DITSHEGO MADOPI
In general, people tend to be predominantly in contact with those from similar social standings as their own and this may include being around their own race. However, university may be the first opportunity for some students to develop interracial friendships – something which was previously impractical simply because of lack of exposure to other races. Aimee Clarke, a second-year BIS Publishing student, says, “At my high school there were only two non-white students in my grade of 60 people. University has definitely opened my eyes to cultural diversity.” Clarke tells Perdeby about a friend of hers that she met in class whom she calls “Chocolate Bear”, and who in turn calls Clarke “Vanilla Bear”. “Some people might think negatively of such an explicit reference to race, but between friends, it’s tongue-in-cheek humour that isn’t malicious or offensive.”
Students are discovering that sharing common ground (such as studying the same course or sharing activities on campus) can mean more than just belonging to the same race. Because of these common threads, relationships formed in university may be less limited by race. However, it seems that among Tuks students this is not a general opinion though, and some students feel that interracial integration on campus is much less prominent than people would like to believe.
In a 2008 journal article entitled, “Does Campus Diversity Promote Friendship Diversity? A Look at Interracial Friendships in College” Mary J. Fischer writes that “it is not just the overall composition of a school that matters, but also the organisational structure that may promote interracial friendships.” Just being in the same environment isn’t necessarily sufficient to make you comfortable enough to cross racial borders.
In an article previously published in Perdeby (27 February) entitled, “The great debate: We ask students about racism on campus”, an anonymous source recounted: “Another shocking thing I witnessed in res was how an African and a white girl do not share double rooms. Why did I receive a form that [asked whether] I was comfortable in sharing a room with another race?” Marga Zeelie, head of Placement Management and Guest Accommodation in the Department of Residence Affairs & Accommodation says, “We look at sensitive issues that may arise from putting people together, for example, a Hindu and a Muslim. It’s more an issue of compatibility than it is of race.”
Interracial interactions can be made difficult by linguistic and cultural barriers as well as anxiety about the possibility of prejudice. Tumelo Mathulwe, a second-year BSc Geology student, says, “I can only hang out with people who aren’t of my race for a short period of time. I can behave the way I want to around my own race because they are more inclined to understand and not judge my behaviour, without me having to explain it. Being around my own race also allows me to speak my mother tongue.” Clarke says. “I think the majority of people still mainly interact with their own race for the same reason anyone selects a friend – based on common interests, a shared sense of humour and understanding of one another. There is an increased potential for those shared interests when someone is of your own race.”
Mark Modimola, a second-year BA Information Design student, has friends that are of a different race from his, but for him this didn’t start in university. “It is not a new occurrence for me; I’ve always had a circle of friends that was multi-racial. I guess it was the way my parents brought me up and going to a multi-racial school that influenced me,” he says.
Social studies research validates Modimola’s situation in suggesting that the likelihood of having interracial friendships in university can be influenced by whether or not a student had them prior to university. A 2009 journal article by Elizabeth Stearns, Claudia Buchmann and Kara Bonneau entitled “Interracial Friendships in the Transition to College: Do Birds of a Feather Flock Together Once They Leave the Nest?” mentions a term called “cocooning behaviour” where students who are in the minority, group themselves together in a sort of supportive alliance. Even in diverse settings like university, students who are strongly inclined to form friendships with their own race will still do so, leading to things like cultural groups on campus. Although such groups do not usually purposefully exclude anyone, they are set up primarily to attract people of a specific culture or ethnic group. Do most people on campus still largely associate with their own race?
A second-year BSc Microbiology student, Tshepo Maubane agrees. He would like to befriend people of other races, but that they are almost always with their own race which makes an approach difficult. “I have acquaintances of different races, but not friends. I wouldn’t blame the university as such for it, but there are constant allegations of racism on campus and although we usually think too much is being read into things, their regularity can make one suspicious about how much the university is really doing for integration,” he says.
Shaun Carvalho-Malekane, a second-year BIS Information Science student, is a member of TuksRag. “It selects students to come together and form a bond for a common goal,” he explains. “Since working for TuksRag I’ve had a chance to get to know and form friendships with wide variety of people.” Carvalho-Malekane’s statement highlights the way in which societies or groups at university can encourage racial integration. Modimola, considering the question of official involvement of the university itself in racial integration, says, “I think implementing policies for interracial integration might be a good idea for people who grew up more in contact with one race. But it shouldn’t be forced; people should be given a platform to engage other races by their own free will.”
Modimola says, “Once you allow yourself to be influenced by someone different to you, you enrich yourself. It’s helped me grow, and learn to appreciate my own race and culture because I can share it with the people who have no experience of it.”
To see student’s opinions on campus racism see the video below.
Photo: Hendro van der Merwe
