Research seminar: Last of the JEDI’s: ‘Coloured’ women’s active representation in Apartheid’s public education sector Event

Event details

The talk will present a study which documents the lives of ‘Coloured’ women who struggled against apartheid whilst employed in apartheid’s public education sector. The South African apartheid regime racially organized society into race categories - one being ‘Coloured’ to denote people of mixed-race heritage. The term ‘Coloured,’ even in contemporary South Africa, is a contentious categorization given the racist legacy of apartheid. The study involved interviews elderly women, who reflected upon their careers as public servants and their struggle against apartheid, which was often at great risk to their safety. The qualitative study explores the nexus of representation and intersectional identity of race, class and gender, and the women’s struggle for justice, equality, diversity and inclusion (JEDI). The study showed that the women were not subservient public servants but were subversive. Drawing upon the theory of representative bureaucracy, it argues that the women undermined apartheid through hyper-responsive active representation, using discretionary power, through shared intersectional identity of a marginalized group and value congruence. The research, providing an historical perspective, has contemporary relevance given ‘democratic backsliding’.