“She is my sister although she’s got factory faults”: a psychosocial study of Xhosa women’s sister-sister relationships

Moifo, Hunadi Senkoane

Title: “She is my sister although she’s got factory faults”: a psychosocial study of Xhosa women’s sister-sister relationships
Creator: Moifo, Hunadi Senkoane
Subject: Xhosa (African people) -- Rites and ceremonies
Subject: Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs
Subject: Sisters -- South Africa -- Case studies
Subject: Xhosa (African people) -- Psychology
Subject: Women, Black -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Psychology
Subject: Women, Black -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Case studies
Date Issued: 2017
Date: 2017
Type: Thesis
Type: Masters
Type: MA
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/4443
Identifier: vital:20671
Description: The current study examines the constructions that Black, Xhosa women from the working class and in middle adulthood draw on to make meaning of their sister-sister relationships. In addition to this, it aims to uncover their motivations for investing in these meanings. It makes use of a psychosocial theoretical framework that draws on discursive psychology and psychoanalysis. Discursive psychology is used to analyse the constructions the participants used to make meaning of their relationship, while psychoanalysis is used to interpret their investments in these constructions. Six participants were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. The findings emphasise the psychosocial nature of the participants’ sisterly relationships, as caught between ‘inner’ world of feelings and emotions and the ‘outer’ world of social practices and expectations. Their narratives pointed to the obligatory nature of the sister-sister relationship, which drives participants to downplay the hatred or dislike that is present in their relationship and to emphasise traditional scripts of helping each other, promoting solidarity amongst sisters and other women. The analysis highlights the ways in which the participants negotiate and express their gender roles through sistering, reinforcing and challenging the traditional view of femininity and as a result providing for multiple femininities. In addition to these, the findings show that women may choose specific narratives to construct their sister-sister relationships as they allow them to feel safe and in control of their lives. Using psychoanalysis alongside discursive psychology enables the findings to illustrate how the participants invest in different constructions of their relationship in ways that are influenced by their values and life histories.
Format: 104 leaves
Format: pdf
Publisher: Rhodes University
Publisher: Faculty of Humanities, Psychology
Language: English
Rights: Moifo, Hunadi Senkoane

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