Academics of colour: Experiences of emerging Black women academics in Curriculum Studies at a university in South Africa

Abstract

abstractBlack women continue to be marginalised in the academy as a result of the enduring patriarchy and the lasting impact of apartheid and postcolonialism that still prevails in South Africa. Through narrative inquiry this article provides space for three emerging Black women academics to reflect and share their experiences within the Curriculum Studies division at a university in South Africa, with the purpose of understanding these experiences within a transformative agenda. The emerging findings of the study suggest that, while Black women academics’ lives in a transforming South African space are positioned in the affirming language of development, deeper scrutiny reveals covert manifestations of disempowering practices geared to undermine the subjective contributions and experiences of emerging Black women academics within institutional spaces heavily built on White imperialist patriarchy. The findings further suggest not only that men continue to undermine women’s positions in academia, but also that Black women collude in the subjugation of other women. What is revealed are the systemic ways in which women are strategically positioned as voiceless and emotional, resulting in them failing to engage substantively with their feelings in order to conceal their perceived vulnerability. We argue that women, particularly Black women academics, as feminist thinkers have the capacity and imagination to look beyond these vulnerabilities and take ownership of their careers when opportunities present themselves. This is representative of their knowledge and understanding of agency as Black women academics.