A turning point within a tutorial room: an intercultural positive autoethnography in a South African university

South African higher education is characterized by profound cultural and linguistic diversity, shaped by historical inequality and unequal access to educational resources. Within these contexts, intercultural competence is often assumed to develop through exposure alone; however, such exposure may coexist with comfort zones that limit deeper understanding. This manuscript adopts an Intercultural Positive Autoethnography (IcPosAE) to examine the development of intercultural competence across my life course, culminating in a critical incident during my role as a university tutor in a culturally and linguistically diverse South African institution. Drawing on autobiographical memory, reflexive narrative and positive reflexivity, the autoethnography traces my socialization within an Indian-Muslim household, early encounters with diversity, periods of cultural insulation, and the disruption of these assumptions through a tutoring encounter. Rather than framing this moment as an individual failure, the narrative situates the experience within broader dynamics of language, power, privilege, and institutional responsibility in higher education. Through thick description and analytic reflexivity, this manuscript aims to illustrate how discomfort and miscommunication can become sites of positive intercultural transformation.