Abstract
At a time when research on women’s experiences of gender-based violence (GBV) is growing, this study interrogates African men’s lived encounters of intimate partner violence (IPV). In the transnational and dynamic environment of the City of Johannesburg, men (local and migrant) engage in short and long-term relationships that are often marked by tensions and discord. How men are potential victims of abuse within heterosexual relationships remains an underdeveloped dimension in the extant literature in South Africa. This thesis set out to examine the impact of IPV on African men’s masculine identities, their sense of themselves, their social statuses, and economic and psychological wellbeing. The thesis utilised qualitative methods of individual in-depth interviews. Data were collected over a period of five months from 25 men originating from seven African countries which include South Africa, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Mozambique, Malawi, Eswatini and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The men were accessed when they visited a referral medical facility in Johannesburg for medical assistance after being subjected to episodes of abuse. An additional five interviews with key informants were conducted with selected gatekeepers to complement the data. The collected responses were subsequently thematically analysed employing Braun and Clarke’s (2006) step-by-step data analysis approach...
D.Litt. et Phil. (Sociology)