This paper emerges out of a larger qualitative study that aimed at mapping barriers to basic education experienced by children and adults in the context of the HIV and AIDS pandemic. The study was undertaken in Richmond district and involved a range of centres of learning (formal and informal) including three high schools, five primary schools, two adult basic education centres, a school for the deaf, two early childhood centres and their communities. The participants in the study were child and adult learners, parents and caregivers, school governing bodies, organizations working in the district, officials from the Departments of Health, Education and Social Welfare and members of a support group for people living with HIV or AIDS. The study attempted to capture the voices of participants and to obtain rich qualitative data through individual interviews and focus group interviews. In addition, various participatory research techniques such as transect walks, vulnerability matrices, ranking exercises, photo-voice and social mapping were used in the focus group interviews. This paper provides an understanding of a theme--that of oppression--that emerged from the data. The findings suggest that oppressions are systematically produced and reproduced in the processes of the everyday lives of learners, their families, teachers and the wider school community in this particular context. The paper juxtaposes Young's (1990) five categories of oppression: exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism and violence, with three post-structural constructs: discourse, hegemony and resistance to highlight the complex workings of oppression. These constructs are applied to the data from the study. The paper will provide examples of the forms of oppression and multiple ways in which oppression is played out in different situated spaces. (Contains 1 note.)