Browsing by Author "Zuma, Buhle"

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    Changing contexts, shifting masculinities : a study of ex-combatants
    (2009) Zuma, Buhle; Erasmus, Zimitri
    This thesis explores the contexts in which combatant masculinities were constructed: (a) in apartheid South Africa through mass mobilization and politicization; (b) in exile through military training; and (c) in post-apartheid South Africa through cultural concepts of manhood and non-governmental organisations' (NGOs) initiatives. This qualitative study, based on six in-depth interviews, follows through the three different contexts, the narratives of the same group of ex-combatants ofUmkhonto weSizwe (MK), the military wing of the African National Congress (ANC). These men went into exile as part of the 1980 generation. It concludes that the different contexts facilitated the construction of different masculinities. During resistance to apartheid, civilian struggle masculinities were made. Military training made militarised masculinities. Post 1994 marks the creation of masculinities in transition. Among the key factors shaping each of these masculinities are: political structures, ideological and political youth constructs; the totality of the military and a patriarchal and heterosexual discourse; and cultural concepts of manhood. This thesis outlines similarities and differences between the three types of masculinities as well as other broad themes that permeate the study.
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    The social psychology of self-segregation the case of university student friendship groups
    (2013) Zuma, Buhle; Tredoux, Colin
    Against the contrasting backdrop of the ideal and value of social inclusion captured by the image of a ‘Rainbow Nation’ in South Africa and the academic record of self-segregation, the main objective of this study is to identify social and psychological factors and processes that influence the formation of racially heterogeneous and racially homogeneous social relations. The study uses first year students naturally forming friendship groups as ‘case studies’. The study is both empirical and theoretical. The empirical component is furnished by qualitative interviews conducted over an academic year in 2011. The theoretical component is found in relating the data to a knowledge fund that extends beyond social psychology to include sociology, political science, historical and contemporary socio-political South African literature and issues. The study is important because while there is now a large body of research that shows the benefits of friendships for intergroup relations we still know relatively little about the factors that facilitate or hinder the formation of friendships outside of laboratory settings. The study specifically explores the relation between ‘race’ and class at the intergroup, institutional and societal levels and how these different levels of analysis come to bear on everyday intra- and intergroup relations. At the center of all this are collective projects of identity rearticulation and reproduction. Some of the study findings can me summarised as follows. Much of what goes on within the university context in the participants lives can be summarised as the reproduction of social and psychological worlds revolving around social identities. It was demonstrated that even where opportunities for intergroup interactions were available their actualisation was mediated by the meanings and interpretations that participants had learned to associate with intergroup contact. In this regard the study joins with work that draws attentions to the importance of emotions in intergroup contact. The study goes some way in trying to understand the place, role and uses of ‘race’ and class and their interdependence at the level of everyday relations. This is important because a great deal of social psychological work has left this labour in the hands of sociology, anthropology and economics.
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    Understanding skin colour: Exploring colourism and its articulation among black and coloured students
    (2017) Mbatha, Slindile; Zuma, Buhle
    While international scholars have increasingly drawn attention to colourism as a social phenomenon, South Africa has yet to understand its various expressions in the wake of a history of apartheid. Colourism can be described as "prejudicial treatment of individuals based on varying degrees of skin colour." This has significant implications for people of colour, who are often targets of racism, but also perpetrators of skin tone discrimination among their own racial group. The main objective of this study was twofold: to enquire about the existence of colourism, and to determine how it may possibly articulate itself as an everyday phenomenon among students. A sample of black and coloured students were drawn from the University of Cape Town student population. Qualitative focus group interviews were conducted to collect all necessary data. The results indicated the existence of colourism in the lives of students including their relationships with family members, friends, potential intimate partners, and in their wider societal context. A thematic analysis revealed four main themes: a) Racial identity formation; b) Skin tone valuations and their influence in the colourism hierarchy; c) Gendered articulations of colourism; and d) Trauma and its effect on the expression of colourism. Racial identity formed an important part of how students situated themselves positively or negatively in the historical and present day context of South Africa. Skin tone valuations meant that greater value was often placed on light skin as an attribute of beauty, wealth and intelligence. However, this was mediated by gender such that the value placed on light and dark skin was often determined by gender. One crucial observation was the pervasive nature of cultural trauma in and through experiences of colourism. Through a process of symbolic violence, colourism was understood as internalised racism which becomes a weapon wielded by black and coloured individuals against themselves. As such, inherited racist beliefs about the inferiority of darker skin, and superiority of lighter skin have been internalised, even among a post-apartheid generation of youth.