Masters Degrees (Sociology)
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Browsing Masters Degrees (Sociology) by Author "De Wet, Katinka"
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Item Open Access Breast cancer and the medical encounter: experiences, perceptions, negotiations and transformations of identity and feminity(University of the Free State, 2013-07) Heggenstaller, Alessandra Kim; De Wet, Katinka; Coetzee, Jan K.English: It is commonly thought that breast cancer, like many other cancers, is an illness equivalent to a death sentence. Though this may be true in some cases, the majority of women diagnosed with breast cancer do survive this illness. Breast cancer is a growing illness and consequently is continuing to affect women worldwide, including in developing countries like South Africa. In this dissertation, I look at how eight middle-class South African women experience their breast cancer diagnosis and the subsequent treatment. I aim to understand how each participant re-negotiates and transforms her self-perception, her “identity” and issues around femininity. I am also interested in seeing how the prolonged and intense medical encounter is experienced, as well as how this encounter influences the individual in her renegotiation and transformation of “identity” and femininity. Social constructivist, social existentialist, and phenomenological approaches are combined to highlight the rich experiences of the collected narratives. These narratives are aimed at gaining a deeper insight into what a breast cancer diagnosis and its concomitant treatment entail. The main method for collecting the experiences of the research participants is in-depth interviews. The interview schedules were designed to prompt the individual to expand on relevant topics for the study. When working through a topic, most participants broadened their narratives by going deeper into their personal experiences and unique understanding by revealing more personal thoughts of their breast cancer journey. This in turn, led the narrative analysis to produce themes such as the role of religion, femininity and gender, surviving and support, maintaining normality and the medical experience. It is also evident that these eight women have access to state-of-the-art medical treatment, given their adherence to private medical insurance schemes. This reflects a very specific experience, very similar to accounts in existing literature of women in firstworld countries who undergo a similar diagnosis and treatment. Each research participant elaborates on the self-understanding of her illness which reflects either an optimistic or pessimistic attitude in as far as her self-concept and self-image is concerned. The participants’ self-understanding and attitude (optimistic or pessimistic) are found to be closely linked to the level of support that they have access to, as well as to their religious beliefs, outlooks and understandings. This is reflected in how the illness is accepted and also in their current outlook towards future prospects. This study aims at humanising the illness of breast cancer through listening to the personal accounts of individuals who have had to experience the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. Within these personal illness narratives, I aim to expand our understanding of this illness and the experience of those who were diagnosed and treated for it.Item Open Access The lived experiences of pregnant women on antiretroviral treatment (Free State Province, South Africa)(University of the Free State, 2017-06) Machere, Mosilo Mina; De Wet, KatinkaThe universal access of antiretroviral treatment (ART) in South Africa has bent the trajectory of the HIV epidemic. The lifelong HIV treatment has moved the disease from a terminal to a chronic and manageable disease. The redefinition has brought hope and normality to many people living with HIV. For HIV-positive women, the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) prophylaxis has influenced their intentions to bear children along with issues related to their reproductive options and prospects. Studies on the influence of HIV on pregnancy have largely been about the baby with limited focus on the lived experiences and perceptions of the expecting mothers. Conceptualising the lived realities of HIV-positive women during pregnancy and motherhood in the context of ART requires a deeper understanding of their experiences. Guided by both descriptive and interpretive lenses of phenomenology, this research approach allowed a more in-depth look into this phenomenon, thereby capturing the complexity of issues women faced from their points of view. The study aimed to explore the experience of pregnancy from the perspective of HIV-positive women who are on ART. It sought to discover the meanings embedded in their everyday lives. This included, among other things, appreciating what these women regarded as noteworthy in relation to their experiences and learning about the impact that the diagnosis of HIV, and its lifelong treatment had on their lives, both as patients and as care-givers. The objective of the study was thus to understand the experiences of HIV-positive women who were on ART, both their own embodied experiences as well as their experiences in relation to others; how they perceive the chronic character of HIV; and moreover to explore how they made sense of their experiences of pregnancy and motherhood. Eight Sesotho speaking participants from the Free State province, South Africa, were recruited. A purposive sampling method was used as only women who were pregnant and on ART were interviewed. The narratives of the lived realities were elicited through in-depth interviews. The face-to-face interviews were digitally recorded and guided by an interview schedule to allow flexibility and engage participants in dialogue while they were narrating their experiences. The data was analysed in the context of HIV diagnosis, pregnancy and ART. This was to elicit what it meant for women to contemplate pregnancy in a context of ubiquitous HIV and new hope in the form of ART; both available for them and their babies. The systematic analysis provided a greater understanding of factors influencing the taken-for-granted experiences of HIV-positive women on ART during pregnancy and motherhood. The content analysis of qualitative data revealed two broad themes related to lived realities of pregnancy on the one hand, and motherhood on the other in the context of ART. Narrating their experiences during pregnancy, sub-themes that emerged were more inclined to point towards the protection of the unborn baby and developing coping mechanisms; while during motherhood there was a shift from the babies‟ to the mothers‟ well-being and their life prospects. Considering the duration of being on ART and the number of pregnancies they have had, the narratives provided a platform to track how experiences such as baby feeding practices, and coping with stigma and disclosure have ameliorated over time. This indicates how the landscape in which HIV-positive women experience pregnancy and motherhood has changed rather dramatically. The zeal for life displayed by these women bears testimony that HIV diagnosis no longer means that the prospect of death is the sole outlook on their lives and on the lives of their children.Item Open Access Women and their perception of food and food consumption relative to their self-image and identity (Bloemfontein, South Africa)(University of the Free State, 2017-06) Campbell, Chesney Lu-Anne; De Wet, KatinkaWithin this thesis, the narratives of women are explored in terms of their perceptions of food and food consumption and its relation to their self-image and identities. Within our current societies dominated by capitalism and the never-ending cycle of consumerism, the health and fitness industry have exploded as the issue of health linked to notions of well-being and perfecting one’s self-image is being framed as the responsibility of the individual. Women tend to have a negotiating relationship with food and their bodies, and are constantly thinking what effect the food they consume will have on their overall image. As women, they often also have to balance all the different roles they fill in life, combined with the need to keep in shape and to constantly enhance their physical appearance. There is a wide variety of external forms of pressure (from significant others and from the barrage of images and information disseminated on different forms of media outlets) that all play a role in the relationship the participants have with food and their bodies. This study used a social constructivism approach and specifically focused on theories such as phenomenology, feminism and the sociology of the body and of food. This study used the narrative inquiry to explore the seemingly mundane stories emanating from eight women from a middle-class background and their relationships with food. The participants were recruited using a snowball-sampling technique. The focus was purposefully on women with a) an affinity to healthy living as they all regularly exercise, and b) women with the financial means to be able to largely afford their lifestyle choices. Through their narratives a theme linked to notions of “imprisonment” emerged as food and exercise seem to often have an effect of control, routine and restriction on their day-to-day living. The participants are leading routined lives in which for some, every hour of the day is scheduled for a specific activity. The tasks of buying, preparing and consuming food are all controlled as this ability provides some of the participants with a sense of empowerment in a fast-paced world. The study also revealed how the women live under constant self-surveillance, another notion reminiscent of incarceration that gained popularity through its use by Michel Foucault with his development of the concept of the Panopticon. The participants believe that external sources pressurise them and are “watching” over them to make sure that they live up to the standard set by society in terms of healthy eating and exercising. They constantly state within their narratives that they have to eat well and look good for themselves. They have largely internalised these external pressures they experience and therefore believe that they have to life according to the constantly evolving rules governed by the health and fitness industry in order to not to bear the burden of being “fat shamed”. The study revealed some contradictions within the narratives of some participants. They express a desire to be autonomous individuals who do not conform to the standards set by the consumer society in terms of their lifestyle choices and the ever-evasive “ideal body” yet live a life filled with controlled eating behaviour and experience feelings of guilt whenever their eating “strays” from what is considered as healthy and acceptable. This type of behaviour has often been socialised into the participants’ lives through the influence of their mothers and they in turn inevitably also influence the eating habits of their own children. The research project shows how food and notions of healthy living are everything but mundane and contain a wealth of complexity and sociological meaning.Item Open Access Women’s narratives of everyday precarity in the Mangaung township (Bloemfontein, South Africa)(University of the Free State, 2015-02) Masenya, Dimakatso Veronica; De Wet, Katinka; Coetzee, Jan K.English: Twenty years into South Africa’s new dispensation, poverty and unemployment remain a reality. Perpetuated by poor service delivery, the limited economic opportunities continue to disproportionately affect and marginalise the lower socioeconomic classes and those areas where they reside. “Black” African women, in particular those with minimal schooling (unskilled and semi-skilled), suffer most from these social illsand yet many are able to survive under precarious living conditions. The majority of “Black” African women are characterised by oppression, discrimination and exploitation, especially those who are unskilled and semi-skilled and who also had limited educational opportunities. In addition, these women inherit the weakened family structures created and caused to a great extent by years of apartheid rule where the presence and contributions of male members were slowly eroded by the migrant labour system and the creation of artificial areas where “Black” Africans had to reside and where a variety of laws undermined the development of the “Black” African population. Up until today, most “Black” African women are completely unemployed and many are dependent on social grants and informal employment or hand-outs to secure a living. Most of these women find themselves fulfilling multiple roles of both the “breadwinner” and “managers” of their households given the absence of their children’s fathers in their lives. Using a narrative inquiry, this research report delves into the precarious life-worlds of African women from the Mangaung township in Bloemfontein. It explores how these womensurvive with their limited and erratic sources of income which is often not sufficient to sustain all the dependents. It further demonstrates how these women cope and manage the sometimes strenuous and challenging execution of multiple roles. Through their narratives of everyday life experiences, the philosophy of Ubuntu/Botho, and its value and importance is brought to the fore. Their ability to cope and survive in their unpredictable and insecure reality is through the reciprocal help from individuals who form part of their social support. Hope and faith resonate in the lives of these women as they continue to aspire and dream of their escape and that of their children from this precarious reality. Similarly doubt and fear of the unknown lingers on. Death and deprivation are constant realities of this precarious living.