Combining the presentations on diversity and global perspectives
turned out to be very productive. We discovered a natural affinity
between the conference's goal of creating a collaborative teaching
and learning environment that bridges the cosmopolitan and local
knowledge teachers and students bring together in the classroom and
the substance of what we wanted students to learn about diversity
within and among countries in a period of accelerating
globalization. While the contexts and stakes could not be more
different, the challenges of combining a professor's “cosmopolitan
knowledge” with students' “local knowledge” are theoretically
analogous to the political challenges of honoring the local
knowledge that grows out of our diversity while simultaneously
nurturing a more shared, cosmopolitan knowledge that can connect us
in mutually acceptable ways. Put differently, when it comes to
understanding the politics of diversity and globalization, the
classroom can be used both as an example and as an application of
political theory. Working within this broad theme, we discussed a
variety of very specific ideas to promote collaborative and active
learning about diversity and world politics.