Academic Research

This research project is focused on the link between the coloniality of racism and the manifestation of internalised racism amongst the racially subordinated as the Africa continent and the colonialization of its people by Western powers ravaged it in various ways. The African continent and the ancestral homeland must be central to any informed analysis and understanding of the dispersal of its people. That being said, racism can be understood as a colonial organised system based on the categorisation and ranking of racial and ethnic groups into social hierarchies whereby ethnic groups are assigned differential value and have differential access to power, opportunities and resources, resulting in disadvantage for some groups and advantage for others.

Historical power relationships underpin systems of racism (Garner 2010), which in South Africa and Germany relates specifically to their colonial history and ongoing colonial processes. Racism can be expressed at structural and individual levels, with several taxonomies describing different levels of racism. Institutionalised racism, for example, has been defined as, “the structures, policies, practices, and norms resulting in differential access to the goods, services, and opportunities of society by race[/ethnicity]” (Jones, 2002). In contrast, interpersonal racism has been defined as, “prejudice and discrimination, where prejudice is differential assumptions about the abilities, motives, and intents of others by ‘race[/ethnicity],’ and discrimination is differential actions towards others by ‘race[/ethnicity]’” (Jones, 2002). While sociologist have increasingly drawn attention to racial prejudice and discrimination, internalised racism among the racially subordinated is a phenomenon that researchers have yet to devote sustained attention to as the discipline overlooks the complex realities of difference that fail to address the phenomena. Internalised racism can be described as “the ‘subjection’ of the victims of racism to the mystifications of the very racist ideology which imprison and define them” (Hall, 1986). This kind of racism has significant implications for Black and People of Colour, who are often targets of racism, but also perpetrators of skin tone discrimination among their racial group.

Advanced undergraduate students (from second year) 
Master's students

Language Requirements: English fluently, and isiXhosa or German at least passively understood.

Further Requirements:

The internship position is open to scholars from interdisciplinary disciplines, mainly but not exclusively from the Sociology, Psychology, Humanities, Social and Political Sciences. This Internship offers you the opportunity to sharpen and expand your international research profile and to further develop your research skills by working in collaboration with an International University.

Candidates are expected to send a piece of writing surrounding race and racism (the researcher will contact short-listed candidates).