Applying decolonial thought to the study of racial microaggressions

The term ‘decolonisation’ is widely used in social work, but its meaning and the implications of committing to decolonised practice are often unclear. This article suggests pluriversality, a concept introduced by Mignolo in 2012, as a pathway to achieving decoloniality. Pluriversality opposes the imposition of a single worldview or epistemic framework, emphasising the coexistence of multiple ways of being, knowing, and understanding the world. Discussions in this article are drawn from the author’s doctoral study. The study explored the lived experiences and perspectives of racial microaggressions among seven first-generation Black African social workers in an English local authority. The study employs a fusion of psychosocial research methodology and decolonial thought. This approach addresses both the social and psychological elements of racial microaggressions without reinforcing the hegemonic belief in the inferiority of Black Africans. In this article, the author highlights how decolonial strategies within the study’s methodologies facilitated a different way of thinking, counteracting normative positions that frame racialised experiences through dependency on whiteness. The author offers a reflexive interrogation of her own positionality as a Black African social worker and researcher, emphasising the importance of pluriversality in decolonial approaches to reduce the risk of reproducing the very oppression being opposed.