on to doctoral training in science and engineering fields ( National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, 2019 ). The much-needed evolution of graduate program admissions strategies to be equitable and inclusive may also lead to increases in the recruitment of students from diverse backgrounds. For example, the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is a standardized test widely employed by universities in the United States for graduate admissions, despite data indicating that it is a poor predictor of success in graduate school and is a barrier to the admission of historically excluded groups, particularly when cutoff scores for admission are employed ( Miller and Stassun, 2014 ; Petersen et al. , 2018 ). Many graduate programs have removed the GRE from the criteria considered for admission, and some of these programs can be found on Twitter by searching for #GRExit and #GREexit hashtags. Instead of an overreliance on standardized tests with poor predictive value, we need to implement holistic assessments that examine both academic aptitude and other competencies that are central to success as a scientist, such as perseverance, adaptability, creativity, and potential. Grades and test scores are never a determining factor when I recruit new members to my lab, and I have argued against the undue weight given to these criteria in admission to graduate programs. I find that a passion for science and “distance traveled” conveyed through personal statements and conversations are much better predictors of success as a scientist. This hiring strategy has allowed me to recruit an amazing and diverse group of scientists from all walks of life, and I could not be prouder of the members of my lab and their accomplishments.

While representation has increased at the bachelor’s and doctoral degree levels (though clearly not enough), we have largely failed to increase the representation of historically excluded groups within the professoriate and within independent NIH-funded investigators ( Heggeness et al. , 2016 ; Li and Koedel, 2017 ; Meyers et al. , 2018 ; National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, 2019 ). Why is this? Controlling for many factors, recent studies find that programs and policies focused primarily on increasing the supply of talented PEERs (i.e., increasing the “pipeline”) will not make an adequate impact on diversity at the faculty level ( Gibbs et al. , 2014 , 2016 ). In addition, while PEERs exhibit higher contributions to scientific novelty, their contributions are more likely to be discounted and less likely to lead to faculty positions ( Hofstra et al. , 2020 ). These studies highlight the importance of examining discriminatory institutional barriers (e.g., research evaluation and hiring practices) and addressing inclusive and equitable cultures (or the lack thereof) that exert differential pressures on social identity, career selection, and persistence. I am excited to see the recent emergence of several innovative programs to improve diversity at the faculty level. Some examples include the Maximizing Opportunities for Scientific and Academic Independent Careers (MOSAIC) (K99/R00 and UE5) and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Hanna Gray Fellowship programs. Not only do these awards provide financial support during postdoctoral training and the initial years as independent faculty, but they also offer opportunities for training and development of professional skills that are imperative to the success of early faculty. The MOSAIC UE5 program also provides support to organizations (e.g., the ASCB) that impart mentorship, networking, and training to the MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars, and requires investigators and administrators from the scholars’ home institutions to engage in mentoring/diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training and planning for systemic change at their universities. Thus, these programs aim to move beyond the deficit-based, “fix the victim” model and impart systemic change in institutional culture and policies. The impact that these programs will have on representation of historically excluded groups within the professoriate remains to be seen, but I am encouraged by these efforts.

We may not all be able to participate in these recruitment and retention programs, but those of us already in hiring positions can immediately assess our current approaches to faculty hiring and make changes to embrace best-in-practice methods that facilitate the equitable recruitment of scientists from diverse backgrounds ( Bhalla, 2019 ). Some key improvements in faculty recruitment strategies include using active advertising approaches such as soliciting applications directly from PEER scientists, requiring and valuing DEI statements, using rubrics, and employing broad recruitments and cluster hires ( Bhalla, 2019 ). I applaud departments that recognize the problem and are experimenting with new strategies to reduce bias in recruitment and to increase equity and diversity. At UC Berkeley, a recent life science cluster search heralded changes to how faculty searches are performed and put excellence in DEI on par with excellence in research, based upon the understanding that the two are not mutually exclusive and both are essential to the campus community. Search committee members evaluated each candidate’s understanding of the issues, record of engagement, and plans for advancing DEI as a faculty member and a portion of the chalk talk during the on-campus interview was used to discuss the candidate’s plans to contribute to DEI efforts.

Critical to the success of these recruitment efforts to diversifying the student body and professoriate is the retention and support of recruited individuals ( Bhalla, 2019 ; Termini and Pang, 2020 ). For example, the transition to faculty as well as tenure and promotion remain major barriers. Transparency in the tenure process and faculty mentoring committees are one way to help support faculty in navigating this challenging and often convoluted process. It should also be taken into consideration that faculty from historically excluded groups face bias in teaching evaluations as well as publication and funding success ( Heggeness et al. , 2016 ; Helmer et al. , 2017 ; Kuehn, 2017 ; Fan et al. , 2019 ; Peterson et al. , 2019 ; Witteman et al. , 2019 ). In addition, care must be taken to not overburden faculty members. Often in an effort to achieve diversity, historically excluded individuals are called upon for a higher amount of service than other faculty members. Expectations for service should be equivalent. If faculty are contributing at a higher level to DEI efforts, this should be valued and their contribution to other aspects of service and teaching adjusted, though not at the expense of opportunities critical to advancement. Some institutions, such as Pomona College and UC Los Angeles, are leading the way in formalizing tenure and promotion requirements that include evaluation of contributions to DEI in teaching, scholarship, and service ( Jaschik, 2016 ; UCLA, 2019 ). This is certainly an exception. When I was hired, I was told that “you can be the best teacher in the world, but that is not going to get you tenure,” clearly establishing research as the sole priority. I agree that research excellence is absolutely required, but I do not think that this needs to be mutually exclusive with excellence in DEI and teaching. Our institutions have a long way to go to achieve an inclusive environment, and it will not happen without education and work.

WHAT CAN WE DO AND HOW CAN WE MAKE A DIFFERENCE? ACKNOWLEDGE, LISTEN, EDUCATE, ACT

Recent events have again shone a light upon the ugly truth of racism that permeates our society, but there is genuine interest from our colleagues and students who want to get involved and make an impact. This is a critical time to have conversations on how best to harness this energy to achieve maximal results. For all of us, it is important to acknowledge the problem of exclusion, to listen to a wide range of voices in our field (e.g., the new “Voices” series of essays in Molecular Biology of the Cell; Welch, 2020 ), to educate ourselves, and to participate in ongoing efforts to promote DEI. Let’s move beyond the often empty pledges on social media, and make the effort to cultivate real change in our communities. Some actions that we can take are as follows:

• Seek out training and education about DEI. Learn about microaggressions, microaffirmations, stereotype threat, imposter syndrome, tokenism, and cultural competency in teaching and mentorship. There may be opportunities to gain such training on campus through campus divisions of equity and inclusion, ASCB Minorities Affairs Committee programs, workshops, and presentations ( Segarra et al. , 2017 , 2020 ), and diversity-focused conferences, such as SACNAS and ABRCMS.
• Require annual training in aspects of inclusion, belonging, diversity, and cultural awareness for all faculty.
• Promote and amplify individuals from historically excluded groups by inviting them to speak during seminar series and conferences and by nominating them for awards.
• Ensure that there is diversity in panels, committees, seminars, conferences, editorial boards, and leadership positions.
• Demand that university leadership value DEI efforts with program funding and as part of the appointment and promotion criteria for all faculty.
• Get involved in existing programs on campus and contribute to the development of new programs. Learn about the programs that have succeeded on other campuses and adopt successful paradigms.
• Have conversations about DEI. If possible, participate in moderated workshops on DEI that question our assumptions and force creative thought regarding new solutions.
• Involve students in decision making and value their opinions. There is often more diversity at the student level than at the faculty level.
• Employ evolving best-in-practice procedures for recruitment and retention of students, staff, and faculty.
• Redefine what excellence and merit mean for students and faculty to include contributions to DEI.
• Enact new, evidence-based, sustainable approaches to improve DEI that have measurable outcomes that can be assessed and improved upon over time. Do not be afraid to make changes and do not be paralyzed by the fear of making a mistake.
• Promote and embrace inclusive teaching methods, such as including readings and discussions of discoveries by scientists from historically excluded groups.

FINAL PERSPECTIVE

I would like to end on a hopeful note. Current events provide momentum to an ongoing movement to make systemic changes to achieve diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. I am heartened by the amazing and tireless individuals at the forefront of this fight against systemic inequalities and racism. I am also encouraged by the progress that has been made. As a biracial American born to first-generation parents of Filipino and German ancestry, I can look back and see that not so long ago there were states where it would have been illegal for my parents to be married. That was changed just over 50 years ago by Loving v. Virginia, which ruled that state laws forbidding interracial marriage were unconstitutional. We should remember our history and keep fighting for the equitable and just future that we deserve. For too long this has been the fight of a few; it must now become the fight of all of us.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to my many mentors over the years, both formal and informal. A special thank you to my postdoctoral mentor, Ron Kopito, for all of his continued support. I am truly grateful for the amazing colleagues at UC Berkeley, especially the terrific members of my lab. You support me and push me to be the best version of myself. Thank you to Michael Boyce, Stephanie Carlson, Milton To, Aaron Streets, Matthew Olzmann, and Elena Olzmann for discussion and critical reading of this perspective essay. A shout-out to my fellow members of the ASCB Minorities Affairs Committee and all the members of the cell biology community who are fighting for representation, equity, inclusion, and justice. You know who you are, and I appreciate you and what you do!

Abbreviations used:

DOI: 10.1091/mbc.E20-09-0575 . Mol Biol Cell 31, 2757–2760.

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Why Study Literature?

05.15.2023 • 5 min read

Learn about the value and benefits of studying literature: how it develops our skills as well as shapes our understanding of the society we live in.

What Is Literature?

The benefits of studying literature.

Literature & Outlier.org

Many libraries in the U.S. are under attack.

From small towns to big cities, it’s more common to see protests outside of libraries. Libraries are under the microscope and being scrutinized for what content they have on their shelves.

Some people see certain books as a threat to society. While others believe everyone has a right to access any information they wish. The fact is literature is so powerful some people see it as dangerous and want to choose what the public has a right to read.

This is not the first time in history that people have tried to censor literature for what it says. So what really is literature and why is it so powerful?

In this article, we’ll define literature, talk about the history of literature, and the benefits of studying literature in college.

Literature is an art form that uses language to create imaginative experiences. It includes poetry, drama, fiction, and nonfiction.

Literature communicates ideas and emotions.It entertains, educates, and inspires readers. Literature explores complex themes and is an important part of human culture.

From its original Latin derivative, "writing formed with letters," to its current definition, a "body of written works," our understanding of literature has evolved.

Literature explains society and culture. It both criticizes and affirms cultural values based on the writer’s perceptions. It expresses and explores the human condition. It looks back to the past and onward toward the future.

As literature represents the culture and history of a language or people, the study of literature has great value. To study literature means looking deeply into a large body of written work and examining it as an art form.

Of course, there are many different literary genres, or types of literature. At a liberal arts school , a literature program, a student would study these genres extensively and understand the historical and cultural context they represent.

Literary Fiction vs. Genre Fiction

Students in a college literature program examine many forms of literature, including:

Some definitions of literature separate fiction into 2 categories: literary fiction and genre fiction. Genre fiction consists of more popular literature read for entertainment. Some examples of genre fiction include crime, fantasy, and science fiction stories.

Literary fiction explores themes of the human condition. These stories cannot be further categorized and are read primarily for a philosophical search for the meaning of life. Examples of literary fiction include The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Beloved by Toni Morrison.

You can discover more distinctions by studying literature in depth.

1. Literature Develops Communication Skills

The foundation of literature is the English Language. By reading literature, you can improve your knowledge of language: vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, content creation, and more. When you immerse yourself in William Shakespeare, Celeste Ng, or Chinua Achebe, you're absorbing new words, expressions, and ideas—without even realizing it.

You can use everything you learn to improve your own writing and communication skills . You will use these skills beyond high school and college. In our everyday lives, we navigate personal relationships, craft emails, present projects, collaborate with teammates, analyze data, and more.

Yuval Noah Harari has written much of his own literature on the history and success of the human race. In his book Sapiens, he emphasizes our ability to craft stories as one of our most valuable skills: " Fiction has enabled us not merely to imagine things, but to do so collectively.” Through these collective stories, we learn about the human experience, both in smaller interpersonal ways and on a larger, more global scale.

2. Literature Teaches Us About the Human Condition

Literature helps us reflect on the human experience, teaching us about who we are and the world we live in. It presents a range of emotions, from love to anger to grief to happiness. It gives us insight and context about societal norms and cultural traditions.

It explores our history and our present; it imagines our futures. It introduces us to new ways of thinking and living, compelling us to think critically and creatively about our own experiences.

Through literature, we see we're not alone in our thoughts and feelings. The characters we read about have already experienced similar difficulties and worked to solve or change them, giving us the blueprint to do the same.

Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice goes beyond social commentary to explore the complexities of familial relationships, romantic relationships, and friendships. Mr. Darcy insults Elizabeth Bennet without meaning to, Elizabeth Bennet makes harsh judgments without knowing all the facts, and Mrs. Bennet worries about her daughter's future constantly. We can see ourselves in them.

3. Literature Teaches Us About Empathy

When we connect with literature's characters and narratives, we learn how to empathize with others. While we’re not physically experiencing the raging seas in Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse or the loss of a loved one in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, we are swept up in the story and the emotion. This helps us develop empathy and emotional intelligence.

In a 2006 study , professors at the University of Toronto concluded a lifetime exposure to literary fiction positively correlated with advanced social ability. In 2020, the Harvard Business Review encouraged business students to read literary works to enhance their abilities to keep an open mind, process information, and make effective decisions.

4. Literature Helps Us Explore New Ideas

With words, and not actions, authors create spaces where we can explore new ideas, new structures, new concepts, and new products. When the only limit is your imagination, anything is possible in creative writing.

We can dive into the past to understand British society at the turn of the 19th century in Austen's Pride and Prejudice or jump into potential futures through Harari's Homo Deus. We can consider alternative futures like that in George Orwell's 1984 or conduct experiments in Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

We don't encounter monsters or humanoid robots in our everyday lives (at least we hope not!). But when we explore them through literature, we’re equipped to consider, challenge, and analyze concepts we don't yet know or understand. This practice opens our minds and allows us to be more flexible when we face the new and unknown. These critical thinking skills enable us to process information easier.

5. Literature Changes the Way We Think

With everything we learn from literature and the skills it helps us develop, literature changes the way we think, work, and act.

When we can think more critically, we arrive at different conclusions. When we open our minds and empathize with others, we better accept and tolerate differences. When we can articulate and communicate effectively, we work better together to achieve and succeed.

Whether English literature or Russian literature or French literature, literature is the key to understanding ourselves and society.

Literature and Outlier.org

Looking to study literature and develop your own writing skills? Outlier.org’s cutting-edge College Writing course is a great place to start. Through interviews with celebrated writers and writing secrets from instructor John Kaag, you'll learn how to use words to express yourself and communicate more effectively.

The course explores:

How to level up your love letters

What writing and magic have in common

How to write better professional emails using The Princess Bride

How to get your writing published

How to create the perfect short sentence

Outlier courses are 100% online, so you can learn at your own pace from the comfort of your own home. At $149 per credit, you’ll save 50% compared to other college courses, all while earning transferable credits from the top-ranked University of Pittsburgh. If you decide to continue your education in literature, you can take the credit with you to the degree program of your choice.

It’s no doubt studying literature will give you a well-rounded education. It is through literature that societies have grown and developed—inspiring change throughout the world. Choosing to study literature will not only give you a glimpse into the past but help you articulate the present and inspire change in the future. By studying literature you will have the power to connect with others and truly touch their hearts and minds.

About the Author

Bob Patterson is a former Director of Admissions at Stanford University, UNC Chapel Hill, and UC Berkeley; Daisy Hill is the co-author of Uni in the USA…and beyond published by the Good Schools Guide 2019. Together, they have established MyGuidED, a new educational tool for students looking to apply to university (launching 2023).

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• Section 1. Understanding Culture and Diversity in Building Communities

Chapter 27 Sections

• Section 2. Building Relationships with People from Different Cultures
• Section 3. Healing from the Effects of Internalized Oppression
• Section 4. Strategies and Activities for Reducing Racial Prejudice and Racism
• Section 5. Learning to be an Ally for People from Diverse Groups and Backgrounds
• Section 6. Creating Opportunities for Members of Groups to Identify Their Similarities, Differences, and Assets
• Section 7. Building Culturally Competent Organizations
• Section 8. Multicultural Collaboration
• Section 9. Transforming Conflicts in Diverse Communities
• Section 10. Understanding Culture, Social Organization, and Leadership to Enhance Engagement
• Section 11. Building Inclusive Communities
• Main Section

What is culture?

As community builders, understanding culture is our business . No matter where you live, you are working with and establishing relationships with people--people who all have cultures.

What is culture ? Here is one viewpoint.

"Culture" refers to a group or community which shares common experiences that shape the way its members understand the world. It includes groups that we are born into, such as race, national origin, gender, class, or religion. It can also include a group we join or become part of. For example, it is possible to acquire a new culture by moving to a new country or region, by a change in our economic status, or by becoming disabled. When we think of culture this broadly we realize we all belong to many cultures at once.

Do you agree? How might this apply to you?

Why is culture important?

Culture is a strong part of people's lives. It influences their views, their values, their humor, their hopes, their loyalties, and their worries and fears. So when you are working with people and building relationships with them, it helps to have some perspective and understanding of their cultures.

But as we explore culture, it's also important to remember how much we have in common. People see the world very differently, but they know what it is like to wake up in the morning and look forward to the adventures that of the day. We are all human beings. We all love deeply, want to learn, have hopes and dreams, and have experienced pain and fear.

At the same time, we can't pretend our cultures and differences don't matter. We can't gloss over differences and pretend they don't exist, wishing we could all be alike, and we can't pretend that discrimination doesn't exist.

This chapter will give you practical information about how to understand culture, establish relationships with people from cultures different from your own, act as an ally against racism and other forms of discrimination, create organizations in which diverse groups can work together, overcome internalized oppression, and build strong and diverse communities.

This section is an introduction to understanding culture, and will focus on:

• What culture is
• The importance of understanding culture in community building
• Envisioning your cultural community
• How to get started in building communities that encourage diversity.

But first, it is important to remember that everyone has an important viewpoint and role to play when is comes to culture. You don't have to be an expert to build relationships with people different from yourself; you don't have to have a degree to learn to become sensitive to cultural issues; and you don't have to be a social worker to know how culture has affected your life.

Why is understanding culture important if we are community builders?

The world is becoming increasingly diverse and includes people of many religions, languages, economic groups, and other cultural groups.

It is becoming clear that in order to build communities that are successful at improving conditions and resolving problems, we need to understand and appreciate many cultures, establish relationships with people from cultures other than our own, and build strong alliances with different cultural groups. Additionally, we need to bring non-mainstream groups into the center of civic activity. Why?

• In order to build communities that are powerful enough to attain significant change, we need large numbers of people working together . If cultural groups join forces, they will be more effective in reaching common goals, than if each group operates in isolation.
• Each cultural groups has unique strengths and perspectives that the larger community can benefit from. We need a wide range of ideas, customs, and wisdom to solve problems and enrich community life. Bringing non-mainstream groups into the center of civic activity can provide fresh perspectives and shed new light on tough problems.
• Understanding cultures will help us overcome and prevent racial and ethnic divisions . Racial and ethnic divisions result in misunderstandings, loss of opportunities, and sometimes violence. Racial and ethnic conflicts drain communities of financial and human resources; they distract cultural groups from resolving the key issues they have in common.
• People from different cultures have to be included in decision-making processes in order for programs or policies to be effective . The people affected by a decision have to be involved in formulating solutions--it's a basic democratic principle. Without the input and support of all the groups involved, decision-making, implementation, and follow through are much less likely to occur.
• An appreciation of cultural diversity goes hand-in-hand with a just and equitable society . For example, research has shown that when students' cultures are understood and appreciated by teachers, the students do better in school. Students feel more accepted, they feel part of the school community, they work harder to achieve, and they are more successful in school.
• If we do not learn about the influences that cultural groups have had on our mainstream history and culture , we are all missing out on an accurate view of our society and our communities.

As you think about diversity, it may be helpful to envision the kind of cultural community you want to build. In order to set some goals related to building relationships between cultures, resolving differences, or building a diverse coalition, it helps to have a vision of the kind of cultural community you hope for.

What kind of cultural community do you envision?

Can you imagine the kind of cultural community you want to live or work in.

People have very different views of what a multicultural society or community should be like or could be like. In the past few decades there has been a lot of discussion about what it means to live and work together in a society that is diverse as ours. People struggle with different visions of a fair, equitable, moral, and harmonious society.

• How will the world be unified as a cohesive whole, if people separate into many different cultural groups?
• In order to be a part of that dream, must I assimilate?
• Why does racism persist in places that are committed to equality and liberty?
• How can I protect my children from the harmful influences in the larger culture? How can I instill my children with the moral values of my own religion or culture, but still expose them to a variety of views?
• Are there structural problems in our government or economic system that serve to divide cultural groups? How can they be changed?
• Should I put my community building and civic energies into my own cultural community, rather than the mainstream culture? Where can I have the biggest influence?
• Can oppression be stopped by legislation, or does each person have to overcome their individual prejudice, or both?
• Why do immigrants have to hold onto their own cultures and languages?
• If my group is excluded, what can I do?
• How do I protect my children from being targeted by racism or sexism other forms of discrimination if I live in a diverse society? Shall I send them to culturally or racially specific school, or a female-only school, or another appropriate school?
• If each person overcame their own prejudices, would all the divisions disappear?
• How do I overcome my prejudices?
• Is prejudice a thing of the past?
• Why can't we all just get along?

What do you think about these questions? Which issues do you struggle with? What other issues are important to you or your cultural group?

As you envision the kind of diverse community, you and your neighbors may want to consider these kinds of questions. These are some of the real and tough questions that people grapple with on a daily basis. These questions point to some of the tensions that arise as we try to build harmonious, active, and diverse communities in a country as a complex as ours. There are no easy answers; we are all learning as we go.

So, what kind of community do you envision for yourself? How will diversity be approached in your community? If you could have your ideal community right now what would it look like? If you can't have your ideal community right now, what will be the next steps you will take in building the kind of cultural community you want?

Here are some questions that may help you think about your community:

• Who lives in your community right now?
• What kinds of diversity already exists?
• What kinds of relationships are established between cultural groups?
• Are the different cultural groups well organized?
• What kind of struggles between cultures exist?
• What kind of struggles within cultural groups exist?
• Are these struggles openly recognized and talked about?
• Are there efforts to build alliances and coalitions between groups?
• What issues do different cultural groups have in common?

These are some of the questions that can get you thinking about your how to build the kind of community you hope for. What other issues do you think are important to consider? What are your next steps?

So, you may ask, "How do we get started?" Here are some ideas that will help you set the stage for creating your vision of a diverse organization or community.

Helpful tips to start building a diverse community

In the book, Healing into Action , authors Cherie Brown and George Mazza list principles that, when put into practice, help create a favorable environment for building diverse communities. The following guidelines are taken from their principles:

Welcome everyone.

In order for people to commit to working on diversity, every person needs to feel that they will be included and important. Each person needs to feel welcomed in the effort to create a diverse community. And each person needs to know that their culture is important to others.

Guilt doesn't work in fostering diversity.

Blaming people as a way of motivating them is not effective. Shaming people for being in a privileged position only causes people to feel bad; it doesn't empower them to take action to change. People are more likely to change when they are appreciated and liked, not condemned or guilt-tripped.

Treating everyone the same may be unintentionally oppressive.

Although every person is unique, some of us have been mistreated or oppressed because we are a member of a particular group. If we ignore these present-day or historical differences, we may fail to understand the needs of those individuals. Often people are afraid that recognizing differences will divide people from each other. However, learning about cultural differences can actually bring people closer together, because it can reveal important parts of each other's lives. It can show us how much we have in common as human beings.

People can take on tough issues more readily when the issues are presented with a spirit of hope.

We are bombarded daily with newspapers and TV reports of doom and gloom. People have a difficult time functioning at all when they feel there is no hope for change. When you present diversity issues you can say things like, "This is an excellent opportunity to build on the strengths that this organization has," or "There is no reason why we can't solve this problem together."

Building a team around us is the most effective way of creating institutional and community change around diversity issues.

You will be more effective if you have a group of people around you that works together closely. People often try to go it alone, but we can lose sight of our goals and then become discouraged when operating solo. It is important to take the time to develop strong relationships with a core of people, and then work together as a group.

Recognize and work with the diversity already present in what appear to be homogenous groups.

In working to combat racism and other forms of oppression many people become discouraged when they are unable to create a diverse group. Starting by recognizing differences in religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomics, parenting, and class backgrounds will help create a climate that welcomes differences; it will also lay the groundwork for becoming more inclusive.

We've talked about what diversity is, why it is important, how to begin envisioning your ideal diverse community, and how to set up an environment that fosters diversity. This is only the beginning.

In working towards your diverse organization or community there is much more to do. In the next sections we will talk about how to become aware of your own culture, build relationships with from different cultures, become allies to people discriminated against, overcome internalized oppression, build multicultural organizations and coalitions, and other topics as well.

Each of us can build the kinds of communities we dream of. In our families, organizations, institutions, and neighborhoods, we can insist that we won't remain isolated from those who are different from ourselves. We can transform our neighborhoods, institutions, and governments into equitable, non-oppressive, and diverse communities.

Online Resources

Brown University Training Materials : Cultural Competence and Community Studies: Concepts and Practices for Cultural Competence The Northeast Education Partnership provides online access to PowerPoint training slides on topics in research ethics and cultural competence in environmental research. These have been created for professionals/students in environmental sciences, health, and policy; and community-based research. If you are interested in receiving an electronic copy of one the presentations, just download their Materials Request Form (found on the main Training Presentations page under "related files"), complete the form, and email it to [email protected] .

The Center for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services  collects and describes early childhood/early intervention resources and serves as point of exchange for users.

Collins, C. (2018). What is white privilege, really? Teaching Tolerance, 60   : This article explains white privilege, gives the history of white privilege, examines how white privilege differs from racism, and offers guidance on using white privilege for positive change. 

Chapter 8: Respect for Diversity in the "Introduction to Community Psychology" explains cultural humility as an approach to diversity, the dimensions of diversity, the complexity of identity, and important cultural considerations.

Kagawa-Singer, M., Dressler W., George, S., and Expert Panel. The Cultural Framework for Health: An integrative approach for research and program design and evaluation .

Culture Matters  is a cross-cultural training workbook developed by the Peace Corps to help new volunteers acquire the knowledge and skills to work successfully and respectfully in other cultures.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Nonprofit Organizations by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld and Frances Kunreuther, from the International Encyclopedia of Civil Society.

HealthEquityGuide.org   is a website with a set of strategic practices that health departments can apply to more meaningfully and comprehensively advance health equity.

"How Studying Privilege Systems Can Strengthen Compassion,"   a TED talk given by Peggy McIntosh at TEDxTimberlaneSchools

Proclaiming Our Roots : Learn more about the lived experiences of Black and Indigenous folx through their digital stories.

Reframing Childhood Obesity: Cultural Insights on Nutrition, Weight, and Food Systems is a report from the Cultural Contexts of Health and Wellbeing initiative at Vanderbilt University that focuses on three key areas in which cultural insights and global examples can help improve health policy around childhood obesity by understanding how historical and structural factors frame food and weight beyond individual choice.

The International & Cross-Cultural Evaluation Topical Interest Group , an organization that is affiliated with the American Evaluation Association, provides evaluators who are interested in cross-cultural issues with opportunities for professional development.

The Multicultural Pavilion offers resources and dialogue for educators, students and activists on all aspects of multicultural education.

The National Center for Cultural Competence  at Georgetown University increases the capacity of health care and mental health programs to design, implement and evaluate culturally and linguistically competent service delivery systems. Publications and web links available.

SIL International makes available " The Stranger’s Eyes ," an article that speaks to cultural sensitivity with questions that can be strong tools for discussion.

Study, Discussion and Action on Issues of Race, Racism and Inclusion - a partial list of resources utilized and prepared by Yusef Mgeni.

Organizations:

Center for Living Democracy 289 Fox Farm Rd PO Box 8187 Brattleboro, VT 05304-8187 (802) 254-1234

National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI) 1835 K Street, N.W., Suite 715 Washington, D.C. 20006 (202) 785-9400

Re-evaluation Counseling 719 Second Avenue North Seattle, WA 98109 (206) 284-0113

Southern Poverty Law Center 400 Washington Ave. Montgomery, AL 36104

Print Resources

Axner, D. (1993).  The Community leadership project curriculum . Pomfret, CT: Topsfield Foundation.

Banks, J. (1997).  Educating citizens in a multicultural society . New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Brown, C.,& Mazza, G. (1997).  Healing into action . Washington, DC: National Coalition Building Institute.

DuPraw, M.,& Axner, M. (1997).  Working on common cross-cultural communication challenges . In Martha McCoy, et. al., Toward a More Perfect Union in an Age of Diversity. Pomfret, CT: Topsfield Foundation, 12-16.

Ford, C. (1994).  We can all get along: 50 steps you can take to end racism . New York, NY: Dell Publishing.

Kaye, G., & Wolff, T. (1995).  From the ground up: A workbook on coalition building and community development . Amherst, MA: AHEC/Community Partners. (Available from Tom Wolff and Associates.)

McCoy, M.,&  et al. (1997).  Toward a more perfect union in an age of diversity: A guide for building stronger communities through public dialogue . Pomfret, CT: Topsfield Foundation.

McIntosh, P. (1988).  White privilege and male privilege: A personal account of coming to see correspondences through work in women's studies . Wellesley, MA: Center for Research on Women, Wellesley College.

Murphy, Frederick. (Ed.) (2013). Community Engagement, Organization, and Development for Public Health Practice . New York: Springer.

Okihiro, G. (1994).  Margins and mainstreams: Asians in American history and culture . Seattle, WA: The University of Washington Press.

Takaki, R. (1993).  A different mirror: A history of multicultural America . Boston: Little, Brown and Company.

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• Dr. Philip Irving Mitchell
• World Literature Resources

Why Study Literature?

1. Literature reflects human ideas, beliefs, and societies.

This is so fundamentally obvious that we tend to overlook it.   Why do we take the time to read literature? Because humanity is valuable. The Christian understanding of human life is one that stresses its inherent value and worth. Roger Lundin writes:

The doctrines of  Creation  and  Incarnation  affirm that human life is inherently meaningful. God has placed us in a world filled with order and hints of wonder, and through his acts of revelation and redemption he has entered into our history. As a result, although some things are obviously of greater importance than others, everything in our own experience has significance, and our attempt to discern that significance -- as well as we can -- is part of our calling as God's servants. (5)

Christ's incarnation teaches us that God hallows the material and cultural world. Because God created the world and loved it enough to enter it, Christians too should love it and seek to understand it.

2. When we read literature, we discover common human ways of understanding life.

We find similar messages, insights, and lessons. We read about closely related experiences.   We also find similar mistakes.

3. When we read literature, we also discover significant differences. This allows us to explore another’s message or life, even those separated from us by time and social barriers.

To read literature is a lesson in worldview.  We often learn how different others are in circumstances and approaches to life, as well as encounter the diverse differences in what humans believe.

4. Literature is full of human responses and reactions – in poems, essays, diaries, narratives, and in the characters of narratives. As we respond to and analyze these, we can gain a greater knowledge of the human psyche.

5. At the same time, we gain a greater knowledge of ourselves and our own responses because we most inevitably compare our lives to those in literature.

As we compare and contrast, not only various authors' views but also our own views and those of others, we deepen our sense of human reactions and our own self-responses. We have the possibility of becoming deeper, more self-aware people.

6. When we do this, we have the opportunity for discovering pride in our community and culture, for gaining respect for another’s, and for learning humility as we interact across cultures.

Yet being deeper and more self-aware requires certain virtues, in particular, a sense of respect and humility. Good dialogue requires faith, hope, and love: faith that communication can actually take place between people; hope that something may come of our efforts; and love for our fellow human beings in all their diversity, complexity, and variety.

7. We don’t always agree with what we read, or we agree in part. We read literature to test the truth of a message against our worldview.

For instance, Socrates believes that the soul is separated from the body at death, so he need not sorrow. Indeed, for Socrates, the soul is trapped in the body and longs for the day it may escape. As a Christian, on the other hand, I believe that the body and soul are both good things created by God and that God intends to resurrect our bodies as well. Socrates allows me to encounter a belief different than my own. He also allows me a chance to test Socrates' belief and even reject it.

8. We can cultivate wisdom; learn of good and evil; and experience the call to justice. Literature can not in itself make us a better person, but it can assist us in that quest.

Wisdom  can be defined as skill in living. By examining literary texts, their stories and their messages, we can increase in our understanding of how to live life. We learn how to discern what is healthy and destructive in the world, and we are challenged with injustice and its consequences. Literature may even challenge us to ask what we will do to help end the problems it pictures.

9. Literature offers us the beauty of words and stories, and as such, reflects the glory of God present in language, narratives, and the stuff of creation.

As a Christian, I believe that not only is God the final source of all truth and all goodness, but that God is also the final source of all  beauty . Part of being fully human under God is rejoicing in the wonder and joy that songs and stories and language can bring to our lives.

10. Literature can entertain us.

Leland Ryken writes:

What constitutes a  worthwhile  use of leisure time? There is no one right answer. . [But] literature has much to commend it as a leisure activity. In a day of mindless leisure pursuits, literature stands out by engaging our mind . . . . It enriches our life by making us aware of the world of human experience and human fears and longings . . . We can upgrade the quality of our leisure time by learning to value what is excellent rather than mediocre. (69-70)

Our use of our leisure is an extension of God's sabbath principle. God rested on the seventh day, not because he needed to, but in order to teach us the value of existence. God has created us to enjoy things. Times of rest and pleasure are not laziness but times of celebration.

11. Literature can offer us cultural literacy. Literary figures, plots, motifs, movements, and genres are a vital part of our cultural heritages.

One frequent question that students often ask: "Well, why are  these  works considered so important?" Louise Cowan has suggested the following seven reasons for why a text is considered a  classic :

• The classics not only exhibit distinguished style, fine artistry, and keen intellect but create whole universes of imagination and thought.
• They portray life as complex and many-sided, depicting both negative and positive aspects of human character in the process of discovering and testing enduring virtues.
• They have a transforming effect on the reader's self-understanding.
• They invite and survive frequent rereadings.
• They adapt themselves to various times and places and provide a sense of the shared life of humanity.
• They are considered classics by a sufficiently large number of people, establishing themselves with common readers as well as qualified authorities.

And, finally, their appeal endures over wide reaches of time. (21-22)

12. Literature can open us to our own latent interests and talents; we may even discover part of our vocation from God.

Frederick Buechner has noted that "the place God calls you to is where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." For some of us, the study of literature plays a part in this calling. Literature can challenge us to grow as individuals and as communities, and for that, it is worth spending time with.

Cowan, Louise and Os Guinness.  Invitation to the Classics . Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998.

Gallagher, Susan V. and Roger Lundin.  Literature Through the Eyes of Faith . NY: HarperCollins, 1989.

Ryken, Leland.  Windows to the World . Dallas: Probe, 1990.

• Bibliography
• Christ and Composition
• Christian Worldview and Literature
• 20th Century Christian Poets
• Modern Poetry Resources
• Theology of Poetry
• Reflections on Faith and Film
• History of Comedy
• Global Film Resources
• Theodicy Overview
• Historical Judgement Overview
• Ancient Christian Resources
• Medieval Resources
• Early Modern Resources
• Age of Revolutions Resources
• Modern Resources
• Freud Resources
• Post Colonial Resources
• C. S. Lewis Resources
• Chesterton Resources
• The Third Spring: Anglican and Roman Catholic Authors in the Twentieth-Century
• Tolkien and Medieval Tradition Resources
• American Literature II
• Colonial American Literature Lectures

"All manner of thing shall be well/ When the tongues of flame are in-folded/ Into the crowned knot of fire/ And the fire and the rose are one." -- T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding