Rupert W. Nacoste

Taking on Diversity: How We Can Move from Anxiety to Respect Rupert W. Nacoste

Since the election of Barack Obama to the US presidency in 2008, some people are under the illusion that we in America now live in a ?post-racial society.? Author Rupert W. Nacoste knows all too well how far we are from that imagined utopia. As a professor of psychology and the campus ?Diversity Doctor,? Dr. Nacoste counsels students on a regular basis about their problems dealing with diversity?not just racial and ethnic, but gender and sexual-orientation diversity as well. In this thoughtful, enlightening book, Dr. Nacoste reports, in their own words, students? stories of their anxieties in situations involving people who are in some way different. And he describes how he shows his students effective techniques for accepting the unavoidable realities of our neo-diverse nation.  

Unfortunately, as the accounts in this book make clear, there is still much work to be done.  At campus parties, in routine social encounters, and in email and Twitter exchanges, examples of bigotry abound: the  n-word is still used; some white students don?t like the idea of Marc Anthony singing ?God Bless America? because he is Puerto Rican; young men continue to project demeaning attitudes toward women; and the heterosexual majority sometimes shows little understanding of the LBGT minority.

Based on his many years of experience dealing with diversity issues, Nacoste shows how we can all learn to meet these challenges. This entails sensitivity to different perspectives, open-minded attitudes, and the recognition of two facts: that diversity in America is here to stay and that, in the end, respect for diversity is the essence of the American dream.