Resisting the ‘Native Informant’ trope in examples of African Diaspora art and literature
- Authors: Nuen, Tinika
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/131657 , vital:36708
- Description: This thesis draws attention to the existence of the ‘native informant’ trope in the African Diaspora. It argues that a strong emphasis towards studying diasporic groups in relation to their African origin revives, consequently, the colonial politics that underpin the continent as an unknown mythical place. In response to this issue, I introduce multidisciplinary case studies that highlight various artists and authors who resist and challenge the diasporic individual as the ‘native informant’. Their works reinterpret and redefine the relationship between African communities, their connection to the continent and their experiences of living abroad. Analysing the exhibitions Looking Both Ways, Africa Remix and Flow, I investigate their visual art discourses that interpret diasporic artists and their works as cultural embodiments of their African background. As a result, the three art shows marginalise other potential readings to view diasporic experiences. This thesis introduces three resistant themes that reconceive the diasporic person’s relationship to the African Diaspora based on language, spatial interaction and self-identification opposed to a geographic tie. The first theme (language) references Victor Ekpuk’s drawings and Isidore Okpewho’s novel Call Me By My Rightful Name to suggest a language based diasporic experience. The second theme (spatial interaction) looks at Emeka Ogboh’s sound installations and Teju Cole’s novel Open City. Both works examine a diasporic individual’s conflicted engagement with her place of origin. The third theme (self-identification) considers the individual-community relationship in Wura-Natasha Ogunji’s performance art and Chika Unigwe’s novel On Black Sisters’ Street. Each of these visual-literary pairs focus on various components that shape the African diasporic lifestyle. My research re-interprets the continent’s significance in the diaspora from a geographic construct to a socio-spiritual connection to a community. Firstly, it outlines the persistent issue of a colonial residue in Africa’s definition as a physical-cultural space, and secondly, it offers three alternative discourses to read diasporic identities outside a geographic framework. I argue that belonging is a social individual-collective effort rather than an anchor to a tangible environment.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Nuen, Tinika
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/131657 , vital:36708
- Description: This thesis draws attention to the existence of the ‘native informant’ trope in the African Diaspora. It argues that a strong emphasis towards studying diasporic groups in relation to their African origin revives, consequently, the colonial politics that underpin the continent as an unknown mythical place. In response to this issue, I introduce multidisciplinary case studies that highlight various artists and authors who resist and challenge the diasporic individual as the ‘native informant’. Their works reinterpret and redefine the relationship between African communities, their connection to the continent and their experiences of living abroad. Analysing the exhibitions Looking Both Ways, Africa Remix and Flow, I investigate their visual art discourses that interpret diasporic artists and their works as cultural embodiments of their African background. As a result, the three art shows marginalise other potential readings to view diasporic experiences. This thesis introduces three resistant themes that reconceive the diasporic person’s relationship to the African Diaspora based on language, spatial interaction and self-identification opposed to a geographic tie. The first theme (language) references Victor Ekpuk’s drawings and Isidore Okpewho’s novel Call Me By My Rightful Name to suggest a language based diasporic experience. The second theme (spatial interaction) looks at Emeka Ogboh’s sound installations and Teju Cole’s novel Open City. Both works examine a diasporic individual’s conflicted engagement with her place of origin. The third theme (self-identification) considers the individual-community relationship in Wura-Natasha Ogunji’s performance art and Chika Unigwe’s novel On Black Sisters’ Street. Each of these visual-literary pairs focus on various components that shape the African diasporic lifestyle. My research re-interprets the continent’s significance in the diaspora from a geographic construct to a socio-spiritual connection to a community. Firstly, it outlines the persistent issue of a colonial residue in Africa’s definition as a physical-cultural space, and secondly, it offers three alternative discourses to read diasporic identities outside a geographic framework. I argue that belonging is a social individual-collective effort rather than an anchor to a tangible environment.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Deterrents to continued blood donation among regular blood donors
- Authors: Harris, Maryke
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Marketing -- Decision making -- Health aspects -- South Africa Blood donors -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Blood -- Collection and preservation -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/15934 , vital:28292
- Description: Collecting blood from repeat blood donors is cost effective and safer compared to other donor types. At the end of 2012, 84% of the SANBS donor panel were inactive or lapsed. There is a lack of research available on lapsed donors in the South African context and available research is mostly quantitative with subtle contradictions. Donors who donated blood in 2012 at fixed site donor centres in Port Elizabeth, and did not return in 2013, were studied. A descriptive analysis was done and a random sample of 78 lapsed donors were selected to participate in a face-to-face interview. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed. A grounded model was developed from various existing theories to seek out and conceptualise social patterns and structures of lapsed blood donors through a process of comparison. There were 10 062 donors who donated blood in 2012 and 4 923 became lapsed during 2013. Analysis of sub groups showed a higher proportion of donors who became lapsed in the following sub-categories: new donors (95%), re-joined donors (64%), black donors (63%), donors younger than 40 (61%), female donors (52%). The feedback received from the 11 participants highlighted peer pressure as the biggest motivator. Of the six communication theories applied, The Social Penetration Theory highlighted the cost-minus-benefit ratio which played a big role in a donor’s motivation and decision to return. The AIDA Marketing Model application described lapsed donor behaviour most comprehensively and it highlighted a missing step which was created as part of a Grounded Model and is called the AIDAA Model. The role and existence of peer pressure is directly linked to donor motivation and is categorised as an Action Motivator in the AIDAA Model. The new model creates additional recruitment opportunities which has not been explored and applied strategically before.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Harris, Maryke
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Marketing -- Decision making -- Health aspects -- South Africa Blood donors -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Blood -- Collection and preservation -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/15934 , vital:28292
- Description: Collecting blood from repeat blood donors is cost effective and safer compared to other donor types. At the end of 2012, 84% of the SANBS donor panel were inactive or lapsed. There is a lack of research available on lapsed donors in the South African context and available research is mostly quantitative with subtle contradictions. Donors who donated blood in 2012 at fixed site donor centres in Port Elizabeth, and did not return in 2013, were studied. A descriptive analysis was done and a random sample of 78 lapsed donors were selected to participate in a face-to-face interview. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed. A grounded model was developed from various existing theories to seek out and conceptualise social patterns and structures of lapsed blood donors through a process of comparison. There were 10 062 donors who donated blood in 2012 and 4 923 became lapsed during 2013. Analysis of sub groups showed a higher proportion of donors who became lapsed in the following sub-categories: new donors (95%), re-joined donors (64%), black donors (63%), donors younger than 40 (61%), female donors (52%). The feedback received from the 11 participants highlighted peer pressure as the biggest motivator. Of the six communication theories applied, The Social Penetration Theory highlighted the cost-minus-benefit ratio which played a big role in a donor’s motivation and decision to return. The AIDA Marketing Model application described lapsed donor behaviour most comprehensively and it highlighted a missing step which was created as part of a Grounded Model and is called the AIDAA Model. The role and existence of peer pressure is directly linked to donor motivation and is categorised as an Action Motivator in the AIDAA Model. The new model creates additional recruitment opportunities which has not been explored and applied strategically before.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
The Daily Dispatch's political coverage of the Eastern Cape Provincial government: 1 January 2013 – 31 December 2013
- Authors: Ramncwana, Ayanda
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Journalism -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Mass media -- Political aspects -- South Africa , Press -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/19905 , vital:29004
- Description: The Daily Dispatch, a newspaper based in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, has a long history of political reporting. Arguably, it reached the zenith of its prominence during the era of political activism of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM), under the leadership of Bantu Steve Biko, who was martyred by the apartheid government in 1977. Biko was at the time based in King William’s Town, in the Eastern Cape. The newspaper, at the time edited by Donald Woods, held the view that Biko was preaching a doctrine of hatred against White people, and Woods took it upon himself to challenge Biko. This saw Woods gaining a better understanding of the BCM and Biko, and hiring into the Daily Dispatch’s newsroom a number of pro-Black Consciousness journalists. The newspaper then proceeded to cover not only the BCM, but also other pro-democracy movements until the demise of apartheid and the emergence of the African National Congress-led government under the presidency of Nelson Mandela. With the emergence of the ANC-led government, there was an expectation that newspapers and journalists that had opposed apartheid and supported the liberation struggle would continue supporting the freedom fighters-turned-career-politicians. This was especially so because some pro-ANC politicians-turned-businessmen acquired a stake in media ownership. It is against this background that this study investigated the political coverage by the Daily Dispatch of the Eastern Cape Provincial Government during the period 1 January – 30 December 2013. Taking into cognisance the changing hands of the ownership of the Daily Dispatch, the Political Economy theory, which focuses on the link between ownership of the media and its role in society, was employed as a theoretical framework. The study utilised the qualitative research methodology, specifically interviews and content analysis, as research techniques (methods). The research found that despite the changes in the ownership of the Daily Dispatch, the newspaper provided independent political coverage of the ANC-led government in the Eastern Cape during the research period.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Ramncwana, Ayanda
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Journalism -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Mass media -- Political aspects -- South Africa , Press -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/19905 , vital:29004
- Description: The Daily Dispatch, a newspaper based in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, has a long history of political reporting. Arguably, it reached the zenith of its prominence during the era of political activism of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM), under the leadership of Bantu Steve Biko, who was martyred by the apartheid government in 1977. Biko was at the time based in King William’s Town, in the Eastern Cape. The newspaper, at the time edited by Donald Woods, held the view that Biko was preaching a doctrine of hatred against White people, and Woods took it upon himself to challenge Biko. This saw Woods gaining a better understanding of the BCM and Biko, and hiring into the Daily Dispatch’s newsroom a number of pro-Black Consciousness journalists. The newspaper then proceeded to cover not only the BCM, but also other pro-democracy movements until the demise of apartheid and the emergence of the African National Congress-led government under the presidency of Nelson Mandela. With the emergence of the ANC-led government, there was an expectation that newspapers and journalists that had opposed apartheid and supported the liberation struggle would continue supporting the freedom fighters-turned-career-politicians. This was especially so because some pro-ANC politicians-turned-businessmen acquired a stake in media ownership. It is against this background that this study investigated the political coverage by the Daily Dispatch of the Eastern Cape Provincial Government during the period 1 January – 30 December 2013. Taking into cognisance the changing hands of the ownership of the Daily Dispatch, the Political Economy theory, which focuses on the link between ownership of the media and its role in society, was employed as a theoretical framework. The study utilised the qualitative research methodology, specifically interviews and content analysis, as research techniques (methods). The research found that despite the changes in the ownership of the Daily Dispatch, the newspaper provided independent political coverage of the ANC-led government in the Eastern Cape during the research period.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
"I don't think it's the whole story!": a case study of the linguistic face management strategies of dyslexic adults
- Authors: Henderson, Layle
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Dyslexia Case studies Dyslexia -- Social aspects Dyslexia -- Psychological aspects Politeness (Linguistics) Sociolinguistics
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2347 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002629
- Description: Dyslexia is primarily a neurobiological disorder and much research has been conducted on this (see for example Coltheart 1996; Shaywitz and Shaywitz 2000 and 2004). However, little has been done which investigates the social construction of dyslexia. Because dyslexia affects reading, writing and spelling to varying degrees, although it may originate from genetic inheritance, it manifests itself in social spheres. Brown and Levinson‟s (1987) Face Theory states that people use strategies to minimise the damage to the positive face of others. My research focuses on how dyslexic individuals use linguistic strategies to minimise potential face-threatening acts or FTAs against themselves and in so doing preserve their own positive face. Using elements of Face Theory and APPRAISAL I constructed a typology reflecting these linguistic face management devices of adults with dyslexia. With this research I hope to contribute to the field in an innovative and meaningful manner through an exploration of the linguistic face management strategies used in the management of positive face.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
- Authors: Henderson, Layle
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Dyslexia Case studies Dyslexia -- Social aspects Dyslexia -- Psychological aspects Politeness (Linguistics) Sociolinguistics
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2347 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002629
- Description: Dyslexia is primarily a neurobiological disorder and much research has been conducted on this (see for example Coltheart 1996; Shaywitz and Shaywitz 2000 and 2004). However, little has been done which investigates the social construction of dyslexia. Because dyslexia affects reading, writing and spelling to varying degrees, although it may originate from genetic inheritance, it manifests itself in social spheres. Brown and Levinson‟s (1987) Face Theory states that people use strategies to minimise the damage to the positive face of others. My research focuses on how dyslexic individuals use linguistic strategies to minimise potential face-threatening acts or FTAs against themselves and in so doing preserve their own positive face. Using elements of Face Theory and APPRAISAL I constructed a typology reflecting these linguistic face management devices of adults with dyslexia. With this research I hope to contribute to the field in an innovative and meaningful manner through an exploration of the linguistic face management strategies used in the management of positive face.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
"Form fading among fading forms" death, language and madness in the novels of Samuel Beckett
- Authors: Springer, Michael Leicester
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Beckett, Samuel, 1906-1989 -- Criticism and interpretation English fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism Death in literature Mental illness in literature
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2198 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002240
- Description: The primary thesis of this dissertation is that the development of narrative strategy and technique through the course of Samuel Beckett’s fictional oeuvre enacts a parody of the Cartesian method of doubt, in which the search for first principles, instead of providing grounds for certainty, is a hopeless, grotesque quest for a self which eludes any and every assertion. My chief concerns are thus, firstly, to explicate and elucidate the nature of such narrative strategies and techniques, and how these can be said to parody epistemological procedure; and secondly, to interrogate the implications of this parody for the epistemological and interpretative endeavour of which the human sciences are comprised. These two issues are explored by way of an examination of Beckett’s earliest novel, Murphy, and the narrative impasse that arises from the contradiction between this work’s largely realist form and quasi-postmodern content. I thereafter argue that the later fiction, most particularly the Trilogy, achieves formal and stylistic solutions to the aesthetic and epistemological challenges raised by the earlier work. Beckett’s fictional oeuvre, I contend, can best be construed as an attempt to attain that which exceeds and escapes narrative in and through narrative, namely madness or death. The achievement of either would entail the obliteration of the possibility of narrating at all, and the novels, engaging in a self-deconstructing endeavour, thus occupy a profoundly paradoxical position. Any attempt to interpret a body of work of this nature can only respond in an analogous manner, by trying to make meaning of the subversion of meaning, and deconstructing the assumptions that inform its procedures. This dissertation argues that it is precisely in the way in which it necessitates such selfreflexive discursive analysis that the import of Samuel Beckett’s fiction lies, and extrapolates the significance of this for an understanding of discourse, literary criticism, and epistemological procedure.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Springer, Michael Leicester
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Beckett, Samuel, 1906-1989 -- Criticism and interpretation English fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism Death in literature Mental illness in literature
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2198 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002240
- Description: The primary thesis of this dissertation is that the development of narrative strategy and technique through the course of Samuel Beckett’s fictional oeuvre enacts a parody of the Cartesian method of doubt, in which the search for first principles, instead of providing grounds for certainty, is a hopeless, grotesque quest for a self which eludes any and every assertion. My chief concerns are thus, firstly, to explicate and elucidate the nature of such narrative strategies and techniques, and how these can be said to parody epistemological procedure; and secondly, to interrogate the implications of this parody for the epistemological and interpretative endeavour of which the human sciences are comprised. These two issues are explored by way of an examination of Beckett’s earliest novel, Murphy, and the narrative impasse that arises from the contradiction between this work’s largely realist form and quasi-postmodern content. I thereafter argue that the later fiction, most particularly the Trilogy, achieves formal and stylistic solutions to the aesthetic and epistemological challenges raised by the earlier work. Beckett’s fictional oeuvre, I contend, can best be construed as an attempt to attain that which exceeds and escapes narrative in and through narrative, namely madness or death. The achievement of either would entail the obliteration of the possibility of narrating at all, and the novels, engaging in a self-deconstructing endeavour, thus occupy a profoundly paradoxical position. Any attempt to interpret a body of work of this nature can only respond in an analogous manner, by trying to make meaning of the subversion of meaning, and deconstructing the assumptions that inform its procedures. This dissertation argues that it is precisely in the way in which it necessitates such selfreflexive discursive analysis that the import of Samuel Beckett’s fiction lies, and extrapolates the significance of this for an understanding of discourse, literary criticism, and epistemological procedure.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Southern African Development Community foreign policy behaviour: the case of trade with external actors
- Authors: Tebu, Perminus Waithaka
- Date: 2000
- Subjects: Southern African Development Community , International trade , Africa, Southern -- Foreign relations
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2834 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003044 , Southern African Development Community , International trade , Africa, Southern -- Foreign relations
- Description: This thesis is structured around two main and interwoven assumptions operating at two levels. On the one level the external dimension of security threat in Southern Africa is assumed to be the most critical factor for regional renewal and stability. It hinges on pertinent regional issues such as negative trade balances, economic dependence, poverty, unemployment, poor economic growth rates and so forth. The corollary of this assumption is that within the operative framework of SADC, Southern African states are assumed capable of effectively integrating their economies through trade and related arrangements with dominant external actors in the highly competitive global economy. The European Union (EU) and the United States (US) are used as the focal points for illumination. A structured interaction between SADC and the EU within a revised North-South framework of interaction is hypothesized and critically examined. On the other hand, SADC-US interactions are assessed within the context of the new US Africa policy. At another level, the assumption is also made that the post-apartheid democratic state possesses both the political will and the wherewithal to provide regiol].al Leadership. This latter assumption is put to test within the framework of South Africa's regional foreign policy. Adopting an explicit regional unit of analysis, the study utilizes international regime theory as the theoretical and conceptual point of departure. The realist conception of the international system and the underlying assumptions usually considered as obstacles to international cooperation are critically examined in the context of the post-Cold War expanded security agenda. Regime theory is used to provide insight on the motivations that lead states to cooperate in situations of mutual dilemma by institutionalizing patterns of interaction at the regional and international systemic levels. Interstate economic relations at these levels are explained as state actions that are influenced by certain norms and that such norm-governed behaviour is wholly consistent with the pursuit of national interest. Application of the theory explains why such foreign policy behaviour of states is particularly relevant in the post-Cold War era. The thesis has argued that SADC states are capable of conducting a coordinated trade foreign policy in which regional positions are elaborated and adopted. It is argued further that a regional capacity to institute trade and economic policies that reflect local circumstances (necessary for effective integration with the world economy) calls for strong regional developmental democracies in the tradition of social market economy. Regional leadership by South Africa is considered indispensable where Sbuth Africa must find a sustainable balance between its national and regional interests.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2000
- Authors: Tebu, Perminus Waithaka
- Date: 2000
- Subjects: Southern African Development Community , International trade , Africa, Southern -- Foreign relations
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2834 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003044 , Southern African Development Community , International trade , Africa, Southern -- Foreign relations
- Description: This thesis is structured around two main and interwoven assumptions operating at two levels. On the one level the external dimension of security threat in Southern Africa is assumed to be the most critical factor for regional renewal and stability. It hinges on pertinent regional issues such as negative trade balances, economic dependence, poverty, unemployment, poor economic growth rates and so forth. The corollary of this assumption is that within the operative framework of SADC, Southern African states are assumed capable of effectively integrating their economies through trade and related arrangements with dominant external actors in the highly competitive global economy. The European Union (EU) and the United States (US) are used as the focal points for illumination. A structured interaction between SADC and the EU within a revised North-South framework of interaction is hypothesized and critically examined. On the other hand, SADC-US interactions are assessed within the context of the new US Africa policy. At another level, the assumption is also made that the post-apartheid democratic state possesses both the political will and the wherewithal to provide regiol].al Leadership. This latter assumption is put to test within the framework of South Africa's regional foreign policy. Adopting an explicit regional unit of analysis, the study utilizes international regime theory as the theoretical and conceptual point of departure. The realist conception of the international system and the underlying assumptions usually considered as obstacles to international cooperation are critically examined in the context of the post-Cold War expanded security agenda. Regime theory is used to provide insight on the motivations that lead states to cooperate in situations of mutual dilemma by institutionalizing patterns of interaction at the regional and international systemic levels. Interstate economic relations at these levels are explained as state actions that are influenced by certain norms and that such norm-governed behaviour is wholly consistent with the pursuit of national interest. Application of the theory explains why such foreign policy behaviour of states is particularly relevant in the post-Cold War era. The thesis has argued that SADC states are capable of conducting a coordinated trade foreign policy in which regional positions are elaborated and adopted. It is argued further that a regional capacity to institute trade and economic policies that reflect local circumstances (necessary for effective integration with the world economy) calls for strong regional developmental democracies in the tradition of social market economy. Regional leadership by South Africa is considered indispensable where Sbuth Africa must find a sustainable balance between its national and regional interests.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2000
Absent or missing fathers and male sexual difficulties : their manifestations in dream symbolism and interpretation
- Authors: Fatman, Joseph Mzimkulu
- Date: 1989
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:21171 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/6717
- Description: This thesis uses the individual case method in order to demonstrate the effects of paternal deprivation including variations in patterns of inadequate fathering on a male's psychological and sexual development. More specifically, it shows that father absence is a highly significant factor in the development of serious male psychological and social difficulties. Much of the material in the text concerns the impact of father absence on male 'sex-role' development. It is, as such further concerned with showing that paternal deprivation can lead to conflicts and rigidities in the individual's sex-role adjustment, which, in turn, are frequently related to deficits in emotional, cognitive and interpersonal functioning. Due consideration is given to such family characteristics as the mother's response to the father's absence which generally manifests as pathological and debilitating intrusiveness on the affected son's masculine identity. Other family features considered are the role of older male siblings and father substitutes e.g. stepfathers in the amelioration or exacerbation of these difficulties. An assumption is made that where such substitutes are competent father absence per se can have no more than a limited influence on the son's sex role development and vice versa. Some dreams from the case are presented for the purpose of viewing how the considered difficulties manifest in dream symbolism. Attention is paid also to the question as to whether such dreams can provide any useful clues toward an understanding of the nature, type and psychological situatedness of the affected people. Consequently, a discussion of a psychotherapy attempt is made to show that a competent understanding and interpretation of such symbolism will have an invaluable healing benefit on these difficulties.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
- Authors: Fatman, Joseph Mzimkulu
- Date: 1989
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:21171 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/6717
- Description: This thesis uses the individual case method in order to demonstrate the effects of paternal deprivation including variations in patterns of inadequate fathering on a male's psychological and sexual development. More specifically, it shows that father absence is a highly significant factor in the development of serious male psychological and social difficulties. Much of the material in the text concerns the impact of father absence on male 'sex-role' development. It is, as such further concerned with showing that paternal deprivation can lead to conflicts and rigidities in the individual's sex-role adjustment, which, in turn, are frequently related to deficits in emotional, cognitive and interpersonal functioning. Due consideration is given to such family characteristics as the mother's response to the father's absence which generally manifests as pathological and debilitating intrusiveness on the affected son's masculine identity. Other family features considered are the role of older male siblings and father substitutes e.g. stepfathers in the amelioration or exacerbation of these difficulties. An assumption is made that where such substitutes are competent father absence per se can have no more than a limited influence on the son's sex role development and vice versa. Some dreams from the case are presented for the purpose of viewing how the considered difficulties manifest in dream symbolism. Attention is paid also to the question as to whether such dreams can provide any useful clues toward an understanding of the nature, type and psychological situatedness of the affected people. Consequently, a discussion of a psychotherapy attempt is made to show that a competent understanding and interpretation of such symbolism will have an invaluable healing benefit on these difficulties.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
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