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<h1>SA ‘born free’ students see the world through the prism of race</h1>
<p class="">Monday 14 March 2016 07:42</p>
<p class="">The Conversation</p>
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<p class="">White Afrikaans-speaking students and black students traded blows over the University of Pretoria’s language policy. (SABC)</p>
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<h4>Tags:</h4>
<ul class=""><li><a href="http://www.sabc.co.za/wps/portal/news/main/tag?tag=South%20Africa">South Africa</a></li><li><a href="http://www.sabc.co.za/wps/portal/news/main/tag?tag=University%20students">University students</a></li><li><a href="http://www.sabc.co.za/wps/portal/news/main/tag?tag=Apartheid">Apartheid</a></li><li><a href="http://www.sabc.co.za/wps/portal/news/main/tag?tag=Racial%20issues">Racial issues</a></li><li><a href="http://www.sabc.co.za/wps/portal/news/main/tag?tag=Race%20relations">Race relations</a></li><li><a href="http://www.sabc.co.za/wps/portal/news/main/tag?tag=Student%20protests">Student protests</a></li><li><a href="http://www.sabc.co.za/wps/portal/news/main/tag?tag=Racial%20tensions">Racial tensions</a></li><li><a href="http://www.sabc.co.za/wps/portal/news/main/tag?tag=University%20of%20Pretoria">University of Pretoria</a></li><li><a href="http://www.sabc.co.za/wps/portal/news/main/tag?tag=Language%20policy">Language policy</a></li></ul>
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<p><span><a href="http://theconversation.com/profiles/joleen-steyn-kotze-194983" target="" title="">Joleen Steyn Kotze</a>, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/nelson-mandela-metropolitan-university" target="" title="">Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University</a></em></span>
</p><p> A university rugby match degenerated into <a href="http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/watch-ufs-rugby-supporters-clash-with-student-protesters-on-field-20160223" target="" title="">on-field brawls</a> between black and white students. White Afrikaans-speaking students and black students <a href="http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/racial-strife-at-tuks---pics-1988326" target="" title="">traded blows</a> over the University of Pretoria’s language policy.</p>
<p>Some people are astonished that this is happening nearly 22 years
after the end of formal apartheid and that such clashes often involve
the so-called <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-34570761" target="" title="">“born frees”</a> – young South Africans who were born after <a href="http://overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/unit.php?id=65-24E-6" target="" title="">apartheid ended</a>
in 1994. But the country is undergoing a massive transformation. Race
lies at the heart of this process, just as it lay at the heart of the
apartheid state.</p>
<p>Between 2013 and 2015 a group of colleagues from various universities
and I conducted research about students’ views on political culture,
values and voting; their perceptions of government policy and quality of
life; and their impressions of race relations. All were “born frees”.</p>
<p>Our key finding was that university students often fall into the <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en" target="" title="">“single story”</a>
trap: they tend to ignore the experiences of other individuals or
groups when constructing an understanding of the country’s political
realities.</p>
<p>Political realities are, by their nature, <a href="http://www.discourses.org/OldArticles/Political%20discourse%20and%20political%20cognition.pdf" target="" title="">constructed</a>.
In understanding the political discourse of race, then, the “single
story” becomes salient. People construct their political knowledge based
on their experiences and ideas about individuals and groups. This in
turn structures group thinking – or single stories – around specific
political issues and actions. On campuses, this would include language
policy in higher education or the idea that universities must be
decolonised.</p>
<p>Our research shows that students’ realities are built on single
stories of “the racist”, continued exclusion and stereotypes. Their
sense of nationhood, of being one, is very fragile. Their political
reality is full of contradictions: integrated, yet separated; united,
yet unreconciled; free, yet oppressed; equal, yet unequal.</p>
<h2>Constructing political realities</h2>
<p>The data was gathered from about 1,500 students across faculties and
disciplines at six universities. Some are historically white
institutions, one catered exclusively for black students during the
apartheid era and others were created during a <a href="http://www.actacommercii.co.za/index.php/acta/article/viewFile/175/172" target="" title="">merger process</a>
in the early 2000s. Participants were all given a survey featuring both
closed-ended and open-ended questions. On some campuses, these surveys
were supplemented with focus groups.</p>
<p>So what are the “single stories” that university students tell themselves about race?</p>
<p>Students place a high value on democratic values like freedom,
inclusion, equal rights and equal treatment. Concomitantly, there are
also high levels of intolerance across racial lines based on students’
perceptions of other race groups’ access to wealth, better education,
jobs and greater privilege.</p>
<p>Across the racial board, participants told a “single story” of
exclusion as their lived political reality. White participants said they
felt excluded by the country’s <a href="http://www.labour.gov.za/DOL/legislation/acts/basic-guides/basic-guide-to-affirmative-action" target="" title="">affirmative action policies</a>
and measures of redress. They feel they are being excluded from the job
market. They talked about “reverse apartheid” being directed at white
South Africans.</p>
<p>Black students talked about the country’s racialised patterns of
poverty and inequality, which they view as a continuation of apartheid
oppression. Their political reality was one of oppression as seen
through the slow pace of substantive transformation and a lack of access
to quality health care, education and basic services.</p>
<p>These “single stories” of exclusion and access exacerbate racial tensions.</p>
<h2>Getting along?</h2>
<p>When it came to relationships with people of different races, many
students said they took hope from their own cross-racial friendships and
the number of interracial romantic couples they know. They believe that
non-racialism is based on the idea of tolerance. But many said that
improving relationships across races would be a generational fight, as
they believe that post-apartheid South Africa is built on a racist
culture.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.sahrc.org.za/home/21/files/Reports/Investigation%20into%20racial%20stereotype%20in%20th%20emedia.pdf" target="" title="">Stereotypes</a>, an unwillingness to interact and continued discrimination fuel racial intolerance.</p>
<h2>Moving beyond the ‘single story’</h2>
<p>As long as the “single story” of exclusion is the main narrative
describing post-apartheid citizenship, the racial dividing line that
separates South Africans will persist. A divide created by apartheid
will remain at the heart of South African citizenship.</p>
<img alt="The Conversation" src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/56085/count.gif" height="1" width="1">
<p><span><a href="http://theconversation.com/profiles/joleen-steyn-kotze-194983" target="" title="">Joleen Steyn Kotze</a>, Associate Professor of Political Science, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/nelson-mandela-metropolitan-university" target="" title="">Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University</a></em></span></p>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="" title="">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-african-born-free-students-see-the-world-through-the-prism-of-race-56085" target="" title="">original article</a>.</p><p><a href="http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/1d326a004c06577c82cb8bf0bca466af/SA-born-free-students-see-the-world-through-the-prism-of-race-20160314">http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/1d326a004c06577c82cb8bf0bca466af/SA-born-free-students-see-the-world-through-the-prism-of-race-20160314</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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