Contested Selves in Spaces of Silence: A Queer Autoethnographic Critique of Queerphobic Bullying and Racism in a South African Indian Schooling Context
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25159/2412-8457/20873Keywords:
intersectionality, heteronormativity, Black queer youth, educational exclusionAbstract
This article examines my personal experiences as a Black African queer male learner attending a predominantly Indian school in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Using narrative inquiry, the study explores my lived reality and illuminates how I navigated identity formation within a primarily Indian heteronormative schooling environment shaped by racial and cultural dynamics. This article was informed by the intersectional perspective, employing a phenomenological approach to understand the experiences of a Black African queer male learner within the context of a predominantly heteronormative Indian schooling system. Research indicates that Black African queer learners within predominantly Indian educational settings encounter various forms of oppression, including but not limited to racism and heterosexism. Based on the researcher’s experiences, this article highlights that predominantly Indian schools serve as environments of exclusion for Black African queer learners. This exclusion complicates the ability of these students to collectively explore and negotiate their gender and sexual identities, thereby increasing the risk of suicide. By adopting an autoethnographic approach, the researcher aims to amplify the voices of many marginalised Black African queer male learners. Central to this method is the practice of storytelling, which is not merely descriptive but a critical act that situates personal experience within broader social, historical, and political contexts. Storytelling in autoethnography allows the researcher to articulate emotions, tensions, and contradictions that conventional academic discourse often silences. The research documents the researcher’s experiences of oppression, isolation, racism, discrimination, hate crimes, hate speech, and homophobic violence within a predominantly Indian school in South Africa, all of which are influenced by their gender identity and sexual orientation.
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Accepted 2026-04-23
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