Browsing by Author "Foster, Don"
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- ItemOpen AccessAn analysis of war trauma and refugee distress among Bosnian Muslim women : exploring social and personal healing in the aftermath(2011) Murphy, Teri L; Foster, DonThis study is a narrative examination of the healing process in the aftermath of war trauma for nineteen Bosnian Muslim refugee women. Epistemologically informed by Feminist Standpoint Theory, a mixed methods approach of Grounded Theory, Narrative Analysis and Relational Voice Theory was used to show how recovery from multiple war trauma/violence has occurred only partially. By synthesizing theories of place identity, gender roles, and meaning making systems, the difficulties women face to integrate war and refugee experiences into social understanding is examined. Individuals in the study identified themselves as Bosnian women – culturally, nationally, ethnically, and religiously. Not only did war threaten those identifications, in some aspects, it fundamentally altered them. This paper argues that when the women were alienated from place attachments, their history and narratives were disrupted. They were dislocated from a literal space called “home” and they lost a sense of existential belonging and identity. Second, findings explicate how war and forced removals impacted familial and communal relationships. Women experienced relational losses through death and separation; they also lost the anchoring of their social identities. In exile, role expectations and demands radically shifted. Finally, narrative analysis demonstrates how traumatic events created an internal disorientation. Centralizing ethno-religious beliefs were shattered, leaving refugee women to face a crisis of meaning. Taken together, these findings elucidate how the radical discordance between pre/post-war place identification, role continuity, and cultural/religious belief systems is problematic and has made it difficult for Bosnian Muslim refugee women in the study to heal or to fully recover in the aftermath of war.
- ItemOpen AccessAspects of culture in South African psychiatry(1989) Swartz, Leslie; Foster, DonA review of the South African psychiatric literature reveals that the concept of culture is commonly reified. It is also used by the South African state to legitimate apartheid. The concept of cultural relativism, though often associated with liberal views internationally, is linked with state policies in South Africa. Some South African social scientists, therefore, strongly question the notion of relativism. This reaction unfortunately does not engage with the social reality of the widespread perception of cultural differences, in psychiatric settings and elsewhere. Issues of race and culture in psychiatric practice were explored in a psychiatry department of a liberal South African university. Observation of ward-rounds in a psychiatric casualty (emergency) facility over six months revealed that, as elsewhere in the world, a major cultural factor influencing clinicians is the relationship between psychiatry and general medicine. A cultural understanding of South African psychiatry must take account of this relationship. Ward-rounds in a facility treating Black psychiatric patients were observed over fifteen months. Black and white clinicians in these rounds were often in conflict over constructions of the concept of culture. Some appeared deeply ambivalent about cultural relativism. Psychiatric registrars (residents) attached to the department under study participated in loosely structured interviews exploring issues of race and culture in their work. They also responded to vignettes dealing with white, coloured and Black patients. Registrars felt uncomfortable about the role of the concept of cultural difference in affecting the welfare of Black patients, and in maintaining discrimination. Their own socialisation as practitioners in an individualising and medicalising discipline seems a major factor contributing to their ongoing reproduction of this discrimination. The study reveals the importance of exploring the views and experiences of practitioners. South African work focussing on the need for fundamental change in mental health care has generally glossed over details of extant practice. This dissertation shows, however, that a major site for mobilisation for change in South African mental health-care must be the psychiatric institution itself.
- ItemOpen AccessThe aura of silence: a psychosocial analysis of stigma amongst students working In the field of HIV And AIDS at the University of Cape Town(2007) Cooper, Sara; Foster, DonEleven white, well-educated students from the University of Cape Town, all actively involved in the field of HIV/AIDS, were interviewed through a freeassociative-narrative method. This study sought to explore these students’ perceptions of and associations with HIV/AIDS and those infected, in an attempt to assess the extent to which stigma may occur amongst these students. To the authors’ knowledge, no other studies exploring HIV/AIDS-related stigma have been done on young adults who are actively engaging with, and highly educated on, issues around HIV and AIDS. The accounts revealed that underneath the overt denials of fear, the epidemic does seem to evoke various fears and anxieties for these students. Through their constructions of HIV/AIDS, the participants tend to ‘other’ the epidemic and those infected and thus distance themselves from a sense of threat. Such representations therefore appear to serve a protective function, enabling the participants to defend themselves from the anxieties they experience surrounding the epidemic. In line with psychosocial understandings of HIV/AIDS stigma, the results from this study indicate that this ‘atypical’ group of students may possess certain stigmatizing tendencies. This points to the fact that HIV/AIDS stigma may not be the product of a lack of education or ‘faulty’ thinking. There were however multiple, often contradictory and conflicting voices heard throughout the interviews. Many participants expressed an awareness of, and uneasiness with, their ‘othering’ and potentially stigmatizing tendencies. It is in this space, that the potential for change, and stigma reduction may exist. The findings from this study thus have both theoretical and practical implications for conceptualizing, and challenging HIV/AIDS stigma.
- ItemOpen AccessThe Border and Beyond : an analysis of the post-Border War discourses of families of ex-SADF soldiers(2001) Draper, Catherine; Foster, DonThe aim of this study was to investigate the impact of military experiences in the Border War on families of soldiers who fought in some capacity for the South African Defence Force (SADF) in Namibia and/or Angloa during the 1970s and 1980s. The sample for this study comprised one male and 14 female participants, all white South Africans between the ages of approximately 30 to 70 years. All participants were related to, or had a close relationship with a male individual who served in Namibia and/or Angola, or in the Caprivi Strip some time during the period under review. Thirteen participants responded to written appeals whilst and the other participants were referrals.
- ItemOpen AccessCareer Narratives of Women Professors in South Africa(1999) De la Rey, Cheryl Merle; Foster, DonThe statistics on the gender profile of academics in South African universities show that women are concentrated at the lower levels of the hierarchy with very few women at the uppermost level of professorship. At the time that this study was conducted women comprised only eight percent of the total number of professors in South Africa. The central aim of the study was to tell the story behind these statistics on gender inequalities by examining the subjective experiences of women academics. Twenty-five women professors from a diversity of universities, academic disciplines, race groups and ages were interviewed for about two hours each. The general areas of questioning were: family background, educational history, trajectory of career development, professional experiences, and relation between personal life and professional life. All interviews were audio-taped and then transcribed. Using narrative analysis, the interview transcripts were then analysed. The processes of analysis and interpretation were informed by the theoretical underpinnings of the study, which was located within the ambit of feminist post-structuralism and social constructionism. Central to the conceptualisation of the study was the idea of self as constructed through narrative with narrative viewed as an inherently social process. Thus the analysis of the narratives moved between attention to the particular and the general examining how broader historical and social processes of stratification are given form in the narratives of self. The unfolding of the narratives of the 25 women professors illuminated complex articulations between the legacy of apartheid and processes of gender organisation both inside and outside the academy. Both gender and race were pointed to as salient factors in the subjective representations of academia, but neither of these manifested as unitary and fixed. Instead gender and race shifted in and out of focus along with other axes of difference such as age, relationship status, family status and career stage in shaping the narratives of self. There were multiple and shifting intersections. Consequently, there were no straightforward, continuous lines of commonality and difference. Constructions of gender were shown to shift within a complex matrix of relations relevant to academia in South Africa. Albeit complex and multidimensional, the significance of gender in shaping academic careers was confirmed. The gendered implications of performing as an academic pervaded the narratives in diverse ways at the level of both form and content. While all the narratives followed a progressive form, the analysis showed that the career lines of most participants did not follow the standard linear model of career. The frequency of regressive micro-narratives nested in the larger progressive narrative drew attention to late beginnings and interruptions to career development. The analysis gave visibility to the interconnectedness of subjective experiences of being multiply positioned as academics, women, mothers and wives. Tension, ambivalence and contradiction permeated the accounts of having to perform multiple tasks. There was a shared representation of academic life as a battle to be fought. Achieving success in moving up the academic hierarchy was constituted as involving varied shifts in self-construction such as a change from the naive self to the ambitious, competitive self. Self-management, loneliness and isolation were commonly noted as features of academic life. A shared sense of gender consciousness and solidarity was largely absent from the narratives. Feminism was claimed as self-relevant in very few narratives whereas in others it was positioned as a reference point from which the self could be distinguished. Juxtaposed against feminism was the discourse of women's issues, which was framed as less militant and more womanly. These representations of feminism were interpreted in relation to the fissures that mark the historical development of feminism in South Africa. In sum, the study succeeded in producing a complex account of the subjective experiences of women professors in South Africa, giving visibility to the diverse ways in which social processes of gender are given form at the level of self-narrative. The varied narratives of what it means to be a woman professor in South Africa in the late 1990s were seen to be shaped by past policies, as well as current practices and policies. Finally, noting the diversity in the narratives, the importance of theorising difference was affirmed, the need for a complex change agenda was signalled and the need for a scholarship that is comfortable with the notion that our analyses are always limited, in process and constantly in need of modification was noted.
- ItemOpen AccessChildren found to be in need of care : a study of current management practice(1982) Giles, Christopher Martyn; Foster, DonChildren found to be in need of care may be legally removed from their families and recommended to one of four types of placement, or management resource. (Children's Act, 1960 Sections 1(X) and, 31(1)).The study here reported is an investigation designed to determine which features of the children, their families and previous management are differentially associated with the current placement type of the child.160 children at present in care were rated on 30 factors each. From this information a composite picture was developed of the most typical child, family and previous management history associated with each of the placement types. Demographic data from the sample considered as a whole was also presented. The finding that many differences exist between groups defined by placement type was discussed in terms of relevant literature. With reference to these results and features of current management practice revealed by demographic data, some proposals were ma.de which aimed at improving the use to which available welfare resources are put.
- ItemOpen AccessConstructing activist identities in post-apartheid South Africa(2013) Kelly, Claire; Foster, DonWith the understanding that every generation shares a generational consciousness, which locates individuals not only in a common geographical location, but also a historical one, this study uses social-constructionist accounts of collective identity, narrative inquiry and positioning theory to trace the moral careers of twenty-six young, middle-class activists, based in Cape Town, South Africa. In doing so it explores the relationship between their activism and identities, and how this relationship is contingent on the social and political context of post-apartheid South Africa. The first part of this study provides an account of the dynamics of political community formation amongst this group of activists, how they generate a shared understanding of the world, how they construct borders of belonging and influence, and how these borders sometimes mirror broader social cleavages in post-apartheid in South Africa. The second part examines how participants draw on two major narratives, or morality plays, with which to construct their activist identities. The most significant of these is ‘the Struggle’, the story of the struggle against apartheid. The other is the ‘the TAC Method’, the story of the Treatment Action Campaign’s struggle for the treatment of those living with HIV and AIDS.
- ItemOpen AccessCounter-transference phenomena in the white clinician : a hermeneutic investigation of cross-racial psychotherapy in South Africa(1985) Friedman, Graeme Ross; Foster, DonThis is a psychodynamic study of the white clinician's countertransference in cross-racial psychotherapy. Available evidence indicates that racial conflicts, despite their salience in South Africa, are rarely addressed in psychotherapy practice, training or research. The research that has been conducted is reviewed and the limitations of the natural scientific paradigm are discussed. Hermeneutics - the art of interpretation - is presented as a more appropriate methodology for the study of human beings. The researcher conducted one unstructured interview with each of seven 'liberal', white therapists (six clinical psychologist, three of each sex, and one female psychiatric social worker) regarding their experience of cross-racial psychotherapy. The interview protocols are reflected upon and the common themes explicated and described. Three primary themes emerge, regarding, amongst other phenomena, the participants' feelings of 'white guilt' and their inhibition of the expression of 'black anger', feelings of helplessness and sexual conflicts. General defensive approaches adopted by the clinicians include the use of their professional role and of patient characteristics, the adoption of directive approaches and the practice of overcompensation. Defence mechanisms employed include those of intellectualisation, displacement, denial, rationalisation and projection. The need to make reparation is pervasive. A Kleinian analysis of 'white guilt' is presented and the researcher's role as interviewer is reflected upon. Implications of the results for practice, training and research are discussed. Amongst these are the need for formal training and self-reflection, suggestions with regard to attuning oneself to countertransference and with regard to the handling of cross-racial therapy, the presentation of research possibilities and a discussion regarding the clinician's political role. It is concluded that, in many cases, cross-racial psychotherapy can be effective and that the chances of its success are enhanced by the tackling of counter-transference and other racial barriers.
- ItemOpen AccessDifferences in the comprehensibility of testimony : a comparative study of magistrate's credibility judgements, witnesses' ethnicity and court role(1985) Hansson, Desirée S; Foster, Don; Van Zyl Smit, DirkOnly limited research has been undertaken regarding the effects of extralegal variables on the verdicts of lower courts. Bennett and Feldman (1981) have demonstrated that the well-formedness of the semantic structure of testimony determines its credibility. It has been shown that the comprehensibility of narrative discourse (testimony) is a reliable indicator of its well-formedness (Thorndyke, 1977). This study aims to explore the relationships between comprehensibility (well-formedness) as a dependent variable, and magistrates' credibility judgements, the ethnicity of witnesses and their court roles as independent variables. Simple three way Anovas constituted the bulk of the statistical analyses.
- ItemOpen AccessDisadvantaged students' academic performance: analysing the zone of proximal development(1999) De Villiers, Abraham Benjamin; Foster, DonThe aim of the study is to investigate the practical application of Vygotsky's construct of the Zone of Proximal Development to the selection of disadvantaged students in higher education. There is a need in post-apartheid South Africa, with its legacy of inequality in educational experiences, to find accurate and fair predictors of academic performance that would act as alternatives to matriculation marks and static tests. The study relates the students' response to mediation to their academic performance and analyses the role that non-cognitive factors such as motivation, approaches to learning and learning strategies play in cognitive performance. The investigation was done in the form of different studies using over 400 first year students at the Peninsula Technikon as subjects. The first study focused on the effectiveness of the mediated lessons that form part of the two dynamic tests using a Solomon Four Group and a Two Group design. The second study made a comparison between the predictive validity of past academic achievement conventional static tests, several non-cognitive variables as well as the two dynamic tests. In the third study the students' response to a period of mediation was analysed. The fourth study focused on comparing different groups of students according to the following classification: schooling, gender, language, type of course and assessment and level of course to see whether any of the variables would have a moderator effect Finally a differention was made between the profiles of more successful as opposed to less successful students. The weight of evidence of the study indicates that it is possible to find alternatives to matriculation marks and static tests in selecting disadvantaged students by making use of the concept of the Zone of Proximal Development The results further showed that disadvantaged students are not a homogeneous group. Although the matriculation marks seemed to be the best single predictor of academic performance for the total group of students, alternative predictors were identified when looking at different subgroups. Modifiability (students' response to mediation) had a moderator effect on the predictive power of various variables. For the less modifiable group of students, the matriculation marks and, to a certain extent, static tests were good predictors, while for the more modifiable group of students a dynamic test proved to be a significant predictor of academic performance. The implications of the findings for the selection and academic development of disadvantaged students are discussed.
- ItemOpen AccessDiscourses of whiteness informing the identity of white English-speaking South Africans(2003) Salusbury, Theresa; Foster, DonGiven South Africa's ethnic complexities, comparatively little has been written about the group known as white English-speaking South Africans, or WESSAs. This is partly because of the lack of collective sentiment shared by people categorised as WESSAs, partly because the group boundaries are not clear-cut, and partly because on the surface there appears to be little that can be said about them. Besides a proclivity for business, a continued attachment to Europe and an apparent inability to organise politically, the acollectivity of the group has been the focus of the literature on the subject, and its cause has been a matter of some bewilderment on the part of authors. This work examines WESSA identity from a new perspective, one influenced by the proliferation of writings on the topic of "whiteness" in Europe and America in recent years. These writings concentrate on how whiteness as a set of discourses positions being white as neutral or "raceless", in contrast to other race groups who are constructed as "ethnic".
- ItemOpen AccessEvaluating the fairness of identification parades with measures of facial similarity(1996) Tredoux, Colin Getty; Foster, DonThis thesis addresses a practical problem. The problem concerns the evaluation of 'identification parades', or 'lineups', which are frequently used by police to secure evidence of identification. It is well recognised that this evidence is frequently unreliable, and has led on occasion to tragic miscarriages of justice. A review of South African law is conducted and reported in the thesis, and shows that the legal treatment of identification parades centres on the requirement that parades should be composed of people of similar appearance to the suspect. I argue that it is not possible, in practice, to assess whether this requirement has been met and that this is a significant failing. Psychological work on identification parades includes the development of measures of parade fairness, and the investigation of alternate lineup structures. Measures of parade fairness suggested in the literature are indirectly derived, though; and I argue that they fail to address the question of physical similarity. In addition, I develop ways of reasoning inferentially (statistically) with measures of parade fairness, and suggest a new measure of parade fairness. The absence of a direct measure of similarity constitutes the rationale for the empirical component of the thesis. I propose a measure of facial similarity, in which the similarity of two faces is defined as the Euclidean distance between them in a principal component space, or representational basis. (The space is determined by treating a set of digitized faces as numerical vectors, and by submitting these to principal component analysis). A similar definition is provided for 'facial distinctiveness', namely as the distance of a face from the origin or centroid of the space. The validity of the proposed similarity measure is investigated in several ways, in a total of seven studies, involving approximately 700 subjects. 350 frontal face images and 280 profile face images were collected for use as experimental materials, and as the source for the component space underlying the similarity measure. The weight of the evidence, particularly from a set of similarity rating tasks, suggests that the measure corresponds reasonably well to perceptions of facial similarity. Results from a mock witness experiment showed that it is also strongly, and monotonically related to standard measures of lineup fairness. Evidence from several investigations of the distinctiveness measure, on the other hand, showed that it does not appear to be related to perceptions of facial distinctiveness. An additional empirical investigation examined the relation between target-foil similarity and identification performance. Performance was greater for lineups of low similarity, both when the perpetrator was present, and when the perpetrator was absent. The consequences of this for the understanding of lineup construction and evaluation are discussed.
- ItemOpen AccessExile identity : a discourse analysis(1999) Rankoe, Matsheliso Xoliswa; Foster, DonThis study focuses on the discourses of exile identity and the subjectivity of an individual born in exile. The study also focuses on the methodology used whereby, unlike traditional research where the researcher interviews subjects; in this case the subjects interview the researcher. 6 individuals from different backgrounds, who will be referred to as participants, were chosen, 2 male and 4 females, to interview the subject (1, the researcher). The participants interviewed the subject, exploring her exile identity. The resulting taped discussions were analyzed. A discourse analysis methodology is used to analyze the conversations. Four main discourses are outlined, which have sub-discourses within them. The main discourses are the political, territorial, patriarchy and language. These discourses were identified by their repeated occurrence in the research material. These four discourses appear to be pervasive and are indicative of exile identity as it emerges in the subjectivity of the subject. These discourses can not be generalized to exiles in general. Although discourses were similar across the texts, there were contradictory discourses that emerged. These seem to be as a result of the inter-subjective field, and the differences between the individuals that were conducting the interviews. Due to the fact that it was a different interviewer each time, this created differences, as different issues were highlighted in the stories that were told by the subject, due to a different interaction with the participant.
- ItemOpen AccessAn explorative study of the professional training experiences of black psychologists in the Western Cape region(1992) Abrahams, Armien; Foster, DonThis study aims at exploring the professional experiences of black psychologists as victims of racism and in view of the profession's association with racist ideological practices. The review of the literature revealed that little research has been done in this area. An historical overview of the significant influences which shaped the professionalisation of South African psychology serves as background to the study. It is demonstrated with respect to historical background, that the profession had strong links with the implementation and maintenance of Apartheid policies. This development is followed through to a description of the recent controversy which has culminated into the formation of two alternative tendencies in the profession. The interview method was used to collect data and twenty registered black psychologists in the Western Cape area were approached to participate in the study. The findings are presented with respect to personal background and in the various categories of professional training.
- ItemOpen AccessAn exploratory study of differences between a functionally infertile, an organically infertile and a fertile group of married couples on the dimensions of interactional functioning and mutual perceptions between partners(1983) Futeran, Elizabeth Lora; Foster, DonThis study may be divided roughly into two sections: a general outline of the infertility field of study, and an empirical investigation of psychological differences between various infertility subgroups. In the outline, specific reference has been made to practical and conceptual problems inherent in the diagnosis of infertility, as these have bearing on the type of research that necessitates a division of infertile subjects into subgroups. An attempt has been made to clearly delineate and describe the possible subgroups under the broad categories of organic and functional diagnoses. Theoretical and diagnostic inconsistencies with regard to the latter group have been discussed in some detail, to arrive at an exact definition. In this respect the psychosomatic model of medicine has been introduced as a point of reference. An overview has been presented of the literature which focuses on psychological aspects of infertility. Attitudes towards, and empirical investigations of psychological factors associated with infertility have been critically discussed. Taking into account some of the biases and errors of previous research, the empirical study was designed to investigate hypothesized psychological differences between respective organically infertile and functionally infertile experimental groups and a fertile control group of married couples. Particular dimensions assessed were interactional family functioning and discrepancies in mutual perceptions between respective husbands and wives. The McMaster Family Assessment Device and the Semantic Differential technique were used as measures of these respective dimensions, and these were administered to both partners. No significant differences were found between any of the groups investigated. On the basis of the findings of the present study and much of the previous research in the field, the basic assumptions that psychopathological factors may be associated with infertility, especially in the case of a functional diagnosis, have been questioned. The counselling and crisis intervention models were proposed as a more appropriate way in which to understand the emotional problems of infertile couples.
- ItemOpen AccessGender and communication : theoretical and empirical directions(1992) Dixon, John Andrew; Foster, DonThis research project addresses a deceptively simple question: what might form the central struts, the foundations, of a useful theory of gender and communication? Two lines of evidence are submitted - a theoretical argument, derived from an analysis of research in the area, and a set of original data, derived from an experiment conducted in a South African context. THEORETICAL ARGUMENT The dissertation begins with an appraisal of current theoretical models. These can be divided into two broad categories: the 'dominance' perspective holds that gender differences in communication reflect wider status inequalities between men and women; the 'difference' perspective holds that such differences are the product of an intricate socialization process, whereby the sexes learn gender specific rules of speech. Neither position, it is contended, provides an adequate account of gender and language use.
- ItemOpen AccessGuns and gun control in South Africa : a case study of fatal gun use in metropolitan Cape Town, 1984-1991, with a critical examination of broader issues(1998) Hansson, Desirée; Foster, Don; Van Zyl Smit, DirkSince the election of the new government in South Africa in 1994, a process of reconstructing and prioritising social problems has been underway in which firearms have been afforded prominence. A 'gun problem' has been constructed based on the traditional premise that illegal private possession is the issue and most interventions have targeted the reduction of unlicensed guns. However, despite more than 35 years of research worldwide, this foundational premise lacks empirical support. Moreover relevant work on South Africa has been scarce. Utilising this as the basic assumption of a contemporary conception of the 'gun problem' would thus seem unwise. Hence an alternate approach was adopted, starting with the question of whether guns were actually problematic in this context. A case study was conducted using a complete sample (1555) of fatal shootings in metropolitan Cape Town from 1984 to 1991. The overall aim was to paint a comprehensive picture of lethal gun use that would enable the identification and prioritising of problems, and the shaping of interventions. A pencil-and-paper device was constructed to extract information from mortuary registers, inquest and criminal court records. Variables included characteristics of victims, shooters, circumstances, weapons, injuries, and the legal process. Specific attention was paid to restraint in homicides; various indicators were used to •measure levels of minimum force and proportionality. The data were transferred into a customised computer database for analysis. Statistical significance was assessed using chi-square tests and the analysis of standardised residuals for selected single and cross-tabulated variables.
- ItemOpen AccessHegemonic masculinity and aggression in South Africa(2002) Luyt, Russell; Foster, DonThis thesis explores 'Hegemonic Masculinity and Aggression in South Africa'. It incorporates three separate, but sequential research parts, each building on the findings of the previous part in order to realise general research aims.
- ItemOpen AccessA history of 'relevance' : South African psychology in focus(2013) Long, Wahbie; Foster, DonThis thesis investigates the historical and discursive contours of the "relevance" debate in South African psychology. It begins by contextualizing the debate, detailing how appeals for "relevance" in the broader discipline proliferated during the sixties and seventies in American, European and "Third World" psychology. The thesis observes further how widespread conditions of social turmoil precipitated the development of this crisis over "relevance", which was encouraged also by traits peculiar to psychology. These include the discipline's indecisiveness regarding its cognitive interest, its reliance on a basic but rarefied science for its scientific eminence, and its longstanding difficulty accommodating sociality. Proponents of "relevance", that is, insist that psychology attend to "real world" concerns. However, since the thesis advances the position that materiality can only be accessed via language, it is asserted that the credentialing of "relevance" occurs rhetorically.
- ItemOpen AccessA history of the present : recognizing the complex and shifting nature of racism and resistance in the life narratives of the Khayelitsha Internal Forces(2008) Wale, Kim; Steyn, Melissa; Foster, DonThis research attempts to represent and analyze the life-story narratives of a group of five former anti-apartheid combatants. Narratives were collected from a total often, in-depth, life-history interviews with five former-members of the Khayelitsha Internal Forces. The Internal Forces represent a group of ex-combatants who were operating in the Western Cape as a para-military Self Defense Unit (SOU) during the 1986-1994 period of popular township revolt. The first stage of analysis consists of five re-constructed summaries of each of the participant's narratives with a particular focus on common themes running through the experience of childhood to the experience of joining the internal forces.
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