A mixed methods investigation of Indigenous university students' experiences with and strategies to challenge racism.

Abstract

Objectives: In this mixed methods program of research, we investigated Indigenous participants' experiences with racism at a Canadian postsecondary institution.

Method: In Study 1 (N = 8), we interviewed Indigenous students or recent graduates about their experiences with racism and thematically analyzed their responses. We asked questions about what participants thought racism was, how frequently they experienced racism, how experiencing racism made them feel, which racist incidents were the most important to challenge, how they dealt with racism, and their positive experiences on campus as an Indigenous person. In Study 2 (N = 485), we surveyed Indigenous students about their experiences with racism. Participants responded to items about the frequency of potentially racist incidents, how those incidents made them feel, and if they considered those incidents as racist. They also responded to items about positive race-based experiences and their feelings about their on-campus experience.

Results: In Study 1, participants experienced many different types of racism: internalized (including racial microaggressions, modern racism, and old-fashioned racism), interpersonal, institutional, and structural. They also shared the negative impacts of experiencing racism and the ways they challenged and coped with racism. In Study 2, participants indicated that they experienced racism on campus regularly and that these experiences tended to make them feel bad. Participants also experienced positive race-based experiences and felt good in these cases.

Conclusions: Anti-Indigenous racism happens with alarming regularity at the institution and negatively impacts Indigenous participants, though participants actively push back against racism. We discuss the implications and future research directions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).