Abstract
Organizations experience unprecedented diversity fatigue as traditional inclusion initiatives reproduce exclusions they claim to address (Ahmed, 2012; Kalev et al., 2006). Drawing on cultural studies theory and data from an ethnographic study, this paper demonstrates how interbelief frameworks address diversity burnout by transcending Western religious/secular binaries that marginalize humanist, indigenous, and hybrid spiritual identities. Analyzing qualitative and quantitative outcomes from BIPOC first-generation programming, I demonstrate how interbelief leadership reduces diversity labor extraction while improving belonging metrics. Through diffractive analysis informed by Barad’s (2007) agential realism and Puar’s (2017) critique of intersectionality’s limitations, I theorize “ontological hospitality”—institutional cultures recognizing multiple ways of being without requiring translation into dominant frameworks (Escobar, 2018). This evidence-based model addresses diversity fatigue by shifting from individual accommodation to relational commons, creating sustainable diversity through community care practices. Case studies reveal how interbelief approaches reduce what Berrey (2015) identifies as “diversity professionalization” while increasing authentic organizational transformation beyond what Dobbin & Kalev (2016) document as ineffective compliance-based diversity training. The paper offers organizations practical, research-validated frameworks for moving beyond performative inclusion toward transformative diversity that serves both individual flourishing and measurable organizational outcomes in increasingly pluralistic contexts.
Presenters
Anthony Manuel Cruz PantojasStudent, PhD Estudios Culturales, Universidad Ana G. Méndez, Gurabo, Puerto Rico, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Diversity Fatigue, Ontological Hospitality, Global Majority, First-Generation, Organizational Transformation
