Inclusion Without Representation: Academics’ Perspectives on the Impact of Ethnic-Tribal Identity on Their Professional Development

Within postcolonial African higher education institutions (HEIs), structural inequalities often persist beneath official discourses of diversity and inclusion. This study examines how academics’ ethnic-tribal identities shape the professional development, institutional inclusion, and career advancement at a Cameroonian university. Drawing on critical race theory (CRT) and intersectionality as complementary analytical frameworks, and situated within a postcolonial perspective on higher education, a qualitative interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) was conducted with 11 purposively selected academics. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and were analysed thematically. Findings indicate three interconnected dynamics: ethnic-tribal marginalisation as a basis for structural exclusion from leadership and mentorship channels; patronage networks that systematically erode meritocratic principles in promotion and appointment processes; and conditional inclusion that compels identity suppression as the price of institutional belonging. These findings suggest that diversity within the study context appears to be largely performative, present in composition but absent in equity. The study contributes to postcolonial higher education scholarship by providing empirical evidence of how descent-based identity operates as a structural barrier to academic career advancement and offers implications for higher education leadership, institutional reform, and the decolonisation of university cultures in Africa.: