This study provides a framework for studying socio-cultural issues that impact on how knowledge, ideas and values are transmitted and developed. Since racial domination in South Africa was produced through power relations, it is important to investigate discourses through which black South African distance education learners make meaning of their experiences as they learn, and how their social, economic and political context influences their understanding of learning. Distance education has been identified as the only feasible approach to meeting the education needs of a growing number of disadvantaged black students; however, it has been criticised for giving minimal support to its learners. The aim of the study is to contribute to the research into widening access to higher education, specifically for black South African students. Since the ideological function of apartheid was to perpetuate racial inequalities, Bourdieu's habitus was used to enable us to explore students' social formations and social locations; intra and interpersonal struggles; and relationships between students, community and institutions. The findings suggest that students' understanding of learning was by and large influenced by the social and cultural environment in which they grew up; their level of education; and their construal of self in relation to the community. (Contains 4 notes.)