Managing diversity

Abstract

This project addresses the problem of how whiteness, power, and racial privilege are constructed through institutional discourses. Specifically, I offer a critical-qualitative analysis of how white firefighters and emergency medical technicians communicate about issues of racial and ethnic difference. In-depth interviews and participant observations were conducted, transcribed verbatim, and subjected to a critical discourse analysis. The central story that these data tell pertains to the phenomenon of managing difference. In describing, critically evaluating, and explaining the theoretical and practical significance of this problem, I discuss three primary themes related to (1) defining and providing service, (2) individual adaptations to cultural difference, and (3) organizational responses to cultural difference. An in-depth discussion of limitations, theoretical, and practical implications is offered. Key words: Bakhtin, critical whiteness studies, dialogism, discourse analysis, Foucault