Interrogating the 'crisis of fatherhood' : discursive constructions of fathers amongst peri-urban Xhosa-speaking adolescents

Malherbe, Nick

Interrogating the 'crisis of fatherhood' : discursive constructions of fathers amongst peri-urban Xhosa-speaking adolescents

Master Thesis

2015

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Department of Psychology

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Abstract

Mass media as well as academic literature frequently refer to the high prevalence of paternal non-residence in South Africa as a 'crisis of fatherhood'. To interrogate this apparent 'crisis', this study explored how Xhosa-speaking adolescents - whose voices have been predominantly ignored in fathering literature - discursively construct fathers and fathering. Using Photovoice methodology, semi-structured photo-elicitation interviews were conducted with 17 male and female adolescents. These interviews explored fathering practices, the duty of the father, and the different kinds of fathers or fathering forms available in their community. The interviews were then analysed through discourse analysis. It was found that participants drew on eight interpretive repertoires, namely: Fatherhood as a Choice, Gendered Parenting, Maternalism as Natural Parenting, Fragmented Fatherhood, Inactive Fathering, Provider and Childrearer, Essential Father Versus the Important Father, and Collective Enterprise of Fathering. What emerged from the data was a fragmented, agentic conceptualisation of the father, who was expected to embody both 'new' and traditional parenting to varying degrees. Fathering, as well as mothering, was constructed as being performed along gendered lines, with 'good fathering' taking on an overtly active form. The discourse established the father as a secondary parent to the mother, and although biological fathering was prized over social fathering, the community father - a particular kind of social father who channels paternal energy into community concerns - was valued in a similar manner to the 'essential' or biological father. With little or vague rationalisation given to the biological father's 'specialness', the results of this study seem to indicate that the crisis of fathering is a product of a hyper-idealistic, gendered, classist conceptualisation of the nuclear family as an essential family form. The notion of the nuclear family as normative and desirable acts to limit appreciated forms of fathering to material provision, and may contribute to children feeling that they do not have a father, despite receiving adequate social fathering. Implications of these findings for future research, and for family intervention programmes in the South African context, are discussed.

Description

Includes bibliographical references

Keywords

Psychology

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