Browsing by Author "Damons, Lynne"
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- ItemMarching to a different beat : conversations about diversity with minority women students at a historically white university(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2006-03) Damons, Lynne; Daniels, Doria; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Educational Psychology.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Transformation of South Africa's historically white universities IS evidenced by a diversification of their student and staff populations. The transition from exclusion to inclusion of minority cultures in these university campuses has not been without its challenges for those students. This study provides a record of the experiences of five coloured women who are undergraduate students at Stellenbosch University (SU), a predominantly white institution. The approach used is feminist, grounded participatory action research. Despite institutional policy initiatives, the Coloured undergraduate students in the study did not experience the university environment as inclusive. What emerged was that the women had an acute awareness of othernesses and their own minority status. Factors such as the small number of minority students and the absence of symbols or icons that reflect and acknowledge the presence of diverse cultures exacerbate their feeling of being in the minority or 'tolerated otherness'. The women experienced SU as a university where established practices and traditions continue despite the changing demographics of the student population. This type of organisational culture in which covert and overt resistance to transformation is the norm acts as a constraint on the political will to move from policy to practice and entrenches the marginalisation of minority groups. The study found that integration is left largely to personal initiative. Personal variables such as resilience, strategies for coping with stress and the resolution of identity issues, appear to playa key role in academic success. However, academic success is not always accompanied by successful social integration. Social isolation was found to have a negative impact on personal and academic confidence. Although the women in the study have had relatively negative experiences of transformation, their willingness to engage in reflexive praxis and dialogue could serve as a challenge to SU to engage in a process which acknowledges the concerns, resistance and experience of all role-players.