Jan Blommaert & Jef Verschueren. Debating diversity: Analysing the discourse of tolerance. London: Routledge, 1998. Pp. xiv, 233 pp. Pb $22.99.

Abstract

Debating diversity, a pragmatic analysis of official liberal discourse concerning migration in Flemish Belgium, is a thorough, topical, and relevant treatment of the widespread yet near-invisible forms of racism that pervade public discourse on cultural difference. Electing not to focus on the far more widely recognized phenomenon of right-wing racism, the authors instead offer a careful critique that makes clear that the left is by no means immune to racism in its policies and practices. Following in the wake of research by a number of other politically oriented discourse analysts, this volume addresses how racism manifests itself in discourse. It therefore serves as an important reminder that ideologies are constructed, and hence contingent and changeable. Because of the broad scope of its inquiry and the relatively accessible methods it employs, it will be of interest to scholars in many fields, including anthropology, communication, political science, race and ethnic studies, and sociology, as well as linguistics. Despite its sometimes overwhelming wealth of detail, it may also appeal to a nonacademic readership, as did the Dutch version of the book when it was first published in Belgium.