Conversations among Black staff members at a historically White Afrikaans university campus on issues of race, social justice and reconciliation
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Date
2012-09
Authors
Nel, Willy
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Faculty of Education, University of the Free State
Abstract
In an ethnographically designed study, guided by a critical community psychology framework, Black staff
members at a historically White Afrikaans university campus conducted email conversations relating to
issues of race, social justice and reconciliation. The conversations were initiated by the author (Black)
who mainly used prompts found in the local institutional context to elicit responses from colleagues.
A critical discourse approach to thematic analysis of the email conversations was followed. The main
findings are: Compared to the potential number of respondents (32 Black staff members or 18% of all
faculty staff), very few colleagues (9 or 28% of Black staff members) responded via email to the invitations
but, when met in person, all expressed strong views on the topics or prompts used in the initialising emails.
The critical discourse approach revealed clear psychopolitical awareness and strong discourses of fear,
powerlessness and bitterness, as well as a discourse of non-engagement. These discourses appeared in
all three domains of analysis: local, institutional and societal. Theoretical explication is sought mainly in
resistance theory for the discourse of non-engagement and the scarcity of responses located in the local
domain. Transformative resistance is suggested so that alternative discourses are inculcated, at least, in
faculties of education at some historically White Afrikaans university campuses.
Description
Keywords
Black staff, Historically White Afrikaans university, Race, Social justice, Reconciliation, Critical discourse approach, Transformative resistance
Citation
Nel, W. (2012). Conversations among Black staff members at a historically White Afrikaans university campus on issues of race, social justice and reconciliation. Perspectives in Education, 30(3), 1-12.