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100 _aSaeys, Arne
_951224
245 _aFrom multicultural to diversity policies: Tracing the demise of group representation and recognition in a local urban context/
260 _bSage,
_c2019.
300 _aVol 26, issue 3, 2019 : (239-253 p.).
520 _aThis article deals with the question of how and why urban governments have implemented diversity policies in the context of a broader backlash against multiculturalism. The starting point of our analysis is the conceptualization of multiculturalism as a set of institutional arrangements for ethnic minority group representation and recognition. While scholars have largely focused on normative critiques of multiculturalism, arguing that it is unable to respond to the super-diversity in contemporary cities, this article focuses on the empirical complexities of diversity policy-making in a local context. More specifically, we investigate the changes in the policy practices and discourses regarding the representation and recognition of ethnic minorities in Antwerp, the largest city of the Flemish Region in Belgium. The minority policies in Antwerp had taken a multicultural turn by the 1990s, most evident in two strategies for group representation and recognition: the establishment of a migrant council to address the interests of ethnic minorities and the recruitment of an ethnically diverse city staff. We analyse how these measures became contested in the context of a wider backlash against multiculturalism. When multicultural policies became diversity policies, the migrant council was disbanded and a dress code prohibited minorities from displaying religious or other symbols in front-office public functions. With these cases, we argue that diversity discourses can be politicized in the governance of cities, with far-reaching consequences, such as the demise of ethnic minority representation and recognition, eventually reinforcing a neo-assimilationist focus urging migrants and their descendants to adapt to the cultural majority.
650 _a Diversity,
_951221
650 _a ethnic groups,
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650 _a minority recognition,
_951226
650 _aminority representation
_951227
650 _amulticulturalism,
_951228
650 _aurban policies
_951229
700 _aPuymbroeck, Nicolas Van
_951230
700 _aAlbeda, Ympkje
_951231
700 _aOosterlynck, Stijn
_949131
700 _aVerschraegen, Gert
_951232
773 0 _08870
_916503
_dLondon Sage Publications Ltd. 1994
_tEuropean urban and regional studies
_x0969-7764
856 _uhttps://doi.org/10.1177/0969776419854503
942 _2ddc
_cART
999 _c12743
_d12743