Abstract

In this chapter on diversity, the focus is not on percentages of populations with certain characteristics, nor on those who are most harmed by the actions of individuals and institutions. Instead, it looks at one person, someone who is white and with many of society’s advantages, and at the reflexive processes of understanding and making a difference at a very personal level. It is about me. I take an auto-ethnographic approach to explore my experiences and choices as an academic in a small business school in working with students and colleagues. This chapter is risky. Autoethnography can be seen as self-indulgent, yet it can offer others practical insights into social actions and problems (Ellis, Being Real: Moving Inward Toward Social Change. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 15(4), pp. 399–406. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518390210145453, 2002, pp. 400–401). Showing my naivety brings anxiety and shame as I weave together my formative years and how this affects the way I see the world—the debate on diversity and injustice globally and what I see around me. Central to that is my changing experience of aging and disability. I focus on the reflexive development of thought and practice and as such I stray from the usual canon of literature to explore ideas in ways that invite others to do likewise. This chapter contributes in terms of the insights gained from someone with privilege through a process spanning over two years and offers a method that others might find useful.