ABSTRACT
Although in most countries there are laws and policies in place to prohibit discrimination in education, the dominant institutional climates endemic to education settings are frequently at odds with broader commitments to the equitable provision of education, and can often be hostile, unwelcoming and alienating to students who do not fit the status quo. Structural inequalities in the system of education act as barriers to success for many students. Students’ experiences of discrimination, stereotyping, and prejudice in education have profound implications for their educational outcomes and as well as their psychological and physical wellbeing. When examining how students might cope with, resist and challenge prejudice and discrimination in education, theories and methodologies from outside of the mainstream of social psychology have much to offer. Drawing on decolonial and feminist approaches to psychology, in this chapter, we discuss some findings from a Photovoice study conducted with students at a historically “white only” university in South Africa. This study foregrounds students’ agency in navigating the institutional culture of their university and introducing change. The participants produce narratives of resistance to exclusionary race, gender, and class dynamics and serve to disrupt the colonial legacies of standards and merit in educational institutions.
