Racial Misrecognition and Micro‐Practices That Undermine Dignity
Insights From [Black] Africans in Australia
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11228390 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kathomi Gatwiri (0000-0002-7794-6481, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work Flinders University Bedford Park Australia, corresponding author), Samara Kim (0009-0000-5650-1283, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work Flinders University Bedford Park Australia) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-02-24 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Australian Journal of Social Issues (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0157-6321 • E-ISSN: 1839-4655 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/ajs4.70080 |
| OpenAlex | W7134169581 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 29 |
This article theorises experiences of racial indignity among [Black] Africans in Australia by examining how racial misrecognition (disrespect, dismissal, inferiorisation, silencing and erasure) systematically undermines, erodes and compromises their dignity and personhood. Using a dignity‐informed theoretical framework, the study explores how dignity is racialised, constructed, denied and contested within the Australian socio‐political context. It critiques the dominance of ‘race neutral’ and ‘colourblind’ discourses that obscure the routine operations of racism, particularly anti‐Black racism, and their role in positioning Black Africans within marginal and liminal social spaces. The article argues that Australian political and social institutions have yet to meaningfully confront their embedded histories of anti‐Blackness, and proposes 'dignity' as an essential consideration of 'doing' antiracism practice. By centring Afrocentric theoretical and experiential perspectives, the study offers a conceptual vocabulary for articulating the cumulative emotional, psychological and psychic impacts of racial misrecognition, and highlights how racialisation and anti‐Black racism shape everyday experiences of in/dignity
Dignity · Entitlement (fair division · Indigenous · Liminality · Naturalisation · Politics · Project commissioning · Racism · Redress · Undoing · African cultural and philosophical studies · Critical Race Theory in Education · Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights
Understanding Everyday Racism
The Politics of Recognition
Understanding Racism in a Post-Racial World
The ‘African gangs’ narrative
Racial fatigue, disembodiment and dignity
BlackLivesMatter
Reclaiming racial dignity
Racial dignity framework
Racial Microaggressions at Work
Block, Unfollow, Delete’
[Existing] While Black”
Dignity Violation in Health Care
Deconstructing racial code words
Blackness as Burden? The Lived Experience of Black Africans in Australia
If I peel off my Black skin maybe then I integrate'. Examining how African-Australian youth find living in a 'post multicultural' Australia
The White Space
Anti-black racism and othering
Recognizing Dignity
Constructivist Grounded Theory or Interpretive Phenomenology? Methodological Choices Within Specific Study Contexts
The Whiteness Regimes of Multiculturalism
A Roar of Rage", "Toddlers with Guns" and "Eternal Bloody Protest
Racism as neglect and denial
| Highly cited | No |
|---|