Renegotiating gender identities and sexual bodies : Zimbabwean migrant women’s narratives of everyday life in South Africa
- Authors: Batisai, K. , Manjowo, L.
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Gender , Sexuality , Migration
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/462571 , uj:41251 , Citation: Batisai, K. & Manjowo, L. 2020. Renegotiating gender identities and sexual bodies: Zimbabwean migrant women’s narratives of everyday life in South Africa.
- Description: Abstract: A wide range of literature reveals that women in many African societies have historically been faced with the challenge of patriarchy and lack of freedom in their households – a challenge also mirrored in institutions like education, the economy, law and politics. This gendered position produces gendered inequalities which lead women to experience poverty more severely than men. Feminisation of poverty has over the years resulted in the feminisation of migration which implies the change in women’s migratory identities and roles, where women are increasingly migrating as independent migrants rather than to rejoin male family members. Often, women migrate due to a desire for greater autonomy and a decrease in social restrictions on their productive and reproductive bodies. They also migrate to enhance economic opportunities and seek new survival strategies in their endeavour to cater for their family needs and those that pertain to their being. It is against this backdrop that this article explores the experiences of migrant women and the strategies they employ as they, against all odds, renegotiate and reconstitute their gendered identities and sexual bodies in order to survive the complex realities of living in a ‘foreign’ space. The article focuses on 15 Zimbabwean migrant women’s experiences of feminised poverty that pushed them out of the boundaries of their homeland; and the sexual and gendered livelihoods that emerged as part of their survival strategies in South Africa. As the article engages with Zimbabwean migrant women’s experiences prior to and after moving to South Africa, it is at work to illuminate how sexuality and migration shape and reshape one another...
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- Authors: Batisai, K. , Manjowo, L.
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Gender , Sexuality , Migration
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/462571 , uj:41251 , Citation: Batisai, K. & Manjowo, L. 2020. Renegotiating gender identities and sexual bodies: Zimbabwean migrant women’s narratives of everyday life in South Africa.
- Description: Abstract: A wide range of literature reveals that women in many African societies have historically been faced with the challenge of patriarchy and lack of freedom in their households – a challenge also mirrored in institutions like education, the economy, law and politics. This gendered position produces gendered inequalities which lead women to experience poverty more severely than men. Feminisation of poverty has over the years resulted in the feminisation of migration which implies the change in women’s migratory identities and roles, where women are increasingly migrating as independent migrants rather than to rejoin male family members. Often, women migrate due to a desire for greater autonomy and a decrease in social restrictions on their productive and reproductive bodies. They also migrate to enhance economic opportunities and seek new survival strategies in their endeavour to cater for their family needs and those that pertain to their being. It is against this backdrop that this article explores the experiences of migrant women and the strategies they employ as they, against all odds, renegotiate and reconstitute their gendered identities and sexual bodies in order to survive the complex realities of living in a ‘foreign’ space. The article focuses on 15 Zimbabwean migrant women’s experiences of feminised poverty that pushed them out of the boundaries of their homeland; and the sexual and gendered livelihoods that emerged as part of their survival strategies in South Africa. As the article engages with Zimbabwean migrant women’s experiences prior to and after moving to South Africa, it is at work to illuminate how sexuality and migration shape and reshape one another...
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Sexuality and power on South African game farms; reflections on positionality and emotions in ethnographic research
- Brandt, Femke, Josefsson, Jenny
- Authors: Brandt, Femke , Josefsson, Jenny
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Sexuality , Ethnography , Game farms
- Language: English
- Type: Articles
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/242011 , uj:24952 , Citation: Brandt, F. & Josefsson, J. 2017. Sexuality and power on South African game farms; reflections on positionality and emotions in ethnographic research.
- Description: Abstract: The taboo around researchers’ sexualities and sexual experiences in ethnographic field work persists. We found that our sexuality, alongside physical and emotional experiences, were pivotal to how we shaped research relations and processes. This evokes questions around how we reflect on our positionalities and the knowledge we generate. We argue that ethnographic accounts are strengthened by inclusive reflexivity, that acknowledges sex and sexuality. This article presents empirical material from field experiences on South African game farms. These spaces tend to represent a particular image of wilderness, constructed according to patriarchal and racist hierarchies, which heighten contestations over belonging. As such they become spaces of violence, seduction, and power, and we found ourselves (neither minds nor bodies) unable to detach from these spatial and emotional dynamics. Our strategies for ‘being in the field’ came to evolve around negotiations of power, sex and complicity. The emotional dynamics made us feel confused, bewildered and sometimes scared. We seek to share our experiences and feelings, and to contribute to discussion on the role of sexuality in ethnographic research, and the epistemological, methodological and practical advantages of reflecting on the ways we engage in the field.
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- Authors: Brandt, Femke , Josefsson, Jenny
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Sexuality , Ethnography , Game farms
- Language: English
- Type: Articles
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/242011 , uj:24952 , Citation: Brandt, F. & Josefsson, J. 2017. Sexuality and power on South African game farms; reflections on positionality and emotions in ethnographic research.
- Description: Abstract: The taboo around researchers’ sexualities and sexual experiences in ethnographic field work persists. We found that our sexuality, alongside physical and emotional experiences, were pivotal to how we shaped research relations and processes. This evokes questions around how we reflect on our positionalities and the knowledge we generate. We argue that ethnographic accounts are strengthened by inclusive reflexivity, that acknowledges sex and sexuality. This article presents empirical material from field experiences on South African game farms. These spaces tend to represent a particular image of wilderness, constructed according to patriarchal and racist hierarchies, which heighten contestations over belonging. As such they become spaces of violence, seduction, and power, and we found ourselves (neither minds nor bodies) unable to detach from these spatial and emotional dynamics. Our strategies for ‘being in the field’ came to evolve around negotiations of power, sex and complicity. The emotional dynamics made us feel confused, bewildered and sometimes scared. We seek to share our experiences and feelings, and to contribute to discussion on the role of sexuality in ethnographic research, and the epistemological, methodological and practical advantages of reflecting on the ways we engage in the field.
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Secret languages of sex: disabled youth’s experiences of sexual and hiv communication with their parents/caregivers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- Authors: Chappell, Paul
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Disabled youth , Parents , Sexuality , Communication , Hiv , South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/93948 , uj:20412 , Citation: Chappell, P. 2016. Secret languages of sex: disabled youth’s experiences of sexual and hiv communication with their parents/caregivers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
- Description: Abstract: Various health promotion strategies have been implemented in South Africa aiming to encourage young people to talk about issues of sexuality and HIV with their parents/caregivers. Although parent/caregiver sexual communication may be an effective method of influencing sexual behaviour and curbing the incidence of HIV, very little is known about how young people with disabilities in South Africa communicate about these traditionally difficult subjects with their parents/caregivers. Based on findings from a participatory study conducted amongst 15 to 20-year-old Zulu-speaking youth with physical and visual disabilities, this paper explores how they perceive youthparent/ caregiver communication about sexuality and HIV. Using Foucauldian discourse analysis, the paper outlines how disabled youth-parent/caregiver sexual communication is governed by cultural customs, sexual secrecy and constructs of innocence. It also argues that the experiences and perceptions of young people with disabilities are critical to the development of future interventions to assist parents/caregivers develop communication strategies that help disabled young people make sense of sexual behaviour.
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- Authors: Chappell, Paul
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Disabled youth , Parents , Sexuality , Communication , Hiv , South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/93948 , uj:20412 , Citation: Chappell, P. 2016. Secret languages of sex: disabled youth’s experiences of sexual and hiv communication with their parents/caregivers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
- Description: Abstract: Various health promotion strategies have been implemented in South Africa aiming to encourage young people to talk about issues of sexuality and HIV with their parents/caregivers. Although parent/caregiver sexual communication may be an effective method of influencing sexual behaviour and curbing the incidence of HIV, very little is known about how young people with disabilities in South Africa communicate about these traditionally difficult subjects with their parents/caregivers. Based on findings from a participatory study conducted amongst 15 to 20-year-old Zulu-speaking youth with physical and visual disabilities, this paper explores how they perceive youthparent/ caregiver communication about sexuality and HIV. Using Foucauldian discourse analysis, the paper outlines how disabled youth-parent/caregiver sexual communication is governed by cultural customs, sexual secrecy and constructs of innocence. It also argues that the experiences and perceptions of young people with disabilities are critical to the development of future interventions to assist parents/caregivers develop communication strategies that help disabled young people make sense of sexual behaviour.
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‘I will not share my partner’ : the ‘care of the self’ in an HIV prevention campaign
- Segopolo, Irene M., Tomaselli, Keyan G.
- Authors: Segopolo, Irene M. , Tomaselli, Keyan G.
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Risk , Responsibility , Sexuality
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/227188 , uj:22987 , Citation: Segopolo, I.M. & Tomaselli, K.G. 2017. ‘I will not share my partner’ : the ‘care of the self’ in an HIV prevention campaign.
- Description: Abstract: This article presents a textual examination and reception analysis of an HIV/AIDS poster used by the University of KwaZulu-Natal students during 2006–09. It examines how discourses construct self-responsibility for sexual health among female students. Discourse analysis, language and visual strategies are applied to reveal gender stereotypes. The article argues that an alternative discourse of femininity is used centring on female power bordering on active participation through the use of the discursive self ‘I’ in order to promote self-surveillance and individual agency.
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- Authors: Segopolo, Irene M. , Tomaselli, Keyan G.
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Risk , Responsibility , Sexuality
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/227188 , uj:22987 , Citation: Segopolo, I.M. & Tomaselli, K.G. 2017. ‘I will not share my partner’ : the ‘care of the self’ in an HIV prevention campaign.
- Description: Abstract: This article presents a textual examination and reception analysis of an HIV/AIDS poster used by the University of KwaZulu-Natal students during 2006–09. It examines how discourses construct self-responsibility for sexual health among female students. Discourse analysis, language and visual strategies are applied to reveal gender stereotypes. The article argues that an alternative discourse of femininity is used centring on female power bordering on active participation through the use of the discursive self ‘I’ in order to promote self-surveillance and individual agency.
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