Bodies can be experienced in this way, as getting in the way, when spaces are not made “accessible” to those bodies. Think of how adjustments have to be made to spaces insofar as those spaces assume certain bodies the pavement might have to be adjusted to support the passing through of those in wheelchairs a podium might have to be adjusted to support those who are not the right height a time-table might have to be adjusted to support those with child care responsibilities, and so on. Adjustments matter insofar as they relate to the materiality of institutions. What I call simply “diversity work” is often about accommodation things have to be adjusted before some can be housed. An accommodation is both a house or dwelling and a process of fitting or making fit. In order for some to be accommodated, adjustments have to be made. When an adjustment has to be made, because of your arrival, it is an uncomfortable feeling. You might feel an imposition because your arrival prevents others from entering that intimacy. You might feel an imposition when your arrival requires that others withdraw from a shared intimacy. You can feel alienated, you can feel like an affect alien, you can feel angry or annoyed, and still experience the situation as one in which you are the imposition. She told me of one difficult moment when she arrived to the diversity committee she was chairing and the two men who were already there were talking about the breakfasts they had at Oxbridge “something to do with bananas,” she said. She said that in the meetings she attends, the other people always seem to know each other and talk to each other in ways she finds alienating. The moments when rules are relaxed are often when those who do not share a background feel the most “out of place.” One practitioner mentioned this kind of checking of the ease of familiarity when she enters the room. The most difficult moments for diversity practitioners are often the moments before a meeting starts, or after a meeting ends, before there is a shift to a more formal register, or when there is a shift from a more formal register. Such a scenario can take place in institutional contexts. My research into diversity leads me to conclude: this scenario is often institutionalised. You might wish you could disappear so things could flow again. You become the cause of the loss of the ease of informality, at least in your own mind, whether or not you are perceived by others as the cause. There is a checking a feeling of being checked. And someone else might turn to you and ask you a question. It is such a polite question the atmosphere becomes more formal. And this tonal shift is a shift of attention toward you. However good natured and considerate this checking of intimacy, you feel like such an imposition. But someone looks up and notices you are not being included in the conversation. The chuckle when she said that, a chuckle that can ripple through the group, accompanied by sideways glances of affection. You don’t mind this at all you might be sitting back and enjoying that roll. A falling, a rolling: shared memories that come up because just a word can be enough to bring them up. And then the conversation might fall into the charm and ease of familiarity. Say you end up with a group of people who know each other really well. You know that feeling when you arrive into a room and you feel like you are imposing?
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