Abstract:
This study explored how the post-apartheid generation of Black students cope with
institutional racism and overt acts of racism at an historically Whites-only university. The
experiences reported by Black students indicate that racism can manifest in various forms
across different aspects of their lives. These experiences encompass institutional,
academic, social, and emotional realms of their lived realities. N=6 Black students were
interviewed to explore their experiences of racism and their coping mechanisms, using
semi-structured interviews. A transcendental phenomenological research design
underpinned the study in its focus on the shared lived racial experiences of post-apartheid
Black students in an historically Whites-only university. Thematic analysis (TA) was used
as a method of data analysis to elucidate these experiences. To align with the aim of the
study, the analysis of gathered data employed a thematic approach grounded in social
stress theory. The findings reveal that overt acts of racism and institutional racism
perpetually afflict Black students, in post-apartheid South Africa. Five themes, and one
overarching theme of coping defences were generated: academic determination,
boldness, physically and emotionally escaping, faith, support, and inclusion.
Fundamentally, the findings demonstrate that Black students adopt both adaptive and
maladaptive defences of coping with their experiences of racism, with perpetual
psychological costs to their emotional and academic functioning.
