The Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa

There is an urgency in theorising howdiversity is negotiated, communicated,and disputed as a matter of everydayordinariness that is compounded by theclear linkages between diversity, transformation,voice, agency, poverty andhealth. The way in which difference iscategorised, semiotised and reconfiguredin multiple languages across quotidianencounters and in public and media forumsis a central dynamic in how povertyand disadvantage are distributed and reproducedacross social and racial categorisations.In the South African context,finding ways of productively harnessingdiversity in the building of a better societymust be a priority.