White guilt and shame: students’ emotional reactions to digital stories of race in a South African classroom

Abstract

Since 1994, South African higher education (HE) has undergone major transformations, driven by the twin imperatives of racial transformation and pressures for efficiency (Department of Education 1997, 2001). However, research into the progress of transformation, such as the 2008 Ministerial Committee into Transformation and Social Cohesion in Higher Education (Soudien et al. 2008), draws a dire picture of the state of South African HE, confirming the pervasiveness of race and racism in educators and students’ lives. The ongoing protests at South African universities, started in 2015 at the University of Cape Town around the removal of the Rhodes statue – experienced as a symbol of the colonial oppression, the continued legacy of apartheid and lack of transformation – are a powerful reminder of the discontent and alienation black students and staff feel (Hodes 2015).