The daily experience of farm dwellers on a commercial farm inthe North-West Province
Abstract
English: Farm dwellers’ daily experiences on a commercial farm in the North-West Province
are qualitatively explored and described with the aim of arriving at an understanding of
their specific experience. It is concluded that they experience their environment as
entrapping. Numerous forces structure this experience, such as a lack of tangible and
social resources, their geographical and social isolation, the uneven transformation of
traditional employment relations and a sense of powerlessness (an inability to influence
their circumstances). However, they also experience it as including some enabling elements. Afrikaans:Plaasbewoners se daaglikse leefervaring op ’n kommersiële plaas in die Noordwesprovinsie
word ondersoek en beskryf aan die hand van ’n kwalitatiewe benadering ten
einde ’n begrip te vorm van hul spesifieke ervaring. Daar word tot die gevolgtrekking
gekom dat plaasbewoners hul leefomgewing as inperkend ervaar. Talle kragte struktureer
hulle ervaring, onder meer ’n gebrek aan tasbare en sosiale bronne, hul geografiese
en sosiale isolasie, die ongelyke transformasie van tradisionele indiensnemingsverhoudinge,
asook ’n lae magsbelewing (’n onvermoë om hulle omstandighede te beïnvloed).
Dit het egter ook hul ervaring van enkele bevorderlike elemente in hulle omgewing
na vore gebring.