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“When the rainbow is enuf”: black postgraduate women’s experiences and perceptions of higher education and institutional culture – a case study of Rhodes University

- Gamedze, Ayanda

Authors: Gamedze, Ayanda
Date: 2020
Subjects: Rhodes University , College students, Black -- South Afrca , Women college students, Black -- South Africa
Language: English
Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147215 , vital:38605
Description: This thesis sets out to investigate the perceptions which Black postgraduate students hold of the present-day toward Historically White Universities (hereafter referred to as HWUs) in South Africa as unique sites from which to investigate institutional culture and the legacy of educational marginalisation. Black women are of particular focus because of the interlocking nature of social inequalities that uniquely influence their comparable experience in the academy. Rhodes University, a top-ranked traditional university provides the institutional site for this investigation into HWUs. This thesis seeks to further explore the suggestion that desegregation of South Africa's institutions of higher learning have meant access, but not always acceptance. The paper explores what Black women students perceive to be Rhodes University's institutional culture and its impact on their lived realities. Subsequently, these women have learned who they are, and what place they occupy in South Africa today, through navigating a space not necessarily accommodating to Blackness and difference. There exists a plethora of literature on the issues which Black women scholars systematically encounter daily in the academy, in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. Nonetheless, there needs to be a further inquiry on the question of belonging of Black womanhood in HWU post the student-led movements of the past few years that have renewed the challenge to South Africa's colonial past, its neoliberal present, and its scourge of gender-based violence. This paper captures an ongoing conversation around the role of Black women in addressing transformation in HWU. As a Black woman in an HWU, I found myself wondering whether there are certain experiences students like me have in common – realities with nuances we call to identify with to some extent. I collected data from six Black women with whom I conducted interviews, and used it to compile this report and its analysis. I believe that the social significance of this study speaks to the importance of hearing the stories of subaltern groups that are positioned in spaces of privilege, yet continue to be defined by the disadvantage of their gender, race, and various other factors.
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Date Issued: 2020

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Being young, black, woman academics on an Accelerated Development Programme in an Historically White University in South Africa: a narrative analysis

- Mohoto, Nkoe Lieketso Paballo

Authors: Mohoto, Nkoe Lieketso Paballo
Date: 2017
Subjects: New generation academic professionals Programme (South Africa) , College teachers, Black -- South Africa , Women college teachers, Black -- South Africa -- Case studies , Rhodes University
Language: English
Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/13202 , vital:21813
Description: The national program for the development of next and new generation academic professionals (NGAP) aims to help Universities to diversify their academic teaching staff to be more reflective of the national demographics of the country. Through NGAP and policies of redress, a Historically White University would predictably introduce young black women into their academic teaching staff. This is a category of the population who would have been most affected by the exclusionary hiring policies that would have generally been in use in historically white universities before 1995, the year following the first democratic elections. The selection of staff according to criteria that has historically been used to exclude them is a policy which is widely considered to be a useful and necessary way to institute redress. While this half thesis does not disagree with this social and moral imperative, I find interest in the lack of focus on the emotional, psychological, spiritual and otherwise personal toll of the implementation of such a policy on those who are introduced through it and related policies. I believe there is a need to problematise the highly normative environments in which staff (to benefit from redress) are required to function. This half thesis examines the narrated experiences of three such staff members at Rhodes University with specific interest in their everyday experiences in an institution which has historically been tailored for (and in many cases is still run by) white, older male academics. The thesis indicates that the emotional and psychological effects and 'taxes' of being on an accelerated development programme may be worth noting and appreciating in order to think about the retention of black woman academics. The findings show that the complexity of younger black women's experiences within historically white universities such as Rhodes University requires equally complex and multifaceted strategies and programmes. These programmes should not only support these academics but also undermine existing exclusionary institutional cultures in order to facilitate true, deep transformational practice in historically white universities such as Rhodes University.
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Date Issued: 2017

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Transformation at Rhodes University: investigating the extent of support for the participation of students with disabilities in the transformation processes of the Institution

- Israel, Veronica

Authors: Israel, Veronica
Date: 2018
Subjects: Rhodes University , Educational change -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Educational equalization -- South Africa -- Makhanda , College students with disabilities -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Students with disabilities -- Services for , Corporate culture -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Critical Disability Studies Approach (CDSA)
Language: English
Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62006 , vital:28095
Description: This study is motivated by the vigorous discourse around transformation at Rhodes University and investigates the extent of support for and engagement with students with disabilities in the transformation processes of the institution. It analyses the extent to which integration is holistic at institutions of Higher Learning. Particular interest is given to the institutional culture of Rhodes University, namely whether it values and embraces diversity and is committed to inclusivity, centering the presence and voice of students with disabilities. It explores institutional responses to students with disabilities and their capacity to flourish beyond notions of access, therefore, delivering on the demand for institutional transformation. The thesis draws on the Critical Disability Studies Approach (CDSA), the social justice reform agenda with reference to the feminist analysis of disability, and the concept of inclusive education. The study uses a qualitative research methodology. The sample size used in the study was sufficient to highlight the challenges students with disabilities at Rhodes University face and their coping mechanisms while investigating the extent of support and active participation in the transformation discourse. The study found that the majority of the participants’ academic capabilities were influenced by their disability and impacted on their academic success. The study further revealed that there is a disjuncture between policy and practice in terms of awareness, and as such, effectiveness. While there is a supportive institutional framework, as indicated by more than 50% of the participants in the study, the recommendations ensuing from this research indicate that there are areas in which the university can improve its support mechanisms. Improving support structures is possible through establishing platforms which can be used for students to share their lived experiences and making disability a visible part of the institutional discourse on transformation. The study concludes by arguing for the application of principles of Ubuntu which demonstrate the commitment of Rhodes University in inculcating an inclusive institutional culture and understanding that disability is intersectional with social registers such as race and gender. It emphasises the recognition of the institution as a transforming one if the body that matters is the body whose presence, voice and lived experience is acknowledged and recognised.
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Date Issued: 2018

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