This article deals with the question of how and why urban governments have implemented diversity policies in the context of a broader backlash against multiculturalism. The starting point of our analysis is the conceptualization of multiculturalism as a set of institutional arrangements for ethnic minority group representation and recognition. While scholars have largely focused on normative critiques of multiculturalism, arguing that it is unable to respond to the super-diversity in contemporary cities, this article focuses on the empirical complexities of diversity policy-making in a local context. More specifically, we investigate the changes in the policy practices and discourses regarding the representation and recognition of ethnic minorities in Antwerp, the largest city of the Flemish Region in Belgium. The minority policies in Antwerp had taken a multicultural turn by the 1990s, most evident in two strategies for group representation and recognition: the establishment of a migrant council to address the interests of ethnic minorities and the recruitment of an ethnically diverse city staff. We analyse how these measures became contested in the context of a wider backlash against multiculturalism. When multicultural policies became diversity policies, the migrant council was disbanded and a dress code prohibited minorities from displaying religious or other symbols in front-office public functions. With these cases, we argue that diversity discourses can be politicized in the governance of cities, with far-reaching consequences, such as the demise of ethnic minority representation and recognition, eventually reinforcing a neo-assimilationist focus urging migrants and their descendants to adapt to the cultural majority.

中文翻译：

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从多元文化到多元化政策：在当地城市背景下追溯群体代表性和认可的消亡

本文探讨了在更广泛的对多元文化主义的强烈反对的背景下，城市政府如何以及为何实施多元化政策的问题。我们分析的出发点是将多元文化主义概念化为一套用于少数民族代表和承认的制度安排。虽然学者们主要关注对多元文化主义的规范批评，认为它无法应对当代城市的超级多样性，但本文关注的是当地背景下多样性政策制定的经验复杂性。更具体地说，我们调查了比利时佛兰芒地区最大城市安特卫普关于少数民族代表和承认的政策实践和话语的变化。到 1990 年代，安特卫普的少数族裔政策发生了多元文化转变，最明显的是两种群体代表和认可策略：建立移民委员会以解决少数族裔的利益，以及招聘多元化的城市工作人员。我们分析了在更广泛的反对多元文化主义的背景下，这些措施如何受到质疑。当多元文化政策成为多元化政策时，移民委员会被解散，着装要求禁止少数民族在前台公共活动中展示宗教或其他符号。在这些案例中，我们认为多样性话语可以在城市治理中政治化，产生深远的影响，例如少数民族代表和承认的消亡，