The unbearable burden of diversity

Events relating to the management of diversity and transformation on the campus of the University of the Free State led to a national and international outcry when the existence of the so-called “nauseating Reitz video” came to light. The ensuing debates to a large extent centred on the meaning and content of concepts such as racism, diversity and transformation. This article offers anthropological perspectives on the abovementioned concepts. Various semantic layers are exposed. It also points out the way in which underlying power issues tend to distort the appropriation of these concepts as well as the way in which they come to serve as guises for racism.