3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item The fatherhood constellation: exploring the representational world of new fathers of pre-oedipal infants(2022-07) Berman, Sarah LouiseThis thesis represents a turn to the father himself, as a figure in his own right. It highlights the lack of research on fathers, as well as the tendency of the psychological and psychoanalytic literature to focus on the mother, and on the roles that fathers perform for their infants. In an attempt to cast light on fathers’ experiences of emergent fatherhood, this research study explored the representational world of new fathers of preoedipal infants. Semi-structured research interviews were conducted with seven white, middle-class, South African fathers of small children, and they were analysed through a psychoanalytic research technique. The research method undertaken in this study led to the collection of rich data about new fathers’ experiences of fatherhood; it also revealed how an analysis of the research method itself can offer insight into both fathers’ experiences of fatherhood and fatherhood research. These findings are presented in the form of a paper in the methodology section, together with the more general aspects of the research design. The thesis then proceeds with a paper that discusses how the father has been ‘forgotten’, not only in the literature, but also in his own mind. ‘Remembering’ the father or, more aptly, the ‘conception’ of the father takes place when the father sees himself in the eyes of his infant, and experiences his infant as being actively responsive to him. The process of reorganisation of the father’s representational world during his emergent fatherhood is then explored in two papers, which examine the possible nature of the fatherhood constellation and the fatherhood trilogy, drawing on Stern’s work on the motherhood constellation. Together, all three papers highlight that becoming a father is not a smooth process. It is characterised by feelings of exclusion, anxiety, self-doubt and uncertainty about one’s position in relation to the mother-infant dyad. Self-representation as a father is informed by conscious and unconscious intergenerational, intragenerational, matrilineal, patrilineal, Oedipal, social, cultural and historical facets of emergent fatherhood. The papers, therefore, suggest that fatherhood may be overdetermined and that the representation of absence may be a key step towards the father finding presence in his own mind. The project concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and clinical implications of an understanding of fatherhood which situates the father on the outside of the mother-infant dyad, and as having to struggle to find representation of himself as a father in his own mind.Item Like father, like son?(2016) Mlotshwa, Sindisiwe CharlotteThis investigation explored how fathers and sons perceive what it means to be a father. A review of current literature revealed that there has been extensive work on the theme of fatherhood. Though extensive, the literature has not included both fathers and sons within a single investigation. Thus, this study has included both fathers and their sons in order to explore their perceptions of fatherhood. The findings revealed that both fathers and sons believed that being a father meant that one had to be the moral guide and primary breadwinner of the family. Some sons experienced their fathers as being emotionally absent and demonstrated a desire to have more present father figures. This desire, along with the notion that “the father is the primary role model of the son” is in line with ideas pertaining to “New Fatherhood”. With these definitions of fatherhood in mind, it was noted that all fathers believed that they still had some work to do before they could consider themselves the ‘perfect’ father. Despite this, the main findings of this investigation indicated that many sons continued to aspire to be like their fathers. While aspiring to be more like their fathers, the men in this investigation also felt that they needed to perform certain paternal functions better than their own fathers.Item Performing manhood and fatherhood : A case study of men/fathers as symbolic mediums(2008-10-20T12:07:54Z) Sigamoney, Veronica LaviniaThe aim of this research is to consider family as a kin network of exchange and to show that manhood and fatherhood is a cultural value transacted within this network. It attempts to also show that such value is variably negotiated as identity is performed in relation to ideological constructs of space. To do this, the physical and ideological space to which kin belong is explored as a cultural borderland, suggesting that men/fathers are able to exceed bounded constructs of identity while also being subject to them. In particular, I try to illuminate some of the dynamics that impact on men’s/fathers’ negotiation of discursive codes of intra-cultural sameness and difference to be valued not only as men/fathers, but as good at being men/fathers. Within this context, some of the symbols of identity that enable a man/father to be good at being a man/father are considered. The ethnography highlights the ways in which men/fathers are able to access and mediate symbolic resources, showing how these processes impact on their positioning on a continuum of self and worth. In this regard, performances of providing in relation to performances of the social and genetic imbrications of kinship constitute a key focus.