Critical Race Theory

Critical Race Theory and the perceptions of ‘Otherness’ - A case study consisting of the students and the lecturers in the Faculty of Engineering.

Gundo .V. Maswime1, Belinda Johnson2

School of Politics, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard College Campus

KEYWORDS:

Otherness

Critical race theory

Binary paradigm

Vygotsky’s theory

Piaget’s theory

Thomas‘s Theorem

A B S T R A C T

This action research paper explores the perceptions of black Engineering students on the existence of racial bias amongst white lecturers. This enquiry leans on Derrick Bell’s Critical Race Theory adopting that racism is normal and engrained feature in our society and adapting it to being that, rather, it is the belief that racism is a part of our society that is normal, for pedagogical reasons. It was established that the impression black students have is that of the existence of a subtle form of racism manifesting as academic sabotage. Many students also indicated a cynicism towards the efforts of the University authorities in curbing racism as being rhetorical. The paper does not attempt to ascertain if racism exists on the campus or to prove its prevalence. Vygotsky’s theory of race as part of common education and the transmission of knowledge within a society is explored leading to the recommendation of Piaget’s theory that suggests the construction of new knowledge systems to induce a positive transformation in society.

1Gundo Maswime currently working on a Masters in engineering (geotechnics). The initial paper was compiled to meet the requirements for the conference of a B. Social. Science Honours. E-mail: [e-mail]

2Belinda Johnson is a Lecturer in the School of Politics (UKZN) and a PhD candidate. She teaches Research Methods amongst other modules.

Introduction

The University Of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) came into being as a result of the merger between the University of Natal and

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