“It was as if I wasn't there” – Experiences of everyday racism in a Swedish medical school

The aim of this study was to explore and analyze how cultural/ethnic minority students at a Swedish medical school perceive make sense educational experiences they viewed as related their position. We interviewed 18 (10 women, 8 men), who self-identified coming from backgrounds. Data were collected analyzed simultaneously, inspired by constructivist grounded theory methodology. concepts ‘everyday racism’ ‘racial microaggressions’ served theoretical framework for understanding inequities experienced understood. Participants described regularly encountering subtle adverse treatment supervisors, peers, staff, patients. Lack support bystanders common dimension stories. These marked interviewees' status ‘Other’ made them feel less worthy students. Interviewees struggled being downgraded, excluded, discerned different, but seldom used terms like victim discrimination or racism. Instead, found other explanations individualizing, renaming, relativizing experiences. Our results indicate that racialized encounter repeated practices that, either intentionally inadvertently, convey disregard sometimes contempt based on ideas about racial and/or cultural ‘Otherness’. However, most hesitated name the behaviors comments “discriminatory” “racist”, likely because prevailing Sweden and, in particular, exempt racism, beliefs can only be intentional. To counteract climate exclusion leadership should provide students, staff with encourage engage critical self-reflection roles racist power relations, offer training become allies victims