Hugo, Cheri2026-07-072026-07-072026https://hdl.handle.net/10566/24872Pursuing postgraduate studies is often regarded as a significant achievement, particularly for historically marginalised racial groups in South Africa, such as the Coloured community. However, the struggles encountered by womxn of colour during their postgraduate studies remain underexplored. This study investigates the challenges faced by womxn of colour in design education, a discipline well known for its Eurocentric and male-dominated nature, examining their impact on both academic and personal development. Specifically, the study addresses factors such as the persistent colonial university culture and systemic forms of violence that strategically hinder the progress of previously disadvantaged individuals. Furthermore, it explores how South African universities profoundly undermine the spiritual and emotional well-being of Coloured individuals and other people of colour, particularly when they are compelled to work in places that their ancestors were forcibly removed from during apartheid. This exacerbates the struggles of academics of colour when completing their postgraduate studies. The study draws on decolonial and Black feminist theories, including critical race theory, hydrofeminism, and postcolonial feminist theory. It also considers key concepts, such as respectability politics and Black rage, to explore how colonial and patriarchal influences in universities impact on the postgraduate experiences of womxn of colour. In this context, theories of affect and materiality are discussed, alongside decolonial feminist perspectives. Ethodologically, this study employs autoethnographic approaches, grounded in the researcher’s lived experience of navigating postgraduate study and academic life in design higher education. The research is also ethnographic in its collaborative dimension, as other womxn of colour participated as co-researchers, engaging in artmaking, shared reflection, and meaning-making. Together, we weave a story that uses ballet and ocean swimming, both practices steeped in colonial and patriarchal histories, as embodied metaphors to explore the pressures, violences, and possibilities within academia.enWomxn’s NarrativesFeminist MethodologiesAutoethnographyHydrofeminismDecolonial FeminismThesis