From their Perspective: Explanations of Patterns of Racialised Social Interactions among a Group of Post-Apartheid Adolescents

Abstract

We explore a group of adolescents' interpretations of patterns of racial integration and segregation at a racially integrated high school in Gauteng. The article is based on a study that was conducted in two phases. The first phase of the study, which is reported elsewhere, involved naturalistic observation of the patterns of social integration and segregation, primarily on the basis of ‘race’, occurring among a group of post-apartheid adolescents during ‘free’ time at a desegregated co-educational private high school. A dominant pattern of social self-segregation on the basis of ‘race’ was noted in this phase of the research. The second phase of the research, which is the focus of this article, involved a focus group discussion with eight adolescents at a different desegregated co-educational private high school. In the focus group discussion the adolescents confirmed the racialised nature of the dominant pattern of social self-segregation at the school where observations were conducted (as reflected to them in a set of photographs) as well as in their own social experiences. Their explanations and justifications for self-segregation reflected a range of contradictions and included the racialisation of interests, the naturalisation of segregation, homophily, socialisation, and the avoidance of conflict or threat. The numerous contradictions noted in the participants' explanations as well as their use of various psychological defences and positive self-presentation strategies highlighted the highly complex affective nature of intergroup relations and the manifest dilemmas characterising their social experiences and everyday realities.