Young men's accounts of living with oculocutaneous albinism in relation to identity and masculinity
Date
2018
Authors
Van der Walt, James Alexander
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Abstract
The current research arose from a particular interest in the ways in which different
subgroups of men form and navigate their male identities and their masculinities. The
decision to focus on the experiences of men living with oculocutaneous albinism
stemmed from two inter-related premises: firstly, there is a dearth of research around
this particular minority group; and secondly, there has been a call for the life
experiences of this particular population to receive greater attention and
understanding. Four participants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview
schedule. The transcribed data gathered from these interviews was subject to a
computer-aided thematic analysis. The findings of the current research suggest that
the experiences of being stigmatized due to oculocutaneous albinism were highly
injurious to the participants and lead them to internalize a strong sense of shame. This
in turn affected the ways in which the participants experienced themselves in the world
and interacted with others relationally, including in relation to friendships and more
intimate partnerships. All of the participants feared that their albinism would make
them less desirable to prospective life partners and were concerned that close others
might be stigmatized by association with them. Their experiences appeared to
influence the participants’ positioning of themselves in relation to other men and were
also implicated in the complex nature of their racial identity. Participants demonstrated
a capacity to be reflective about their life experiences and about the responses of
others towards them in respect of their condition.
Description
A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Clinical Psychology), 2018
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Citation
Van der Walt, James Alexander (2018) Young men's accounts of living with oculocutaneous albinism in relation to identity and masculinity, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, <https://hdl.handle.net/10539/25708>