Diversity, Tanawwu’, Vielfalt: What Does it Even Mean?

Seminar abstract

Individual diversity perceptions and attitudes are strongly context specific and shaped by the cultures we exist in. Drawing on semi-structured in-depth interviews with technology industry employees in Egypt, Germany and the UK, this research explores how national culture shapes our individual perceptions of diversity. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse semi- structured in-depth interviews conducted with a total of 68 employees in the technology industry. National culture was accounted for using Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, cultural tightness- looseness theory and the World Values Survey. Perceived diversity is individually unique and is shaped by the interaction of the multiple contexts individuals exist within, as well as their social and professional identities. National culture has been shown to influence the diversity discourse, taboo topics, gender dynamics and individual diversity attitudes. The research has shown that in Egypt, individual diversity attitudes were centred on avoidance and apprehension. In Germany, individuals showed pragmatic and avoidant attitudes towards diversity, and in the UK, individual diversity attitudes were shaped by evasiveness and simplification.

How to attend this seminar

This seminar is free to attend with no need to register in advance

We welcome you to join us online on Friday 25 October 2024 at 1pm.

Speaker bio

Dr Fatima Maatwk

Dr Fatima Maatwk (she/her) is an early-career researcher and Senior Lecturer in Student Partnership at the Centre for Education and Teaching Innovation (CETI) at the University of Westminster, as well as a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Prior to her role at CETI, she was a Lecturer and Researcher at Westminster Business School, where she also completed her doctoral research on diversity and inclusion in the technology industry across Egypt, Germany and the UK. She has published in the areas of labour and employment relations, diversity and inclusion in the legal field, gender and work, and student-staff partnership. Her work on fostering student-staff partnership communities is centred on social justice, anti-racism and decolonisation. Her research foci and interests include social psychology, decolonisation, social justice, intersectionality, and cross-cultural research. Fatima is an Egyptian-German Muslim woman. She spent her life between Egypt and Germany and has been living in the UK for the past nine years, where she is continuing her academic path.