A critical re-appraisal of vernacularisation in the emergence and conceptualisation of community bylaws on child marriage and other harmful practices in rural Malawi

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dc.contributor.advisorChirwa Danwood
dc.contributor.advisorSmythe, Dee
dc.contributor.authorKachika, Tinyade
dc.date.accessioned2020-12-30T10:20:11Z
dc.date.available2020-12-30T10:20:11Z
dc.date.issued2020
dc.description.abstractThe thesis addresses the question: how have international human rights norms for protecting women and girls from harmful practices influenced and shaped the emergence and conceptualisation of community bylaws for addressing child marriage and other harmful practices affecting women in rural Malawi? 'Community bylaws' is a label for Chief-led community 'rules' aimed at combating harmful practices, which mostly affect women and girls. This thesis contributes to the theoretical discourse on norm diffusion by critically assessing and appraising the way in which scholars have conceptualised how international human rights norms are internalised, and, particularly, how vernacularisation operates, through a case study of the community bylaws. Drawing from qualitative empirical data following a study conducted in four districts covering the three regions of Malawi, the study focused on the territories of four Senior Chiefs. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with Senior Chiefs and government officials, NGOs, and donors; and through focus group discussions with Group Village Heads, Village Heads, groups that formulated or monitor the implementation of community bylaws, and women living under these bylaws. The thesis shows that while scholars have sought to explain how international human rights norms are appropriated in local communities using the concept of vernacularisation, existing conceptualisations do not adequately represent what is happening with the community bylaws phenomenon. Vernacularisation is a unicameral concept that sees human rights ideas and programmes as being purposefully introduced in local communities by epistemic outsiders. Based on empirical data, this thesis argues that the concept of 'horizontal vernacularisation' better describes the processes occurring in respect of community bylaws in Malawi. This concept has regard to vernacularisation as a bicameral act, whereby the local can also trigger vernacularisation, whether knowingly or not. Thus, horizontal vernacularisation acknowledges that human rights appropriation and translation through community bylaws unfolds within a predominantly local-local dialogue, and is not usually structured, since the bylaws sprout in a continuum of intuitive, interlocking, convoluted, and iterative processes. As such, this thesis contributes to a deeper understanding of community bylaws in rural and cultural settings, and their role in reconceptualising the internalisation of international human rights norms for protecting women and girls from harmful practices.
dc.identifier.apacitationKachika, T. (2020). <i>A critical re-appraisal of vernacularisation in the emergence and conceptualisation of community bylaws on child marriage and other harmful practices in rural Malawi</i>. (Doctoral Thesis). University of Cape Town. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32476en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationKachika, Tinyade. <i>"A critical re-appraisal of vernacularisation in the emergence and conceptualisation of community bylaws on child marriage and other harmful practices in rural Malawi."</i> Doctoral Thesis., University of Cape Town, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32476en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationKachika, T. 2020. A critical re-appraisal of vernacularisation in the emergence and conceptualisation of community bylaws on child marriage and other harmful practices in rural Malawi. Doctoral Thesis. University of Cape Town. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32476en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Doctoral Thesis AU - Kachika, Tinyade AB - The thesis addresses the question: how have international human rights norms for protecting women and girls from harmful practices influenced and shaped the emergence and conceptualisation of community bylaws for addressing child marriage and other harmful practices affecting women in rural Malawi? 'Community bylaws' is a label for Chief-led community 'rules' aimed at combating harmful practices, which mostly affect women and girls. This thesis contributes to the theoretical discourse on norm diffusion by critically assessing and appraising the way in which scholars have conceptualised how international human rights norms are internalised, and, particularly, how vernacularisation operates, through a case study of the community bylaws. Drawing from qualitative empirical data following a study conducted in four districts covering the three regions of Malawi, the study focused on the territories of four Senior Chiefs. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with Senior Chiefs and government officials, NGOs, and donors; and through focus group discussions with Group Village Heads, Village Heads, groups that formulated or monitor the implementation of community bylaws, and women living under these bylaws. The thesis shows that while scholars have sought to explain how international human rights norms are appropriated in local communities using the concept of vernacularisation, existing conceptualisations do not adequately represent what is happening with the community bylaws phenomenon. Vernacularisation is a unicameral concept that sees human rights ideas and programmes as being purposefully introduced in local communities by epistemic outsiders. Based on empirical data, this thesis argues that the concept of 'horizontal vernacularisation' better describes the processes occurring in respect of community bylaws in Malawi. This concept has regard to vernacularisation as a bicameral act, whereby the local can also trigger vernacularisation, whether knowingly or not. Thus, horizontal vernacularisation acknowledges that human rights appropriation and translation through community bylaws unfolds within a predominantly local-local dialogue, and is not usually structured, since the bylaws sprout in a continuum of intuitive, interlocking, convoluted, and iterative processes. As such, this thesis contributes to a deeper understanding of community bylaws in rural and cultural settings, and their role in reconceptualising the internalisation of international human rights norms for protecting women and girls from harmful practices. DA - 2020 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PY - 2020 T1 - A critical re-appraisal of vernacularisation in the emergence and conceptualisation of community bylaws on child marriage and other harmful practices in rural Malawi TI - A critical re-appraisal of vernacularisation in the emergence and conceptualisation of community bylaws on child marriage and other harmful practices in rural Malawi UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32476 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/32476
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationKachika T. A critical re-appraisal of vernacularisation in the emergence and conceptualisation of community bylaws on child marriage and other harmful practices in rural Malawi. [Doctoral Thesis]. University of Cape Town, 2020 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32476en_ZA
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherUniversity of Cape Town
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Public Law
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Law
dc.subject.otherPublic Law
dc.titleA critical re-appraisal of vernacularisation in the emergence and conceptualisation of community bylaws on child marriage and other harmful practices in rural Malawi
dc.typeDoctoral Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoral
dc.type.qualificationnamePhD
uct.type.publicationResearch
uct.type.resourceDoctoral Thesis
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