OpenUCT :: Browsing by Subject "Diversity Studies"

Browsing by Subject "Diversity Studies"

Now showing 1 - 20 of 21

Open Access
“Because the country says they have to change” : an analysis of a diversity intervention and its effects on a South African Police Service station
(2006) Faull, Andrew
The shift from apartheid to a constitutional democracy in South Africa, brought with it a plethora of questions concerning ideas of nationhood, citizenship, and organisational transformation. Integrally caught up in the revolution, the South Africa Police Service (SAPS) faces transformative challenges on scales far larger than most other organisations in the country. From being the strong arm of the oppressive elite, it has has to restructure and rearticulate its function while simultaneously attempting to maintain law and order. Like many other corporations and organisations, the SAPS has engaged in interventions aimed at aiding the fluidity of this process. This thesis is an analysis of one such intervention. It attempts to ascertain the extent to which members are changing as a result of particular diversity workshops conducted in a region of the Western Cape.
Open Access
The carnival road : the eMzantsi Carnival and the promotion of intercultural interaction amongst the communities of Cape Town's southern peninsula
(2007) Pearce, Sam; Steyn, Melissa; Kelly, Claire
The power of carnival has long been appreciated and theorised. However, the potential for harnessing that power specifically to facilitate intercultural interaction has not previously been examined. This study considers the application of both carnival theory and intercultural communication theory in the context of the eMzantsi Carnival, an event that was initiated to assist integration between the culturally diverse communities of Cape Town's southern peninsula. Qualitative material gathered during six in-depth interviews with a culturally diverse range of people closely involved in the creation of the inaugural eMzantsi Carnival was examined against the backdrop of the larger eMzantsi Participatory Action Research project.
Open Access
The challenges faced by the only black team playing 6-down touch rugby at In2Touch : "I just saw all these white people and just thought Wah...what is going to happeb to us!"
(2008) Broster, Philip
These findings seriously question the idea that sport promotes egalitarianism. The data reveals that the legacy of apartheid still means that access to sports such as 6-down touch rugby are available only to areas with particular facilities and to those that can afford it. It is not available for all. Sport itself is not magic-wand through which people naturally find it possible to put behind them societal differences. Differences from greater society are mirrored in sport and this was evident from my data.
Open Access
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.
Open Access
Community healing in BonteLanga : a space for social healing and reconciliation
(2008) Ankersen, Imke Kristin; Steyn, Melissa
The South Africa of today remains a largely divided society in which people of racialised groups often still regard one another with suspicion. This is not only a case of black and white since racially inflected attitudes and perceptions are just as rife amongst segments of the coloured and black community. This holds particularly true where resources are as scarce as in the townships of Cape Town's Cape Flats. The 'Community Healing Project' facilitated by the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) uses dialogue and debate as main tools in a community-level reconciliation project between Langa, a black African township, and Bonteheuwel, a coloured township. Using the IJR's intetTention as a case study, this thesis deals with community dialogue as a means of correcting misconceptions and promoting attitudinal change. The aim of the study is to assess the impact of the intervention on some participants and its importance for the prevention of future conflict. The thesis draws on various disciplines to provide a theoretical framework for community dialogue interventions. Participant observation, indepth interviews as well as a critical discourse analysis of two IJR publications are then employed to identify and discuss some of the practical challenges as experienced in the implementation of the project. The analysis of the semi-structured in-depth interviews is centred on four distinct but closely interconnected themes. The analysis of the data suggests that despite some frustrations the community intervention has impacted significantly on participants' lives and the relations between the two communities and the IJR's approach proves meaningful for the participants. Includes bibliographical references (pages 77-87).
Open Access
Emerging identities in contemporary South Africa : six individual identity narratives from central Cape Town high schools
(2008) Jones, Sarah; Meeran, Jean
This research is an interdisciplinary, qualitative study of youth identity in two coeducational secondary schools with diverse student populations, in central Cape Town. Combining sociological and psychological perspectives, it seeks to understand how young South Africans are making sense of their place in the world, and in the history of their country, through exploring the way in which identities are being constructed on the site of the individual. It seeks to identify what discursive and imaginative resources young South Africans are drawing upon in the construction of their identities, how the (racialised) discourses from the past are working through them, and how they are negotiating new ways-of-being. Discourse analysis was combined with narrative methods; the former determined the discursive environment in which the students are embedded, and the latter investigated how individuals are positioned within this environment, and how they interact with this positioning. Focus groups in the schools formed the first phase of the research, followed by intensive individual interviews with six key participants. In order to understand the complexity of identity processes, the identity narratives of six individuals are the main focus of this research. Narrative methods were used to interrogate actors' own meanings in the construction of their identities, and a principal concern was to explore how participants understood, and narrated, their own identities. The intersubjective, embodied, and imaginative construction of identities was incorporated into the research. What became apparent was the way in which racialised discourses continue to dominate the post-apartheid landscape. However, racial signifiers are becoming increasingly confused, and students are resisting the positions to which they are being called. These individuals are negotiating their way through complex fields of meaning to generate new identities and ways-of-belonging that subvert former categories.
Open Access
From Cradock, With Love: Affective Substantive Post -Apartheid Citizenship for Women of Colour
(2010) Elder, Emily; Steyn, Melissa
This qualitative case study examines conceptualizations of post-apartheid democratic citizenship. Drawing on in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted in July 2009 with twelve voting age women of colour in the small town of Cradock in the Eastern Cape, it demonstrates how traditional theorizations are inadequate for understanding the substantive citizenship some small town women desire, live, and demand. Though the research design began with a traditional definition that citizenship rests on the knowledge of and ability to engage with claiming rights findings demonstrated the failings, and challenged the sufficiency, of this approach. Listening closely to the voices of the women interviewed revealed the importance of emotion. Further, the ways that emotion emerged from these interviews illuminate an under-examined aspect of substantive citizenship: its affective dimensions. The affective issues that emerged were those of perceived elite indifference to the people, conflicted feelings about the post-apartheid state, racialized and gendered hatred and hate speech, and the women's hopes for an ideal public life based on love and respect. Working from a race-conscious, post-colonial, feminist lens, I argue that while a rights-based approach to citizenship is necessary, it cannot fully encompass the complexities of post-apartheid substantive citizenship, especially for small-town women of colour. Considering affect leads to a more meaningful theory of citizenship, one that must rest on a loving, political ethic.
Open Access
"Getting to the roots" : a critical examination into the social construction of hair amongst Coloured women living in Cape Town.
(2013) Richardson, Denisha; Pande, Amrita; Daitz, Emma
The purpose of this study is to explore how the social construction of head-hair impacts the lived experiences of a small group of 'Coloured' women living in Cape Town. In the first part, the dissertation argues that colonialism stigmatized the bodies of 'non-whites' as inferior; establishing racist, sexist, and classist perceptions of the human body in comparison to a 'white' imagery. The Apartheid regime in South Africa, in part, heightened these beliefs through social and structural means. All though not static, the influences of these racist ideologies remain prevalent in 21st century South African society and are prevailing in perceptions of hair. The thesis then reviews literature from a Euro-American context –concentrating on the 'black' American experience; to display the ways, in which straight and coarse hair textures are imbued with racist, sexist, and classist perceptions and meanings.
Open Access
A 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, Don
This 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.
Open Access
"I don't see colour" : teacher discourses of integration in a selection of desegregated schools in Cape Town
(2009) Davies, Claire Thandi; Steyn, Melissa
This thesis examines the discourses twenty three teachers in desegregated classrooms in Cape Town schools adopt toward integration and various constructions of difference. Discourse analysis reveals how the constructions of language, class and culture are being positioned as signifiers for difference, in place of race. Teachers tend either towards 'colour-consciousness 'or 'colour-blindness' in their discourses of race, and many white teachers demonstrate equality approaches toward different learners. Language as a difference is being used as a 'gate-keeper' to resist integration in schools. The construction of the past is problematic among some teachers, with the tendency to evade impacts the past still has on learners today.
Open Access
Intercultural learning and community mobilisation within eMzantsi
(2013) Gwatirisa, Ruvimbo Valerie; Steyn, Melissa
This dissertation is a study of intercultural learning and community mobilisation within eMzantsi, an organisation that seeks to bring together previously segregated communities in the Southern Peninsula, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa, through various artistic activities and programmes. The programmes all culminate in a Carnival, which has occurred annually since 2005. This dissertation seeks to show how, if at all, eMzantsi is serving as a site for intercultural learning within the communities and how, if at all, it is promoting community mobilisation. In order to conduct this study, I interviewed key leaders in the organisation. I also did a document review of the current thinking on intercultural communication research in South Africa, with reference to the Southern Peninsula in the Western Cape. The study deals with the perceptions that key participants in eMzantsi have of the communities they work with and the possibilities they foresee for mobilisation and intercultural learning. This is linked to their perceptions of South African identities. Intercultural communication was an all-encompassing theme that brought to the fore varied dynamics of culture, communication and power that in turn led to the different ways in which eMzantsi staff mobilised community based organisations. These core themes underlie the main findings of the project. The dissertation findings are discussed in several categories, based on the perceptions of black, coloured, and white communities in the Southern Peninsula. These categories include the positionality of the members being interviewed, the concept of intercultural learning, what draws people in to the project, who is excluded from the project, challenges that have been faced over the years, the successes of the programme, the importance of community support, and lastly, ideas and recommendations for the project with a special focus on intercultural learning. These different aspects of the dissertation reveal that there are differing dynamics in intercultural acceptance and engagement within the communities of the Southern Peninsula. The research also shows that there are different ways of learning culture, and that culture in itself, is not static.
Open Access
An investigation into the impact of diversity training on a community service organisation
(2006) Achen, Harriet; Steyn, Melissa
The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of diversity training in a Community Service Organisation in Cape Town. The impact of such training is gauged / measured by monitoring staff's perceptions towards training. A strategic sample of 31 staff was chosen, ranging across different race groups (White, Coloured, Indian and African), professional ranks (senior managers, middle managers and staff) and genders. The sample was taken exclusively from one section in the finance department (Revenue). The research methodology was qualitative, in that in-depth interviews, observation and document study was used. With the aid ofcomputer assisted software for qualitative data analysis (Nvivo), the analysis was conducted in three phases. The first phase entailed initial coding, the second phase. required focused coding and the final phase involved analytical writing. The results of this study indicated that participants had mixed perceptions about the training they had received. Many felt that the training had been an eye opener, that it had created acceptance amongst staff and that it had enlightened them about diversity issues. A good number of the participants felt that the training had its own weaknessesand that there were no visible results from the training. More specifically, the findings indicated that a major constraint of the training was, amongst others, the lack of follow up and feedback.From the responses of the participants, the researcher concluded while largely ambivalent, that the training had made a positive impact on the organisation to some extent and the majority of staff interviewed did seem to support the training and were hopeful that it would continue to bring about positive changes in the organisation. However, these findings were only applicable to the department and section of the organisation where the study was done; further research would need to be done on the other departments and sections to determine their responses. In general, the findings of this study showed no specific pattern / similarities with previous studies, althoughthere were some similarities, notably of gender playing a role in influencing the training. The main issues in the recommendations relate to the need for further research on the impact of diversity training in Comm Service.
Open Access
Lives in the informal art trade : an ethnographic case study of Maputo, Mozambique
(2007) Southgate, Colin Scott; Steyn, Melissa
This minor dissertation investigates the lives and businesses of informal artists and vendors in Maputo, Mozambique. The research points to a swell in numbers of artisans in Maputo over the past dozen years. Tourism has developed in Mozambique; expanding the clientele for Maputo's informal artisans. The increase of artisans has had a few negative effects including a drop in prices due to competition and a compromise in artistic quality. The seven interviewees explain the reality of the informal art business as one of subsistence.
Open Access
'The names we give' : narratives of identity and positioning of the 'helpers' in Pofadder
(2012) Arogundade, Emma; Steyn, Melissa
This thesis examines the subjective constructions of identity in the narratives of 'helpers' in the small town of Pofadder in the Northern Cape. It focuses on the impact of historical narratives on their intersectional positioning. This was part of a broader, national, Small Towns and Rural Transformation Research Project. The research trip took place over a two week period in July 2010, and interview subjects were identified through a combination of purposive and snowball sampling to best represent the variety of demographics and positionalities in the town.
Open Access
Of butter knives, juice boxes, and turning points : accounts of domestic violence on two sides of the Atlantic
(2011) Kenney, Greta; Steyn, Melissa
This qualitative comparative analysis examines the experience of being in an abusive relationship as well as of leaving it from the perspective of domestic violence survivors and their service providers. This work demonstrates the inadequacies of analysing domestic violence as solely an individual problem or merely as a structural issue. Instead, I argue for a comprehensive approach to understanding women’s experiences with intimate family abuse by acknowledging the complexities of how external factors explicitly inform a person’s internal process when navigating an abusive relationship.
Open Access
"Our approach is feminist" : feminist action transcending feminist narratives at Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust
(2010) Goredema, Rumbidzai Theresa; Steyn, Melissa
Discourses of division have seeped into the way the feminist movement thinks about feminist activism. Broadly, the initial research problem was to find out what the discord in feminist theory meant for feminist action. Because sexual violence is one of the key issues South African feminists seek to address, Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust was used as a case study. Formed in 1976, it provides support for rape survivors and runs public education programmes on issues around gender-based violence. Using Helene Joffe's model of cross-cultural analysis, the responses revealed that Rape Crisis' identity functions by "othering" and projecting perceived risk onto "other" groups: the criminal justice system, men, and feminism itself.
Open Access
Rural transformation? Race and space in Prince Albert, South Africa
(2009) McEwen, Haley; Steyn, Melissa
This critical ethnographic study is concerned with dynamics of race and space in Prince Albert, a rural South African town. Proceeding in the wake of previous studies which have identified mechanisms of informal segregation in urban, post-apartheid contexts, this study aims to explore the ways in which transformation, as a national imperative to democratize South Africa‘s economic, political, and social landscape, is taking shape in small rural towns. It is found that fifteen years after the end of apartheid, Prince Albert’s coloured and white residents remains spatially segregated. It is argued here that this persistent segregation and inequality has become further entrenched by changes which have occurred upon the arrival of white middle class English speaking South Africans during the past fifteen years. Specifically, in advocating for the protection of Prince Albert’s ‘heritage value’ and concomitant development of the tourism industry, these new residents exert a symbolic control of space which centers their own interests and identities and ultimately re-assigns coloured residents a peripheral, disenfranchised socio-economic status.
Open Access
'There are thorns in the forest': individuality, social context and reflection in diversity work
(2012) Attfield, Nicola; Steyn, Melissa
This thesis explores the attitudes and approaches of a group of South African diversity practitioners on the connection between individual, body and society in their work.
Open Access
Transplant anxieties : discourses about bone marrow
(2008) Avera, Emily; Levine, Susan
This minor dissertation examines the various discourses in the Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) network in South Africa. The organisations in the network which were observed using participant observation were the South African Bone Marrow Registry and the Sunflower Fund to complement this, the researcher interviewed staff members at these organisations as well as at a public hospital haematology unit in the Cape Town area that conducts BMT. Additionally patients, donors, and their family members were interviewed. Some media related to the BMT network was also analysed. Informed heavily by Troy Duster's work on genetic and social feedback loops, it was found that the discourses reflect a complex interweaving of biological materiality, ethnicity, culture, mortality, health resource rationing, South African nationhood, and the limits of bodily integrity. There is extensive discussion of how the BMT discourses demonstrate the necessity of engagement with several issues: the hybridity of expert and lay intercultural communication, health inequalities, human rights, and the prioritisation of first and third world medicine, the meanings of race, culture, ethnicity, and nationhood in a diverse South Africa, conceptions of donor shortage, and the imperative of saving lives through medical practise.
Open Access
'Travelling Tales' : American (re)constructions of South Africa and Africa through study abroad in Cape Town
(2009) Hutchinson Tsekwa, Jennifer; Steyn, Melissa; Erasmus, Zimitri
Postcolonial theory has been critiqued for essentializing the North and being too theoretical. Yet it has also been described as essential for the ongoing decolonization of our world. Scholars in a range of disciplines have therefore suggested the need to 'examine specific practices and devises in particular times and places' in order to expose and challenge the ways that certain forms of discourse function to maintain imperialist interests and misrepresentations of Africa in the 'West.' To these ends, this study looks at the construction of early European/American travelers' tales and the experience of study abroad in South Africa as two particular practices that are relevant to the concerns of postcolonialism. While much has been written about each of these phenomena on their own, little has been done to bring them into a conversation with each other. To fill this gap, this dissertation draws on narrative analysis, symbolic convergence theory, discourse analysis and postcolonial theory to explore the dominant narratives that emerge in the pre-trip, embodied trip and post-trip tellings of both types of tales. In order to discover the meaning-making processes of these narratives, qualitative methods were used. Firstly, an extensive literature review was undertaken of early travelers' tales (written between 1600 and 1900), images of Africa in the United States, travel and tourism theory and study abroad literature. Eight focus groups and six one-on-one interviews were then conducted with a total of 36 American students, who were either directly enrolled at the University of Cape Town or participants in the School for International Training (SIT) in Cape Town. These interviews were then followed up with email correspondence once the students had returned home. This study found that while study abroad narratives have enormous potential to challenge the negative and inaccurate stereotypes about Africa in the United States, many strains still exist that mirror the rhetoric of early travelers' tales and promote notions of Africa as 'wild', 'dangerous' and 'underdeveloped' and South Africa as the 'light' version of Africa. However, in contrast to the writers of early travelers' tales, the students who participated in this study demonstrated many more instances of critical self-reflection and desire for change.