Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: types of diversity - & the sustainable society

[Mmariner (Mmariner]

Karen Frayne asked:
> .... is it true that people from extremely diverse backgrounds *can* live
successfully together?  

If you haven't already, I suggest y'all read Bill Paiss' article, "The
challenge of Creating Multicultural Communities" in the Spring, '95 Coho
Journal before you jump further into this thread.  Bill's emphasis was on the
lack of ethnic/racial diversity and he made several good points about why it
was so.  (Perhaps Bill could upload the article?)

My idealist says this civilization can't survive much longer if we don't
start learning how relate to diverse people, including living in community
with them.  My sense is that many folks are isolated from deep relationships
with anybody outside their household -- even with people of their age,
religion, ethnicity, etc.  (In many households, people are isolated from
their families/housemates, even!)
Or, when we do mix with diverse people, it is often on a superficial level
where we don't have to learn tolerance, respect, conflict resolution,
negotiation, compromise, etc.  Learning to relish (not just tolerate)
diversity cannot happen vicariously via TV and movies and books.  It must be
first hand and in depth.

My pragmatist says that it's a huge undertaking to forge a community out of
like-minded/hearted people, let alone with maximum diversity.  But I feel if
coho groups would undertake to modify existing parts of cities with the
intention to bring together the existing residents, there might be some
interesting and successfully diverse communities.

Of course, you have to work with people who have the values to begin the
process.  If by your very belief structure, you feel that folks who don't
believe just like you are inferior or damned, then diversity can't happen.  

So I'd answer Karen Frayme by saying, yes, extremely diverse folks can live
together if they can drop the ideology of superiority -- that there is only
one right belief or culture or physical appearance.

What about me?  I've lived in places as disparate as a tiny town in Western
Colorado with almost no (ethnic) diversity to Central Denver where there was
about as much diversity as you'll find in any neighborhood.  Right now I live
in non-diverse Boulder, though I do interact with considerably diverse
people.  

I'm deeply interested in this topic because I want a diverse community for
myself and my friends/family in a couple of years, and,  I'm populating my
novel of life in a community in the year 2050 with highly diverse folks.
 Probably too idealistic, I don't know...

=Mike M=