What is
Racial Indignity ?

Indignity encapsulates the totality of negative racialised experiences marked by microaggressions, disrespect, humiliation, degradation, devaluation, and misrecognition, resulting in self-shrinkage, masking, racial fatigue, diminished mental health, lowered self-esteem, and internalised devaluation.

The Racial indignity Framework considers how race is seen to influence how people are (In)dignified by law, policies and other institutions of power. It can be understood as the ongoing attempt to deny people who are negatively racialised their basic human dignity and equal humanity.

Principles of Racial Indignity

  • 1. Dehumanisation

    Refers to the ways one is seen, thought of and treated as less than human. Dehumanisation is a practice of violence as it involves denying racial minorities their full humanity.

  • 2. Humiliation

    Tends to involve forms of public shaming to assert dominence and reinforce social hierarchies like white privlidge. It can feel like being ‘torn down’.

  • 3. Devaluation & Inferiorisation

    Is when individuals and social groups are viewed as and treated as less than. It usually involves being made to feel small, less valuable or less worthy in ways that diminishes your sense of Self.

  • 4. Disrespect

    Occurs when one is outwardly denied or rejected. It can involve acts of agression; a disregard for boundaries; being talked down to; being treated with distain.

  • 5. Racial Gaslighting

    Psychological manipulation where accounts of racism are often denied. It is a form of control and emotional abuse that make people feel forced into suppressing or masking their experiences of racism.

  • 6. Normalised Racism

    Are expressions and acts of racism that are so covert and subtle that they have been normalised as ‘everyday’ or ‘casual’ racism. Normalised racism is often accepted to the point that it is denied as racism.

  • 7. Burden of minoritisation

    Refers to the invisible labour often experienced by minoritised groups who are forced to do ‘double work’ such as having to prove, having to defend against sterotypes, having to be a cultural ambassador.

  • 8. Surveillance & scrutiny

    Refers to being perpetually treated with suspicion by people and structures. It can feel like being hyper-policed; being watched; having ‘eyes on you’ all the time; being treated with suspicion.

  • 9. Hyper (in)visibility

    Is the dual experience of ‘standing out’ and at the same time having parts of yourself erased or made invisible. It can feel like having a spotlight on your racial difference but being treated in a way that your personality, skills, interests are completed ignored.

  • 10. Performative inclusion & tokenism

    Refers to the superficial efforts made by people and institutions to create the appearance of equality, diversity or inclusion without any meaningful or genuine action.

INDIGNITY

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What participants said about (in)dignity…

  • “I never use my middle name in a regular work context or like with White people. Even when I think about my surname, it's not really a surname in the same way as White people's surname. There are times when I'm like, maybe I should just get myself a Smith and then surprise them at the interview" [laughs]

    — Maya, Victoria

  • “When people come in and they’re like, “Oh, we’re looking for the supervisor.” You’re like, “I’m it.” It's like, you can see that shock in their face because I think they’re used of people like us being in certain jobs.”

    — Jayne, Victoria

  • “During Black Lives Matter, my manager asked me to write an article about what was going to go in the internal newsletter. I then told its too provocative for management. We were actually called into a meeting with HR and the MD to be told off. I was like, it's not external, it's just with us, and I feel like it's really important…., but it was too much for them, and he was upset."

    — Briony, Western Australia

  • “I remember approaching our university to do more on the anti-racism space, and they made it into a battle. They wouldn't even do a presentation, a talk. They wouldn't even invite a speaker. They got close to it at one point because we'd just kicked out such a big fuss. Then, at the last minute, they changed their mind and made it into a panel of three women talking about the challenges of being a woman. They couldn't handle even talking about racism, even in theory. There are so many ways that you're constantly reminded that you don't belong."

    — Hani, Western Australia

  • “When I look at the work I used to do when I was in Tanzania or in Kenya, I was coordinating funding agencies, the World Bank and all those kinds of people, and organizing meetings, and attending meetings on behalf of eight countries and all that. When I look at that, and now somebody's just putting me in a box and deciding this is where you're gonna be, you'll never go on a trip internationally, you'll never be seen even in meetings, which are just local between different government agencies, they make sure you don't appear there.”

    — Jill, Queensland