Struggling with racism. Female Afro-Colombian students’ challenges in higher education

This article examines the experiences of female Afro-Colombian students in higher education in Colombia. Focusing on a public university and drawing an intersectional approach that centers on gender and race, and that includes Segato’s (2006) typology of racism, the analysis of the data shows that female Afro-Colombian students witness different types of racism through which they are hypersexualized and exoticized. University’s structures play a role in reproducing some forms of racism due to its negligence to acknowledge the existence of racism on the campus. Despite their disadvantages, female Afro-Colombian students are not passive nor victims and have developed responses against racism which include reasserting their racial identity.