Foreword to Intersectional Challenges to Cohesion?

As the title of this volume quixotically suggests, the relationship between diversity,
social cohesion, and marginalization in contemporary societies is complex—
and contested. On the one hand, embracing diversity within community is essential
for social cohesion. The human rights norms that support the building of
pathways towards a more inclusive society are now legally binding worldwide. 190
state parties have now ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities, which establishes legitimacy for inclusion and facilitates the active
reduction of barriers that disable. These general and specific goals of such human
rights charters should be respected across political positions and perspectives.
On the other hand, factors such as frequent social and political polarization, persistent
educational, economic, and social inequalities, and myriad forms of discrimination
challenge utopian visions of cohesion across the boundaries etched in
individual identities and between social groups within stratified societies. Especially
in our time of renewed ethnic conflicts and wars, which always produce vast
trauma, impairment, and forced migration, the gaps between ideals, rhetoric,
and lived realities extend, often to the breaking point.