Abstract
Globally, calls for transformation in higher education, which focus on race and its intersectionalities, abound (Ahmet, 2020; Farzad-Phillips, 2023; Inabinet, 2023; Roberts & Marine, 2024) and are mirrored in South Africa too (Saunderson & Carolissen, 2024; Cornell & Kessi, 2017; Tabensky & Matthews, 2015; Soudien, 2010). Identifying existing inequalities and structures of discrimination, specifically related to race, and developing scholarship to redress, empower, and repair injustices of the past is crucial in this quest. Of key importance is the concept of racial repair, defined as “the negative prescribed sociological schema (with its barrier attributes) that must be replaced by a more realistic sociological schema (with appeal attributes) defined and developed by black people” (Manganyi, 1973, p. 33). It requires the undoing of historical injustices to restore dignity and presumes the intentional reparation of distorted racial identities and healing of internalized oppression inflicted by colonial and Apartheid regimes, here and elsewhere (Webb & Sepúlveda, 2020; Gobodo- Madikizela, 2023; Saunderson & Carolissen, 2024; Cornell & Kessi, 2017; Tabensky & Matthews, 2015; Soudien, 2010). This autoethnography aims to describe and interpret how institutional racism manifests in a residence space and how racial repair may be effected through decolonial methodologies in a residence space. The work explores the following overarching research question: What do the specific experiences encountered by a black woman residence head reveal about institutional racism and the possibilities for racial repair in terms of identity and belonging?
Presenters
Renee Hector KannemeyerDeputy Director, Social Impact, Stellenbosch University, Western Cape, South Africa
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
KEYWORDS
Racial Repair, Student Communities, Autoethnography, Identity, Belonging
