ABSTRACT
Nancy Fraser’s foundational work on social justice provides a valuable framing for reading students’ narratives on their understandings of un/safety and in/exclusion in higher education in a project directed at social justice in higher education and social justice pedagogies. One of the striking aspects to the student narratives was the complexity of student experiences of social (in)justice. Students drew attention to several social and group identities and multiple ways in which these intersect to shape disempowering experiences impacting on their ability to participate equally, that speak in particular to cultural and economic dimensions documented in a large body of local research. Employing Fraser’s framework also underlines the significance of pedagogies that centre students’ lives and experiences. Student activism has already had an impact on national institutional processes. Fees have ‘fallen’, and questions of language, identities and reconceptualising curricula are central to debates about higher education.
