Exploring how people from different cultures can find common ground, Marcelo Diversi, associate professor in the Department of Human Development, has published a new book that explores how autoethnography, or self-reflective cultural writing, can lead to social justice.
“Betweener Autoethnographies: A Path Towards Social Justice,” published by Routledge, looks at writing by “betweeners”—authors who live in-between cultural identities—for example, between American and Brazilian identities. It was co-written with Claudio Moreira, communications professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
“Our book seeks to answer questions that are more relevant today than ever,” Diversi said. How can we persuade people who aren’t like us that we all have common experiences and hopes? How do we move from an ‘Us and Them’ mentality to simply ‘Us’?”
Diversi and Moreira have witnessed an escalation of division in their native Brazil and in the USA, in South America, and in Europe – places that had been making steady, albeit slow, progress toward greater inclusion.
They hope that theirs and other betweener autoethnographies will contribute to a larger global movement of inquiry and greater social justice.
Learn more about the book here.