3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item The experiences of being black in the South African workplace(2019) Magubane, Nokulunga N.The psychosocial condition and socioeconomic position of black employees in the South African workplace remain unchanged in spite of the advent of democracy in 1994. The black employee’s racial experience in the workplace is indicative of the normative experience of blackness in contemporary South African society that is in agreement with the everyday familiarity of socioeconomic disadvantage and psychosocial subjugation that affects the overall existential experience of blackness. As such, hostile racial interactions in the workplace reflect that the socioeconomic and psychosocial changes expected post-apartheid are materialising at seemingly substandard rates. The current investigation utilised a phenomenological approach to the broader critical psychology of race the interpretive research paradigm and semi-structured interviews to direct thematic data analysis techniques that informed the study conclusions. The participant group consisted of eight tertiary educated black employees, one male and seven females, with an age range of 21 to 27 years, with workplace experience ranging from two weeks to four years. The results of this investigation significantly shows the inefficiency of the democratic redress policy in the facilitation of workplace diversification, and its ineptitude in expediting psychosocial and socioeconomic inclusion, integration and participation such that the existential black employee’s experience of racial identity in the post-apartheid South African workplace is not adversarial. The findings of this investigation suggest that the instances of on-going racism in the workplace are the result of an institutional socioeconomic investment in racial inequality that facilitates hostile racial interactions in the workplace.Item Shades of blackness: politicians' performances of blackness in South Africa(2018) Khan, FirdausOver the decades, the concept of race has been interpreted and altered in various ways. Supposed characteristics have been imposed by society on groups of individuals as stereotypes of what they should be or do. This is the basis for racism, as it has been proven through studies on genetics that all races of humans bear the same genetic makeup. This has not only allowed for divisions between races but has created space for differences within them. However, scholars have, in recent years, come to an understanding of race as a social construct that is performed, instead of something that humans are born with. This study seeks primarily, to explore the diverse and fluid black identities that are present within South Africa’s political sphere. It seeks to understand the varying and opposing ways in which South African politicians display their blackness, and simultaneously develop an understanding of how this is received by the media and the South African public alike. To establish these differences, this study seeks to employ three case studies from the South African political landscape. The case studies are the ANC’s Jacob Zuma, the EFF’s Julius Malema and the DA’s Mmusi Maimane. The study hopes that in exploring three very different political personas, some of the many varying tropes that exist will become lucid. In To structure this study, one speech by each case study politician has been selected as a text to be analysed. This speech, in turn, consists of three components which are critically unpacked: a video recording of the speech, an article posted alongside it and comments posted below it. All three components of the text are analysed in detail, to ascertain the different approaches and responses (both by the author of the article and the public commenters) each politician receives with regards to their black identity. These responses then feed the research in terms of understanding the tropes of blackness that each politician enacts, determined by a range of factors including their specific masculinities, accents, dress styles, approaches to the systems in place and so forth.Item Race and Identity politics in post-apartheid South Africa: the use of new media for racial discourse(2018) Mdluli, NothandoIn post-apartheid South African, the government instituted policies that were established to foster the vision of a non-racial society following the colonial history of the country. Some of these policies include the Black Economic Empowerment Policy, the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, 2000 (Act 4 of 2000), as well as the idea of the Rainbow Nation, to name but a few strategies put in place to foster the vision of a non-racial society. Although these policies were enacted to create the idea of nationhood and building a new national identity, the period of 2016 and 2017, however, the country was engulfed with intense racial events that led to notions of the reawakening of racism in the society. A number of these events were facilitated through the use of social media that adversely sought to confront and challenge these enacted policies. As a result, the issue of race and identity continues to be persistent and appears to be challenging institutionalized government initiatives for a viable democracy. Thus, the significance of this study is to confront this racial antagonism so as to understand how race and identity is constructed in post-colonial South Africa Also, this is to ascertain the role of new media in facilitating racial debates, such as through the idea of citizen engagements on race and identity discourses. Methods of data collection for this study include cyber ethnography where online platforms, namely Nelson Mandela Facebook page, Andile Mngxitama’s Facebook page, and Letters from White South Africa Facebook page, were used as fundamental online communities to carry out an online study in order to understand how citizens engage on the issue of race and identity politics. Informal interviews were conducted amongst three political analysts, namely Ralf Mathekga, Tinyiko Mashiqi, and Steven Friedman and with representatives from the country’s three main political parties such as the African National Congress, Democratic Alliance, and Economic Freedom Fighters. Thus, the study concluded that race and identity politics remain a challenge in the post - apartheid South African society. This was evident through immense racial contestations or tensions that were facilitated through the use of social media, which continue to challenge government’s efforts in realizing the vision of a non-racist society. The study further established that there are various political, socio, and economic factors that contribute towards the construction of race-racism and identity in post-apartheid South Africa, which require robust interventions by the state.Item Argentine South Africans ways of speaking about social responsibility in South Africa(2016-01-28) Hamity, AyelenDespite the end of apartheid, South Africa remains a grossly unequal society. This has meant that the current social order must again be challenged. One of the tasks faced in post-apartheid South Africa is the philosophical and moral interrogation of white privilege. This research investigates the ways of speaking of Argentine immigrants living in South Africa. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed by making use of Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory as well as Melissa Steyn’s characteristics of “white talk”. It was found that Argentine immigrants living in South Africa aligned themselves with the ways of speaking of white South Africans. These are largely informed by and embedded in Eurocentric discourses; in particular liberal ideology. In line with the agenda of Critical Whiteness studies, this positionality was exposed and theoretically interrogated. Keywords: whiteness, immigrants, discourse, Laclau and Mouffe discourse theory, white talk, racism, identity, liberalism