“Your skin has to be elastic”: The politics of belonging as a selected black academic at a ‘transforming’ South African university

D.Z. Belluigi; G. Thondhlana

doi:10.1080/09518398.2020.1783469

“Your skin has to be elastic”: The politics of belonging as a selected black academic at a ‘transforming’ South African university

D.Z. Belluigi^*
, G. Thondhlana

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

373 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

A presumed indicator of change, in terms of the South African higher education sector’s racialised past, are the quantitative measures of numerical ‘diversity’ within the academic staff composition at historically white institutions. To better inform policy, academic development curricula and institutional culture, this study focuses on macroaggressions related to the mis/recognition and un/belonging of black academics who were selected for prestigious affirmative ‘accelerated development programmes’ for transforming the academic staff composition. Insights and narratives elicited via report-and-respond questionnaires, reflective small group discussions and an arts-based method, indicated that participants (a) experienced various microaggressions as members of different communities within the institution, and as a result (b) negotiated different identities according to social group norms, affordances and settings. The study brings to the fore the complex social processes and agential consequences of negotiating the politics of belonging in the looming shadow of legacies of conflict and oppression.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	141-162
Number of pages	23
Journal	International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education
Volume	35
Issue number	2
Early online date	01 Jul 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2020.1783469
Publication status	Published - 01 Jul 2022

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 5 Gender Equality
SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities
SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Keywords

higher education
microagression
intersectionality
inclusion
race
equality

Access to Document

10.1080/09518398.2020.1783469Licence: Unspecified

“Your skin has to be elastic”: The politics of belonging as a selected black academic at a ‘transforming’ South African university
Copyright 2020 Taylor & Francis. This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.
Accepted author manuscript, 0.99 MBLicence: Unspecified

Gender Injustice in academic practice: Insights from some of my research projects in South Africa and India for Fellows of CARA’s Syrian Academic Programme (Paper presented at part of the panel ‘Curriculum design: Factoring in Women’)
Belluigi, D. (Advisor)
11 Mar 2021
Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk

File

Dina Belluigi
- d.belluigiqub.acuk
Person: Academic

Transformation or ‘training the dog’? Approaches to access within an historically white university in South Africa
Belluigi, D. Z. & Thondhlana, G., 26 Apr 2023, To be a minority teacher in a foreign culture: an international perspective. Gutman, M., Jayusi , W., Beck , M. & Bekerman , Z. (eds.). Springer, p. 471-487
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

Open Access
File
3 Link opens in a new tab Citations (Scopus)

45 Downloads (Pure)
In whose interest is ‘training the dog’? Black academics’ reflection on academic development for ‘access and success’ in a historically white university in South Africa
Belluigi, D. Z. & Thondhlana, G., 20 Jun 2021, Doing equity and diversity for success in higher education: redressing structural inequalities in the academy. Thomas, D. S. P. & Arday, J. (eds.). Springer, p. 265-275 10 p. ( Palgrave Studies in Race, Inequality and Social Justice in Education ).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

Cite this

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title = "“Your skin has to be elastic”: The politics of belonging as a selected black academic at a {\textquoteleft}transforming{\textquoteright} South African university",

abstract = "A presumed indicator of change, in terms of the South African higher education sector{\textquoteright}s racialised past, are the quantitative measures of numerical {\textquoteleft}diversity{\textquoteright} within the academic staff composition at historically white institutions. To better inform policy, academic development curricula and institutional culture, this study focuses on macroaggressions related to the mis/recognition and un/belonging of black academics who were selected for prestigious affirmative {\textquoteleft}accelerated development programmes{\textquoteright} for transforming the academic staff composition. Insights and narratives elicited via report-and-respond questionnaires, reflective small group discussions and an arts-based method, indicated that participants (a) experienced various microaggressions as members of different communities within the institution, and as a result (b) negotiated different identities according to social group norms, affordances and settings. The study brings to the fore the complex social processes and agential consequences of negotiating the politics of belonging in the looming shadow of legacies of conflict and oppression. ",

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KW - inclusion

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“Your skin has to be elastic”: The politics of belonging as a selected black academic at a ‘transforming’ South African university

Abstract

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Activities

Gender Injustice in academic practice: Insights from some of my research projects in South Africa and India for Fellows of CARA’s Syrian Academic Programme (Paper presented at part of the panel ‘Curriculum design: Factoring in Women’)

Profiles

Dina Belluigi

Research output

Transformation or ‘training the dog’? Approaches to access within an historically white university in South Africa

In whose interest is ‘training the dog’? Black academics’ reflection on academic development for ‘access and success’ in a historically white university in South Africa

Cite this