Transforming 'selves': a narrative analysis of South African shelter residents' stories of leaving abusive heterosexual relationships

Van Schalkwyk, Samantha

Transforming 'selves': a narrative analysis of South African shelter residents' stories of leaving abusive heterosexual relationships

Thesis / Dissertation

2008

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Department of Psychology

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Abstract

Woman abuse is a pervasive social problem in South Africa. There is a severe lack of South African research that explores women's experiences ofleaving abusive relationships, especially within the context of women's shelters. This study looks at the process of disengaging from abusive relationships. It has examined women's experiences of leaving within the context of these shelters. In-depth interviews were conducted with 16 women shelter residents. The data was analysed using a feminist narrative approach which looked at the content of the women's stories of leaving. The findings showed that the women's narratives fluctuated between the past, the present, and the future. The women's narratives of the "past" involved a process ofreflecting back on the abusive relationship and their decisions to leave. The women constructed their decision to leave as being a result of the managing of their own anger and the recognition of the danger that the abuse posed. They also identified the unequal power dynamics of the abusive situation and identified contradictions of 'self that arose as a result of the abuse. In their narratives of the present the women's stories were centered on themes of post-separation abuse in which they constructed themselves as 'vulnerable victims'. The women's narratives also indicate a shift in constructions of self and partner as well as the development of a 'critical self as they began to question their own abuse as well as the abuse of women in general. In their narratives the women drew on hegemonic discourses of femininity but also at certain times resisted these discourses. Finally, in their narratives of the future the women drew on discourses provided by the shelter in their constructions of self as powerful agents. They also took on a helper identity as they describe their dreams and ambition to take an active stance in the fight against woman abuse.