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Browsing Sociology by Author "Coetzee, Jan K."
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Item Open Access The aging experiences of English speaking older white woman in central South Africa(University of the Free State, 2014-01) Hellerle, Ferdinand; Elliker, Florian; Coetzee, Jan K.English: The aim of this study was to explore the aging experiences of older white English speaking women in central South Africa. The initial motivation for this study came from a conversation I had with my study supervisor and mentor regarding the disparity between the manner in which older people were portrayed in society and the way in which they view their own aging experiences. Six women, aged 65 years and older, within the Bloemfontein area (the capital of the Free State Province in South Africa) were recruited to take part in this study. A qualitative research approach is used to explore the stories the women shared of their aging experiences in in-depth interviews. An interpretive sociological approach, which incorporates phenomenology, existential sociology, and reflexive sociology, is chosen for the purpose of this study. The narrative accounts of their stories are constructed in terms of themes that emerged, linking it with the literature. Role changes during their life course are found to influence who they have become. The dissertation starts off by introducing aging as a phenomenon before reviewing the concept of aging and components such as, society’s view of aging, retirement, social relationships, living arrangements and spirituality. Identity and the changing roles during the life course of a women is conceptualized as means of further understanding of the aging process before introducing the ontological and epistemological foundation on which the investigative process is based. The narratives of the older women in the study portray a holistic picture of aging. Contrary to older women being portrayed as frail, dependent individuals in society, the analysis reveals that they view aging as a positive process. They have clear ideas and expectations of what they want from life. It affords them the freedom to utilize their time in a manner that pleases them without having the responsibility of having to take a spouse into consideration, or to care for children. Despite living on a marginal financial budget, they construct themselves as women having close links with family and friends, being active members in their churches and societies, and as independent women who enjoy the freedom of living life on their own terms and within their means. Being older brings with it, for them, confidence, selfawareness, and the freedom to make their own choices.Item Open Access Books & bones & other things(SUN MeDIA Bloemfontein (SUN PReSS imprint), 2018-07) Coetzee, Jan K.Books tell stories about our lifeworld. In this book Jan Coetzee invites us to critically inquire into the aims, the content, and the context of the stories contained in a collection of old books from an old world. Without opening these old texts and without converting the original print on the pages to meaning and message, Coetzee brings the books into a dialogue with each other. Together with accompanying sculpted and/or found objects these books take on a new, broader function. By gathering them in one volume they attain a different character and tell us more than what the individual books ever could.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 Growing old with HIV: narratives of women in Manicaland Zimbabwe(University of the Free State, 2016-12) Chikonzo, Ndakaitei; Coetzee, Jan K.; Rau, AstaEnglish: In this study, research participants’ narratives provide knowledge and a better understanding of the nature of life of women who are living and growing old with HIV. I use phenomenology as a principal lens to study the research participants’ lived experiences, social realities, existential being, and gendered lives. Phenomenological assumptions inform us that experiences are subjectively (personally), intersubjectively (interpersonally) and objectively (culturally and historically) impacted upon by different realities that exist in society. This study is interpretive — research participants share their unique perspectives. As a result, I adopt a qualitative approach to obtain the research participants’ first-hand narratives about their life stories. Audio-recorded, semi-structured and in-depth interviews with eight purposively-selected women, aged fifty to sixty-five years and living in the Manicaland Province of Zimbabwe, were conducted. Informed consent from the participants was obtained after approval to conduct the research by the Medical Research Council of Zimbabwe and the Ethical Committee of the University of the Free State’s Faculty of the Humanities. A thematic data analysis approach was used to make sense of the data gathered. The process yielded various themes and eventually produced four major over-arching themes, which are pre-diagnosis experiences, post-diagnosis experiences, adapting and adjusting to the condition, and life in the future. These phases are congruent with the notion that lived experiences are temporal, organised and inform each other. In addition, the analyses are also organised with reference to the observations that people who suffer from chronic conditions initially undergo a phase of inner struggle with regard to the reality of living with that condition, but come to terms with that reality over time and undertake to live positively with it. The ordinary everyday life experiences are mainly intersubjective, with people aligning their thoughts, judgements and actions with the common and shared knowledge and assumptions that construct and order life in that society. As noted in the findings, the research participants were initially not knowledgeable, some were fatalistic of the existence of HIV in their lives and others took long to implement proper courses of action to manage their condition. Consequently, their perspectives on HIV were mainly guided by the socially constructed assumptions and misconceptions about HIV existing in their communities. Some report that they encountered great difficulties during the disclosure of their HIV-positive status to those they deemed fit or trusted. Later on, proper support and age-influenced maturity assisted the research participants to acquire competencies that enabled them to deal with HIV in a positive way. They eventually adjusted and adapted well as they made efforts to understand, accept and manage their condition in a way that facilitates the re(creation) of the social order. The development of functional new meanings, such as a positive outlook on life, positive perception of self and personal strength, result in a positive outlook of the future, where some research participants hope for an HIV cure in their lifetime. Others, less ambitiously, hope to get well enough to return to their old activities such as engaging in cross-border businesses. They also acquired the ability to assess the impact of societal norms, beliefs and practices on their condition and discern what works for them, rather than acting blindly according to what is socially-accepted. Nevertheless, despite these positives, the research participants still have concerns about what lies ahead as they worry about the unpredictable effects of HIV and old age. The participants’ experiences as women, are also impacted by societal norms and values that relegate them to an inferior position in heterosexual relationships. Gender imbalances and inequality disempower women with regard to taking relevant courses of action to prevent or alleviate the effects of HIV owing to the societal expectations that women be submissive on issues that involve sexuality and the conduct of their husbands. Most of the research participants acknowledge that their experiences in this life-changing condition (HIV-positive) were complicated by their upholding of societal norms instead of having a greater regard for their personal wellbeing. On the whole, the study observes that the research participants create new meanings to live well with HIV despite the existing challenging social structures in their society.Item Open Access Lived experiences of young black women with physical disabilities in Lesotho(University of the Free State, 2017-02) Rafoneke, Seithati; Coetzee, Jan K.English: This research study aims to improve our understanding of the intersectionality between disability, race/ethnicity, identity, religion, social class and gender and the ways in which these impact on how women with physical disabilities perceive and make meaning of their everyday life experiences and how they think society perceives them. The study therefore aims to understand the world from the point of view of young African women with physical disabilities in Lesotho. Different theoretical lenses that will assist us in making sense of the research participants’ lifeworlds are used. Phenomenology, together with its specific concepts—lifeworld and intersubjectivity—are discussed. This research study also pays attention to existential sociology as the study of human existence. It discusses how emotions impact on the lives of women with physical disabilities and how they influence social relations and human activity. The existential self is discussed as one of the main concepts of existential sociology. Furthermore, the research turns to the issue of the social construction of reality which provides us with a basis for the identification of the body, gender and disability construction. It also focuses on the feminist disability theory, with specific attention on the importance of integrating disability into feminist conceptions of intersectionality. This qualitative study made use of purposive and snowball sampling. Semi-structured in-depth interviews are utilized to elicit data on participants’ personal life histories, experiences and perceptions. The research schedule is used as an important tool to guide the interviews. The collected data is transcribed into Sesotho, translated into English and then analysed thematically. Overall, the narratives of eight research participants aged between 21 and 35 generated five themes encompassing gender and femininity; the impact of the disabled body on claiming identity; religion; acceptance of disability; and the challenges faced by young women with physical disabilities in Lesotho. The principal theme is gender and femininity which plays an important part in constructing a disabled identity. The study concludes that women with physical disabilities are isolated, stigmatised and discriminated against as a result of their disabilities. The responses of the research participants to situations of oppressive behaviour reflect their status as an oppressed group. Women with physical disabilities experience oppressive behaviour such as physical, emotional and sexual abuse from able-bodied individuals. This oppressive behaviour leads to women with physical disabilities being treated as unable and unfit to perform many gendered roles that are believed to be culturally and socially acceptable. They experience a limitation of rights, including the right to employment, to bear children, to live independently, to have an intimate partner and to get married. African women with physical disabilities remain one of the most vulnerable and marginalized groups and attention is given to how they experience disability. Within this study, an effort is made to enhance our understanding of the everyday life experiences of young African women with physical disabilities in order to fill the gap in previous literature.Item Open Access Mother–daughter communication on intimate relationships: narratives from Mangaung Township (Bloemfontein, South Africa)(University of the Free State, 2015) Gumede, Ntombizonke Agnes; Coetzee, Jan K.; Young-Hauser, AmandaEnglish: Good communication skills and conversations on intimate relationships between mothers and daughters have a positive influence on young people’s intimate relationships, sexual development and behaviour. This study explores conversations on intimate relationships between African mothers and their daughters in Mangaung Township, Bloemfontein, South Africa. The willingness, extent, content, and quality of communication on intimate relationships between daughters and their mothers, are the main focus of this study. The responses of the research are juxtaposed and compared to explore the respective angles, similar or divergent understandings and the barriers encountered in these conversations. This is important because research indicates that women are more vulnerable to sexually risky behaviour with the potential for serious consequences such as unplanned pregnancies or HIV infection. In light of the high prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV and AIDs and unplanned pregnancies it is essential to scrutinise the mother–daughter communication on intimate relationships. This qualitative study is guided by the interpretivist paradigm. Theoretical lenses followed in the study include, phenomenology, existential sociology and feminist perspectives. Nine in-depth interviews were conducted with mothers and their daughters. These mother-daughter conversations take place in diverse domestic situations and fragile household compositions with the daughters’ fathers mostly being absent. In spite of the complex family dynamics, both mothers and their daughters consider their conversations on sex and reproductive health important. However, both parties were reluctant to talk and conversation was often only initiated following a precursory event (e.g. pregnancy or television programmes). The conversations were characterised as didactic, confrontational, and instructional and framed by cultural mores. The mothers’ focus was to warn, threaten and discourage their daughters from sexual activities. Certain topics like HIV and AIDS, pregnancy, menstruation were emphasised at the expense of other topics. Pleasure and emotional aspects of relationships were rarely considered. While the mother is the preferred primary source of information by both mothers and daughters, the latter tend to talk more openly to their friends and felt they received more information during sex education in schools. The study shows that the mothers often feel poorly equipped to conduct effective discussions on intimate relationships with their daughters because of embarrassment, lack of knowledge and socialisation of silence around sexual topics. Generally in these conversations sex has been reduced to a void and dangerous act and lack aspects such as emotions, love, desire and pleasure and partner choices.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.Item Open Access Young and upwardly mobile: voices from historically disadvantaged groups(University of the Free State, 2015-02) Kok, Michael Edward; Coetzee, Jan K.; Elliker, FlorianEnglish: South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994 signalled a fundamental shift in the country’s social environment. The institutionalized racism that once subjugated the Black majority during apartheid gave way to legislature that aims to bring South Africa into a wholly new era of egalitarianism, the most striking result of which has been the steady influx of young Black people achieving upward mobility and making the transition into the middle- and upper-classes. The aim of this study is to conduct a phenomenological exploration into young Black South Africans’ lived experiences of upward mobility (the transition from a lower to a higher social class) with the express purpose of understanding how they construct their identities, both subjectively and in their interactions with others. Although there has been considerable interest in South Africa’s Black Diamonds and Buppies (as upwardly mobile Black people are often referred to), academic work on the upward mobility of Black people has largely been limited to quantitative studies in the field of economics and market research. This study thus attempts to fill a gap in the academic literature by offering insight into young Black South Africans’ subjective experiences of upward mobility and identity navigation. The foundation of this study is guided by the philosophical principles of interpretive research. As such, the aim is not to provide an objective explanation of the research participants’ experiences, but to explore how they perceive various experiences from their own unique perspectives. The research participants for this study are comprised of young, Black South Africans (between the ages of 18 and 30) who reside in the Bloemfontein area of Central South Africa. They are also specifically chosen to participate in this study because they have acquired professional occupations through educational attainment, which has placed them in a social position that is comparatively higher in the social hierarchy than that of their parents. The data for this study is collected by way of one-one-one interviews and a focus group discussion. The ultimate aim of the data collection is to obtain data that gets as close as possible to providing a first-hand account of the participants’ experiences with upward mobility and identity. This study therefore makes use of a narrative-centred approach to research, and the research participants’ stories are analysed according to an analytical framework known as the narrative practice approach. Rather than focusing purely on the content of the research participants’ stories, the narrative practice approach also focuses this study’s attention on how they tell their stories. The findings presented in this study touch upon numerous aspects of young Black South Africans’ lived experiences of upward mobility and identity, the most notable of which relate to the intersection of race and class in their interaction with others. Having made the transition from a lower social class that has historically been occupied by Blacks, into a higher social class that has historically been reserved for Whites, the research participants’ narratives richly illustrate how the accomplishment of upward social mobility is intrinsically affected by the everyday social process of identity construction and the unequal distribution of economic and cultural capital. As the dissertation’s findings suggest, the transition into a higher social class is not without its hardships. Apart from overcoming the more recognizable economic obstacles inherent in achieving upward mobility, the research participants’ narratives also shed light on transcending more implicit challenges to achieving upward mobility, such as cultural biases towards education, the lack of cultural knowledge needed to attend university, as well as the lack of cultural knowledge required to occupy a higher social class. More specific to the issue of identity construction, the research participants’ narratives indicate that because of their achievements, they are identified as members of a higher social class, both by people in their social class of origin, and by those in their achieved social class. However, the salience of race in South African society, coupled with the fact that South Africa’s class structure has invariably been shaped by race politics, means that the research participants find themselves in a unique position that requires them to successfully negotiate the presence of two separate and often contrasting identities. On the one hand, is an identity shaped by African traditions and culture within the lower class, and on the other hand, is a higher class identity that requires adherence to White South African culture if the participants are to fit in with those in their achieved social class.