Electronic Theses and Dissertations (Masters)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10539/37990
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Item A case study of homeless women living on the streets of Braamfontein, Johannesburg(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-03) Msimango, Thando Dimakatso; Gerrand, PriscillaHomelessness is a global concern. Several factors that trigger homelessness, such as natural disasters and wars, poor education, poverty, substance abuse, domestic violence and mental illness, have frequently been identified. South Africa has seen an increase in the number of people living on the streets of its major cities. This has culminated in the initiation of different research studies looking into the phenomenon of homelessness. However, there seems to be a gap in the studies looking at the plight of homeless women within the Braamfontein area of Johannesburg. Therefore, this study explored the experiences of homeless women living on the streets of Braamfontein and is based on a constructivist paradigm. The study adopted a qualitative approach, and a single case study design was adopted. Snowball sampling was used to select 13 participants who met the selection criteria. A semi-structured interview guide was used as a research tool, and one-on-one-in-depth interviews were used to collect data. Thematic analysis was also used to analyse the data. The study can contribute to developing and enhancing gender-specific intervention programmes earmarked for women living on the streets of Braamfontein in Johannesburg. It is hoped that the study might also initiate debates around the subject matter. Recommendations are made for future research.Item A Phenomenological Analysis of the Experiences of Black Female Volunteer Lay Counsellors from Marginalised Backgrounds in Gauteng!(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-09) Naidoo, Sherwyn; Patel, RubyWithin the South African context, Volunteer Lay Counsellors (VLCs) play a vital role in providing mental health care. Whilst Black female VLCs from marginalised backgrounds play an essential role in providing these services, there is a paucity of research in understanding their experiences. This study utilised a qualitative approach to explore the experiences of Black female VLCs from marginalised backgrounds in Gauteng. The researcher used non-probability purposive convenience sampling to recruit four participants who volunteered at a non-profit organisation (NPO) in Gauteng. The study collected data through in-depth semi-structured interviews. Insight was provided by this research into participants’ experiences of counselling from a position of their intersectionality to those who embody different intersectional identities. This was done by locating the research within the work of intersectional theorists Crenshaw (1989, 1991), McCall (2005), Tamale (2020), and Petsko and colleagues (2022). In keeping with this, the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) method allowed for an in-depth exploration of participants’ unique experiences through double hermeneutic interpretations. The themes illustrated that participants were motivated by the desperate need for access to mental healthcare in their socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. In addition, volunteering satisfied the prospects of fulfilling their career aspirations lost because of their subjection to gendered, racialised, and class oppression. Thirdly, themes highlighted how clients’ race, class, and gender impacted participants’ counselling experiences. Lastly, themes highlighted the psychological impact of counselling on participants and how helpful coping mechanisms developed from the survival of intersectional oppression and organisational training and support helped mitigate these psychological consequences. The provided understanding of participants’ experiences is essential for both praxis and policy within the area of VLC in South Africa.Item 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.