Old Wine New Bottles: Racial Microaggressions Experiences of Black African International Students in England

Despite increasing attention to inequality in higher education, the everyday experiences of Black students and how they navigate racialized environments remain underexplored. This study examined Black African international undergraduates’ experiences of racial microaggression and their coping strategies in the context of higher education in England. Drawing on Critical Race Theory, a qualitative approach was used to analyze the accounts of 16 undergraduates studying in 11 English universities.  Findings indicate that students experienced racialized challenges along two interrelated dimensions: identity-based marginalization (including assumptions of poor/inferior previous education in Africa and pathologizing discourse) and social exclusion (including devaluation of classroom contributions, invisibility, and criminal stereotyping). In response, students employed strategies clustered into supportive engagement (seeking co-national spaces and building resilience) and protective distancing (ignoring racism and adopting an evasive stance described as “it’s not my struggle”). The findings challenge the discourse of post-racial UK higher education couched in the language of color-blindness and Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI). The study contributes to scholarship on race and higher education by showing how everyday racism shapes student experiences, and how conceptualized coping strategies enable navigation and resistance within institutional contexts.