Whiteness and Stigma in the Workplace: Organisation and Work in South Africa 3031098102, 9783031098109

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Anne Crafford

Whiteness and Stigma in the Workplace Organisation and Work in South Africa

Whiteness and Stigma in the Workplace

Anne Crafford

Whiteness and Stigma in the Workplace Organisation and Work in South Africa

Anne Crafford University of Pretoria Pretoria, South Africa

ISBN 978-3-031-09810-9 ISBN 978-3-031-09811-6 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09811-6

(eBook)

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

This work is dedicated to my mothers, Jenny Hugo and Ntazana Mabena

Foreword

This monograph, written by a White South African female researcher, draws on the narratives shared with her by Black South African professionals on their encounters with Whiteness and their experiences of stigma in their educational and career journeys. Although at times painful and familiar reading (especially for individuals such as myself racialised as Black), the monograph offers readers rich and important perspectives on the impact of historical and institutional racism, stigma and Whiteness on professional identity construction and development in South African organisations. Although it is important to acknowledge that there is no simple binary between “Whiteness” and “stigma” in professional contexts (for example research conducted with White Eastern European immigrants to the UK demonstrates the identity work they navigate to “dodge” certain types of stigmatized White ethnicities), this monograph sheds light on the material impact of Whiteness on those racialised as non-White as they navigate their careers.

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Foreword

It is impossible to take a “neutral” position when navigating such topics and Dr. Crafford writes with nuance, sensitivity and also a directness to help readers move beyond “objective” mechanisms of professional closure, to hone in on identity-related challenges for thriving in public, professional and private contexts. Set in South Africa but pertinent to learners across the world, she highlights the ways in which Whiteness works to regulate identity development and constrain the opening up and transformation of professional contexts. This monograph is a valuable resource for those wishing to understand the interface of Whiteness and professional identity construction, and the challenges this presents for certain groups. For those whose role it is to define and redefine ideals of professionalism, Dr. Crafford suggests practical next steps including expanding one’s own awareness of the experiences linked to being a professional, and offers ideas for disrupting the fundamental racist assumptions upon which some of the practices of “professionalism” are built. These insights are critical for those who define, regulate, appraise and play the role of gatekeepers and career guides in professional spheres. Educators of future engineers, accountants and psychologists (and others) have a role to play, as do researchers in this subject area too. In other words, this monograph is for all of us who play a role in creating workplaces in which all types of people have equitable opportunities to bring the best of themselves to their work. I join Dr. Crafford to thank the individuals who shared their stories in order for us to learn as we work towards societal justice. Dr. Doyin Atewologun Director of Delta Alpha Psi Dean of the Rhodes Scholarship based at Oxford University Oxford, UK

Preface

As Ahmed (2012)1 observes, research projects start with stories, and this project is no exception. At the beginning of 2016 I attended a writing retreat at which several Black colleagues had ended up sharing their experiences of stigma and discrimination in their various workplaces. I was shocked that so many years after our new political dispensation, so little had changed. I can’t remember if I was actually acquainted with the term “Whiteness” at this point. Shortly after returning I was teaching qualitative research to a master’s group. To explain critical theory as a paradigm of research, I drew on the imbalances in the South African education system by way of example, explaining how economic capital allowed for the development of educational and cultural capital. After the lecture one of the students approached me and thanked me “for putting the record straight”, so to speak, and shared an incident that had happened in class earlier that week. Another lecturer had shared the numbers of registered IOPs in South Africa according to race and posed a question to the group as to why there were so few IOPs of colour in relation to their 1

Ahmed‚ S. (2012). On being included: Racism and diversity in institutional life. Duke.

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White counterparts. One of the White students suggested that it was because people of colour did not value education to the same degree as their White counterparts. As one of two people of colour among approximately fifteen students, this comment hurt Frances deeply, as her own mother, a teacher, had placed exceptional value on achieving a good education. She would check her homework each day, going as far as to sign each page as a way of signalling to her teacher in the poorly resourced school her daughter attended, that she took her daughter’s education seriously and intended the teacher to do the same. It has been interesting working through the interview transcripts and finding that pattern repeated throughout: parents of colour going to extraordinary lengths to ensure a decent education for their children. Although I am a White woman, I was struck by stories of prejudice, invisibility and negation shared with me in various academic settings. I have had a longstanding interest in identity-related research and the idea of exploring professional identity in contexts dominated by stigma was intriguing, especially given the perceived status associated with professionals and the stringent qualification criteria associated with “learned professions”. The project started rolling when I suggested to Frances that she use her experience as the basis for her own master’s project, exploring Whiteness in the profession of industrial psychology. When I was faced with an opportunity to submit a research proposal for university-based funding, this was expanded to include both the accounting and engineering professions. As part of the project, five master’s students, one from engineering and four from industrial psychology gathered data as part of their own master’s dissertations. When embarking on this project, I considered whether to include these ex-students as co-authors, but decided against this for two reasons. Firstly, each of them worked only on one profession and either four or five of the twenty-six life histories. My aim with this project is to provide an overview of all the professions and life histories, and this would require extensive work on their part to familiarise themselves with the additional data. In any event, I have done additional analyses and added new theoretical perspectives to the data to enable further insights and comparisons across the cases. This brings me to my second reason: all of the students are professionals in their own right and work long hours. Relying on five other busy people

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to meet deadlines would add considerable complexity to the project. I have however consulted them on the project and continue with their blessing. Since the inception of this project, I have shared the nagging doubt with others who have expressed the same concern: what do I as a White woman have to say about Whiteness, a privilege given to me simply by birth in a White skin? Is it right for me to comment on something of which I have no experience? But while I was writing this monograph, the #BlackLivesMatter movement exploded, with two incidents going viral in a very short time. Firstly, Amy Cooper made a 911 call alleging that Christian Cooper was assaulting her. Secondly, and even more dramatically, George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer. In their wake, protests erupted across the US and around the world. During this time, two messages went out on different forms of social media— one on my local radio station and the other on Facebook. In the first, a local DJ pleaded with White people to use their privilege to bring about change. The Facebook post was written by an African American man who shared his identity-related challenges—how when walking in the neighbourhood he takes his daughters and the family dog with him and in so doing is perceived as a loving father and family man, rather than a threat. The author of the piece highlights the critical role of White allies in the process of change, urging them to continue speaking up to family and friends in an effort to bring about change. Thus, I have chosen to view my complicity as a starting point as suggested by Fiona ProbynRapsey, who has observed that if we start with complicity, we recognise our “proximity to the problems we are addressing” (2009, p. 161).2 One of the participants asked me recently: “What do you think or feel when you listen to us narrate our experiences to you?”. My answer to her was: “A host of emotions: sadness, guilt, a sense of frustration at not being more aware much sooner, a violation of my sense of justice; anger and sometimes hopelessness at the fact that it is so difficult to change”. A large part of my motivation for writing this monograph is to make a case for the realities of stigma and Whiteness, by exploring comprehensively, 2 Probyn-Rapsey, F. S. (2009). Uplifting white men: Marriage, maintenance and whiteness in Queensland. 1900–1910. Postcolonial Studies: Culture, Politics and Economy, 12(1), 89–106.

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a group of Black professionals in the multiple contexts of life; to demonstrate that Whiteness is a reality that cannot be dismissed by arguing that since 1994 we are all equal, with similar access to opportunities in life—education, jobs and of course access to professional life. I am now a little more realistic and have come to realise personally and professionally that either you believe society is unequal or you do not (Syed, 2021).3 If the latter, then stigma and discrimination are personal, once-off events, and the privilege associated with Whiteness is simply an illusion. If the former, then it is possible to conceive of systemic prejudice and privilege, and to detect it in all spheres. It remains my deep conviction that the years of colonialism and apartheid have led to a state of structural oppression that is not erased by simply having the vote and theoretical access to opportunities. There remain deep inequities in our society, all of which make the journey to professional qualification and registration very difficult for some. It is these hurdles and challenges that I describe and explain in more detail in the pages that follow. In so doing I hope to confront, in some small way, this thing called “Whiteness”, both in myself and in my fellow South Africans. This state of being is so deeply ingrained that, like many of our faults we simply cannot see it, much like Johari’s window—there are some elements of ourselves we simply cannot see. For many White people our inescapable privilege is one of them. Pretoria, South Africa

Anne Crafford

3 Syed, M. (2021). The logic of microaggressions assumes a racist society. Perspectives in Psychological Science, 16 (5), 926–931. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691621994263.

Acknowledgements

A project like this does not come to fruition without the help of others. In this regard, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the following people: The research team Vinia Molokomme, Megan Carey, Gordon Makgato, Ciska Marx and Lucia Erasmus. Vinia, thank you for your honesty in sharing your experience and in so doing getting the ball rolling. I so admire your courage. Megan, Gordon, Ciska and Lucia, thank you for your enthusiasm and partnership. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment working with you and would do so again in the blink of an eye. Thank you for entrusting me with the final phase of the journey. The participants, thank you for honesty in sharing your difficult yet inspiring journeys. I treasure every word and trust that this will, in some small way, make the path easier for those who follow. I trust all your professional endeavours will be blessed with exceptional favour. George Molebatsi, for opening my eyes so many years ago, and Byron Adams and Natasha Winkler-Titus, whose current input and insight

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have provided an invaluable contribution to this project. Thank you for a safe space to interrogate my Whiteness. The production team at Palgrave Macmillan and my manuscript editor, Peter Southey. My family: Deon, Amy and Daniel, you are precious beyond measure. My four-legged family members, for making sure I never worked alone! This work was supported by research and development funding, provided by the University of Pretoria.

Contents

1

Setting the Scene 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Professional Closure 1.3 The History of South Africa 1.4 The Aim of the Monograph 1.5 Layout of the Monograph References

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Review of the Literature 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Racial Stigma 2.3 Whiteness 2.4 Conceptualising Collective Professional Identity in the Context of Whiteness and Stigma 2.5 Conceptualising Individual Professional Identity Work in the Context of Whiteness and Stigma 2.6 Conclusion References

29 29 32 34 45 51 52 55

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3 The Research Process 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Description of the Professional Contexts 3.3 Perspectives Informing the Project 3.4 Research Design 3.5 Locating Myself in Relation to the Research Topic 3.6 Locating Each Participant 3.7 Conclusion References 4

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Macro-Context: Professional Identity and the Public Space 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Education 4.3 Employment Equity and Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment 4.4 Conclusion References Meso-Context: Professional Identity and the Professional Space 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Functioning as a Professional 5.3 Hierarchy: Moving Up the Ladder 5.4 Inclusion: Being Included as a Professional 5.5 Conclusion References Micro-Context: Professional Identity and the Personal Space 6.1 Introduction 6.2 “They” Don’t Value Education 6.3 Don’t Forget I Come with a Context 6.4 Traversing Spaces 6.5 Traversing Cosmologies 6.6 Black Tax: Financial Transfers and Family Responsibilities

67 67 69 72 74 85 87 104 105 111 111 112 143 152 153 159 159 163 181 186 200 201 207 207 211 217 225 235 241

Contents

6.7 Conclusion References

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7 Whiteness, Stigma and Professional Identity 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Whiteness Reproduced Through Professional Identity Construction 7.3 Resisting Whiteness and Stigma: Identity Work 7.4 Conclusion References

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Implications for Professional Organisations 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Individual Professional Identity Work in Contexts of Whiteness and Stigma 8.3 Implications for Organisations 8.4 Conclusion References

Index

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List of Tables

Table Table Table Table Table Table Table

1.1 2.1 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 7.1

Apartheid legislation (1850s–1970s) Identity work modes: descriptions and examples Chartered accountant registration per racial group 2021 Professional engineer registration ECSA 2020 Industrial psychologists registration per race group 2020 Participants’ demographic information Identity work modes used by professionals of colour

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1 Setting the Scene

1.1

Introduction

…my immediate supervisor is rude but Donovan makes me feel Black, he makes me feel like I am stupid and useless. (Palesa)1

This is an extract from a text sent to me while in the process of writing up this project. What followed was an hour-long conversation with its author in which she poured out her heart about her situation at work. Her supervisor, whom she acknowledges is rude, is at least consistent in her behaviour to everyone, Black and White, and this she can tolerate. Her White colleague on the other hand is discriminant in his treatment of her as a Black industrial and organisational psychology intern, often refusing to acknowledge her, rejecting her requests for help and dismissive of her as a person. While she was warned about this by the previous Black intern psychologist, she is experiencing her working circumstances 1 Both names have been changed to maintain confidentiality and the extract is used with permission.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 A. Crafford, Whiteness and Stigma in the Workplace, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09811-6_1

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as intolerable despite loving the work she is doing. In this crucial phase of her professional identity development Palesa finds herself in a context where she is stigmatised because of her race2 and is afraid to speak out as it may jeopardise the opportunity to complete an internship and the possibility of further employment, a risk she is loath to take. On a dayto-day basis she is deprived of opportunities to learn—which is after all the point of an internship—as she is not free to ask her colleague for help. In this crucial phase of identity development, the images reflected by this collegial voice are of her insignificance and incompetence. Given that professionals are defined by what they do (Lepisto et al., 2015) these images speak to the crux of her developing professional identity. What is most sad is her acknowledgement of the category of “Blackness”. It is the stigma imposed by this “Blackness” and its implied opposite, Whiteness (in this context‚ at least)‚ that forms the focus of this project. The aim of this monograph is to explore the professional identity of3 people of colour in South Africa, a context in which racial stigma and Whiteness constrain professional-related identity work. Stigma refers to “a mark separating individuals from one another based on a socially conferred judgement that some persons or groups are tainted and ‘less than’” (Martin et al., 2008, p. 431). In many instances stigma is based on a bodily attribute that makes recognition of a person’s difference relatively easy. More specifically, racial stigma refers to the process whereby people whose embodiment assigns them to a specific group are systematically excluded from specific social interactions due to their perceived “undesired differentness” (Williams et al., 2008). As a result of these 2 While some authors use the terms race and ethnicity interchangeably, others assign distinct meanings to the terms, with race referring to physical characteristics and ethnicity to cultural phenomena such as language, religious beliefs and values (April, 2021; Proudfoot & Nkomo, 2006). However, what is agreed upon is the socially constructed nature of these terms, and the social and political use to which they have been put. My own preference would be to use the term “ethnicity”. However, in keeping with the terminology used in the South African workplace and national data reporting (April,2021), I use the term race, recognising its limitations. 3 I am not unaware of the problems surrounding using a term such as “people of colour”, the blindness often attributed to its users and the implicit assumption that White people have no colour. Yet I find myself in a dilemma searching for a collective term for the group I am studying; the limitations of language are evident in this regard. However, with the “White” of Whiteness under scrutiny, I have chosen to define the focus of my study as “people or professionals of colour”.

1 Setting the Scene

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devaluations, they are perceived as ill-equipped to fulfil certain societal roles. Closely associated with racial stigma is the concept of “Whiteness”, which refers to the production and reproduction of dominance, normativity and privilege (Frankenberg, 1993, p. 236). Whiteness works as an epistemology (Dwyer & Jones, 2000) or paradigm (Garner, 2012), framing ways of knowing the world and constructing value associated with social life in which being White (or some other arbitrary characteristic) is granted a position of privilege. Together stigma and Whiteness manifest as a resource for a contingent social hierarchy (Garner, 2012), which operates in relation to other subject positions such as gender, nationality and class (Leonard, 2010). For example, Samaluk (2014) uses the concept of Whiteness in understanding disadvantage associated with migrant workers from post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe in the United Kingdom (UK) labour market. Both stigma and Whiteness can be applied to multiple characteristics, and work in tandem to reproduce exclusion. While Whiteness normalises dominance and privilege associated with a state of being (for example skin colour), stigma refers to the basis on which differentiation is accomplished as well as to reactions to the difference. The aim of studying Whiteness is to examine and expose the various ways in which power relations within racial hierarchies remain invisible and masked (Al Ariss et al., 2014; Nkomo, 1992; Steyn & Foster, 2008; Twine & Gallagher, 2008). Central to the development of professional identity is being accepted as “one of us” and socialised into the values, mindset and tacit knowledge that distinguish a profession. Aspirant professionals are required to engage with professional activities to master the requisite skills and knowledge and develop social networks to support and facilitate their reinforcement (Ibarra, 1999). As such, the development of professional identity is a thoroughly social process (Essers & Benschop, 2009; Pratt et al., 2006) shaped by a person’s historical and socio-cultural contexts (Markus & Kunda, 1986; Rodgers & Scott, 2008; Trede, 2012). Thus, Piore and Safford (2006) suggest that it “is impossible in today’s world to imagine one’s career without incorporating one’s social context into it... (This includes) such aspects of lives as... the social stigma that may attach to one’s race, religion, or gender” (p. 319). Hylton (2010) specifically

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highlights the racial elements in professions, suggesting that “Professional environments too, with their cloaks of authenticity, must not be overlooked by anti-racists; they regularly remain uncontested due to their ability to self-perpetuate and validate such practices” (p. 342). It is specifically the power practices with regard to racial dynamics that form the focus of this monograph. Identity work among professionals has been studied in medical residents (Pratt et al., 2006), bankers and management consultants (Ibarra, 1999) and priests (Kreiner et al., 2006). However, little research on professional identity construction and contemporary careers has examined issues of stigma or stigmatised cultural identity. The exceptions include the work of Slay and Smith (2011), who explore identity work among African American journalists in the US and of Srinivas (2013), who explores the identity work of Prakash Tandon, the first Indian CEO of Lever Brothers India, considering the impact of colonialism on his rise within the ranks. While not focused on professional identity per se, Atewologun and her colleagues have conducted several studies that variously explore privilege and intersectional identity work in ethnic minorities in the UK (Atewologun & Sealy, 2014; Atewologun & Singh, 2010; Atewologun et al., 2016). Their aim was to examine how Black professionals “experience being black in their organizational lives and how these experiences shape their identities” (Atewologun & Singh, 2010, p. 333). They emphasise the importance of realising how much identity work is engaged in by professionals of colour in contexts that do not value diversity. These studies were conducted in the UK, which differs significantly from South Africa with regard to its political, economic and social history (Atewologun & Singh, 2010). Another pertinent difference is the composition of the population under discussion. In the UK, people of colour, often referred to by the acronym BAME,4 represent a minority in the population. In South Africa people of colour represent the majority of the population, yet a great deal of the economic power situated in business organisations and professional life remains dominated by White South Africans. Under the apartheid system, employment opportunities 4

BAME refers to Black, Asian and minority ethnic.

1 Setting the Scene

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for people of colour were extremely restricted. As a result the people who form the majority of the country’s population represent a much smaller minority in the ranks of professional and managerial staff in organisations (Adams et al., 2012). For this reason they are often forced to develop and maintain a coherent professional identity in the face of deeply rooted racial prejudice, which is reproduced during day-to-day workplace interactions (Dunne & Bosch, 2015). The assumptions made about these professionals based on the colour of their skin has tangible effects for their inclusion in the profession and consequently on their opportunities and quality of life (Grimes, 2001). Given the lack of South African based research on stigma and Whiteness, particularly in the professions, the aim of the project is to explore the ways in which racial categories continue to structure the lives of professionals of colour in South Africa. Drawing on theories of stigma, microaggressions and Whiteness on the one hand and identity formation on the other, I explore the identity work of professionals of colour in the professions of Accounting, Engineering and Industrial Psychology. I draw on the narratives of twenty-six professionals representing these professions to investigate how racialised systems of control continue to dominate their lives and their identity.

1.2

Professional Closure

To date, studies of professions in South Africa have focused on mechanisms of social and professional closure that have their origins in a history of colonialism and the subsequent regressive apartheid laws (Murphy, 1984). The accounting profession has been by far the most proactive in terms of exploring and identifying barriers, and several studies over the years have highlighted the plight of Black CA’s (Barac, 2015; Hammond et al., 2009; Sadler, 2002; Sadler & Erasmus, 2003, 2005; Wiese, 2006). These studies have identified several general barriers as well as specific professional barriers. The general barriers include secondary education, insufficient information and career guidance, a shortage or absence of qualified teachers, poor mathematics literacy, limited access to computers and the internet both at school and at home, a lack of funding and

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bursaries, poor language and study skills, and their family’s lack of understanding of demands (Sadler & Erasmus, 2003; Weil & Wegner, 1997; Wiese, 2006). In addition to these more general barriers, Sadler and Erasmus (2005, p. 38) identified these specific career-related barriers as perceived by Black CA’s, in order of importance: 1.1.1 1.1.2 1.1.3 1.1.4 1.1.5 1.1.6 1.1.7 1.1.8 1.1.9 1.1.10 1.1.11 1.1.12

Restriction of type of work done Lack of opportunity for professional development Perceived racial bias of supervisors Lack of recognition and respect for work completed Lack of Black mentors in the firm Racial preconceptions Cultural differences Inadequate educational background Lack of role models in management Resistance from clients of auditing firms Lack of opportunity to interact socially with colleagues and Lack of co-operation of peers.

While framed as barriers to entry, which they remain nonetheless, on closer reflection several of them speak to perceived racial bias, racism and ethnic preoccupations that I would suggest are rooted in historical stigma and institutionalised racism or Whiteness (Chandler, 2014). Given our history and the systematic oppression of people of colour, addressing barriers to closure is vital, and the accounting and engineering professions in particular have made incredible strides in creating access for aspirant professionals of colour. However, professions are one example of spaces that have centres and off-centres (Lefebvre, 1991) organised around dominant groups, whose privilege allows them to consign the problem to the professionals of colour themselves rather than questioning the discourses of privilege and dominance that stem from an ideology of White superiority and hegemony (Sefa-Dei, 1996). Thus, while it is vital to highlight the barriers to complete integration, a focus on professional closure means that the structures and practices underlying White privilege remain unchallenged. Various authors have expressed the hope that interrogating Whiteness and investigating its

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lived experience will contribute to decentering and disrupting its dominance, particularly in the professions (Green et al., 2007), which often remain contested because of their powerful position in society (Hylton, 2010). The work that comes closest to questioning White privilege and dominance is that of Hammond et al. (2007) in which they analyse “Experiences in Transformation: Work in Progress” (Schneider & Westoll, 2004). This book was written on behalf of an unnamed accounting firm and aimed at reflecting on the process of transformation in the firm. Drawing on interviews from both the people of colour as well as White partners involved in transformation, the book serves as a “collective remembrance” of the firm’s experiences in making the transition from apartheid to a multiracial democracy. The authors suggest that “While this collection of stories represents but a tiny aspect of the complex history of our country, it is important that we record our experiences. Every memory shared helps us remember where we have come from and strengthens us to move forward with courage and integrity” (Schneider & Westoll, 2004, p. 258). Hammond et al. (2007) compare findings from their own research on the experiences of Black CA’s in the political, economic and social context of South Africa with the picture of transformation painted by the organisation in question. They identify two themes from the book not present in their own research. Firstly, it “extols the firm’s role in promoting diversity, and shifts the blame for discrimination away from the firm and on to external factors such as the Apartheid laws or client demands” (p. 263). Secondly, they suggest the narratives in the book encourage Black people to avoid a victim mentality or feeling entitled, shifting the responsibility for overcoming discrimination onto the victims. While the goal of Hammond et al. is to demonstrate the role of constructivism in the writing of history, and they do not mention the words “Whiteness” or “institutionalised racism”, these two conclusions speak directly to the characteristics of Whiteness. Firstly, the lack of attribution of blame for the past speaks to the structurally codified nature of Whiteness, which prevents a perpetrator being identified (Jones, 2000). Secondly, it reinforces the idea of the profession as normalised White space (Ahmed, 2007; Andrucki, 2010) in which people of colour should

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adjust and take responsibility for their own integration. Characteristically, this epistemology (Dwyer & Jones, 2000) remains unrecognised and permits the ability to collectively forget that which is inconvenient and challenging. In this way, individual acts of discrimination can be shamed and triumph can be lauded, but the collective privilege associated with being White remains solidly intact. Al Ariss et al. (2014) suggest that studies of Whiteness begin with an exploration of the context. For this reason I provide a brief overview of the history of South Africa, highlighting its colonial past and apartheid as a system of racial domination. I identify key pieces of legislation that supported these two systems, highlighting their consequences for people of colour, particularly in the working environment.

1.3

The History of South Africa

Pettigrew (2012, p. 8) argues that “the legacy of the past is always shaping the emergent future”. As such, studies of race and race relations can never be considered without taking into account the social formation of the contexts in which they have been constructed (Hartman, 2004). Thus, one can never understand the interplay of stigma and Whiteness without understanding the history of racialisation in which material aspects (such as economic, social and political resources) and ideological elements are intertwined (Lewis, 2004). While this text is not a history lesson, it is important to set the context regarding the history of race relations in South Africa. Interrogating Whiteness, as we shall see shortly, requires precisely this (Al Ariss et al., 2014).

1.3.1 Colonialism Khapoya (1994) suggests that African people believe colonialism to be one of the most important factors in trying to understand conditions on the African continent. Colonial rule was formalised at the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, where European powers met to carve up the continent to avoid disputes and provide formal recognition of each

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other’s colonies. Colonialism was driven by three interrelated motives: “discovery5 ” of the continent of Africa, European ethnocentrism rooted in Western Christianity and the imperial drive of Western powers to expand their territory (Khapoya, 1994). The possession of colonies led to many political, cultural and economic advantages for the colonial powers, including greatly expanded territories with rich mineral and other resources, manpower (for example as troops in the World Wars), geo-political advantage and an “other” against whom European superiority could be exercised (Khapoya, 1994). While the motives and advantages gained by the colonial powers were similar, their approach to the colonised differed; the British, French and Portuguese had different views on the relationship between the colonised and themselves and the degree to which Africans could be assimilated as part of the European power (Khapoya, 1994). To demonstrate the difference between the British and French attitudes towards the assimilation of Africans, Khapoya (1994) contrasts the experiences of Leopold Senghor of Senegal (a French colony) and Seretse Khama of Botswana (a British Colony), both African men who were deeply acculturated into western society and subsequently married White women. Senghor graduated from the Sorbonne and rose in the ranks of French society, serving as a member of France’s National Assembly, representing France at UNESCO and serving as a minister in a few French Governments. His marriage to a White French woman was accepted without much ado.6 In contrast, Seretse Khama, the King of Botswana and a graduate of Oxford, was also deeply accultured into European society, but his marriage to a White British woman was treated with consternation by the British government and he was initially prevented from returning to his homeland.7 Thus Khapoya (1994) argues that while the French viewed culture 5 Although Africans obviously knew their continent very well, European explorers were intrigued by the so-called “Dark Continent”, which provided a “new” frontier for exploration and discovery. 6 This is not to say the French were not racist, as Fanon’s theory of racism was developed in response to being a Black psychiatrist working in France. Acceptance into French society required negating one’s cultural identity; there was little tolerance for those who wished to retain it. 7 Seretse Khama and his wife, Ruth Williams Khama’s story is told in the movie “The United Kingdom”.

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as the basis for assimilation into French society, the British considered ancestry and culture as necessary for “being” British. This notion of separation between Europeans and Africans was translated into policies of strict segregation throughout British colonies in Africa, including South Africa. While initially occupied by the Dutch, South Africa, a strategic location in the route between Europe and the East, was occupied by the British in 1806. Here and in other colonies such as Kenya, Zimbabwe and Botswana a policy of strict segregation between the locals and the British was upheld in all social institutions including schools, recreational facilities, hospitals, living areas and transportation. Thus by the late nineteenth century Africans and Coloureds had already been moved to townships adjacent to White residential areas with the aim of separating Whites and Blacks. Formal political segregation was entrenched by the Union of South Africa in 1910 as Black Africans were excluded from having the vote (Fiske & Ladd, 2004). Over the subsequent years several pieces of legislation served to further entrench segregation in life and work; for example, the Mines and Works Act No 12 of 1911 allowed only Whites and Coloureds to be granted certificates of competence, thus effectively restricting the advancement of Black South Africans. Furthermore, under the Black Land Act of 1913, Black Africans were prevented from owning land and were thus forced to work on the mines and as domestic workers as they had no other means of supporting themselves. These and other pieces of legislation provided the basis for the more formal structures of apartheid.

1.3.2 Apartheid The system of apartheid had its roots in the colonial history of South Africa. Fiske and Ladd (2004) contend that “No other country in modern times has experienced racial segregation in the extreme form known as apartheid” (p. 14). Apartheid entailed a systematic and deliberate programme of segregation and oppression in what Hammond et al. (2009) term “one of the most effective closure apparatuses in history” (p. 710). It was designed to ensure inferior education, cultural marginalisation, political oppression and economic exploitation of the majority of

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South Africa’s population (Abdi, 1999). In most capitalist societies, class as derived from the ownership of property, is the foundation on which social closure is constructed. In South Africa, however, race through apartheid structures formed the dominant means of exclusion that led to closure based on class as a direct result (Murphy, 1984). Apartheid as a system defined people’s lives and identity according to whether they were “‘white’, ‘black’ or some ‘colour’ in between” (Botha, 2009, p. 463; Hammond et al., 2009). The legislative system recognised four racial groupings, designated as Black, Coloured (people of mixed ancestry), Indian (including Asians) and White (Duncan, 2003).8 The aim of the segregation was to legalise existing colonial and racist attitudes and to perpetuate economic, social, political and legislative inequality along racial lines (Coates, 2003), creating a society in which resource control was linked to identity. While all people of colour were prevented from owning land, and education was segregated, the degree of discrimination varied, with Black Africans being the most discriminated against and Asian South Africans the least (Duncan, 2003). The varying degrees of discrimination are best illustrated by considering primary school teacher-student ratios in the early 1980s, which were as follows: 1:18 for Whites, 1:24 for Asians, 1:27 for Coloureds and 1:39 for the Black South African majority. The consequence was a society where privilege was determined by race and being White in South Africa had as much to do with property as it did with pigment (Lipsitz, 1998). According to Southall (2004) race remains perhaps the major determinant of social structure in South Africa. Central to the apartheid ideology was the policy of so-called “separate development”, through which Black South Africans were denied citizenship except in separate homelands or Bantustans, to which they were assigned according to ethnic group. For example, in 1976 the Transkei was established as a homeland for the amaXhosa group (Hammond et al., 8

I recognise that race is socially constructed, but like Frankenberg (1993, p. 11) I argue that it is also “real in the sense that it has real, though changing, effects on the world and a real, tangible and complex impact on individuals’ sense of self, experiences and life chances. In asserting that race and racial difference are socially constructed, I do not minimalise their social and political reality, but rather insist that their reality is, precisely, social and political rather than inherent or static” (p. 11).

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2009). Collectively, the Bantustans constituted approximately 13% of the land for 75% of the population (Hammond et al., 2009). The policy of separate development provided a convenient pretext for denying Black South Africans citizenship in South Africa; those living and working within its borders were regarded as “guest workers” with no rights whatsoever. All non-essential persons, essentially those who could not work, such as mothers with young children, the elderly and the disabled, were relocated to the homelands, along with “[p]rofessional Bantu such as doctors, attorneys, agents and traders, industrialists, etc.” (Desmond, 1971, p. 37). Those remaining in South Africa had no right to vote and were subject to primitive housing, educational and health facilities, often after violent forced removal from their traditional areas of dwelling (Duncan, 2003). In a systematic process of increasing domination, space was used as a means to define, confine and regulate people of colour, instilling a concept of “racial space” (Neely & Samura, 2011). No effort was spared in dividing almost all areas of life according to race; residential areas in cities were designated as “Black”, “Coloured”9 “Indian” or “White”, with people of colour forcibly moved to very poorly resourced “townships” (Duncan, 2003). These provided the “off-centre” to the central White areas (Elden, 2007) and ensured a steady supply of cheap labour for White-owned businesses and homes. These townships were further segregated as Black, Coloured or Indian, which enforced separation around race, even among “non-Whites”. In the same way, schools, universities, beaches, parks and buses were designated according to race—physical space constantly reinforcing the notion of manufactured difference. The combination of these measure led to the break-up of families and the systematic destruction of communities of colour (Duncan, 2003). Types of work were also divided according to race, with White-collar work deemed suitable for White people, who took on most of the professional and managerial roles, with African people in particular relegated to blue-collar work. In this way all life spaces were socially and politically

9

The meaning of the word Coloured in South Africa differs from the meaning of the term elsewhere and refers to people of mixed ancestry.

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manufactured (Elden, 2007) to ensure the separation of racial groups and to subjugate those deemed inferior. It is difficult to summarise years of systematic oppression. Perhaps the best way to do so is to list the legislation designed to bring about the “space/class-manufacturing” described above. To provide an overview of all colonial and apartheid-related discriminatory legislation would simply take up too much space. However, Table 1.1 provides key pieces of legislation that give one a sense of just how structured South African society was regarding race. I have not included legislation relating to the regulation of internal security, the banning of political organisations or the so-called suppression of communism, which was targeted primarily at freedom of movement, but have chosen to focus on legislation that relates to matters in this text—primarily work, education and living space. It is not possible to cover all the apartheid laws in a text such as this but I have included key pieces of legislation to provide an idea of just how comprehensive the system was. I trust it will be sufficient to illustrate the following points central to our discussion here: 1. An obsession with race and ethnicity, not only in terms of broad categories—White versus non-White—but with the varying shades in between. Most notable here is the Population Registration Act, no 30 of 1950, in which the population was systematically carved up and classified according to race based on skin colour, facial features and the appearance of one’s hair. The significance of this variance persists to the present day, as the various socially constructed racial groupings face slightly different manifestations of discrimination and Whiteness. 2. The manner in which all living space was carved up: residential areas, work and educational spaces, as well as entrances, exits, beaches and bathrooms were all allocated to a shade of skin. 3. The means through which society was structured to ensure that people of colour remained structurally impoverished. This was done through the prohibition of owning or renting land, earning a comparable or at least a decent wage; the prohibition on unions that could challenge the inequality; the disparity in pensions; the restriction on trade; the carrying of the infamous “passbooks”—regulating every area of life to ensure privilege for some and exploitation for others.

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Table 1.1 Apartheid legislation (1850s–1970s) Mines and Works Act (1911) Black Land Act (1913)

Durban Land Alienation Ordinance (1922) Natives (Urban Areas) Act (1923)

Boroughs Ordinance (1924) Industrial Conciliation Act (1924) Rural Dealers Ordinance (1924) Minimum Wages Act (1925) Mines and Works Act (1926) Liquor Bill of 1926 Local Government (Provincial Powers) Act (1926) Woman’s Franchise Bill (1927) Nationality and Flag Act (1927) Old Age Pension Act (1927) Liquor Act (1927) Transvaal Asiatic Land Tenure (1930)

Certificates of compliance for specific skilled mining jobs were granted to Whites and Coloureds only Owning or renting of land by Blacks was limited to designated areas, constituting approximately 7% of land Excluded Indians from owning or occupying property in White areas Empowered local authorities to conduct a number of activities, including the demarcation and establishment of Black areas, registration of Black service contracts, trading by Blacks, establishment of separate revenue accounts and the administration of Pass laws Deprived Indians in Natal of the right to vote Created the right to reserve jobs while at the same excluding Blacks from joining trade unions or establishing Black trade unions Attempted to disable Indian trade and stop Indians from owning land in White areas Reservation of certain trades for Whites, thereby promoting White employment Connected to the Mines and Works Act (1911), this act provides for the certification of skilled workers (excluding Indians) The prevention of Indian and Black employment by and access to licenced liquor suppliers Indians were denied citizenship rights

Indian women were denied voting rights Indians were denied the right to become citizens by nationalisation and were not recognised as South African nationals Indians were not provided with pensions Africans and Indians were prohibited from employment in the liquor trade Proposed the segregation of Indians by relocating them within five years to areas exempted from the Gold Law, with no protection to Indians with interests in land suitable for mining (continued)

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Table 1.1 (continued) Riotous Assemblies (Amendment) Act (1930) Asiatic Immigration Amendment Act (1931) Native Service Contracts Act (1932)

Representation of Blacks Act (1936) Development Trust and Land Act No 18 1936

Native Trust and Land Act (1936)

Development Trust and Land Act (1936)

Black (Native) Laws Amendment Act (1937) Marketing and Unbeneficial Land Occupation Act (1937) Industrial Conciliation Act (1937) Transvaal Asiatic Land Tenure (Further Amendment) Act (1937) Provincial Legislation Powers Extension Bill (1937)

Prevented the publication or dissemination of information aimed to cause feelings of hostility between Whites and other South Africans Required Indians to prove that South Africa was their legitimate permanent home Created the right for farmers to compel farm tenants to carry passes, whip farm tenants, and expel farm tenant families if a member of the family did not honour their labour obligation Black voters were removed from the common voters roll in the Cape, and all Blacks were subsequently represented by four White senators Increased the Black reserves, authorised the Department of Bantu Administration and Development to eliminate “Black Spots”, and established the South African Development Trust (SADT) to acquire land in each province for Black settlement White and Black rural land were separated. The South African Native Trust (SANT) was established to administer Black reserve areas. SANT controlled livestock, grazing land and enforced residential planning and villagisation (betterment). Blacks were evicted if found living on “White land” and the ownership of “Black spots”—areas owned by Blacks surrounded by White-owned areas—was removed Acquisition by the SANT of 6.2 million hectares of land to be added to reserves, and the administration of the released land, thereby prohibiting Blacks from owning land Prohibited urban land acquisition by Blacks from non-Blacks, except with permission from the Governor-General Indians were prohibited from holding seats on regulatory boards, and the import and export of goods were controlled The colour bar was introduced in trade unions Prohibition of Indians employing Whites

Trading licenses were refused to non-Whites who employed Whites. (continued)

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Table 1.1 (continued) Transvaal Asiatic Land Bill (1937) Pensions Laws Amendment Act (1944)

Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation/Ghetto Act (1946)

Industrial Conciliation (Natives) Bill (1947)

The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act (1949) Immorality Amendment Act (1950) Population Registration Act (1950)

Group Areas Act (1950)

Bantu Authorities Act (1951)

The right to own property was denied to White women married to non-White men War pensions and non-contributory pensions were provided to Blacks as well as disability grants to Coloureds, Blacks and Indians. The maximum payable benefit to Black pensioners was less than a third of the maximum payable to White pensioners Indians were prevented from purchasing land from non-Indians except in certain areas or from occupying property in exempted areas. Additionally, Indians were allowed to elect three White representatives and one White senator to the House of Assembly Provided for a degree of recognition for African trade unions but prevented these unions from affiliating to any political organisation, participating in political activities or joining a trade union confederation Marriage between a White and a member of any other racial group was prohibited Prohibition of adultery, attempted adultery or related “immoral” acts such as sexual intercourse between Whites and Blacks All South Africans were racially classified as White, Black or Coloured (included Indians). Classification was determined by appearance, social acceptance, and descent. Whites were categorised according to their parent’s race, habits, speech, education, deportment and demeanour. Blacks were categorised in terms of their African race or tribe. People who were not considered White or Black were defined as Coloured Separated residency was made compulsory with specific areas designated for property ownership, residence and work. The act also stripped all traditional property rights and evicted thousands of Blacks, Coloureds and Indians These authorities were introduced for the sole purpose of separating people on a racial and ethnic basis. The Act was introduced by implementing Black ethnic governments—“Homelands”. The Homelands were granted independent status leading to the inhabitants losing South African citizenship and needing a passport to enter South Africa (continued)

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Table 1.1 (continued) Bantu/Native Building Workers Act (1951) Separate Representation of Voters Act (1951) Natives (Abolition of Passes and Co-ordination of Documents) Act (1952) Natives Labour (Settlement of Disputes) Act of 1953 Bantu Education Act (1953) Reservation of Separate Amenities Act (1953) Natives Resettlement Act (1954) Natives (Prohibition of Interdicts) Act (1956) Industrial Conciliation Amendment Act (1956) Natives Taxation and Development Act (1958) Extension of University Education Act (1959) Bantu Investment Corporation Act (1959) Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act (1959)

Unlawful Organisations Act (1960)

Protected the rights of White and Coloured workers against Black competition and allowed for Blacks to be trained as artisans in the building industry Coloureds were denied voting rights and removed from the common voters’ roll. Coloureds could elect White representatives from a separate roll Africans were legally compelled to carry passes that included photographs, details of place of origin, employment records, tax payments, fingerprints and encounters with the police. Failure to do so was a criminal offense Prohibited strikes by Africans. Black trade unions were allowed to operate but were not legally recognised Separate education systems were developed for the various racial groups Separate amenities, differing in quality, were provided for various racial groups, for example beaches, toilets and entrances The government was granted power to remove Blacks from any area within and next to the magisterial district of Johannesburg Africans were deprived of the right to apply to court for protection by means of an interdict or any legal process against the government Trade union movements were separated along racial lines with the goal of weakening them Black males, eighteen years or older, were taxed a higher amount than previously, while women became liable to pay tax Separate tertiary institutions were established for Blacks, Coloureds and Whites, which were further separated along ethnic lines The establishment of industrial, financial and commercial schemes in Black areas Announced the existence of eight African ethnic groups based on linguistic and cultural diversity, with a Commissioner-General assigned to develop a homeland for each ethnic group, with provisions made for self-government Implemented to declare unlawful organisations such as the ANC and PAC, which promoted Black interests and threatened public order (continued)

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Table 1.1 (continued) Separate Representation of Voters Amendment Act (1968)

South African Indian Council Act (1968)

Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Amendment Act (1968) Bantu Homeland Citizens Act (1970)

Black Affairs Administration Act (1971) Black Labour Relations Amendment Act (1973) Legal Aid Act (1973)

The Coloured Persons Representative Council was formed to make laws affecting Coloureds on finance, local government, education, community welfare and pensions, rural settlements and agriculture. All bills had to be approved by the Minister of Coloured Relations and the White Cabinet Provided for a council of 25 members appointed by the Minister of Indian Affairs. This was increased to 30, of which 15 were appointed by the Minister and 15 through electoral colleges in the provinces Invalidated marriages entered into outside South Africa between a South African man and a woman from a different racial group Blacks were compelled, by residing in designated homelands, to be citizens of that homeland and consequently denied South African nationality and the right to work, etc. They could occupy houses in urban areas inherited from their fathers only with special permission from the Minister Provided for Black self-government in townships

Blacks were given a limited right to strike

Provision of legal aid, previously unavailable to Blacks

Source South African History Online (2011)

4. Finally, and most pertinent for this project, the structuring and regulation of working and supervisory relationships. People of colour, and Black people in particular, earned low wages and were prevented from being recognised for their skills and competence or benefitting from the organised recognition of a trade union. Crucially, with regard to Black-owned establishments, those employing White people would not be given licences to trade, effectively destroying the association of Black people with any form of supervisory relationship over a White person.

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A new democratic regime came to power in 1994 and had the onerous task of creating a more inclusive nation after years of systematic division. This was no easy feat, however, as years of exclusion from the ownership of capital and property and other forms of social closure such as education meant that the advantages gained during colonial rule and Apartheid continued to provide advantage through accumulated financial and cultural resources. Moreover, while the open racism of the past was (mostly) no longer tolerated, the institutionalised divisiveness left a lasting preoccupation with the categorisation of people according to a set of socially constructed meanings, resulting in the perpetual stigmatisation of certain types of bodies. In addition, the racist ideology, illustrated above, mutated into apparently democratic forms that continue to reproduce White privilege and now resemble forms of international Whiteness (Steyn & Foster, 2008; Walker, 2005). It is these forms of Whiteness that continue to pervade the professions of accounting, engineering and industrial and organisational psychology and form the focus of this monograph.

1.4

The Aim of the Monograph10

The aim of the monograph is to highlight the challenges of stigma and Whiteness faced by professionals of colour in their multiple spheres of life. In so doing so, I hope to create awareness of these struggles among students and academics of management, human resource practitioners, professional and organisational leaders and policy makers, in the hope that as a society we can work together to move beyond the challenges of our very difficult history and create safe inclusive workspaces where all feel they belong. With this in mind, this monograph is written for a wide audience and while based on the experiences of professionals, I have no doubt, speaks to the circumstances of a wide range of South African employees. I have three primary aims with this work. Firstly, to shed light on the workings of stigma and Whiteness and to provide insight into the 10

My thanks to Byron Adams for helping me structure my thoughts in this section.

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impact they have on professionals of colour and their identity development in professional and organisational settings. It seeks to debunk the myth that professionals of colour have unlimited options available and move from employer to employer in search of better opportunities. Many leave to avoid consistently unfair discrimination or workspaces that are unwelcoming and sometimes emotionally unsafe. Knowing this will hopefully encourage members of the professions and particularly their leaders to cast a critical eye on their own complicity in White dominance in professional spaces. Secondly, I trust it will lead to a greater recognition of White privilege among White South Africans and consequently give rise to greater empathy in understanding the identity challenges professionals of colour navigate in these settings. By recognising our complicity, we can make a difference by acting as allies rather than perpetuators of White privilege. Third and finally, I trust that it will lead to change in South African academic and work settings. By recognising the consequences of White privilege and understanding the ways it works, HR professionals, organisational leaders and policy makers can work to proactively develop solutions for these challenges. The free and authentic expression of identity is closely linked to well-being. The emotional strain of having to constantly work to negotiate a coherent sense of professional identity can lead to a state of emotional exhaustion and disengagement from work. This unnecessary waste of emotion saps energy that could be used more productively for professional and organisational endeavours that will benefit our society. After all, identity is inherently relational and we are people only through other people.

1.5

Layout of the Monograph

This chapter has sketched the aim of the research, arguing that studies of professional closure are insufficient to account for the lack of integration by professionals of colour into professions dominated by White privilege. To provide a context for the chapters that follow, it provides a summary of the history of South Africa, outlining key legislation supporting the structures of colonialism and apartheid. My aim was to demonstrate the

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severe consequences for people of colour, and shed light on the origins of work in South Africa. Chapter 2 contextualises the problem within the current literature on stigma, Whiteness, professional identity and identity work. It also provides an overview of Accounting, Engineering and Industrial Psychology and how the interaction between people and spaces in these professions gave rise to spaces characterised by a White habitus, doxa and capitals. Chapter 3 provides a description of the research process and methodology, explaining the various methods used. It describes each of the participants, highlighting in brief terms their background and current context. Chapters 4–6 explore the macro, meso and micro levels of Whiteness. Chapter 4 explores the macro-level of Whiteness in a discussion of the education system, both schooling and university, and legislation as key instruments in reproducing an unequal playing field in what I have termed the public space. Chapter 5 explores the meso-level with a focus on the professional space and considers the ways in which professional and organisational practices reproduce Whiteness. Chapter 6 considers the personal space and explores how personal, family and cultural contexts influence the identity of professionals of colour. Chapters 4–6 also consider the nature of identity work professionals of colour engage in, in response to both Whiteness and stigma, and the influence, if any, this has on Whiteness in the profession. Finally, Chapters 7 and 8 provide concluding remarks. Chapter 7 explores the impact of the findings on the construction of professional identity and identity work. Chapter 8 considers the possible implication for professional organisations.

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Murphy, R. (1984). The structure of closure: A critique and development of the theories of Weber, Collins, and Parkin. The British Journal of Sociology, 35 (4), 547–567. https://doi.org/10.2307/590434 Neely, B., & Samura, M. (2011). Social geographies of race: Connecting race and space. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 34 (11), 1933–1952. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/01419870.2011.559262 Nkomo, S. M. (1992). The emperor has no clothes: Rewriting “race in organization.” Academy of Management Review, 17 (3), 487–513. https://doi.org/ 10.2307/258720 Pettigrew, A. M. (2012). Context and action in the transformation of the firm: A reprise. Journal of Management Studies, 49 (7), 1304–1328. https://doi. org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2012.01054.x Piore, M. J., & Safford, S. (2006). Changing regimes of workplace governance, shifting axes of social mobilization, and the challenge to industrial relations theory. Industrial Relations, 45 (3), 299–325. https://doi.org/10.1111/ j.1468-232X.2006.00439.x Pratt, M. G., Rockmann, K. W., & Kaufmann, J. B. (2006). Constructing professional identity: The role of work and identity learning cycles in the customization of identity among medical residents. Academy of Management Journal, 49 (2), 235–262. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMJ.2006.20786060 Proudfoot, K., & Nkomo, S. (2006). Race in organizations. In A. Konrad, P. Prasad, & J. K. Pringle (Eds.), Handbook of workplace diversity (pp. 323– 344). Sage. Rodgers, C. R., & Scott, K. H. (2008). The development of the personal self and professional identity in learning to teach. In Developing a professional identity (pp. 732–754). Routledge. Sadler, E. (2002). A profile and the work environment of Black chartered accountants in South Africa. Meditari Accountancy Research, 10 (1), 159–185. https://doi.org/10.1108/10222529200200009 Sadler, E., & Erasmus, B. J. (2003). Views of Black trainee accountants in South Africa on matters related to a career as a chartered accountant. Meditari Accountancy Research, 11(1), 129–149. https://doi.org/10.1108/102225 29200300009 Sadler, E., & Erasmus, B. J. (2005). The academic success and failure of Black chartered accounting graduates in South Africa: A distance education perspective. Meditari Accountancy Research, 13(1), 29–50. https://doi. org/10.1108/10222529200500003

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Samaluk, B. (2014). Whiteness, ethnic privilege and migration: A Bourdieuian framework. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 29 (4), 370–388. https://doi. org/10.1108/JMP-03-2012-0096 Schneider, D., & Westoll, H. (2004). Experiences in transformation: Work in process. Sefa-Dei, G. J. (1996). Critical perspectives in antiracism: An introduction. The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, 33(3), 247–268. https://doi. org/10.1111/j.1755-618X.1996.tb02452.x Slay, H. S., & Smith, D. A. (2011). Professional identity construction: Using narrative to understand the negotiation of professional and stigmatized cultural identities. Human Relations, 64 (1), 85–107. https://doi.org/10. 1177/0018726710384290 South African History Online. (2011). Apartheid legislation 1850s–1970s. https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/apartheid-legislation-1850s-1970s Southall, R. (2004). Political change and the Black middle class in democratic South Africa. Canadian Journal of African Studies, 38(3), 521–542. https:// doi.org/10.2307/4107252 Srinivas, N. (2013). Could a subaltern manage? Identity work and habitus in a colonial workplace. Organization Studies, 34 (11), 1655–1674. https://doi. org/10.1177/0170840612467151 Steyn, M., & Foster, D. (2008). Repertoires for talking white: Resistant whiteness in post-apartheid South Africa. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 31(1), 25–51. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870701538851 Trede, F. (2012). Role of work-integrated learning in developing professionalism and professional identity. Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, 13(3), 159–167. Twine, F. W., & Gallagher, C. (2008). The future of whiteness: A map of the “third wave.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 31(1), 4–24. https://doi.org/10. 1080/01419870701538836 Walker, M. (2005). Race is nowhere and race is everywhere: Narratives from Black and White South African university students in post-apartheid South Africa. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 26 (1), 41–54. https://doi. org/10.1080/0142569042000292707 Weil, S., & Wegner, T. (1997). Increasing the number of Black chartered accountants in South Africa: An empirical review of educational issues. Accounting Education, 6 (4), 307–323. https://doi.org/10.1080/096392897 331389 Wiese, A. (2006). Transformation in the South African chartered accountancy profession since 2001: A study of the progress and the obstacles Black trainee

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accountants still encounter. Meditari Accountancy Research, 14 (2), 151–167. https://doi.org/10.1108/10222529200600018 Williams, D. D., Gonzalez, H., Williams, S., Mohammed, S., Moomal, H., & Stein, D. (2008). Perceived discrimination, race and health in South Africa. Social Science and Medicine, 67 (3), 114–542. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soc scimed.2008.03.021

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2.1

Introduction

In our society, among the most desired and admired statuses is to be a member of a profession. Such status is attained not by going into the woods for intense, but brief, ordeals of initiation into adult mysteries, but by a long course of professional instruction and supervised practice. (Becker et al., 1961, p. 4)

Studies of professional identity have a long history, starting with “Boys in White”, a study of the socialisation of medical residents and how they come to see themselves as members of the medical profession (Becker et al., 1961). Professional identity refers to “an individual’s self-definition as a member of a profession and is associated with the enactment of a professional role” (Chreim et al., 2007, p. 1515). While this definition highlights the individual dimension of professional identity, Alves and Gazzola (2013) point out that professional identity can refer to both an individual and a collective identity, and it is this distinction

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that is crucial for this project. The former refers to a person’s knowledge, skills and values and to their innovativeness, creativity, success and development at work. Their collective identity relates to the profession as a whole, an identity shared among its members as well as a common socialisation and appreciation for the profession’s history. Both of these elements are important for the current study as they concern the relationship between the professional identity of individual people of colour and also the Whiteness that dominates their chosen profession or professional identity at a collective level. Professional identities are constructed and negotiated in and through social interactions (Goffman, 1959) and occur in two stages (CohenScali, 2003). The first is during “socialisation for work”, which occurs in the family domain, at school and in the aspiring professional’s broader social environment. These early socialisation contexts relate to the personal (family) and public (educational and social) domains within the framework of Whiteness. The second is termed “socialisation by work”, which occurs when a young professional enters the work environment, a transition that makes them particularly sensitive to the influence of social interactions. Learning a profession shapes your identity, as the practices, skills and norms of the profession are internalised and your habitus is shaped in line with its demands and requirements (Pratt et al., 2006). Nevertheless, the various forms of socialisation are also the main means through which racialised systems of control are reproduced (Van Ausdale & Feagin, 2001). Alvesson et al. (2008) offer an initial list of the resources out of which identity may be developed. While they stress that this is in no way definitive, these elements provide a starting point for considering the construction of professional identity: • Embodied practices refer to what people do at work (Barley & Kunda, 2001). It is vital that the aspirant professional be given the opportunity to engage in and learn the work practices central to the exercise of their profession (Billett & Somerville, 2004; Ruohotie-Lyhty, 2013; Trede, 2012), especially given that professional identity is defined by “what one does” in an exclusive domain (Lepisto et al., 2015). The emphasis on the “embodied” nature of these practices emphasises the context

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• • •

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in which professional identity is developed, one that I will argue is characterised by stigma and Whiteness. Material and institutional arrangements refers to aspects such as the division of labour, hierarchies in the profession that manifest in job titles and descriptions, reporting structures, salaries and spatial privileges. Discursive formations refer to official and informal representations that construct particular versions of self, work and organization. Story-telling performances refer, for example, to the circulation of local narratives. Groups and social relations refer to interactions at work and their interpersonal nature, both mundane interaction as well as more challenging elements. Professional relationships (Billett & Somerville, 2004; Rodgers & Scott, 2008; Wald, 2015) and particularly role models (Goldie, 2012), mentoring (Devos, 2010) and peer learning (Trede, 2012) are central to the formation and development of professional identity. Also helpful in the profession is guided reflection that may entail reflecting, sharing and articulating motivation for action (Trede, 2012; Wald, 2015). Anti-identities are identities developed in reaction to a perceived other, alternatively stated as a means of dis-identification, all of which constitutes the self around what it is not.

Identity as a professional is thus developed at the intersection of the person and the external environment (Caza et al., 2018; Watson, 2008, p. 129), which implies that while people have some agency in choosing identities, these choices are negotiated (Saayman & Crafford, 2011) and are always constrained by the external environment (DeRue & Ashford, 2010). In this regard, Vignoles et al. (2006) highlight the importance of identity construction taking place within “particular cultural and local contexts” (p. 309) and, as has been suggested in our overview of South Africa’s history, these are steeped in racism and historical White privilege. I explore this in more detail in the sections that follow. In conceptualising the context in which South African professionals of colour develop and maintain an identity, I will be referring to two distinct bodies of literature, the first being stigma and micro-aggressions

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and the second Whiteness. The concept and framework of microaggressions allow for a concrete means to explore the manifestation of racial stigma, especially in a setting where overt racism would be unacceptable. The concept of Whiteness, which in a sense is the reverse side of stigma, refers to the automatic advantage non-stigmatised people (in this case Whites) derive simply by virtue of their NOT having certain stigmatising features. To fully conceptualise the impact on professionals of colour it is necessary to examine both the relational and structural elements that pose challenges to the identity development of people of colour. I discuss each of these concepts in more detail below.

2.2

Racial Stigma

The term “stigma” originated with the Ancient Greeks, who used it to refer to a system of markings cut or burnt onto bodies of criminals, traitors and prostitutes for the purpose of identifying them as discredited and to be scorned and avoided. The idea of being “marked” is carried through in Lenhardt’s (2004) definition of racial stigma, which, drawing on the work of Goffman (1963) and Loury (2003), she defines as “a problem of negative social meaning, of ‘dishonorable’ meanings socially inscribed on arbitrary bodily marks [such as skin colour], of ‘spoiled’ collective identities” (p. 809). This definition highlights the socially constructed nature of racial stigma and the automatic assignation of value (or its lack) to some material bodily attribute, for example, skin colour, which is relevant in this project. While the process of categorising people based on bodily characteristics is a natural cognitive one, the values underlying the interpretive scheme are not; some distinctions, for example, race as opposed to hair colour, become more prominent than others (Loury, 2003). This leads to what Goffman (1963) terms the creation of a “virtual identity” based on assumptions and imputed beliefs about a group’s capabilities and morality, which bears no relationship to the actual identity of specific members of the group. In a similar fashion, the ideology of racism, which is built on a stigmatised virtual identity (skin colour), relies on the co-dependent construction of the Self and the Other, where the Self is classified as the

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in-group and the Other as the out-group (Duncan, 2003). The dominant group is presented as homogenous and fundamentally superior, while the out-group is portrayed as different and inferior. This binary relationship in which the Self and the Other are placed is the primary means through which domination of the Other is justified and reproduced (Duncan, 2003). Furthermore, it forms the basis for the dominant group’s psychological and social identity, as well as notions of pre-eminence (Connor, 1999), but always at the expense of the Other, whose construction must by default be inferior. Children transfer racial stigma unconsciously through social conditioning and learning from their caregivers and educators (Lenhardt, 2004). Through this process the social meanings associated with certain types of embodiment come to be associated with particular responses. This is achieved through facial expressions and behaviour that in turn impact the cognitive development of the child, ensuring automatic responses from them. These representations tend to embed themselves in the thought structures of the dominant and dominated races and their offspring (Connor, 1999). Overt expressions of racism are no longer acceptable. Instead, racism has evolved to express itself in more subtle, ambiguous and unintentional forms; stigma associated with race is most often conveyed through what are called microaggressions (Sue et al., 2007). These are defined as “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioural, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults towards people of colour” (Sue et al., 2007, p. 271). The term microaggression was first coined by Pierce et al. (1978) to describe subtle, stunning, often automatic exchanges that are “put downs” (p. 66), but can nevertheless be justified as nonbiased and valid. Because of their subtlety, however, the recipient is unsure what has happened and whether they simply imagined it. Nevertheless, due to their persistence they can have psychological consequences resulting in increased levels of racial anger, mistrust and loss of self-esteem for people of colour (Sue et al., 2007, p. 275). Sue et al. (2007) identify three types of micro-aggressions, namely micro-assaults, micro-insults and micro-invalidation. A micro-assault is often conscious; it refers to deliberate and explicit verbal or non-verbal

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attacks intended to harm someone and may take the form of namecalling and avoidant behaviour, for example a university lecturer helping White students but ignoring the students of colour. Micro-assaults are most often conducted in private so as to ensure the perpetrator remains anonymous. Micro-insults are often unconscious and refer to verbal or non-verbal communication that is rude, insensitive or demeaning to a person’s racial identity and heritage. Examples include a White woman clutching her handbag when a Black person walks past. A microinvalidation may also be unconscious; it includes verbal comments that exclude, negate or nullify the existential reality of a person of colour, for example by telling a Black person whose hair has been styled that it looks more professional than their natural hair.

2.3

Whiteness

When we are content and satisfied on the inside of any group, we seem to suffer from a structural indifference. We do not realize that it is largely a belonging system that we have created for ourselves. It is not until we are excluded from a system that we are able to recognize its idolatries, lies, or shadow side. It is the privileged “knowledge of the outsider” that opens up the playing field. People can be personally well-intentioned and sincere, but structurally they cannot comprehend certain things. (Richard Rohr; Mystics and the margins 27 September 2020)1

According to Kincheloe and Steinberg (1998) Whiteness is the most compelling construct to emerge in recent decades for understanding racism as it interrogates the privilege on which stigma is built (Green et al., 2007). Yet, as Nkomo and Al Ariss (2014) observe, Whiteness is a relatively new phenomenon emerging as a result of European global expansion, colonisation and industrialisation. Whiteness, as with any identity, is inherently relational, relying on the “other” for meaning and definition (De Kock, 2006), in this case, the stigmatised body of 1

Copyright © 2018 by CAC. Used by permission of CAC. All rights reserved worldwide.

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colour, an anti-identity (Alvesson et al., 2008). Whiteness is an “unnatural category” in that it is based on a socially constructed (Andrucki, 2010; Dwyer & Jones, 2000) yet an arbitrary set of norms associated with a particular code or way of life constituting so-called “respectability” (Bank, 2015; Garner, 2012). In defining Whiteness, Frankenberg (1993) highlights three key factors associated with it. First, it is the location of structural advantage, of race privilege. Second, it is a “standpoint” from which White people look at ourselves, at others, and at society. Third, it refers to a set of cultural practices that are usually unmarked and unnamed (p. 1). Grimes (2001) accentuates the idea of race privilege, defining Whiteness as a “state of being notably linked to power and privilege, assumptions about which need to be challenged and questioned, primarily its invisibility or assumed neutrality”. According to Moreton-Robinson (2006) this invisible norm is used to judge members of other races with regard to “the construction of identity, representation, decision-making, subjectivity, nationalism, knowledge production and the law” (p. 388). Among scholars in the field there is consensus that Whiteness is sensitive to local conditions. For this reason, its origins and practice must be considered within a specific context, taking into account local customs, class dynamics and history (Green et al., 2007; Nkomo & Al Ariss, 2014; Twine & Gallagher, 2008). Furthermore, identities are historically and geographically contingent (Dwyer & Jones, 2000) and for this reason, different contexts need to be considered independently in relation to Whiteness (Grimes, 2001). Since there is no general agreement on how Whiteness is understood but only historically contingent constructions of the concept (De Kock, 2006), it is necessary to explore the phenomenon in professional life, given its existing power and the fact that they are seldom challenged (Hylton, 2010).

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2.3.1 A Framework for the Study of Whiteness Only a persistent, rigorous, and informed critique of Whiteness could really determine what forces of denial, fear, and competition are responsible for creating fundamental gaps between professed political commitment to eradicating racism and the participation in the construction of a discourse on race that perpetuates racial domination. (Hooks, 1990, p. 54)

Hylton (2010) refers to the multiple levels of racism, suggesting that discrimination occurs at the levels of the personal (individual), organisational (institutional) and societal (structural). Al Ariss et al. (2014) present a relational framework for exploring Whiteness, also at various levels of analysis—micro, meso and macro—but add the elements of history and space as important dimensions. It is this framework that guides the study of Whiteness for this project, and around which the monograph is structured. This chapter lays the foundations with regard to history and space as they impact each of the three levels.

2.3.1.1 Whiteness Located in History The first aspect Al Ariss et al. (2014) refers to is the history of the context, most notably the colonial past, the presence of migration and anti-migration, the legacy of racism and diversity as well as the past and present state of the production and reproduction of ethnic privileges. I have already provided an overview of South Africa’s colonial and apartheid history. This section gives a brief history of the professions of accounting, engineering and industrial and organisational psychology, highlighting their origins in European culture and practices, as a foundation for understanding how they have come to be constructed as “White” spaces. As Puwar (2004) argues: “There is a connection between bodies and space, which is built, repeated and contested over time” (p. 8). There is a close connection between history and spaces; to understand the professions as White spaces, one much consider their history.

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According to Verhoef and Samkin (2017)2 the accounting profession in South Africa had its birth in the discovery of diamonds and gold in 1867 and 1886, respectively, as commercial legislation designed to regulate British limited liability companies created a need for both the auditing and accounting functions. For this reason the profession has strong roots in the British system, as the norms, social capital and mode of labour organisation were reproduced from there. The first professional body, the Institute of Accountants and Auditors, was established in 1894 in what is now known as Gauteng, with most members also belonging to the English Society of Accountants and Auditors (Verhoef & Samkin, 2017). A contesting society, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of South Africa, comprising English accountants belonging to the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), was formed in 1902, further reinforcing the British roots. Statutory recognition was given to the profession through the Accountants Ordinance, No 3 of 1904, after which all accountants were required to register with a new organisation, The Transvaal Society of Accountants and Auditors, in order to be allowed to practice (Verhoef & Samkin, 2017). Similar accounting bodies were established in the other colonies as well. The current governing body, the South Africa Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) was formed in 1980 by the unification of the four provincial societies (Verhoef & Samkin, 2017). Against this backdrop, here is a brief overview of people of colour in the profession. In 1976 Professor Wiseman Nkuhlu was the first Black South African to qualify as a CA in the country (Sadler, 2002), some 80 years after the profession was established in South Africa. In 1985, the Association for the Advancement of Black Accountants in Southern Africa (ABASA) was formed to promote transformation and the interests of Black accountants (Verhoef & Samkin, 2017). In 1986, the Chartered Accountants Eden Trust began granting bursaries to Black students to facilitate the process of transformation (Verhoef & Samkin, 2017). This would later be restructured to become the Thuthuka Bursary fund along with the Thuthuka Education Upliftment Fund, which aimed 2 Space does permit a detailed overview here; those interested in a more detail should please consult Verhoef and Samkin (2017).

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at facilitating and supporting the flow of African students into the accounting profession. In this way, students are supported both financially and provided with the necessary life skills to overcome the barriers that ensured social and professional closure (Barac, 2015). In 1987, Nonkululeko Gobodo became the first Black woman CA (Shelembe, 2017) at a time when there were only 11 Black CA’s. In 1996, she formed Gobodo Inc, which in 2011 merged with SizweNtsaluba VSP to form SizweNtsalubaGobodo, the largest Black-owned accounting firm and currently the fifth largest firm in SA after the traditional “Big Four”. In the year 2000 the South African accounting profession initiated a comprehensive and consolidated transformation strategy (Barac, 2015). While initially based in the Eastern Cape and aimed at rural learners, it ran numeracy and literacy programmes for grades 11 and 12, as well as supporting capacity building at the University of Fort Hare. It has since developed into a national project across South Africa and involves 12 SAICA accredited universities, SAICA, the national government and organisations in commerce and industry (Barac, 2015). In addition, a bursary was established in 2005 to support disadvantaged Black students in qualifying as CAs. The philosophy underpinning Thuthuka is that providing a bursary is not enough and that additional measures are needed to remove elements that have contributed to social closure with regard to professional life. These include aspects such as tutoring, mentoring and closely monitoring studies with both formative and summative assessments (Barac, 2015). Qualification for Thutuka funding and support includes an applicant being Black or Coloured and in financial need as well as having attained at least 60% in higher grade mathematics (Barac, 2015). The origin of the engineering profession3 can also be traced to the establishment of the mining industry in South Africa due to the discovery of diamonds in 1867 and gold in 1886. Thanks to these discoveries, infrastructure was needed and the demand for engineering skills increased rapidly (Sperotto, 2015). The first professional body of 3

The engineering profession is extremely diverse and consists of many disciplines. This overview is based on those sources that have explored the disciplinary areas of the profession with regard to transformation. While this provides an overview of the nature of discrimination, it does not provide details of every engineering discipline.

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engineers, known as the South African Association of Engineers and Architects, was formed in 1892 but was replaced in 1902 by the South African Association of Engineers and in 1910 by the South African Institution of Engineers (Sperotto, 2015). By 1896 formal mining engineering was being taught at the School of Mines in Kimberly (Cruise, 2011). Early in the twentieth century the School of Mines relocated to Johannesburg and became the predecessor of the University of the Witwatersrand, which was the only university to offer a degree in mining engineering until the 1960s, when the University of Pretoria began offering the same degree. The Legislative Council of the Transvaal Colony instituted a provision for an engineers’ certificate of competency, which was included in the Mines and Works Act of 1911, a certification still in use today. This Act prohibited the granting of certification to Black mineworkers, and they were consequently unable to rise through the ranks and become managers (Cruise, 2011). Muller (2018, p. 1) quotes Arthur Lewis, an academic from the African diaspora, who won the Nobel Prize for economics in 1979 for his work on growth and employment in Africa. As he explained in his Nobel acceptance biography, he originally wanted to be an engineer: In 1932 I sat the examination and won the scholarship. At this point I did not know what to do with my life. The British government imposed a colour bar in its colonies, so young blacks went in only for law or medicine where they could make a living without government support. I did not want to be a lawyer or a doctor. I wanted to be an engineer, but this seemed pointless since neither the government nor the white firms would employ a black engineer.4

Although not South African, he reflects the frustration of those who wished to pursue engineering but due to their colour were unable to do so within the strictures of colonial thought and practice. In 1960, S. Lefakane became the first Black man to graduate as a civil engineer at the University of the Witwatersrand (University of 4

The original extract is from: Lewis WA. Sir Arthur Lewis—Biographical [webpage on the Internet]. c2014 [cited 2018 May 7]. Available from: https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/ economic-sciences/laureates/1979/lewis-bio.html.

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the Witwatersrand, n.d.). The first “Historically Disadvantaged South African” (HDSA) who enrolled for a mining engineering degree in South Africa was an Indian man who studied at the University of the Witwatersrand, graduating in 1981 (Cruise, 2011). The first Black South African to graduate as a mining engineer did so in 1986, while the first Black woman to graduate as a mining engineer did so in 2004 (Cruise, 2011). These three graduates were also from the University of the Witwatersrand. Professional registration for engineers began in 1968 with the promulgation of the Professional Engineers’ Act, which was replaced by the Engineering Council of South Africa in 1990. During this time almost all registered professional engineers were White. The first Black mining engineer to register with ECSA (the Engineering Council of South Africa), a graduate from Ghana, did so in 1992, while the first Black South African mining graduate was registered by ECSA in 2005 (Cruise, 2011). The first Black female mining graduate who registered with ECSA did so only in 2010 (Cruise, 2011). In conclusion, I quote Lewis (drawn from Muller, 2018): So, yes, engineering has undoubtedly been coloured by colonial objectives and attitudes that determined who came into the profession and what they could do; and equally important, who was excluded, with what consequences. Its purpose was, to a greater or lesser extent, to advance the colonial mission.5 (p. 4)

Much has been written about the history of psychology in relation to racism in South Africa. Unlike the other two professions, psychology has the person as its object of study, and racist ideologies have been central in framing perspectives informing this. In fact, two heads of state had close ties with psychology as an academic discipline, Jan Smuts and, the architect of apartheid, Hendrick Verwoerd (Cooper & Nicholas, 2012; Foster, 1993). International and South African psychology has been implicated

5

The original quote is taken from: Lewis WA. The evolution of the international economic order. Discussion paper number 74. Princeton, NJ: Research Programme in Development Studies, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University; 1977.

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in the production and reproduction of racist ideology in the form of “scientific knowledge”. Traditionally located as part of philosophy, the first independent psychology department was established in South Africa in 1917 (Nicholas, 2014). It was here that Hendrick Verwoerd became the first professor of Applied Psychology in 1927 (Foster, 1993). The first professional psychology association, the South African Psychological Association (SAPA), was established in 1948. While not explicitly preventing Black membership, in 1957 the South African Psychological Association rejected the application for membership of an Indian woman, Josephine Naidoo (Naidoo, 2018). When discussing this with the president of the association in person, she was told. “My dear, try to understand, if we have you in the organization, the whole organization will break up” (p. 408). In 1962, when Black members were accepted for the first time, the organisation split into two wings, one relatively progressive and the other more conservative (Foster, 1993). Needless to say, during the apartheid era Black psychologists were not allowed to treat White patients (Pillay & Nyandeni, 2020). The first Black psychologist, N. Chabani Manganyi, on attempting to find an internship discovered that there were no established training programmes or supervisors for Black clinical psychologists. He was however fortunate to find a White professor in neurosurgery who was willing to include him on his team, and he was able to complete his internship and training as a psychologist at the end of 1969 (Manganyi, 2013). During this time the usual segregation practices were enforced, meaning separate places of residence, eating facilities and ablutions for Whites and Blacks, and salary scales were based on racial and ethnic components (Manganyi, 2013). Despite his stature as a psychologist and scholar, intellectual, biographer and author, Manganyi’s first book, published in 1973 and entitled “Being-Black-in-the-World”, was hardly known in South Africa. At a conference in 1994 at the University of the Western Cape, a historically Black university, the psychology associations of South Africa merged and formed the Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA) (Nicholas, 2014), which focused mainly on being an independent nonracist and non-sexist professional association (Cooper & Nicholas, 2012).

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Industrial psychology as a discipline had traditionally resorted under the psychology departments at universities, but 1946 saw the establishment of the National Institute for Personnel Research (NIPR) in South Africa, which served as the first institute dedicated to research in industrial and organisational psychology (IOP) (Schreuder, 2001). The first independent industrial psychology department was established at Stellenbosch University in 1963, with Professor IJ van Biljon as department head. Foster (1993) suggests that IOPs were also implicated in producing racist views of Black people; for example, De Ridder produced racist views on the African personality (Foster, 1993). While the evolution of each discipline is slightly different, it is clear that people of colour and Blacks, in particular, began training in these professions at least 50–60 years after the genesis of the profession in the country. Registration or licence to practice came even later in some instances. This means that in its formative stages the profession was inhabited primarily by White bodies and consequently become constructed as a White space, an issue I turn to next.

2.3.1.2 Whiteness as Spatial Social phenomena such as professions have a history that is related to time (temporality) but also has to be understood in relation to geography and space (spaciality), the latter being a product of the former (Allen, 2003; Elden, 2007). In fact, as Lefebvre (1991) contends, social relations, of which a profession is one example, have no existence outside of space; indeed, “their support is spatial” (p. 404). Carter and Spence (2019) suggest that professions are political projects where certain players, having achieved the power to write the rules of the game, have generated a space in which certain symbolic capitals dominate, as those who control the space have the power to define it (Neely & Samura, 2011). For this reason space, is a critical element in understanding Whiteness in professional life, both as support for White privilege as well as constitutive of that same privilege. The spatial dimension of Whiteness refers to the embodied performance through which certain spaces have come to be denoted as White,

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taking on the qualities of the bodies that inhabit them (Ahmed, 2007; Allen, 2003; Andrucki, 2010; McCann, 1999). Neely and Samura (2011), drawing on the work of Lefebvre, describe this well: … places take on a life of their own, with certain groups able to superimpose their presence on others. In the entangled nature of people’s lives, places, on this account, take shape through dominant or controlling rhythms that seek to suppress the routine traces of others. Exclusion in this context has less to do with closed doors and high walls, and rather more to do with spaces constructed by dominant groups in their own likeness—through a series of rituals and gestures, moods and attachments, as well as accumulated styles and meanings. (p. 23)

I would argue that because of the history of colonialism and apartheid and its supporting legislation, professions have been conceived of as White spaces (Lefebvre, 1991). In the development of the professions, almost all physical spaces associated with professional training and the exercise of professional duties were located in areas that were designated as White as per the Group Areas Act and other legislation. Thus perceived (physical) space and conceived (mental) space worked in tandem to reinforce the idea of professions as White (Elden, 2007, p. 111). In the early years, while people of colour may have entered these spaces to work in menial positions (cleaners and servers of tea and coffee), they were forced to vacate them at the end of the day, failing which they could be arrested. They were tolerated visitors, given permission to enter the space on condition that they knew their place. Thus, over a period of time, the lived space was established as White, with language, culture, symbols and signs consistent with a White elite (Lefebvre, 1991). This association of space and colour over a period of time has meant that White bodies have become “tacitly designated as being the ‘natural occupants’ of such spaces” (Puwar, 2004, p. 8) and the arrival of bodies of colour are more noticeable and are consequently considered “out of place”, influencing their agency and action (Ahmed, 2007). For professionals of colour, being able to accomplish certain things in White spaces depends less on their intrinsic capacity and more on the “ways

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in which the world is available as a space for action” (Ahmed, 2007, p. 153). The consequences for the “space invaders” are two-fold (Puwar, 2004, p. 8). Firstly they are obliged to prove their competence and secondly to comply in bodily fashion with the symbolic capital considered respectable within the space. The extent to which these symbolic struggles characterise occupational fields (Carter & Spence, 2014) cannot be overemphasised, especially in this study where entrants to the spaces are politically, economically and culturally distant from those who continue to produce and reproduce the rules that sustain the historically White space.

2.3.1.3 Whiteness as Multi-level Finally, Al Ariss et al. (2014) suggest that in addition to history and space, Whiteness be interrogated at three levels, macro, meso and micro. The macro-level refers to the “legislative, political and legal frameworks at regional, national and international levels that institutionalise and spread ethnic privileges in employment, education and other fields, both formally and informally” (p. 364). Dwyer and Jones (2000) suggest that various elements such as legal codes, public policy, law enforcement, health care, education, constitution of public space, housing and zoning all play a role in the way Whiteness is reproduced. The meso-level is focused on the organisation and, for the purpose of this project, on the profession and how its practices and strategies maintain privilege, discrimination and Whiteness. The individual level is concerned with the person and his or her agency, strategy and experience in the face of Whiteness and how this is influenced by aspects such as age, gender, racio-ethnicity, religion and physical ability. Coates (2003) also suggests that social control by means of race or ethnicity is also quite “agile and adept at adjusting to changing social climates” (p. 235), which occurs through socialisation through family, government, school, church, peers, friendship networks and the media.

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Conceptualising Collective Professional Identity in the Context of Whiteness and Stigma

Given these characteristics of stigma and Whiteness and the history of professions in South Africa, how then to conceptualise professional identity at a collective level, taking into account the historical and spatial context of its development? Considering the centrality of the body to understanding professional identity in situations of Whiteness and stigma, such a perspective would require one to account for both the material (the body) as well as the social meanings (the social) thrust onto the body. This can prove problematic as current perspectives of identity rarely consider “how bodies can serve as the fulcrum of identity work” (Brown, 2017, p. 306) and the dynamics of embodiment are rarely considered in identity-related studies (Knights & Clarke, 2017). A relatively understudied theorist in identity-related research is Bourdieu, whose work has the express aim of bringing together the material and the social to provide a more dynamic theory of embodiment (McNay, 1999). The value of his work lies in centering the body as a mediator in the negotiation of structure and agency (Wolkowitz, 2006), providing a poststructuralist theory of human agency and action (Özbilgin & Tatli, 2005). Much of the current identity work literature is developed from the work of Foucault, but as McNay (1999)6 argues, Bourdieu’s work allows for a more dynamic theory of embodiment, which is central to this study, as race or ethnicity is “deeply inscribed on our bodies” (p. 98) and subject to prevailing power relations. Furthermore, because the habitus is inseparable from social practice, Bourdieu introduces a temporal element (McNay, 1999), which is a valuable addition given the importance of understanding history and the way in which it has shaped professions in South Africa. Bourdieu was a firm opponent of colonialism and racism and his work was profoundly affected by his early experiences in Algeria, a colonial setting (Puwar, 2009). He is considered to be the sociologist most 6 McNay argues from the position of feminism and her focus is gender. I would however argue that racial or ethnic dynamics works in a very similar way.

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concerned with the reproduction of society (Schubert, 1995) and his theoretical concepts provide a compelling mechanism to explain how powerful positions are obtained (Tennhoff et al., 2015) and then maintained. Moreover, his framework is particularly suitable for a multilevel research agenda (Özbilgin & Tatli, 2005) and thus ideal for exploring a concept such as Whiteness. Bourdieu argues that large-scale inequalities need not be established only through direct institutional discrimination but can also be established “through the subtle inculcation of power relations upon the bodies and dispositions of individuals” (McNay, 1999, p. 99). Bourdieu terms this corporeal inculcation “symbolic violence”, something he believes is “exercised upon the social agent with his or her complicity” (1992, p. 167). His concept of symbolic violence is used to show how people’s dignity has been wounded and it is through this concept that he attempts to make room for the experience of colonial domination (Puwar, 2009). Given the centrality to this project of colonialism and apartheid, a very extreme form of colonialism, it is fitting that Bourdieu be used. Finally, while he has been charged with determinism by many authors (Alexander, 1995; Archer, 1993), there are several defences for his work, for example, Crossley (2001), Elder-Vass (2007) and McNay (2004). Space does not permit a detailed discussion of these defences; I refer interested readers to the sources cited. The section below explores Bourdieu’s key concepts of habitus, field and capital and their applicability for studying Whiteness (Ahmed, 2007; Lo, 2014; Puwar, 2004).

2.4.1 Whiteness as Embodied Habitus7 In discussing Whiteness as embodied habitus, I draw on the work of Lo (2014), who highlights the value of Bourdieu’s concept when studying Whiteness. The advantage of the concept habitus lies in its ability to combine two key features of Whiteness that are always entwined in this context: the material (the White body) and the social (dominant 7 I am aware that it is repetitive to say “embodied habitus” because by definition the habitus is embodied. I do it, however, to reinforce the notion of embodiment, especially in relation to space and Whiteness, a topic I will address shortly.

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White cultures and contexts), allowing us to understand how social structures operate in and through the body (Ahmed, 2007; Dwyer & Jones, 2000; Shilling, 2016). Bourdieu’s concept of habitus refers to a system of pre-dispositions, competencies, expectations, tastes and biases that, integrating all past experiences, functions as a matrix of perceptions, appreciations, and actions (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992; McDonald & Harvey Wingfield 2008). Thus our habitus can be described as “our overall orientation to or way of being in the world; our predisposed ways of thinking, acting and moving in and through the social environment that encompasses posture, demeanour, outlook, expectations and tastes”(Sweetman, 2003, p. 532). As such, a person’s habitus is “an active residue or sediment” of their past, which shapes their perception, thought and action in the present (Crossley, 2001, p. 83). However, while habitus predisposes people to act in a certain way, Crossley argues that it does so “without reducing them to cultural dopes” as these are related to specific fields and specified goals (Crossley, 2001, p. 84). For Bourdieu, identity is mediated by the habitus (Srinivas, 2013) and draws attention to both the conscious and unconscious shaping of a person’s practices and identity (Sweetman, 2003). The development of habitus is seldom conscious; Rodgers and Scott (2008) observe that “we do not necessarily perceive contexts (which includes ways of thinking and knowing) as much as we absorb them (my emphasis), often taking them for granted as what is ‘real’” (p. 734). The ability to automatically absorb ways of being accounts for how broader cultural and historical prescriptions, meanings, restrictions and rituals become part of the person and etched in their body, accounting for the way the social context becomes personally embodied (Vincent, 2004; Wacquant, 2016). For this reason, habitus allows us to consider the material conditions and group and power relations in which identities have been formed and shaped. Furthermore, habitus is relational and is thus sensitive to the social markers of class, race and gender dominating a field (McNay, 2004). In this regard, Brown (2015) argues that those socialised into a national cultural system share certain commonalities, something that would have implications for understanding self—other representations in South Africa. I would argue that the racial dynamics of our history have been

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“absorbed” by all members of the country—Black, Coloured, Indian and White—and that the cultural and other prescriptions dominating our collective racial history are part of our personhood, each of us bearing the marks of the social context in bodily form, our habitus. It is from this embodied position that each of us engages the world, sub-consciously reproducing the dynamics of the history we have been subject to. Saying this I do not mean to imply that we are unable to resist the prescriptions to which we have been subject, and this is the liberating element of identity work. The work of Duncan (2003), Kiguwa (2014) and Kessi and Cornell (2015) all demonstrate the ways in which these dominant hegemonies may be resisted. Nevertheless, many of our interactions, including professional ones, remain unconscious, and our constructions of self and other are reproduced automatically. This has implications for professional identity work viewed as a process of claim-making and acceptance or rejection, as underlying these are the relatively persistent consequences of historical race relations in our society. It is within these socially constructed relationships, constituted in space and time, that the power and privilege of Whiteness resides (Allen, 2003).

2.4.2 Whiteness as Blind Dominance of the Field In Bourdieu’s framework, social space comprises multiple related fields broadly defined as a network of relationships between positions, organised around a common stake and which impose on the occupants a particular distribution of power that allows access (or not) to the profits at stake (adapted from Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992, p. 97; Dobbin, 2008). Every field is governed by an arbitrary dominant logic, doxa, which comprises a set of rules or beliefs that are neither explicit nor codified, but which determine an agent’s eligibility to enter the field (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992; Marginson, 2008). It is these doxa that are “absorbed” as cultural and historical prescriptions in the habitus and are consequently taken as “the ways things are”. Thus the doxa determine “what is thinkable and unthinkable, expressible or inexpressible, valued or not” within a profession (Grenfell & James, 2004, p. 509), and are inscribed in the habitus of those occupying the field, along with the

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dominant social hierarchies (Lo, 2014). The close relationship between doxa and habitus allows many advantages upon entry to someone whose habitus aligns with a field. In the organisational context, for example, one of the participants in Modisha (2008) points out how White children are inadvertently trained for business through their upbringing, whereas as a Black person he has been taught about ubuntu—“the spirit of working together” and struggles to be “capitalist with a soul” (p. 131). Historically, colonialism and the apartheid system ensured that Whites were at the apex of the social hierarchy in virtually all fields, including the professions, occupying dominant positions based on their habitus and possession of symbolic capitals (Marginson, 2008; Naidoo, 2004). Consequently, in many fields, including the professions, the characteristics of White (mostly male) culture and identity have come to dominate the doxa of professional and organisation life. This close alignment between habitus and field translates into considerable privilege, of which White people remain largely unaware, deeming it to be neutral and of no consequence (Grimes, 2001; Nkomo, 1992). Bourdieu’s concept of the field as a game is valuable for analysing fields such professions that function according to their own rules, norms and distinctions (Crossley, 2001). The socially constituted nature of the fields—in this case the professions—is misrecognised and perceived to be an external and given reality (Crossley, 2001), free of culture and racial identity.

2.4.3 Whiteness as White Capital Bourdieu extends the notion of the relationship between materiality and the social into understanding sources of power that he attributes to various types of capital that influence the interplay between structure and agency (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992). Capitals exist in relation to a specific field, and the nature of capital that has currency will depend on the doxa or “unwritten rules” governing the field. Capitals translate into forms of power and will thus influence the degree of agency a person may exercise in controlling “understandings of themselves” in their professional identity work (Alvesson et al., 2008, p. 16). Bourdieu identifies three main sources of capital: cultural, economic and social. Economic

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capital refers to material possessions such as wealth, money, land, livestock and property (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977; Navarro, 2006) and offers the potential of conversion into other forms of capital, for example, an education (Ayling, 2015; Bourdieu, 2018; Mayrhofer et al., 2004). Economic capital shapes what the habitus is exposed to (Crossley, 2001), for example education and enrichment opportunities such as travel, thus shaping possibilities for action. Social capital refers to the resources, both actual or virtual, that are acquired by a person or group based on their durable network of relationships and the benefits derived from them (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992). Social capital greatly increases the holder’s capacity for agency, as they are more likely, based on their social connections and network, to achieve legitimacy within the field and thus to act in identity-affirming ways (Moi, 1991). Cultural capital may exist in three forms, firstly in an embodied form as dispositions of the mind and body that are valued within a field, secondly in the form of objects such as art or books, and thirdly in institutional form, for example, educational qualifications (Crossley, 2001). Education transforms into capital through the distinctive habitus it gives the person; for example, Srinivas (2013) demonstrates how members of the Khatri community in India were able to establish themselves as a dominant caste through acquiring cultural capital by means of accredited education. The automatic socio-economic advantage that has come with being White in this country has become an established cultural norm, as have the capitals derived from the dominant social and cultural networks (Bradbury, 2013; Leonard, 2010). As we have seen, professional doxa are largely related to the characteristics of White identity, culture and lifestyle, and form the basis of capitals that are valued in professional life. Because of the close alignment between the field (historically predominantly White) and the habitus of White professionals, Lo (2014) suggests that Whiteness can be considered a form of capital, which, despite the economic, psychological and cultural privilege it confers, has become normalised and thus assumed to be unremarkable (López, 2005), allowing it to remain masked and invisible (Bradbury, 2013; Frankenberg, 1993; Twine & Gallagher, 2008).

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Conceptualising Individual Professional Identity Work in the Context of Whiteness and Stigma

I have argued that professional identity can be developed at both a collective and an individual level, but that the collective professional identities of accounting, engineering and industrial psychology in South Africa are dominated by Whiteness in terms of an embodied White habitus, the doxa that dominates the field, and White capitals that form the basis for success. Moreover, because of our history, professionals of colour are often stigmatised and subject to various micro-aggressive behaviours because of their skin colour. Thus, in addition to overcoming the more obvious barriers to social and professional closure, they are forced to develop their sense of individual professional identity in contexts that are characterised by White privilege and stigma. This I would argue gives rise to identity work, the process in which professionals engage to form and reform a coherent and distinct sense of self in and through their relationships with others (Sveningsson & Alvesson, 2003; Winkler, 2016). Developing a sense of professional identity involves developing a selfimage and work orientation consistent with the profession (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002). Some of the professional discourses may be relatively familiar to the person and their current identity narrative, while others may be experienced as disruptive. This is likely to be so for people of colour entering the professional world—which in South Africa is normalised around “being White”—and facing the associated racial stigma because of the nature of their embodiment. These young people, fuelled by the idea of a possible future self (Markus & Nurius, 1986), view professional status as an opportunity to liberate themselves and their families from poverty and a life characterised by a lack of opportunity. Professional identity is developed and maintained through consistent engagement with others in the professional environment (Lepisto et al., 2015) and how they, through validation (Pratt et al., 2006) and the modelling of behaviour (Ibarra, 1999) reinforce or negate identity

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perceptions and claims. This is achieved through a process of claimmaking and acceptance or negation, either validating or challenging an identity or an aspect of it (DeRue & Ashford, 2010; Hatch & Schultz, 2002; Ibarra, 1999; Lepisto et al., 2015). By observing the responses to the identity claims, professionals can “accept, reject, or renegotiate these public images, they maintain or modify their private self-conceptions” (Swann, 1987, in Ibarra, 1999, p. 766). Professional identity is thus constituted by the layering of multiple interactions as individuals participate in communities of practice that constitute the profession and their interpretation and reflections on it (Sveningsson & Alvesson, 2003; Wenger, 1998). In this process, they are engaged in identity work. Professionals may engage in identity work for various reasons (Caza et al., 2018): firstly, to achieve a sense of belonging and acceptance as a member of the profession; secondly, to achieve a sense of distinctiveness; for example, several of the participants highlighted the fact that they were the first person in their family or community to become a professional or a specific type of professional, for example, an engineer; and finally, because they see themselves as professionals with the requisite qualifications and training to fulfil their professional role and require others to see them in the same light (Wilson & Deaney, 2010). Caza et al. (2018) identity four modes of identity work, which they term cognitive, discursive, physical and behavioural. Table 2.1 describes and exemplifies these four perspectives. It includes the work of Lutgen-Sandvik (2008), an author to whom Caza et al. (2018) do not allude.

2.6

Conclusion

This chapter provided an overview of the literature on professional identity—both collective and individual—stigma and Whiteness. To demonstrate the “White” origins of the professions it explored the origins of the professions of accounting, engineering and industrial psychology. Drawing on the work of Al Ariss et al. (2014) it showed how their history and the social space in which it unfolded have led to the development of the professions as contexts characterised by Whiteness. Using

Involves dramaturgical actions associated with people building, revising and maintaining their identities, in a way that reinforces or changes self-meaning and thus the way the person is viewed

Refers to mental efforts associated with subjectively construing, interpreting, understanding and evaluating identities. This may involve: * Reflexive sense-making and self-questioning (Beech et al., 2008) * Managing multiple identities and their potential paradoxes (Carollo & Guerci, 2017), by creating networks (Ramarajan, 2014), developing meaning (Caza et al., 2017) switching between identities (Essers et al., 2013) and creating identity hierarchies (Kreiner et al., 2006) * Unconscious desires and cognition (Driver, 2017)

Cognitive

Description

Behavioural

Identity work mode

Table 2.1 Identity work modes: descriptions and examples

(continued)

Courageous acts, for example, voicing protest and reporting misconduct (Koerner, 2014) Behavioural tactics such as blaming and distancing from roles or clients (Ashforth et al., 2007) Window dressing performance (Cowen & Hodgson, 2015) Working hard and achieving targets (Berger et al., 2017) Cognitive tactics such as reframing meaning, recalibrating internal standards, cognitively shifting attention (Ashforth & Kreiner, 1999) and the imposition of a cognitive hierarchy (Kreiner et al., 2006) Selective cognitive processing (Essers et al., 2013) Cognitively reposition organisational practices (Berger et al., 2017) First and second-level stabilising, sense-making, reconciling, repairing, grieving and restructuring (Lutgen-Sandvik, 2008)

Examples of identity work

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Identity is constructed in and through discourse, narratives, stories and conversation. Discursive identity work refers to what is verbalised and how this is done, for example, word choice (Allen, 2005), language skills (Alvesson, 2001). insider jargon (Gagnon, 2008) and expressions (Kuhn, 2006). It may include the use of humour, bantering, metaphors and even lies (Alvesson, 1998; Carollo & Guerci, 2017; Huber & Brown, 2017; Leavitt & Sluss, 2015) This refers to people using their own bodies or material objects and artefacts in the process of crafting an identity

Description

Conceptions, expressions and linguistic devices guiding the interpretation of experience and shaping action (Kuhn, 2006) Using jargon and speaking like an insider (Gagnon, 2008) Verbal tactics in claiming or negating a leader identity (DeRue & Ashford, 2010) Use of humour, irony, scepticism, apathy and exaggeration in resisting identity regulation (Frandsen, 2015) Physical appearance and its relation to the setting (Alvesson, 2001) Dress and other forms of attire (Essers & Benschop, 2009; Humphreys & Brown, 2002) Office décor (Elsbach, 2004) and material artefacts in around the workspace (Boudreau et al., 2014) Specific bodily practices, for example, fitness (Courpasson & Monties, 2017)

Examples of identity work

Source Adapted from Caza et al. (2018, pp. 4–5); with additions from Lutgen-Sandvik (2008)

Physical

Discursive

Identity work mode

Table 2.1 (continued)

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the concepts of Bourdieu, it demonstrates how their collective professional identity is characterised by a White habitus, doxa and cultural capital. Finally, it considered the development of professional identity in a context of Whiteness, considering possible identity work strategies available.

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3 The Research Process

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Introduction

South Africa’s history of racial inequality and unfair labour practice, sketched in Chapter 1, has resulted in major skills shortages, especially among professionals and knowledge workers (Chipunza & Kabungaidze, 2012). Professions such as accounting, management and engineering were established and dominated by White professionals and have come to be construed as “White spaces”, where professionals of colour, especially Blacks, are markedly under-represented. While the term “professional” is widely used, in this project I limited the term to mean the socalled “learned professions” (Dyer, 1985). These are distinguished by “the knowledge held by their members and the application of that knowledge to the needs of fellow citizens” (Dyer, 1985, p. 72). While the term “professional” is used rather loosely and many occupations appropriate the term, for the purpose of this study it refers to those who meet the criteria listed below (Cruess et al., 2004; Dyer, 1985; Ulrich et al., 2013).

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 A. Crafford, Whiteness and Stigma in the Workplace, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09811-6_3

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1. Professional authority is based on a unique body of scientific knowledge that allows it jurisdiction with regard to specific specialist skills. 2. Professions are regulated by a governing body that outlines expectations with regard to certification, education and training, acceptable standards of competence and behaviour, and a code of ethics and discipline, all of which underpin its trustworthiness in the view of the public. 3. Its legal status is regulated in a national setting. 4. A profession has the mandate to serve society. 5. It is recognised for its quality of work and trustworthiness. In addition to these criteria, all the professions studied in this project include a period of supervised on-the-job training in the form of articles, internship or mentorship. Given these stringent criteria, it can be assumed that those entering a profession have the requisite knowledge, skills and ability to perform their duties to society at a high level. These criteria represent the formal mechanisms through which an aspirant professional should proceed to be included as a member, as well as the standards they should maintain throughout their professional life. For anyone attempting to acquire professional status this requires considerable commitment and determination. However, Roberts (2005) suggests that membership of certain social identity groups adds a layer of complexity to the construction of professional image, especially in diverse organisations where character and competence may be questioned due to group membership. Professionalism is often associated with being White/Anglo-Saxon, male, heterosexual and well educated (Acker, 1990), as can be seen from the discussion of the history of professions in Chapter 2. In this chapter I describe the requirements for inclusion in each of the professional contexts and give a detailed overview of the research design and methods. I then provide a brief biography of each of the participants with regard to the various factors that intersect with race in understanding the particularities associated with identity and Whiteness, including gender, social class and economic privilege, rural versus urban setting, as well as schooling and education.

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Description of the Professional Contexts

Chartered accountancy is an established and regulated profession in South Africa. A university qualification includes a three-year Bachelor of Commerce degree in accounting and a year-long honours degree in the Theory of Accounting (CTA) in which one has to pass all four modules in the same year. Once this is completed one has to find a three-year training contract with a registered training office, during which one sits for two board exams known as the Initial Test of Competence (ITC) and the Assessment of Professional Competence (APC). Individuals who qualify as chartered accountants are required to register with the South African Institute for Chartered Accountants (SAICA). These intensive qualifying programmes are usually undertaken concurrently with a full work programme that includes extensive interactions with clients. This implies significant pressure as these young professionals-in-the-making have to balance work and training demands. In many respects the accounting profession as a collective, under the guidance of SAICA has been more active than the other professions in developing the skills of aspirant professionals from previously disadvantaged communities to overcome both social and professional barriers to admission to the profession (Barac, 2015; Hammond et al., 2009; Sadler, 2002; Sadler & Erasmus, 2003, 2005; Wiese, 2006). At the turn of the millennium, approximately six years into democracy, only 1% of South African chartered accountants were from the designated majority of the population (Hammond et al., 2009) and by 2004 Blacks represented a mere 2.03% of chartered accountants in South Africa (Sadler & Erasmus, 2005). This was despite the Eden Trust, which was established in 1987 as a mechanism to provide bursaries for disadvantaged students. In 2002, SAICA launched the Thuthuka Education Upliftment Fund, initially based in the Eastern Cape, which was involved in capacity building among Grade 11 and 12 learners and at the University of Fort Hare (Barac, 2015). This provincially based organisation has subsequently grown to include projects across the country that draw together resources from SAICA, national government and commercial organisations (Barac, 2015). Each year the Thuthuka Bursary Fund (TBF) awards full bursaries to 250–300 Black and Coloured students and places

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them at selected universities across the country in B.Com Accounting programmes. In addition, many of the large auditing firms in South Africa, including KPMG, PWC, Deloitte and Ernest and Young, also provide financial assistance to previously disadvantaged students. The latest SAICA membership figures as of June 2020 are provided in Table 3.1. I have included both the number of CA’s per racial group as well as the percentage of the overall population at more or less the same time. This is an important consideration in South Africa where people of colour represent the majority of the population. To become a licensed professional engineer, registered with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA), a candidate requires the completion of a four-year qualification in the chosen area of specialisation, for example civil, chemical, mining or electronic, after which they are required to pass the Fundamentals of Engineering exam. They are then required to work for at least three years as engineers-in-training before passing the Professional Engineering exam (Case, 2006). ECSA is responsible for the protection of public interest in respect of engineering activities; a range of professional associations represent the various engineering disciplines (Case, 2006). These bodies do not have a statutory role but rather represent the common interests of the various disciplines and their members. The engineering industry, as represented by various organisations such as mining and technology firms and state-owned enterprises, has invested substantially in the provision of bursaries to previously disadvantaged students (Case, 2006). These scholarships fund the students’ studies and, after they graduate, provide aspirant engineers with employment equal Table 3.1 Chartered accountant registration per racial group 2021 Population group

Number of CA’s

% of total population (2019)

Black African Coloured Indian White Unknown Total

6930 1970 5876 32,250 409 47,435

80.7 8.8 2.6 7.9 n/a 100%

Source SAICA website, Downloaded 25 March 2021

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Table 3.2 Professional engineer registration ECSA 2020 Population group

Number of engineers

% of total population (2019)

Black Coloured Indian White Total

2176 232 1149 15,966 19,523

80.7 8.8 2.6 7.9 100%

Source ECSA Annual Report (2019/2020)

to the number of years that they were funded by the company. This serves the dual purpose of providing access to practical experience during training, which is often a requirement, as well as employment on completion of their qualification. This is a considerable benefit for students who lack the networks to access these sorts of opportunities. There are also projects such as the Engenius programme, which is run by ECSA to market the profession of engineering among learners in primary and high schools across the country (ECSA Annual Report, 2019/2020) (Table 3.2). In South Africa, industrial psychology is a profession in its own right, with regulated training requirements and oversight by a governing body, The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA). The minimum qualification for an IO psychologist is a masters’ degree in combination with a year-long internship programme. Candidates are then required to pass the HPCSA board exam, after which they may register with the Council. While registration with the HPCSA is the basis of professional recognition, the professional body representing the interests of industrial psychologists in South Africa is the Society for Industrial and Organisational Psychology (SIOPSA). Unlike the engineering and accounting professions, which are able to invest significantly in the development of previously disadvantaged students, the profession of IOP is unable to do so, largely due to the nature of the profession and the way in which it is structured. Both the engineering and accounting professions rely on the provision of their services through large organisational structures, for example mining houses, large technology firms and the big five accounting firms, which have considerable resources to invest in bursaries and educational

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Table 3.3 Industrial psychologists registration per race group 2020 Population group

Total number of IOP’s

Black Coloured Asian/Indian1 White Unknown Total

317 (13.5%) 166 (7.1%) 211 (9%) 1563 (67%) 74 2331

IOP interns

IOP practitioners

% of total population (2019)

94 33 34 129 4 294

223 133 177 1434 70 2037

80.7 8.8 2.6 7.9 n/a 100%

Source HPCSA Database_Registered IOPs in South Africa

programmes. Industrial psychologists often work on their own, in private practice or for a large firm, where they are considered a support function rather than the primary means of income generation. For this reason, while there are some bursaries available for previously disadvantaged learners, there is none of the large-scale industry-wide support made possible by the structures of the accounting and engineering professions (Table 3.3).

3.3

Perspectives Informing the Project

There are two key assumptions that underlie this particular project— firstly, that the concept of race is socially constructed, and secondly, that social reality, as it has come to be constructed, is founded on unequal relations of power. The first assumption alludes to the socially constructed nature of reality, which also provides a foundational perspective for understanding professional identity and identity work. The second draws on insights from critical race theory, which relies on assumptions of social construction. I will discuss each of these briefly. In studies of racial identity, one of the matters of debate is whether race is material and embedded in structure or virtual and limited to cultural meanings. On the one hand, suggestions that race is merely a social construction ignore the material consequences of racial categories 1

Includes two IOP’s who according to HPCSA are categorised as Chinese.

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embedded in societal structure. On the other hand, history has shown that essential notions of race are unsubstantiated, as the meanings associated with them are contextual. Hirschman (2004) points to the relatively recent entry of the term race into our vocabulary, which he suggests was in the late seventeenth century. He proposes that it developed in the nexus of three transformations that created the divide between Europeans and other peoples. Firstly, the enslavement of Africans in various parts of the world; secondly, colonial rule in Africa and Asia, and finally, the development of social Darwinism. However, while suggesting that the terms race or ethnicity are socially constructed does not mean that there are no “real” or tangible consequences, as is demonstrated by the hugely unequal power relations produced by slavery and colonialism. Thus, the perspective taken in this study is that race is both material and structural, but at the same time arbitrary and superficial, implying that while meanings associated with racial categories are never fixed, they do become entrenched within structures and are not easily changed. It is the “fixedness” of structural inequality, born of the transformations discussed above, that necessitates the insights of critical race theory, which considers racism to be endemic to society and has social justice and transformation as key goals (Hylton, 2010). As Syed (2021) argues, there are two ways to view the relationship between race and society. Either one can assume that society is equal and that acts of racism are merely interpersonal transgressions, or one can assume that society is unequal and that racism, in addition to being interpersonal, is entrenched in systems of power and privilege. It is the latter view that forms the basis of this study, as evidenced in the discussions of stigma, Whiteness and microaggressions in Chapter 2. Thus, when considering professional identity work in the face of structural inequality, I draw on the work of Crotty (1998), who distinguishes between “things” and “meanings of things”. Applied in this context, I distinguish between “bodies” and “meanings constructed around bodies”. The focus on embodiment allows me to consider the stigma associated with types of bodies and the meanings underlying the construction of Whiteness. While meanings associated with particular forms of embodiment are never fixed, they serve the interests of certain groups at the expense of

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others and are for this reason likely to be reproduced. Given that they are structural in nature, they are also unlikely to be recognised. Applying the assumptions of social constructionism and critical race theory in the exercise of professional identity allows for the consideration of agency by individual professionals within stigmatised groups as well as the structural constraints placed upon them through meanings associated with their ethnic identities (Atewologun & Singh, 2010; Konrad, 2003). The agency of people is expressed through the idea of identity work though which people choose identities or “project a particular image” that those around them can mirror back and reinforce or reject and offer alternative images that may be more or less positive (DeRue & Ashford, 2010, p. 630). It is these alternatives that represent the structural element, which for the purpose of this study is professions that have over time been constructed as White spaces based on the social and cultural origins of their members (Vignoles et al., 2006) and which thus constrain people of colour: “others thrust categorizations upon them” (Konrad, 2003, p. 8). In response to these constraints, the agency implied in identity work also offers professionals of colour the possibility of “repairing, maintaining, strengthening and revising the constructions that are productive of a sense of coherence and distinctiveness” as they struggle to maintain a positive professional identity (Sveningsson & Alvesson, 2003, p. 1165).

3.4

Research Design

The study was designed using multiple narrative case studies (Etherington & Bridges, 2011) with 26 professionals of colour representing the professions of accounting, engineering and industrial psychology. Brown (2017) in particular suggests the use of case studies to achieve richness in exploring identity in the context of cultural pluralism. The value of a case study is that it allows for exploring the particularity and complexity of “the case”, which is studied in detail with an emphasis on the influence of multiple social contexts (Yin, 2009). Furthermore, the context of the case is deliberately included as part of the design and is helpful in understanding how social, economic, political, ethical and aesthetic

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contexts influence social processes (Hartley, 2004; Stake, 2005). The framework of Whiteness as proposed by Al Ariss et al. (2014) highlights the importance of context when exploring this phenomenon and alludes to multiple contexts—historical, spatial, macro, meso and micro—that should be taken into consideration. While stigma and Whiteness are pervasive, the time and manner in which they manifest prominently is dependent on the settings of each case, and these differed among participants. Thus, a case study design allowed for each person’s narrative to be understood within the broader circumstances of their lives and the multiple contexts in which they unfolded. Furthermore, the emphasis on the relationship between case and context allows for an exploration of the reciprocally influential connections between professional identity and stigma/Whiteness within the contexts in which they are produced and reproduced. A multiple case study design also allows for the comparison of single case studies and the development of theory around a particular topic (Eisenhardt & Graebner, 2007). This is made possible by “recognizing patterns of relationships among constructs within and across cases” (p. 25). In the case study approach, narrative was used to explore the personal experiences of participants over time, with an emphasis on the relationship between these experiences and the contexts in which they occurred. People’s stories provide an important means by which they make sense of their lives and actions (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000). Narrative inquiry is considered suitable for the study of both professional identity development (Ibarra & Barbulescu, 2010; Slay & Smith, 2011) as well as the “particularities of everyday practices” in the study of Whiteness (de Kock, 2006, p. 185). Hylton (2010) also highlights the value of storytelling approaches in critical race theory studies as these allow us to understand complex lives and histories of diverse ethnic groups more fully. Finally, and particularly pertinent for the nature of the topic, Polkinghorne (1988) suggests that stories are more memorable and evoke much stronger human responses than do statements of fact or theoretical arguments. An important consideration in narrative inquiry is the recognition that a narrative is a unique process of retrospective meaning-making in shaping and ordering past experience (Brockmeier, 2001; Bruner,

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1991; Kohler Riessman, 2008; Squire et al., 2008). This implies that narratives are constituted, having already been through a process of interpretation, and it is in the intentional sense-making process that their agency originates (Freeman, 2002; Kohler Riessman, 2008). Narratives are thus viewed as verbal action and are assumed to argue, complain, confirm, challenge, defend, deceive, explain, entertain, inform, justify and persuade (Chase, 2005; Gabriel & Griffiths, 2004; Kohler Riessman, 2008; Squire et al., 2008). This verbal action is, however, not unchecked: narratives are assumed to be enabled and constrained by an assortment of social resources and conditions (Chase, 2005; Czarniawska, 2004). It is this characteristic of narrative that enables researchers to study similarities and differences across narratives (Chase, 2005). The focus in narrative is on the narrator’s ability to make a point or generate emotions, and in order to achieve these, accuracy may be compromised (Gabriel & Griffiths, 2004). Narrators may focus on incidental details and remain silent about issues the researcher may consider to be important. Narratives are thus assumed to “contain inconsistencies, imprecisions, lacunae, non-sequiturs, illogicalities and ambiguities” (Gabriel & Griffiths, 2004, p. 115). Nevertheless, Brown (2015) suggests that while memories may be distorted and inaccurate, when considering matters related to identity we can assume “some correspondence between historical ‘fact’ and personal biography” (p. 33). Thus, for the narrative researcher, “the truth of a story lies not in its accuracy but in its meaning” (Gabriel & Griffiths, 2004, p. 115). Just as there are various meanings for narratives, so there may be many interpretations of the narrative from the researcher’s perspective, even ones that conflict (Gabriel & Griffiths, 2004). While specific interpretations cannot be proved or disproved by clear scientific criteria, interpretations may be more or less original, clever, perceptive, incomplete, misleading or even wrong.

3.4.1 Overview of the Sample The twenty-six participants were purposively drawn from the professions of accounting, engineering and industrial psychology using both convenience and snowball sampling strategies. The project originated as

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a result of stories shared with me and the research team‚ by professionals in both industrial psychology and accounting. Having lectured to professional engineers for many years and being familiar with the challenges people of colour2 experienced in this profession, I decided to include the engineering profession as well. Five of the participants were sampled conveniently. Two of them had chosen the topic as the focus of their Master’s research and therefore shared a dual role as both participant and member of the research team. I conducted an interview with each of them, which they then analysed along with their other interview data as part of their research project. One of my original informants agreed to be part of the study, as did another of my students who was eager to be involved. Given her history, I felt she would be able to contribute substantially to the project. The final participant to be sampled conveniently was a colleague who works in both South Africa and Europe. He was included for his insights into the differences between these two contexts with regard to both stigma and Whiteness and the identity work entailed in traversing these two contexts. The remaining twenty-one participants were sourced through references from the initial participants and contacts in the relevant professions. The result was an expedient mix of professionals from various sites within each profession (Flick, 2007). These represented various roles available, for example academia vs practice, employed vs self-employed and private vs public sector, thus ensuring a relatively heterogenous mix of participants within and among the professions (Robinson, 2014). The focus on specific professions allowed for the study of three professional contexts and the unique dynamics of each as they relate to the formation of professional identity and the regulation of stigma and Whiteness. These professions also represent varying levels of intervention by professional associations and other organisations with regard to development and support, both financially and psychologically.

2 I begin each workshop with a list of challenges highlighted by members of the group. Aspects related to racial and gender discrimination are raised almost every year.

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The participants included fourteen women and twelve men; twentyone were Black, four were3 Coloured and one was Indian/Asian. The spread of participants across the various professions was as follows: six industrial psychologists, ten accountants and ten engineers. Participants were chosen based on their availability, as well as according to specific factors of interest, for example, having been exposed to a specific set of experiences or background that would ensure they were representative of other cases in some way (Yin, 2009). All participants had completed rigorous professional training as well as the necessary internship4 or articles, depending on the requirements of the particular profession in South Africa. All participants were registered with their relevant professional body, except for a few of the engineers who were not practising in the field of civil engineering and did not require registration with the Engineering Council of South Africa. The participants had come from various parts of the country, including North West, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. Two were originally from outside South Africa: one from Nigeria and one from Zimbabwe. I deliberately included these “other” voices as the experience of being “foreign” in South Africa introduces another element of intersectionality with its own dynamics and challenges. As indicated, one of the participants was South African but working overseas. There was also a mix of professionals originating from both rural and urban areas (Table 3.4).

3.4.2 Data Gathering The data was gathered by a team of researchers5 using between one and five unstructured interviews with each participant (Qu & Dumay, 2011). 3 Historically in South Africa four racial groups were identified: Blacks, Coloureds, Indians and Whites. Black refers to people of African descent and Coloured refers to people of mixed descent—usually a mixture of Black, White and Malay. 4 The exception here were some of the engineers who had not registered with ECSA, one as she had only recently started working and the others because their work setting did not require this. 5 Readers will note that often during this chapter I will refer to the plural “we” as the data was collected by a team of master’s student researchers under my supervision.

Urban Rural and urban Urban Urban Urban Rural Urban Rural and urban Urban

Lucy

Lillian

Sophia Oliver Dora

Moses Bertha Albertina

Caroline

Rural

Nelson

Rural/urban

Black

Black Black Black

Coloured Black Black

Black

Black

Black

Racial group

Financial services firm

Banking, Academia Private sector, Finance Private sector, Public sector, Finance MNC, accounting MNC, accounting Banking/Public sector Academia MNC, accounting MNC, accounting

Work setting

Gauteng

Limpopo Gauteng Gauteng

Gauteng Gauteng Gauteng

Eastern Cape/Open distance learning

Gauteng KwaZulu-Natal Gauteng

University

(continued)

Female

Male Female Female

Female Male Female

Female

Female

Male

Gender

participant has been given the first name of a struggle hero in line with their gender and racial grouping. Any similarities beyond this, are completely accidental. It is noteworthy that almost all of these are originally European names as in many parts of South Africa, especially African children were required to have a “Christian” name before enrolling in primary school (Mokgobi, 2014).

6 Each

Accounting

Pseudonym6

Table 3.4 Participants’ demographic information

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Engineering

Rural Rural Rural Urban Urban Urban—small town Urban

Urban

Urban Rural

Xola

Philip

Florence

Robert

Dorothy

Charlotte

Griffiths

Amina

Steve

Rural/urban

Desmond

Pseudonym

Table 3.4 (continued)

Black

Asian

Black

Black

Black

Black

Black

Black

Black

Black

Racial group

SOE, Aerospace and defence, Private sector, Aerospace and defence Private sector, Aerospace and defence SOE, Aerospace and defence, Business owner, Electronics

MNC, construction Private sector, mining Private sector, mining MNC, construction Consulting

Work setting

Gauteng/France

Gauteng

Gauteng Electronic

Western Cape Mechanical Western Cape Mining Gauteng Mining Gauteng Chemical Western Cape Civil Gauteng Aeronautical Gauteng Aeronautical

University

Male

Female

Male

Female

Female

Male

Female

Male

Male

Male

Gender

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Urban Urban

Urban Urban Urban Urban

Peter

Frances

Annie

Solomon

Joe

Lizzy

Rural/urban

Coloured

Black

Black

Coloured

Black

Coloured

Racial group

Self-employed consultant Self-employed consultant Self-employed consultant Private sector

Public sector, Defence

Academia

Work setting

Gauteng

Gauteng The Netherlands Western Cape7 /Open distance learning/Gauteng North West/Gauteng Gauteng/Eastern Cape Gauteng

University

Female

Male

Male

Female

Female

Male

Gender

psychology requires an undergraduate, honours and master’s degree. These are often completed at different institutions, hence multiple universities are listed.

7 Industrial

Industrial psychology

Pseudonym

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Interviews were considered appropriate as they allow participants to share their identity-related experiences openly, often in a democratic emancipatory manner (Kvale, 2006) providing rich and insightful accounts of complex organisational realities (Eby et al., 2009). The initial interview was used to elicit the story of the participant’s professional journey, including the influence of their early and family life, educational context, professional life and experiences in organisations, with specific attention to experiences of discrimination and exclusion (Foldy, 2012). Subsequent interviews were used to explore the participant’s identity statements and issues of relevance. As part of the interview process, a version of the ten statements test was used to gather information on identities viewed as central to participants. The test entailed asking participants to answer the question “Who am I?” in ten different ways (Foldy, 2012). Participants were then asked to rank these according to their relative importance to themselves and their organisation. This exercise provided valuable insights into the various identities of importance to each participant and to the ways in which they were structured. For example, some participants considered their race and professional status as entwined; for example “I am a Black engineer” implied that their race was central to their professional status. Others regarded their racial and professional identities as distinct, their professional unrelated to their embodiment. The ten statements test also provided a concrete means of exploring various dimensions of identity that can at times be difficult to elicit in an interview setting. The data was gathered between 2017 and 2019 in the Gauteng area of South Africa. The exceptions included three engineers, two of whom were based in the North West and one in Mpumalanga, and an IOP who resides overseas but continues to teach in Gauteng. Three additional interviews were held early in 2021. The research team members contacted participants and arranged for a time and place that would be convenient for them. Interviews were conducted in my own and the participant’s offices, or in boardrooms in the places where they worked and even in restaurants. Interviews ranged in length from 60 to 90 minutes and were audio-taped with the permission of the participants. Subsequently these recordings were transcribed professionally.

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3.4.3 Data Analysis In line with the narrative approach to the case studies, each participant’s interview was analysed as an individual data set within the data corpus (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The first aim of the analysis was to explore the experiences of individual participants in the micro, meso and macro contexts as per the framework of Al Ariss et al. (2014). The data was analysed by classifying the relevant identity-related experiences according to the contexts identified by the framework. This included the legislative, family, cultural, work organisation, occupational, professional, language and educational contexts. Particular attention was also given to space and its relation to Whiteness and the construction of identity as well as to examples of microaggression in the participant narratives. Analysis was undertaken in small groups with participants, the project leader and at times other team members. In these small group settings we explored various interpretations of the data, allowing for multiple perspectives and discussion of possible meanings and interpretations, taking into account both the context of the participant’s own narrative and those of the other professionals (Gabriel & Griffiths, 2004). In this process we were keenly aware that the interview narratives were already constituted, having already been through a process of interpretation by the participants themselves (Freeman, 2002; Kohler Riessman, 2008). In the final write-up I referred aspects of the narratives that were ambiguous or unclear back to the participants to clarify them. From these initial analyses individual case narratives were developed to explore each participant’s experience and the ways in which various contexts were regulated by Whiteness and how this influenced their development and construction of professional identity (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000; Ochs, 1997).8 The aim of this step was to explore how various contexts had regulated identity formation and identity work, as it is in context that action is rendered meaningful (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000; Ochs, 1997). This is consistent with the aim of narrative research, which Gabriel (2013) argues is to make sense of people’s actions and 8

The exceptions here include Peter and Nelson as I interviewed these two participants, and their data was not included as part of the masters research projects.

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outcomes in the context of believable plots. Once the individual data sets had been analysed and interpreted and the case narratives written it was possible to compare thematically across the various cases in the form of thematic analysis to identify patterns across the cases (Braun & Clarke, 2006). An important consideration is what is meant by a theme, as there are no specific rules in this regard (Braun & Clarke, 2006). While the number of participants having had a particular experience certainly informed the selection of themes, there are sections where the story of one participant is particularly relevant as it “captures something important in relation to the overall research question” (p. 82). It is here that case study logic is applied once again. Gerring argues that “[w]hat distinguishes the case study method from all other methods is its reliance on evidence drawn from a single case and its attempt, at the same time, to illuminate a broader set of cases” (Gerring, 2007, p. 29). Important here is the emphasis on understanding the case in order to understand other similar cases, not the broader population as one attempts to do in survey research (Stake, 2005). Finally, as researchers it was important to remember that our interpretations, however well justified, are never final. We needed to remain open to the possibility that other interpretations might nevertheless be plausible (Gabriel, 2013).

3.4.4 Quality of the Data The aim of any research project is to provide a credible account that makes sense to the readers and the participants and provides an “authentic portrait” of what is studied (Miles & Huberman, 1994, p. 278). Attention was paid to the plausibility of narratives and the degree to which they rang true. While there was diversity in the various accounts, there was sufficient consistency between them and with earlier studies conducted in the accounting profession to suggest that they were plausible (Barac, 2015; Hammond et al., 2009). Elements of uncertainty were clarified with participants and the final narratives were sent to them as part of a member-checking process (Miles & Huberman, 1994). In

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reviewing transcripts for the final write up I conducted some additional interviews to clarify areas of uncertainty. To enhance authenticity and credibility I have sought to provide context-rich and meaningful descriptions of the setting. These are to be found in the discussion of the history of the country as a broad context, an overview of the history of the specific professions and the brief description of each participant contained in the next section. In doing so I have attempted to provide, within the constraints of readability, a thick description of the multiple contexts of relevance (Miles & Huberman, 1994).

3.5

Locating Myself in Relation to the Research Topic

Qualitative research should entail a reflexive process (Schurink, 2009), which demands that I reflect on elements of my own identity so that the readers can make sense of my own processes of interpretation. Grbich (2007, p. 9) defines reflexivity as: “a heightened awareness of the self in the process of knowledge creation, a clarification of how one’s beliefs have been socially constructed and how these values are impacting on interaction, data collection and data analysis in the research setting”. It is this process of “interpreting one’s own interpretations, looking at one’s own perspective from other perspectives, and turning a self-critical eye onto one’s own authority as interpreter and author” (Alvesson & Sköldberg, 2000, p. vii) that will enhance the trustworthiness of the findings. Reflexivity involves accounting for the researcher and her research agenda, personal beliefs and emotions that impact the construction of knowledge, highlighting how the various social contexts she is located in influence the outcome of the research process (Guillemin & Gillam, 2004; Hsiung, 2008). This becomes even more salient when, as a White person, I chose to research the impact of Whiteness and stigma on people of colour, which means I am more likely to misrepresent experiences by providing overly simplistic and political representation of the stigmatised group in question (Hayfield & Huxley, 2014). These deliberations give rise to a number of tensions. Central in these is the tension between my

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academic identity and my personal identity, both as a privileged White South African and as a bearer of White guilt (Grzanka et al., 2020). I am aware that many would question my suitability for tackling a topic of study such as this given my own privilege yet at the same time, the incident that triggered the study and the interviews that followed have convinced me of its necessity. This gives rise to a second, related tension, which lies in the contradiction of my academic identity and my topic of study, and the benefits related to them. Any academic endeavour at some point benefits the researcher through recognition, increased h-indexes and all the other ways that count when faced with the audience of one’s peers and the inevitable promotion panels. The irony of the (possible) benefit that I, as a White researcher, will (hopefully) derive is not lost on me, and I trust that Wigginton and Setchell (2016) are right in their assertion that as an outsider, I have the potential to exert influence that extends beyond those who have been stigmatised and am thus able to challenge Whiteness more readily. This would then seem to be a more equitable exchange. Finally, there is a tension between my academic identity and my own very personal journey in respect of Whiteness. The former requires me to be reflexive, a process that accounts for the details of who I am in constructing the interpretations and “knowledge” contained here. And yet to locate myself in terms generally used—White, woman, middleclass, wife, mother of two, academic—capture nothing of my journey in becoming aware of and starting to make sense of my own Whiteness, nor can it ever grant sufficient recognition to the people who have walked alongside me and challenged my thinking and actions. Some would not recognise the terms Whiteness, yet in sharing my journey they have enabled me to see the world though their eyes, appreciate other ways of being and recognise more clearly the dynamics that permeate all relationships in our country. Others do recognise the term Whiteness and have challenged my own and others’ Whiteness in ways that are liberating yet gentle, but have left an indelible mark. To capture all these encounters in a meaningful way would require considerable detail and deliberation, and that in turn would make this monograph about me—thereby negating the very point of this study.

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Locating Each Participant

3.6.1 Nelson Nelson was born and raised in the small village of Mahape in the province of Limpopo. He was raised by his mother, a single parent, and his grandmother. There were about ten people staying in his home, including his aunts and cousins. He went to school in a nearby village, approximately 10 km from his own home, having to walk there each day. To make ends meet they sold bananas, tomatoes and vetkoek9 to teachers and fellow pupils, and he assisted his mother by fetching water from the river and wood from the surrounding areas. The vetkoek were made on an open fire as there was no electricity. In his final years of high school his mother moved to Pretoria and he repeated his matric at a school in the township where they were living. He attended a Saturday school where he met his mentor, who introduced him to accounting and raised the possibility in his mind of considering becoming a professional. Before this he had considered being a taxi driver, as something like accounting seemed to be beyond the realm of possibility. Staff members at the university he attended for his undergraduate studies recognised his precarious financial position and obtained a scholarship for him. He completed his accounting studies at universities in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.10 He did his articles in the banking sector and continued working there for a short while, after which he moved into academia. He has worked at various universities in Gauteng and Limpopo. Moses is divorced, with two children. He speaks openly about his faith in God in making sense of his life and struggles.

9

A ball of dough, deep fried in cooking oil. I have given much deliberation to whether the specific institutions should be named. I have ultimately decided on only providing a location, as this allows for one additional means of protecting the participants’ identities.

10

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3.6.2 Lucy Lucy was born and raised in Harare, Zimbabwe, the only daughter of four siblings in her comfortably middle-class family. Her father was a biochemical engineer and her mother a nurse. Education was very important to both parents and they ensured that their children attended good schools and excelled academically. Lucy attended a government primary school that had high standards and strict discipline aimed at attaining excellence. When she was ten her father passed away, having made what he assumed would be ample provision to ensure his children would be well educated. However, Zimbabwe’s economy spiralled out of control the following year due to socio-political issues, and the money he had set aside was barely enough for her oldest sibling to complete his schooling. After this life was very difficult, and her mother worked hard to look after her family of four. Fortunately, Lucy was academically strong, and she obtained a full scholarship at a private Christian school. Two of her older brothers moved to the UK and, having gained employment, helped to look after the family from there. Lucy completed her accounting studies in South Africa at two universities based in Gauteng. She completed her articles with one of the big four auditing firms, after which she struggled to find a job on account of her status as a foreigner. After being jobless for an extended period she was recruited by the company she currently works for. At the time of the interviews she was still employed there. Lucy is married and has a very strong faith that guides her daily life and actions.

3.6.3 Lillian Lillian is a Black African Xhosa-speaking woman in her mid-thirties. She was born in a village in the Eastern Cape, where she lived with her grandparents until she was 13 years old. They instilled in her a strong sense of responsibility, a clear set of values and a strong work ethic. She attended school in the village until the age of thirteen, after which she moved to Soweto to be with her parents and six-year-old sister. Her father is

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a policeman and her mother a nurse. Despite conditions in the township Lillian noticed a big difference in the education systems, standard of living and infrastructure in comparison to life in the village. She attended a multiracial school in Lenasia (an Indian township), which required a considerable adjustment. She enrolled for a B.Com Accounting degree at a university in the Eastern Cape and completed her honours degree through an open distance learning university. Her studies were funded through bursaries and by her parents, and for part of this time she worked for one of the big four auditing firms. She was supported by the Thuthuka initiative in preparing for her Board exam. She then worked in the public sector, after which she moved to the private sector, more specifically a large Black-owned auditing firm. On completion of her board exams she moved back into the public sector, though to a different entity, where she was working at the time of the interviews.

3.6.4 Sophia Sophia is a thirty-something Coloured woman who grew up in Gauteng with her two siblings and her parents. The community in which she was raised is known for its gangsters, drugs, alcohol abuse and lack of resources; the norm was that very few students passed Grade 12. During her interview Sophia shared stories of her community and the schools she attended as a way of explaining her reality and creating a picture of the environment she grew up in. In this context however, Sophia’s parents valued education and supported her wholeheartedly, although finances were always a factor and they did not have the extra funds for university. She began her studies at a private college offering university degrees and a bursary but she soon realised that this would not allow her to pursue a CA route and she moved to another university in Gauteng. From this point on her studies were funded through student loans as well as by her parents, and she was most grateful for their encouragement and practical support. She did try to obtain Thuthuka funding but in her own words she was “not Black enough”. After completing her honours degree, she began working for one of the big four auditing firms and completed her board exams. After this she did some contract work and joined her

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current company, where she has been for more than five years. She had recently been promoted. She has a strong sense of self and has been very involved in her community.

3.6.5 Oliver Oliver is a thirty-something Black male who was born in Soweto, a Black township on the outskirts of Johannesburg. Oliver’s mother was very young when he was born and for financial reasons she left school and got a job to raise her son. The pair stayed with family members until he was three years old, after which he went to live with his paternal grandmother, who was a domestic worker for a family on the East Rand. Although he had a great deal of love and respect for his grandmother, Oliver’s wish was to live with his mother, admitting that he was “a bit of a mamma’s boy”. Although neither his grandmother nor his mother had a formal education, they saw its value and ensured he got the best education they could provide. For this reason he was sent, in his own words to “Coloured” schools, as they felt the education was superior to that in the Black township schools and was presented in English. After school he was unable to continue with his studies due to funding constraints and he worked in a bank. The following year he enrolled at a university in Gauteng and applied for National Student Fund Aid Scheme11 (NSFAS) funding to cover the cost of his studies. From his second year he had a bursary from a large bank. In his honours year he signed a training contract with one of the big four auditing firms through whom he also accepted secondment to Europe. He is currently working for a large financial services group in South Africa.

11 NSFAS is a public entity which resorts as part of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) which provides financial assistance to students from poor and working-class families. This includes cover for registration fees, tuition fees, as well as accommodation and living expenses.

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3.6.6 Dora Dora is a thirty-something Black female, born and raised in Umtata, the capital of what was the former Transkei homeland. She was included in the sample to provide a unique case as, in contrast to many of the other participants, she came from a family of considerable financial advantage. She grew up in a family of eight, including her parents, four sisters and one brother. Her mother is a doctor and her father is a lawyer who owned several businesses; they were considered to be “beacons of society”. Dora went to an international school in Umtata, where she spent her junior school years until Grade 6. In Grade 7 she moved to a historically White all-girls Model C boarding school in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. She performed well in school, was known to be driven and motivated and finished matric with excellent results. On the sports side she played Eastern Province netball and squash. After school she studied accounting at a university in Gauteng, completing her honours through an open distance learning university. Her father supported her during her first year, after which she was awarded a bursary from one of the big four auditing firms. She began working for the company but was determined to leave once her articles were complete. She then moved to the banking sector where she developed a unique skills-set in building financial models. After this she moved to a private equity firm, which posed severe challenges to a person of colour due to the hostile environment. She then moved to a state-owned enterprise, for which she now works. She is married with two children and enjoys socialising and spending time with family and friends.

3.6.7 Moses Moses was born and raised in a small village close to Thohoyandou in Limpopo. He was raised in a family of six children—one daughter and five sons. His mother never worked and his father was an entrepreneur. Moses attended primary and secondary school in the same village where he grew up. He had a burning desire to be a farmer and wanted to study agriculture but his older sibling insisted he take accounting instead. His

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dream is still to become a farmer and he believes that being a professional accountant will equip him to run a profitable farming enterprise that will provide a livelihood for his family. He completed his undergraduate studies at a university in Limpopo and postgraduate studies through a university in KwaZulu-Natal. His father provided an initial amount that he had saved. From then on Moses relied on NSFAS funding. He began his articles at a large auditing firm and then moved to a private company as he had no appetite for external auditing. After a time spent lecturing at one of his alma maters, he joined a university in Gauteng and is still in academia. Moses is married with children and values both family and friendship.

3.6.8 Bertha Bertha was born in Limpopo. She was the first of four siblings. Her parents were very strict and she was raised in a home where hard work and achievement were emphasised. Her father is an agriculture economist and at the time of the interviews was enrolled for a PhD in Agriculture, while her mother has a degree in marketing but works as a teacher. While she was still young the family moved to Centurion where she attended multiracial urban primary and high schools. At high school she performed well in accounting and economics, which she passed with distinction, and while she participated in athletics her main interest lay in entertainment: she loved the arts—singing, dancing and acting. She studied accounting at a university in Gauteng. The company her father worked for funded her studies on the condition that she passed all her subjects. After completing her honours, she did her articles at a large corporate firm in Johannesburg where she was offered a permanent position, which she still holds. She has a life partner and a young daughter.

3.6.9 Albertina Albertina was born in a small village in Limpopo where she was initially raised by her grandmother while her mother attended university. Her

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grandmother was a farmer who instilled values of hard work and initiative that shaped her identity as a young child. She completed primary school in her village after starting a year early, and moved to Gauteng to live with her mother during her high school years. Here she attended an all-Black private school where she was required to learn in English, after having completed all her previous education in her mother tongue. She experienced several challenges in transitioning from a rural to an urban setting with her “broken English and farm girl tendencies” (her words). She worked hard at the language and at schoolwork and ended up in the top four of her class. She developed a love for accounting, encouraged by an EMS12 teacher during Grade 8 and 9. She completed her accounting studies at a university in Gauteng. Her first year was funded by her own merit bursaries and her subsequent years by a bursary. She completed her articles with the auditing from whom she had obtained the bursary and was promoted to manager. At the time of the interview, she had resigned due to what she perceived were unfair practices related to her status as a Black female.

3.6.10 Caroline Caroline was born in Soweto, where she lived with her grandmother until her Grade 6 year, after which she moved to the East Rand to live with her parents. She attended a local school in Soweto until Grade six, after which she moved to a multiracial school where she had to manage a difficult adjustment from native-tongue tuition to learning in English. She always wanted to be a CA and won a prize for the top accounting student in Grade 11. She was a top achiever in her matric year and was offered a bursary from a large construction firm to complete her accounting studies at a university in Gauteng. In her second year she obtained a bursary from one of the large auditing firms. As one of the top accounting students she was given the opportunity to complete her academic articles at the university, where she was also involved in tutoring and lecturing. She started a Master’s degree but was forced to 12

Economic and management science teacher.

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withdraw due to the death of her mother. Caroline then completed her articles at a firm in Johannesburg where she continued to work before going on two secondments, one to the US and the other to the UK. She now works for a financial services company in Centurion where she is happy in her new role.

3.6.11 Desmond Desmond is a thirty-something African male, born in a village in the province of Limpopo. He was raised by a single mother and his father did not play a significant role in his life. He was however fortunate to have several uncles who played a strong mentorship role in his development. His mother is a teacher who taught at the local primary school. His important role models were his older sister, who passed away while he was at university, and his mother. While he was at primary school he was introduced to the game of cricket, about which he remains passionate. The Career Wise bursary structures identified him as a potential candidate for funding but in the end did not grant him a bursary. It did however help him choose a career in engineering, which he studied at a university in the Western Cape. His studies were funded by his sister and his mother. On completing his studies, he was accepted on a graduate programme with a large car manufacturer. This he left due to a lack of challenge and joined a local municipality. Here too he felt underutilised and joined his current company with whom he has been for several years, enjoying several promotions. During this time he also completed his Master’s degree in engineering management at a university in Gauteng.

3.6.12 Xola Xola is a Black male who grew up in a rural village in Limpopo. From an early age he was interested in small mechanical devices, which triggered his interest in engineering. The primary school he attended was poorly resourced, with no library or sports facilities. He attended a maths and science high school that was also multiracial, where he was identified through Career Wise as a potential engineering candidate and offered

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a bursary from a mining house to cover his studies. He completed his engineering studies at a university in the Western Cape and went on to complete his Master’s in engineering as well. After completing his studies, he went to work for his bursar, completing his graduate program there. At the time of the interview he was still working there.

3.6.13 Philip Philip is a Black male in his thirties. He was born in the province of Limpopo and grew up in a family of six siblings. Both his parents are educators, and this influenced him to take education seriously. Although he did not come from a poor background, growing up in a family of six siblings meant that resources had to be shared with the family. He too was identified by Career Wise as having potential to study engineering and he obtained a bursary to study mining engineering at a university in Gauteng. He felt he gained tremendously from the mentorship he received from the company while at university and afterwards and he in turn decided to become a mentor for previously disadvantaged students. He works in the coal mining industry and has benefitted from the company’s carefully managed graduate program and clear values.

3.6.14 Florence Florence is a Black female engineer who was raised by a single parent in a small town outside Rustenburg in the North West Province. Her mother was a teacher who worked away from home, during which time she and her siblings were cared for by their grandmother. She attended a local primary school, after which she moved to a multiracial private school in Grade 7. Her mother assisted her by providing additional study guides and past papers where she was able to access them. Growing up in a mining area she was fortunate to benefit from a school support programme aimed at developing maths and science, sponsored by one of the large mining houses. As she was one of the top two students in her year, one of her teachers obtained the forms and aided her in the application process. The programme was extremely work intensive, but

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she was placed among the top ten students in the province at the end of matric. In recognition of her achievement, she received a scholarship from a large international foundation that assisted in funding her university studies. The foundation also provided considerable support with regard to life and other skills needed to adjust to university demands and flourish there. In her final year of study she was offered a four-year graduate programme with a large building solutions company in the North West. After completing her graduate program, she moved to another company that she subsequently left due to the difficult working climate it presented for a woman of colour. She then moved to the company where she was working at the time of the interviews.

3.6.15 Robert Robert is Nigerian by birth, born to expatriate parents who worked in various countries on the African continent. Both his parents are in education, and his family are influenced by the strong culture of education for which Nigerians are known. Robert lived in Nigeria until the age of approximately seven, after which the family moved to Zimbabwe for three years and then to Namibia for six years. Finally, in his teenage years the family relocated to the Eastern Cape in South Africa. His nomadic childhood meant that he was used to interacting with people from various cultures around the world—Russian, Ghanaian, Somalian and American—and for this reason he was relatively unaffected by the racial dynamics in South Africa. When the family moved here his inability to speak one of the South African Black languages meant that his friends were Coloured, Indian or White. He studied civil engineering at a university in the Western Cape. His studies were funded by a bursary from a large construction company, after which he moved to Johannesburg as part of the company’s graduate programme. He is currently employed as a management consultant in the mining industry.

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3.6.16 Dorothy Dorothy is a twenty-something Black female who was born and raised in the small town of Matatiele on the border between the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. She lived with her parents and younger brother. Both her parents were in education, her father a headmaster and her mother a teacher, both of whom placed considerable importance on education. She obtained a scholarship to attend a predominantly White private primary school in a nearby town. She realised early on in life that education was key to becoming independent and successful. In Grade 9 she obtained a scholarship to attend a private all-girls school in Durban, KwaZuluNatal. She was undecided between studying accounting or engineering but ultimately chose engineering as she felt it would be a more stimulating profession. She studied aeronautical engineering at a university in Pretoria, the first year of which was funded by her parents. In her second year she was awarded a scholarship, which took the pressure off her parents. On completion of her studies, she joined the state-owned enterprise that had given her the scholarship but found this environment very unwelcoming for a woman of colour. She is currently working for a consulting company where she uses her singular status as an engineer to speak in support of transformation.

3.6.17 Charlotte Lucy is a twenty-something Black female, born and raised in Gauteng. She is an only child and experienced rather a sheltered upbringing under the watchful and loving eyes of both her parents. Her mother is a nursing sister and her father a business owner. She attended an all-girls private Catholic school from primary school through to high school, where approximately 90% of the learner body were Black. Her schooling was funded by both her parents as well as scholarships from the school. She realised very early on that she wanted to be an engineer and chose aeronautical engineering. She was awarded a bursary from an engineering-based university institution for her first two years at university, after which she was awarded a bursary from a state-owned

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enterprise. After she had completed her studies the company from whom she had the bursary was not taking interns and she was left jobless. Fortunately she managed to find a job as a mechanical engineer with a firm close by. At the time of the interview, she had not been working long and was the most junior of the participants.

3.6.18 Griffiths Griffiths is a forty-something Black male, born and raised in Soweto, Gauteng. His father was a bus driver and ticket-inspector, and his mother was the headmistress of a school. In the years before 1994 he attended a local primary school where classes were often disrupted due to riots in the township. For this reason his parents sent him to a private college in Johannesburg where for the first time he mixed with people of other races and was required to converse in English. His first choice of a career was medicine, but he missed entry by one point and thus settled on electronic engineering. His parents funded his first year at university, which included a bridging course, after which he was awarded a bursary from a Gauteng-based water utility company. While at university he was active in student movements and politics. On completing his studies, he began working for the water utility company that had funded his studies, and he has later worked in the banking industry. At the time of the interview, he had been with his current company, a multinational in the aerospace industry, for about seven years. He is married, with two children.

3.6.19 Amina Amina is a forty-something Indian woman, born and raised in the predominantly Indian town of Verulam in KwaZulu-Natal. She is the oldest of three children. Both of her parents are teachers, which she suggests had a positive impact on her life, especially in reinforcing the value of education. Her mother was keen for her to be a doctor, but she could not stand the sight of blood and opted for engineering instead. Moving to study aeronautical engineering at a university in Gauteng was

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a huge adjustment for her as she had never lived away from home or been exposed to multiracial co-ed living arrangements. Her studies were funded by her parents, and she was very aware that she had to do well and pass all her subjects first time. After she had completed her undergraduate studies, she enrolled for a master’s degree but was bored and applied for a post at her current company instead. She left the company for about a year to work for another defence-related firm but returned as the new environment was unwelcoming to a woman of colour. She was subsequently promoted to the head of the engineering group but stepped away from this position due to what she believed was political interference and ethical challenges. She returned to the section where she had worked when starting at the company and has been very satisfied in this position. Amina’s success had been acknowledged publicly and she has been featured in an edition of Top Women in Business and Government. She is married, with two children.

3.6.20 Steve Steve is a forty-something Black male, born and raised in a village near the town of Barberton in the province of Mpumalanga, where he lived with parents and siblings. He recalls the area that he grew up in as being rather remote, with close adherence to Swati culture. His mother was a teacher and had a master’s degree. His father was a brick layer and had his own business. He attended a school that had previously been designated for White learners and was thus very well equipped, with an excellent library. While he was still at school, he had a small business converting battery-operated radios to work on electricity after the village finally received electricity. Moving to Gauteng to study was a huge shock to him as he was confronted with diverse cultures and languages, something he had not been exposed to before. As part of his degree, he was required to complete practical training, which he did through a company in Johannesburg. After this he was awarded a scholarship to complete his master’s degree through the French South African Institute of Technology, a degree awarded jointly by a South African and a French

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university. He then worked for various companies in the telecommunications and defence industry, in some of which he had a management role. He currently runs his own engineering company.

3.6.21 Peter Peter is a thirty-something Coloured male. He was born in Gauteng, the first of two brothers. His father was still studying when he was young and because of Apartheid legislation was forced to do so in the Northern Cape, a fair distance from their home in Gauteng. As his father was away quite a lot, the family lived with his grandmother for the first years of his life. Once qualified, however, he moved up quickly in the ranks of a large SOE and the family moved home as their means increased. His mother was a nurse who eventually moved into health insurance. Peter’s first experience of his “difference” was when they moved into a designated White area. Although she never articulated her reason for it, he remembers that his mother was always reminding them to be quiet and often called them to play inside. He reflects now that they were expected to be quiet so that the White neighbours would not complain about “the Coloured people staying next to them” (his words). He started his education at the nearby township school but in 1995 moved to a White Afrikaans school where he did very well, becoming the second Coloured student to be chosen as a prefect although he had been at the school for only a year. He acknowledges, however, that he never felt completely comfortable there. He then moved to a White English high school where he was very involved in extra mural activities and was chosen as a prefect in matric. He excelled academically and was the Dux scholar in his matric year. He was unsure about what to study and opted for IOP. He studied his bachelors and honours at a university in Gauteng, after which he was appointed as a junior lecturer, completing his master’s degree at the same time. He completed his PhD studies in the Netherlands and has resided there since then. He is currently employed as an academic.

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3.6.22 Frances Frances is a Black female in her early thirties. She is from Letlhabile, a township on the outskirts of the small farming town of Brits. Like other small farming towns, Brits was characterised by deeply entrenched racial segregation and often extreme racism. Her first experience of this was when her father was beaten up and left for dead in an unprovoked attack by three White men. Young Black children were warned to stay away from White people, never to go to town alone and never to be there after dark. The unsolicited nature of the attack left her fearful that she or another member of her family could fall prey to a similar incident. Her family had limited financial resources and she attended poorly resourced primary and high schools in the township where they lived. Despite being accepted for a B.Com Economics degree at a university in Gauteng, she was unable to pursue this option due to financial difficulties and had to opt for a university of technology closer to home. This was not unlike her school experience, however, and made her extremely uncomfortable. She therefore decided to seek employment instead. She was employed by the South African National Defence Force, which allowed top achievers to study full-time through the Military Academy. Her choice of IOP was because it was one of three options given to prospective students. For the first time in her life, she was able to study without financial pressure in a carefully structured environment with excellent facilities and good support structures. On completion of her undergraduate studies, she began working, and it was during this time that she received a calling to become a traditional healer or Sangoma, a facet of her identity that created significant identity tensions and demands. She completed her honours and master’s degrees at universities in Gauteng while working full-time. Frances is married with two children.

3.6.23 Annie Annie is a coloured female in her early forties who was born in Pretoria. She and her sister were raised by both her parents. They were strict;

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and she grew up very protected. Although she attended a township school, she believed it was a relatively good one, with quality teachers and decent sports facilities. She did mention however that the schooling was designated for Coloured people. It was intended to prevent them from challenging apartheid and did little to encourage analytical and critical thinking. Her first vivid experience of racism was at the age of nine or ten when her sister, an excellent athlete, was invited to train with a Whites-only running club. Being fair skinned she was easily mistaken for a White, unlike Annie, who has a darker complexion. After spotting Annie playing on the side of the field some of the parents complained, and her sister was removed from the club for her own protection. Annie had always dreamed of staying in a hostel and took this opportunity when she went to university, opting for a university located in a fairly conservative, primarily Afrikaans town. She had always wanted to be an IOP, and her father had always pressed on his children the need to obtain a qualification so that they could be independent and “never have to explain themselves to a White boss” (her words). Her studies were funded by her father’s company. The pressure to succeed meant she often forwent extra-curricular activities, which she now regrets as she believes university is where you begin building your professional network. Not wanting to burden her parents any further, she took a job as an HR officer at a steel company in Pretoria and continued her studies part-time through a university in Gauteng, after which she moved into consulting. Annie is married and has a strong Christian faith that she believes is central to coping with racial incidents and tensions.

3.6.24 Solomon Solomon is a Black male in his late forties who grew up in Soweto during Apartheid. He was raised by his mother and father in a strict Christian family. He is the oldest child, with a sister and two brothers. Some of his earliest memories are of going into “town” and seeing the large houses of the White people and comparing these to the township dwellings. He attended school in the township and then applied for a special dispensation to study social work at a then “White” university in

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Gauteng. His initial career choice of social work was influenced by the socio-economic challenges in his community. His undergraduate degree was funded by his father, who was also his education champion. During his time at university, he was arrested for contravening the Group Areas Act as he was not allowed to stay at the university, it being in a White area. This led to an increase in his own political consciousness, and he was actively involved in the struggle as a political and human rights activist, also going into exile at some point. He completed an honours degree in social work at a university in the Eastern Cape and began his career working with street children. The move to industrial psychology came while working as a social worker. He studied part-time through an open distance learning institution, completing his internship with a banking group. He is currently enrolled for his PhD and is employed as an academic, a role he balances with running a private practice. He is married and a father to three children, one girl and two boys. He has gone to great lengths to provide a comfortable life for them through good quality education.

3.6.25 Joe Joe is a Black male in his late thirties, who grew up in Soweto. He came from a well-educated family as both his parents are lecturers and his father has a PhD. He attended what are known as Model C schools for both primary and secondary school and thus had a superior foundational education. He was fortunate to meet a psychologist through career counselling and it was this experience that informed his own career choice. He completed his undergraduate studies at a university in Gauteng, which were paid for by his parents. He was one of the few participants who had the privilege of having a consistent mentor, a relationship that lasted from his high school days through to his establishing himself as a professional. It also prepared him for the work he would be involved in. He runs his own private practice as an IOP in Johannesburg.

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3.6.26 Lizzy Lizzy is a Coloured female in her mid-twenties, born and raised in Gauteng. She was the eldest of five siblings, all of whom were raised primarily by their grandmother, whose philosophy was “there’s no excuse of laziness” (her words). Her grandmother was also her education champion, pushing her to achieve at school and encouraging her to study further, contrary to the norm in the township. Since her grandmother’s death in her master’s year Lizzy has taken over this role by encouraging her siblings to work hard. She is also involved in mentoring other children in her community. She attended school in the township, mixing with other children of colour before going on to study13 psychology at a university in Gauteng. She did not have much time for the social side of university and worked hard to make sure she qualified for merit bursaries to cover the cost of her studies. Although her first experience of Whiteness and privilege was at university, she was taken aback by the gender discrimination that was still present despite policies and procedures to curb it. She is currently employed in the private sector and acts as the breadwinner for her siblings.

3.7

Conclusion

This chapter provided an overview of the professions in which the study was conducted: the so-called “learned professions” of accounting, engineering and industrial psychology. This provided the reader with an idea of what is required to qualify in each of these professions as well as the structures and practices within the profession that either facilitate or constrain qualification. These include support structures such as bursary schemes and bridging courses, which provide access to the profession and support disadvantaged aspirant professionals in achieving professional status successfully. Details of the research process that underpinned the 13

In South Africa psychology departments are structured differently at English and Afrikaans Universities. At English Universities there is one psychology department located in the faculty of Humanities, whereas at the Afrikaans Universities psychology is located with Humanities and industrial psychology with Economics and Management faculties.

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project presented here were also provided. These included an overview of the perspectives underpinning the project, a description of the research design and a short biography of each of the participants.

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Hirschman, C. (2004). The origins and demise of the concept of race. Population and Development Review, 30 (3), 385–415. https://doi.org/10.1111/j. 1728-4457.2004.00021.x Hsiung, P. (2008). Teaching reflexivity in qualitative interviewing. Teaching Sociology, 36 (3), 211–226. https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055X0803600302 Hylton, K. (2010). How a turn to critical race theory can contribute to our understanding of “race”, racism and anti-racism in sport. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 45 (3), 335–354. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 1012690210371045 Ibarra, H., & Barbulescu, R. (2010). Identity as narrative: Prevalence, effectiveness, and consequences of narrative identity work in macro work role transitions. Academy of Management Review, 35 (1), 135–154. https://doi. org/10.5465/amr.35.1.zok135 Kohler Riessman, C. (2008). Narrative methods for the human sciences. SAGE Publications, Inc. Konrad, A. M. (2003). Special issue introduction: Defining the domain of workplace diversity scholarship. Group and Organization Management, 28(1), 4–17. https://doi.org/10.1177/1059601102250013 Kvale, S. (2006). Dominance through interviews and dialogues. Qualitative Inquiry, 12(3), 480–500. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800406286235 Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook (2nd ed.). Sage Publications. Mokgobi, M. G. (2014). Understanding traditional African healing. African Journal for Physical Health Education, Recreation and Dance, 20 (2), 24–24. Ochs, E. (1997). Narrative. In T. A. van Dijk (Ed.), Discourse as structure and process: Discourse studies: A multidisciplinary introduction (Vol. 1, pp. 185– 207). SAGE Publications, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446221884.n7 Polkinghorne, D. E. (1988). SUNY series in philosophy of the sciences. State University of New York Press. Qu, S. Q., & Dumay, J. (2011). The qualitative research interview. Qualitative Research in Accounting and Management, 8(3), 238–264. https://doi.org/10. 1108/11766091111162070 Roberts, L. M. (2005). Changing faces: Professional image construction in diverse organizational settings. Academy of Management Journal, 30 (4), 685–711. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMBPP.2003.13793023 Robinson, O. C. (2014). Sampling in interview-based qualitative research: A theoretical and practical guide. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 11(1), 25– 41. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2013.801543

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Sadler, E. (2002). A profile and the work environment of Black chartered accountants in South Africa. Meditari Accountancy Research, 10 (1), 159–185. https://doi.org/10.1108/10222529200200009 Sadler, E., & Erasmus, B. J. (2003). Views of Black trainee accountants in South Africa on matters related to a career as a chartered accountant. Meditari Accountancy Research, 11(1), 129–149. https://doi.org/10.1108/102225 29200300009 Sadler, E., & Erasmus, B. J. (2005). The academic success and failure of Black chartered accounting graduates in South Africa: A distance education perspective. Meditari Accountancy Research, 13(1), 29–50. https://doi. org/10.1108/10222529200500003 Schurink, E. (2009). Qualitative research design as tool for trustworthy research. Journal of Public Administration, 44 (4.2), 803–823. https://hdl. handle.net/10520/EJC51748 Slay, H. S., & Smith, D. A. (2011). Professional identity construction: Using narrative to understand the negotiation of professional and stigmatized cultural identities. Human Relations, 64 (1), 85–107. https://doi.org/10. 1177/0018726710384290 Squire, C., Andrews, M., & Tamboukou, M. (2008). Doing narrative research (2nd ed.). SAGE. https://doi.org/10.4135/9780857024992 Stake, R. E. (2005). Qualitative case studies. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative research (pp. 443–466). SAGE Publications Ltd. Sveningsson, S., & Alvesson, M. (2003). Managing managerial identities: Organizational fragmentation, discourse and identity struggle. Human Relations, 56 (10), 1163–1193. https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267035610001 Syed, M. (2021). The logic of microaggressions assumes a racist society. Perspectives on Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/4ka37 Ulrich, D., Younger, J., Brockbank, W., & Ulrich, M. D. (2013). The state of the HR profession. Human Resource Management, 52(3), 457–471. https:// doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21536 Vignoles, V., Regalia, C., Manzi, C., Golledge, J., & Scabini, E. (2006). Beyond self-esteem: Influence of multiple motives on identity construction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90 (2), 308–333. https://doi.org/ 10.1037/0022-3514.90.2.308 Wiese, A. (2006). Transformation in the South African chartered accountancy profession since 2001: A study of the progress and the obstacles Black trainee accountants still encounter. Meditari Accountancy Research, 14 (2), 151–167. https://doi.org/10.1108/10222529200600018

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4 Macro-Context: Professional Identity and the Public Space

4.1

Introduction

In their framework for the study of Whiteness, Al Ariss et al. (2014) identify the macro-context as one level at which Whiteness should be studied. Although not describing this in detail, they suggest this refers to “legislative, political and legal frameworks at regional, national and international levels that institutionalise and spread ethnic privileges in employment, education and other fields, both formally and informally” (p. 364). Because apartheid was a political and legislative system, it entailed structuring an entire society to fit its ideology, and its extensive scope influenced all areas salient to the development and construction of professional identity. In this chapter, I explore how various facets of the macro-environment had a largely negative effect on the construction and development of the participants’ professional identity, particularly educational systems and legislation as some of the macro-contextual factors that provided an unequal playing field. As indicated in Chapter 2, professional development begins with early socialisation, which includes the family, schooling and education. The impact of the family is discussed in Chapter 6: The Personal Space. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 A. Crafford, Whiteness and Stigma in the Workplace, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09811-6_4

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Education forms a central part of the public space, however, as this was governed by apartheid legislation and structured as part of its racist ideology. The foundations of professional life lie in educational systems—both schooling and university—and where these have been compromised by structural inequalities over an extended period, the challenges posed to the early development of professional identity are significant. From a legislative point of view, I explore the impact of employment equity legislation on professional identity, as these mechanisms, although designed to overcome years of structural inequality, have been used to further entrench White privilege.

4.2

Education

There is no place for [the Bantu] in the European community above the level of certain forms of labour ... What is the use of teaching the Bantu child mathematics when it cannot use it in practice? That is quite absurd. Education must train people in accordance with their opportunities in life, according to the sphere in which they live. (Hendrik Verwoerd, South African Minister for Native Affairs and Prime Minister 1958–1966)1 I have seen very few countries in the world that have such inadequate educational conditions. I was shocked at what I saw in some of the rural areas and homelands. Education is of fundamental importance. There is no social, political, or economic problem you can solve without adequate education. (Robert McNamara, ex-president of the World Bank, 1982)2

I begin this section with quotes from Hendrik Verwoerd, considered by many as a key architect of apartheid, and Robert McNamara, an expresident of the World Bank, during a visit to South Africa in 1982. This first provides the reader with insight into the thinking framing the development and management of education for people of colour and 1

Boddy-Evans, A. (2020 August 8). Apartheid quotes about Bantu education. ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/apartheid-quotes-bantu-education-43436. 2 Boddy-Evans, A. (2020 August 8). Apartheid quotes about Bantu education. ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/apartheid-quotes-bantu-education-43436.

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particularly Blacks under apartheid. The second provides insight into its devastating consequences and the state of education for Black Africans, especially in the rural areas, where several of our participants started and, in some cases, completed their schooling. For the Nationalist Government, the key drivers of the apartheid system, education played a pivotal role in the enforcement of segregation and the maintenance of control, ensuring segments of the population were equipped for their “appropriate” roles in society (Fiske & Ladd, 2004). All church schools, which at that time had provided more than two-thirds of schooling for Africans, were given the option of ceding control of their schools to the government or facing diminished state subsidies (Fiske & Ladd, 2004). Most of the Anglican churches surrendered their schools, but the Roman Catholics retained theirs and accepted the condition of diminished subsidies. While the education people of colour received was poor, Fiske and Ladd (2004) point out that it was the first time the state had established a comprehensive education system for Africans, a cause the African National Congress (ANC) had been advocating for two decades (Kallaway, 2002). In line with the racial classification system, education structures reflected the four racial groupings, each attending schools run by a different organ of state. At the time of the transition in 1994, the amount spent on a White pupil amounted to two and half-times what was spent on a Black pupil despite recent increases in the funding of the latter (Fiske & Ladd, 2004). For much of the preceding years, this was even more skewed. This suggests that such a schooling system cannot be considered in Bourdieusian terms as a single field but rather as multiple, very different fields, each with its own doxa and capitals. The education policy that half of the tuition be provided in Afrikaans was one of the main targets of the struggle for freedom (Fiske & Ladd, 2004). On June 16, 1976, approximately 15,000 schoolchildren took to the streets in Soweto, one of the largest townships in Gauteng, to protest the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction. This uprising sparked off riots and violence across Black townships in South Africa. The poor resourcing of schools has been highlighted and explored as a means of closure in the professional journey of aspirant CAs (Barac, 2015; Hammond et al., 2009; Sadler & Erasmus, 2005). As expected,

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similar trends affected aspirant engineers and industrial and organisational psychologists. Factors that impacted schooling included poorly resourced schools, very long travel times to and from school, uninterested and demotivated teachers, excessive corporal punishment for minor offences or even just asking questions, and having to work to provide for one’s family. The focus of this analysis is not to repeat work already done but rather to focus on the impact of education at the levels of schooling and university on the construction and development of professional identity.

4.2.1 Schooling 4.2.1.1 Setting the Context Eighteen of the participants had attended urban schools in the townships where they resided. Six of the others had attended rural schools and the remaining two had begun their education in rural schools, in both cases moving to schools in Gauteng during late primary school (as it is known in South Africa) or high school years. Whether rural or urban, most of the participants had attended public schools although a few had had the privilege of attending private or model C3 schools for all or some of their education. At least two of the participants had attended private Catholic schools, which had provided them with an excellent educational foundation from which to study engineering. Two of the participants commented on the huge difference in the quality of education between the rural schools they had attended and those of their urban counterparts. To illustrate the difference, Lilian mentioned having to repeat two years of school when moving from her Eastern Cape rural school to a Gauteng based “Indian school”. This was due to the standard of education as well as the switch from her native isiXhosa to English as a sole medium.

3 A model C school refers to a previously “whites-only” government school that had become semi-private through additional parental funding after 1994. Many of these provided an education comfortably on par with or exceeding that in some private schools.

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I’m coming from a village, this conservative village girl in Jo’burg, where you are mixing with other Black people with different languages and then there’s also the Indians, which you have never mixed with before. The biggest challenge was communication.

Here Lilian highlights the vastly different fields that constitute the schooling system as a whole, contrasting her conservative village-girl habitus with one required to mix with a variety of African cultures and languages as well as those of Indian ethnicity. Her existing habitus and capitals were not aligned with those required for this new field and did not prepare her adequately from a standard or language perspective, the latter inhibiting her ability to engage and build relationships. She was required to redo two years of school to ensure she mastered the requisite skills to continue her schooling and had learned enough English to master the study material and to engage and build relationships with her peers and teachers. Communication was a challenge at two levels. Firstly, the teachers could only communicate in English and could not explain the learning material to her in isiXhosa, as the village teachers had done. Secondly, she struggled to communicate and fit in from a social perspective as the other African learners spoke languages that she did not understand. Learning a new language required effectively adjusting her habitus, acquiring cultural capital that would allow her to “play the game” effectively (Crossley, 2001). The social gap between her rural village and urban Gauteng impacted this divide, and a similar theme is reflected in many of the other participants’ stories when describing the move from a rural to an urban setting. Florence also described moving from a local government school to a private English school, and especially the challenges posed by her “borrowed English”, which meant that she had some catching up to do. She was able to bridge the gap by her Grade 8 year, however, and ended up as one of the top ten matriculants in her province, a considerable achievement. This attests to incredible agency and diligence, both in learning the language and mastering the required learning material, a form of behavioural identity work (Berger et al., 2017). These efforts were supported by the intervention of professionally orientated programmes that I explore in more detail towards the end of the chapter.

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Also emerging in Lillian’s story is her awareness of diversity and of her otherness in this new setting. The language she uses—the “Indians” and the “Indian school”—should also be noted as it reflects the continued close association between races and spaces, and how these have become entrenched and normalised so that almost twenty-seven years after the fall of apartheid, race and space are still intricately entwined (Ahmed, 2007). It furthermore reflects the way in which having distinctive “racespaces” has been normalised as part of our habitus as South Africans (Rodgers & Scott, 2008) so that we comfortably still refer to spaces by their original racial designation. This suggests a continued form of symbolic violence that continues to play out on us as a collective (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992). In reflecting on the differences between the rural and urban schools, Lillian highlights a more disturbing difference in doxa, namely the excessive use of corporal punishment. Three of the other participants who attended rural schools also mentioned this. I felt like I can’t be hit in class and then we playing netball, if I make a mistake, I’m going to be hit and then if we practising singing, if we off key, you going to be hit. So, I was like no I can’t be beaten everywhere I rather not do it.

Contrasting this with the urban school, she explains: In the Indian school, there wasn’t that barrier of you being scared of the teacher. The teacher was there to help you, so if there was something you couldn’t understand, you could easily just go to the teacher and ask them to explain. Whereas back there in the village, if you going to ask the teacher to explain again, which means he was wasting his time while he was teaching you, so you could just get a hiding for going to ask.

The contrast in doxa between the two fields, the rural village school and the urban multiracial school, is significant. The former is structured around punishment, lack of assistance and fear, which in Lillian’s case led to withdrawal and demotivation. The latter is characterised by encouragement, helpfulness and efficacy. In reflecting on her experience, Lillian realises what impact this had over the long term on her identity, confidence and ability to learn; the punishment led to her withdrawing from

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activities and engagements, something that would have impacted her socialisation for work (Cohen-Scali, 2003). I believe that had I continued in the village until matric, I don’t think I would be where I am today. When I also look at my peers who continued there up until matric, yes they passed matric and some of them got jobs or went on to study… I feel that I don’t think I would have known about the CA profession. So, for me going back those two classes, it put a good foundation in place for me going forward.

We can see from this extract how an education system confers not only a particular type of qualification but also, as Bourdieu and Passeron (1977) insightfully demonstrate, the acquisition of tastes and dispositions and in this case the possibility of professional qualification. It also highlights the structural disadvantage many Black learners continue to face as a result of apartheid. When she reflects on what might-havebeen had she stayed in the village, despite the initial setbacks, Lillian will always be grateful to her mother for moving her when she did, as this shift in “race-space” was critical for her future professional identity.

4.2.1.2 Becoming Black at School One of the key aspects of education as a theme relates to the awareness of racial identity in relation to those around one. For participants growing up in a highly segregated country, going to school and then university provided their first opportunities to encounter and engage with people from other racial and ethnic groups. For some of the participants, these encounters occurred during their schooling years; for others, university was one of the first places they engaged in any meaningful way with people outside their racial and ethnic group, whether positively or negatively. Given an increasingly diverse professional context, this was an important part of their early professional socialisation (Cohen-Scali, 2003). While most participants attended a school in which some if not all of the other learners were from their own racial group, Dorothy attended a private primary school close to the small village where she stayed.

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For most of her junior school years, she was the only Black child in the school and one of the only three children of colour in her grade. Because her parents made sacrifices to keep her there, the importance of education was stressed early on and she worked very hard to do well. As a young learner, she was aware of socio-economic differences and that her classmates were more privileged than she was. Well aware of the difference in economic capital between her own and other families, she avoided conversations or comments that would emphasise these class-related differences. Using a form of differentiation as a cognitive identity work strategy, she maintained boundaries between her personal and educational identity (Kreiner et al., 2006). In all other respects, however, she developed an extensive knowledge of the disposition and tastes of the dominant culture that allowed her to navigate it very successfully (Bourdieu, 1977). She can be said to have developed a cleft habitus, a term developed by Bourdieu (1999) to describe the development of an alternative habitus so that one person can transition and hold two habitus at one time (Lee & Kramer, 2013). In her reflection on this time, she maintains that her difference was not manifest and she was never excluded from any activities. It was only in Grade 7, when the school implemented a diversity scheme that saw the inclusion of a number of Black children from less privileged schools in the area, that her awareness of her otherness became salient. She explains: … and I think that’s when I kind of noticed something, because it was very—they treated them (the other Black students) differently to the way they treated me. And I remember thinking that it was maybe because I had grown up with them—and it’s kind of Interviewer: So they experienced you as one of them? Dorothy: Ja4 Interviewer: And they experienced them as different? Dorothy: Exactly. And like small things come to mind, you now like uhh[pause] ah thinking about the stuff makes me emotional.

4 Ja means “yes” and while it originates from Afrikaans, is now used widely in English in place of “yes”.

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At this stage in the interview the research assistant put off the recording to allow Dorothy time to recover. Once the recording continued, she alluded firstly to the typical “micro-aggressive Whitespeak” she was confronted with in reference to the new Black students. She was automatically drawn into this, given her “inclusion” in the predominantly White group: “So that’s when I started noticing stuff like that uhm you know it will like be like ‘Oh like those people’ kind of situations”. While she cannot remember the details of these conversations, she does remember the sense of discomfort she felt when disparaging comments were made about the other students of colour which, by default, implicated her because of their shared racial identity. While she describes herself as being treated as “one of them” (the White children), the researcher’s question brought back memories of situations in which she had felt “othered” by her White classmates because the microaggressions were directed at others like her. At some level, she was aware of her difference and the injustice that was being done to her, but it was only a teacher’s comment that drew her attention to what was happening, and to the unacceptable racial undertones. Dorothy explained that the Black learners who had subsequently joined the school were far more aware of race and class dynamics and were more willing to “call things out”, something she had never thought to do. Having settled into this predominantly White system and being aware of her socio-economic disadvantage, the dynamics had become normalised and she had no vantage point from which to question the prejudice she encountered there. In this way, the power of Whiteness functions by shaping self-understandings and normalising them (Adler et al., 2007) so that challenging them was simply not an option. As much as Dorothy is part of a White schooling system, she speaks with warmth about how she was able to identify with the “African-ness” of the Black learners. When asked about what these points of identification were, she giggled and referred to similarities in upbringing: strict African parents, similar church settings, the importance of grandparents, African culture and an understanding of socio-economic struggles, something she could never share with her White friends. While the White learners were her friends and they shared a common educational history

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and habitus, in common with the disadvantaged Black learners she had a racial and cultural identity, a shared sense of their class-related struggles and a similar upbringing. What made this especially challenging for Dorothy was that Black learners picked up on the differential treatment and consequently treated her differently as well, further reinforcing her precarious sense of belonging, resulting in her residing in a somewhat liminal space (Ibarra & Obodaru, 2016). More specifically, they challenged her sense of “true” ethnicity, including her ability to speak isiXhosa, which they doubted, given her comfortable use of English. Like even the Black people were kind of like not including me because of the way I was treated by the White people and like all the associations that come with that, you know. Like you speak a certain way, therefore you’re a—like a snob and—and why do you think you’re White—and all that kind of stuff.

In each of these worlds Dorothy was “different and the same” (Bamberg, 2010, p. 115), a liminar (Ibarra & Obodaru, 2016) who had the habitus to navigate both spaces. Yet, unlike a liminar in the traditional sense, moving from one identity to another, she found herself in a perpetual state of “being betwixt and between” (Ibarra & Obodaru, 2016, p. 51). Up to this point she had been able to manage these two facets of her identity, but the “intrusion” of one into the other led to identity conflict and she had to engage in identity work to maintain her belonging in both worlds (Carollo & Guerci, 2017). In the White space she was required to engage in a form of selective cognitive processing (Essers et al., 2013), filtering the micro-aggressive comments, either consciously or unconsciously, until they surfaced as undealt with emotions many years later during the interview. In respect of the African students, she was forced to “win them over” by highlighting her ability to speak isiXhosa, a vernacular language, highlighting their common identification with language and culture. In a follow-up interview, she admitted that in speaking about these experiences for the first time she became more fully aware of a discomfort that had been under the surface for many years and was now able

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to articulate it. The release of emotions and speaking about these experiences triggered identity work, forcing her into a process of sense-making in relation to certain aspects of her past (Weick, 1979). This retrospective identity work meant reframing meaning (Ashforth & Kreiner, 1999), naming these experiences as microaggressions and coming to terms with her liminal position in this White space (Ibarra & Obodaru, 2016). This sense-making process, in turn, led to an awakening of her voice and a willingness to speak out within her current professional setting in the form of behavioural identity work (Koerner, 2014), for example, questioning why so few people of colour were present in certain forums. Her professional identity as an engineer in a consulting environment placed her in these forums and gave her an authoritative edge in challenging the inequities of their composition. Peter, whose story I share below, had a similar experience of microaggressive behaviour at primary school: I also had people and this is why I perceived them as friends and I don’t know if they were friends. Where we had conversations in primary school and people I considered my friends were talking about the fact that [pause] uhm Black and Coloured people were basically just breeding. This was the conversation in primary school. And… and I remember it made me feel bad, uhm but yeah, it was the reality of the time right?

Both Peter and Dorothy were on the receiving end of micro-aggressive behaviour. Dorothy cannot remember the exact nature of the microaggressions but Peter was subjected to what I would label an unconscious micro-insult (Sue et al., 2007), which in this instance amounts to the reproduction of racist ideology, associating people of colour with animals (Duncan, 2003). While possibly not deliberate, the mixed messages of “friendship” on one hand and “insult” on the other are confusing and difficult to decipher. This is an identity-threatening situation, akin to bullying (Lutgen-Sandvik, 2008; Srinivas, 2013), and one that has emotional consequences for him reflected in the statement “it made me feel bad” (Winkler, 2016). At this point in his life, Peter is developing his self-identity and a future professional identity (Cohen-Scali, 2003). The images reflected to him by the social environment (DeRue &

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Ashford, 2010) were those that likened him to animals. This highlights the insidious nature of micro-aggressive behaviours, especially in a relational context. They can leave people of colour doubting the truthfulness and sincerity of a relationship, leading to a lack of the kind of trust that is crucial in the development of professional relationships later on in life. As Whites, we are seldom called to consider the consequences of what it means to be Black in a White world. Nor do we consider the impact of small but consistent microaggressions, often passing them off as Black people being overly sensitive. Their cumulative effect is extremely painful for the victim, however, as highlighted by Peter: “So if you are saying something insensitive just in passing, for you it may just be in passing, for me it may have consequences, for me it is hurtful, for me it is painful”. I explore the cumulative effects of racism and microaggressions in more detail in Chapter 6: The Personal Space.

4.2.1.3 The Power of Accent Like Dorothy’s, Peter’s story is also particularly insightful with regard to the early navigation of White spaces, having attended both English and Afrikaans “historically White” schools. He began his schooling career in a township school close to where he lived, but with the change of government in 1994, he moved to a previously Whites-only Afrikaans school about fifteen minutes from his home. When asked about the number of students of colour, he suggested that there was a bus load of learners who made the daily journey with him. When asked to describe his experience, he said: That was traumatizing, [giggles] exciting and yeah, uhm I don’t know. It did a lot of things for me, and I don’t always know if they were positive. I know during that time, there was a lot of identity work going on. Uhm I remember that I uhm… I remember that one of the things that I realized is that I [stutter] I did not feel completely comfortable in that school.

While he did exceptionally well at the school, becoming a prefect after having only started at the beginning of Grade 6 (prefects were chosen at

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the end of Grade 6 for Grade 7), he was nevertheless aware of his discomfort in this “White space” and acknowledges the subsequent identity work as he struggled to find his place there. Two aspects had particular salience for him: language, and always having to be beyond reproach. Both shaped his personhood and identity, and continue to do so. This was his experience with language: I remember it very vividly because uhm I think that’s also where my Afrikaans accent came from, so I definitely had two different Afrikaans accents. I had an Afrikaans accent at home and I had an Afrikaans accent at school. And the Afrikaans accent at school was obviously an accent which was acceptable to the White audience….Which is something which is something that I – [stutter] I cannot believe it Anne, but sometimes I still struggle with it, uhm knowing who I am and knowing where I have been and knowing where I have come from. Where remnants of it still presents itself. And I think it demonstrates the – for me, that demonstrates the insecurity and it demonstrates the innate power that Whiteness still has within that context and the power that it has over me, for lack of a better word.

Coloured people generally speak English or Afrikaans but have over time developed a unique way of speaking with a distinct accent and colourful phrases and words, a dialect of sorts. While Peter grew up speaking Afrikaans, to fit into his new White-dominated school context he was forced to develop a new linguistic habitus (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992) learning “White Afrikaans” with a different accent and vocabulary, also a form of language-related behavioural identity work. Language was a recurrent theme in his interviews. The first mention was in the working environment where he had to speak what Bourdieu terms “legitimate language” (Puwar, 2004) if he was to be taken seriously in exercising authority. In this context, the “legitimate form” refers to the language as spoken by White Afrikaans speakers, in contrast to the distinct accent and phrases used by Coloured Afrikaans speakers. Thus, while speaking White Afrikaans served a purpose, allowing him to exercise agency in his professional life (Goffman, 1956), it was also a form of conscious symbolic violence (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992). The doxa of the professional field prescribes that White Afrikaans has a value as a

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capital, whereas Coloured Afrikaans does not. Thus, he is rendered “professional” only in the language or accent that dominates the field. Peter believes this acts as a consistent betrayal of who he is and a negation of his origins and their value in South African society. To exercise agency and linguistic capital requires adherence to the doxa of the field, but this entails a betrayal of his identity and reproduces the existing power relations—“the innate power of Whiteness” (Peter) operating through him. Awareness of his complicity in the symbolic violence remains a source of deep frustration and identity work is thus agentic and coercive at the same time.

4.2.1.4 Being Beyond Reproach The second source of influence is apparent in an incident that Peter suggests shaped his “not being White” in White spaces and continues to have a significant impact on his personal and professional identity. One of the duties of prefects at his school was to escort students to and from class at break times. One day a White learner refused to listen to Peter’s instructions. So we – we – I wanted him to go to class and he refused and I think in that moment he was like “you don’t have the right to tell me what to do” right? Or it was a matter of “you people don’t have the right to tell us what to do”…And uhm at some point he then accused me of being physical with him, which I was not at the time. But it resulted in me having a conversation of the teacher who was then Head of the Prefects, so the teacher was head of the prefects. And this is what-

Interviewer: So you were then called in? Or did you go to the Head? No I was called in because he complained about it and this is – I think this is what he told me. I think his words to me were “You are always you – you always have to be at your best behaviour or you always have to be above approach” and I think he said this in Afrikaans of course…Because uhm you are the one that—it was a matter of your word will always come into question. And that’s why I say it shaped my kind of existence, because that’s how I think for the most part as people of colour, you

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always have to be… there is—your word always comes second. If there’s a person of colour and a White person in the room, uhm it doesn’t matter who the audience is, you always have to be above reproach. So, his intent was not bad. I think he just had an understanding of the way the world works and I think it was more in a coaching perspective. Uhm but again, in that moment I don’t think he understood the consequences of that.

At the age of twelve, Peter was faced with the stark reality of operating as a person of colour in a White space. By his own admission this shaped his existence, an early lesson etched on his habitus (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992) that continues to regulate his identity. The White learner who challenged his authority faced no consequences but Peter was called in over the false allegations. The head of prefects explained in a kindly fashion that operating successfully in a White space simply meant being beyond reproach. Two noteworthy aspects of these extracts lie in “the way the world works” and “I don’t think he understood the consequences”. Considering the first, “the way the world works”, the head of prefects is in effect describing the doxa (Bourdieu, 1987) that dominate this historically White space—a person of colour may enter but only on the condition that they will always be on their best behaviour, never inviting any doubt about their moral character. Furthermore, notwithstanding their exemplary moral character, where their word is in conflict with that of a White person it will be doubted. That these conditions are extremely inequitable is not considered or at least not made explicit. Bourdieu (1987) associated the State’s role in education as “the quintessential form of symbolic violence”. This is aptly demonstrated in this extract, not with regard to class expectations but rather in respect of what students of colour can expect in White spaces. Although meaning well, the teacher was unaware of the consequences of his well-intended actions. This lesson, during his socialisation for work, made an indelible mark on Peter’s habitus and continues to dominate the meaning he reflexively attaches to his personal and professional identity (Brown, 2015). “Beyond reproach” is the standard to which all actions and endeavours are held.

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Because it really used to be me negotiating who I am in every interaction. Me ensuring that the person understands that I’m a competent individual, I may be African, but I’m educated. That I’m a nice person, that I’m kind, I’m smart, I’m funny. I wanted all these things that I really like about myself, always to come to the fore and always to present myself in a very positive, very open -open light. And that became exhausting because essentially …Because I wanted to make sure that they had the best version of me….. and that’s also how I used to handle my students. I wanted to make sure that everybody had a great time when they came into my class, and when they walk out, it was an amazing and enlightening experience. And to what extent do we have control over that?

However, the strain of constant self-surveillance (Foucault, 1979) is emotionally exhausting and he is working at repairing his own selfunderstanding, something that has taken identity work, cognitively reframing his expectations about the degree to which he can please everyone (Ashforth & Kreiner, 1999). His motto nowadays is “I’m not a bottle of wine; I can’t please everybody”.

4.2.1.5 Learning to “Work” White Spaces—Or Not? After junior school,5 Peter moved to an English high school where he was involved in as many extra murals as he could fit in. Although at this point he was still struggling with gender-related identity conflicts, the space provided him with many opportunities to explore and fulfil other parts of his artistic identity, especially with regard to writing and producing plays. His reflective sense-making of this is two-fold: it made him happy and it allowed him access to White spaces: But I think I understood the power dynamics and I always wanted to manage the power dynamics …. So uhm I realized that in the school that I was at, being White was still the best you can—in the hierarchy …. I did a lot of extra murals and I did it because it made me happy, but I also did it because it allowed me access. Access to White spaces. If 5 In South Africa, junior or primary school includes Grades 0–7, whereafter students move to high school for Grades 8–12. Grade 12 is also called matric.

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you were in the Debating club or if you – I played rugby at that stage, I did athletics. If you were in the White spaces, it provided you access to Whiteness, it provided you access to status, right?

Peter presents his sense-making at this time as perceiving the power and status conferred by moving comfortably in White spaces. In his perception that being White was “the best you can be” he demonstrates symbolic violence (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992) and his complicity in his own domination as he attempts to manage his identity through mastery, a form behavioural identity work, in his case a host of extra mural activities. Key to the narrative of his immersion into the life of the school, however, is its outcome. In Grade 11 he was appointed a prefect but not head prefect, which he and others felt he deserved. He then shared a story of an encounter at a church picnic that confirmed his own suspicions regarding the reasons for his not being made head prefect. And he came to me and he said “You know what Peter? I know that you a little disappointed that you didn’t make head prefect” - because I think everybody also thought that I would make head prefect at that stage. Uhm and all the head prefects were White at that stage by the way. Uh uh but that’s just the way it is and this is what he told me, this is what a Coloured boy who essentially I didn’t even know cared or exactly saw me because we just took the bus together. He just came to me, he said “This is how White spaces work and I know you are disappointed…”

His being overlooked affected his motivation and he consequently engaged in cognitive and behavioural identity work: stabilising (LutgenSandvik, 2008) and hard work (Berger et al., 2017). In her study of bullying, Lutgen-Sandvik (2008) found that those bullied engaged in a process of stabilising during which they came to terms with the disruption to their core values and beliefs, for example, that hard work would be rewarded. One of the responses identified is withdrawal as a means of creating equilibrium between inputs and perceived outputs. In the same way, Peter withdrew from all school-related activities, channelling his time and energy into working hard on his academic studies, which led to his being the Dux scholar of his year. Halfway through the year, he

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was appointed as a stage prefect, which he attributes to the recognition by the school administration that he was fed up. In his words “I’m – I was [stutter] I had it”. In this instance, both strategies were successful, the first moderately so, being appointed stage prefect (a promotion but not his original aim). The second was extremely successful in that he became Dux scholar. Peter believed he understood the power dynamics and rules of White spaces, and he played by them, developing the cultural and social capital required to successfully navigate them. While his conception of the White space with regard to its general functioning was accurate, his lived reality in respect of his own embodiment was very different (Elden, 2007) as he misrecognised the imbalance in the application of the doxa (Bourdieu, 1987; Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992). While he was granted access to White spaces and allowed to operate relatively freely within them, the recognition of success for persons of colour worked on a different set of principles, something he continues to be faced with as a professional of colour.

4.2.1.6 It’s All About Your Start in Life The various stories I have shared illustrate the challenges learners of colour face when entering White educational spaces, and how they influence the early socialisation of aspirant professionals. Dorothy reflects on how lucky she was to attend historically White schools. Other Black learners with similar academic ability have no financial resources to rely on and make the best of their natural abilities. You do not have money to go to a good primary school, and then uhm you can’t get it, you know your English is not up to scratch to get into a good secondary school and like you know if you don’t have money and the classes are crowded and the teacher does not understand why you don’t understand something.

It is clear that she sees herself as privileged to be in the position she finds herself in; she compares her context to that of many of her peers, noting that it has been so different for many of them. Her education

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forms an important foundation in her professional identity and has made it possible to achieve what she has, highlighting the importance of structural factors in the construction of professional identity. Steve echoes this sentiment. The school he attended had been a historically White school and thus had better facilities, including an excellent library. In addition, some White teachers from the cities would periodically come and teach at these remote schools. Due to the exposure he gained in a more soundly resourced school, he was able to break the stereotype that White people are smarter than Black people, because he had access to these facilities. He believes that White people simply get more exposure. Yeah so I kind of like even broke the stereotype that maybe White people were more intelligent than Black people and what I actually experienced that’s not the case. We are all equally capable it’s just the exposure sometimes that our White counterparts have had very good exposure.

The other advantage of attending a multiracial school was the exposure to diversity at an early age, something that both Xola and Florence referred to as being helpful in their development and integration into the working environment at a later stage. This was because much of the identity work required to navigate White spaces successfully had been learnt and mastered at an early age. However, as the stories of Dorothy and Peter illustrate, the privilege sometimes came at a cost. Operating as a person of colour in a White educational space was challenging, even where socio-economic factors were not an issue. While there clearly were benefits in attending a multiracial school, these learners of colour paid a price for this privilege; their experiences were often painful and remain unacknowledged due to the supposed benefits they were accruing.

4.2.2 University 4.2.2.1 Setting the Context Universities in South Africa were initially established under colonial rule. From the outset, they were characterised by Eurocentrism, racism and

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segregation, along with the belief in the superiority of European advancement and civilisation (Heleta, 2016). They were initially established as bilingual institutions, but with the rise of Afrikaner nationalism some were transformed into Afrikaans-only institutions. After the apartheid system was instituted in 1948, however, epistemic violence and racism were taken to new levels. Higher education, much like the schooling system, was designed to entrench the notion of White superiority (Bunting, 2004). Historically White Afrikaans universities were generally very closely aligned with the ideals of the apartheid regime, while the historically White English universities considered themselves more liberal and distanced themselves from these ideals but remained in fact “islands of White privilege” (Heleta, 2016, p. 3). These universities were well funded, offered a wide variety of academic qualifications and, due to their predominantly White student base, were structured around either English or Afrikaans White culture and capitals. This is reflected in the management structures of the universities, the racial composition of academic staff, the epistemologies of the study material, the culture and practices of the university and its residences, the layout of campuses and historical buildings as well as artworks and other cultural artefacts (Abdi, 2011; Heleta, 2016; Kessi & Cornell, 2015). Academic discourse often frames Black students as “the problem” rather than the legitimate beneficiaries of much-needed transformation (Kessi, 2013), which has impacted the self-esteem and sense of belonging among Black students (Kessi & Cornell, 2015). For example, Maseti (2018) highlights the “psychological scarring” that she experienced as a Black body in the higher education sector, the foundation for all professional journeys. All but two of the participants completed their tertiary studies (both undergraduate and postgraduate) at historically White universities in Gauteng (both Pretoria and Johannesburg), the Eastern Cape, the Western Cape and KZN. One of the remaining two participants had studied at a historically Black university in Limpopo and the other at a university of technology in Gauteng. Two of the participants had completed postgraduate work through the University of South Africa, an open distance learning institution. One had a master’s degree from a French university and another a PhD from a Dutch university.

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4.2.2.2 Becoming Aware of Difference Kessi and Cornell (2015) suggest that one of the experiences Black students have when entering university is becoming aware of their “Blackness”. While this was certainly true for some of the participants, more generally the experience of going to university was about becoming aware of differences: class-related, gender-related and language-related. The participants can be categorised into two broad groups. Those who had attended multiracial schools were used to mixing with learners of different races and ethnicities and had acquired the cultural capital associated with doing so. For this reason, university life was less likely to be experienced as a White space and no specific mention was made thereof. Gender was specifically an issue for the female engineering students, while class, especially in relation to funding challenges, was noted by many of the participants, especially those without a bursary or scholarship. The exception here is Dorothy, who went from an English multiracial setting to an Afrikaans university where some students found her racial difference noticeable; she believed she caused them considerable discomfort. For those who had come from township or rural schools, university life and the integration of different groups was more challenging as they did not have the cultural capital or habitus required to integrate into these White-dominated spaces (Kiguwa, 2014). During their school years, they had interacted with other people of colour, whereas going to university meant negotiating a historically White space for the first time. For some of them their experience of university as part of their professional journey was bound up in their growing awareness of their racial identity and in some instances its inferiority in a traditionally White space. While isolation is often experienced by Black students in historically White educational settings (Kessi & Cornell, 2015), none of the participants highlighted this as a specific challenge. They often contrasted White spaces with their own Black spaces, which they shared with friends with similar backgrounds and interests, often coming from the same area they did. For Amina, for example, it was not so much her colour that was made obvious, as being exposed to diversity generally. She had grown

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up in a fairly conservative Indian community, and although she had been exposed to other racial groups, her school remained predominantly Indian. In the interview, she described her experiences of living in a residence because it was so different from her home in Durban. It was horrifying [giggles] - Uhm you had to – you move from living in your own house, with your own bathroom to sharing a bathroom with people you have no idea. And it’s a very diverse lot - So it’s not like you’re just with Engineers, you’re pretty much with everybody - Ja so you have got obviously your uhm - All the degrees, all the races, there’s just uhm – There’s everybody, ja it was I think it was a very harrowing ja experience - But to say – but I mean it was not insurmountable – It’s just different.

Evident in this extract is the embodied nature of the engagement with diversity: it is initially “horrifying”. Engagement that was up close and personal prompted the shock of having to share a space, not only with unknown people but with those who had been constructed as different and from whom one had been separated by the creation of fragmented racial spaces (Duncan, 2003). The shared residence brought those who were distant in social and physical space into close physical proximity (Reed-Danahay, 2019). Here space was not constructed as White but rather as a cacophony of diversity, resulting in an initially “harrowing” experience. Despite this initial reaction, she later reflects that res was one of the best things to happen as the close encounters she had in this context were foundational to her professional identity development. She has made sense of what was initially a difficult experience and integrated it into the narrative of her professional identity as a source of growth (Weick, 1979). In doing so, she engages in reframing the meaning (Ashforth & Kreiner, 1999) associated with this specific incident, a form of cognitive identity work. Exposure to this diverse group of people transformed her habitus as she was forced to confront her own perceptions and prejudices (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992). Furthermore, in negotiating what was initially an unfamiliar field she was forced to adapt to others, developing cultural capital that enabled her to communicate and socialise with a diverse group of people.

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In contrast to the “multi-coloured” rainbow space experienced by Amina, a few of the participants constructed their time at university as sojourning in a White space or, in Dorothy’s case, a White Afrikaans space. In the discussion of schooling, I6 explored Dorothy’s experiences as one of only a few learners of colour in her junior school. She then went on to an English private girls’ school in Durban where she was again one of only six Black learners in her grade. Here she mixed comfortably with White learners, although by this stage her racial awareness was raised, and she joined a group of predominantly Black girls as her friendship group. While aware of her racial identity in relation to a predominantly White space, a shared habitus and accumulated cultural and linguistic capital allowed her to navigate these spaces comfortably. However, when moving to a historically White Afrikaans University, a field that differed both linguistically and culturally from the context she was used to, she constructed this space not in terms of race but rather the identity resource, language. It was 100% a culture shock because uhm that all happened I got dressed when they tell you to get dressed in your uniform to go downstairs for the first time and I never seen that many Afrikaans people in my entire life. That was – that was a very, very big shock – There are no Afrikaans people in KZN… And everyone was speaking Afrikaans and I was like there’s that awkwardness of like when people are speaking another language and you walk in and you feel like you’re disrupting …

Significant here is not her shock at seeing White people, as she was familiar with this, but that this is framed, not in terms of race, but language7 . Their Whiteness was invisible to her, their language not. Painter (2008) argues that language and the social practice of speaking entail “…principles of visibility and invisibility; they propel subjects along different social and political trajectories; and they enable and 6

The initial interview was conducted by a research assistant (quoted here) but I explored some of these ideas with her in more detail in a subsequent interview. 7 Interesting too is the idea of being able to “see” someone’s language at first glance, highlighting the pre-interpreted nature of narratives.

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restrict vertical and horizontal mobility across social and political terrain” (p. 175). While they were made visible in this setting through their language, she was made invisible. As much as the linguistic capital derived from her ability to speak English facilitated mobility in White English spaces (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992) this capital was suddenly of limited value, and her inability to speak Afrikaans impeded her mobility in the new field. Her visibility was reliant on members of the field recognising her inability to speak Afrikaans and switching to English—something many were loath to do. Where her need was ignored, she was rendered invisible and thus without recognition in this setting. She was visible to herself, but only in terms of her lack of fit, her awkwardness and as a potential disruption to the normalised language practices. Thus, language as social practice cannot be viewed as neutral but rather as central to the reproduction of specific power relations (Fairclough & Wodak, 1997). Yet while she was rendered invisible with regard to language, her race, for some at least, was very visible, and highlighted her alienness. The English White spaces that she had comfortably negotiated as a learner were more familiar with her Blackness; her feeling out of place was less obvious as she had been positioned closely to Whiteness (Fanon, 1986). In the Afrikaans White space, her Blackness became more marked as not all those occupying the space were used to engaging with people of colour. She shares an incident that occurred during her first few weeks at university. Her neighbour in res invited her to her bedroom for some tea. While they were busy, the roommate returned and was visibly shocked to find Dorothy in the room. And then when her roommate, oh my gosh [giggles] I have never seen someone so shocked like [chuckle] because I walked in and she told me like to sit on her bed. And like ja and I remember like a look of like shock it is like ‘Oh my gosh you are welcoming this person and you are letting them sit on your bed?’

As much as she had been rendered invisible by her inability to speak Afrikaans, her visibility was heightened as an out-of-place Black body in a White space, and as such she was a “space invader” (Puwar, 2004).

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The association of space and race is a central element in analysing the ways in which Whiteness operates to dominate space, “locating social subjects and attributing characteristics to places” (Dwyer & Jones, 2000, p. 212). In the previous stories, we saw how relations of power intersect and highlight the visibility or invisibility of people. In the story that follows, we see how power relations—in this case, insidious historical race relations—also inform the knowledge produced within and about particular spaces (Neely & Samura, 2011). Solomon relates a story in respect of his decision to choose a particular university. His father, who was also his education champion, encouraged him not to make decisions about his future based on his past and suggested he attend what was a White university in Johannesburg. My father was more of an educator. I remember when I finished school, I wanted to go and study at the University of the North, but he said no, you must go and study at Wits. I said I can’t study at Wits because I am coming from a very pathetic and special background, I was not sure if I am a victim of a product of Bantu Education… I said, you see when I go to [White university], I am going to compete with people coming from St. John,8 Roedean who have done English as the first language… I am not in the same league with them. So, I will be more comfortable with the University of the North, but as you know that he was a sponsor, then, when a sponsor says go there, you go there.

The University of the North was the designated university for Black African students at the time, and we see something of Solomon’s habitus coming through—at an unconscious level, he had internalised certain beliefs about spaces and abilities. In this extract he reflects on his own association of spaces with particular educational attributes, suggesting that Black spaces are “pathetic” and academically inferior. White spaces—particularly private schools—must be academically superior. His sense of “conceived space” (Elden, 2007) had been influenced successfully by the racial separation and the intended meanings associated with it. Fortunately, his father insisted and he traversed the divisions, 8 St Johns College and Roedean School are private schools in Johannesburg, traditionally predominantly White and representing privilege in every way.

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“living” the White space (Elden, 2007). When faced with two competing versions of his identity, his own rather negative view and his father’s more positive one, he chose his father’s, and in the process realised that there were no fixed meanings to spaces and that Black identities could be associated with superior academic performance.

4.2.2.3 Becoming Aware of Disadvantage In addition to becoming aware of their race, students of colour inhabit White spaces as part of their university experiences, which also makes them aware of class differences and their relative lack of privilege. This was certainly the case in this study, particularly with participants who had attended rural or township schools and were unaccustomed to the discrepancy in privilege and unacquainted with the capitals associated with White privilege. While the aspect of disadvantage is widely acknowledged, I include it as a theme to highlight its continued relevance and to provide a holistic overview of the challenges and constraints experienced by aspirant professionals of colour. Advantages accruing to White students are best understood in terms of Bourdieu’s concept of capitals—economic, social and cultural—each of which was highlighted by the various participants. Desmond, in particular, highlighted the privilege enjoyed by White students: Kids that literally have everything, they have laptops, in first year we don’t have laptops, we go to the labs, whether there is a submission for an exam project, twelve midnight we go to the labs. It gets stuffy in the middle of the night because people are sleeping in there, because they have to finish just before they can go and sleep. People are stuck in their room; they have internet connection in their rooms, yah, none of this…. So, the whole Whiteness thing, it’s, it’s in your face.

Bourdieu’s suggestion that capitals can be transferred across fields was evident in several areas. Firstly, there were instances in which economic capital translated directly into a clear academic benefit, a form of symbolic capital (Bourdieu, 1987) as described by Griffiths,

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who expressed surprise at realising just how much support, including economic support, his White fellow-engineering student got from his family, assistance his own simply could not afford to give him. We would go to the homes of some of their – our White colleagues. And for the first time actually, you realized how supportive their [chuckles] fathers were. I mean one parent was – he would actually give us all the equipment we needed that we would actually have to buy but he – and he took pride in his son doing Engineering. They didn’t want his son to struggle.

Secondly, there were instances in which social capital provided access to symbolic capital (Bourdieu, 1987). As part of the requirements of the engineering discipline, students were required to do vacation work in engineering-related industries. For those students who did not have bursaries this task was quite difficult as it was not easy to get access to companies that offered vocational training. Desmond, for example, did not have a bursary during his undergraduate studies and therefore struggled to find practical work experience during school holidays. He compared his own struggles with those of his White counterparts whose family and friends had contacts that gave them easy access to opportunities in engineering companies. Given the importance of this type of exposure in the development of professional identity, one cannot underestimate the advantage of these White capitals (Lo, 2014) that remain unrecognised except by those excluded from them. In addition to the advantages gained by White capitals, there were also more obvious examples of stigmatised treatment of particularly Black African students. For example, Desmond explained how certain lecturers would be willing to explain concepts to Afrikaans students in Afrikaans (at an English university) but expressed frustration when Black students asked a question in English during a lecture. The micro-insults meant that the Black African students avoided attending these particular lectures (Sue et al., 2007).

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4.2.2.4 I Never Took It Like Okay, Now I’m Good Enough I asked Desmond about overt racial incidents at university and he indicated that there were very few as he had a small group of close Black friends with whom he interacted most frequently, whereas he didn’t mix frequently with his White fellow students. The one area in which he did interact with White people was when playing cricket, a specific form of cultural capital that allowed him access to a White space. Historically, cricket has been largely viewed as a White person’s sport in South Africa although this has changed over the last few years. However, unusually for a rural school, Desmond had a teacher who taught them cricket. He was passionate about the game, spending hours after school practising. Because none of his Black friends played cricket, as they usually played soccer, the only way he could indulge his passion was to play with fellow students who were White. The only time I would have interaction with White people was like if we decided, we wanna go play er…cricket. With cricket, we would actually go play, with the guy that I was very close to, yah, Oliver9 . We could hang out, like he would invite me out and stuff like that and we would play cricket together so that’s what brought us together because we both enjoyed playing cricket and we were good mates but again there are times where we would hang out, then there are times where he would hang out with his buddies but I never took it like okay, now I’m good enough, I never took it like that. If we get together that’s fine. If you do your thing, I, I’m okay. I think, that the only that I can say is that; it would sort of play at that the back of my head, is that you know, wherever you are with some of the White guys. I would feel inadequate somehow. That I would have to be honest with you even when you were with some of the White guys; you would feel inadequate in a sense of “am I intelligent enough, do I speak the right English?” … Yes, very important yah, your accent; yah, right accent, can I easily… you know, join into the conversation without feeling awkward or having to sit there and keep quiet because I don’t have the right other friends. (Desmond)

9

This is a pseudonym.

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The cultural capital Desmond accumulated through his ability to engage in a game of cricket provides an opportunity for agency and accessing what is essentially a White space. While he frames his connection with his friend in positive terms such as “good mates” and being “very close to”, a very different picture emerges with the phrase “I never took it like okay, now I am good enough”, which reflects an awareness of the boundaries this friendship entailed. It would appear that the material and institutional arrangements (Alvesson et al., 2008) as they are played out on campus and in the country at large had been incorporated into his habitus, influencing his identity work as he focused on his own perceived inadequacies with regard to intelligence, language ability and accent. Thus, despite having developed the passion and skill for playing the game of cricket, a cultural capital of sorts, at this point his habitus kept him complicit in symbolic violence (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992). This means he misrecognised the power relations at work, and the focus on his own perceived “inadequacies” constrained the ways in which this social space was made available for action (Ahmed, 2007), thus maintaining existing relations of power. The meanings he reflexively attached to himself (Brown, 2015) remained stifled and he was unable to repair or potentially revise them due to his own critical self-surveillance (Foucault, 1979). His difference, potentially a positive source of distinctiveness (Kreiner et al., 2006), was measured against the historical societal hierarchy, constraining his agency and rendering him impotent in revising these rather negative constructions. This results in “patiency” (Reader, 2007), and being acted on, rather than agency in defining his own identity. Once again we note the role of language and accent in inhibiting agency in the enactment of identity. Given that identity is “constituted through situated practices of language use” (Brown, 2017, p. 301), having to perform an identity in a language that is foreign and in which one feels insecure is particularly challenging. This combined with his own heightened sense of difference meant he withdrew from active engagement, effectively leading to a reproduction of the status quo and existing power relations (Fairclough & Wodak, 1997).

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4.2.2.5 The Impact of Professional-Related Support In both the engineering and accounting environments, support for students of colour is provided by structures related to the profession. In my discussion of the accounting profession (see Chapter 3), I provided an overview of the mechanisms aimed at overcoming obstacles related to professional closure, particularly the Thuthuka program. Since these have been documented elsewhere (Barac, 2015), I do not explore them in detail here. I do however discuss support and funding structures within the engineering environment and the impact they have in terms of general support and the development of professional identity. The specific structures in question are tied to organisations co-ordinated through an organisation known as Career Wise, which specialises in the management of bursaries, scholarships and internship programs aimed at linking potential funders with those seeking funding in a variety of academic fields. It was however among the engineering professionals that their name was mentioned as they are active in marketing and recruiting potential students, particularly among those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Several of the participants credited being aware of engineering as a profession and choosing to pursue a career in the field due to the intervention of Career Wise. These services go beyond simply recruiting and selecting bursary applicants since they include monitoring academic progress, visiting students at their institutions of choice and liaising with university departments where necessary (Career Wise, n.d.). The benefit of a bursary extended to vacation work as it provided experience and the allotted number of practical hours most engineering courses require. Philip shares how the holistic support provided by Career Wise changed his view of what university should be about. This contributed to his overall development and provided cultural capital that in turn would help him in his career. So, I got a bursary from Organisation Z then first year I went to Wits University. I studied mining engineering. And uhm I think that’s where mentoring started because we had the Career Wise guys coming there every – every six months, coming to ask us how are things? And I think one thing that moved me was in September 2004, so the first seven

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months of university I was in the top five of the class, so I was really focused. So, we had an interview with the director of the company that was sponsoring us with another person, I forgot his name. So, in there they asked the question “How are things?” then I was bragging and I told them “No, I have got A’s and I’m doing well, I’m very excited. I think this mining degree is easy”. And I had my results there, I gave them the results and they asked me three questions: “Do you have a girlfriend?” I told them “No, I don’t have a girlfriend” “Do you drink?” I said “No, I don’t drink” “Do you go watch soccer?” because Wits university was – the stadium was just behind my res. I told them “No, I’m here to study”. And they told me “These results of yours they mean nothing to us because you are manager, on top of that you are mining engineer. We want you to be a leader, we don’t want you to be a bookworm and have nothing. So, you are here to learn life, so that when you go into the industry you are ready to face the challenges that side”. So that thing created a shift in my life. And then from there on, I became an average student – a sixty student from an A student. And getting into the industry, and in hindsight I realized that I really needed those tools from – from varsity, you know?

While entrance to university and access to funding relied on Philip’s academic performance, a continued focus on it would not prepare him for success in the world of work, a fact his mentors recognised and challenged. Central to the development of professional identity is building relationships, developing networks and having a life. In the mentoring process, Philip was coached in the types of capitals—social and cultural—that would equip him for professional and organisational life (Bourdieu, 1987). What makes this extract particularly significant is that in the process his mentor projected an image of Philip as a potential manager, engineer and leader, challenging his own developing identity constructions of the bookworm engineer (DeRue & Ashford, 2010). Furthermore, the emphasis was on the person as a whole and what would make him successful in his journey in the organisation, both as a professional and as a manager and leader. This important insight caused a shift in the meanings he attached to various parts of his life, with academic achievement becoming less important and holistic development more so. The social and cultural capitals he developed subsequently prepared him for working in a diverse environment.

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When you want to win the hearts of the people at work, you need to talk about something that they can relate to or something that they know. So having talked to people from different backgrounds in varsity and learning about their culture, so it sort of formed a similar transition into the working space.

The importance of this holistic approach is underscored by other participants’ experiences. In reflecting on her time at university, Annie, an industrial organisational psychologist (IOP), suggests that her biggest regret was not taking more time for the social side of university, building relationships and developing a network, the importance of which she was not made aware of during her formative years. She had been nominated for various leadership positions but had never taken up the opportunity to explore them, primarily because limited resources meant that failing a year was not an option and she avoided the non-academic side of university so as to not be distracted by it. Florence was also supported by a similar programme through the Carnegie foundation, focused specifically on women and leadership. This too followed a holistic approach and helped her deal with the transition from school to university and the challenges many African students, especially women, struggle with. Aspects that were apparent in her interview relate more to class and gender than to race. Florence: At the end of every year, towards the end of every year, they would come. We meet, we go to maybe Constitution Hill or some place they take us to some place, where we discuss as a group the challenges that we are having as girls at school and all those stuff. I remember at some point I had to also give a talk to first year students and just give them a brief idea of how I experienced my first year. And that’s how we were all trying to support each other through the program itself. Interviewer: So you made mention of challenges as girls. Can you clarify that for me? Florence: I mean challenges as girls in terms of—you have got guys hitting on you, you don’t know how to react to it. You have got people making you feel awkward because you don’t have fancy clothes, you are just a

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normal girl from the townships who wears jeans and a t-shirt—no label. So sometimes you would feel a bit out of place, but I think with these programs you actually realise that there’s nothing wrong with you just wearing your T-shirt and your jeans and not wearing weaves and all of those stuff. If you had to look nice, you do yes—we put effort. But most of the time it was not really necessary. What was necessary was to study and make sure that you finish so that you can go work.

This programme focused on the university environment and equipping female students for its demands and challenges rather than for professional life per se. While not necessarily challenging the status quo, the programme provided practical advice on dealing with (possibly) unwelcome advances as well as sense-making in respect of class-related challenges. Since the university was a White-dominated space with the associated capitals, being a “no-label jeans and T-shirt girl” might have been awkward, but when this was made explicit Florence was able to recreate a sense of “normality” on her own terms. Thus, while this programme did not challenge Whiteness per se, it served to normalise and legitimate other ways of being that validate identity.

4.3

Employment Equity and Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment

In an attempt to reverse the discrimination of the preceding years, the new democratically elected government developed various forms of legislation to ensure a more equitable working environment. Among these were the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 (EEA) and the BroadBased Black Economic Empowerment Act 53 of 2003 (BBBEE). The EEA was developed to promote equality within the workplace while BBBEE was designed to promote economic transformation and the participation of Black people in the economy as a whole. These acts are aimed at Black people, which in this context refers to Africans, Coloureds and Indians, but include people with disabilities as well. The preamble to the Employment Equity Act provides some context for this section.

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Preamble Recognisingthat as a result of Apartheid and other discriminatory laws and practices, there are disparities in employment, occupation and income within the national labour market; and that those disparities create such pronounced disadvantages for certain categories of people that they cannot be redressed simply by repealing discriminatory laws 10 , (the EEA Act No. 55, 1998 was enacted) in order to promote the constitutional right of equality and the exercise of true democracy; eliminate unfair discrimination in employment; ensure the implementation of employment equity to redress the effects of discrimination; achieve a diverse workforce broadly representative of our people; promote economic development and efficiency in the workforce; and give effect to the obligations of the Republic as a member of the International Labour Organisation. (Employment Equity Act, No. 55 of 1998, p. 2)

The key points are firstly that the preamble acknowledges the devastating consequences of apartheid. While simply removing these laws would have been an option, it acknowledges that this would not have been enough to address the structural disadvantage caused over an extended period of time. Secondly, the law has as its aim the achievement of a diverse workforce that represents the population as a whole and the promotion of economic development of the entire workforce. In short, the aim of the EEA was to achieve more equitable representation in all spheres of the workforce and to ensure that qualified people from designated groups would have equal and fair opportunities in the workplace. Also aimed at promoting access to resources and equitable participation of Black people in the economy more generally, Government promulgated Act 52 of 2003: Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act. The aim of this act is to advance the economic interests of Africans, Indians and Coloureds in the economy more generally, and it prescribes certain practices related to ownership and inclusion. Central to the implementation of BBBEE is a scorecard that evaluates the degree

10

Italics are mine.

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of compliance in respect of racial ratios relating to ownership of the business, management, skills development, procurement and employment equity. Bearing in mind the context I have sketched, in this section I explore the impact of equity-related legislation, the ways in which it is countered, delegitimised and ignored, and the impact this has on the professional identity of people of colour.

4.3.1 I Was Not Part of Apartheid As a lecturer, Peter teaches on matters related to identity, diversity and inclusion, and highlights the challenges teaching the majority of White students about employment equity. Because most of them were born after apartheid ended, there is little understanding of its structural consequences. For this reason, the discourse surrounding employment equity is countered by the concept of “reverse discrimination”. When teaching students about employment equity and the connotations that it has, that these aspects have and then the notion of reverse discrimination which always comes up and trying to debunk it. Because what I often find is that a lot of the time when I’m trying explain to students the reality of the political majority or the economic minority (which is the Black students) in this context, I often find that they are often dismissive of it. They have a tendency to consider it not their problem, so they distance themselves from it uhm due to the fact that they have had no part in apartheid, essentially. And I have to find a delicate – let me put it this way – I have to always have to find a delicate way [clears throat] to transfer information about how the historical implications and the benefits of the past are transferred to the present.

Green et al. (2007) argue that there are two ways of looking at racism: a structural perspective and an idealist view. The former considers the structural inequity and advantage associated with race, whereas the idealist view suggests that people should be free from any barriers based on race. While the EEA is clearly based on the structural perspective, in arguing that employment equity is reverse discrimination White students

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are drawing on the idealist view, challenging the claim of historical structural disadvantage. While the students in question are mostly young and born after apartheid, implicit in their dismissal is a lack of understanding and recognition that their current position is directly related to educational and employment advantages (among others) that accrued to their parents and grandparents under apartheid (Verwoerd, 2000). What is conveniently ignored is that apartheid worked as the most radical and effective affirmative action programme ever designed (Fiske & Ladd, 2004). If the requirements of the Employment Equity Act can be viewed as an attempt to regulate the employment-related opportunities of White people, then the notion of “reverse discrimination” can be viewed as a form of discursive identity work aimed at shaping interpretation and shaping action (Kuhn, 2006). Framing legitimate legalisation and practices that address structural disadvantage as discrimination delegitimises them and their beneficiaries. One of the ways Whiteness is reproduced is through the construction of knowledge. This is achieved through having the power to construct categories and decide who belongs to them (Green et al., 2007). The construct “reverse discrimination” allows for the framing of the already privileged as victims and is used as a discursive tool to counter the legitimacy of Employment Equity legislation, working to maintain and protect White privilege. As Lipsitz (1998) argues, “the problem with White people is not our Whiteness, but our possessive investment in it” (p. 233).

4.3.2 The Employment Equity Candidate In the extracts below Dorothy and Sophia highlight some of the misconceptions around employment equity and BBBEE, highlighting how the ways in which it delegitimises professionals of colour and their achievements. Both extracts demonstrate the micro-insults conveying the belief that as women of colour Dorothy and Sophia were more likely to get a job or promotion based on their race and gender rather than on their education, qualifications or work ethic (Sue et al., 2007). In countering these micro-insults, however, Dorothy and Sophia engaged in

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various forms of identity work to establish their credentials as legitimate professionals. Uhm one of the things going in, when I started working was that you know, I [pause] there’s that “I do need to uhm I do need to work harder, I do need to prove myself ”. Uhm and some of that I think stem from conversations that you had at varsity and high school about the whole BEE thing and how you know people assume that you’ve got a position because you’re Black etcetera. And like I have had conversations where people thought I got into engineering because I was Black. And I was like “No, I got into engineering because my marks were really good”. (Dorothy)

In this extract, Dorothy highlights two forms of identity work in relation to BBBEE. Firstly, she recalls having to correct misperceptions regarding attributions made in respect of her acceptance at university, a form of discursive identity work. Given the existence of BBBEE, White people assumed she had been accepted to university based on her race. Here the Black body was framed as being reliant on external circumstances, legislation and transformation to achieve entry into university, thus presumed to be successful only through outside intervention. She was forced to correct this misinterpretation and highlight her legitimate right to be in the program, based on her academic performance (Kuhn, 2006). Secondly, she acknowledges her constant awareness of the discursive context and the collective meanings associated with equity-related legislation. These throwaway comments have become part of her habitus, to the extent that she is aware of the perpetual doubt shed on her professional abilities. In light of this, she is constantly having to prove herself and work harder, a form of behavioural identity work (Berger et al., 2017). Sophia shares a similar story. So then Articles ended and then it was time to find work. But then, that’s when this whole thing also started between uhm people are looking for Coloured Black female. Most companies are hiring that. So people sometimes come with those comments and said that you will be hired because of those – that identity. Not the mere fact that you qualified as

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a Chartered Accountant. It’s like okay fine [giggles] I have studied for so long and now you just telling me that I got the job because I meet that criteria. So then I tried to steer away from looking for like small companies because then everyone is like ‘Ah you definitely going to get it because small companies need to get their BEE status and their Equity Employment uhm correct’…then I found work at the current job that I’m at right now. So uhm – I don’t think that my experiences were any different to anyone else because uhm, yes we worked long hours and I think it’s also just part of who I am like my work ethic and everything. Uhm it was recently when uh I got a promotion that’s now that some people now came back and said that uhm it’s because they were looking for the Coloured and the female. And then I was like – because obviously I’m with this company for five years and I’m like oh the mere fact that [giggles] I slaved away for five years ….…. Because some people said, “Maybe you were not ready for it” but if I look at – because I mean I have been at the company for five years”.

Described here is an identity negotiation event prompted by Sophia’s promotion after five years with the company. Despite a tough journey to qualify as a CA and meeting the stringent standards to do so, when she started looking for work after her articles, like Dorothy, Sophia is reminded of her embodiment and it was suggested that her identities as “Black” and “female” would help her find work. In addition, when she was promoted after five years at the company some of her colleagues questioned whether she was in fact “ready” for a promotion. While Sophia puts forward claims of “long hours”, “work ethic” and “tenure” as being a central part of her professional identity (Ibarra & Barbulescu, 2010) and the justification for her promotion, those around her rejected these grounds, countering them with her being unprepared and ill-equipped for a position of leadership. Although the challenge to Sophia’s promotion was not overtly framed as a racial issue (Franchi & Swart, 2003) she was unable to shed the perception of people of colour as perpetually unready for positions of leadership, the persistent notion of Black inferiority embedded in the thought structures of her colleagues (Duncan, 2003). I would suggest that Ahmed’s (2007) proposition that Whiteness constrains what bodies of colour may and may not be or do applies and that Sophia was “not allowed” the space to be promoted

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based on her own ability and merit. Like Dorothy in the earlier example, she may only succeed through outside intervention based on her skin colour. To preserve her own sense of integrity as a professional, Sophia engaged in an interesting example of confirmatory behavioural identity work as she approached her line manager to ask on what basis she had achieved the promotion. He assured her that although their BEE scorecard was important, they would always appoint a competent person as they needed to make strategic decisions that would benefit the company. Despite this reassurance, Sophia’s sense of professional identity remains influenced by the images of doubt cast in her direction: I feel like, now I must work extra hard to prove that I deserve it because, if I do mess up then people are going to be “Can you see, what does she know, she just got it [giggles] she’s not competent”. It’s those insecurities that you sometimes start having.

These two cases represent different moments in the development of professional identity. In Dorothy’s case, she was at university, beginning to explore what it meant to be an engineer. In Sophia’s case, she had completed her professional training and was looking for her first job as a qualified chartered accountant. A university qualification and starting a new job, especially early in one’s career, represent important moments in professional development, which Ibarra (1999) suggests is an opportunity to experiment with a provisional self. This involves the interplay between current identity and future possibilities and involves conveying a credible image as the basis for a coherent professional identity, based on experiences and feedback from those around them (Ibarra, 1999). In both these instances, however, in making professional identity-related claims, these two women had reflected back to them a counter claim that suggested that they could not have achieved what they had without having external intervention; that as people of colour they were somehow incapable of achieving anything without the intervention of legislation. Griffiths sums this up most effectively in the discursive construct “the employment equity candidate”:

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And you have people thinking you are one of those employ— employee equity candidates. They would say ja, this one is also one of those to make the numbers. I was the only one Black guy in my – in – amongst twelve White guys that worked in our section. They employed one other Black guy after in 2015 I think to join me in my team but it’s for the past three or so years, I was the only Black guy. Now interestingly enough, the first few months I felt this I needed to – to – push myself to prove that I wasn’t just called here to make the numbers.

The label “employment equity candidate” is a particularly useful tool in the hand of “Whiteness” to question the competence of Black professionals and constrain their agency in the development of professional identity. Being “framed” as an employment equity candidate, implies that the person is there “to make (up) the numbers” and cannot in and of themselves contribute meaningfully to the organisation and its purpose. I deliberately use the concept of framing as one of its meanings speaks to ill-intent, causing someone to appear to be guilty and blamed for something they had no part in. In much the same way, this label aids the reproduction of Whiteness by framing people of colour as incompetent and thus restricting their scope and potential for action (Ahmed, 2007). I explore this in more detail in Chapter 5: The Professional Space. Related to the idea of the employment equity candidate is that of window dressing. It is this term that Lucy invokes in her description of the reluctance of the management of her employer organisation to transform and to increase Black ownership of the firm. The context here is that to ensure compliance the Employment Equity Act requires that employers submit an Employment Equity report. This applies to all employers with more than 50 employees as well as to those with fewer than 50 employees but with a turnover exceeding a threshold amount that varies from sector to sector. One of the professional accountants, Lucy, was required to attend a meeting related to the company’s BBBEE scorecard towards Black economic empowerment, how it was performing in relation to the targets set, as well as possible remedial actions. She shares her experience in the meeting and the implicit, untested assumptions that underlie the company’s actions.

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Because then we had a BEE meeting after that, where we were discussing how our company scored badly on BEE. And certain things that won’t be changed because of uhm perception. So, BEE is perceived to be in the corporate world in general – I think it’s perceived as a burden, by corporate South Africa and it’s getting more cumbersome for them. So – and they are busy changing the coding currently. So, they are changing the coding so that the people who previously earned points on things like procurement, because you can score high points currently if you procure from Black owned business. But they are changing it so that if you don’t have a lot of Black ownership, you still won’t make very good points. Ja but then the comments that will come up in a meeting like that will be “well we not going to – we are not interested in window dressing”. So that sort of says that you don’t believe there are competent Black people who can take up places of leadership in your organization. If you say – if you are calling it “window dressing” automatically without making a deliberate attempt to go like find talent. Then that to me says you know, we are still not where we are supposed to be. Ja there’s still a lot to be done and changing how people think about it and the whole ja. So, you can be a CA coming from a previously disadvantaged background, but it’s up to you to like carve out your own way, almost—. Because nobody is out there trying to deliberately create opportunities for you. And the perception will always be the same. The perception will still be—so even though we are governed by the same code of ethics, we have come through the same training. There’s still a—you are probably not going to deliver on the same level as—you know?

Coates (2003) suggests racialised systems of social control are agile, able to adjust to changing social conditions, and when under attack “can be found deeply submerged in the societal psyche” (p. 235). In this instance, the social control of predominantly White corporate South Africa is challenged through legislative mechanisms aimed at ensuring legitimate transformation. But, as Lucy suggests, things won’t change because within this collective psyche “perceptions will always be the same” and “things won’t change because of perceptions”. Here she is suggesting that a particular version of Black people as a group is being reproduced (Fanon, 1986)—of being incapable of delivering to the same standard as White people—despite the same training and code of ethics, which hints at a moral dimension as well. As a result, Lucy suggests that

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transformation is constructed as “a burden” and “cumbersome”, thus de-legitimising what is both legitimate and necessary. In this way, the process of racialisation is further reproduced and entrenched (Coates, 2003) and leaders in this context are complicit in the reproduction of Whiteness. Equating the inclusion of people of colour in the ranks of leadership to window dressing casts aspersions on the identity and leadership ability of people of colour, restricting their participation in the ranks of potential control and power. Furthermore, these attributions are made in the absence of any real attempt to recruit competent Black leaders, thus supporting Ahmed’s (2007) contention that “Whiteness orientates bodies in specific directions” (p. 150). In this instance, Black bodies are capable only of “window dressing” and are unable to take up positions in the top ranks of the hierarchy legitimately. As such they are rendered powerless, unable to make a material difference in changing organisational attitudes and perceptions.

4.4

Conclusion

In this chapter: Macro-Context: The Public Space, I consider the means through which Whiteness is reproduced in the macro-context, with specific focus on the education systems and legislation and the ways in which they impact the identity construction and development of aspirant professionals of colour. Both schooling and university systems serve as important mechanisms for creating awareness regarding race and difference, especially in historically White spaces. I explored the ways in which these systems act to reproduce Whiteness, furnishing professionals of colour with experiences that often have a lasting impact on their habitus, influencing their identity work over an extended period of time. In this process, I highlighted various types of identity work, including behavioural, cognitive and discursive identity work. I then explored the ways in which employment equity and BBBEE legislation are construed in ways that serve to delegitimise professionals of colour and constrain their achievement and advancement in the organisation, both of which serve to reinforce existing stereotypes and perpetuate Whiteness.

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5 Meso-Context: Professional Identity and the Professional Space

5.1

Introduction

Fast forward 27 years from the formation of a democratically elected government and many young people of colour are entering the accounting, engineering and IOP professions and the organisations they serve. Nevertheless, despite the change in political and legal dispensations, the character of the professions and their associated institutions display less than desirable transformation and are still characterised by privilege and Whiteness (Naidoo, 2018). This poses real challenges for aspiring professionals whose identity as professionals is intricately linked to the communities of practice in which they learn and develop their craft (Barac, 2015; Hammond et al., 2009; Wenger, 1998). By focussing on race we run the risk of reinforcing racial categories (Steyn & Conway, 2010), which is certainly not my aim here. However, it is nevertheless critical, if we are to effect any change, that we understand how Whiteness has come to define disciplines, institutions and professions and works to maintain its privilege. In addition, we need to understand instances of discrimination and microaggressions and how they impact identity work among professionals. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 A. Crafford, Whiteness and Stigma in the Workplace, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09811-6_5

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While there was considerable diversity among the participants regarding schooling experiences, there was more commonality regarding how they experienced the working environment. Apart from Philip, who explained how the company he works for avoids discrimination, almost all participants shared the view that discrimination and Whiteness are prevalent in their organisations in varying degrees. Their experiences ranged from blatant racism to open discrimination, microaggressions and the structures of White privilege, leading to inadvertent disadvantage. Frances, for example, refers to the idea of racial favouritism—differential treatment that she attributes to skin colour: “But now in the workplace I get to see the uhm racial favouritism, there’s— you can see that people are treated differently and it’s not based on merit it’s solely based on the colour of their skin”. On the other hand, here is Dora’s view of the management and employees of one of the firms she worked for: “I really felt like these people actually don’t like Black people”‚ suggesting not simply favouritism but an active dislike, even racism. Dora believed that it was only really in the working environment that privileged Black African people like herself were exposed to the awareness of being the Other. Like Dorothy and Peter, she had attended private and model C schools, but unlike them had experienced little discrimination or othering; nor had she done so at university. Thus, when she started working and experienced racial undertones for the first time in articles the differential treatment she received was a shock to her and triggered extensive identity work. She reflects: And uhm I mean not to champion the struggle, but I felt really affected by it and I think that, that—I often say you know and I—[sigh] you know I feel like even with my kids sometimes that really with a lot of us more sort of privileged uhm Black African people, the workplace is where you will really start to feel—it will be like a shock to the system. Uhm and that’s, that’s what it was you know, that’s where I guess it’s a [stutter]—it’s a more mature microcosm of society. Uhm where for some reason it just becomes a lot more pronounced than in school and in varsity and in high school and in all of those things. So that was interesting, ja. That was like my first time that I felt I had to [pause] fight for things. And that you were being either overlooked or … in a very subtle and that was racist.

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While Barac (2015) suggests that Black professionals from more privileged backgrounds tend to adjust more easily in the working environment, Dora’s comments suggest instead that their relative privilege in no way excludes them from the effects of stigma and Whiteness. In some respects, this makes it more difficult for them, as their expectations, given their relative privilege and professional status, are different from their actual experiences at work. Working environments differ. Within one organisation, for example, there can be pockets where discrimination is worse than in others. Frances works for a large government entity with approximately 75,000 personnel. In my first interview with her she was largely untouched by active discrimination, but this changed after she had moved internally before our second interview. She highlighted the extensive discrimination in the new division and the difficulties she had in accepting it. Anne: That is—that you are suddenly being made aware of your difference? Frances: Yes. And when I started working, I started in December last year. When I started working there, I could see. And then I asked the people but why is this the case? They said no don’t worry you will get used to this, it is how things are here. And I thought, oh my god [chuckle] but here I’m also starting to get used to the place, because you see the people are not going to change their mind-set that’s how they think, that’s how they do things….And for me uhm I have to fight with myself for me to accept the situation as it is but I don’t always want to be the one swimming against the current because you always get picked up for it, no you are always questioning things.

In this extract, Frances captures the dilemma of professionals of colour—fight oneself or fight the system; accept the way people think and do things within an environment or attempt to swim against the current. Neither is easy—with the first option, one accepts the system as given and attempts to panel beat one’s own dignity and expectations into submission, engaging in identity work by cognitively repositioning oneself within the organisation’s practices (Berger et al., 2017). This may

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prove unsatisfying for two reasons. Firstly, it leads to a reproduction of the White structures, and secondly, as Frances suggests, this may lead to a consistent internal struggle. While she suggests in the extract above and throughout her other interviews that she is getting used to it, this means a consistent internal struggle, and not something she can necessarily make peace with. With the second, expressing one’s frustration at the system and challenging the inequity, involves behavioural identity work (Koerner, 2014) that opens one to being branded as a troublemaker and liable to even more harassment. Charlotte alludes to something similar: “It’s like the minute you become the type of person that wants to change that, you become a target of the system”. What is significant in Frances’ extract is her reference to a mindset that allows a dominant culture to determine a set of practices characterising their organisational setting and to the challenges she has in attempting to adjust to them. What she points to is a process of socialisation (Schryer & Spoel, 2005) that is central to developing a positive professional identity, but also one of the primary means through which racialisation is reproduced (Coates, 2003). In their work on socialisation in organisations, Van Maanen and Schein (1979) refer to socialisation as a “people processing device” (p. 11). People undergo a process of identity regulation, the aim of which is to produce “the appropriate individual” (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002, p. 619) for a specific organisation or, in this case, a profession. Taken together, Van Maanen and Schein’s (1979) three dimensions central to the process of socialisation—functional, hierarchical and inclusion—provide a useful framework for understanding the ways in which Whiteness is reproduced in the professions under study. The functional element refers to the tasks people are required to do, organised into related areas of organisational functions such as marketing, finance and production. The hierarchical dimension refers to various levels of rank in the organisation and is directly associated with some form of power. The final dimension, inclusion, involves “the social rules, norms, and values through which a person’s worthiness to a group is judged by members of that group” (p. 19). Inclusion can only be accomplished if newcomers demonstrate that they share the same assumptions as to what is or is not important in the organisation. Given that social rules, norms and

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values are largely contextual and that South African organisations, especially those directed or associated with the professional, have been White dominated, socialisation may be as much about “becoming White” as it is about becoming a competent engineer, accountant or IOP. For example, Dunne and Bosch (2015) highlight the challenges young graduates of colour experience in understanding the differences posed by organisational cultures that are predominantly White, for example, codes of greeting.

5.2

Functioning as a Professional

Given that professionals are defined by “what they do” (Pratt et al., 2006, p. 236), access to tasks and work related to developing oneself as a professional are critical to identity development; being denied these opportunities challenges the very heart of professional identity. In this section I explore the allocation of work, the achievement of competence and mentoring as core challenges that professionals of colour experience in developing their identities.

5.2.1 The Little Crumbs: Whiteness and the Allocation of Work and Clients The title of this theme is taken from the wording used by one of the participants to describe the unfair distribution in the allocation of work. While Sadler and Erasmus (2005) highlight the type of work given to Black CA’s as a barrier to their success, this is not explained in much detail, nor are the dynamics of White privilege implicated in the way this is done. In this study, the allocation of work as a factor in the struggle for professional competence and the reproduction of Whiteness is something many participants referred to, although the nature of the processes at work differed between the professions. The allocation of work refers broadly to the way in which tasks are divided, primarily evident in the engineering profession, whereas in accounting the crucial distribution is the allocation of clients. This was

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mentioned by most of the accounting professionals and a few of the engineering professionals. In the accounting profession this was true for those who had done their articles through one of the big five accounting firms and through firms in the financial sector. Accounting is structured around providing various services including auditing, tax, investment advice and loan support to various types of clients, who vary in size, status and the revenue they bring to the firm. Obviously, those in prestigious industries, for example, large banks that bring in significant revenue, are perceived as high status and are sought after as potential clients for reasons that I explain below. On the other hand, smaller, less significant clients such as a pension fund bring in less revenue and are thus regarded as less prestigious to work for, with minimal benefits accruing to those who worked on these accounts. Allocation of work and clients did not arise among the IOP professionals. I attributed this to the contexts in which they functioned and to the fact that several of the participants interviewed were consultants with their own practices. In this context, it was referrals that were at stake, which generally occurred along colour lines, as attested to by Joe. The other reason it may not have arisen is that two of the IOP participants were in academia and another worked in the public sector where clients were not an issue. Oliver, who worked for a multinational corporation, suggested that during articles aspirant accounting professionals wanted to work with well-known clients in banking and insurance as they were necessary for building a good CV. He soon noticed, however, that client allocation was not distributed fairly but was influenced by class, social networks and capital (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992). I have to be honest with you, I wasn’t too happy with the client allocation. I probably got one client that I felt like this client is the best, it was a well-known bank…..One of our [stutter] trainees his dad, I think, was chairman of a well-known bank, and he used to get great clients… he used to get great ratings as well in terms of top performer... Another trainee’s dad … was also a big gun in another bank and he used to get all sorts of amazing clients. Sometimes even if they wanted to change clients around… it was easy. With me… would you jump through hoops, if anybody was to take you seriously you know.„ Yes I did have … the one bank and also a big sugar company.

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Oliver is alluding to two significant factors to consider in the structuring and reproduction of Whiteness in professional circles—class and capitals. Firstly, the influence of social capital associated with class, in this case being a family member of a chairman or “big gun” in the banking industry, translates into symbolic capital in the form of being allocated high profile clients. While the influence and benefits of this type of social capital is nothing new, it plays a significant part in the reproduction of Whiteness in the profession—in this case accounting. Secondly, Oliver is alluding to the class differences between those whose parents are in powerful positions connected to the accounting industry, and those like him whose parents are not. Elite members of the profession, who are generally White, are able to carry the capitals of their class to the workplace (Côté, 2011) and the association of “big gun” with weaponry gives an idea of their impact. Given the structural inequalities of the past, very few candidates of colour, and certainly none in the sample, had the connections that would allow for preferential treatment in the allocation of clients and work. While Black trainees are given the opportunity to work, their exposure to top clients was restricted due to their limited social capital, linked directly to the history of their particular form of embodiment and its class consequences. The opportunity to work with premium clients allows for two things: firstly, the opportunity to enhance one’s CV with premium audits to one’s credit (Sadler & Erasmus, 2005), and secondly, opportunities to solidify and potentially expand one’s own network and reputation. Exposure in these settings allows one to be recognised by people with clout, which translates into reputational capital, while the opportunity to build networks translates into social capital. Because Black trainee accountants have limited access to these opportunities, they are unlikely to gain or develop reputational and social capital of their own. Consequently, it is difficult for them to develop rival networks and capitals. The reproduction of this situation means that professions stay White dominated. Dora also draws discursively on the weapon/war metaphor in describing the “battle” for clients as clerks had three years in which to

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gather sufficient audit hours to sign off on their articles for registration as chartered accountants. Clients mean hours, and hours lead to professional registration. She explains: …in articles what you find would happen a lot is that they allocate you to clients, right. So, there will be a first year, a second year or two first years, two second years depending on the demands of the clients and there the struggles start. It starts because of the allocation to say who gets to be on the blue-chip client, who gets to be on this audit and who kind of sits in the office. Either unplanned or there was a thing called pension funds. Everybody hated pension funds, it was really—and you would find that they would put a lot of Black girls, Black trainees into pension funds purely because you needed a certain number of hours, otherwise you would probably just be sitting in the office..... And so that was really the battle also to actually be planned on clients because within that three years, you have to make x number of hours in order to actually be signed off.

Once finished with articles, Dora moved into corporate banking where she specialised as a transactor or deal-maker. This involves taking a business idea, translating it into a business case and developing a financial model to see whether it will work in practice and make sense financially. Transactors have a target to meet with regard to the amount of business they are required to bring in and develop into a viable investment. However, those coming with business ideas vary greatly. Some business ideas are developed by blue chip companies with a team of people who can assist in the preparation of the business case. One of these projects would typically cover a transactor’s goals for the year with a relatively small amount of effort. Other ideas would be submitted by a small business with none of the expertise and support and would require hours of input to bring them to the point of being feasible, with little contribution to the transactor’s target for the year. It was in the allocation of these clients that Dora once again experienced the racial element. So there were these rats and—we called them rats and mice, there were these rats and mice and there were these blue chip deals where if you did one, you have met your targets for the whole year and you are fine. And

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again, you would find very much a trend in terms of who was allocated to which deals…..…it was very racial….. And the thing with the rats and mice is that they are soo difficult that they actually will keep you very occupied…but there’s no value in it. So those were in the banking environment that were certainly very, very, very pronounced and you would find a lot of Black people get all frustrated and leave.

Since income generation is linked to promotion, the “rats and mice” mentioned by Dora, or the “crumbs” referred to by the next participant, make it very difficult to generate the kind of budget required for promotion. Working in a large accounting firm, Bertha also referred to the allocation of clients along racial lines, highlighting inter alia the role of social networks in their distribution. She explained that promotion was linked to income generation, which came from working with priority clients. In Bertha’s case, since she was constantly given the smaller clients, she would not be able to compete for promotion with her counterparts who worked with the priority clients. We don’t get the same opportunities. You find yourself always fighting for the crumbs at the bottom, whereas others are given you know, those ones that are going to look—when it comes to promotions, they are going to see that okay, this one has worked on the big four banks…Whereas you worked on some crumb in the corner, what kind of portfolio are you bringing to enable us to promote you further…. So, if you are allocated small clients, it means you have small budgets and I just with anything, small budgets like they can be from what - ten to maybe ninety thousand and to be promoted to a manager you need to like make what? Three million. So, with all the little clients of ten big—ranging from ten thousand to ninety thousand, you have to make three million. How are you ever going to get there? You are going to be working day in and day out, you won’t even get to that three million first of all and yes, you are basically going to be working your life away.

As a result of the way clients are allocated, many Black employees engage in behavioural identity work and leave the organisation; those that stay, struggle to move up the ranks. This has several consequences. Firstly, Black employees leave, meaning that there are fewer people

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of colour in the organisation and the system remains dominated by White privilege. Secondly, few Black professionals move up the ranks into the more powerful positions; leadership structures remain largely White and client distribution continues along racial lines. In addition, this reduces the number of potential mentors and role models for aspirant professionals of colour in developing their professional identity, and it facilitates the constant production and reproduction of White dominance in the profession (Al Ariss et al., 2014). Moses had a similar experience in the academic environment, where he suggested that module allocations were also done according to race. When modules have to be allocated, you will find that with Blacks it doesn’t matter we got the same qualification. You will be sitting at those lower levels…Where being Black it means that you must be sitting somewhere at third year level, and then second year level or even first year level. And you even find people who have been lecturing there for a while even with the qualifications. That they are not getting an opportunity to teach let’s say third or fourth level.

The participants surveyed in the engineering environment presented two very different types of professional experiences. Some of them worked for large mining houses that had a set development program for the allocation of work, which was adhered to with little tolerance for deviation. Philip describes this as follows: Then they’ll also be asking “Where do you see yourself in five years?” you know? So they will be guiding you for you to be there in five years, this is what you need to do: one, two, three. Alright. And the other important thing was moving graduates from one mine to the other because they believed that as young people we hate this thing of uhm being stagnant I’m just running out of words here. So we like change, we don’t want to stay in one place for a very long time. So they were very mindful of that. Ja—you know first year you are going to CTC so that’s where you go get your blasting in the first year. Then after that you come back, you lead a group of twelve people underground for a year. After that you write your management—mine management’s ticket, you know that in two and a

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half years, you will be in a position of management. And it’s up to you if you pass the exam then from there you just take it.

The process Phillip describes here is clear and structured with little room for deviance or personal choice, thus little room for racial favouritism. The question of “Where do you see yourself in five years?” further challenges his developing identity construction through positive images of his possible future, much like the development program he was part of at university, discussed in Chapter 4. Two aspects are clear from this extract: firstly, aspirant professionals are encouraged to think in terms of a future with the company, and their developing sense of professional identity is affirmed and supported through positive images (DeRue & Ashford, 2010; Ibarra, 1999). Secondly, the provision of a clear, structured means to achieve professional development ensures access to the required tasks, activities and mentoring. In contrast, Griffiths’ story provides interesting insights into the use of space as a means of reproducing Whiteness and the persistence of distinct White and Black spaces in some parts of professional practice. To provide some background, Griffiths had a bursary from an engineering company. He and a White fellow bursar, let’s call him Lenard, graduated at the same time and, having done vacation work at the same organisation, developed a friendship of sorts and as such had an interest in what the other was doing. So we met there at [company name]. Every now and then, when it’s holidays—so I knew what he was doing, he knew what I was doing. When we finished, my boss didn’t call us into one room. I saw this happen. Lenard has a laptop, he has an office, and he was told these are his responsibilities. He needs to do programmable logic controllers. Siemens work with these things, they’re automation things. And then I was eh - so I came and I asked him “So what am I supposed to do?” And he said “No, no, you sit in an open-plan where the technicians sat” and he will come back to me with a plan. I was—said “It’s fine, don’t have a problem”. Three months later, he said to me come. I said “But so what’s the plan?” He said “No, I have now come up with a brilliant plan. You need to go to—” [Company name] has about twelve different pumping stations but these pumping stations are—are distributed across Gauteng and don’t

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know where else in Vereeniging and so on. So the stations are more like your—there you get your below-technician get—people that basically just do maintenance. You give them a spanner they turn, you tell them check the level of water if it’s here, do this and—very low skilled individuals. And they like miners they have quarters where they sleep and they get food there and that’s what they do to maintain the pumping stations. Us engineers we’ll go there to check what everything is and do measurements and change and even do designs and stuff. And he said to me, “You need to go and live with these guys to learn their culture so that one day when you start doing real design work, you know what -what you must gear yourself on. Because you need to also know how to work with foremen and those guys at these areas”. I said “But every time I go there, I never even interact with these guys at that level….. He said “no, no, no, that’s my plan go for six months, we will see maybe a year but that’s—that’s what I think you must do. It will—it will open your mind, it will help you think”. And I looked at him, I was helpless and I thought maybe this is a joke, so I left, carried on… And I—as you can imagine, I didn’t know what channels to utilize, I just was very grumpy, very angry. I thought this guy is a racist.

This story is particularly instructive regarding race and space, and how the latter is used to discriminate against an engineer of colour. In this narrative, upon commencement of their employment Lenard, a White engineering graduate and Griffiths’ contemporary, was moved straight into his own dedicated space, in this case an office. This space was constructed as a professional one, with a laptop and a clear work schedule and plan, doing innovative work. Moreover, this “professional” space was at the centre (Lefebvre, 1991) of the organisation’s activities, where Lenard no doubt would receive focussed attention, mentoring and the chance to be considered for future opportunities. Griffiths on the other hand spent the first three months in an open plan office with the technicians, no clear work schedule or plan and no one in place to mentor him or provide professional guidance. Despite the initial discrimination, he did not complain and seemed to accept this without question. Thereafter it was suggested that he be moved offsite, totally de-centred (Lefebvre, 1991) and grouped as a kind of foreman with what are essentially maintenance personnel, who were more than likely Black like himself. He

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was moved from the centre of professional and managerial activity and by virtue of his race made to associate with those who were similarly embodied but had little or no professional status. The phrase “out of sight, out of mind” seems appropriate here. The story constructs two well-defined spaces within the organisation, co-existing and interacting yet distinct. The White professional space is characterised by having one’s own office space, the necessary technological requirements, a clear direction and access to professional relationships and mentoring (Billett & Somerville, 2004; Devos, 2010). The Black technical space is characterised by an open plan office or off-site production space, a spanner, and little direction or future. In this instance, meanings associated with space remain fixed and serve to reproduce colonial and apartheid-like segregation; space was used to constrain, confine and undermine Griffith’s professional identity development. Initially Griffiths accepted the allocation, cognitively making sense of the organisation’s practices (Berger et al., 2017). However, after a while, he could no longer justify the inequitable treatment and left the organisation, despite having bursary commitments that had to be resolved at great personal expense. While production environments can be great learning spaces, as Annie’s story attested, a very different picture is constructed here. This story provides an important insight into the way in which material and institutional arrangements and the division of labour, both central to the development of identity (Alvesson et al., 2008), work to reproduce White spaces and thus White privilege.

5.2.2 Perceptions of Competence If you are a Black person you are almost considered – you have to prove yourself, to be taken seriously. You have to—you have to go above and beyond. Ja,1 to cut it. If you are a White person, you are almost assumed to be competent until you prove yourself otherwise and you have to do something disastrous to prove yourself otherwise. (Dora) 1 “Ja”, originally the Afrikaans word for “yes” though used by most South Africans from all language groups as meaning “yes”.

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In line with Puwar’s (2004) findings regarding ethnic minorities in the UK, a similar trend was found among the professionals interviewed as part of this study. While they saw themselves as adequately qualified for the profession, having met all the necessary registration criteria, they were perceived differently to their White counterparts and did not receive similar recognition from their colleagues or clients. Their ability was questioned before they could demonstrate their professional competence, unlike their White colleagues whose credentials were accepted at face value unless they did “something disastrous”, as Dora put it. For a Black professional it was not enough to have the academic qualification and professional registration, there was the additional emotional labour of having to prove one’s competence. These assumptions appeared to hold across the three professions studied. Aspects of competence that were questioned included the validity of opinions expressed (Lizzy), the quality of work and the ability to deliver (Solomon) and basic knowledge of the subject matter (Bertha). Oliver suggested this had eased somewhat after he had qualified, but both Moses and Annie suggested that this had not really changed. Despite being an experienced consultant and working at the top management levels, Annie expressed it as follows: “And forever feeling like you have to prove yourself ”. One of the ways in which Whiteness is (re) produced is through knowledge construction and having the power to determine “the construction of particular categories and the process of deciding who belongs to these categories” (Green et al., 2007, p. 399). One of these categories relates to the relationship between colour, competence and professional identity. Central to the idea of being a professional is being defined by “what we do” (Pratt et al., 2006, p. 236). Professional identity dynamics are constructed around “roles and the content and process of work tasks” (Lepisto et al., 2015, p. 14). “What I do” as a member of the profession speaks directly to the idea of competence; by challenging my competence you challenge the very heart of my professional identity. By consistently questioning the competence of professionals of colour, Whiteness can challenge the claim of a person of colour to be a professional, and in so doing legitimate and reproduce White privilege.

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Moreover, status characteristics theory and Ahmed’s (2007) work on space suggest that perceptions of competence regarding professionals of colour have perhaps more to do with the perceivers than the perceived. Arguing from a phenomenological perspective, Ahmed suggests that attributions made about people of colour and especially Black people’s competence serves to shape what bodies “can do” (Ahmed, 2007, p. 150). This claim is supported by status characteristic theory, which suggests that any attribute, for example, gender, class or ethnicity, can serve as the basis for differentiating people into social categories. Based on the dominant values and beliefs of the broader society (Bunderson & Reagans, 2011) these categories, grounded in one’s habitus, are associated with beliefs about the differential performance capacities of people, irrespective of their position or actual task performance (Gray & Kish-Gephart, 2013). Thus, professionals of colour, despite having the requisite qualifications, learnerships and experience, are likely to have their competence questioned, not because of any lack on their part but rather due to the prejudice of White space and its occupants. How do Black professionals respond to these negative perceptions directed at their competence and thus their professional identity? Firstly, all participants admitted to working hard, best summed up by Bertha as having to “jump over rocks and mountains”. Much like the Muslim employees in Berger et al.’s (2017) study, they engaged in a form of behavioural identity work to prove their ability and justify their professional status. That’s when you started to feel actually uhm the mere fact that I’m a Black professional in a work environment, it means that if you are given a task you found yourself in a position where you need to give as much as twice more than the other races…In order for people to recognise that you can actually do the work. (Moses) Yes, it felt like you had to work five times as hard to prove yourself worthy you know your counterparts who were at the same level—we had the same level of experience, same level of knowledge you know. They have stacks of clients and you are there with that little one and you have to constantly, constantly prove yourself. (Bertha)

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I’m a fighter by nature, uhm aggressively so. So uh whenever a person tells me I can’t do something, I actually then take it upon myself—I take it upon myself and go out of my way to prove to them that I can and uhm ja like the whole driven, go-getter personality comes out…. So I always had to work harder, I would get in at six and only leave at ten and I would do everything I need to do, to make sure that—to prove myself. (Albertina)

In addition to working harder, Albertina also used verbal irony as a form of discursive identity work (Frandsen, 2015), suggesting that the only possible reason she could be a CA was if she had cheated, as within the profession she was only “permitted” the scope to be “incompetent”. …because I am Black, I am automatically incompetent…. Ja but clearly, I only made it because I cheated or something. And I had an encounter where I performed better than expected as they call it. And I uhm went over and above what was expected of me. However, it came time to get my rating I was still rated ‘That is what is expected of me’… when another trainee was doing even less than what I was doing, but because they are White and Afrikaans, they automatically are two rated and I’m automatically three rated.

Choosing these words, Albertina makes explicit the assumptions regarding her abilities that she is consistently faced with. Because of her colour, constraints are placed on both her professional status and work capacity by the stereotypes and prejudice that remain in the habitus of White professionals (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992). She suggests that from the perspective of the White habitus, Black people are incapable of achieving professional qualification and a “better than expected” performance rating, except by being unethical. By highlighting this aspersion on her qualification and abilities she raises an issue close to the heart of professional identity, that of ethics. One of the characteristics of a profession is the existence of an ethical code that binds the professional in service to the broader community. In the case of accounting in South Africa, the principle of integrity is central, requiring “an accountant to be straightforward and honest in all professional and business relationships” (South African Institute of Chartered Accountants, 2020, p. 34),

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something Albertina would be assumed to be incapable of, given that she could only have qualified by having “cheated”. As a qualified industrial psychologist in his own practice, Joe shared a story of how he was forced to negotiate and actively prove his competence as a professional in an encounter with a new client. In doing so, he engaged in a form of relationship work (Adams & Crafford, 2012) as he quickly positioned himself as a knowledgeable professional, working to actively revise the meanings and constructions that had been placed on him in a profession dominated by White bodies. Notable too is the reference to “those looks”—something Annie also referred to—the body language of Whites, the meanings of which are read by people of colour. While possibly unintentional, these non-verbal micro-invalidations (Sue et al., 2007) could be interpreted as a form of unconscious behavioural identity work by White people in response to their interactions with people of colour. In this they are betrayed by their habitus, on which is etched the racial divisions of the past and which continue to be reproduced in the present. I did a lot of work for Company X, which is a very White firm and I remember the first meeting I had with them I was getting those looks. There were a lot of senior managers and the one manager was saying but they were using the other company and they were talking about stopping the meeting and going back to the previous company. But when I started talking and they could see that I know what I am talking about they then relaxed and they were my client for a good two years.

Both Bertha and Moses describe cognitive identity work as they engaged in reflexive sense-making and self-questioning (Beech et al., 2008) in the face of questions regarding their abilities. Bertha recognised that a Black person in the corporate environment would be faced with White privilege but realised she could not take it personally or allow this to influence her and had learned instead to “hustle”, a word often used by Black South Africans to explain how they cope. While traditionally it has negative connotations, hustling in this context refers to “ensuring that you are in the right place at the right time; being resourceful; making your own luck and working incredibly hard 24/7 (Vacy-Lyle, 2018).

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Look, it just—it taught me how to hustle—I don’t know if there’s a better word for hustle and just not take it into heart. Because I think if you constantly think about that, you will go crazy. I think the odds will always be against you as a Black individual in corporate. So, you just have to develop a thick skin and do what you have to do…

When asked how the aspersions on his competence affected him, Moses indicated that it certainly impacted him psychologically, as being questioned all the time led to self-doubt, which triggered self-reflection. In a form of discursive identity work, he attests to the absurdity of these questions by stressing his eligibility for professional practice by virtue of his qualifications, a learnership and experience, but admits that they will probably always be there due to the colour of his skin. It has an impact - I’m not a psychologist, but I know psychologically it has an impact. Because if you are being questioned all the time, can you do—are you good?….You have to start questioning yourself. But like I said the answer to that is if you have ultimate confidence in your abilities and what you are doing, that’s how you answer that question. But it will always be there. Because if you are being questioned “can you actually do the—we understand you got the qualification, we understand you have gone through the learnership, we understand you have been doing this—but can you really do it?”

5.2.3 Mentoring Observing role models is one of the key elements Ibarra (1999) highlights as crucial in the development of professional identity. Having a role model or mentor allows the aspirant professional the opportunity to explore the intricacies of the profession under the guidance of a more experienced person. A supportive mentorship relationship is a form of cultural capital that provides early career professionals with the opportunity to establish key practices and mindsets necessary for holding their own in the profession. In addition, a role model plays an important part in providing the developing professional with critical feedback and counsel (Pratt et al., 2006) in the process of exploring appropriate

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behaviours and values (Ibarra, 1999), helping them turn competence into proficiency (Eraut, 2008). Most participants reported a dearth of mentoring or “skills transfer”, as the engineers referred to it, but some provided instances of having mentors who had played a crucial part in their development. While all developing professionals require access to a mentor, this was especially so among professionals of colour. As Sophia observed, many of the White candidates had family who were CA’s who would be able to counsel them in the finer details required. Remember, some of the guys either their brothers or sisters who are CAs already. So obviously they can then go home and bounce ideas off. But you on the other hand you don’t know anybody [giggles] so then you really have to figure out things.

Because of the history of the professions, very few professionals of colour had access to the same cultural capital, missing a work-based relationship that provides a safe environment for asking so-called “silly questions” (Eraut, 2008), which are nevertheless critical for developing professionals. Mentoring relationships mentioned by the participants included the informal, sometimes personal relationships mentioned by Joe, Desmond and Amina, or more formalised ones in the case of Phillip and Charlotte, or the buddy system in some of the accounting firms, mentioned by Sophia and Oliver. Lillian also mentioned an informal buddy system developed alongside the formal one and driven by more experienced trainees of colour familiar with the challenges faced by a first year. She describes the type of advice shared in the context of these relationships. You need to have that attitude that you are not owed anything. Yes, you don’t have a car, don’t let that be a limitation for you to not go to certain clients or give that as an excuse for not working late. You must always have a plan B’ and then he was like ‘it is not their fault that you don’t have a car, so don’t make it their problem. If you can find plan B, then use plan B. If you are going to a certain client, don’t always be like I don’t have a car. Maybe for the first day, ask one of the people to give you a lift to the client. When you get there, there will be ladies there, the

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receptionist or the cleaners who work there who use public transport. Ask them how you get to work. So that you can get to work on your own. Otherwise, you are going to be in a situation where they are not going to give you certain clients because you are always that person who has got transport problems. Sometimes even working late, maybe if you can’t work that late, maybe say to your manager, can I take work home? Don’t say I can’t work overtime because I don’t have a car. Yes, do mention that you have transport restrictions, but you don’t mind taking work home. So that you can work from home and then get the work done.

The advice focussed on overcoming the practical challenges faced by trainees of colour, for example transport. This is a big issue, as trainee CA’s are required to move between clients in a country with unreliable formal transport systems. Due to their disadvantaged background they do not have their own cars. The informal buddy system provided advice on how to balance enacting their professional identity with the constraints placed on them because of their background, effectively offering an identity work resource. While still at school both Joe and Nelson benefitted from role models who provided an aspirational function, opening possibilities they had not yet considered given their geographical location and the historical realities. Joe described himself as “just a boy from Diepkloof,2 went to a model C school but I had never met a psychologist”. Before meeting his mentor, Joe remembers seeing lawyers, doctors, nurses and teachers in his family but never a psychologist. This encounter opened up a “possible self ” (Markus & Nurius, 1986) he had not yet considered. This encounter also influenced him at a socio-material level, as he viewed the possibilities a career in psychology could provide: I was lucky to meet a psychologist and I actually had career counselling. I started asking him about what is a psychologist because I have never met a psychologist before. He had a decent lifestyle, had a decent house in the suburbs and so on and I figured that this would be a chosen profession for me.

2

Diepkloof is a suburb of Soweto, one of the largest townships in Gauteng.

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Nelson had planned to be a taxi driver as his home environment had not provided many other aspirational options. However, in his matric year he met a young CA who had started a Saturday School in their township with the aim of providing additional tuition in various subjects, mathematics being one of them. Here he was introduced for the first time to the auditing profession and was also given a tour of the local university campus. Much as with Joe, this encounter opened up a possible self he had not yet considered, and he embarked on his accounting studies the following year. He now teaches at the same university. For historical reasons the engineering profession is structured so that there are more engineers entering the profession than there are in middle management, from where mentors would be drawn. For this reason younger engineers are often allocated much older mentors, who are most likely older White men. For young female engineers of colour this means finding a mentor across racial, gender and age barriers, which often proved challenging as there was no common point of reference. So like asking uhm like a specialist whose been working for thirty years to mentor someone straight out of varsity you know, doesn’t work because there’s not that much patience and there’s so much—there’s too much catching up—to do in that. So that’s one of the problems. (Dorothy)

The most telling example in this regard is that of Charlotte, who compares her experience with that of a White Afrikaans trainee who was employed at the same time she was. In the extracts below I include a few of her diary entries as well as an extract from her interview. Today I was invited to a project meeting for the very first time, with a Project Manager, Systems Engineer and other engineers and my project was the topic of discussion. My fellow intern has been invited to big meetings every week since we started, and she learns a lot in those meetings. I just keep wondering why my own ‘mentor’ never invites me to meetings. (Charlotte, diary entry) My fellow intern (White) was taken to the production facility to learn how one of the key products is made. She is even helping with the assembly of the product, being taught step by step how everything works.

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It’s not like she wasn’t given another project to do, but still she was invited downstairs for the day. I think I could have benefitted from that as well, but for some reason I was left behind. In general, I can’t help but feel she is learning more than me much faster, and I’m just left alone in the background, only spoken to when there is absolute need. (Charlotte, diary entry) She’s uhm being integrated faster into—into the every-day life of all the colleagues..…especially about the ins and outs of the company itself and the products that we’re working with, she’s hands-on on them and I’m not really given that opportunity to be as deeply involved as she is. Interviewer: And why—why do you think that that happens? Is it a social thing? Uhm [pause] well [sigh] the main thing I guess is because we have different mentors working on—on different types of projects. So her mentors have taken on the—the approach of I guess like step-by-step be with her and and bring her into whatever they’re doing quickly and with that she understands the company and those projects much faster and and my mentor is kind of “here is your project, work on that finish it. And when you’re done, we can go onto the next thing

However, a little later in the interview she suggests Her being able to integrate faster than I am. Is it because I’m Black and she’s not or is it just something else?....... So like for this integrating thing for the first what Feb [pause] ja March as well. So like for the first few times we were just like ‘no it’s not, you’re new, it’s not anything else, it’s just it takes a while’. But then you get tired of validating and then you just go ‘you know what, this is what it is’ and you deal with it

In these extracts, Charlotte is making sense of the differences between her own mentorship process and that of a White Afrikaans fellow trainee. In a process of reflexive sense-making she grapples with the differential treatment between herself and her contemporary but resorts to cognitively repositioning the organisation’s practices (Beech et al., 2008; Berger et al., 2017). Although the differences could be traced to having different mentors, she struggles to continue justifying it along these lines

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and over a period of time considers the possibility that it may also be because she is Black. She ponders the missed opportunity presented by visiting a crucial work site (Eraut, 2008) and what the exposure could have meant for her learning as well as her developing identity as an engineer. While we cannot know the true motivation, ultimately, she concludes that she must stop trying to defend the system or find excuses, and, combined with her exclusion in other areas (see the discussion on language) she concludes that it is indeed based on her skin colour.

5.3

Hierarchy: Moving Up the Ladder

Our talk about racism is read as a form of stubbornness, paranoia, or even melancholia, as if we are holding onto something (whiteness) that our arrival shows has already gone. Our talk about whiteness is read as a sign of ingratitude, of failing to be grateful for the hospitality we have received by virtue of our arrival. It is this very structural position of being the guest, or the stranger, the one who receives hospitality, which keeps us in certain places, even when you move up. (Ahmed, 2007, p. 164)

As indicated, moving up the hierarchy refers to various levels of rank in the organisation and is directly associated with some form of power (Van Maanen & Schein, 1979). Many of the participants were fairly junior in their professional lives and thus had not started moving up the “ladder”, so to speak. In addition, several were in academia and in their own consulting businesses where the prevailing hierarchy was less of an issue. Despite this, the issue was raised by several of the participants, whose experiences we explore here. Bertha raised the issue of representation in the ranks of middle managers and partners at the large accounting firm at which she is employed, where most partners, associate directors and senior managers were White. She also suggests that those Black professionals who were promoted left due to the discrimination they experienced.

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No, not at all. That’s one thing I always like had an issue with. But it’s also because of the environment that you work in, that you don’t have that demographic representation at the top. So like I can only—there’s only two Black partners that I can think of—no three, that I can think of at the moment. The rest are White male partners and females as well, there’s also one Black female partner in the tax department and she was appointed recently as well. White female partners—I can only think of two at the moment. And then, managers predominantly, are all White and then ja, the senior managers and the AD’s most of them are White. And with the managers as well, there’s quite a few Black managers, but you know, they don’t stay in the firm because we are treated the way we are.

When asked what prevented people of colour moving up in the ranks, Bertha and Dora mentioned the allocation of clients, which I discussed in Sect. 5.2.1 as this was linked to promotion criteria. Not being allocated to premium clients meant that the overall budget one managed fell short of the requirements for promotion and thus the allocation of work directly affected one’s opportunity for promotion. Nelson mentioned accent as a key factor that hindered promotion in the financial services company he worked for: those who spoke English well were more likely to be promoted. In this instance, the White space is supported through accent, which acts as an informal selection criterion for upward mobility. Albertina and Frances both suggested that while Black professionals were given the position, they were denied the authority that should have accompanied it. Thus, while measures were put in place to promote people of colour, they were often viewed as figureheads, with little real authority. [The organisation] has [pause] have measures and whatever in place, that create an opportunity or a platform rather for me to progress, than my White counterparts. However, and I have come to realize that 1. Our Black heads don’t actually have authority, they are puppets. The White heads are actually still leading from behind…So I have a—I started a division where I was part of a division where there was just the two of us, they got rid of the one a White male and they brought in another

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one a White male. So we were leading this and then my Afrikaans other White boss came into the picture and he was now part of this division. He then became the head of this division, and I became the head of the sub-division or rather, he gave me the title as the Head of the Subdivision. However, when it came time for me to attend meetings and talk presentations in front of people that matter, I have the title but not the role. (Albertina)

This extract provides an excellent example of (in)visibility (McDonald & Harvey Wingfield, 2008). Albertina is made “visible” through the platforms that favour the progression of people of colour, and more specifically women. While these initiatives are necessary, they nevertheless objectify her body of colour and in so doing highlight its visibility (Fanon, 1986). Yet once she had taken the position of visibility she was at the same time rendered powerless and invisible: powerless, through the objectification of her body, which restricted her agency in exercising leadership (Fanon, 1986), and invisible by the organisational habitus that structured social interaction and consequently pushed her to the margins (McDonald & Harvey Wingfield, 2008). This resulted in mixed signals, one suggesting she take a position and lead, the other reinforcing the White male as the rightful leader. Organisational habitus, which here is closely linked with professional habitus, holds, through habits, the convergence of meaning around acceptable styles, capacities, and techniques that are inherited as a set of homogenised practices (Ahmed, 2007, p. 154; Crevani, 2018). In the past, White males have habitually been the comfortable occupants of leadership positions, exercising action without constraint. This naturalised habit is reproduced in this setting, and Albertina, despite starting the division, is reporting to a White male as its leader. The most illustrative narrative with regard to moving up in the hierarchy is that of Amina, an engineer working in the aerospace industry. When she began working for the organisation while busy with her masters, she experienced little exclusion based either on gender or race and she felt welcome in her working environment. This changed when she moved to another division, however, and over time she moved up the ranks to manage the entire division. Not only was she much younger

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than the rest of the management team, but she was also a woman of colour. Her earlier experiences are a significant contrast to those in a senior management position, and I would suggest that it was only in moving into the senior role that she came to be perceived as a woman of colour and it was this label that was used to undermine and challenge her authority. But in that environment, there were people that were threatened by junior people coming through uh and I had to manage this group [chuckles]— these guys. And they were just not willing to change and that’s the one aspect. And and they just they felt that for as long as they don’t want to move out of management to make room for people newer, fresher ideas, they just wanted to stick with what they [pause] conventional, orthodox, pre-90’s thing….. That was—well one of the guys one of the younger—well I suspect, that one of the senior managers that reported to me when I got the job as engineering manager, told them I got it because I was a fem—Black female. And one engineer walked up to me about eight months whilst I was into the job and told me “Okay I want to apologize because uhm I only thought you got this job because you’re a Black lady. But you actually did some things”3

Interviewer: To you? They said that to you? [chuckle] Ja well he walked into my office, sat down [pause] and told me that…..I didn’t say anything. I think I just—I think I just when he left, I closed the door and cried, that was the only thing I could do [giggles]. I think all along you know that people think that….So that was the first time I think I have been exposed to this other side that everybody talks about.

While she suspected that these stereotypes were being mentioned, facing the reality during the encounter in her office was deeply upsetting for her. While the engineer in question compliments her for her 3

To illustrate her abilities, Amina and her achievements are mentioned in an edition of the “Top 100 Women in Business and Government”. To maintain her anonymity, I have deliberately excluded the edition.

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achievements (in a strange underhand way), it is the false assumptions surrounding her appointment that she reflects on in recalling this story. This demonstrates the ways in which the concept of the “Black female” and the meanings construed around this term were used as a discursive mechanism to undermine and challenge her leadership ability, demonstrating how Whiteness works to reproduce itself. The two key aspects that we can take from this narrative are firstly, that leadership in this context is construed as a White male space, and secondly, her epistemic advantage as a “Black4 female” allows her to break free from a group-think situation. In her upward mobility she crossed a boundary, moving beyond her “historically appropriate” social position or “place” (Reed-Danahay, 2020), and in so doing she disrupted the historical leadership hierarchy established in the organisation and the broader profession (Bourdieu, 1989). She is not the “historically appropriate” occupant of the space and thus, like Albertina, becomes hyper-visible, open to stigmatisation and subject to super-surveillance and infantilisation (Puwar, 2004). However, the stigma she was subject to tells us more about the White habitus and its biases than it does about her own considerable abilities, which she used to implement several changes. Based on the epistemic privilege afforded by her habitus (Mussel, 2016), she challenged the conventional, orthodox, pre-90s culture and manner of operating, and was successful in making changes that for the younger engineers were positive. In doing so, she dislodged the ways in which she has been framed (Puwar, 2004), eliciting praise from a reportee whose respect she had garnered despite the negative expectations. However, the “confessionary compliment” confirmed what she suspected—she had been stigmatised because of her gender and race, and it is this, rather than the praise, that impacts her most. Until this time, although she was aware of the stigmatisation of women of colour and suspected this may be applied to her, she had never experienced this openly.

4 Here I am using “Black female” as used to in the Employment Equity Act as referring to all women of colour, Black, Coloured and Indian.

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Inclusion: Being Included as a Professional

The third aspect identified by Van Maanen and Schein (1979) is that of inclusion. As indicated, this refers to “the social rules, norms, and values through which a person’s worthiness to a group is judged by members of that group” (p. 19). In the case of the professions, these rules, norms and values relate to the doxa that govern the profession and, as we established in Chapter 2, are historically aligned with White cultural practices and a very specific standpoint (Frankenberg, 1993). In addition to competence, Puwar’s (2004) study also found that women and minorities in the UK public service were required to conform to the existing White male norms and engage in a form of social cloning, something that not everyone was equally able to comply with. This too was by and large the experience of many of the participants in this study.

5.4.1 Professional Bodies Although the history of racism and segregation in the profession of psychology is well documented (Cooper & Nicholas, 2012; Foster, 1993; Louw & Van Hoorn, 1997; Naidoo, 2018) these authors focus on the years before 1994, and they did not focus on the sub-discipline of Industrial Psychology. As far as I can tell, the current study is the first to explore the barriers of professional closure that face South African IOPs of colour and the impact of Whiteness on their professional identity. Annie is a Coloured professional who from a young age had her heart set on becoming an IOP. I approached her particularly for the study as she had attended what is considered to be a very conservative, historically White university and I was particularly interested in her experiences in this setting. Interestingly, however, it was not her university experiences that were foremost in her mind when considering her experiences of discrimination but those afforded by the professional body5 designed

5

The professional body she is referring serves a similar function to the American Psychological Association and is affiliated to SIOP, division 14 of the APA. SIOPSA has recently formed a

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to develop and further the interests of South African industrial psychologists. Annie experienced the professional body, SIOPSA, as so dominated by White bodies as to leave little or no room for IOP’s of colour. At the individual level, as a space for action, it was most accommodating to White bodies, especially males (Ahmed, 2007). I think, especially in industrial psychology I think the biggest challenge is the environment. It has always been a very White male dominated field. And the atmosphere created in the society has kind of blocked out nonWhites—it has been an extreme….It’s White male dominated… So you don’t have a voice in there, uhm you go so if you go—in my days when I graduated if you go to the society, the majority of people around you is White. Uhm if you go to the XXX Study Group, it’s—the people in charge, the people is all White Afrikaans and it’s very cliquey…Okay the people presenting papers are all White Afrikaans ….so it’s a very—the industrial society, was a very cliquey and has always been.

In this extract White cultural capital is depicted as agentic (Lo, 2014), “people in charge” and “presenting papers”, while in contrast Annie has no voice in the face of institutionalised Whiteness (Jones, 2000). While she is quick to reflect on her own reasons for these impressions, citing her previous experiences of racism as critical to the formation of her perceptions, she admits to this triggering considerable identity work: So uhm so the other—that was the one thing. The other thing that’s interesting or difficult for me, I always battled with this thing about identity. So even in our first year when we studied identity a lot and I read about it, I really battled because [sigh] and, and it’s something I’m still kind of working out. Do I even have an identity, and what is identity for me? So, when you say “professional identity” I immediately thought what is my professional identity? you know?...... So that’s an interesting thing because when I finished my Master’s because I always wan- I don’t know why but I just from a very young age, knew I want to be an industrial psychologist… I had a sense what it was, I read up. I also spent some time with

Black Industrial and Organisational Psychologist (BIOP) caucus to deal with matters related to systemic racism, whiteness, and other challenges of IOP’s of colour in the profession.

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people in the business to see what it is that they do, but just had a— because I have a passion and understanding how people think and why things and how people in a context work…. So, I have always just knew, I want to—it was like my dream in life just to have that title and I saw psychologist because of what it represented for me. So, it was interesting for me that now studying for six, seven years whatever it took to get that cap and to register and to get your registration at, [pause] it didn’t take me very long to disassociate from that title. So, I actually literally stepped away from being industrial psychologist.

In reflecting on her early experiences in the profession, for a time Annie dis-identified completely (Elsbach, 1999) with her professional identity as an IOP, choosing rather to be associated with management consulting. The material and institutional arrangements of the profession (Alvesson et al., 2008), the space and the embodied hierarchies did not allow room for her to follow her dream. It is important to stress that Whiteness does not originate in the specific White Afrikaans male bodies present in the society at the time but rather in the historical patterns and institutionalised practices (Lew, 2006) that allow them to occupy the space so comfortably. However, this privilege that accrues to them based on the historical construction of space and its association with White bodies remains largely unrecognised (Bradbury, 2013). Despite the fact that Annie had grown up speaking Afrikaans so that language was no barrier in this instance, the institutional arrangements resulted in feelings of discomfort and a lack of welcome (Chandler, 2014). The lack of support and “granting” (DeRue & Ashford, 2010; Ibarra, 1999) by the institutions meant to foster and develop professional identity, did not provide her with the room or the identity-related material to support her own fledgling sense of professional identity.

5.4.2 Language I have not consulted the African people on the language issue and I’m not going to. An African might find that ’the big boss’ only spoke Afrikaans or only spoke English. It would be to his advantage to know

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both languages. (Punt Janson, South African Deputy Minister of Bantu Education, 1974)6

I include this quote from Punt Janson, the erstwhile deputy minister of so-called Bantu Education, as it highlights the thinking associated with Africans and language during the Apartheid era and sets the context for my discussion of language and Whiteness. Language was central to Afrikaner nationalism (Sparks, 1990). Part of the apartheid agenda was enforcing education for Africans in Afrikaans with little recognition of the native African languages. Indeed, an important milestone in the struggle for freedom was the Soweto uprising, which took place in reaction to enforced education in Afrikaans. For many African people there is a close association between the language and the oppression it signified. Bakhtin (1981) argues that language is closely linked to identity and is the means through which culture, values, tradition and emotions are constructed and conveyed. As such, language is a powerful material and symbolic mechanism through which Whiteness is constructed and reinforced, inhibiting professional development and inclusion. In South Africa, the use of language is closely associated with colour. There are eleven official languages, two of which, English and Afrikaans, are the mother tongue of White, Coloured and Indian people, while the other nine are indigenous African languages.7 Today, many younger Black people do not understand or speak Afrikaans,8 in part because of its association with racism and oppression. Thus, language is neither neutral nor powerless but sensitive to the conditions and context of its use; as Bourdieu and Wacquant (1992) suggest, “Every linguistic exchange contains the potentiality of an act of power, and all the more so when it involves agents who occupy asymmetric positions in the distribution of the relevant capital” (p. 145).

6

Boddy-Evans, A. (2020, August 8). Apartheid quotes about Bantu education. ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/apartheid-quotes-bantu-education-43436. 7 Many Coloured people speak Afrikaans and only a very few Coloured, Indian and White people can speak an African language. 8 A language spoken by White Afrikaners, the originators of Apartheid in 1948.

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Language as a means of exclusion in professional life, both inadvertently and intentionally, was an aspect mentioned by several of the participants in the three professions represented here. Reference was made to formal meetings, work project discussions, emails and informal discussions held in Afrikaans. Many of the participants mentioned having raised the issue of not being able to understand, but as Frances suggested: “Even in the workplace people speak Afrikaans—if you ask to speak English, they go over for two sentences and then back to Afrikaans”. Lucy reflects rather humorously on her experiences of being in meetings that start in English and end in Afrikaans. She is Zimbabwean and a foreigner and was thus never exposed to Afrikaans at school. But it happens often when you start off a meeting in English, but because most of the people around the table are all Afrikaans, it just goes into Afrikaans. So, I’m quite happy for certain things to pass me because if I didn’t hear it, then I don’t have to do anything about it—less work for me. [giggles]

While Lucy puts a positive spin on what is a microaggression (Sue et al., 2007), reflected here is more a passive form of resistance: her identity work involves cognitively reframing her professional responsibilities (Ashforth & Kreiner, 1999) in order to take this inhospitable aspect of her working environment into account. The use of Afrikaans is discriminatory for several reasons. Firstly, from a relational perspective, not being able to understand the language and engage comfortably with others leads to isolation in the work environment, as we shall see in Charlotte’s story. Secondly, from a practical perspective, getting the job done requires an understanding of what is said in meetings, emails and other work-related communication. Where Afrikaans is used, professionals of colour either do not understand at all or take a long time to sift through the information to make sense of it. This also has consequences for development, which is the third reason why the use of Afrikaans is discriminatory. Professional identity development is dependent on information shared in various organisational forums as well as informally in the corridors (Eraut, 2008). Professionals

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of colour who cannot speak Afrikaans are denied exposure to the intricacies of a profession that are shared through informal interaction, which also forms the basis of networking. All the above form an integral means by which professional identity is developed and maintained, while at the same time being central to the reproduction of White privilege. Finally, the use of Afrikaans reinforces symbolic domination because it is associated with oppression and for many of the participants served to entrench their difference and subordination. To highlight the role of language, I focus on those telling examples that reflect identity work in respect of language. The first of these is shared by9 Peter and relates to a colleague and her identity work in the face of consistently receiving work-related emails in Afrikaans. Peter begins his story by describing his current work environment in the Netherlands and how if he receives an email in Dutch he will respond politely and request for it to be sent in English. The culture of accommodation in this context means that this will be done without question. To highlight the difference here in South Africa, he then shares a story of a colleague of colour, Winnie,10 also an IOP at a SA academic institution: Winnie sometimes complain about the fact that the emails here come in Afrikaans and she doesn’t understand them. And one day she got incredibly fed up and I think this was a very proud moment for me, not as her friend, but as an individual of colour—a Black person. Where she then responded to what she thought the email said in isiXhosa11 [giggles] and this caused problems. It caused problems. The person to whom the email was addressed because she then, she wrote in isiXhosa. I have written to you several times that I do not understand the emails that you are trying to send to me and therefore I often request that they are—so she responded to this person ….And this caused, this caused problems. Because the immediate impact was this person felt disrespected.

9

I have shared Peter’s own experiences regarding language in some detail in Chapter 4: The public space. 10 Also a pseudonym. 11 IsiXhosa is one of the indigenous African languages.

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I have shared this story for a few reasons, firstly as it describes a form of resistant behavioural work undertaken by Winnie: opposition in the form of a courageous act (Koerner, 2014) that challenges the status quo. Secondly, because of Peter’s obvious pride and solidarity with his colleague, as she resists the disrespect inherent in the act. Ironically the recipient, being addressed in a language they did not understand, felt disrespected and threatened to lay a grievance against her. What is most disturbing about this story is the disrespect for Winnie regarding her lack of understanding Afrikaans but the simultaneous expectation that she respects the other’s inability to speak an African language. In memberchecking my understanding of the incident with Winnie, I discovered that she had the support of several other White Afrikaans colleagues during a series of incidents that had taken place over a period of time. She also commented on how things had changed since the incident, possibly because of her courage, impacting her own identity as well as others in the organisation for which they work (Koerner, 2014). Charlotte and Griffiths work for a European-based organisation in the aerospace and defence industry, which in South Africa has developed a predominantly Afrikaans culture, making for difficult working circumstances. Charlotte had only recently joined the company when she was first interviewed, and initially she seemed to be quite happy. By the time her second interview came about, however, she had begun to settle in and become more closely acquainted with the environment. I share three extracts, the first two from her diary entries and the third from one of her interviews. No new micro aggressions I can point out, just the same old language barrier. I sit in an office where everyone speaks Afrikaans except me, and they only speak Afrikaans, unless they speak directly to me, which is pretty rare. The only time I actually have someone to talk to is for 30 minutes during lunch. It kinda sucks when they share jokes the whole day, and I’m left out. Thank God for earphones and streaming right. The language thing really makes it hard to feel comfortable. I don’t know, I think it’s actually rude… Being forced to be in an environment day in, day out, 8 hours a day, and being isolated…..And yet, I know not all Afrikaans speaking people are this callous. There is a culture here that makes it hard for an emotional creature to feel accepted. I never truly

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understood how powerful language can be. How language could either unite or segregate, to build or destroy. I just need to remember that I am here to learn, and nothing else. Just to learn.

I included the first extract to give the reader an idea, in Charlotte’s own words, how isolated she feels. While she admits elsewhere in the interview to being exposed to Afrikaans culture and people and being able to speak basic Afrikaans, she does not have the ability to conduct workrelated matters in the language (she studied in English) and she misses out on the identity-related development opportunities that relationships in professional environments are supposed to provide (Rodgers & Scott, 2008; Wald, 2015). Moreover, she is lonely and struggles to feel the inclusion necessary for socialisation into the organisation and into the profession more broadly. Given the close relationships between culture and language, her ability to understand is possibly as much cultural as it is linguistic. In the face of this identity-challenging situation, she engages in identity work, cognitively shifting her attention (Ashforth & Kreiner, 1999) to her reason for being at work—to learn. While taking responsibility for her own growth displays agency, she forgoes social relationships (Billett & Somerville, 2004) and peer learning (Trede, 2012) in professional development. Eraut (2008) argues that interactions with colleagues, clients, friends, customers and acquaintances are one of the most important features of a working environment, as the knowledge one tacitly gathers is central to the ease of these daily interactions. They are the source of incidental information, personal and cultural, providing clues to character and behaviour that tacitly facilitate and inform future engagements. They also provide clues to the nature of the working environment and the basis for asking for future introductions (Eraut, 2008). Being excluded based on language means that Charlotte was denied the benefit of the incidental relationship-based knowledge that facilitates building important professional relationships. In this regard, Charlotte’s insight into the power of language is noteworthy, in respect of its capacity to build or destroy, unite or segregate. While we cannot know the motivation of those involved, I would argue that language in this instance was used to unite White Afrikaans speakers, reproduce the existing culture

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and keep Charlotte as an outsider. In so doing, they sabotaged her professional development, whether intentionally or not. While she reminded herself that she was there to learn, what she failed to recognise was that learning has a relational element and that being excluded through language meant she lost out on the incidental knowledge crucial to holistic professional development (Eraut, 2008). It also meant that she had to “double work”, which she describes in the next section: I’m just trying to sift through this language first before I can actually look at the technical stuff that I want to learn……..So you’re not sure if that’s just another Afrikaans word or if that’s an actual technical thing that you can be learning about. So I think that’s a—that’s a pretty big stumbling block…. So I’m constantly researching things and then I go and ask if there’s things that I don’t understand. But right now, I’m at a kind of “find out about it yourself ” then go ask about it. Rather than, “here’s the information, this is what we are working with and then you can sift through that”. So it’s—like I’m double-working ja…….. I kind of go into [pause] uh if you could call it attack-mode? Where you just decide okay, I’m going to show them that whether I’m part of your culture or not, that I’m a force to be reckoned with. And that’s where you sit down and like I work the hardest. So it’s—it’s what I was saying where it could be motivation to work even harder to prove that you are you’re also worthy of being part of whatever they’re doing.

Here Charlotte highlights another consequence of the language barrier—her need to engage in “double work”, checking terms she was unsure of. While Charlotte displayed considerable agency in technically related matters, when she was provided with an opportunity to voice her frustrations regarding the use of Afrikaans, she found herself unable to do so. I think I have to be there for quite a time so that you get to a point where you’re not—where you’re comfortable enough to say to this person “Listen that’s rude, that’s not right”…. I actually had an opportunity to do that where one of uhm the people that I sit with. He asked genuinely “Are you coping with this Afrikaans thing? because the whole day we’re talking Afrikaans”. And I could have said in that moment “No this is

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ridiculous, this is madness, you guys can speak English, but you choose to speak Afrikaans”. But I didn’t, I was like “No, it’s fine, it’s cool, it’s okay”. So it depends also on how comfortable you are and ’cause then there’s this whole thing of “Are you now reprimanding or are you being rude as well?” because these guys are much older than me. And then I just come and say “Hey stop speaking Afrikaans, it’s rude”. [chuckle] so who is this kid? But ja…

When asked directly about the very issue that had been troubling her, Charlotte remained silent instead of addressing it, which at first glance seems puzzling. However, in doing so, it appears that she displayed “patiency” (Reader, 2007) allowing herself to be “acted on” (p. 581), rather than acting with the agency she alludes to elsewhere in her diary and interviews. One must bear in mind that this context is symbolically an Afrikaans space (Elden, 2007) and as Ahmed (2007, p. 153) points out “‘doing things’ depends not so much on intrinsic capacity, or even upon disposition or habits, but on the ways in which the world is available as a space for action”. Furthermore, as Bakhtin suggests, “all speech carries with it a history of use and interpretation by which it achieves both identity and difference. It is within this rather remarkable capacity for making the present the past that speech acquires its social meaning” (Stewart, 1983, p. 277). By reproducing the language of oppression (at least for African non-Afrikaans speakers), the history and culture of oppression and voicelessness are carried through language from past to present, resulting in Charlotte’s silence. Complicit in this may be her own habitus, as African culture requires respect to those older than oneself, something she alludes in the extract above. Griffiths provides the most extreme example of the use of Afrikaans to undermine or even bully. He is in a position of leadership in the organisation, and yet, despite this, in meetings that by virtue of his position he was chairing, people would speak Afrikaans. …in that in meetings you can imagine, you are a senior person or supposed to be leading. People don’t listen to you, they speak Afrikaans it was their place and I thought - I didn’t understand it. I didn’t understand it. I mean I don’t know—I don’t speak Afrikaans. Why do you converse in Afrikaans with me? Even when the guys were advised “Look be careful

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guys to accommodate, we are a multi-diverse multi-racial company”, guys will still not do it.

In this extract, Griffiths highlights the relationship between language and space and consequently constructs the meeting space as a White one, despite his formal position of leadership. He also alludes to a request by the then CEO, an Afrikaans speaker himself, that meetings be held in English, but this was largely ignored and led to no change in the practice. He sent this email because somebody I don’t know, eh and when he sent it out, he just was appealing: “Colleagues, we are professionals please take cognizance of others, speak English when you are in meetings, formal meetings.

Interviewer: “But nothing changed?” No in fact they laugh about it. They say now ja well, let—it’s almost as if “we will show him” type of a thing

Griffiths admits that the “young White guys” were more sensitive but that the older people were more inclined to fall into historical patterns of action. No the young—the young White guys probably they—they are more aware that they need to be maybe careful I think. The older guys I think they still feel this is how it has to be to a greater extent—it’s maybe still natural if I speak to John, it’s Afrikaans.

The reference to “John” in this extract highlights the tradition of referring to all African males by a generic European name, which was common in South Africa in colonial and apartheid times. In doing so Griffiths places those who engage in this practice in the past, and also highlights how the past is entrenched and reproduced in current-day organisational habitus (McDonald & Harvey Wingfield, 2008). It also suggests the continued existence of a “baas”12 mentality, one in which 12

Baas is the Afrikaans word for “master”.

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African people have no say in the language in which they are addressed and are limited to choices made by White people on their behalf, much as Punt Jansen saw the issue in the opening quote for this section. In responding to these situations, Griffiths has used behavioural and cognitive identity work strategies. He mentions an incident where a meeting moved from English to Afrikaans. After having asked several questions and being ignored he left as a means of expressing his displeasure. He also tried to make sense of his mistreatment in the organisation, and while he did not want to use race as an excuse for everything that happened in the organisation, through his deliberations he realised that race is what it always came back to and he could not find any other explanation. I think I cannot change who I am, [chuckle] colour-wise - [stutter] I mean who I am. But if people would judge and act ethically and treat one another without really having to really treat you because of your colour - I don’t—I can’t avoid this, it comes to that time and time and time and time again. (Griffiths)

5.4.3 Conforming (or Not) to Professional Culture? Knowledge-intensive companies, of which accounting firms are an excellent example, are defined by work that is of an intellectual nature, producing goods and services by well-educated and qualified employees (Alvesson, 2001). Given that the outcomes of knowledge-intensive work are often difficult to quantify, the appearance of being professional is considered crucial; professionals must embody the expected notions of professionalism. Yet professional identity as a collective concept in South Africa has its origins in European culture and climate and has come to be associated with White bodies, White taste and White culture. Whiteness as an embodied and material accomplishment (Andrucki, 2010) is enacted through highly specific demands in terms of dress and styling, which may place considerable demands on people of colour, both in terms of scarce resources and their own cultural preferences and practices. This was perhaps most marked in the accounting profession,

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especially in professional accounting firms where the intangible qualities of knowledge work are guaranteed through (inter alia) appropriate forms of embodiment and practice. The clash of cultures between White managers and Black African graduates has been highlighted by Dunne and Bosch (2015) in their study of the mediation practices in these challenging relationships. Cultural differences are also highlighted as a barrier to professional inclusion by both Sadler and Erasmus (2005) and Barac (2015). Yet these authors frame the problem as one of inclusion into an existing dominant culture as opposed to challenging the standpoint and cultural practices that lie at its heart (Frankenberg, 1993). While Oliver learnt much about different cultures at university, it was only on entering the professional world that he was required to adjust his own cultural practices to fit in. He mentions the differences with regard to looking someone in the eye (Western culture) versus looking down as a sign of respect (African culture). Another practice is the emphasis on the relationship one has with the person one is addressing. Rather than the more formal “Mr”, “Ms” or “Miss”, African people would use a relational term such as “Sis Pearl” or “Auntie Pearl”, which is frowned on in the professional accounting environment, given the British genesis of the profession in South Africa. These differences extend to dress, food, music and activities at corporate functions, opportunities for travel and visiting exotic destinations, all of which translate into symbolic capital in work conversations. Lillian experienced the transition into the working environment as something of a culture shock. I started working and yes, I did mix with White people before at varsity but I didn’t have to socialise with them. Now I have White people who are my managers and it’s a bit of a cultural shock as now I’m interacting with them at a high level… Now, you come into this environment where you are expected to be proactive, you must have a questioning mind and it something you didn’t grow up with…

Here Lillian highlights the difference between the expected organisational habitus based on western culture and values and her own amaXhosa beliefs, instilled during her upbringing. In the culture of her

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natal family she was taught not to challenge the actions and behaviour of elders or superiors, which differs considerably from the behaviours required in her current working environment, where one is required to ask questions and challenge opinions and perspectives (Sadler & Erasmus, 2005). Thus, her cultural upbringing does not automatically translate into cultural capitals as there is a misalignment between her own habitus and that of the organisation. Managing this required behavioural identity work as she had to learn various types of behaviour that were more acceptable in the professional context. Several of the participants alluded to the physical identity work they engaged in to ensure their bodies more closely resembled the ideal professional type (Alvesson, 1994; Trethewey, 1999). Sophia experienced challenges in the domain of corporate dress. Not only was her budget severely constrained due to her disadvantaged background, but she did not know what constituted a professional wardrobe. She refers to her style as “plain jane”, which would elicit comments such as “Did you forget to dress up this morning or something?” from her colleagues. While most trainee clerks were able to rely on their parents for assistance with a corporate style wardrobe, neither Sophia nor her parents could afford to spend money on expensive clothes; Here informal mentoring proved vital, as the older trainee clerks advised her where to buy affordable attire that would meet the constraints of her budget but still give her the professional gloss she required. While bodies are generally theorised as “docile” and easily governed in the workplace (Brown, 2015), one of the more challenging aspects for Black African people in particular is the so-called standard of what constitutes “professional” hair. Although White people are aware of this, they might struggle to understand why this creates such frustration among people of colour. Peter’s comments are illustrative in this regard. Peter: So I look at my brother and my father and my nephew and all three of them shave their heads, because it’s the neat way to keep your hair and in particularly because they also work in corporate so they shave their heads or they always keep it trimmed. I don’t. Anne: And you see that as them submitting to the order?

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Peter: Yes…..And but not just submitting to the order, also not being true to who they are. I some- I find that in a way not being true to who they are

Peter highlights here how historical race power relations were etched on the bodies of his male family members as they shave their hair to conform with western professional standards. His refusal to do the same is his way of resisting the professional establishment, a form of identity work as he struggles to be consistent with his roots in the management of his hair. At the time of this particular interview, he had been unable to have his hair cut due to Covid-19 restrictions. For this reason he chose to wear a durag, which is permitted in his work environment. With its origin in the practices of African American slaves, the durag represents pride in natural hair (Singleton, 2021), presenting a look acceptable for his context yet in keeping with his racial identification. This can be considered a form of behavioural identity work balancing the demands of professionalism with one more consistent with his own identifications.

5.5

Conclusion

This chapter, Meso-Context: The Professional Space, records the experiences of accounting, engineering and IOP professionals in the organisational and professional context, exploring the means through which Whiteness is reproduced, and highlighting the possible consequences for the participants. Because socialisation is central to both professional identity development and the reproduction of racialised systems, I drew on the dimensions of socialisation as described by Van Maanen and Schein (1979) as a framework through which to discuss the experiences of participants. I discussed the allocation of work and clients, the persistent questioning of competence, and the inequities in mentoring as dimensions of the functional, highlighting the ways in which professional identity is influenced and the means through which White privilege is reproduced. The allocation of work and clients also influences hierarchical progression, as do the traditional notions of the hierarchy as White male space. I then explored the ways in which professionals of

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colour struggle with elements related to inclusion, identifying the role of historically White professional bodies, language and the constraints of knowledge-intensive cultures in maintaining the standpoint and practices of Whiteness. The chapter concludes on a more hopeful note with an extract from Dora’s interview. After working for several companies and being consistently exposed to what ranged from open racism to Whiteness, she began working for a government organisation, which for the first time gave her a glimpse of what is possible when prejudices are put aside and she is accepted as the professional accountant she is. I like the environment to be supportive and conducive and then I will— I’m more likely to flourish than you know, now I’m swimming against the tide and I’m you know, I’m proving myself despite all odds and whatever. So really [current company] has really just been the most amazing place to be in because I mean there, there’s Black and White it’s not like everybody there is just a sea of Black people but there is no racial undertone. I have really, really flourished in this role, in ways that I haven’t before. And that’s not because the expectations of me are less—and there are frustrations in terms of the systems and how things are not really that—they are not as smooth as you find in- so there are frustrations. But none of them are “because you are Black or because you are female I actually I don’t think you can do this job and so you better prove me wrong”.

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Elsbach, K. D. (1999). An expanded model of organizational identification. Research in Organizational Behavior, 21, 163–200. https://escholarship.org/ uc/item/3fs5z4nd Eraut, M. (2008). How professionals learn through work (SCEPTrE Working Paper). University of Surrey. http://surreyprofessionaltraining.pbworks.com/ f/How+Professionals+Learn+through+Work.pdf Fanon, F. (1986). Black skin, white masks. Pluto Press. Foster, D. H. (1993). On racism: Virulent mythologies and fragile threads. In Psychology and oppression: Critiques and proposals. University of Cape Town. Frandsen, S. (2015). Portraits of call centre employees: Understanding control and identity work. Tamara: Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry, 13(3), 5–19. Frankenberg, R. (1993). White women, race matters: The social construction of whiteness. University of Minnesota Press. Gray, B., & Kish-Gephart, J. J. (2013). Encountering social class differences at work: How “class work” perpetuates inequality. Academy of Management Review, 38(4), 670–699. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2012.0143 Green, M. J., Sonn, C. C., & Matsebula, J. (2007). Reviewing whiteness: Theory, research, and possibilities. South African Journal of Psychology, 37 (3), 389–419. https://doi.org/10.1177/008124630703700301 Hammond, T., Clayton, B. M., & Arnold, P. J. (2009). South Africa’s transition from apartheid: The role of professional closure in the experiences of Black chartered accountants. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 34 (6–7), 705– 721. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2008.09.002 Ibarra, H. (1999). Provisional selves: Experimenting with image and identity in professional adaptation. Psychology, 44 (4), 764–791. https://doi.org/10. 2307/2667055 Jones, C. P. (2000). Levels of racism: A theoretic framework and a gardener’s tale. American Journal of Public Health, 90 (8), 1212–1215. https://doi.org/ 10.2105/AJPH.90.8.1212 Koerner, M. M. (2014). Courage as identity work: Accounts of workplace courage. Academy of Management Journal, 57 (1), 63–93. https://doi.org/10. 5465/amj.2010.0641 Lefebvre, H. (1991). The production of space. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Lepisto, D. A., Crosina, E., & Pratt, M. G. (2015). Identity work within and beyond the professions: Toward a theoretical integration and extension. In A. Desilva & M. Aparicio (Eds.), International handbook of professional identities (pp. 11–37). http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/management_pubs/1

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6 Micro-Context: Professional Identity and the Personal Space

6.1

Introduction

As with the other levels of Whiteness, Al Ariss et al. (2014) do not provide detailed guidelines as to what constitutes the individual level, but refer to the following elements: “Individual or personal agency, strategy and experience such as work-life, of emigration/immigration, of the interplay between gender, ethnicity, religion, physical ability, age factors, of the connections between life in the home and host countries” (p. 364). In this chapter I explore the personal side of the participants’ lives in terms of both their history and their present challenges. CohenScali (2003) suggests that professional identity development occurs in two stages, the first of which is during socialisation for work, which occurs in the family domain, at school and in the broader social environment of which the aspiring professional is part. This means that prior to entry into the profession or even preparation through education and qualifications, each aspirant professional is located in a personal context, the dynamics of which impact the construction and development of identity. For example, Slay and Smith (2011) highlight the role of family and cultural values in their sample of African-American © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 A. Crafford, Whiteness and Stigma in the Workplace, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09811-6_6

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journalists, foregrounding how they had developed self-confidence and self-determination. In addition, they found that early experiences with poverty had influenced the journalists’ choice of profession. In the same way, the professionals in the current study were influenced by their family and cultural values, most particularly the value of education, hard work and perseverance. In addition, for some, their early exposure to poverty had created a drive to be successful and change the trajectory of their own and their families’ lives. In this chapter I explore the personal aspects of the participants’ lives, both growing up and managing their lives in the context of Whiteness and discrimination, both in South Africa and in traversing national boundaries. Finally, as much as this study has been about Whiteness and discrimination, it is also a testimony to the hard work, determination, tenacity and grit displayed by the participants, often in the face of tremendous odds and it is this that I acknowledge in this chapter. I begin with a brief background to the family-related context of the participants. Most of the participants grew up in a home with both parents, but several had a single mother and a father who had passed away or had never been involved in his children’s lives. Several of the participants were raised by their grandparents for some or all of their childhood and in some instances in conjunction with a single mother. Two of the participants had moved to South Africa from elsewhere, one from Nigeria and the other from Zimbabwe. The first had lived in various African countries (including Zimbabwe) before coming to South Africa and was thus used to an expat lifestyle and the associated challenges. The other moved to South Africa to begin her university studies and found it onerous to be a long way from home. One of the participants had grown up in the Transkei, a former so-called Bantustan,1 but had attended school in South Africa for her high school years. Eighteen of the participants had an exclusively urban upbringing while six had a rural upbringing until moving to university. Two of the participants had lived with their grandparent(s) in a rural setting, moving to an urban context during their primary school years. 1

Chapter 1 provides more details on the development of Bantustans as part of the Apartheid government’s plans for segregation.

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The socio-economic challenges of professionals of colour are well documented in the accounting profession (Barac, 2015; Sadler & Erasmus, 2005). Similar challenges were encountered by most of the participants in accounting as well as engineering and industrial psychology. While a few participants came from relatively comfortable circumstances, most of them came from humble beginnings, some of whom were acquainted with poverty. This created in many of them the drive to succeed and to prove themselves both to their families as well as in the professional realm. In the extract below Albertina explains how her disadvantage within her broader family drove her to succeed in order never to be in a position of want again and to ensure that her child would not experience something similar either. Interviewer: “So to whom did you want to prove a point?” One to myself, then that was foremost to myself that I am capable and that my history does not define me and my upbringing and you know, the conditions I grew up in – does not define me. And also, just to – so growing up…I was the least fortunate out of all my cousins. When there’s something as stupid as [pause] uhm I had bread – if we had bread with butter, it was like such an accomplishment…When I went to my cousins, they would have eggs or whatever – the fancy life. So compared to them growing up, I was the least well-off. I remember one of my cousins actually made a joke one time, she came over she says Do you know what pie is? and at the time I didn’t know what a pie was. She says Do you know what a pizza is? and at the time I didn’t know what a pizza was. And then so they had it all, and it was enough reason I pushed myself that I too want to have it all and uhm it was I guess also to prove to them that I too – like that I never want to find myself in that position ever again and I most certainly don’t want my child to be in that position ever again.

The participants’ parents came from a broad range of occupations including blue-collar jobs such as domestic worker, security guard and bus driver; other occupations included a policeman, small business owners, a doctor, an attorney, several nurses and teachers. While some were professionals, none of them were qualified in the professions under

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consideration in this study. While family and cultural values did not really influence career-related choices, except for Solomon’s initial choice, the values of hard work, discipline, and self-sufficiency as well as the exceptional support and sacrifice of their parents, ensured their success, although in some cases this was a long time in coming. Except for Solomon, who started out studying social work to improve the lives of his people, the participants’ choices were influenced by parental guidance, successful role models, the availability of funding, some form of career guidance and serendipity. Steve developed a love for electronics from reading books in the library. His father was strict and limited his exposure to TV, so he spent a lot of time reading and learning. This passion led him to start his own business in the village where he lived. I even started my own business from the electronics that I learned at school. In our village we didn’t have electricity. So the people were using radios with batteries. And then within a year, the whole village was electrified. Then the people had a problem now that – all the radios were battery operated, now they wanted to connect them up to the electric sockets and they were not just like that. So I saw an opportunity. So I learned how to make a converter, DC adapter, you know like this? A battery charger.

Amina shared how her parents took her to air shows, which sparked her interest in aeronautical engineering. Despite her mother’s desire for her to study medicine and her conservative family background, she engaged in early professional identity work and stuck to her choice of engineering. So the whole – so with aeronautical engineering, it’s I think the first time my parents went to go see air shows and you sit there and you watch airplanes fly. And you’re thinking ja that’s actually quite a cool – Ja — It’s cool because you’re literally defying gravity [chuckle] to be able to do that – And that’s something I decided oh well, I want to do it – I’d like to do that, be able to do something unusual.

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211

“They” Don’t Value Education

As indicated, this project had its origins in an experience shared with me by one of my master’s students who later became one of the research assistants and a participant working with her own data in semiautoethnographic fashion, inter alia. The significance of the story centres on the White gaze regarding the value placed on education by people of colour, and the simplistic interpretations made in the light of a history of deliberate segregation and very poor resourcing. As family is an important source of early professional identity socialisation, specific attention was paid to parental involvement and the degree to which the participants’ parents were seen to be placing a value on education and ensuring support for their children’s education. While many of the participants’ parents were teachers, those who weren’t reinforced the value of education with their children, bought additional educational materials despite their relatively constrained circumstances and regulated TV time to ensure sufficient study time. In some instances, siblings also played an important role in setting an example; one participant specifically mentioned an older sibling who had set a very high standard and whom he was constantly trying to emulate and even outdo. Others described how their siblings and other family members had taken on many of their household chores to free them to focus on their studies. I begin by sharing the experience that triggered the project and exploring just how seriously education was taken by the participants and their parents, as well as the sacrifices that were made to ensure they received a decent education. A lecturer at the institution where I work informed her IOP master’s class of the number of registered IOPs in South Africa according to race and asked them why there were so few IOPs of colour in relation to their White counterparts. One of the White students suggested that it was because people of colour did not value education to the same degree. As one of two people of colour among approximately fifteen students, Francis was deeply hurt by this comment. Her own mother, a teacher, had placed exceptional value on her achieving a good education, checking her homework and signing each page as a way of signalling to her teacher in the poorly resourced school that she was involved in her

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daughter’s education and took it seriously, intending the teacher to do the same. Her mother also made sure she attended ad hoc extra classes that were provided for Black students in their area. Francis initially dropped out of tertiary studies due to financial constraints. To gain employment she joined the South African National Defence Force. Through hard work and proving herself she was selected to study further and she subsequently enrolled for a bachelor’s degree at the Military Academy. On completion of her bachelor’s, she was forced to take a break in her studies to nurse her very ill mother and finally arrived in the master’s group several years after her peers. Given her arduous journey to professional registration, the simplistic attribution made regarding the poor numbers of IOPs of colour ignored a host of professional closure factors (Hammond et al., 2009) including a history of colonialism and apartheid, open racism in the profession of psychology, shocking inequality in socio-economic circumstances and a deeply inequitable schooling system, all of which the participant had inherited simply because of the colour of her skin. Yet, ironically, adding insult to injury, in the White student’s attribution the blame was laid at the feet of the victims themselves and the lack of value “they” placed on education. Frances experienced the comment as an attack on her racial identity, her academic identity and most of all her developing sense of professional identity. She had assumed (mistakenly it would seem) that people at a master’s level of education, particularly in the field of psychology, would have had greater insight and sensitivity regarding the issues involved, and that fellow aspirant professionals would have transcended the traps of stereotype and prejudice. Yet it is the fixation with skin colour that constrains professionals of colour and challenges the foundation of their professional identity. This story provides an excellent example of the way in which White South Africans glibly reproduce stereotypes regarding Black South Africans, with little thought or understanding of the consequences of colonialism or apartheid. Not only does the invocation of “they” reinforce the divide between Black and White, but in reproducing these stereotypes White South Africans are able to communicate their ideology effectively, and by attributing the cause to the victims, make their own position more difficult to identify and critique (Steyn & Foster, 2008). In

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this way, these representations reproduce and extend the power structures in the academic realm and professions of post-apartheid South Africa. By attributing a lack of value for education to a racial identity the speaker reaffirms the assumption that academic and professional closure should be structured around qualifications and credentials, and thus exclude “those not valuing education”. Firstly, this reaffirms the essentially “European” definition of academia and the professions and the criteria that define their boundaries—qualifications and credentials—ignoring the impact of illegitimate historical closure. Secondly, it justifies excluding from professional status those who do not meet this definition. In this way, the gaze falls not on a profession that refuses to change but rather on those who “justifiably” should continue to be excluded. This has several consequences for professionals of colour: it reproduces existing stereotypes that further stigmatise and threaten racial identity and it threatens professional identity, which is based on qualifications, credentials and belonging. However, the truth of the matter was very different. A consistent pattern in the data was the importance of education and the support of the participants’ parents in ensuring they received as decent an education as they could afford, often sacrificing tremendously to do so. They recognised the social and cultural capital an education would bring and invested their often-limited economic resources in making sure this was achieved. Even in families or with parents who had not had tertiary education, the importance of a tertiary education was greatly emphasised. As Solomon explains: “My father, he never went to the University or Tertiary, but, the way he values education, that’s why I am teaching, I ended up teaching, because of him. So, he was my role model”. In addition, his father had insisted he attend a historically White university despite having to get ministerial permission to do so and being arrested for contravening the then Group Areas Act2 as he was not allowed to stay in the area where the university was located. Griffiths was raised in Soweto, where his schooling coincided with the struggle-related political unrest that occurred during the 1980s and early 2

The Group Areas Act (1950) enforced separated residency by race with specific areas designated for property ownership, residence, and work.

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1990s. His initial schooling was at a local primary school in Soweto, but because of the rioting and the potential disruption to his schooling, his parents moved him to a college in Johannesburg where for the first time he was schooled only in English. At university he was involved in student politics, which disrupted his studies. His father encouraged him to get his priorities right—while struggle-related activities were important, his education was more so. … my father used to say to me; ‘you know, you must determine what you – you are here for my son’. My dad was actually always saying I needed to push myself, he was never satisfied even if I said to him I got this, I did this. He would say ‘okay now more, more, more’.

When asked about the role his parents played in his education, he responded I think my dad, my dad played a very big role—not to say my mom didn’t care. I think my mom felt it was my dad’s responsibility and actually he was the one that went with me that went when we were—looking for applications, he was the one that was trying to find bursars—bursaries for me. I think purely because he was interested….I thank my mom from education-wise, my mom as an academic she at most of the time, would sit with me and English for instance, she bought me English books. My dad brought me my home language books and I—she just would encourage me

Robert also highlighted the enormous value his dad, as a mathematics lecturer, placed on education, particularly the science and maths-related fields. Uhm my dad is you know, he used to lecture mathematics and so he always placed a huge – in fact both my parents are in education and they both placed a huge emphasis on education, and specifically your science, maths and you know, engineering kind of fields.

Lillian had taken some time to qualify as a CA but her parents had remained committed to her, supporting her in completing her studies.

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This had been a constant source of motivation and she was deeply grateful to them. On a more humorous note, she shared how her mother’s support of her education and her dream for her to qualify as a CA had bordered on the extreme. When Lillian prayed to complete her studies, she asked God to do it for her mother, if not for her. Sometimes when I was praying about it to God, I was like – ‘I know I’m not a good child but at least do it for my mother. If you can’t do it for me [chuckles] just do it for her. Ja just make her happy.’ I know maybe I don’t deserve it but she does, and she had prayed to God.

Once Lillian had qualified her mother used every opportunity, including her grandmother’s funeral, to share her pride Yes, I’m a qualified CA now… registered (with) SAICA and have the best – the proudest mother ever who makes sure, puts that thing there, every opportunity she gets, even in instances where I would never think she would find a way of throwing it in and remember last year at my grandmother’s funeral, she was supposed to speak on behalf of the family because it was her mother. And then she starts talking about how my grandmother raised them, how strict she was and everything and then she’s like as a result today, I’m the proud mother of a CA.

Lizzy shared how her grandmother had taught her the importance of education, making sure, within her limited resources, that she had all she needed regarding her studies. She also taught her to structure her time in the afternoons to make sure she had adequate quality time to do her homework and study. She also encouraged her to not limit her education to what was taught at school but rather to study more widely as the education she was getting was inferior. This instilled in Lizzy a sense of responsibility and ownership regarding her studies and future success. I came to realise it is not the school that you go to that determines whether you qualify for university but it’s that personal decision that you want to excel and go to the library and look at books and read more on a particular subject that you are not familiar with or that you have issues

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with. But it all depends on you, you know. Despite those disadvantages, despite the lack of resources and stuff – it is just about that personal ownership to want to achieve, that desire to want to achieve.

In Annie’s experience, a tertiary education in her family was deemed a necessity that could potentially elevate her socio-economically. She attributes this to her father’s influence: A lot of that came from my dad’s side, because you know if you have a qualification, you can stand on your own two feet, you don’t have to please explain to a White boss ever in your life, type of thing….For us it’s go get that piece of paper because that’s going to open doors for you. Again our reference [is to] get that piece of paper and get a job.

Through her father’s lens, Annie perceived White bosses in the work setting as oppressive and forceful authority figures that should be resisted. A qualification would provide her with the necessary validation to do so. Furthermore, having a qualification would open potential employment opportunities and would elevate her status as an employee, preferably to a position where she would never have to explain herself. The strong emphasis placed on education by all the participants’ families suggests a significant value attached to education irrespective of the parents’ educational level or exposure or their economic means. Many of the participants’ parents almost certainly had their own ambitions stifled due to limited educational and career possibilities. A good education represented an opportunity for their children to develop “possible selves” (Markus & Nurius, 1986, p. 954) in the occupations and professions they had been denied access to. They, therefore, placed high expectations on their children and were prepared to make supreme sacrifices to provide a decent education for them. While none of the participants had the privilege of having parents in the same profession, they had nevertheless served as role models of hard work and determination, ensuring their children had a better start in life.

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217

Don’t Forget I Come with a Context

And the fact that I came in the door – should that not just be enough until I disprove my [stutter] competence? But as I said, unfortunately I think it could – because I come in with a context. (Annie)

In this quotation Annie is describing her experiences in the profession, aspects of which I explore in some detail in Chapter 5, Meso-context: Professional identity and the professional space. However, in accounting for her experiences in the profession of IOP she admits she comes with a “context”. The word context here is interesting. At first glance it appears to be associated with her coming in the door—so to speak—and refers to the perception other (predominantly White) professionals have of her. Strictly speaking, all professionals entering the profession do so with a context, but what she is suggesting is that her context matters more. Who she is and where she comes from is immediately recognisable and is for this reason construed as distinct; her “context” is immediately apparent and thus open to scrutiny and judgement. But the word context can also refer to her personhood and history— her context from her own personal standpoint—and it is this meaning I would like to focus on in this section as I explore some of Annie’s experiences and those of Frances, Dorothy, Peter and Griffiths in respect of racism as an enduring feature of their lives. These are by no means the only stories of racism found in the study, but they offer an impression of the kinds of experiences these participants have been subject to over the course of their lives and continue to grapple with. Lutgen-Sandvik (2008) argues that in asking the existential question “who am I?” people respond by who they believe themselves to be. Yet if we are to take Bourdieu seriously, our experiences are etched on our habitus, which are formed in the maelstrom of social practice and the power relations that inform them. In South Africa, racism, as a particularly powerful “institutionalised narrative”, is deeply inscribed in various ways on all our bodies (McNay, 1999), and as such has mediated the identity formation and identity work of professionals of colour (Srinivas, 2013). Frances’s story is instructive in this regard. She grew up in a

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small town known for its conservatism and racist views. Growing up, Frances was aware of very clear distinctions between Whites-only areas and those where Black people were allowed. While not legally prevented from entering these areas, historical practice had made it clear that they were off-limits, and Black parents were careful to socialise their children to avoid them for fear of harm befalling them. Vicious, unprovoked racial attacks were also a reality for the community, and her father had been a victim of such racially motivated violence. Coming home from work early one Saturday morning, he was beaten virtually to death by White men who stopped their car next to him at a traffic light. This tragic part of South Africa’s history became an unwelcome part of Frances’s embodied history, “internalised as second nature” (Bourdieu, 1990, p. 56), influencing the social filter through which all her interactions with others—particularly White people—are processed. The outcome has been a constant fear of physical harm and a lack of trust. This is just one of her many negative experiences and she captures the consequences of years of racism and discrimination succinctly in the next quote: Walking into a hostile social system be it in a work, academic or community environment almost always has a lasting effect on an individual…. As much as you would like to believe you are resilient and would not be affected but the reality is if you experience a feeling of otherness long enough, you start believing you are the other and something is wrong with you. You start seeing exclusionary gestures more readily.

Here Frances suggests that the impact of historical exclusion is the persistent feeling of otherness, and of being faulty in some way. This experience of being “set apart” (and not in a good way) becomes part of one’s habitus and influences subsequent encounters where one is consequently more likely to feel excluded. Manganyi (1973) argues that the psyche has been the receptacle of the most painful consequences of Apartheid, and that the constant subtle psychic manipulation of its destructive message makes it difficult not to believe one is by nature inferior and incompetent.

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Annie also explains that she is acutely aware that her experiences of racism have impacted her perception of social engagements. So I would say in my early years, in my forming years as you said, racism was very overt. So you walk into a bank, so you will have a teller that “Hello,3 môre, môre you know smile, smile, smile and then you walk up and you get a different… ‘4 kan ek jou help?’ [giggles] So it was very overt…and you like you don’t know anything about me other than I don’t look like the five others that were – and immediately your attitude is different. So it was very overt…so my natural intentions first would first be ‘why are you treating me different?’ So I still experience – I mean I have got so many in my project that – just their body language or the way they talk to me….. I am not unfazed about racism. So your first words as well was, I look like somebody that’s quite okay and confident in my own skin, but I’m not [slight chuckle] because if I walk in a room and it’s a White male, older male the way he greets me is immediately going to put me in a way [giggles] you understand…..But because of my history and my baggage, but I’m not going to respond so you not going to see it but meanwhile in the background I’m doing a lot of work to hold my pose, not react, go back in my own space and process it and say okay, did you overreact, is there merit in the wa – how you do this and whatever and only then will I then make a decision on how I deal with the situation. So I think and that’s why I said, I probably come across as confident and – but I’m not – I don’t think I am [chuckle] and it’s not because of a lack of ability, but I think it’s just my history, it’s just my, my baggage, so I have worked a lot to overcome a lot of my insecurities but it’s not perfect yet

In the first extract, Annie describes the differential treatment she has received in the past due to the colour of her skin, and how the persistent discrimination has impacted the way she interprets interactions, including professional ones. In the first extract, she describes how in her youthful interactions with service staff she was granted an(other) form of personhood, signalled through body language and the person’s manner

3 4

She is using the Afrikaans equivalent of “Morning morning”. She is using the Afrikaans equivalent of “Can I help you?”

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of speech. She draws primarily on bodily cues in making her interpretations, reading signs from the habitus of others, silent clues to their not-so-hidden assumptions. This bears a striking resemblance to what Fanon (1986) describes as the look, a gesture “saturated with meaning” (Gooding-Willams, 1993, p. 158), that accompanies interactions between himself and White people. Describing these interactions, Fanon (1986) writes “I am given no chance. I am overdetemined from without” (p. 116). This is a very telling statement in the context of identity studies. In the modern era identity has come to be associated with at least a measure of agency and self-determination. What Fanon’s statement suggests is that in contrast to having the freedom to self-determine at least a measure of identity, he is “dissected under White eyes, the only real eyes. I am fixed” (p. 116). Attached to this dissection and fixation are hundreds of negative meanings, all of which demean and reduce his personhood to no more than the colour of his skin. In the face of this fixation, he has no freedom to self-determine his identity but instead becomes the vulnerable recipient of pre-determined meanings. In the professional encounters Annie describes in the extract above, she too is fixed, treated as an Other, bearing on her body all the negative meanings associated with her race, evoking in her the same reaction as in all similar encounters in the past. These are etched on her habitus and are part of her history, something she cannot simply ignore. While both Annie and Frances feel “the circle drawing a bit tighter” (Fanon, 1986, p. 112), they do not show it. They may be unable to manage the projection of meanings onto their person, but they are able to control their responses, engaging in identity work both internally and externally (Winkler, 2016). On the outside, Annie describes behavioural identity work through not reacting—performing a non-reaction to those observing. Frances alludes to something similar, “putting up a strong woman face” to resist her perception of their definition of her at least at an overt level (Evans & Moore, 2015; Srinivas, 2013). As Tandon described in Srinivas (2013), Annie does not act immediately, but her internal emotional response provokes a reflexive cognitive component as she tries to make sense of the situation (“do a lot of work in myself to process it”) and question her own motivation and reactions (Beech et al., 2008)—“am I not being biased, am I not judging the person-, and (am)

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I not overreacting?”—aware of her own triggers and what she refers to as her “own baggage”. In doing so, she takes responsibility for her own prejudices and, despite the hurt, tries to ensure they do not cloud her judgement. This means that she is constantly monitoring herself, identity work that is exhausting. Similarly, in describing an educational setting Frances refers to not being able to let her guard down, functioning in survival mode, and being ready to defend herself at any sign of possible attack: This deprived me of the opportunity to be vulnerable, to take in the learning environment, let my guard down and be a student. Instead [I] had to function on survival mode. Ready to defend myself at the slightest indication of an attack be it a micro-insult, micro-aggression or outright racism.

Through this identity work, Annie and Frances discipline themselves (Brown & Lewis, 2011; Thornborrow & Brown, 2009) in respect of their responses, although not without emotional labour (Evans & Moore, 2015) because of their history and the racism that has been an integral part of it. Consequently, environments that should be considered safe and potentially creative and fulfilling are experienced as threatening and exhausting. A similar sentiment is shared by Dorothy. In describing the most important facets of her identity as part of the ten statements exercise, Dorothy chose two statements “I am Black’ and “I am a woman” and combined them to remind the listener that she is a Black woman. But more than this, she is a Black woman every day and thus subject to stigmatisation every day. This is a point often missed by White people who cannot understand the frustration, dare I say desperation, of some people of colour, in response to persistent discrimination. There is an expectation of being able to forgive and forget, to not take seriously the slights and microaggressions. In many cases, however, these are not one-off incidents but something that must be borne daily. While Dorothy does not elaborate on the nature of her experiences, she makes it clear that fighting racism and sexism every day has shaped her habitus, and accounts for the anger that some people regard as defining her. In these extracts, Dorothy

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highlights the stability of the power relations within which her identity is formed and negotiated, and that these are not of her own making (Newton, 1998). I’m Black and I’m a woman because they come combined in me and it’s almost like I’m shaped a lot by my experiences of being a Black woman, like uh you know one of the things that I always think is – ugh, it was something I read for someone, I was like “oh why do Black women…” you know like the stereotype like every Black woman like why are you all angry all the time and whatever. And so I replied is like “No, you know I fight racism and sexism every day [chuckle] because I’m a Black woman every day I think – ja. Like I think I was a lot more like that. I think I’m not so much anymore, cause it does get really exhausting. And I think you know once you get past a certain age, uhm if you [pause] if you think a certain way or you feel so strongly about a certain thing, you know there’s very little a speech from me can do. And you know and so with people like that I sit with at lunch every day after work, like it’s fine. But I think I no longer you know when I meet a random person at a party….. [giggle] like I no longer kind of go like “No bro this is where you’re wrong” you know?

Being embodied in a field that is unwelcoming to the categories with which she identifies is something she endures daily. Moreover, time has taught her that trying to change the field is exhausting and ultimately achieves very little, except perhaps being labelled angry Black woman. The constant identity work does little to change the perceptions of those around her and serves only to reinforce the labels already attached to her, leaving little room for agency or flexibility in the way she is defined. The theme of emotional exhaustion is one that Peter alludes to several times during our various interviews. But it is exhausting because when you are trying to process this information – every time you process the information there is an emotional connection that you have to it. So you either get incredibly sad or you get incredibly angry or you [pause] you just feel like giving up.

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In addition to the processing Peter refers to, there is also a constant reflection about whether he is over-reacting. Peter has spent many hours reflecting on this with friends of his who are also people of colour, trying to determine whether he is being unreasonable and oversensitive, or whether his and his friends’ reactions are justified. In the extract below he shares a discussion he had with a friend about this issue. And given our experience in this instance, we literally spoke about the fact that we often question for ourselves whether or not we make big deals out of nothing. Uhm we exaggerate small incidents and in both our conversations, we also realize that what comes across as small for one – one person or one group – is actually a big deal for someone. Because we both agree that there’s a history attached to it. Uhm [pause] think something minor, minor racist or minor sexist is okay in the moment. But there’s a history attached to it whom it may be important for – for the person, right?

What Peter is alluding to is the personal history that each professional of colour brings to every racialised engagement, and the role played by the habitus in making sense of them. Each of the slights, microaggressions and racialised experiences is interpreted in the light of their previous experiences, which form part of their history, and the pattern becomes ever more difficult to rationalise away. Evans and Moore (2015) highlight the complexity with which professionals of colour are faced when navigating predominantly White institutions. Not only are they forced to negotiate systematic racism, but they have to do so within a system that does not acknowledge this. If these instances were simply one-off events, and not a day-by-day occurrence, then perhaps one could say they were exaggerating the impact; however, considering their history these so-called small incidents represent something entirely different. As such, professionals of colour bear an unequal burden of emotional labour (Evans & Moore, 2015) having to engage in additional identity work (Atewologun & Singh, 2010) to manage racialised experiences while at the same time having their impact ignored or underestimated. In the final part of this section on the context of professionals of colour, I would like to share Griffith’s context, and specifically his experiences in the township schools during the struggle to fight the injustice

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of apartheid. In likening the situation in South Africa to a war, Chikane (1986) describes the world of township youth as follows: The world of the township child is extremely violent. It is a world made up of teargas, bullets, whippings, detentions, and death on the streets. It is an experience of military operations and night raids, of roadblocks and body searches. It is a world where parent and friends get carried away in the night to be interrogated. It is a world where people simply disappear, where parents are assassinated and homes are petrol bombed. Such is the environment of the township child today. (p. 342)

The case of Fanie Guduka is illustrative of the kind of violence meted out to really young children. At the age of eleven he was kept in police cells for 57 days for allegedly throwing stones, representing an appalling example of state abuse of its children (Chikane, 1986). While the younger participants attended school after 1994, Griffiths spent a large part of his school years in Soweto in the years leading up to democracy, which were filled with unrest and protests against the education system and the other injustices of the apartheid government. As part of this story, he shares about those occasions when he and his classmates were told to pack their books and go home in the middle of the day, their schooling interrupted by the political protests. The reason for targeting the education system specifically was that it was deliberately designed to equip Black people for servitude. The protests were aimed at ending the symbolic violence (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992) to which they were subjected. The rioting – we were boys then but it affected us a lot because during school hours, you see guys coming in, into class and saying eh “Pack your books go home”. Teachers stop. You can’t do much. Eh There’s horrible things I won’t share with you that as a young man, I’m – we should have gone for psychometric, psychology— psychiatric help. I’m glad and the only reason I still maintain I think it was my mom she prayed, and it was by the grace of God that I turned out to be this way and never had to undergo any psychiatric intervention. Because we witnessed horrible things. First time death, killings, everything. Not from the news, there in front of us. Some of us we were forced to stand there and witness.

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This extract highlights the disruption many learners of colour experienced to their education and reinforces the privilege of their White counterparts, who experienced no such disruption. In addition, it draws our attention to the fact that Griffiths and his contemporaries were raised in a world that was much like the one described by Chikane in the beginning of this section. It highlights the tremendous violence and suffering to which they were subject. Griffiths suggests that these experiences are part of his habitus, etched on his body/psyche through the memories associated with these events. While Griffiths attributes his perceived lack of permanent psychological damage to his mother’s prayers, Hickson and Kriegler (1991) highlight the vulnerability of children exposed to traumatising experiences and the risk of manifesting anxiety, adjustment and behavioural disorders in the future. While the focus of this study is on professional identity, it is clear from this section that when considering the study of professionals of colour in White spaces it is imperative to consider all the contexts in which they function and have functioned. While identity work is focused on the present, constructing an identity should always be recognised in terms of the connection to past experiences within a person’s life story (Ashforth, 2016; Brown, 2015). This is particularly so when considering studies of Whiteness, which require an understanding of history, both personal and collective, to make sense of dynamics in the present.

6.4

Traversing Spaces

In defining micro-context , Al Ariss et al. (2014) refer inter alia to emigration/immigration and “the connections between life in the home and host countries” (p. 364). I have entitled this section traversing space to capture the movement between contexts with different histories and relationships in respect of race or ethnicity, as Whiteness operates differently in different geographical and historical contexts (Green et al., 2007; Nkomo & Al Ariss, 2014). Traversing spaces also refers to movement in South Africa between spaces historically reserved for racio-ethnic groups and the challenges associated with this. In this section, I begin by exploring the experiences of Peter and Lucy, who have both left their

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home country. Peter was born and bred in South Africa but left to do his PhD in the Netherlands and has subsequently settled there. He continues to hold an academic post in South Africa and thus returns once or twice a year for work, to see his family and to enjoy the milder weather. It is the movement between the contexts of South Africa and the Netherlands, and the comparisons I wished to explore, that drew me to his story, as well as the fact that he feels deeply about the differences. Being a cultural identity scholar himself, he has explored these concepts both intellectually and personally, grappling with his own male privilege and at the same time his racial disadvantage. Similarly, Lucy presents an interesting case, chosen because she was not born and raised in South Africa but in Zimbabwe, a country with a different political history. Although subject to colonial rule, it gained independence in 1980 and was never subject to a drastically segregationist regime like Apartheid, presenting a very different national context. Lucy moved to South Africa to study at a university, where she “met a boy” and has never left. Both these participants commented on the challenges in traversing the space between home and the host country due to the racially structured nature of South African society. Bourdieu (2000) suggests that in some instances the habitus may be confronted with “conditions of actualisation different from those in which they were produced” (pp. 160–161). This is reflected in the participants’ stories, as they were confronted with circumstances different from those in which their habitus was formed. In such instances, where a habitus enters a new field, Bourdieu (2002) argues that the “dialectical confrontation” (p. 31) between the old and new may lead to the development of a “cleft habitus” (Bourdieu, 2000). In the field of marketing studies, Sallaz (2010) explores the use of a cleft habitus to understand how a racial formation survives. He demonstrates its use in South Africa to explain how managers in the entertainment industry produce an apparently non-discriminatory version of their racist selves to maintain their position in a changing country. To demonstrate the degree to which South African society is structured around race and the dynamics surrounding it, Peter contrasts his experiences in the Netherlands, with those in South Africa. In the Netherlands he has very few friends and colleagues of colour; in social settings he is often the only person of colour. In South Africa, he is among family

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and friends and, by virtue of the population demographic, one of many people of colour. Yet in his experience he is more aware of his otherness in the South African context, where there are many people who look like him, rather than in the Netherlands, where his difference should be more marked. Peter: …. “and I have become more aware of the fact that I’m not White…..I only become aware of the fact that I’m [stutter] that I’m not White when I either prepare to come back here5 and when I am here. And then right after when I’m not there, when I, when I, when I go back. Anne: So your “otherness” is more pronounced here? Peter: It is more pronounced here Anne: Even though logically it should be morePeter: Uhm It should be more pronounced there….. So when it comes to my friends, I’m the only non-White person. When it comes to my office, I’m the only non-White person. Whenever I go to a bar or a restaurant, chances are I’m the only non-White person. And it does not –die Afrikaans woord is “dit val my nie so op soos wat dit hierso is nie6 ”

When asked why he thought this was the case, one of the reasons he provided is that South Africans are so focused on race: “Historically we have been embedded here about having a place as a race” (Peter). While he has been exposed to stigma and Whiteness in the Dutch context, it is largely absent in the day-to-day structuring of relationships and interactions around race, and the identity work this entails, something he alludes to in this next extract.

5

The interview was conducted in South Africa. He breaks into Afrikaans and the meaning of what he is saying is roughly: “it (my colour) is not as obvious to me there (the Netherlands) as it is here (South Africa). The interview was conducted in South Africa so here refers to the latter, there refers to the Netherlands. 6

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Peter: So having, having, having a space. I tell you why. I am in – when I’m in the Netherlands and I communicate with someone I often find that I – [pause] and because most of my friends or most of my colleagues are White, I have – I feel a lot more free to speak my mind due to the fact that I know that there’s not superiority complex that they may have Anne: Okay. Peter: Whereas when I get here, I have to be very sensitive about the fact that when I speak to a White person, I need to be careful due to the fact that they have an understanding that they may be superior or that when I speak to a Black person, that I need to be sensitive about the fact that I do not behave in a way that is superior…So, I find that I have to manage my interactions far more here, than I have to there”.

In this extract Peter compares the Dutch and South African contexts, the Netherlands providing Peter with more freedom from the constraints of racial expectations. When he is faced with a situation of perceived discrimination, he can speak out without fear of reprisal: I have had for example, I have had, I have had colleagues of mine in the Netherlands where if I’m not happy with something, I tell them. I do not appreciate the way in which you are talking about a particular group right now or I do not appreciate where this conversation is going and if I was really, really upset I would uhm I would communicate that I don’t want to talk about race with you at this point in time, right.

On the other hand, he suggests that race relations in South Africa are structured to a point where each group is subconsciously aware of their position in the historical racial hierarchy, and social relations are structured around these positions. Yet, as Peter suggests, In this context we never talk about race. Everything is subtly below the surface. So you cannot really express how you feel and one of the things that bother me is the fact that I cannot call someone out on their behaviour without them taking extensive offense to it.

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Peter suggests that in South Africa talk of race is proscribed in an attempt to move away from the overt structuring of relations along racial lines, while at the same time it remains an integral part of structuring relationships. The challenge with this is that although race may never be expressed overtly, its presence is much like the proverbial elephant in the room. There is the mistaken belief that by never acknowledging race we can move beyond our history, ignoring the structuring elements of the habitus that so effectively reproduce it. Moreover, the racial hierarchy entrenched by the apartheid system remains intact. As a Coloured person, Peter is aware that many White South Africans consider themselves to be superior, something he must maintain in his relations with them (I explore this in more detail shortly). Thus, if White South Africans act in a way that is offensive to him, he is effectively silenced, as feedback regarding discriminatory behaviour is not open for discussion. Yet at the same time, he recognises his own (potential) complicity in reproducing this hierarchy in his interactions with Black South Africans, something he is loath to do. Not talking about race allows White privilege to be reproduced, and the historical hierarchy enforced by physical space in the past is now reproduced in the psychological space of social relations. Bourdieu referred to the habitus primarily in terms of class-related experiences but, as Peter suggests, in South Africa race, even more important than class, acts as the means by which the habitus is structured. These historical patterns are then reproduced in social relationships and interactions that must be managed with great care. Peter is suggesting that in South Africa he engages in a form of identity work in inter-racial engagements, as he positions his own identity in relation to the race of the person he is engaging. When interacting with White people he has to ensure that their sense of racial superiority is not threatened; with Black people he has to avoid reinforcing any form of historical superiority associated with his own racial identity. In the extract below, “the fish in water” nature of the habitus (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992, p. 127) is demonstrated as Peter describes the ease with which he slips into relational patterns surrounding race upon his return to South Africa. While his cleft habitus (Bourdieu, 2000)

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developed in the Netherlands can recognise this, he nevertheless slips into the pattern without a second thought. Anne: Hmm. Can I ask the two things I want to pick up on. The one is you say it’s a natural process for you to feel you need to make them (White people) feel comfortable – is that White privilege in action? …. Peter: As the – I think that’s the – I understand the statement that I think that just hit me very hard because essentially yes [giggle]…… Anne: Ja and so, so it almost adds insult to injury, that it’s not only about White privilege – it’s about you being forced into a place where you have to uphold that …... Peter: The problem with that is I don’t even think I’m being forced, that’s the sad part. I think it is so naturally ingrained. It comes so easily. Uhm that I don’t even have to think twice about it

Far from being coerced to reproduce traditional racial hierarchies, Peter highlights the ease with which he slips into a way of being when returning to South Africa. While in the Netherlands he is comfortable calling people out in situations of perceived discrimination; in South Africa, a place with a different racial history, his habitus adjusts to the dominant doxa of the field and he admits “I feel that it’s a natural process for me to make them (White people) feel comfortable”. He acknowledges that he is in no way forced to make these compromises but that “it is naturally ingrained” and that he doesn’t “have to think twice out it”. Despite his experiences in another context and exposure to the possibility of confronting discriminatory behaviour, his own is constrained in South African spaces, where, against his better knowledge and judgement, his capacity for action is limited (Ahmed, 2007). The lack of coercion with which these patterns are reproduced is indicative of the symbolic violence (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992) to which Peter is subject as he is so effectively co-opted in his own domination. Lucy also describes how one’s micro-context influences one’s reactions. She shares how she was confronted with what she terms her consciousness of Black and White:

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In Zim my consciousness of Black and White was very – it was almost not there. But now being in South Africa it’s in your face, and you sort of have to – so initially I used to think my Black friends were just being extra, too much you know? Interviewer: Too sensitive? Ja, exactly, that’s what I thought it was. But now that I’m living here, or that I have lived in this setting for now about how long? Twelve years, ja, now I’m seeing where they are coming from and I understand that that thing is there, from both directions. And now if you are coming from outside, you are just caught in the middle and you have to deal with it.

I share this section of the interview both to give a context to the story that follows and to provide a supposedly outsider perspective on a South African’s obsession with race. In this extract she is placing herself in the centre of the Black–White issue, almost as an objective onlooker, observing the strained relations between the two groups. She suggests that on arriving in South Africa she was almost unaware of racial differences, but that living here she finds it difficult to avoid. Just before the extract that follows, she tells that when her husband, a native South African, tries to book accommodation at a seaside resort he is told they are full. She calls directly after this, and with her perfect English accent manages to secure a booking straight away. So I have experienced it now directly. So where I thought Black people were being sensitive, now I’m like oh wait, there’s a thing there and because of the way I look, I am now part of them and I’m going to receive it directly, even though I was coming from a neutral base. So I think I am now sensitive to it, so I will sometimes misread people like on this last holiday we were on, we went to Tsitsikamma. And there was this old White lady there and I could tell she is an Afrikaans speaking lady and she’s uhm she’s just a quiet, reserved person. But I took that as hostility – automatically. And she was just generally reserved, it turned out. So I got there and I have already now got this look on my face like – so my mom wanted a cup of tea…. So I said to her, can I have – but I was quite aggressive, even in the way I was speaking to her. I wasn’t – it wasn’t a friend – a very friendly tone I must admit, because of the way she appeared to me. And that’s where I think the sensitivity came in, it was from my sensitive stance. Where my mom wouldn’t have dealt with it like that because she’s coming from Zim and she still doesn’t see Black

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and White. So uhm she went up to go ask what muffins they had and all of that and she came back and this lady was still not really – she’s a very, I think she’s just a very – she’s gone through a lot and she is reserved so she doesn’t give a bubbly “hello, welcome to my shop!” kind of. And then later on she says, she started talking to my mom. And then she said uhm no I just commented actually when I went to try and pay. I said to her, “I really like the way this place looks”, just to see what would happen. Maybe it’s sometimes my Christian side takes over more than my hostility. So I said to her “I just really like how you set up this place, it feels like home” and then she started telling me her story. Like she just opened up and started saying “I was part of the fire in Knysna and the lodge I was working at completely burnt down, and I have set up something new so I have redone all of this myself ” and then she went on and on and she started talking to my mom. And then she eventually said, “You know what, you don’t need to pay anything, the coffee is on me, the cake is on me as well. Your mom is a lovely lady”. And it turned out that she’s such an amazing person, but because of the way I now read people, I missed it completely.

Lucy begins by acknowledging that despite her foreigner status, and thus supposedly outsider perspective, she is faced with the same stereotypes and prejudice as Black South Africans because of her embodiment. She shares this story to demonstrate the extent to which she has been affected by the discrimination, both in her own person and that of her loved ones. Consequently, she has internalised the structures of the new field, modified her habitus accordingly (Abrahams & Ingram, 2013) and developed a cleft habitus (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992) as the field in which she functions currently is significantly different from the one in which she was raised. What is sadly significant is that she believes the heightening of her sensitivities has led to a misinterpretation of a person’s motives.7 Had she not reached out herself, this would have prevented her from connecting at a more intimate level with someone from another racial group.

7

From her perspective as we will never know the lady’s true motives.

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Important in this story is her mother and her neutrality in the dynamics of colour politics in South Africa. Unfettered by misperceptions, she engages the woman, which goes some way in breaking the ice. Central too is Lucy’s Christian identity, which she believes enabled her to gain some reflexive distance from her sensitivities, allowing her to test her assumptions and reach out to the woman despite the chance of being rebuffed. In doing so she moved past the woman’s reserve and got to the root of her story. What we have here is a habitus shaped by both the racial dynamics of the context and her Christian faith, something that forms a central part of her identity. This is expressed throughout the interview and is consistent with her ten identity statements, the first two of which related to her relationship with God. While she responds initially with hostility, the habitus she presents is one capable of reflection and adjustment, of flexibility and deliberate agency, something Bourdieu has advocated as part of the concept habitus (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992). While she acknowledges the forces influencing her, she is not beholden to them but rather weighs up alternative possible actions, choosing one that seems to be most consistent with who she perceives herself to be. In addition to traversing space across national boundaries, some participants also have to traverse the boundaries between historically White and Black spaces, which are characterised by different doxa, the most significant of which is language and the accent in which it is spoken. White spaces are dominated by the use of English or Afrikaans, whereas in Black spaces the use of South Africa’s vernacular languages dominates. The ability to speak English or Afrikaans has cultural value in White spaces, although to use them in Black spaces is considered unacceptable. Lucy comments on her experience as a Black Zimbabwean and foreigner in South Africa, suggesting that in addition to a Black/White situation (described above), there is a Black/Black dynamic as well. Given her nationality, she is unable to speak any of the local African languages and is only able to communicate in English. There’s a Black/Black issue – because you are Black but you are speaking to me in English and in South Africa that is a problem that I never knew was an issue. And I wouldn’t have experienced it at the international institution because we were all coming from different spaces, so English

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was our mode of communication, it was fine. But now I’m in this place where you are not allowed to speak English to a Black person and they always insist. So, they won’t sort of keep talking to you and judge you quietly, but they will ask you “So what language do you speak?” When they ask you, what is your home language, it’s so that they can speak to you in the language that you speak at home, but they are not going to be able to and they wouldn’t speak Shona to me anyway. I would respond, ‘I speak English.’ ‘Oh, but what is your home language?’ and I’m like ‘English’. And they don’t like that…So, you are with ‘them’ and not with us, because you don’t speak the language.

Whiteness is therefore not just about skin colour: it is about the perception of having a “White heart”. Lucy’s inability to speak a local African language made her easily identifiable as a foreigner in a national context where language is intricately tied to race and ethnicity, the historical basis for discrimination. Her identification with English as her home language leads her to be classified as identifying as White and thus other. Therefore, in both contexts she is marked—in one by the colour of her skin and in the other by her use of language. The place where this was most marked was in using the minibus taxis that dominate South Africa’s transport system. In this space, the local African languages are spoken; not doing so singles one out as a foreigner or particularly privileged. In a country characterised by high crime levels and xenophobia, which has at several times over the last few years turned deadly, it is critical to be able to blend in as much as possible. This has led to identity enactment on the part of both Lucy and Dorothy. So I had to teach myself to speak like a South African. Just for the purpose of that I would learn basic stuff like; learn to greet, don’t talk too much [giggles], don’t answer your phone in the taxi, because then they will know you sound a certain way and you are speaking English. I learned to say “afta robot” [African accent] instead of saying “after the robot” [private school English], which is what I would normally say. But if I do that in a taxi the driver is going to ill-treat me…. So ja, I learned to say things like South African friendly terminology. (Lucy)

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Dorothy shares a similar experience as a Black South African who has attended private schools and thus speaks English with a “White” accent. You go in there not wanting to sound ‘too White’, because that will draw attention to yourself, and uhm – ya so it’s ultimately to not draw attention to yourself and not make yourself an easy target if something were to happen. Uh cause if you sound like this, people think ah, you have lived a soft life. First of all you are wealthy, you have lived a soft life, you are not from the streets like as basic as that sounds. Uhm and everything so, in order to, ja to not draw any attention and to not come across this rich kid who is trying to you know. Ja you change your accent. Uhm, ja I think I was in a taxi with my brother once, and I was just like shhhh. His accent is so bad and everyone was turning around and looking and I was just like shhhh we will talk afterwards. And like saying (where to) stop, like usually you would say after the robot, is what you want to say so like after the next robot. But you say ‘afta robot’ (puts on a Black African accent), to uhm kind of sound like everyone else.

Here we have examples of identity enactment (Obodaru, 2017), which refers to acting or performing an identity that will allow them relatively safe passage when using a taxi, as their foreign status is otherwise too easily recognisable. Ironically the very element that helps them traverse White spaces more easily, translating into a form of cultural capital, has very little value in these traditionally Black spaces. It makes them identifiable as “soft” and “rich”, which in these contexts frames them as outsiders. Here too they run the risk of being “othered”, not because of skin colour, but accent. They are often aware of occupying a liminal space, not entirely at home in either White or Black dominated spaces (Beech, 2011).

6.5

Traversing Cosmologies

Of all the sections I have written up for this project, this proved the most challenging. It exposed my own Whiteness and that of academia, as in it I was forced to grapple with the dynamics of an alternative cosmology,

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representing it (or at least trying to) in a way that did not undermine the spirit of the project. In Sect. 6.4, Traversing Spaces, I explore what Peter and Lucy faced as they traversed national boundaries, and the challenges this entailed. In this section I explore the experience of Frances, who in her person experiences the competing demands of what are essentially different cosmologies, as she manages the demands of being both an IOP and a traditional healer or Igqira.8 A traditional healer, like a shaman, is an important figure in the lives of African people (Jonker, 2006) and central to their collective identity. Whereas Western treatment for ailments would include a doctor for medical ailments, a psychologist for psychological ills and a reverend or pastor for spiritual concerns, the holistic nature of the African cosmology prescribes one role for all of them, the traditional healer. Training to be a traditional healer is in the form of an apprenticeship of anywhere between 12 and 24 months. Causes of ailments are sought at a spiritual and material level and closely linked to morality and the welfare of the community. Traditional healers have a very specific role and identity within the African community to which is attached considerable status and respect. While I have shared snippets of her story throughout the project, it is this specific element of her complex identity that I have chosen to explore in more detail, and it is this that presents Frances with the challenge. In her own words, Frances describes herself as follows: My professional identity intersected with so many persecuted identities in the South African context such as a being a young Black woman, a wife who has to balance the realities of modern day with societal expectations/pressures, being a working mother, economic dispossession of the missing middle class and so many others assigned to or unknowingly assumed in blind spot. I struggle with the fact that, of all these intersecting identities, it had to be the sacred and divine healer identity that is chosen to be the most significant.

8 Although Frances is of the Sepedi tribe, at her recommendation I use the isiXhosa term for this identity as it is better known.

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On one level Frances is very like the other young Black female participants in the study in that her experiences are similar to theirs and thus unlikely to draw specific notice. Yet in her healer identity she is unlike them, hence the spotlight on this element of her being. While her academic habitus is comfortable with this scrutiny and with the academic language and traditional framing of these issues, her cultural and healer habitus is not, and herein lies the tension. The very notion of wanting to explore the less explored lies at the heart of the academic mandate and is thus central to the project. At the same time, Francis’s healer identity has been explored, not in identity terms as a legitimate way of being, but from a Western, psychological perspective, something Frances rejects as demeaning. One of the demands of academia is to locate one’s topic within the extant literature, but what happens when the extant literature itself is “White” and colludes in framing Francis’s identity as “the other”, something that became apparent in the first drafts of this section? In response to this, Frances wrote: In instances where you can remove the complex theorisation methods of knowledge production often used in academia, one question should haunt all practitioners whose practices are informed by research produced. Is it practical to use a non-African concept to explain an African concept?.... Academia can also be challenged to think about the scientific value of explaining African worldviews through alien paradigms. For research subjects it is a violation that is imposed on them to think of themselves as others. To invalidate their natural existence and validate their existence by adopting a “more acceptable/understood” existence.

My first question to Frances on reading this section was whether I should refrain from writing this up. She said no, and asked that I write it up naturally without likening the identity to anything Western. I have tried my best to do so but remain aware of my own modes of thinking as well as the English language, which underpins the Western cosmology and constrains my efforts to capture a complex system of meaning developed and practised over centuries. Traditional healing is not supported by traditional “research” and hence it is questioned by the dominant paradigm (Jonker, 2006).

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However, Foucault reminds us of the socially constructed and historically situated nature of views of Western medicine and the ways in which relations of power are perpetuated through social control (Jonker, 2006), with a close relationship between medical discourses and power. In South Africa, control of traditional medical discourses was consolidated through legislation that reinforced the stigma surrounding traditional healers—the Witchcraft9 Suppression Act of 1957 and the Witchcraft Suppression Amendment Act of 1970 (Jonker, 2006)—both of which aimed at prohibiting the practice. Thus, this facet of her identity, like so many of those listed in the extract above, has been stigmatised through legislation as well as academia; it is not difficult to understand Frances’s sensitivities in this regard. Having set the context, let me return to Frances’s story. While undergoing her professional training as an IOP, Frances received a shamanic calling to be an Igqira (traditional healer). The calling—called ukuthwasa 10 —is considered of supernatural origin, which manifests in the material realm in a range of experiences that may include vivid dreams, physical manifestations such as pain, nausea and loss of appetite, as well as emotional indicators such as anxiety and fear, mood swings and social isolation (Booi, 2004). The calling is a profoundly embodied experience, as the Igqira is made aware of their role as guide and arbiter between the material and spiritual realms. However, from a Western psychological/medical perspective these experiences11 have been interpreted as symptoms of psychosis (Booi, 2004) with little understanding of the rich meaning of the underlying cosmology. This underscores the vast difference in meanings associated with various forms of behaviour, and the tensions experienced by Frances herself. Moreover, it highlights the deeply rooted euro-centricity of the psychology profession, a discourse premised on certain assumptions “about how the world 9 I draw the reader’s attention to the wording used in formulating this piece of legislation, framing a cultural practice as witchcraft and ignoring the cultural dimension of healing. 10 Although Frances is of the Sepedi tribe, at her recommendation I use the isiXhosa term for this experience as it is better known. 11 For example, the literature I consulted in preparing this section refers to “symptoms” of ukuthwasa, a word that implies illness. It is for this reason that I have deliberately chosen to avoid the word symptom and to replace it with the term experience.

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is and (how it) ought to be” and in so doing conceals patterns of domination (Jonker, 2006, p. 5). This raises the question of how effective these discourses can be in addressing issues arising in a cosmology that is vastly different from the one in which it was developed. Frances thus found herself completing an honour’s degree in IOP while undergoing training to become a traditional healer, dwelling simultaneously in two distinctly different worlds, both equally important to her. While her Igqira identity forms an integral part of her cultural heritage, she values her identity as an IOP and the opportunities it provides. As an industrial psychologist, she applies knowledge about psychological processes to the work context to develop cohesive relationships between work and people in the workplace. In her work as a traditional healer she is called to heal illness, disharmony and spiritual troubles, relying on her ancestors to give instruction and advice (Mokgobi, 2014). When I first interviewed Frances she expressed considerable tension between these two identities, as she struggled to make sense of their differences and competing demands. In her self-descriptions, she says the following: I’m an emerging traditional healer, I am fascinated at times, I’m fascinated at times scared or overwhelmed by the spiritual world. Uhm this has been a very challenging uhm [pause] I don’t know, I have struggled a lot with accepting this part about my life. Uhm I got the calling 2013/2014 I ignored it….Yes, I used to get dreams that I have to go and then I enquired about it and the yes, it was confirmed I had, I have to train as a traditional healer.

Eventually, the experiences associated with the calling persisted and she was no longer able to ignore them. Taking three months’ leave from work, she attended the initial training that would equip her to practise as a traditional healer. Since then she has grappled with what this means to and for her. When speaking to her later, while revisiting this section, I noticed a considerable shift in her perspective. What was initially a quite overwhelming experience for her has awakened an appreciation of her cultural heritage and pride in it, something she is careful to protect

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and cherish. Much like the participants in Adams and Crafford (2012) who drew on the beneficial aspects of their work life to manage their family life and vice versa, Frances draws on meaningful elements of both identities and their cosmologies in conducting her work as an IOP and an Igqira. Thus, rather than viewing these as competing identities she views them as complementary, with equal status in her life and work. Her keen understanding of African cosmology and the meanings associated with it has helped her in many situations at work, where many of her clients are of African descent. While her training as an IOP allows her to help her clients in a practical way, her sensitivity to the meanings and practices of African culture have allowed her to address her African clients’ problems more holistically and in ways that are more meaningful to them. For example, after a fatal accident at work she was counselling an African employee and asked whether he would be engaging in a traditional cleansing ceremony. He was surprised that a psychologist would ask such a question but immediately responded that he would, touched by her understanding and appreciation of the importance of his cultural practices. In this way, she can resolve her African clients’ issues holistically, something that adds considerable value to her work. While these two identities have equal value in her own life, her identity as an Igqira is constrained by Whiteness in ways that her professional IOP identity will never be. The English language and Western lens within which formal knowledge production occurs, constrain a meaningful and comprehensive description of this identity on its own terms. This becomes apparent when writing up the experiences Igqira have during their calling, something that in formal knowledge production has only been conceptualised in negative terms. Because English is used to construct an entirely different cosmology, there are no words that adequately describe the nature and meanings associated with her Igqira identity and consequently it is often misunderstood. The words used to describe various aspects of this identity have a specific meaning in the cultural context that are not always translatable into English, nor is their meaning easily grasped. She thus engages in a form of cognitive identity work, something that was evident in working on this section, as she struggles to convey the meaning and value of this identity in a world that

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is constructed to stigmatise and devalue it. This requires considerable emotional labour, something she experiences as frustrating and draining.

6.6

Black Tax: Financial Transfers and Family Responsibilities

The collectivist cultures of Africa contrast strongly with the individualism of the West, something captured in Southern Africa through the philosophy of Ubuntu. This complex philosophy views personhood as thoroughly relational and thus entails characteristics such as sensitivity to others, charity, sympathy, care, respect, considerateness and kindness (Eliastam, 2015). This manifests practically through a system of financial transfers that extends beyond the natal family to include the extended family as well as the community more generally. These financial transfers, often referred to colloquially by Africans themselves as Black tax, differs from the American usage of the term where it refers to Black people working twice as hard to prove themselves (Mangoma & WilsonPrangley, 2019). The responsibility of financial care is a consequence of inequality (Fongwa, 2019), and while not unique to Black Africans, it is an additional obligation placed on young professionals who are already grappling with historical inequality. While higher education and a professional qualification are supposed to play a levelling role, allowing for a reduction in the historical inequalities and increased socio-economic mobility (Vally, 2007), the responsibility of having to give financial support to one’s extended family means this is not always realised. Griffiths highlights the dreams he and his friends had at university of being able to buy cars and other luxuries they had been denied, once they had graduated and were earning an income. Sadly, when faced with the responsibilities of taking care of family members, these dreams did not materialise. Now that I know, because we wanted a car, we wanted – I don’t think we were thinking about houses. We were just thinking this life, we must have money to do what we have not been able to do – we needed to

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have money. And it turned out different. When we graduated, you have money and you have now these responsibilities. [giggles]

While he doesn’t like the term Black tax, he has mixed feelings about the support of extended family, especially because of the abuse he perceives. He took care of his parents and enjoyed doing so, viewing this as appreciation for their care and support: “I mean my parents, I took care of them, so I loved that. It was almost for me ‘thank you’ back to them”. Although the term Black tax is widely used by Black Africans and in social media, newspapers and the online press (Mangoma & WilsonPrangley, 2019), some people, like Griffiths take offence at this (Fongwa, 2019), preferring to focus on the privilege of being able to help those who raised and supported them, despite the deprivation they themselves must endure as a result. The responsibility of taking care of family members was a reality for many young professionals in this study. Being the first graduate or professional in their family placed a considerable burden on them, partly because they were one of the very few family members who were working, but also, having attained professional status, they were viewed as being financially well-off. Caroline, Oliver and Lilian share their experiences below. So for instance – so my dad did what he did, he made his own decisions but then he went into a financial distress. And I’m at this point because literally every month, I need to give my dad something. And then now my gran - so she stays now in Meadowlands Zone 3 with my aunts. Uhm literally when I visit her, she will pass a comment “You not even giving me cash”. So, it’s like all the time when you are around them, you need to be conscious because they always continuously ask for money and they forgetting you are still young and you still want to develop yourself. (Caroline) They see you it’s a jackpot – even, it’s not even your family, neighbour, neighbour it’s – the list goes on and on, the list goes on and on. People that you haven’t been speaking in neighbourhoods, people you haven’t speaking in ten years, uhm extend like ex— when I mean like literally

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extended families like people that you hardly ever chat to. But when it comes to money problems, you find people coming to you. (Oliver) Another issue there is in our communities, is that you are assumed that you have lots of money, and so you must always have money and you have a car, so if you have a car then you have money, you don’t have a child, so what are you doing with your money, I’m like…not necessarily just people from outside, even your own family members, they’ll maybe borrow money or ask you for money because you have a car. ….And sometimes you’ll find that like some of my distant aunts, they will be like, ‘Okay you are working now, so what have you bought for your aunt or what have you done, I’m your aunt and you haven’t done anything for me’. (Lillian)

As Oliver points out, this leaves the young professional extremely vulnerable. They remember the help they received when they were struggling through university and how frustrating it was to need financial help. They have also been raised with the mindset of caring for others. However, at the same time they are struggling to establish themselves, pay off loans, buy a car and a house, with no generational asset base to fall back on. The implication is that Black tax can contribute to the already evident asset deficit experienced by Black professionals in comparison to their peers (Fongwa, 2019). Thus, while the aspect of Black tax does not relate to Whiteness or stigma per se, it impacts their ability to reduce the gap between themselves and their White colleagues. This issue was raised by some of the participants in this study. When we start work not all of us are starting on an equal footing. Unfortunately, as a Black trainee, you’re almost like a step behind…. You get people who are still using public transport and … some of them are feeding their families, they become the breadwinners…Your counterparts are splashing; they are able to afford to go on trips. Your money goes to the car instalment, insurance, support at home... You don’t even have enough to treat yourself. You could do the bare minimum with your salary. [sigh] It was a struggle. (Oliver)

Oliver became the main breadwinner in his family when his mother passed away and his aunt stopped working. He had a responsibility

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towards his three siblings and the rest of his family. “It’s just one of those things, it just means you are not going to live the same lifestyle as your colleagues, so there’s going to be those differences, you know?” Charlotte alluded to something similar. She is an only child, and her parents, while once very successful, had lost their business while she was still at school. While her school fees and university tuition had been covered by scholarships, their extended family had been helping take care of them. As a graduate professional, she was now responsible for taking care of her parents as well as those who had taken care of them. So if I put it in perspective, I’m starting at a negative – so anything that I earn, is going to be going to patching up what is behind me – So even though I’m an only child from my direct parents, there’s still my cousins to take care of, there’s still my aunts and uncles that were helping us and then we directly need to cover accommodation, need to cover transport and food and things like that.

While almost all participants who mentioned the financial transfers were initially happy to help, as time went on, without changing the mindset underlying the need for care, they began to question the longterm value of helping people financially. Although Nelson suggested that he enjoyed making a difference, he alluded to the proverb: “…if you give a person a fish you will feed him for a day. Teaching a person how to catch a fish you will be feeding him for a lifetime”. He preferred to help people by sharing information, encouraging them to get good grades and study further, thus equipping them over the long term. He had bought his brother a small truck in support of his business but did so only after he had developed the business, knowing he would use it wisely. Oh no I just – at the beginning I think I was like uhm I would help out. But now I’m like you know what, you can also do it especially on my younger cousins and stuff like that, and I try to influence in the right direction and say “You know what, why don’t you study further?” And yes there is no money, but make a plan. Like my one cousin she uhm the company is willing to sponsor her as well. And I was like and take up that opportunity and don’t be lazy. Yes it’s not easy to study and work but uhm commit to it and balance it out and figure out how to do it.

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Yes, because I think people always have this “Ah life is not fair” and stuff like that; “Why can’t I study full time as well?” But at the end of the day, you are the one that’s benefitting from it so like I said at first, I think I used to help out a lot but now I realized I’m not going to enable.

Sophia also raised the issue of changing mindsets and the value of teaching those dependent on financial care to embrace practices that would enable them to become self-sufficient, for example by studying further. Having sacrificed substantially and invested time and energy in qualifying themselves, these professionals felt that their family and friends should rather be encouraged to do the same, as self-sufficiency would ultimately equip them to look after themselves.

6.7

Conclusion

In this chapter, Micro Context: The Personal Space, I consider the means through which Whiteness is reproduced in the micro-context. In doing so I explored the value placed by the parents of these professionals on education and the extraordinary lengths they were prepared to go and the sacrifices they were willing to make to ensure their children got the best education within their often-limited means. I examined the impact of personal context on experiences of racism and discrimination and how these shaped the habitus, highlighting the personal cost born by people of colour as they negotiate a personal and professional identity, often leading to emotional exhaustion. The micro-context entails matters related to immigration and emigration. These I addressed by highlighting the stories of participants who had come to or left South Africa, noting how these experiences had shaped their views of racial politics in the country. However, traversing spaces is not always a matter of physical space but rather psychological, and African cultural identities can be difficult to reconcile with professional ones. I examined the challenges in integrating identities from two very different cosmologies in one professional life. Finally, I explored the issue of Black tax, and while it is not directly related to Whiteness and stigma, I found that this additional

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layer of responsibility for family care placed an additional burden on many professionals of colour.

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7 Whiteness, Stigma and Professional Identity

7.1

Introduction

The aim of this monograph was to explore the professional identity of people of colour in South Africa, a context in which racial stigma and Whiteness provoke and constrain identity work. The preceding chapters have explored the narratives of 26 professionals—chartered accountants, engineers and industrial and organisational psychologists—in which they shared their experiences related to stigma and Whiteness in the public, professional and personal spaces they inhabit. These narratives suggest that in addition to barriers of professional closure (Barac, 2015; Hammond et al., 2009; Sadler, 2002; Sadler & Erasmus, 2003, 2005; Wiese, 2006) experienced by some, stigma and Whiteness challenge these professionals in varying degrees and multiple forms, functioning as mechanisms of power and influencing their subjective experience of professional life.

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Whiteness Reproduced Through Professional Identity Construction

Professions function as a microcosm of the broader field of South African life and were historically influenced by the racism and restrictions of colonialism and apartheid. While open racism and legislated discrimination are no longer in force, their residue persists in the form of Whiteness and stigmatisation. Professions are symbolic spaces characterised by their own “illusio”, which prescribe certain professional capitals and a profound belief in their legitimacy (Schinkel & Noordegraaf, 2011). Yet these capitals are ideological in that they gain their value in a particular context that is closely entwined with White space and privilege. Consequently, these highly desirable occupations are sites of power struggles as professionals of colour compete to forge a successful and lucrative career path (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992). However, due to a history of structural disadvantage, many young professionals of colour arrive lacking the foundational capitals enjoyed by their White counterparts, meaning that they face additional challenges in developing professional capital. Economically, many come from disadvantaged backgrounds and do not have the resources that are needed in professional settings characterised by relative privilege. In many instances, they are the first in their families (and sometimes communities) to qualify as professionals. They are disconnected from the powerful social networks that thrive in these traditionally White domains and thus lack the connections that will smooth their transition. Moreover, many of them are culturally and linguistically at a disadvantage in professions originating in Europe and dominated by a Western habitus and set of values. These young people enter professions where their membership is regulated by powerful hierarchies according to the symbolic capital required in the field. To manage the demands of Whiteness and their profession, all the participants had, at various times, developed a cleft and/or chameleon habitus (Abrahams & Ingram, 2013; Bourdieu, 1999), which enabled them to navigate White-dominated spaces with varying degrees of ease. However, the cleft habitus is not without its challenges, and Bourdieu describes it as follows:

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A habitus divided against itself, in constant negotiation with itself and its ambivalences, and therefore doomed to a kind of duplication, to double perception of the self, to successive allegiance and multiple identities.. (Bourdieu, 1999, p. 511)

In this view cleft habitus is mainly negative and implies conflict and struggle, resulting in what Ingram (2011) refers to as “habitus tug”, in which tastes, practices and dispositions of two habitus are competing for supremacy. Yet despite the habitus tug experienced by some, the cleft habitus also functioned as a practical tool, allowing participants to grasp the structuring and functioning of White professional settings, developing “a practical sense” and thus being able to manoeuvre relatively successfully (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992). It allowed participants to develop the tastes, dispositions and practices that would facilitate their inclusion in professional life. Thus, drawing on the cultural resources of the setting (Schryer & Spoel, 2005), they fashioned an identity that would be appropriate in the new setting within the challenges posed by their constrained circumstances. While scholars have challenged Bourdieu’s concept of habitus as being unable to account for growth and change in identity (Archer, 1993), this study provided excellent examples of aspirant professionals developing a habitus to ensure they were perceived as being able to “play the game” relatively successfully, despite the challenges (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992, p. 19). While habitus is by nature regulatory, participants viewed the cleft habitus as a necessity that would further their chances of career success. They thus embraced the cleft habitus somewhat agentically, enabling them to comply with the required tastes, dispositions and doxa of the professional field, despite the identity regulation and conflict this entailed. This view of the habitus is closer to the chameleon habitus conceptualised by Abrahams and Ingram (2013) to capture a “third space” between two different worlds, a space of cultural possibilities and generative reflexivity. This allowed them to remain connected to both fields simultaneously and in some instances afforded them the possibility of viewing their original field in a new way, and thus acting differently. However, this was not the case in all instances as demonstrated by the example of Peter and the symbolic violence

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associated with fitting back into historical race relations (discussed in Chapter 6). Consequently, while professionals of colour can acquire the “rules of Whiteness”, the habitus remains embodied and never completely malleable. For this reason, they are at no time free from racial stigma. The recognition of the centrality of embodiment in the habitus and its implications for our understanding of identity in the context of Whiteness are what makes Bourdieu’s theory such a valuable lens. While Bourdieu focused primarily on tastes and dispositions regarding habitus and class, it is in the realm of race and ethnicity that the recognition of embodiment is so important. Bodies of colour could mould themselves into the epitome of White tastes but remain marked, as the power relations related to race and ethnicity are relatively stable and it is within these relations that their identity, including their professional identity, is formed and negotiated (Newton, 1998). This implies that professionals of colour are faced with considerable complexity as they navigate predominantly White institutions, negotiating systematic racism and Whiteness in a system that does not acknowledge this (Evans & Moore, 2015). Caza et al. (2018) suggest that a challenging work environment requires more intense identity work. An overview of the public, professional and personal spaces these professionals inhabit suggests that they face significant challenges in negotiating identity, having to engage in additional identity work (Atewologun & Singh, 2010) to manage them successfully. Identity is contextual (Adams & van de Vijver 2017), developed and regulated through embodied practices, material and institutional arrangements, discursive formations, story-telling performances, group and social relations and anti-identities (Alvesson et al., 2008). Many of these resources were used by the professionals during various phases of their lives and in multiple spaces—public, professional and personal— to develop an identity congruent with their chosen profession. At the same time, however, they function to regulate identity, to produce in the eyes of the profession and its stakeholders the “consummate” accountant, engineer or IOP. In this process, professionals of all shades have their identities reconstituted and regulated (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002) in

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line with professional requirements. While the exact nature of the reconstitution differs among the professions, its disciplinary nature does not. However, for professionals of colour the challenge arises when faced with structures and practices that operate to constitute professionalism while at the same time reproducing what it means to be White. Thus, each of the above-mentioned resources functions in the professional space to constitute and reproduce both professionalism and conformity to Whiteness (Moreton-Robinson, 2006). In the next sections, I discuss each of the identity resources highlighted in the previous paragraph, exploring how they regulate the identity of professionals of colour.

7.2.1 Professional Identity and Embodied Practices The participants’ professional identity was developed in and through embodied practices in the personal, public and professional spaces they engaged in. In respect of the personal space, the participants came from a wide variety of backgrounds. Although most families could be described as financially disadvantaged, some are even severely disadvantaged; at least three came from slightly more privileged circumstances. Despite the disadvantage, or perhaps because of it, their families emphasised the value of education and their parents made tremendous sacrifices to ensure their children had the best education they could afford. The influence of their parents or grandparents in their professional identity development was clear, and their parenting practices such as signing schoolwork, regulating TV consumption, buying educational resources, instilling disciplined homework practices and providing educational experiences all reinforced this. Many referred to an education champion—a mother, father, sibling or grandmother—who had instilled in them the importance of education and encouraged them to work hard and achieve academic success, even when they themselves doubted their ability. Academic success in many instances translated into economic capitals such as scholarships or bursary opportunities, which in turn had made professional qualifications and thus cultural capital possible.

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Parental support thus encouraged the development of possible selves (Markus & Nurius, 1986) including a professional self. In the public space, the impact of Whiteness on professional identity construction was most evident in the education system, at both school and tertiary levels. Education and learning as a set of embodied practices form part of the early socialisation of professional life. It was during this time that most participants became aware of their race and its position in the arbitrary racial hierarchy, often due to the type of school they attended, whether or not it was aligned with their own racial group. Thus, early socialisation produced not only scholars competent to begin qualifying as professionals but aspirant professionals of a particular race to which differing symbolic capitals were attached. In this way, long before entering the profession itself, their professional journeys were influenced by race and the peculiarly South African dynamics associated with it. Education is a significant source of professional closure (Sadler & Erasmus, 2003; Weil & Wagner, 1997; Wiese, 2006). This was certainly highlighted as a factor by certain of the participants, especially those who had attended rural schools. Although these schools provided learning in their mother tongue, reinforcing their cultural and ethnic heritage, the disciplinary practices in some rural schools (also historically Black), and particularly the use of excessively harsh discipline, functioned to regulate their identities by inhibiting their growth and development. These regulatory educational practices represented a significant identity threat (Petriglieri, 2011) and had the consequence of inhibiting the development of creativity, independent thought and a growth mindset, characteristics supportive of successful professional functioning. These schools were contrasted with urban schools, which were portrayed as more conducive to growth and development and were also more likely to provide capitals in line with professional needs. Whiteness is reproduced through the embodied micro-practices of the profession related to the functional, hierarchical and inclusive dimensions of organisational life (Van Maanen & Schein, 1979). The functional element is particularly important for professional development as professionals are defined by their technical expertise; struggles in this area

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challenge the very heart of professional identity. Micro-practices implicated here were the allocation of work and clients, perceptions regarding their achievement of competence, and the lack of mentoring. Central to the reproduction of Whiteness was the allocation of work and clients, which were tied to symbolic and social capitals through the opportunity to build one’s skills, generate income for the firm, be eligible for promotion and develop a relationship with powerful institutions and their associated social networks. Having access to these capitals would have greatly benefitted these professionals who were in a position of disadvantage and were often denied the opportunity to develop these additional capitals unlike their already advantaged White colleagues. It is also important to note that not all organisations functioned in the same way. Philip’s narrative provided a more positive view. He highlighted the impact mentoring had had on his professional development, both in terms of creating realistic company-based expectations and reinforcing the possible identities of “manager” and “leader” while he was still a student. Through these practices, he was granted the possibility of professional identity (DeRue & Ashford, 2010) and given clear guidance as to what the company expected of him when acting in this capacity. The hands-on mentoring during his student years continued in the organisation in a clearly structured development programme for all graduate engineers. While this did not remove the Whiteness still evident in the organisation, it did eliminate doubts from Philip’s mind as to the intentions of the organisation in respect of his professional career. In this context, a strict organisational policy and a clear set of practices were applied to ensure all developing professionals were exposed to a similar set of developmental opportunities through a highly structured programme. Knowledge and skills are important means by which identity is regulated (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002), with knowledge defining the knower. Yet, despite their qualifications and professional training, across the professions and organisational contexts surveyed, the competence of professionals of colour continued to be questioned, much like that of the women and minorities in Puwar’s (2004) study in the UK. Participants mentioned having to go to extraordinary lengths to prove their competence, which limited their opportunities for micro emancipation

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(Alvesson & Willmott, 1996). Given the additional challenges faced by trainee professionals of colour, in particular, this was an enormous burden. The question of competence is particularly problematic, as professionals are defined by what they do (Pratt et al., 2006). By questioning competence, the granting of professional identity is effectively withheld (DeRue & Ashford, 2010). The perception of competence is a symbolic capital that lies at the heart of professional identity. Where this is deliberately or inadvertently misrecognised, Whiteness reproduces its privilege and legitimates its hold on the profession. This suggests that professionals of colour have limited control over their aspirational identities and are reliant on them being ascribed, while the means through which this is done is subtly delayed or withheld and their identity work is imprisoned in a sphere of White privilege (Brown, 2015). Regulation in the “ascription” of identity to these professionals of colour is reminiscent of feudal societies rather than the achievement mode characterising modern meritocratic societies (Collinson, 2003). Thus, while at face value they are required to function and compete in a meritocratic environment, at the same time, their professional identities are consistently regulated by the characteristics ascribed to their race, a fixedness reminiscent of feudal times. It is the withholding of the symbolic capital related to competence in professional White spaces that lies at the heart of Ahmed’s (2007) contention regarding what professionals of colour “can do”. The emphasis placed on the symbolic is significant, as many of the organisations in which these professionals work can be classified as knowledge intensive. These organisations, Alvesson (2001) argues, are characterised by ambiguities in evaluating expertise and quality and are largely unreliable as a means of performance management, all of which enhances the importance of image in establishing credibility. Image is closely related to physical appearance and the embodiment of characteristics associated with organisational leadership (Alvesson, 2001). Given the ambiguities in effectively assessing competence and its close relationship with image, one must question the real basis for concerns in respect of standards of competence. Thus, having the symbolic capital of competence, and by implication professional identity, either granted or withheld is a good example of the workings of Whiteness and one of the ways in which it

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remains invisible and is so difficult for White people to grasp. Because power is so often viewed as something people possess, a substance of sorts, the point that identity and power are relational effects between parties is missed (Allen, 2003). Professional identity was also influenced by a cultural habitus that differed significantly from the dominant cultural habitus entrenched in the professions. Two cultural practices that were highlighted are Black tax, mentioned by many of the participants, and the role of the traditional healer, experienced specifically by Frances. Cultural practices are embodied with material consequences; habitus tug was experienced by many participants in respect of Black tax as they struggled to reconcile the cultural imperative to care for their family and community with the cost of acquiring the tastes and dispositions of a profession steeped in a lifestyle of relative privilege. Already disadvantaged, they struggled to reconcile the requirements of their cultural identity with the demands of their professional identity, both exerting a regulatory effect. This left many feeling as though they remained at a disadvantage and were unable to legitimately enjoy the rewards for which they had worked so hard and sacrificed considerably. Habitus tug was particularly evident in the case of Frances, who experienced the clash of her cultural and professional identities. As with the issue of language, authenticity remained an issue (Brown, 2015) as she was required to “be” a professional in the mould of Western psychology, something she had come to challenge, based on her experience as a traditional healer. The two identities originate in markedly different cosmologies, giving rise to considerable tension as both are central to her self-identity. While she views them as complementary, this view is not shared by the professional and academic world, which legitimates one and delegitimates the other. She experiences the symbolic violence of the deprecation of her cultural heritage very keenly, most likely because of the centrality of this stigmatised social identity to her self-identity (Major & O’Brien, 2005). Yet, viewing this practically, one could argue that her position on the cusp of these identities is a very valuable one. Given that the population demographics and the workforce is largely African, it makes good sense to have an IOP who understands African cultural life and who can meet clients on their own terms.

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7.2.1.1 Professional Identity and Linguistic Practices Language was found to be an important means through which Whiteness was reproduced or challenged. Given the centrality of language in identity construction, this is not surprising (Brown, 2015, 2017). Although Alvesson et al. (2008) do not include language as an independent category in respect of identity resources, I have included it as part of embodied practices, as the way language is used in the practice of education and professional life is particularly problematic. According to Bourdieu, language must be understood in its socio-historical context as it is through linguistic practices that the rules and power relations present in a specific field are revealed (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992). It was in the school or university setting that the participants first developed a cleft habitus to accommodate the tastes and dispositions of their predominantly White settings. One of the most important elements of this cleft habitus was learning the legitimate language for their specific context, either English or Afrikaans, and acquiring the requisite accent to blend in comfortably. As argued by Puwar (2004) “There is a metamorphic transformative property attached to a “black” body who speaks the coloniser’s language” (pp. 107–108). Yet taking on a language implies taking on a culture (Fanon, 1986), and this chameleon-like conformity meant they drew less notice and were able to function successfully in a White cultural setting. Language is however “intimately connected to governmentality” (Puwar, 2004, p. 108). The acquisition of legitimate language functioned to both regulate and constrain their identity in line with White expectations. Language is never neutral (Puwar, 2004); it functions as a potential act of power (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992). As demonstrated in this study, it is the means through which versions of the self are constituted. Different dialects of the same language allow for different kinds of personas to be presented. Thus, being forced to present oneself in so-called “legitimate terms” is a severe form of identity regulation and symbolic violence. Samaluk (2014) argues that language and phenotype play an important role in the accumulation of cultural capital. However, if the cultural capital associated with a nation is linked to a particular language(s) and/or to a particular ethnic group or race, one has to question to

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what extent equal access to nationhood is made possible for those whose language and ethnicity does not constitute cultural capital (Puwar, 2004). While in the South African constitution eleven official languages are recognised, from a Whiteness perspective only English and Afrikaans are considered to be legitimate languages. Although learning English provided a valuable source of linguistic capital for the participants due to its global recognition, it was also one of the first manifestations of identity regulation, as Whiteness was reproduced in their identities. In so doing, they were forced to forgo their native languages for one considered legitimate both locally and globally, sharing a plight with many other non-native English speakers (Boussebaa & Brown, 2016). Thus, Englishisation represents a form of domination (Boussebaa et al., 2014) and imperialism (Boussebaa & Brown, 2016). Here identity regulation emanates from the global space, reinforcing the interconnectedness of the multiple levels of Al Ariss et al.’s (2014) model and the challenges of dealing with Whiteness, which functions globally. While the development of a linguistic habitus arguably constitutes identity regulation and the reproduction of Whiteness, the capitals attached to the linguistic habitus are a source of agency and impression management (Roberts, 2005). The linguistic habitus enables speakers to recognise their speech context and thus understand its dynamics, allowing the user to “make Whiteness work for them” in relation to significant others in the professional environment. However, there is a flip side to the perceived agency and that is the symbolic violence experienced by the speaker or agent, the internal audience, and the recognition that one only has authority by means of legitimate language. For Peter, in particular, speaking legitimate Afrikaans gave him the professional image (Roberts, 2005) and authority he needed to achieve certain ends. While his “performance” was credible in that it achieved its purpose, it did not have positive psychological consequences (Goffman, 1967), for example, well-being (Roberts, 2005), but a sense of inauthenticity and violation instead. In addition to the identity regulation they imposed, the legitimate languages also acted to effectively limit identity construction, for example, in the case of Dorothy, Charlotte and Griffiths, by causing them to “become invisible” due to their inability to speak and engage

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in Afrikaans. Not only were these situations extremely limiting to the construction of professional identity due to the developmental opportunities missed (Eraut, 2008) but they were also experienced as identity threatening and were perceived at times as a form of bullying (LutgenSandvik, 2008). For Bourdieu, linguistic practice cannot be separated from the social system within which it derives meaning. The history of Afrikaans in our country is complex as it is closely tied to the perpetrators of apartheid and thus intimately associated with past oppression. Its present-day use had the effect of invoking past discrimination and creating a context that largely constrained identity work, rendering participants “patient” (Reader, 2007). This sheds light on the impact of both the national context and historical circumstances in our understanding of identity work, especially within collectivistic as opposed to individualistic cultures (Alvesson et al., 2008; Brown, 2015). Finally, these issues raise the important question of authenticity in our understanding of identity. While the discursive, dramaturgical and postmodern perspectives of identity are dismissive of this idea (Brown, 2015), it poses a challenge in situations of domination, where people perceive their racio-ethnic heritage as being more representative of their authentic self and are forced to construct identities in conditions not of their own choosing. This reinforces the idea of identity as an effect of power (Thornborrow & Brown, 2009).

7.2.2 Professional Identity and Material and Historical Relations Identity formation proceeds from an embodied position, located in a material and historical context and subject to the power relations dominating it. Given the role of space in the history of race relations in our country, the operation of power in identity, both personal and professional, is inevitable. This was evident in the multiple contexts studied. Several of the participants mentioned the impact of their spatial environment as children on their personhood and thus identity. Most specifically, people of colour in South Africa have had to contend with

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the physical violence that has been inflicted on their family and community through the struggle for freedom (Griffiths) and racially motivated attacks (Francis). These experiences were etched on their habitus as a constant reminder of our shared history and the violence this has wrought in their lives. This laid the foundation for an interpretive framework through which all interactions were conducted, something echoed by many of the participants. The fact that these identity threats are etched on their habitus is likely to make them stigma-conscious, and sensitive to identity threats (Major & O’Brien, 2005). Thus, while identity work is often studied in the present, identity should always be considered in relation to past experiences within a person’s life story (Ashforth, 2016; Brown, 2015), and the history of the context. While South Africa has come some way in dismantling the structural inequalities entrenched by the apartheid government and developed over decades, the schooling system appears to be largely moored to its historical foundations, reproducing historical material and institutional relations. In the schooling environment more than in the other contexts, the enduring effects of the apartheid regime’s obsession with space appear to linger, with school spaces being designated according to historical racial allocations, which also played out in the rural-urban divide. While learners are theoretically free to attend any school, the participants said that schools were still associated to a large extent with traditional racial groupings that continue to perpetuate space-race relations. These spatial privileges were reflected in the differential capitals that were perceived to exist between various categories of schools. Urban schools, generally, were perceived to have greater educational capital than rural schools; historically White schools were perceived to have greater educational capital than Coloured and Indian schools, both of which were perceived to have greater educational capital than historically Black schools. Thus, many years after apartheid, physical spaces, historically divided according to race, continue to operate, providing or withholding the necessary foundation for attaining professional qualifications and thus the possibility of professional identity (Markus & Nurius, 1986). In the university context, space-race relations were most obvious in respect of differences in privilege in relation to both economic and social

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capitals. While some universities encouraged the reproduction of traditional race-space relations, others provided opportunities for people of different groups to mix, allowing participants the opportunity to develop social networks and the associated capitals that come with them. They also provided challenging experiences in respect of diversity, which may have been experienced as identity threatening at the time. Ultimately, however, this developed an understanding of the value of diversity and appreciation for it, something that is critical for professional identity development. While race-related divisions in physical space were most apparent in the participants’ schooling environment, the space-race relations were more evident in the hierarchies within their organisations and the professions they represent. While the allocation of physical workspace was a factor in Griffith’s narrative, effectively curtailing his aspirational self (Thornborrow & Brown, 2009) it was the predominant Whiteness of the organisational hierarchies that manifested in the professional realm. Given the centrality of hierarchies in the reproduction of power relations, they often worked to reproduce White privilege. It was here that participants’ embodied selves had important implications for their professional identity. While in positions of leadership they were most visible due to the small number of professionals of colour in these positions, ultimately they were rendered invisible through the limited scope given them for action. This worked in the organisation’s and profession’s favour as they were perceived to be meeting the necessary legislative quotas, but they were constrained in exercising their leader identities. Thus, while they were granted a leadership position, they were denied leadership action (DeRue & Ashford, 2010). Finally, space-race arrangements in South African society had an impact on identity generally and, by implication, on professional identity. Considering identity regulation in South Africa through the lens of Bourdieu and his concept of habitus and field provided valuable insights into the relationship between these concepts and their impact on the exercise of agency in negotiating identity. Their effect was most obvious in the narratives of Peter and Lucy, who moved between local and national/international spaces and were familiar with the institutional arrangements in other contexts. The power of the habitus as a mechanism

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of alignment with the environment was also demonstrated in moving between local and international spaces, most notably in the narrative of Peter. The power of space (Ahmed, 2007) and field (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992) were demonstrated through his admission of slipping into the historical racial power relations dominating the South African national context, especially in respect of relationships between people from different racial groupings. His “South African” habitus, aligned as it is to the South African context, did not allow him to challenge the practices of Whiteness, something his Dutch habitus in a different national context was quite comfortable doing. Whereas in the Netherlands Peter was able to resist Whiteness in certain instances, the same was not possible in South Africa, where the field and its doxa constrained behaviour; his embodied state remained delegitimised and lacking the symbolic capitals required to bring about change (Nentwich et al., 2015). This is a source of considerable identity work, something I explore in more detail in Sect. 7.3 Resisting Whiteness and Stigma: Identity Work.

7.2.3 Professional Identity and Discursive Formations Many of the identity studies that dominate European management consider identity to be formed within discursive regimes, drawing on a variety of social and cultural discourses (Brown & Phua, 2011). While this study has considered other sources of identity material, especially given the importance of embodiment for this topic, discourses remain an important source of identity formation and regulation. As a young child, in the (White) educational field Peter was exposed to the discursive formation of “being beyond reproach”. It became entrenched in his habitus and continued to function as a frame for future identity work. Wieland (2010) points out that identity work, in addition to being descriptive, is also evaluative, containing a moral or ideal self (Giddens, 1991). Within a world of Whiteness, the appearance of morality is aimed at ensuring people of colour “toe the line”, disciplining them to behave in ways that align with the idealised image of the field’s inhabitants. The underlying though misleading assumption is

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that if they do so they will be accepted as “one of us”. Such discourses and their internalisation in the habitus served a significant regulatory function both personally and professionally, consistently driving him to achieve this rather impossible standard. This provides a sobering example of symbolic violence, in which standards of Whiteness incorporated in the habitus continue to frame identity work in ways that are consistent with the expectations of a White elite. Also prevalent in the educational realm is the discursive formation “they don’t value education”, as a misleading motivation for the low numbers of professionals of colour, particularly IOP’s. This was in sharp contrast to the reality that saw parenting practices (discussed above) and significant material resources in relation to income, invested in education and its support. It belied the considerable effort invested by participants in their own education, learning to master new languages and accents, managing the transition from rural to urban schools as well as the cultural transitions these entailed. It also ignored the significant challenges and severe disadvantages many of the participants had endured to achieve professional qualification and registration. In the public space, discursive formations related to employment equity and the related BBBEE legislation were also a significant form of identity regulation and served to constrain a positive sense of professional identity. The notions of “reverse discrimination” and “the employment equity candidate” were used as a discursive tool by White people to resist the regulation of Whiteness (Luconi, 2011). Ignoring the structural effects of apartheid on people of colour, framing legitimate redress as reverse discrimination, allowed White people to draw on an idealist view of racism (Green et al., 2007) to reproduce the continued structural disadvantage many professionals of colour experience. Particularly damaging for the participants was the concept of an employment equity candidate, which framed Black people as lacking competence and thus only employable because of their skin colour. This discourse functioned to cast doubt on their ability to perform their current jobs and their suitability for leadership positions. It enabled long hours of hard work and professional contribution to be glossed over, encouraging a focus on their embodiment instead. Ultimately, it had the effect of constraining

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agency among professionals of colour, restricting their scope and potential for action (Ahmed, 2007), which meant that the status quo remained largely unchanged.

7.2.4 Group and Social Relations The influence of discursive regimes on social relationships confirms that identity is inherently relational (Kreiner et al., 2006). Social relationships form an important source of identity construction and regulation. Growing up in a country defined by race had a considerable impact on participants and their relationships, both personally and professionally. Various participants who had lived and worked overseas or in other countries commented on the obsession South Africans have in respect of race and the impact this had on relationships between various groupings. While all alluded to the spotlight on cross-racial encounters, experiences in group and social relations differed among the participants and had different outcomes for their professional identity. Identity is formed in the tension between relationships and belonging on one hand and a sense of uniqueness and thus distinctiveness on the other (Brewer, 1991; Kreiner et al., 2006), both of which pose a challenge for Black professionals. In developing relationships and a sense of belonging they are subject to power relations evident in Whiteness; the standards, norms and expectations associated with it are reproduced in their identities. This meant having to forgo the unique characteristics related to their culture and ethnicity in favour of the dominant White norms. Rescuing a sense of distinctiveness (Craig, 1999) was likewise a challenge, as the sources of potential distinctiveness are tainted by stigma and thus unrelated to the capitals valued and reinforced in the profession. In instances where they were able to distinguish themselves, for example through being appointed in a leadership role, the stigma attached to their body and race meant that the requisite value attached to their unique qualities remained unrecognised (DeRue & Ashford, 2010). In respect of the public space, participants who had attended traditionally African, Coloured or Indian schools generally had fairly positive

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experiences of cross-racial social relations in these settings. This had challenged their own biases and prejudices, leading to an appreciation of the value and potential contribution to society of all racio-ethnicities. These insights had shaped their identities and had enabled them to transition more easily into the professional environment due to the development of social and cultural capital in dealing with diversity. In contrast, some of those who had attended historically White schools had experienced more challenging relationships. While on the surface they were accepted and developed friendships, it was in the context of these relationships that they were subjected to demeaning and racist images of their identity (DeRue & Ashford, 2010), which left them isolated and confused. Naturally, these nasty incidents were perceived as identity threatening (Lutgen-Sandvik, 2008) and laden with emotions that were sometimes triggered during the interviews as they reflected on these experiences (Winkler, 2016). While microaggressions are hurtful to deal with at any age, this was particularly traumatic for the scholars who had few resources to process these direct identity threats cognitively, and their effects appeared to linger. Moreover, it was through these early experiences in their socialisation for work (Cohen-Scali 2003) that their difference was reinforced. These encounters served to reinforce their liminal status as “betwixt and between two cultures” (Ibarra & Obodaru, 2016, p. 47)—their own ethnic culture and the Whiteness of the setting; belonging, but never entirely. Professional encounters were often marked by visible reactions to their embodied selves (Fanon, 1986; Puwar, 2004), reinforcing their continued sense of otherness and subtle exclusion. While some participants acknowledged that these looks may not be racist responses attributable to their bodies (Atewologun & Singh, 2010), others, having had their lives shaped by racism and discrimination, found it difficult to conceive of other motives. A habitus developed through othering recognises it very easily, and this often triggered identity work, a topic I explore in the next section. As Fanon (1986) has shown, these “looks” can have profound consequences for identity as they fix(ate) within their gaze a set of negative meanings, which can be difficult to escape. The attribution of these negative images of identity has two consequences for identity. Firstly, they “fix” identity, an extreme form of identity regulation

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that provides little scope for distinctiveness, and secondly, they influence the relational need to belong, a critical element of identity development (Kreiner et al., 2006). These incidents also highlight the importance of identity as an embodied experience, as the interpretational framework around the issues of race and ethnicity in professions are grounded in the body, its senses, and intimately tied to emotions (Cunliffe & Coupland, 2012). Thus, the study contributes to our understanding of identity as embodied in the material practices of professional life (Knights & Clarke, 2017). Given the global world and the diversity it represents, this should command greater focus in identity-related studies. The stability of the external pressure described above requires consistent emotional labour and constant identity work of various sorts. While it is natural to respond emotionally to an identity threat (Winkler, 2016), this luxury is not always afforded people of colour. When they do respond emotionally, they risk being labelled “angry Black woman” or “angry Black man”, an identity label that further regulates their identity, leaving little room for a legitimate expression of emotion. Thus, while emotions can be performative (Winkler, 2016) and thus hold the possibility of power and agency, the anger of Black people is challenged as illegitimate. They are thus forced to negotiate racist structures and practices without the acknowledgement that this is indeed what they are doing (Evans & Moore, 2015). This is particularly so in a context where being a professional implies being able to suppress emotions; organisations, as political arenas, do not always allow for this type of expression (Fineman, 2008). Some have attempted to challenge the discourses of Whiteness and racism, though emotionally this is exhausting and takes a toll on those who do (Evans & Moore, 2015). It is important for White people to understand that the emotional exhaustion experienced by many Black people originates not from random, isolated racial incidents but from an often consistent flow of negative, identity-threatening experiences that can be overwhelming to process and that can impact their health and wellness (Shore et al., 2011).

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Resisting Whiteness and Stigma: Identity Work

Professionals of colour manage the constraints of Whiteness and stigma in their public, professional and personal spaces through active identity work (Watson, 2008). This enables a measure of agency, although their resistance to the workings of Whiteness is only symbolic. The study suggested that there was significant identity work undertaken by professionals of colour in White professions, but unlike the study of Atewologun and Singh (2010) there were no significant differences in gender in response to identity-challenging situations. These professionals position their identities in relation to specific professional and organisational discourses. Their identity work was aimed at reinforcing their legitimacy as professionals with as much right to practise their profession as any other person (Brown & Toyoki, 2013). Table 7.1 summarises the multiple types of identity work (Caza et al., 2018)—cognitive, discursive, behavioural and physical—used by professionals of colour. This brings together a variety of perspectives (Brown, 2017), allowing for a multifaceted, interconnected consideration of identity work. It is apparent from Table 7.1 that participants drew on several identity work strategies, many of which are already highlighted in the literature. They were primarily aimed at managing or resisting Whiteness, although some of them speak to the positive development of professional identity, for example, envisioning possible selves in response to positive mentoring practices. The type of identity strategies that participants drew on is similar to those used in other stigma-related interactions, most notably in relation to “dirty work”, for example, cognitively shifting attention, reframing meaning (Ashforth & Kreiner, 1999) and, more specifically, reframing professional responsibilities. The strategies were also similar to those used in other Whiteness studies, most notably those identified in Berger et al.’s (2017) exploration of the Muslim religion in White settings, where participants drew on hard work and repositioning the organisation’s practices to negotiate a coherent sense of identity. As could be expected, challenging Whiteness in some settings requires considerable courage. Participants used courageous acts to voice their protest,

Viewing no future for themselves due to entrenched Whiteness and stigma Meetings conducted in Afrikaans Respond to email in mother tongue

Exit organisation

Workplace communication: Meetings and emails

Mentoring

Living arrangements

Extra-curricular activities to increase visibility and access to centres of power Engage with diversity up close and personal Professional development is encouraged in exploring possible future versions of self Disparities in mentoring opportunities

Extra-curricular activities

(continued)

Cognitive: Reframing professional responsibilities (Ashforth & Kreiner, 1999) Behavioural: Courageous act to voice protest (Koerner, 2014)

Cognitive: Sense-making (Beech et al., 2008), reposition organisation’s practices (Berger et al., 2017) Behavioural: Withdrawal

Cognitive: Reframing meaning (Ashforth & Kreiner, 1999) Cognitive: Envisioning possible selves (Ibarra, 1999)

Behavioural: Mastery of the environment, Reinforce authority Behavioural: Mastery of the environment

Mastering a legitimate language and/or accent

Embodied practices

Educational

Identity work

Resources of identity construction

Table 7.1 Identity work modes used by professionals of colour

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Discursive formations

Material and institutional arrangements

Dis-identifying with the profession Moral regulation of identity

Discursive identity used to delegitimise Black professionals by implying the person is in the position due to their skin colour rather than their competence Resists the unstated assumptions on which Whiteness rests Perform professional duties exceptionally

Whiteness in professional hierarchies Being beyond reproach

Employment equity candidate

Resistance People of colour as incompetent and unethical

Allocation of workspace according to race

Being overlooked for student leadership position

Racial division of transport

Adapt hair and dress to White Western standards

Allocation of workspaces

Spatial arrangements around race Student leadership hierarchies

Professional hair and dress codes

Resources of identity construction

Table 7.1 (continued) Identity work

Behavioural: Hard work (Berger et al., 2017)

Discursive: Verbal irony (Frandsen, 2015)

Physical: Dressing the part (Alvesson, 2001), Managing natural hair Behavioural: Enacting a native South African accent Cognitive: Stabilising (Lutgen-Sandvik, 2008 Behavioural: Hard work (Berger et al., 2017) Cognitive: Reposition organisation practices (Berger et al., 2017) Behavioural: Withdrawal Cognitive: Dis-identification (Elsbach, 1999) Cognitive: Reframing the possibility of pleasing all (Ashforth & Kreiner, 1999) Behavioural : Working harder (Berger et al., 2017), Confirming legitimacy of promotion

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Groups and social relations

Engage with White friends, scholars, students and colleagues

Resources of identity construction

Adapt to the Whiteness of the organisational practices and culture

Managing liminality

Reinforce qualifications, learnership and experience to resist the discursive formation Microaggressions

Reflects on their abilities considering the dispersions cast on them

Identity work

(continued)

Cognitive: Reflexive sense-making and self-questioning (Beech et al., 2008) Discursive: Verbal tactic reinforcing professional status (DeRue & Ashford, 2010) Cognitive: Reframing meaning-making (Ashforth & Kreiner, 1999) Behavioural: Using professional voice to advocate (Koerner, 2014) Cognitive: Managing multiple identities and paradoxes (Carollo & Guerci, 2017), Selective cognitive processing (Essers et al., 2013) Behavioural: Use language to reinforce racial/cultural identity Cognitive: Reposition organisational practices (Berger et al., 2017) Behavioural: Master White tastes, dispositions and practices

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Managing racial slights and Whiteness

Resources of identity construction

Table 7.1 (continued)

Managing racial hierarchies

Exclusion

Questioning own motives and reactions

Challenge Whiteness in the system Managing physical and emotional reactions

Identity work Behavioural: Voicing protest (Koerner, 2014) Behavioural: Performing a non-reaction (Srinivas, 2013) Emotional: Emotional labour: (Evans & Moore 2015) Cognitive : Reflexive sense-making and self-questioning (Beech et al., 2008) Cognitive : Cognitively shifting attention (Ashforth & Kreiner, 1999) Cognitive : Managing racial hierarchies

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as described in the work of Koerner (2014). Other behavioural identity work strategies included dis-identification with a profession (Elsbach, 1999), performing a non-reaction (Srinivas, 2013) and emotional labour (Evan & Moore, 2015), which were also identified in other Whiteness studies. One set of identity work strategies not identified by Caza et al. (2018) relates to emotional identity work (Winkler, 2016) and the labour used in managing emotions and emotional reactions. From a discursive perspective, participants used verbal irony (Frandsen, 2015) to resist the assumptions on which Whiteness rests and to reinforce their professional status against challenges to it (DeRue & Ashford, 2010). Other cognitive identity work strategies included reflexive sense-making and self-interrogation (Beech et al., 2008), which were used to make sense of their identities in situations where they were brought into question. Finally, managing multiple identities and their paradoxes (Carollo & Guerci, 2017) and selective cognitive processing (Essers et al., 2013) were used to manage the identity tensions between their multiple conflicting identities and the liminality this caused. New identity work strategies identified included mastery (discussed below), withdrawal, confirmation and managing natural hair. Withdrawal was used as a final resort in situations where discrimination and stigma proved to be intolerable. This meant that professionals of colour withdrew from a professional setting and found an alternative setting in which to construct a more positive professional identity. Confirmation involved sourcing feedback from a superior regarding the reasons for promotion to ensure it was done on merit and not merely to satisfy legislative requirements, as had been insinuated. Managing natural hair involved finding ways of presenting their hair that met the requirements of the White setting without compromising their pride in their racioethnic origins. The use of language played a key role in identity work, as different languages and accents were drawn on in different settings to sustain various types of identities. From the identity work strategies summarised above, it can be argued that three main categories of identity work operate in the context of Whiteness, namely mastery of Whiteness, reframing Whiteness and resisting Whiteness.

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7.3.1 Mastery of Whiteness Mastery of Whiteness occurred during both phases of professional identity development—socialisation for work and socialisation in work (Cohen-Scali, 2003)—and was aimed at mastering the tastes, dispositions and embodied practices of Whiteness. Most notable was the behavioural identity work entailed in learning the legitimate languages (English and/or Afrikaans) and, if participants were young enough, their associated accents. The educational context also required engaging in extra-curricular activities to increase visibility and to access centres of power. In the professional environment, mastery was also demonstrated through physical identity work as participants sought to dress the part and manage their natural hair in ways that would be acceptable in a professional context. Most notable however was the hard work, a form of behavioural identity work, they had to engage in to consistently prove their competence, which occurred during both phases of socialisation. Finally, participants had, over time, learned to master themselves by subduing their natural emotional reactions to “the looks” and other responses to their presence in the professional environment. This entailed both behavioural and cognitive identity work, as they first managed their reactions and then questioned their own reactions and motives. While mastery here was associated with agency, and this is certainly how many participants perceived this, the reality is that the mastery of Whiteness also implies the regulation of identity. While mastery enabled them to “work Whiteness”, Whiteness was at the same time “working them”. Not all participants were aware of the implications of mastery, but for those that were, their awareness that the integrity of their identities continued to be regulated by a system closely associated with historical oppression triggered considerable frustration and helplessness, as they were aware of the symbolic violence this implied. Symbolic violence is a key concept in Bourdieu’s theory of human agency and refers to the “violence exercised upon a social agent with his or her complicity” (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992, p. 183). The term plays a key role in Bourdieu’s conceptualisation of domination. While he uses it primarily to account for domination in respect of class and gender, it applies pertinently in the study of Whiteness as

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well. Symbolic violence suggests a form of complicity that implies “neither a passive submission to an external constraint nor a free adherence to values” (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992, p. 184). It is precisely the recognition of their complicity in the reproduction of Whiteness that makes symbolic violence so difficult to make sense of and blurs the lines between regulation and agency in considerations of identity and identity work. While there is a burden borne by at least some of those mastering Whiteness, there are arguably advantages too, something that is not recognised by either the professions or the organisations in which they are practised. The possession of a cleft or chameleon habitus implies having the ability to be comfortably situated in numerous contexts and to function effectively in multiple fields. They understand not only the dynamics of their personal spaces but also the processes and power relations of their adopted contexts. This provides them with a distinct epistemic advantage (Mussel, 2016), something that organisations could use to their advantage if they chose to recognise and acknowledge its potential.

7.3.2 Reframing Whiteness Managing the identity regulation associated with Whiteness was often achieved by cognitive identity work, which involved reframing meaning and professional responsibilities (Ashforth & Kreiner, 1999), sensemaking (Beech et al., 2008) and repositioning the organisation’s practices (Berger et al., 2017) in ways that allowed the participant to rationalise Whiteness and its practices. The repositioning often entailed making sense of what was perceived to be differential practices and considering alternative explanations to avoid “playing the race card”. However, in most instances, no explanations could be found, and the only sense to be made was that they were in fact being treated unfairly, based on their race. Cognitive identity work in the form of stabilising was also used to validate the self in the face of what was perceived to be discrimination in the allocation of student leadership positions. It was also used in response

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to the discursive formation of being “beyond reproach”, where it was used to reframe meaning around the (im)possibility of pleasing everybody at the same time. This reduced their agency, and they were forced to put their professional identity and its needs over their racial identity, resulting in habitus tug. Moreover, it reinforced their sense of isolation and dissatisfaction with their organisational context.

7.3.3 Challenging Whiteness Finally, identity work was also used to challenge or resist Whiteness. This entailed both behavioural and discursive identity work. Examples of behavioural identity work included voicing protest, dis-identification, withdrawal and confirmation. Discursive identity work included the use of verbal irony (Frandsen, 2015) to resist the unstated assumptions on which Whiteness rests. Voicing protest was specifically used in response to the use of Afrikaans in emails and took the form of replying in one of the African vernacular languages. Dis-identification was used in response to disillusionment with the IOP profession. Annie, who mentioned the strategy, chose to actively disidentify with the IOP profession she had worked so hard to master, choosing rather to identify with management consulting, which she felt to be more welcoming. Ironically, through being involved in the study she realised that in doing so she stifled change. As a result, she became quite actively involved in promoting transformation in the profession. Withdrawal was a strategy used by several participants who chose to leave specific organisations or sectors of a profession, for example, moving from the private to the public sector or from an audit firm to academia to allow for more effective integration in the profession. While these acts of resistance allowed individual professionals more personal scope in negotiating their identities, in the organisations where transformation was sorely needed, the status quo remained much the same: the hierarchy remained predominantly White and valuable role models for aspirant professionals of colour exited the organisation.

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7.3.4 How Agentic is Identity Work Actually? While identity work implies agency (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002; Thornborrow & Brown, 2009), it can serve to both resist and reproduce Whiteness (Berger et al., 2017). Much of the identity work these professionals engaged in at various stages of their lives served to reproduce Whiteness. This was largely inevitable, as taking on a professional identity with its associated norms and practices implied being regulated by Whiteness. For example, much behavioural and cognitive identity work was aimed at mastering the environment or repositioning organisational practices in ways that did not threaten the self. In some instances, the reproduction of Whiteness was largely practical and did not cause any harm or threat to identity, managed in part by the cleft or chameleon habitus. At other times, however, the imposition of Whiteness was perceived as symbolic violence in ways the professional of colour perceived to be identity threatening. Added to this was the experience of emotional exhaustion that came with constantly managing the demands and constraints of Whiteness. This raises the issue of the limitations of identity work in resisting Whiteness. While identity work aimed at resistance provides a measure of satisfaction for the individual professional, ultimately, limited agency to change the status quo exists (Berger et al., 2017), something implied in the concept of change agency (Tatlı & Özbilgin, 2009). This is an important acknowledgement in understanding the professional identity work of people of colour in the context of Whiteness, and it highlights the need for shifting the field (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992), challenging its inherent Whiteness. To do so, a thorough understanding of the dynamics of the circumstances we are wishing to change is required (Mussel, 2016)—the focus of this study.

7.4

Conclusion

The aim of this chapter was to explore the ramifications of the findings discussed in Chapters 4–6. The consequences of Whiteness and stigma for both professional identity and identity work were discussed.

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The implications for professional identity were considered in relation to the building blocks of identity, namely embodied practices, material and institutional arrangements, discursive formation and group and social relationships. Specific emphasis was placed on linguistic practices in reproducing Whiteness. Identity in the face of stigma and Whiteness were considered and three possible categories of identity work were discussed, namely mastering Whiteness, reframing Whiteness and challenging Whiteness.

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Watson, T. J. (2008). Managing identity: Identity work, personal predicaments and structural circumstances. Organization, 15 (1), 121–143. https://doi. org/10.1177/1350508407084488 Weil, S., & Wegner, T. (1997). Increasing the number of Black chartered accountants in South Africa: An empirical review of educational issues. Accounting Education, 6 (4), 307–323. https://doi.org/10.1080/096392897 331389 Wieland, S. M. B. (2010). Ideal selves as resource for the situated practice of identity. Management Communication Quarterly, 24 (4), 503–528. https:// doi.org/10.1177/0893318910374938 Wiese, A. (2006). Transformation in the South African chartered accountancy profession since 2001: A study of the progress and the obstacles Black trainee accountants still encounter. Meditari Accountancy Research, 14 (2), 151–167. https://doi.org/10.1108/10222529200600018 Winkler, I. (2016). Identity work and emotions: A review. International Journal of Management Reviews, 20 (1), 120–133. https://doi.org/10.1111/ ijmr.12119

8 Implications for Professional Organisations

8.1

Introduction

The aim of this study was to explore in rich detail the identity of professionals of colour in their specific local circumstances, not only in the professional field, as is often studied, but in the multiple contexts in which they operate. Watson (2009, p. 426) warns of the dangers of “constructing identity in organizations” without considering the whole person. In the context of Whiteness, it is the whole person whose identity is regulated and shaped, and thus a multi-context consideration is needed, as recognised by Al Ariss et al. (2014). They contend that exploring Whiteness and stigma requires not only a consideration of the professional space or meso-context, but also an exploration of history, space and the macro (public) and micro (personal) contexts as well. It was in line with this perspective that I considered stigma and Whiteness.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 A. Crafford, Whiteness and Stigma in the Workplace, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09811-6_8

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Individual Professional Identity Work in Contexts of Whiteness and Stigma

As I argued in Chapter 1, power relations related to race and ethnicity in South Africa are relatively stable and established, given its colonial history and the devastating consequences of the apartheid regime. An overview of some of the key legislation underlying these systems provides the reader with an idea of just how restrictive they were for people of colour and what the possible consequences were for the way working environments are structured. Chapter 2 explores the material consequences of colonialism and apartheid for the development and organisation of the professions, highlighting their construction as White spaces in which people of colour were considered “out of place” (Ahmed, 2007). The consequence is that they have promoted dominant White interests and continue to function in ways that support and reproduce White privilege. While Foucault argues that power is more or less everywhere, Allen (2003) argues that this neutralises the impact of the specific context and the power relations governing it. This study provides a detailed analysis of three professional fields in the specific context of South Africa and the race-related power relations that dominate this context. The findings of the study are limited by my contextual, practical, methodological and analytical choices as researcher (Moonesirust & Brown, 2021). Chapter 3 provides an overview of the research process that sheds light on these choices. It also includes a brief background of each of the participants to set the context for the extracts from their narratives in the chapters that follow. In Chapters 4–6 I explore the various levels of Whiteness as highlighted by Al Ariss et al. (2014), which I term public space, professional space and personal space, each of which represent multiple fields in which a professional of colour operates. In each of them I consider space as a factor in reproducing Whiteness. This enables an understanding of how the Whiteness inherent in multiple layers of social reality impacts professionals of colour and their identity construction and negotiation. This reinforces our understanding of people as social selves (Burkitt, 1991) whose actions must be understood in relation to the social conditions in which their lives unfold.

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Chapter 4 explores the public space (or macro-level) and highlights the role of educational and legislative systems in perpetuating stigma and Whiteness. In respect of education, it explores the dynamics of the schooling and university systems and the ways in which historical racial spaces continue to be reproduced and to affect aspirant professionals of colour. It explains how legislation aimed at redress for the structural inequalities of apartheid—more specifically relating to employment equity and broad based black economic empowerment—continues to be used by White people to restrict and challenge the professional identity of people of colour. Chapter 5 explores the professional space (or meso-level) in which the challenges were structured within three dimensions central to socialisation, namely function, hierarchy and inclusion. Findings related to the functional dimension include work allocation, competence and mentoring. Given that professionals are defined by what they do, access to tasks and work related to developing oneself as a professional are critical to identity development; being denied these opportunities challenges the very heart of it. In moving up the hierarchy, professionals of colour were challenged by their racial (in)visibility, and by being silenced. Finally, inclusion within the profession was hindered by professional bodies (IOP specifically), language and professional culture. Chapter 6 explores the influence of stigma and Whiteness in the identity work of professionals of colour within their personal space (or micro-level). This confirmed that Whiteness and stigma are not confined to the professional domain but are experienced in the personal domain in ways that shape the lives of people of colour from an early age and continue to do so throughout their working life as professionals. This chapter highlights the value of education placed by the parents of aspirant professionals and explores their embodied history in relation to Whiteness and stigma. It considers specifically the challenges of dealing with racial politics across borders and managing the identities located in vastly different cosmologies and cultures. In the exploration of identity, I drew on the conceptual framework of Bourdieu, whose work, with few exceptions (Alvesson, 1994; Srinivas, 2013), remains underexplored in identity work literature, much of which is rooted in the cognitive, discursive and narrative traditions that pay

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little attention to the materiality of bodies. While the importance of embodiment has been raised by several authors (Brown, 2017; Brown & Coupland, 2015; Courpasson & Monies, 2017; Knights & Clarke, 2017), this is particularly so in situations of stigma and Whiteness, where certain types of bodies are constrained differently. Through his concept of habitus, Bourdieu’s work allows for more productive deliberations on the embodied agent as it allows for the incorporation of the body into a consideration of identity work and connects identity to both past and (potential) future selves (McAdams, 1996), which is critical in considering the impact of stigma and Whiteness. In addition, Bourdieu’s analytical framework, which assumes a circular relationship between the different layers of social reality, was useful in accounting for the multiple contexts influencing Whiteness (Al Ariss et al., 2014), which inform, shape and regulate identity work (Özbilgin & Tatli, 2005). Finally, by accounting for the socio-material conditions and arrangements associated with the contexts in which people are embedded, Bourdieu’s concept of capital allows one to account for contextual power relations that influence the development of identity and subsequent identity work. Chapter 7 explores the impact of the factors identified in Chapters 4– 6 as building blocks of professional identity, namely embodied practices, material and institutional relationships and discursive formations, or group and social relationships, with specific emphasis on linguistic practices as mechanisms in the reproduction of Whiteness. Consideration was then given to the various types of identity work used in the face of stigma and Whiteness, and it was found that participants drew on all the types identified by Caza et al. (2018), namely behavioural, cognitive, discursive and physical identity work. The overview presented in these chapters provides a demonstration of the workings of Whiteness and its impact on the professional identity of people of colour in a post-colonial and post-apartheid setting. While the exact workings of apartheid were extreme and thus relatively unique, they share many features with other contexts in which race and ethnicity have played a predominantly structuring role, for example in countries in Africa, the East and the United States of America. The South African context thus presents an extreme case, which allows us to examine the mechanisms of control that regulate and shape professional identities

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of colour across multiple levels. A unique feature of this context is the structuring of the minority–majority continuum along racial lines. In most research of this nature, reference to the term “minority” is built on the premise that European organisations are White and thus provide constraints for people of other ethnicities and religions, who represent a smaller percentage of the population (Berger et al., 2017). In South Africa, however, positions of power, represented inter alia by professions and organisational hierarchies, are dominated by White people, who are the minority (approximately nine percent of the population) rather than the majority. Thus, the concept of minorities does not apply: it is the majority of the population who need to take their rightful place in positions of influence. What does this mean for leaders in organisations and professions?

8.3

Implications for Organisations

Alvesson et al. (2008) suggest that identity work occurs in response to major events, to change or to multiple recurring micro-level events. This study provides a detailed analysis of multiple levels that may affect identity construction and suggests that professionals of colour are subject to identity violations in all areas of their lives—personal, cultural, organisational, professional and societal. While it is important to understand the impact of Whiteness and stigma on professional identity, it would be naïve to suggest that professionals of colour are responsible for resisting Whiteness on their own, as identity work does not imply change agency (Tatli & Özbilgin, 2009). As Alvesson et al. (2008) point out, an over-emphasis on individual agency in identity work results in a naïve voluntarism and ignores the extra-individual range of forces working on identity construction, something this study has aimed to correct. Alvesson et al. (2008) identify three reasons for studying identity: to provide solutions, to understand organisational experience and to reveal problems. While these are linked to specific approaches or epistemologies, I believe all are relevant in considering how Whiteness impacts

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professionals of colour and providing insights for professional and other organisations serious about mitigating its effects and moving towards change.

8.3.1 Understand Organisational Experience This monograph explores the experiences of professionals of colour in the multiple areas of their lives in which Whiteness works to constrain their identity expression. As such, it presents a (hopefully) empathetic overview of their experiences, neither portraying them as helpless victims nor ignoring the many ways in which stigma and Whiteness do constrain their ability to develop authentic professional identities, and the emotional cost this brings. I treasure the narratives the participants shared with me and the team and the diversity of experiences these contain—struggle and resilience, hope and despondency, failure and victory, joy and despair—and trust that they will evoke a compassionate appreciation of the many challenges the professionals of colour face. The use of narrative case studies has allowed their stories to be told, which implies that they will have an impact. As Elliott and Squire (2017, p. 1) suggest: “Narrative’s etymological roots lie in words indicating knowing as well as telling. ‘Telling’ itself signifies something that makes an impact, not just something that is recounted”. Understanding the situated positions of these professional of colour will hopefully contribute to a more comprehensive account of organisational behaviour by expanding our knowledge of individual professionals and their professions as well as the organisations in which they are practised. In recounting these professionals’ stories, I trust they will make an impact on their readers, not only as part of an academic text but to “stimulate and facilitate people’s reflections on who they are and what they do” (Alvesson et al., 2008, p. 17). Whiteness is a very difficult phenomenon for White people to grasp; it is my hope that my interpretation of these stories, will generate a greater understanding of the consequences and impact of Whiteness on professionals of colour.

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8.3.2 Reveal the Problem with Cultural and Political Systems The second goal of identity-related research is to reveal the darker aspects of organisational life so that they may be questioned and challenged. In my view this remains the most important implication of this study. It adds to our understanding of the power relations in respect of Whiteness and stigma in three South African professions, reminding us of the inevitable relationship between colonisation and apartheid on the one hand and professionalism on the other, thus raising the possibility of considering a post-colonial perspective in respect of the knowledge and practices underpinning the professions we tend to take for granted. As I have argued, Whiteness is a symbolic capital, and as such is not directly observable, with Bourdieu (1991) referring to it as “that invisible power” (p. 164, in Joseph, 2020, p. 120). Joseph compares the invisibility of symbolic capital to the invisibility of germs. Long before people had the capacity to view germs through microscopes, they theorised about the causes of diseases that, although invisible, had material effects. Thus, just because Whiteness as a symbolic power is invisible (to White people at least) it does not mean it does not exist; it simply means that research is required to uncover the mechanisms that enable it as a relational power effect. Identifying and discussing the various factors that perpetuate stigma and Whiteness at all levels of analysis has been the primary aim of this research.

8.3.3 Provide Solutions Finally, it is recommended that, as Philip’s narrative has shown, the consistent implementation of company policies and processes, for example in relation to mentoring and development, made an enormous impact on the nurturing and growth of his professional identity. Although Whiteness as a factor was not removed, the inequity that often arises as a consequence was, and as a professional of colour he was given the opportunity to develop symbolic capitals in keeping with the profession and with his White counterparts. Central in this process was the

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clear professional identity-related guidelines provided while he was still at university, allowing him insight into the workings of company-related capitals and the opportunity to develop them while he was still at university. While these types of interventions do not remove the power effects of Whiteness, they do work to mitigate the effects of its symbolic capitals by ensuring there is greater equity in their development and distribution in the process of professional development. This eliminates the preferential treatment given to White professionals through the micro-practices central to the reproduction of professional life (Schinkel & Noordegraaf, 2011). Bearing in mind the focus on change, what can leaders in professional and organisational settings do? I would suggest there are five A’s that can serve as guidelines in this regard.1 Awareness In the case of White managers, understand the consequences of our country’s history, recognise the privilege this has resulted in and the potential for reproducing it through the structures of which one is part. This involves careful introspection, reflexive self-awareness and a recognition of our complicity in maintaining the status quo, should we choose not to act. In the case of managers of colour, it is important to be aware of one’s own potential internalised racism and the historical dynamics that tend to favour White people at the expense of people of colour. Attuned Stay attuned to the dynamics of the social settings in which one is required to take the lead. This means listening when issues regarding stigma and Whiteness are raised, recognising the way in which Whiteness works in a specific context, be this organisational or professional. Leaders should be prepared to intervene, tackle difficult conversations and facilitate the development of appropriate solutions. They should recognise the structural constraints of race and implement changes to achieve long-term results rather than short-term gains. Authenticity While it is vital to avoid language and behaviour that may cause offence to people of colour, this must be underpinned by a sense 1

My thanks to Natasha Winkler-Titus for her input in this section.

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of authenticity in managing race relations. This means admitting when mistakes are made and making sure the underlying issues are addressed. While White privilege cannot be waived, engaging with others in an authentic and respectful manner will facilitate the development of more genuine relationships. Application While there are many patterns across the data, the participants’ experiences were not homogeneous; they varied, depending on the profession and on the nature of their background, education and socio-economic status. There is considerable diversity in professional organisations, and it is important to recognise this when implementing HR policies and practices. While they are designed to promote equality among employees, this does not always guarantee equity and may in fact facilitate discrimination. This has implications for how organisational diversity is managed among professionals of colour; accordingly, care should be taken when developing policy and designing appropriate solutions. Accountability Remain accountable for changing the status quo and ensure that guidelines aimed at countering Whiteness and stigma are complied with. Where they are ignored, ensure that those responsible are held accountable for their actions so that the importance of the matter is emphasised. Leaders and managers in organisations need to have a no-tolerance attitude towards stigma and discrimination.

8.4

Conclusion

The aim of this chapter was to provide an overview of the findings of this study, considering its original purpose and highlighting aspects of relevance. Moreover, it considered some of the implications for professions and their related organisations, suggesting three possible consequences, namely, to shed light on the experiences of professionals of colour,

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to reveal problems with professions and their related organisations as cultural and political systems and to provide solutions in overcoming them.

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Elliott, H., & Squire, C. (2017). Narratives across media as ways of knowing. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung /Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 18(1), Art 17, http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs170117 Joseph, J. E. (2020). The agency of habitus: Bourdieu and language at the conjunction of Marxism, phenomenology and structuralism. Language & Communication, 71, 108–122. Knights, D., & Clarke, C. (2017). Pushing the boundaries of amnesia and myopia: A critical review of the literature on identity in management and organization studies. International Journal of Management Reviews, 19 (3), 337–356. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijmr.12147 McAdams, D. P. (1996). Personality, modernity, and the storied self: A contemporary framework for studying persons. Psychological Inquiry, 7 , 295–321. Moonesirust, E., & Brown, A. D. (2021). Company towns and the governmentality of desired identities. Human Relations,74 (4) pp.502–26. https:// doi.org/10.1177%2F0018726719887220 Özbilgin, M., & Tatli, A. (2005). Book review essay: Understanding Bourdieu’s contribution to organization and management studies. Academy of Management Journal, 30, 855–877. Schnikel, W., & Noordegraaf, M. (2011). Professionalism as symbolic capital: Materials for a Bourdieusian theory of professionalism. Comparative Sociology, 10, 67–96. https://doi.org/10.1163/156913310X514083 Srinivas, N. (2013). Could a subaltern manage? Identity work and habitus in a colonial workplace. Organization Studies, 34 (11), 1655–1674. https://doi. org/10.1177/0170840612467151 Tatli, A., & Özbilgin, M. (2009). Understanding diversity managers’ role in organisational change: Towards a conceptual framework. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, 26 , 244–258. Watson, T. J. (2009). Narrative, life story and manager identity: A case study in autobiographical identity work. Human Relations, 62(3), 425–452. https:// doi.org/10.1177/0018726708101044

Index

A

Accent 123, 124, 138, 139, 182, 231, 233–235, 260, 266, 271, 272, 275, 276 Accountants 37, 69, 70, 78, 92, 148–150, 163, 165, 166, 174, 201, 251, 254 Accounting 5–7, 19, 21, 36–38, 47, 51, 67, 69–72, 74, 76, 77, 79, 84, 85, 87, 88, 91–93, 97, 104, 140, 159, 163–165, 167, 174, 177, 179, 181, 197, 198, 200, 209, 217, 290 Afrikaans 100, 102, 104, 113, 122–124, 130, 131, 133, 134, 137, 171, 174, 179, 180, 183, 187–197, 219, 227, 231, 233, 260–262, 271, 276, 278 Agency 31, 43–45, 49, 50, 74, 76, 115, 123, 124, 139, 150, 183,

193–195, 207, 220, 222, 233, 261, 264, 267, 270, 276–279, 291 Apartheid 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 19, 20, 36, 40, 41, 43, 46, 49, 102, 111–113, 116, 117, 130, 144–146, 189, 196, 208, 212, 218, 224, 226, 229, 252, 262, 263, 266, 288, 290, 293 Apartheid legislation 14, 100, 112 Authenticy 4, 85, 259, 262, 295

B

Behavioural identity work 115, 121, 123, 127, 147, 149, 162, 167, 173, 175, 199, 200, 220, 275, 276, 278 Black tax 241–243, 245, 259 British 9, 10, 37, 39, 198

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 A. Crafford, Whiteness and Stigma in the Workplace, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09811-6

299

300

Index

Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) 143, 144, 146, 147, 150, 152, 266

D

Discursive formations 254, 265, 266, 272, 273, 278, 280, 290 Discursive identity work 54, 146, 147, 174, 176, 278

C

Capital(s) 19, 21, 42, 44, 46, 49–51, 91, 113, 115, 124, 130, 133, 134, 136, 137, 143, 164, 165, 198, 252, 256–258, 261, 263–265, 267, 290, 293, 294 Change agency 279, 291 Cleft habitus 118, 226, 229, 232, 252, 253, 260 Cognitive identity work 118, 132, 175, 197, 240, 275–277, 279 Colonialism 4, 5, 8, 9, 20, 43, 45, 46, 49, 73, 212, 252, 288 Context 2–4, 7, 8, 20, 21, 30, 31, 35, 36, 43, 45, 47, 49, 51, 52, 55, 68, 73–75, 77, 82–85, 89, 117, 122, 123, 128, 132, 133, 143, 145, 147, 150, 152, 164, 175, 177, 185, 188, 189, 191, 195, 199, 200, 207, 208, 217, 220, 223, 225–228, 230, 231, 233–236, 238–240, 251, 252, 254, 257, 260–265, 269, 276, 277, 279, 287, 288, 290, 291, 294 Cosmologies 235–240, 245, 259, 289 Credibility 85, 258 Critical race theory 72–75 Cultural capital 50, 55, 115, 131, 132, 138–141, 176, 177, 187, 199, 213, 235, 255, 260, 261, 268

E

Economic capital 50, 118, 136, 255 Education 5, 10, 11, 13, 16, 18, 19, 44, 50, 68, 88–90, 93, 95–98, 100, 103, 104, 111–114, 117, 118, 125, 128, 130, 135, 146, 189, 207, 208, 211–216, 225, 245, 255, 256, 260, 266, 289, 295 Education systems 17, 21, 89, 113, 117, 152, 224, 256 Embodied history 218, 289 Embodied practices 254–256, 260, 271, 276, 280, 290 Embodiment 2, 33, 45, 46, 51, 73, 82, 128, 148, 165, 198, 232, 254, 258, 265, 266, 290 Employment equity 112, 144–146, 149, 150, 152, 266, 272, 289 Engineering 5, 6, 19, 21, 36, 38–40, 51, 67, 70–72, 74, 76–78, 80, 94–100, 104, 114, 131, 137, 140, 147, 159, 163, 164, 168–170, 179, 184, 200, 209, 210, 214 Engineers 39, 40, 70, 71, 77, 78, 82, 88, 95, 97, 98, 114, 121, 132, 141, 149, 163, 170, 177, 179, 181, 183–185, 251, 254, 257 Ethnicity 2, 13, 44, 45, 73, 115, 120, 131, 173, 207, 225, 234,

Index

254, 261, 267, 269, 288, 290, 291

301

226, 229, 230, 252, 262, 263, 287, 288, 294

F

I

Field 21, 34, 35, 44, 46–51, 102, 111, 113, 115, 116, 123, 124, 132–134, 136, 140, 187, 212, 214, 222, 226, 230, 232, 252, 253, 260, 264, 265, 277, 279, 287, 288 Financial transfer 241, 244 Functional 162, 200, 256, 289

Identity 2, 4, 5, 9, 11, 20, 21, 29–32, 34, 35, 45, 47, 49–54, 68, 72, 74, 76, 82, 83, 85–87, 101, 116–121, 123–127, 131, 133, 136, 139, 141, 143, 145, 147, 148, 152, 159, 162, 163, 169, 171, 181, 187, 189, 192, 195, 207, 212, 213, 217, 220–222, 225, 226, 229, 233–240, 245, 253–280, 287–292 Identity work 2, 4, 5, 21, 45, 48, 49, 51–55, 72–74, 77, 83, 120–124, 126, 129, 139, 147, 152, 159–161, 178, 187, 190, 191, 193, 200, 210, 217, 220–223, 225, 227, 229, 251, 254, 258, 262, 263, 265, 266, 268–275, 277–280, 289–291 Identity work modes 53, 271 Inclusion 5, 68, 118, 119, 144, 145, 152, 162, 186, 189, 193, 198, 201, 253, 289 Industrial and organisational psychologist 114, 251 Industrial and organisational psychology (IOP) 19, 36, 42, 71, 72, 82, 100–103, 159, 163, 164, 186–188, 191, 200, 211, 212, 217, 236, 238–240, 254, 259, 266, 278, 289 Interviews 7, 77, 78, 82, 83, 85, 86, 88, 89, 92, 93, 95, 96, 98, 119, 120, 123, 132, 133, 141,

G

Groups and social relations 31, 273

H

Habitus 21, 30, 45–51, 55, 115, 116, 118, 120, 123, 125, 131–133, 135, 139, 147, 152, 173–175, 183, 185, 195, 196, 198, 199, 217, 218, 220, 221, 223, 225, 226, 229, 230, 232, 233, 237, 245, 252–254, 259, 261, 263–266, 268, 277, 279, 290 Habitus tug 253, 259, 278 Hierarchy 3, 31, 49, 53, 126, 139, 152, 181, 183, 185, 188, 200, 228–230, 252, 256, 264, 272, 274, 278, 289, 291 History 4–8, 10, 19, 20, 29–31, 35, 36, 40, 42–45, 47, 48, 51, 52, 67, 68, 73, 75, 77, 85, 119, 165, 177, 186, 195, 207, 209, 211, 212, 218–221, 223, 225,

302

Index

142, 161, 162, 179, 180, 192, 193, 195, 200, 201, 222, 227, 231, 233, 268

L

Language 2, 6, 43, 54, 83, 93, 96, 99, 115, 116, 120, 123, 124, 133–135, 139, 171, 175, 181, 188–197, 201, 214, 219, 233, 234, 237, 240, 259–261, 266, 271, 273, 275, 276, 278, 289, 294 Legislation 8, 10, 13, 20, 21, 37, 43, 111, 112, 143, 145–147, 149, 152, 238, 266, 288, 289

M

Macro 21, 44, 75, 287 Macro-context 83, 111, 152 Macro-level 21, 44, 289 Management 4, 19, 67, 93, 94, 96, 100, 104, 112, 130, 140, 145, 150, 160, 168, 169, 172, 179, 184, 188, 200, 258, 261, 265, 278 Material and institutional arrangements 31, 139, 171, 188, 254, 272, 280 Meso 21, 36, 44, 75, 83 Meso-context 200, 287 Meso-level 21, 44, 289 Micro 36, 44, 83, 257, 287 Microaggressions 5, 31–33, 83, 119, 121, 122, 159, 160, 190, 192, 221, 223, 268, 273 Micro-context 225, 230, 245 Micro-level 21, 289, 291

N

Narrative case studies 74, 292 Narratives 5, 7, 31, 51, 54, 75, 76, 83, 84, 127, 132, 133, 170, 183, 185, 217, 251, 257, 264, 265, 288, 289, 292, 293 Natural hair 34, 200, 272, 275, 276

O

Other 32, 33, 160, 220

P

Parents 16, 87–89, 91–93, 95–99, 101–103, 118, 119, 137, 146, 165, 199, 208–211, 213, 214, 216, 218, 224, 242, 244, 245, 255, 289 Personal space 21, 111, 122, 245, 251, 254, 255, 270, 277, 288, 289 Physical identity work 199, 276, 290 Place 17, 31, 41, 43, 69, 82, 117, 118, 123, 134, 142, 143, 151, 161, 168, 170, 175, 181, 182, 189, 192, 195–197, 201, 227, 230, 232, 234, 288, 291 Professional 2–5, 12, 19, 20, 29–31, 34, 35, 38, 40–43, 48–52, 68–71, 74, 77, 78, 82, 83, 87, 102, 104, 111, 113, 117, 121–123, 128, 130, 131, 140, 141, 143, 147, 149, 150, 159, 161, 163–166, 168–177, 181–183, 190, 193, 194, 197–201, 207–210, 212, 213, 217, 219, 220, 223, 240–245, 251–259, 261–264, 266–273,

Index

275–280, 289, 291, 292, 294, 295 Professional bodies 37, 38, 71, 78, 186, 187, 201, 289 Professional closure 5, 6, 20, 38, 51, 140, 186, 212, 213, 251, 256 Professional identity 2–5, 20, 21, 29–31, 45, 51, 52, 55, 72, 74, 75, 77, 83, 111, 112, 114, 117, 121, 124, 125, 129, 132, 137, 140, 141, 145, 148–150, 162, 163, 168, 169, 171–174, 176, 178, 186–188, 190, 191, 197, 200, 207, 211–213, 217, 225, 236, 245, 251, 254–259, 262–264, 266, 267, 270, 275, 276, 278, 279, 289–291, 293 Professionals of colour 4–6, 19–21, 31, 32, 43, 51, 67, 74, 128, 136, 146, 152, 163, 168, 172, 173, 177, 190, 191, 201, 209, 212, 213, 217, 223, 225, 246, 252, 254, 255, 257, 258, 264, 266, 267, 270, 271, 275, 278, 287–289, 291–293, 295 Professional space 20, 21, 150, 171, 200, 217, 255, 287–289 Profession(s) 4–7, 19–21, 29–31, 36–38, 40, 42–45, 48, 49, 51, 52, 67–69, 71, 72, 74, 76–78, 84, 85, 104, 140, 159, 162–165, 168, 172, 174–179, 185–188, 190, 191, 193, 198, 207, 209, 212, 213, 216, 217, 252, 254, 256, 257, 259, 264, 270, 275, 277, 278, 288, 289, 291–293, 295, 296 Provide solutions 291, 296

303

Public space 21, 44, 112, 152, 191, 256, 266, 267, 288, 289

R

Race 2, 3, 8, 11–13, 16, 32, 33, 35, 36, 44, 45, 47, 48, 68, 72, 73, 82, 98, 116, 119, 131, 133, 135, 136, 142, 145–147, 152, 159, 168, 170, 171, 173, 183, 185, 197, 200, 211, 213, 220, 225–229, 231, 234, 254, 256, 258, 260, 263, 264, 267, 272, 277, 288, 290, 294, 295 Racism 6, 7, 9, 19, 31–34, 36, 40, 45, 73, 101, 102, 122, 129, 130, 145, 160, 181, 186, 187, 189, 201, 212, 217–219, 221–223, 245, 252, 254, 266, 268, 269, 294 Reflexivity 85, 253 Research design 68, 74, 105 Reveal problems 291, 296 Rural 14, 15, 18, 38, 68, 78–81, 93, 94, 112–116, 131, 136, 138, 208, 256, 266

S

School(s) 5, 10–12, 30, 39, 40, 44, 71, 87–95, 97–104, 113–119, 121–124, 126–129, 131–133, 135–138, 142, 147, 160, 178, 179, 190, 207, 208, 211, 214, 215, 223, 224, 234, 235, 244, 256, 260, 263, 266–268 Social capital 37, 50, 128, 137, 165, 257, 264 Social constructionism 74

304

Index

Socialisation 29, 30, 44, 111, 117, 125, 128, 162, 163, 193, 200, 211, 256, 268, 276, 289 South Africa 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10–12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 31, 36–38, 40–42, 45, 47, 51, 67, 69–71, 77–79, 82, 88, 90, 91, 96, 104, 112–114, 126, 129, 130, 138, 151, 174, 189, 191, 192, 196–198, 208, 211, 213, 217, 224–231, 233, 234, 238, 245, 251, 262–264, 288, 291 Space 6, 7, 12, 13, 21, 36, 37, 42–44, 46, 48, 52, 74, 83, 116, 120–123, 125–129, 131–136, 139, 142, 143, 148, 152, 169–171, 173, 182, 185, 187, 188, 195, 196, 200, 219, 225, 226, 228–230, 233–236, 245, 252, 253, 258, 261–265, 287–289 Stigma 2–6, 8, 19, 21, 31–34, 45, 51, 52, 73, 75, 77, 85, 161, 185, 227, 238, 243, 245, 251, 254, 267, 270, 271, 275, 279, 280, 287, 289–295 Symbolic violence 46, 116, 123–125, 127, 139, 224, 230, 253, 259–261, 266, 276, 277, 279

T

Ten statements test 82 Thuthuka 37, 38, 69, 89, 140 Traditional healer 101, 236, 238, 239, 259

U

Ubuntu 49, 241 Understand experience 291 University 12, 21, 34, 38–42, 69, 70, 79–81, 87–98, 100–104, 114, 117, 129–131, 133–138, 140–143, 147, 149, 152, 160, 169, 179, 186, 198, 208, 213–215, 226, 241, 243, 244, 260, 263, 264, 289, 294 Urban 15, 18, 68, 78–81, 92, 93, 114–116, 208, 256, 263, 266

W

Whiteness 2, 3, 5–8, 13, 19, 21, 30–32, 34–36, 42, 44–46, 48, 50–52, 55, 73, 75, 77, 83, 85, 86, 104, 111, 119, 123, 124, 127, 133–136, 143, 146, 148, 150, 152, 159–163, 165, 169, 172, 181, 185–189, 197, 200, 201, 207, 208, 225, 227, 234, 235, 240, 243, 245, 251, 252, 254–258, 260, 261, 264–280, 287–295