BACK TO THE FUTURE: WHITE STUDENTS ACCOUNTING FOR NON-PARTICIPATION IN STUDENT POLITICS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25159/1812-6371/1738Keywords:
discourse, political participation, race, racism, student politics, whitenessAbstract
Our research examines the role that race, racial identity and racism play in talk about student politics. In this article we examine white male and female students’ accounts for non-participation in student politics at a historically black university. Our analysis of talk in focus group discussions identifies a range of conceptual dichotomies. We link these conceptual dichotomies to deeply entrenched racially binarized narratives and show how recourse to them is used to articulate and legitimize decisions not to participate in student politics. We discuss the implications of the strategies employed by white students to account for non-participation in student politics and conclude the article by giving consideration to suggestions for alternate frames for doing whiteness in contemporary South Africa.
References
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Parker, I. (1992). Discourse Dynamics: Critical analysis for social and individual psychology. London: Routledge.
Parker, I. (2004). Discursive practice: Analysis, context and action in critical research. United Kingdom: Lawrence & Wishart.
Reddy, T. (2007). Staff perceptions of the merger between two South African regional technikons. South African Journal of Higher Education, 21(3), 485–502.
Robus, D., & Macleod, C. (2006). ‘White excellence and black failure’: The reproduction of
racialised higher education in everyday talk. South African Journal of Psychology, 36(3), 463–480.
Said, E.W. (1978). Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.
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Schrieff, L., Tredoux, C., Dixon, J. & Finchilescu, G. (2005). Patterns of racial segregation in university dining halls. South African Journal of Psychology, 35(3), 433–443.
Steyn, M. (2005). “White Talkâ€: white South Africans and the management of diasporic whiteness, in A.J. Lopez (ed.), Postcolonial Whiteness: A critical Reader on Race and Empire (pp. 119 –136). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
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Steyn, M., & Foster, D. (2008). Repertoires for talking white: Resistant whiteness in post-apartheid South Africa. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 31(1), 25-51.
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White, M. (1997). Narrative of Therapists’ Lives. Adelaide: Dulwich Centre.
Department of Education (2001). National plan for higher education. Pretoria: Government
Printers.
Department of Higher Education and Training (2011). Report of the Ministerial Committee for the review of the provision of student housing at South African universities. Pretoria: DHET.
Durrheim, K. & Dixon, J. (2001). The role of place and metaphor in racial exclusion: South
Africa’s beaches as sites of shifting racialization. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 24(3), 433–450.
Fanon, F. (1967). Black Skin, White Masks. Trans. C. Markmam. New York: Grove Press.
Foster, D.H. (2005). Racialization and the micro-ecology of contact. South African Journal of Psychology, 35(3), 494–504.
Gibson, H. (2008). Upright and free: Fanon in South Africa, form Biko to the shack dwellers movement (Abahlali baseMjondolo). Social Identities, 14(6), 683–715.
Goldschmidt, M.M. (2003). Identifying labels among university students in the new South Africa: A retrospective study. Journal of Black Studies, 34(2), 204–221.
Hay, D., & Fourie, M. (2002). Preparing the way for mergers in South African higher and further education institutions: An investigation into staff perceptions. Higher Education, 44(1), 115–131.
Hook, D. & Vrdoljak, M. (2001). Fear and loathing in Northern Johannesburg: The security park as heterotopia. Psychology in Society, 27, 61–83.
Hook, D. (2010). Retrieving Biko: A black consciousness critique of ‘whiteness. African Identities, 9(4), 19–32.
Mabizela, S. (2015). In SA, university is open to rich and poor – but what about the missing middle? The Conversation. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/in-south-africauniversity- is-open-to-rich-and-poor-but-what-about-the-missing-middle-36801.
Mapesela, M., & Hay, D. H. (2006). The effect of change and transformation on academic staff and job satisfaction: A case of a South African University. Higher Education, 52(4), 711–747.
Truscott, R., & Marx, J. (2011). A response to ‘Retrieving Biko’. African Identities, 9(4), 481 485.
Parker, I. (1992). Discourse Dynamics: Critical analysis for social and individual psychology. London: Routledge.
Parker, I. (2004). Discursive practice: Analysis, context and action in critical research. United Kingdom: Lawrence & Wishart.
Reddy, T. (2007). Staff perceptions of the merger between two South African regional technikons. South African Journal of Higher Education, 21(3), 485–502.
Robus, D., & Macleod, C. (2006). ‘White excellence and black failure’: The reproduction of
racialised higher education in everyday talk. South African Journal of Psychology, 36(3), 463–480.
Said, E.W. (1978). Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.
Said, E.W. (2003). Freud and the Non-European. London: Verso.
Schrieff, L., Tredoux, C., Dixon, J. & Finchilescu, G. (2005). Patterns of racial segregation in university dining halls. South African Journal of Psychology, 35(3), 433–443.
Steyn, M. (2005). “White Talkâ€: white South Africans and the management of diasporic whiteness, in A.J. Lopez (ed.), Postcolonial Whiteness: A critical Reader on Race and Empire (pp. 119 –136). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Steyn, M. (2009). Rehabilitating a whiteness disgraced. Communication Quarterly, 52(2), 143– 169.
Steyn, M., & Foster, D. (2008). Repertoires for talking white: Resistant whiteness in post-apartheid South Africa. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 31(1), 25-51.
Wambugu, J.N. (2005). When tables turn: Discursive constructions of whites as victims of affirmative action in a post-apartheid South Africa. Psychology in Society, 31, 57–70.
White, M. (1997). Narrative of Therapists’ Lives. Adelaide: Dulwich Centre.
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Published
2016-10-12
How to Cite
Botha, Ryan, and Jacqueline Marx. 2016. “BACK TO THE FUTURE: WHITE STUDENTS ACCOUNTING FOR NON-PARTICIPATION IN STUDENT POLITICS”. New Voices in Psychology 11 (2):3-15. https://doi.org/10.25159/1812-6371/1738.
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