South African government responses to Trump's Global Gag Rule: Silence, ignorance, and avoidance
- Ndabula, Yanela, Macleod, Catriona I, du Plessis, Ulandi, Moore, Sarah-Ann
- Authors: Ndabula, Yanela , Macleod, Catriona I , du Plessis, Ulandi , Moore, Sarah-Ann
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/441299 , vital:73875 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/02610183241229046"
- Description: In 2017, Donald Trump signed the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance (PLGHA), thereby reinstating the Global Gag Rule. The policy restricted all United States foreign funding from abortion-related activities. Little research reports the responses of recipients of this bilateral assistance. The study documents the South African government's responses to the PLGHA. We accessed Hansard parliamentary debates, interviewed four parliamentarians alongside one government official, and reviewed a USAID-funded initiative developed while the policy was in effect. We analysed the data using interpretive content analysis through a global social policy and gendered coloniality lens. Our research documents silence, ignorance, avoidance, and possible over-interpretation of the PLGHA within the South African government. The colonialist politics of global redistribution created the grounds for gendered regulation, resulting in a fundamental undermining of reproductive rights. Ironically, the solution – advocacy and parliamentarian briefing regarding sexual and reproductive issues – is generally led by civil society, the bodies weakened by the PLGHA.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
- Authors: Ndabula, Yanela , Macleod, Catriona I , du Plessis, Ulandi , Moore, Sarah-Ann
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/441299 , vital:73875 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/02610183241229046"
- Description: In 2017, Donald Trump signed the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance (PLGHA), thereby reinstating the Global Gag Rule. The policy restricted all United States foreign funding from abortion-related activities. Little research reports the responses of recipients of this bilateral assistance. The study documents the South African government's responses to the PLGHA. We accessed Hansard parliamentary debates, interviewed four parliamentarians alongside one government official, and reviewed a USAID-funded initiative developed while the policy was in effect. We analysed the data using interpretive content analysis through a global social policy and gendered coloniality lens. Our research documents silence, ignorance, avoidance, and possible over-interpretation of the PLGHA within the South African government. The colonialist politics of global redistribution created the grounds for gendered regulation, resulting in a fundamental undermining of reproductive rights. Ironically, the solution – advocacy and parliamentarian briefing regarding sexual and reproductive issues – is generally led by civil society, the bodies weakened by the PLGHA.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
Violence against women who sell sex in eastern and southern Africa: a scoping review
- Macleod, Catriona I, Reynolds, John H, Delate, Richard
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Reynolds, John H , Delate, Richard
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/441380 , vital:73881 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380231160847"
- Description: Women who sell sex (WSS) are vulnerable to violence. We present a scoping review of the last decade of research on the prevalence and incidence of, factors associated with, and services regarding violence against WSS in Eastern and Southern African (ESA). A systematic search of various databases resulted in 20 papers being reviewed. Inclusion criteria, applied by the first two authors, were as follows: empirical papers, key research problem is violence against WSS, and conducted in ESA countries. The lifetime prevalence of violence revealed in the studies ranged from 21% to 82%. A pattern of generalized violence against WSS from paying clients, male partners, strangers, family members, friends/acquaintances, and the authorities emerged. Factors associated with violence included the context within which the sex work occurs, alcohol use, type of sex exchange interactions, and personal factors (low education, low income, marriage, youth, high client volume, time in sex work, forced sexual debut, and internalized sex work stigma). WSS seldom access services after violence. Evaluations of two programs, a woman-focused HIV intervention, and the Diagonal Interventions to Fast-Forward Reproductive Health project, showed improvements in gender-based violence services. Findings suggest that targeted programmes should be paired with improving general health services and focus on promoting collective agency among WSS.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Reynolds, John H , Delate, Richard
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/441380 , vital:73881 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380231160847"
- Description: Women who sell sex (WSS) are vulnerable to violence. We present a scoping review of the last decade of research on the prevalence and incidence of, factors associated with, and services regarding violence against WSS in Eastern and Southern African (ESA). A systematic search of various databases resulted in 20 papers being reviewed. Inclusion criteria, applied by the first two authors, were as follows: empirical papers, key research problem is violence against WSS, and conducted in ESA countries. The lifetime prevalence of violence revealed in the studies ranged from 21% to 82%. A pattern of generalized violence against WSS from paying clients, male partners, strangers, family members, friends/acquaintances, and the authorities emerged. Factors associated with violence included the context within which the sex work occurs, alcohol use, type of sex exchange interactions, and personal factors (low education, low income, marriage, youth, high client volume, time in sex work, forced sexual debut, and internalized sex work stigma). WSS seldom access services after violence. Evaluations of two programs, a woman-focused HIV intervention, and the Diagonal Interventions to Fast-Forward Reproductive Health project, showed improvements in gender-based violence services. Findings suggest that targeted programmes should be paired with improving general health services and focus on promoting collective agency among WSS.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
Lessons learned from the translation of the Internalised Stigma of Mental Illness (ISMI) scale into isiXhosa for use with South African Xhosa people with schizophrenia
- Matshabane, Olivia P, Appelbaum, Paul S, Faure, Marlyn C, Marshall, Patricia A, Stein, Dan J, de Vries, Jantina, Campbell, Megan M
- Authors: Matshabane, Olivia P , Appelbaum, Paul S , Faure, Marlyn C , Marshall, Patricia A , Stein, Dan J , de Vries, Jantina , Campbell, Megan M
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/450689 , vital:74974 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/13634615231168461"
- Description: Internalised stigma is highly prevalent among people with mental illness. This is concerning because internalised stigma is often associated with negative consequences affecting individuals’ personal, familial, social, and overall wellbeing, employment opportunities and recovery. Currently, there is no psychometrically validated instrument to measure internalised stigma among Xhosa people in their home language. Our study aimed to translate the Internalised Stigma of Mental Illness (ISMI) scale into isiXhosa. Following WHO guidelines, the ISMI scale was translated using a five-stage translation design which included (i) forward-translation, (ii) back-translation, (iii) committee approach, (iv) quantitative piloting, and (v) qualitative piloting using cognitive interviews. The ISMI isiXhosa version (ISMI-X) underwent psychometric testing to establish utility, within-scale validity, convergent, divergent, and content validity (assessed using frequency of endorsements and cognitive interviewing) with n = 65 Xhosa people with schizophrenia. The resultant ISMI-X scale demonstrated good psychometric utility, internal consistency for the overall scale (α = .90) and most subscales (α > .70, except the Stigma Resistance subscale where α = .57), convergent validity between the ISMI Discrimination Experiences subscale and the Discrimination and Stigma (DISC) scale's Treated Unfairly subscale (r = .34, p = .03) and divergent validity between the ISMI Stigma Resistance and DISC Treated Unfairly subscales (r = .13, p = .49). But more importantly the study provides valuable insights into strengths and limitations of the present translation design. Specifically, validation methods such as assessing frequency of endorsements of scale items and using cognitive interviewing to establish conceptual clarity and relevance of items may be useful in small piloting sample sizes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
- Authors: Matshabane, Olivia P , Appelbaum, Paul S , Faure, Marlyn C , Marshall, Patricia A , Stein, Dan J , de Vries, Jantina , Campbell, Megan M
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/450689 , vital:74974 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/13634615231168461"
- Description: Internalised stigma is highly prevalent among people with mental illness. This is concerning because internalised stigma is often associated with negative consequences affecting individuals’ personal, familial, social, and overall wellbeing, employment opportunities and recovery. Currently, there is no psychometrically validated instrument to measure internalised stigma among Xhosa people in their home language. Our study aimed to translate the Internalised Stigma of Mental Illness (ISMI) scale into isiXhosa. Following WHO guidelines, the ISMI scale was translated using a five-stage translation design which included (i) forward-translation, (ii) back-translation, (iii) committee approach, (iv) quantitative piloting, and (v) qualitative piloting using cognitive interviews. The ISMI isiXhosa version (ISMI-X) underwent psychometric testing to establish utility, within-scale validity, convergent, divergent, and content validity (assessed using frequency of endorsements and cognitive interviewing) with n = 65 Xhosa people with schizophrenia. The resultant ISMI-X scale demonstrated good psychometric utility, internal consistency for the overall scale (α = .90) and most subscales (α > .70, except the Stigma Resistance subscale where α = .57), convergent validity between the ISMI Discrimination Experiences subscale and the Discrimination and Stigma (DISC) scale's Treated Unfairly subscale (r = .34, p = .03) and divergent validity between the ISMI Stigma Resistance and DISC Treated Unfairly subscales (r = .13, p = .49). But more importantly the study provides valuable insights into strengths and limitations of the present translation design. Specifically, validation methods such as assessing frequency of endorsements of scale items and using cognitive interviewing to establish conceptual clarity and relevance of items may be useful in small piloting sample sizes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
Looking back to move forward: a scoping review of counselling psychology in South Africa
- Haine, Phillipa, Young, Charles S, Booysen, Duane D
- Authors: Haine, Phillipa , Young, Charles S , Booysen, Duane D
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/454106 , vital:75310 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00812463221091433"
- Description: Despite that counselling psychologists represent a substantial group of registered psychologists in South Africa, literature specifically on the sub-speciality within the country is limited. The aim of this scoping review was to provide a comprehensive summary of the literature available on counselling psychology in South Africa and examine the extent to which literature is available from a lifespan or career-stage perspective. Three electronic databases (EBSCOhost, Sabinet®, and PubMed) were searched for articles published between 2000 and 2021. Titles and abstracts were reviewed, and data extracted and synthesised thematically. Of 507 citations identified, 10 met the inclusion criteria. Findings indicate that literature on counselling psychology in South Africa is scarce, subject to methodological limitations, and dominated by a small number of authors conducting multiple analyses on the same sets of data. Furthermore, literature on counselling psychologists at key career stages across the professional lifespan is largely missing from the professional discourse. Emphasis is instead placed on counselling psychology as embedded in the sociopolitical history of South Africa, professional identity, the contemporary status of the profession, professional threats and challenges, and the profession’s future promise. Our review highlights the need for more empirically informed studies making use of different methodologies, involving multiple authors with diverse backgrounds, tracking employment trends, and soliciting first-person accounts of counselling psychologist’s experiences at key career stages. Without doing so, ideas about how best to support and utilise this particular group of practitioners may be misguided, in turn compromising the successful provision of mental health care within the country.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
- Authors: Haine, Phillipa , Young, Charles S , Booysen, Duane D
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/454106 , vital:75310 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00812463221091433"
- Description: Despite that counselling psychologists represent a substantial group of registered psychologists in South Africa, literature specifically on the sub-speciality within the country is limited. The aim of this scoping review was to provide a comprehensive summary of the literature available on counselling psychology in South Africa and examine the extent to which literature is available from a lifespan or career-stage perspective. Three electronic databases (EBSCOhost, Sabinet®, and PubMed) were searched for articles published between 2000 and 2021. Titles and abstracts were reviewed, and data extracted and synthesised thematically. Of 507 citations identified, 10 met the inclusion criteria. Findings indicate that literature on counselling psychology in South Africa is scarce, subject to methodological limitations, and dominated by a small number of authors conducting multiple analyses on the same sets of data. Furthermore, literature on counselling psychologists at key career stages across the professional lifespan is largely missing from the professional discourse. Emphasis is instead placed on counselling psychology as embedded in the sociopolitical history of South Africa, professional identity, the contemporary status of the profession, professional threats and challenges, and the profession’s future promise. Our review highlights the need for more empirically informed studies making use of different methodologies, involving multiple authors with diverse backgrounds, tracking employment trends, and soliciting first-person accounts of counselling psychologist’s experiences at key career stages. Without doing so, ideas about how best to support and utilise this particular group of practitioners may be misguided, in turn compromising the successful provision of mental health care within the country.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
The double burden of treating traumatic stress in low-resource communities: experiences and perspectives of non-specialist health workers in South Africa
- Booysen, Duane D, Kagee, Ashraf
- Authors: Booysen, Duane D , Kagee, Ashraf
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/454132 , vital:75312 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0081246320984051 "
- Description: Considering the global trend towards the dissemination and implementation of trauma-focused treatments in the majority of the world, it is imperative to ascertain the contextual factors which affect the treatment of traumatic stress, especially in low- and middle-income countries characterised by ongoing adversity such as poverty and increased levels of trauma exposure. We explored the experiences of non-specialist health workers whose work involved providing trauma-focused services in low-resource communities in South Africa. Participants (n = 18) worked at four non-governmental organisations in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape of South Africa. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted and analysed using a phenomenologically informed thematic analysis. Two superordinate themes were identified, namely, adjusting to trauma-focused work and trauma in the social context. Five themes that made up the superordinate themes were Encountering Trauma Narratives, Support and Resilience, Going the Extra Mile, Helplessness, and Social Factors. The findings are not only in keeping with the psychological risks of trauma-focused work (e.g., vicarious traumatisation) but also highlighting the impact of the social context on the provision of trauma-focused work. Participants reported experiencing an added burden of helplessness due to social factors, such as poverty and high levels of trauma exposure, which affect the process of treating traumatic stress in low-resource settings. We discuss how these findings can contribute to efforts to implement trauma-focused services in low- and middle-income countries.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: Booysen, Duane D , Kagee, Ashraf
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/454132 , vital:75312 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0081246320984051 "
- Description: Considering the global trend towards the dissemination and implementation of trauma-focused treatments in the majority of the world, it is imperative to ascertain the contextual factors which affect the treatment of traumatic stress, especially in low- and middle-income countries characterised by ongoing adversity such as poverty and increased levels of trauma exposure. We explored the experiences of non-specialist health workers whose work involved providing trauma-focused services in low-resource communities in South Africa. Participants (n = 18) worked at four non-governmental organisations in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape of South Africa. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted and analysed using a phenomenologically informed thematic analysis. Two superordinate themes were identified, namely, adjusting to trauma-focused work and trauma in the social context. Five themes that made up the superordinate themes were Encountering Trauma Narratives, Support and Resilience, Going the Extra Mile, Helplessness, and Social Factors. The findings are not only in keeping with the psychological risks of trauma-focused work (e.g., vicarious traumatisation) but also highlighting the impact of the social context on the provision of trauma-focused work. Participants reported experiencing an added burden of helplessness due to social factors, such as poverty and high levels of trauma exposure, which affect the process of treating traumatic stress in low-resource settings. We discuss how these findings can contribute to efforts to implement trauma-focused services in low- and middle-income countries.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
Wild swimming methodologies for decolonial feminist justice-to-come scholarship
- Shefer, Tamara, Bozalek, Vivienne
- Authors: Shefer, Tamara , Bozalek, Vivienne
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/426996 , vital:72407 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/014177892110693"
- Description: This article thinks with oceans and swimming, in dialogue with decolonial feminist materialist approaches and other current novel methodologies which foreground embodiment and relational ontologies, in order to consider the conceptual potential of such diffractions for the project of alternative scholarly practices. We focus on swimming in the sea as one form of wild methodology and Slow scholarship that draws on hauntology to think about the possibilities of such methodologies for troubling normative academic practices directed at different ways of being and becoming. Located in the (post-)apartheid space of South African higher education, which continues to follow and reinstate colonial, patriarchal and neoliberal capitalist logics, we ask questions about the silences around material histories of subjugation and violence that are embedded in the institution and the lives of those who enter these spaces. Propositions are made about how a swimming methodology may inspire a consciousness and engagement with intersectional gender hauntings that permeate the material, curricula, relational and affective spaces of academia as part of disrupting and reimagining the university as a space of/for justice and flourishing. We explore the ways in which embodied, affective methodologies in or near the ocean/s may be deployed to subvert and reconfigure, to make and stay with trouble. We therefore propose sea swimming as a powerful way of thinking with the sea in productive and creative ways for scholarship towards a justice-to-come, to open up new imaginaries of scholarship that make a difference.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: Shefer, Tamara , Bozalek, Vivienne
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/426996 , vital:72407 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/014177892110693"
- Description: This article thinks with oceans and swimming, in dialogue with decolonial feminist materialist approaches and other current novel methodologies which foreground embodiment and relational ontologies, in order to consider the conceptual potential of such diffractions for the project of alternative scholarly practices. We focus on swimming in the sea as one form of wild methodology and Slow scholarship that draws on hauntology to think about the possibilities of such methodologies for troubling normative academic practices directed at different ways of being and becoming. Located in the (post-)apartheid space of South African higher education, which continues to follow and reinstate colonial, patriarchal and neoliberal capitalist logics, we ask questions about the silences around material histories of subjugation and violence that are embedded in the institution and the lives of those who enter these spaces. Propositions are made about how a swimming methodology may inspire a consciousness and engagement with intersectional gender hauntings that permeate the material, curricula, relational and affective spaces of academia as part of disrupting and reimagining the university as a space of/for justice and flourishing. We explore the ways in which embodied, affective methodologies in or near the ocean/s may be deployed to subvert and reconfigure, to make and stay with trouble. We therefore propose sea swimming as a powerful way of thinking with the sea in productive and creative ways for scholarship towards a justice-to-come, to open up new imaginaries of scholarship that make a difference.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
Human Papilloma Virus infection and cervical cancer among women who sell sex in Eastern and Southern Africa: A scoping review
- Macleod, Catriona I, Reynolds, John H
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Reynolds, John H
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/441228 , vital:73868 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/17455065211058349"
- Description: Women who sell sex have a high prevalence of human papilloma virus, which may cause cervical cancer. The objective of this review was to collate findings on prevalence, associated factors, screening, service provision and utilization of services in relation to human papilloma virus and cervical cancer among women who sell sex in Eastern and Southern Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Reynolds, John H
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/441228 , vital:73868 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/17455065211058349"
- Description: Women who sell sex have a high prevalence of human papilloma virus, which may cause cervical cancer. The objective of this review was to collate findings on prevalence, associated factors, screening, service provision and utilization of services in relation to human papilloma virus and cervical cancer among women who sell sex in Eastern and Southern Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021
Preliminary effectiveness of brief prolonged exposure therapy for ptsd: expanding access to effective therapies
- Booysen, Duane D, Kagee, Ashraf
- Authors: Booysen, Duane D , Kagee, Ashraf
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/454121 , vital:75311 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/15346501211017989"
- Description: Over the last three decades, several empirically supported trauma therapies have been developed to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Yet issues such as access to treatments and dropout are ongoing barriers to adequate dissemination and implementation, especially in low resource settings. To this end, we present results on the preliminary effectiveness of a brief prolonged exposure therapy (PE) for PTSD in South Africa, a low resource setting. Based on a case-series design, seven participants (n = 7) from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds were recruited and started a six-session brief PE for PTSD and co-morbid depression and anxiety. To examine the treatment outcomes, participants were assessed at baseline, during treatment, post-intervention, and at 3-month follow-up. Overall, brief PE reduced symptoms of PTSD, depression, and anxiety from baseline to post-intervention, and at 3-month follow-up. A downward trend in symptoms was evident during treatment, with slight symptom variations during exposure sessions. In conclusion, a six-session brief PE intervention produced positive outcomes for PTSD, depression, and anxiety at two community counseling centers in South Africa. We reflect on the implementation of brief PE in a South African context.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021
- Authors: Booysen, Duane D , Kagee, Ashraf
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/454121 , vital:75311 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/15346501211017989"
- Description: Over the last three decades, several empirically supported trauma therapies have been developed to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Yet issues such as access to treatments and dropout are ongoing barriers to adequate dissemination and implementation, especially in low resource settings. To this end, we present results on the preliminary effectiveness of a brief prolonged exposure therapy (PE) for PTSD in South Africa, a low resource setting. Based on a case-series design, seven participants (n = 7) from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds were recruited and started a six-session brief PE for PTSD and co-morbid depression and anxiety. To examine the treatment outcomes, participants were assessed at baseline, during treatment, post-intervention, and at 3-month follow-up. Overall, brief PE reduced symptoms of PTSD, depression, and anxiety from baseline to post-intervention, and at 3-month follow-up. A downward trend in symptoms was evident during treatment, with slight symptom variations during exposure sessions. In conclusion, a six-session brief PE intervention produced positive outcomes for PTSD, depression, and anxiety at two community counseling centers in South Africa. We reflect on the implementation of brief PE in a South African context.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021
The shame of drinking alcohol while pregnant: The production of avoidance and ill-health
- Matebese, Sibongile, Macleod, Catriona I, Tsetse, A Nontozamo
- Authors: Matebese, Sibongile , Macleod, Catriona I , Tsetse, A Nontozamo
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/441360 , vital:73880 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0886109920985139"
- Description: In this article, we examine the operation of shame in the alcohol use habits of pregnant women and the responses of their families and associated institutions. Using a narrative–discursive approach, we interviewed 13 women, living in a low-resource setting in South Africa, who had consumed alcohol while pregnant. Narratives showed how both the act of drinking and “inappropriately” timed pregnancy (early and out of wedlock) were judged to be unacceptable. Women who engaged in these activities were positioned as bad mothers or promiscuous. Their actions were seen as resulting in the suffering of others—the future child, the family, and even the community. These narratives were underpinned by cultural and religious discourses. Women managed the shame accruing to them through avoidance and concealment; families instructed women to self-exclude or distanced themselves from the women’s behavior; and institutions subtly or overtly excluded women. The shaming of these women, and the mechanisms by which such shame was managed, did little to decrease drinking or to increase maternal health and welfare. Overall, this article demonstrates how the shame of drinking alcohol during pregnancy produces avoidance behavior, concealment, and exclusion, which are not constructive in terms of maternal health and well-being. The implications for a feminist narrative approach to drinking during pregnancy are outlined: moving beyond a focus on individual behavior change to locating personal stories within the meta-narratives and social discourses that shape pregnant women’s lives.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021
- Authors: Matebese, Sibongile , Macleod, Catriona I , Tsetse, A Nontozamo
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/441360 , vital:73880 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0886109920985139"
- Description: In this article, we examine the operation of shame in the alcohol use habits of pregnant women and the responses of their families and associated institutions. Using a narrative–discursive approach, we interviewed 13 women, living in a low-resource setting in South Africa, who had consumed alcohol while pregnant. Narratives showed how both the act of drinking and “inappropriately” timed pregnancy (early and out of wedlock) were judged to be unacceptable. Women who engaged in these activities were positioned as bad mothers or promiscuous. Their actions were seen as resulting in the suffering of others—the future child, the family, and even the community. These narratives were underpinned by cultural and religious discourses. Women managed the shame accruing to them through avoidance and concealment; families instructed women to self-exclude or distanced themselves from the women’s behavior; and institutions subtly or overtly excluded women. The shaming of these women, and the mechanisms by which such shame was managed, did little to decrease drinking or to increase maternal health and welfare. Overall, this article demonstrates how the shame of drinking alcohol during pregnancy produces avoidance behavior, concealment, and exclusion, which are not constructive in terms of maternal health and well-being. The implications for a feminist narrative approach to drinking during pregnancy are outlined: moving beyond a focus on individual behavior change to locating personal stories within the meta-narratives and social discourses that shape pregnant women’s lives.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021
‘Bad choices’: Unintended pregnancy and abortion in nurses’ and counsellors’ accounts of providing pre-abortion counselling
- Mavuso, Jabulile M-J J, Macleod, Catriona I
- Authors: Mavuso, Jabulile M-J J , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/444139 , vital:74195 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1363459320988873"
- Description: Little research tackles healthcare providers’ experiences in conducting pre-abortion counselling sessions in circumstances where pregnant persons may request an abortion. We report on a study conducted in South Africa, in which two nurses and two counsellors were asked about how they conduct these counselling sessions. Using a synthetic narrative approach, we present these health workers’ micro-narratives about their motivations for providing abortion services, the purpose of the counselling, their information-giving practices, and whether and how third parties are included in the counselling. We highlight how these micro-narratives are premised on discursive resources that problematise unintended pregnancy and abortion. These resources enable and justify directive counselling that undermines pregnant peoples’ reproductive autonomy. We locate such directiveness within dominant anti-abortion discourse and call for training to reframe normative understandings of abortion.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021
- Authors: Mavuso, Jabulile M-J J , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/444139 , vital:74195 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1363459320988873"
- Description: Little research tackles healthcare providers’ experiences in conducting pre-abortion counselling sessions in circumstances where pregnant persons may request an abortion. We report on a study conducted in South Africa, in which two nurses and two counsellors were asked about how they conduct these counselling sessions. Using a synthetic narrative approach, we present these health workers’ micro-narratives about their motivations for providing abortion services, the purpose of the counselling, their information-giving practices, and whether and how third parties are included in the counselling. We highlight how these micro-narratives are premised on discursive resources that problematise unintended pregnancy and abortion. These resources enable and justify directive counselling that undermines pregnant peoples’ reproductive autonomy. We locate such directiveness within dominant anti-abortion discourse and call for training to reframe normative understandings of abortion.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021
Feminisms and decolonising psychology: Possibilities and challenges
- Macleod, Catriona I, Bhatia, Sunil, Liu, Wen
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Bhatia, Sunil , Liu, Wen
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/444314 , vital:74218 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353520932810"
- Description: In this special issue, we bring together papers that speak to feminisms in relation to decolonisation in the discipline of psychology. The six articles and two book reviews address a range of issues: race, citizenship, emancipatory politics, practising decolonial refusal, normalising slippery subjectivity, Islamic anti-patriarchal liberation psychology, and decolonisation of the hijab. In this editorial we outline the papers’ contributions to discussions on understanding decolonisation, how feminisms and decolonisation speak to each other, and the implications of the papers for feminist decolonising psychology. Together the papers highlight the importance of undermining the gendered coloniality of power, knowledge and being. The interweaving of feminisms and decolonising efforts can be achieved through: each mutually informing and shaping the other, conducting intersectional analyses, and drawing on transnational feminisms. Guiding principles for feminist decolonising psychology include: undermining the patriarchal colonialist legacy of mainstream psychological science; connecting gendered coloniality with other systems of power such as globalisation; investigating topics that surface the intertwining of colonialist and gendered power relations; using research methods that dovetail with feminist decolonising psychology; and focussing praxis on issues that enable decolonisation. Given the complexities of the coloniality and patriarchy of power-knowledge-being, feminist decolonising psychology may fail. The issues raised in this special issue point to why it mustn’t.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Bhatia, Sunil , Liu, Wen
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/444314 , vital:74218 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353520932810"
- Description: In this special issue, we bring together papers that speak to feminisms in relation to decolonisation in the discipline of psychology. The six articles and two book reviews address a range of issues: race, citizenship, emancipatory politics, practising decolonial refusal, normalising slippery subjectivity, Islamic anti-patriarchal liberation psychology, and decolonisation of the hijab. In this editorial we outline the papers’ contributions to discussions on understanding decolonisation, how feminisms and decolonisation speak to each other, and the implications of the papers for feminist decolonising psychology. Together the papers highlight the importance of undermining the gendered coloniality of power, knowledge and being. The interweaving of feminisms and decolonising efforts can be achieved through: each mutually informing and shaping the other, conducting intersectional analyses, and drawing on transnational feminisms. Guiding principles for feminist decolonising psychology include: undermining the patriarchal colonialist legacy of mainstream psychological science; connecting gendered coloniality with other systems of power such as globalisation; investigating topics that surface the intertwining of colonialist and gendered power relations; using research methods that dovetail with feminist decolonising psychology; and focussing praxis on issues that enable decolonisation. Given the complexities of the coloniality and patriarchy of power-knowledge-being, feminist decolonising psychology may fail. The issues raised in this special issue point to why it mustn’t.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
A critical review of sanctioned knowledge production concerning abortion in Africa: Implications for feminist health psychology
- Macleod, Catriona I, Chiweshe, Malvern T, Mavuso, Jabulile M-J J
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Chiweshe, Malvern T , Mavuso, Jabulile M-J J
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/444212 , vital:74207 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105316644294"
- Description: Taking a feminist health psychology approach, we conducted a systematic review of published research on abortion featured in PsycINFO over a 7-year period. We analysed the 39 articles included in the review in terms of countries in which the research was conducted, types of research, issues covered, the way the research was framed and main findings. Despite 97per cent of abortions performed in Africa being classifiable as unsafe, there has been no engagement in knowledge production about abortion in Africa from psychologists, outside of South Africa. Given this, we outline the implications of the current knowledge base for feminism, psychology and feminist health psychology in Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Chiweshe, Malvern T , Mavuso, Jabulile M-J J
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/444212 , vital:74207 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105316644294"
- Description: Taking a feminist health psychology approach, we conducted a systematic review of published research on abortion featured in PsycINFO over a 7-year period. We analysed the 39 articles included in the review in terms of countries in which the research was conducted, types of research, issues covered, the way the research was framed and main findings. Despite 97per cent of abortions performed in Africa being classifiable as unsafe, there has been no engagement in knowledge production about abortion in Africa from psychologists, outside of South Africa. Given this, we outline the implications of the current knowledge base for feminism, psychology and feminist health psychology in Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
The case for collation to inform debate and transform practice in decolonising Psychology
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/444397 , vital:74225 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0081246318784508"
- Description: Critiques of the ‘relevance’ of Psychology in South Africa and Africa have been raging for a number of decades now. Recent debates about decolonising Psychology and what is meant by African Psychology have been rigorous and necessary. In this commentary, I argue that in order for Psychology to move beyond Euro-American-centric epistemology and practice, these efforts need to be supplemented with the grounded praxis of research and literature collation. The epistemological, empirical, and conceptual knowledges that have been generated within the South African, African, and Global South contexts need to be brought together in coherent forms. As with other analytical processes, the grounded praxis of collating knowledges around a particular topic or approach allows for fresh insights and for the transfer of knowledges generated in context. Gaps in current research may be identified, debates on particular issues strengthened, and practice potentially improved. Drawing on two examples – textbooks and systematic literature reviews – and from my and colleagues’ work in conducting these kinds of collation work, I argue that: textbook writers should use grounded methodologies to generate texts based on South African, African, and Global South research, with reference to research conducted in the Global North being peripheral at best; and systematic reviews enable the cross-fertilisation of ideas from other social science research where psychological research is sparse. Funders should consider funding collation efforts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/444397 , vital:74225 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0081246318784508"
- Description: Critiques of the ‘relevance’ of Psychology in South Africa and Africa have been raging for a number of decades now. Recent debates about decolonising Psychology and what is meant by African Psychology have been rigorous and necessary. In this commentary, I argue that in order for Psychology to move beyond Euro-American-centric epistemology and practice, these efforts need to be supplemented with the grounded praxis of research and literature collation. The epistemological, empirical, and conceptual knowledges that have been generated within the South African, African, and Global South contexts need to be brought together in coherent forms. As with other analytical processes, the grounded praxis of collating knowledges around a particular topic or approach allows for fresh insights and for the transfer of knowledges generated in context. Gaps in current research may be identified, debates on particular issues strengthened, and practice potentially improved. Drawing on two examples – textbooks and systematic literature reviews – and from my and colleagues’ work in conducting these kinds of collation work, I argue that: textbook writers should use grounded methodologies to generate texts based on South African, African, and Global South research, with reference to research conducted in the Global North being peripheral at best; and systematic reviews enable the cross-fertilisation of ideas from other social science research where psychological research is sparse. Funders should consider funding collation efforts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Abortion embedded and embodied in social relations: Challenges for feminist psychology
- Marecek, Jeanne, Macleod, Catriona I, Hoggart, Lesley
- Authors: Marecek, Jeanne , Macleod, Catriona I , Hoggart, Lesley
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/444223 , vital:74208 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353517704877"
- Description: Public health and rights-based approaches to abortion advocacy are well established. Feminists are, however, increasingly using a broader framework of ‘reproductive justice’, which considers the intersecting conditions that serve to enhance or hinder women’s reproductive freedoms, including their capacities to decide about the outcome of their pregnancies. Nonetheless, reproductive justice approaches to abortion are, conceptually, relatively under-developed. We introduce a reparative justice approach as a method of further articulating the concept of reproductive justice. We first explain how this approach can be used to conceptualise safe, accessible and supportive abortion as a key element of reproductive justice in relation to the injustice of unwanted or unsupportable pregnancies. Using Ernesto Verdeja’s critical theory of reparative justice and case studies of two countries (South Africa and Great Britain) where abortion is legal, we show how such an approach enables an analysis of reproductive justice within the specificities of particular contexts. We argue that both the rights-based legal framework adopted in South Africa and the medicalised approach of British law have, in practice, limited reparative justice in these contexts. We discuss the implications of reparative justice for abortion advocacy.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Marecek, Jeanne , Macleod, Catriona I , Hoggart, Lesley
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/444223 , vital:74208 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353517704877"
- Description: Public health and rights-based approaches to abortion advocacy are well established. Feminists are, however, increasingly using a broader framework of ‘reproductive justice’, which considers the intersecting conditions that serve to enhance or hinder women’s reproductive freedoms, including their capacities to decide about the outcome of their pregnancies. Nonetheless, reproductive justice approaches to abortion are, conceptually, relatively under-developed. We introduce a reparative justice approach as a method of further articulating the concept of reproductive justice. We first explain how this approach can be used to conceptualise safe, accessible and supportive abortion as a key element of reproductive justice in relation to the injustice of unwanted or unsupportable pregnancies. Using Ernesto Verdeja’s critical theory of reparative justice and case studies of two countries (South Africa and Great Britain) where abortion is legal, we show how such an approach enables an analysis of reproductive justice within the specificities of particular contexts. We argue that both the rights-based legal framework adopted in South Africa and the medicalised approach of British law have, in practice, limited reparative justice in these contexts. We discuss the implications of reparative justice for abortion advocacy.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Abortion in legal, social, and healthcare contexts
- Marecek, Jeanne, Macleod, Catriona I, Hoggart, Lesley
- Authors: Marecek, Jeanne , Macleod, Catriona I , Hoggart, Lesley
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68478 , vital:29262 , https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353516689521
- Description: Publisher version , From Introduction: The subject of abortion is both timely and of high relevance to feminists. In the past few months, women’s access to abortion has been contested in various parts of the world. In many countries in Latin America, the Zika outbreak raised the demand for abortions among pregnant women who had contracted (or feared contracting) the virus, with its risk of severe foetal abnormalities. In Poland, mass demonstrations by women succeeded in turning back proposed legislation prohibiting abortions. The outcome of the U.S. elections in late 2016 raised grave concerns about the future of American women’s access to abortion, which was already limited by stringent regulations and funding restrictions. We chose the title ‘‘Abortion in Context’’ to signal that we sought to publish work that moved beyond examining abortion as a ‘‘stress experience’’ encountered by individual women or as a possible precursor of mental illness. Our goal was to assemble a set of articles that would prompt readers to think critically about practices and discourses surrounding abortion. We further hoped to include work that would address the meanings and practices of abortion in the global South and among minoritized groups in the global North. We were pleased by the enthusiastic response to our Call for Papers. We note that Eklund and Purewal (2017, this issue) address abortion in China and India. Thoradeniya’s (2017, this issue) review of Abortion in Asia (Whittaker, 2010) provides a glimpse of the complex and varied practices, policies, and experiences of abortion in parts of South and Southeast Asia. Chiweshe, Mavuso, and Macleod (whose work will appear in Part 2 of the Special Issue) take up abortion in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Le Grice and Braun (whose work will also appear in Part 2), examine Maori perspectives on abortion. In this Part 1 of the Special Issue, we present work that locates abortion practices and policies in legal, social, and healthcare contexts. Women’s efforts to exercise agency with regard to bodily integrity in the context of pregnancy are shaped most obviously by the legal regulations in the jurisdictions where they live, but they are also shaped by social and cultural issues, biotechnological advances, and healthcare systems. The articles offer detailed examinations of some of these complex contextual framings of abortion.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Marecek, Jeanne , Macleod, Catriona I , Hoggart, Lesley
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68478 , vital:29262 , https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353516689521
- Description: Publisher version , From Introduction: The subject of abortion is both timely and of high relevance to feminists. In the past few months, women’s access to abortion has been contested in various parts of the world. In many countries in Latin America, the Zika outbreak raised the demand for abortions among pregnant women who had contracted (or feared contracting) the virus, with its risk of severe foetal abnormalities. In Poland, mass demonstrations by women succeeded in turning back proposed legislation prohibiting abortions. The outcome of the U.S. elections in late 2016 raised grave concerns about the future of American women’s access to abortion, which was already limited by stringent regulations and funding restrictions. We chose the title ‘‘Abortion in Context’’ to signal that we sought to publish work that moved beyond examining abortion as a ‘‘stress experience’’ encountered by individual women or as a possible precursor of mental illness. Our goal was to assemble a set of articles that would prompt readers to think critically about practices and discourses surrounding abortion. We further hoped to include work that would address the meanings and practices of abortion in the global South and among minoritized groups in the global North. We were pleased by the enthusiastic response to our Call for Papers. We note that Eklund and Purewal (2017, this issue) address abortion in China and India. Thoradeniya’s (2017, this issue) review of Abortion in Asia (Whittaker, 2010) provides a glimpse of the complex and varied practices, policies, and experiences of abortion in parts of South and Southeast Asia. Chiweshe, Mavuso, and Macleod (whose work will appear in Part 2 of the Special Issue) take up abortion in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Le Grice and Braun (whose work will also appear in Part 2), examine Maori perspectives on abortion. In this Part 1 of the Special Issue, we present work that locates abortion practices and policies in legal, social, and healthcare contexts. Women’s efforts to exercise agency with regard to bodily integrity in the context of pregnancy are shaped most obviously by the legal regulations in the jurisdictions where they live, but they are also shaped by social and cultural issues, biotechnological advances, and healthcare systems. The articles offer detailed examinations of some of these complex contextual framings of abortion.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Reproductive justice in context: South African and Zimbabwean women’s narratives of their abortion decision
- Chiweshe, Malvern T, Mavuso, Jabulile M-J J, Macleod, Catriona I
- Authors: Chiweshe, Malvern T , Mavuso, Jabulile M-J J , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/444371 , vital:74223 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353517699234"
- Description: The abortion decision-making process is embedded within overlapping power relations. Using a post-colonial feminist framework, we analyse South African and Zimbabwean women’s narratives regarding their abortion decision. As neighbouring countries, South Africa and Zimbabwe provide a useful counterpoint as they have common and differing social histories and very different abortion legislation. In our analysis, we unpick transversal commonalities and divergences in the discursive resources deployed by the women in their narratives in the two sites. Commonalities included the women feeling compelled to justify their abortion decision in the interactive interview space, an absence of a reproductive rights discourse, and the deployment of relationship embedded discourses in the justificatory work performed by the women. The ‘‘conjugalisation of reproduction’’, ‘‘imperative of good mothering’’, and ‘‘unstable partner relationships’’ discourses featured across both sites but the manner in which these were deployed differed. These discursive resources allowed the women to position themselves as making responsible decisions. The Zimbabwean women spoke of shame and hiding, a discursive resource that was explicitly absent in the South African women’s accounts. We conclude by arguing that our post-colonial feminist approach allows for a contextualised reproductive justice stance to abortion decision-making that identifies both transnational and context-specific power relations.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Chiweshe, Malvern T , Mavuso, Jabulile M-J J , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/444371 , vital:74223 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353517699234"
- Description: The abortion decision-making process is embedded within overlapping power relations. Using a post-colonial feminist framework, we analyse South African and Zimbabwean women’s narratives regarding their abortion decision. As neighbouring countries, South Africa and Zimbabwe provide a useful counterpoint as they have common and differing social histories and very different abortion legislation. In our analysis, we unpick transversal commonalities and divergences in the discursive resources deployed by the women in their narratives in the two sites. Commonalities included the women feeling compelled to justify their abortion decision in the interactive interview space, an absence of a reproductive rights discourse, and the deployment of relationship embedded discourses in the justificatory work performed by the women. The ‘‘conjugalisation of reproduction’’, ‘‘imperative of good mothering’’, and ‘‘unstable partner relationships’’ discourses featured across both sites but the manner in which these were deployed differed. These discursive resources allowed the women to position themselves as making responsible decisions. The Zimbabwean women spoke of shame and hiding, a discursive resource that was explicitly absent in the South African women’s accounts. We conclude by arguing that our post-colonial feminist approach allows for a contextualised reproductive justice stance to abortion decision-making that identifies both transnational and context-specific power relations.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
How content analysis may complement and extend the insights of discourse analysis: An example of research on constructions of abortion in South African newspapers 1978–2005
- Feltham-King, Tracey, Macleod, Catriona I
- Authors: Feltham-King, Tracey , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/446258 , vital:74485 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406915624575"
- Description: Although discourse analysis is a well-established qualitative research methodology, little attention has been paid to how discourse analysis may be enhanced through careful supplementation with the quantification allowed in content analysis. In this article, we report on a research study that involved the use of both Foucauldian discourse analysis (FDA) and directed content analysis based on social constructionist theory and our qualitative research findings. The research focused on the discourses deployed, and the ways in which women were discursively positioned, in relation to abortion in 300 newspaper articles, published in 25 national and regional South African newspapers over 28 years, from 1978 to 2005. While the FDA was able to illuminate the constitutive network of power relations constructing women as subjects of a particular kind, questions emerged that were beyond the scope of the FDA. These questions concerned understanding the relative weightings of various discourses and tracing historical changes in the deployment of these discourses. In this article, we show how the decision to combine FDA and content analysis affected our sampling methodology. Using specific examples, we illustrate the contribution of the FDA to the study. Then, we indicate how subject positioning formed the link between the FDA and the content analysis. Drawing on the same examples, we demonstrate how the content analysis supplemented the FDA through tracking changes over time and providing empirical evidence of the extent to which subject positionings were deployed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Feltham-King, Tracey , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/446258 , vital:74485 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406915624575"
- Description: Although discourse analysis is a well-established qualitative research methodology, little attention has been paid to how discourse analysis may be enhanced through careful supplementation with the quantification allowed in content analysis. In this article, we report on a research study that involved the use of both Foucauldian discourse analysis (FDA) and directed content analysis based on social constructionist theory and our qualitative research findings. The research focused on the discourses deployed, and the ways in which women were discursively positioned, in relation to abortion in 300 newspaper articles, published in 25 national and regional South African newspapers over 28 years, from 1978 to 2005. While the FDA was able to illuminate the constitutive network of power relations constructing women as subjects of a particular kind, questions emerged that were beyond the scope of the FDA. These questions concerned understanding the relative weightings of various discourses and tracing historical changes in the deployment of these discourses. In this article, we show how the decision to combine FDA and content analysis affected our sampling methodology. Using specific examples, we illustrate the contribution of the FDA to the study. Then, we indicate how subject positioning formed the link between the FDA and the content analysis. Drawing on the same examples, we demonstrate how the content analysis supplemented the FDA through tracking changes over time and providing empirical evidence of the extent to which subject positionings were deployed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Introducing State of the Discipline Papers
- Macleod, Catriona I, Capdevila, Rose, Marecek, Jeanne
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Capdevila, Rose , Marecek, Jeanne
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/446272 , vital:74486 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353516649724"
- Description: The editors of Feminism and Psychology are delighted to introduce the first of our State of the Discipline papers. Twenty-five years have passed since the establishment of FandP. Significant work in feminist psychology and in feminisms relevant to psychology has been published both in this jour-nal and in others since (and before) the establishment of FandP. The range of topics that feminists in psychology consider has expanded and the reach of feminist studies has broadened. In light of the dynamic growth of the field, we believe that the time is ripe to establish what we have termed ‘State of the Discipline’ papers. We envision this series as a collection of occasional papers pertaining to particular topics or issues. What, we ask, is the current state of a specific topic within feminisms and psychologies? The State of the Discipline papers, written by scholars with a long-standing engagement with the topic, are neither empirical articles nor literature re-views. Instead, the papers are intended to apprise readers of the current state of knowledge about the topic, drawing on the literatures of both psy-chology and feminist studies. The articles: summarise key developments; point out areas of conceptual and methodological debate among feminist scholars; open up the topic to further scrutiny and new ways of understand-ing; and promote nuanced work in the field.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Capdevila, Rose , Marecek, Jeanne
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/446272 , vital:74486 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353516649724"
- Description: The editors of Feminism and Psychology are delighted to introduce the first of our State of the Discipline papers. Twenty-five years have passed since the establishment of FandP. Significant work in feminist psychology and in feminisms relevant to psychology has been published both in this jour-nal and in others since (and before) the establishment of FandP. The range of topics that feminists in psychology consider has expanded and the reach of feminist studies has broadened. In light of the dynamic growth of the field, we believe that the time is ripe to establish what we have termed ‘State of the Discipline’ papers. We envision this series as a collection of occasional papers pertaining to particular topics or issues. What, we ask, is the current state of a specific topic within feminisms and psychologies? The State of the Discipline papers, written by scholars with a long-standing engagement with the topic, are neither empirical articles nor literature re-views. Instead, the papers are intended to apprise readers of the current state of knowledge about the topic, drawing on the literatures of both psy-chology and feminist studies. The articles: summarise key developments; point out areas of conceptual and methodological debate among feminist scholars; open up the topic to further scrutiny and new ways of understand-ing; and promote nuanced work in the field.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Stigma resistance in online childfree communities: The limitations of choice rhetoric
- Morison, Tracy, Macleod, Catriona I, Lynch, Ingrid, Shivakumar, Seemanthini T
- Authors: Morison, Tracy , Macleod, Catriona I , Lynch, Ingrid , Shivakumar, Seemanthini T
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/446299 , vital:74488 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684315603657"
- Description: People who are voluntarily childless, or ‘‘childfree,’’ face considerable stigma. Researchers have begun to explore how these individuals respond to stigma, usually focusing on interpersonal stigma management strategies. We explored participants’ responses to stigma in a way that is cognisant of broader social norms and gender power relations. Using a feminist discursive psychology framework, we analysed women’s and men’s computer-assisted communication about their childfree status. Our analysis draws attention to ‘‘identity work’’ in the context of stigma. We show how the strategic use of ‘‘choice’’ rhetoric allowed participants to avoid stigmatised identities and was used in two contradictory ways. On the one hand, participants drew on a ‘‘childfree-by-choice script,’’ which enabled them to hold a positive identity of themselves as autonomous, rational, and responsible decision makers. On the other hand, they mobilised a ‘‘disavowal of choice script’’ that allowed a person who is unable to choose childlessness (for various reasons) to hold a blameless identity regarding deviation from the norm of parenthood. We demonstrate how choice rhetoric allowed participants to resist stigma and challenge pronatalism to some extent; we discuss the political potential of these scripts for reproductive freedom.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Morison, Tracy , Macleod, Catriona I , Lynch, Ingrid , Shivakumar, Seemanthini T
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/446299 , vital:74488 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684315603657"
- Description: People who are voluntarily childless, or ‘‘childfree,’’ face considerable stigma. Researchers have begun to explore how these individuals respond to stigma, usually focusing on interpersonal stigma management strategies. We explored participants’ responses to stigma in a way that is cognisant of broader social norms and gender power relations. Using a feminist discursive psychology framework, we analysed women’s and men’s computer-assisted communication about their childfree status. Our analysis draws attention to ‘‘identity work’’ in the context of stigma. We show how the strategic use of ‘‘choice’’ rhetoric allowed participants to avoid stigmatised identities and was used in two contradictory ways. On the one hand, participants drew on a ‘‘childfree-by-choice script,’’ which enabled them to hold a positive identity of themselves as autonomous, rational, and responsible decision makers. On the other hand, they mobilised a ‘‘disavowal of choice script’’ that allowed a person who is unable to choose childlessness (for various reasons) to hold a blameless identity regarding deviation from the norm of parenthood. We demonstrate how choice rhetoric allowed participants to resist stigma and challenge pronatalism to some extent; we discuss the political potential of these scripts for reproductive freedom.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Deconstructing Developmental Psychology–Twenty years on: Reflections, implications and empirical work
- Callaghan, A A Jane, Macleod, Catriona I
- Authors: Callaghan, A A Jane , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/446231 , vital:74483 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353513495213"
- Description: Erica Burman’s book Deconstructing Developmental Psychology (DDP), which appeared in first edition in 1994 and in second edition in 2008, critically appraised mainstream psychology’s approaches to child development, using feminist and post-structuralist theory. In it she examines the historical contingencies and cultural assumptions that form the conditions of possibility for the elaboration of the various Developmental Psychology approaches. She shows how these approaches form powerful discursive resources in regulating women and families, in marginalizing working class and ethnic minority people, and in pathologizing mothers. In this special focus, to appear over three issues, we seek to unpack the impact of the book since its first publication 20 years ago.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Callaghan, A A Jane , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/446231 , vital:74483 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353513495213"
- Description: Erica Burman’s book Deconstructing Developmental Psychology (DDP), which appeared in first edition in 1994 and in second edition in 2008, critically appraised mainstream psychology’s approaches to child development, using feminist and post-structuralist theory. In it she examines the historical contingencies and cultural assumptions that form the conditions of possibility for the elaboration of the various Developmental Psychology approaches. She shows how these approaches form powerful discursive resources in regulating women and families, in marginalizing working class and ethnic minority people, and in pathologizing mothers. In this special focus, to appear over three issues, we seek to unpack the impact of the book since its first publication 20 years ago.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013