Computers and Composition 23 (2006) 402–411 On globalisation and diversity Mary Kalantzis a,* , Bill Cope b a College of Education, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, United States b Department of Educational Policy Studies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, United States Abstract Mary Kalantzis’s plenary address at the 2005 International Conference on the Humanities (Cam- bridge, U.K.) argues that globalization and diversity ground the world of our times. The article expands on this notion as Kalantzis and co-author Bill Cope describe three instantiations of globalization since the evolutionary processes of human beings began. The third globalization of which we are a part today, they argue, is characterized by layers upon layers of difference. These layers, moreover, are supported through new media and the Internet—and may indeed return us to “multilingualism, divergence, and enduringly deep diversity.” © 2006 Published by Elsevier Inc. Keywords: Globalization; Diversity; Symbol systems; Command structures; Modernity Globalisation and diversity are two of the grounding phenomena of our times. Are they, however, at odds? The theory of neo-imperialism would suggest that they are. One neo-imperialist case is economic, tracing the colonisation by the commodity form of the last recesses of older material lifeworlds, from the receding havens of our domestic self-realisation to the dispossession of peoples in the depths of the Amazon when their forests are razed. Another case is cultural, clearly proven when we start a new day to find a McDonalds being built on the next corner, or as we watch the story of the world according to Fox News or CNN, or as we look at our working and personal lives through Microsoft’s Windows. Still another case is political, as one nation-state, the United States, seems so easily able to dominate others—or to paraphrase its own, more delicate words, as it takes the light of freedom and democracy to those dark corners of the world it considers in need, using force where necessary. Globalisation, in this conception, is the enemy of diversity. It is incompatible with diversity except in its most superficial and trivialised of forms—tourist kitsch, commodities with the aura of native authenticity, ethnic colour, patronising niceness. * Corresponding author. Email addresses: kalantzi@uiuc.edu (M. Kalantzis), billcope@uiuc.edu (B. Cope). 8755-4615/$ – see front matter © 2006 Published by Elsevier Inc. doi:10.1016/j.compcom.2006.09.002