‘IT’S ALWAYS BEST TO SORT OF SPEAK UP, BUT…’ silence and the (im)possibility of resistance to racist reactions to ‘affirmative action’ in a university context

Programmes designed to support Indigenous (Māori) and marginalised (Pasifika) students to participate and succeed at (our) university are well-established, yet continue to meet challenge and resistance. As supporters and a participant in these programmes, we wanted to explore the possibility of speaking up and against (racist) resistance to programmes designed to make the university a more equitable and inclusive space. We sought to explore how those who supported such programmes would engage with, and respond to – or not – expressions of racist resistance. We aimed to find answers and solutions, strategies to melt resistance away. We used a qualitative interview design within a critical realist theoretical position and heavily informed by Kaupapa Māori research principles. Twenty participants were recruited carefully, and analysis used reflexive thematic analysis. Our first theme captured a strong moral imperative to challenge opposition to equity programmes, with silence representing complicity and a failed moral duty to improve the world. Theme two discussed anti-equity sentiment as harmful, particularly to Māori and Pasifika students. Theme three focused on emotion: anger was rendered a justified yet unhelpful emotion to express in discussions of equity programmes, while rationality was positioned as positive and useful. Theme four centred around futility, with participants suggesting responding to anti-equity expressions as highly unlikely to be successful, even if tackled ‘calmly’ and ‘rationally’. Students articulated a complex, fraught, and even impossible position in relation to speaking up, and challenging racist resistance. Given the impossibility of being a ‘speaking subject’ who can effectively challenge racism, participants felt the university needed to ‘lead from above’ to create a space and place in which resistance to such social-justice-based initiatives was not articulable.