Views from the margins: Theorising the experiences of black working-class students in academic development in a historically white South African university

Mlamuli N Hlatshwayo,Kehdinga G Fomunyam

doi:10.4102/td.v15i1.591

Abstract

A significant amount of South African literature on academic development often focuses on the ideological and theoretical shifts that have occurred within the academic development field across different periods in the country – tracing different phases within the field, broadly termed, ‘academic support’, ‘academic development’ and ‘higher education development’. One of the gaps that have been identified in this literature is often the silence regarding the experiences of the black students themselves in academic development, and to what extent being in the programme has made a difference to their university experiences. This article attempts to fill this gap by critically exploring and theorising the complex experiences of black working-class South African students in an academic development programme in a historically white higher education institution. To effectively make sense of their experiences, French philosopher Pierre Bourdieu’s theory on capital was employed in this article. Participants were purposely recruited using snowball sampling and 32 black working-class students participated in the study. The findings of this study suggest that academic development in a historically white university is a complex field of forces that require further critical interrogation and theorisation. Students’ experiences of academic development are often complex and at times contradictory with some seeing the value of the programme, and others rejecting it and looking at it as an extension of their marginality in a historically white higher education institution.

Highlights

The emergence of the 2015–2016 student movement in South African higher education was a critical moment in the South African higher education landscape
This section will end with bringing in the theoretical and methodological lenses of the study, that is, introducing Bourdieu in arguing that at the heart of Bourdieu’s theoretical contributions is his commitment at exposing HE as playing a significant role in reproducing inequality in society. His notions of habitus, existing within a particular field, will be useful in looking at AD as a field in a historically white university and the experiences of black working-class students in it as they compete for symbolic capital that will allow them to negotiate their marginality and succeed in HE (Bourdieu 2003, 2011; Naidoo 2004)
South African HE is grappling with the challenges of transformation and decolonisation

Summary

Introduction

The emergence of the 2015–2016 student movement in South African higher education was a critical moment in the South African higher education landscape. This section will end with bringing in the theoretical and methodological lenses of the study, that is, introducing Bourdieu in arguing that at the heart of Bourdieu’s theoretical contributions is his commitment at exposing HE as playing a significant role in reproducing inequality in society His notions of habitus, existing within a particular field (economic, social and cultural), will be useful in looking at AD as a field in a historically white university and the experiences of black working-class students in it as they compete for symbolic capital that will allow them to negotiate their marginality and succeed in HE (Bourdieu 2003, 2011; Naidoo 2004). This work looks at academic staff development, and not on the academic student development, as is our focus in this article

Part 1: Mapping the context

Part 2: Data analysis and discussion

Conclusion

Data availability statement