Diversity & Integration

Please note: This is an LUC track, not a Leiden University minor programme.

This track focuses on the different aspects at stake when encountering those challenges to integration posed by the co-existence of multiple actors and different cultures in contemporary societies. It does so in theoretical and practical terms by evolving from an introductory course where the conceptual foundations of the problematics framed in terms of diversity & integration in social and natural science are examined, with an analytical focus on the concept of unity; in the next course, the core question becomes that of the individual, specifically his/her need of and struggle for recognition and distinction; the third and final course addresses current tensions and examines case studies in which both diversity and integration are challenged by institutional structures or individuals’ daily forms of interaction. This track relates to the global challenges theme of LUC in as much as it aims to get students acquainted with cross-disciplinary approaches and conceptual debates with regards to integration and the empirical challenges derived from the diverse composition of contemporary societies, as well as multiple actors involved at the global and local level. Any approach to peace, sustainability, justice, and our earth system requires the capacity to critically address the foundations of proposed forms of integration for the functioning of any system, and the constant challenge posed to it by the diversity of voices.