Tidy Switzerland’s Diversity – an Indian perspective

In the context of this year’s «Challenge the Best» conference on the topic of «The European Mosaic of Human Diversity» we interviewed student participant Priya Kale from India.

Priya, it’s your first time in Switzerland. What astonished you the most?

Looking down from the descending airplane, the landscape seemed to have been painted with perfect strokes of a very fine brush. Everything just looked so neat and adjusted and very tidy from above.

This year’s «Challenge the Best» Conference was about human diversity in Europe. How would you define this rather abstract term in your own words?

For me, a symbol of diversity would be a charm bracelet like the one I am wearing. The different charms, like the four-leaved clover or the tiny cat here, stand for our different mindsets and personalities whereas the bracelet itself embraces and connects each one of us by a set of common values and basic principles of understanding.

So how do we transfer metaphors into actions?

Well, I really feel attracted to the topic of diversity as I have been studying political economy in my home country India and am now at LSE for my Master’s degree. Diversity is something that we tend to ignore although it is present everywhere. In my opinion, diversity often is viewed as a source of conflict, and people wonder how to achieve positive results stemming from diverse backgrounds. «Challenge the Best» really focused on the potentials in society, on the hidden or not yet realized social capital, and I am impressed by the eagerness of all of the students to get concrete results out of this conference.

Together with six other students, you attended a workshop session with Dr. Lale Akgün, a German politician with Turkish background, and Sir James Mirrlees, Nobel Laureate in Economics. What main ideas did your group present to the guests?

We concluded that immigrants cannot adopt the culture and ideas of their host country completely, but they should try to contribute to society with their specific abilities. Integration is a process rather than a static fact. We proposed, for example, a mentoring system with monetary incentives, so that local people serve as a mentor for the newly arrived and help them to get integrated into society, for example. The government should provide some sort of remuneration for this task as this would probably increase people’s willingness in the first place.

This all sounds quite easy to adopt, but isn‘t it a little bit too optimistic? Where do you personally see the limits of diversity?

Coming from India, which is a country full of clashes, different casts, 26 spoken languages and so many colorful traditions, I think that the only approach that works is rooted on the individual level. We have to accept the people who are our neighbors and try to encourage them to be a part of society, which only works if everyone makes an effort. On the other hand, I think that institutionalizing diversity with a top-down approach with binding quota systems or within a legal framework just causes even more conflicts because we are constantly reminded of the differences between us. We have to believe in society itself as the driving force in enhancing social capital. Do you think this conference, at which you have been discussing diversity on a very abstract and theoretical level, will have any impact at all for real life? Definitely. You always find fitting data or charts proving whatever point you want to make. But there are things we cannot infer from data alone. Discussing with all the participating students coming from so many different fields of study and representing so many conflicting opinions, we all had to learn how to deal with our diverging thoughts to get some results. We had to compromise and get to a consensus and at the same time not lose our focus. This sort of personal development everyone of us shared. And we will be able to take this knowledge back home and try to work on it in our own societal environment.

Before you return to London, is there anything you might like to add?

Oh yes, I really would like to mention that all the Germans and Austrians should stop complaining about the quality of Swiss bread. It is just so delicious. Apart from that, I just loved being here and the campus is very nice and – I feel like having to mention that once again – amazingly tidy.

About Priya Kale
She is doing her Master in International Political Economy at the London School of Economics. Originally she is from India and is experiencing diversity at first hand as a foreign student in London.


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