Reviews

Diversity Regimes: Why Talk Is Not Enough to Fix Racial Inequality at Universities by James M. Thomas

profpeaton's review

3.0

This book provides an ethnographic account of diversity efforts at one public university in the South of the United States. In many ways, the findings mirror that of Ahmed’s “On Being Included” (2012). However, the book makes two important contributions. First, it looks at diversity initiatives in a southern US context, on a campus that was forced to integrate. Second, as a critical sociologist, Thomas provides some new vocabulary that might be helpful. Ultimately, “diversity” does little to address racism on campus. While the book gives some strong recommendations, it’s most important is the concept of racial impact statements, an idea higher education leaders might examine.