School of Human and Community Development (ETDs)

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Browsing School of Human and Community Development (ETDs) by SDG "SDG-10: Reduced inequalities"

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    Constructing identities through discourse: Examining the textual representation of prostituted women in post-apartheid South Africa
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021) Landman, Tiaan A.
    The current study explores the intersectional social identities of four ‘prostituted women’ in post-apartheid South Africa as they are represented through discourse. The socio-cognitive model of critical discourse studies is employed to explore the way in which their social identities are represented through texts. These texts were retrieved from the online blog of a non-profit organisation, Embrace Dignity (2019), which advocates for the rights of women and girls. The texts were written to represent the personal experiences of four black women who identify as ‘prostituted’. This study found, through the engagement with biopolitical and intersectional feminist theory, that conditions which are paramount to a ‘social death’ are often proliferated for the subjects at the intersection of their gender, sex, sexual, and racial identities. Furthermore, these conditions are often concealed through the guise of class. The subjects make meaning of their social identities through a range of experiences, which are facilitated by sociohistorical systems of oppression aimed to disenfranchise feminised and blackened bodies in South Africa. These systems of oppressions are communicated through discourses of Bantu education, unskilled labour, violence, sexual perversion, limited access to services, marginal citizenship, geography, movement, and displacement, as well as a discourse of care, to name a few. The study found that these discourses are fostered and realised through the political project of domination, enforced by white heteropatriarchy that was institutionalised by the apartheid government. The study further indicates how the women who are represented by the texts, have been positioned within contexts that suppress their lives. This study emphasises the importance of exploring the intersectional social identities of black prostituted women in order to appropriately support the women within this community and their voices.
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    Exploring the Constructions of Masculinity of Unemployed Young Black Men from Mamelodi
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Sibanyoni, Dineo Naomi-Beth; Graham, Tanya
    Although masculinity has been widely explored internationally and in local academic research, there are still gaps in understanding the constructions of masculinity with regards to young men’s experiences of unemployment in impoverished areas. This research explores constructions of masculinity among young unemployed black men living in the township of Mamelodi, in Gauteng. The particular focus is on understanding their perceptions of employment and the provider role within their conceptualisations of hegemonic masculinity. With this understanding, their ideas around how these constructions obstruct or enhance their psychosocial life experiences can be better understood. The research used qualitative research design to yield more rich and detailed data. Purposive and snowball sampling methods were utilised to recruit eight participants to share their experiences. The participants were young unemployed black men between the ages of 18 and 35 years of age, making up the criteria needed to make up the sample. The theoretical framework that the study uses to support and understand the phenomena was the social constructionist view of masculinity. The data collecting method was semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis was then used to analyse the data. The main themes identified in the analysis were Proactivity, Dreams and Hopes, Unemployment, Masculinity and Culture, and Obstacles and Persistence. The findings indicated that the experience of being a young unemployed black male has an impact on how these men see themselves in relation to the social expectations of men fulfilling the provider role in their environment. This was seen to also influence their psychosocial lives. Through the findings, an exploration of the resistance to show full expressions of emotions that occur with this particular group of people can also be observed.