Doctoral candidate, Benedicta Daniel-Oghenetega is up to giving Bourdieu a run for his capital, as she looks at the student experience of African doctoral students at UWC through his conceptual lens of capital, habitus, field and practice.
Daniel-Oghenetega is almost done, and her study shows that there are important points to consider when taking Bourdieu on a journey to South Africa. The.cultural capital of African students, often dismissed in the academic context as 'irrelevant', proves to be a key factor in their resilience to succeed at the highest levels of academic achievement. Bourdian notions of family and its relevance to understanding the transmission of cultural capital to the university students also requires a great deal of rethinking. The French notion of the nuclear family is a great deal different from the extended family networks, community relations, and age peer groups available, as are the role of siblings (including older cousins and younger uncles) in the transmission of cultural capital and in role-modelling. What are the implications of this for understanding student success, and more specifically for supervison and forms of institutional support?
Daniel-Oghenetega is almost done, and her study shows that there are important points to consider when taking Bourdieu on a journey to South Africa. The.cultural capital of African students, often dismissed in the academic context as 'irrelevant', proves to be a key factor in their resilience to succeed at the highest levels of academic achievement. Bourdian notions of family and its relevance to understanding the transmission of cultural capital to the university students also requires a great deal of rethinking. The French notion of the nuclear family is a great deal different from the extended family networks, community relations, and age peer groups available, as are the role of siblings (including older cousins and younger uncles) in the transmission of cultural capital and in role-modelling. What are the implications of this for understanding student success, and more specifically for supervison and forms of institutional support?
