Transformation of Community-based Research in Higher Education: An African Decolonial Feminist Revisiting of the “Coloured Women” Article

Abstract

University transformation assumes social justice foundations that include equity, recognition, asymmetries of power, representation and voice. In this article we revisit, as a case study, the notorious “coloured women” article published by a team of white women researchers from Stellenbosch University in March 2019. The authors perpetuated stigmatising deficit narratives about Black women where “coloured” women were depicted as a homogeneous, intellectually deficient group. The university appointed a formal investigation committee (FIC) to investigate the claims of inherent racism and sexism lodged against the university, the ethics committee, and the authors of the article. We discuss the narratives inherent in the final institutional outcome and their implications for research engagement with marginalised communities. We discuss, through decolonial feminist and critical diversity literacies lenses (CDL), four narratives: the “sweeping under the carpet” narrative, the “kiss and make up” narrative, the “race as taboo” narrative and the “missing persons” narrative. We consider the challenges that remain; institutional racism, dealing with this case from a perspective of minimising institutional risk, the misrecognition of deep-seated internalised racism, an interrogation of personal and institutional ethics in community-based research. Transformation in research cannot be a legal procedure only. Personal and institutional reflexivity should inform meaningful restorative interventions.