The political case for diversity: managing difference in Jewish diaspora organisations

Attempting to grasp the elusive, contextual and contested nature of ‘diversity’, this chapter traces the discursive struggle over the term within UK Jewish organisations. While the business case and the social justice case advocate for economic and moral approaches to diversity – diaspora organisations reveal how diversity discourse can echo political rationales, and reproduce nationalistic ideas. By analysing official organisational statements, the chapter explores how the construction of diversity links to questions of unity, loyalty, and belonging; how diversity travels across geographies, identities, and organisational locations; who benefits and who is being marginalised by the shrinking and bending of diversity; and what room is left for equality and inclusion debates.