African diaspora students’ experiences of racism and school responses to racism

A significant range of research has found that racism for students from the African diaspora in Australia is an ongoing problem (Mequwanint & Onsando, 2022). Experiences of racism impact the wellbeing, engagement, academic success and post-school trajectories of African diaspora youth (Elias et al, 2021). Our study utilised participatory action research approaches with nine youth co-researchers undertaking research conversations with their peers to explore experiences of un/belonging in Australian schools. The experiences of over 40 young people from locations across Australia illustrated that African diaspora students experience a range of different forms of racism in Australian schools from interpersonal racism from peers and teachers to systemic and structural forms of racism embedded within school policies and processes. We also sought to understand how African diaspora students experienced school responses to racism. None of the participants had experienced formal processes for reporting racism within their schools. In the absence of formal reporting processes a range of informal practices emerged for both students and teachers. In this paper we introduce an emerging typology of responses to racism in Australian schools. 



Elias, A., Mansouri, F., Paradies, Y., Elias, A., Mansouri, F., & Paradies, Y. (2021). Racism and Young People. Racism in Australia Today, 275-298.

Mequwanint, Y., & Onsando, G. (2022). Racism experienced by African students in Australian educational institutions: towards Ubuntu anti-racism strategies. Melbourne, VIC: Melbourne Social Equity Institute, University of Melbourne