Negotiating spaces, constructing identities and consuming symbolic resources: examining the complex interplay between identity formation, context and media consumption amongst black South African students at Rhodes University
- Authors: Willetts, Luke
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Mass media -- Psychological aspects -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Mass media -- Social aspects -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Mass media -- Sociological aspects -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Mass media and culture -- South Africa , Mass media and race relations -- South Africa , Social movements -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Student movements -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Male college students -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Rhodes University -- Students -- Attitudes
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/95207 , vital:31127
- Description: This thesis has looked at the complex interplay between media consumption and identity formation amongst a group of black South African male students within the context of a racially homogenous communal viewing area located on the Rhodes University campus during the #FMF protests in 2016. Using qualitative research methods the study concluded that the group context of communal viewing helped the students structure and make sense of their daily lives. They actively divorced themselves from the main student populace in an attempt to escape lived experiences of a repressive institutional culture expressed through the university’s monolingual language policies, aesthetics and course material. These students embodied the characteristics of a diasporic community characterised by displacement, dispersal and the continuous re-articulation of differences across contradictory social, cultural and economic contexts. They grappled with an alienating environment by creating a safe space for cultural reproduction aided by the communal consumption of local television programmes. Preferences for local content broadcast in African languages were shaped by a linguistic marginalisation experienced on the Rhodes campus. The politicisation of the context through #FMF in turn politicised the students’ subjectivities leading to a need to be informed of the movement’s progression through evening news broadcasts. Discussions around campus life were dominated by #FMF and the collective experiences of marginalisation in and from the university space. Communal viewing of local television shows allowed this group of students to transcend decades of essentialised African ethnic divisions bringing forward a group identity premised on a lived hegemony signified by blackness.
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- Date Issued: 2019
The experiences of health service providers working with children with physical disabilities and their caregivers in the Eastern Cape
- Authors: Mathaba, Yollandah
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Children with disabilities -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Caregivers -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Case studies , Caregivers -- Psychology , Children with disabilities -- Care
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76299 , vital:30545
- Description: The prevalence of childhood disability in South Africa is significant. In an attempt to meet the constitutional rights of children with disabilities, there are a variety of services available for children with disabilities. These services are aimed at rehabilitating children with disabilities and integrating them in society. Amongst such services are health services. Due to the nature of some childhood disabilities, it is recommended that they should be seen by a multidisciplinary team. While the field of childhood disability has been researched extensively. Limited research has been conducted on the experiences of health service providers working with children with disabilities and their caregivers. The current study explored the experiences of health service providers working with children with disabilities and their caregivers in the Eastern Cape. To achieve this aim, the study employed Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Five participants were recruited using purposive and snowball sampling methods. Semi-structured interviews were used to allow participants to freely share their experiences of working with children with disabilities and their caregivers. The interviews were audio recorded and transcribed for analysis purpose. The analysis process generated five master themes namely: Positive experiences of their work; negative experiences of their work; perception of their role as changing over time; managing challenges in their work; and experiences of a service learning programme as complementary to their work. The findings of the study highlighted both the positive experiences and the negative experiences of their work. On the one hand, the participants reported positive affect and that they found their work meaningful. They also reported a sense of feeling supported by fellow colleagues and enjoying their work at the clinics. On the other hand, the participants reported negative affect in relation to their wok difficulties such as feelings of frustration, feelings of being unappreciated by management and finding the work distressing. The participants reported that professional and emotional growth in conjunction with perspective taking contributed to developing better coping mechanisms. A service learning programme offered in the community was experienced as a good contribution to the work done at the clinics and distinguished as addressing the emotional needs of the caregivers which cannot be addressed at the clinics. The findings of the study supports and expands the literature on the experiences of health service providers working with children with disabilities in South Africa.
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- Date Issued: 2019