Listening otherwise in the face of gender-based violence in South Africa: a critical exploration of the listening deficiencies in public narratives and a listening-based framework for healing and social change
- Authors: Bombi, Thandi
- Date: 2025-04-02
- Subjects: Gender-based violence , Rhetoric Social aspects , Interviewing in journalism , Facilitation , Social change
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/478515 , vital:78193 , DOI 10.21504/10962/478515
- Description: South Africa has one of the highest rates of gender-based violence (GBV) in the world. This includes femicide, rape and intimate partner violence. Scholars and activists in the space of GBV have challenged society to alter the way we have been taught to engage with rape and gender-based violence. Despite many interventions, gender-based violence remains an intractable social problem. This study uses Lipari’s (2014) concept of “listening otherwise” to respond to the challenge. By interrogating how South Africa’s violent history and patriarchal society has been normalised, the study attempts to see beyond the narrow ideas prescribed by the country’s history and violent cultures. This study uses the grounded theory approach (Glaser & Strauss 1967) to investigate the relationship between listening and gender-based violence in South Africa. The concept of “listening otherwise” is explored alongside the concepts “voice”, “speak out” and “break the silence” that are the most visible and codified strategies in the fight against gender-based violence. Following the exploration, the study then develops a theoretical and methodological framework for “listening otherwise” in the spaces, fields, and engagements that deal with gender-based violence in South Africa. The two central questions of the study ask; how do we reshape the collective emotional response to patriarchal structural violence? And furthermore, how do we listen otherwise when faced with experiences of gender-based violence in South Africa? The data used to construct the framework includes in-depth interviews, studies of actual cases, academic literature, news interviews and newspaper articles. There are a multitude of ways in which people are talking about gender-based violence, exposing perpetrators and “breaking the silence”. There is, in fact, no silence around rape, gender-based violence and femicide. The silence exists around engagements about gender, misogyny and patriarchy when discussing the causes of gendered violence in the country. This research found that the public’s listening practices around gender-based violence are shaped by patriarchal cultures and rape myths which are endemic in media discourses, legal discourses and in general social talk. Building a caring society, in which people play and use restorative justice practices, may alter the communal listening practices and have an impact on the public response to gender-based violence. The framework for listening otherwise, that emerged as a result of the research, is a contribution to listening scholarship and the activism against gender-based violence. The framework considered various aspects of listening and the field of gender-based violence and arrived at six conceptual considerations and six actions for listening otherwise. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Journalism and Media Studies, 2025
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- Authors: Bombi, Thandi
- Date: 2025-04-02
- Subjects: Gender-based violence , Rhetoric Social aspects , Interviewing in journalism , Facilitation , Social change
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/478515 , vital:78193 , DOI 10.21504/10962/478515
- Description: South Africa has one of the highest rates of gender-based violence (GBV) in the world. This includes femicide, rape and intimate partner violence. Scholars and activists in the space of GBV have challenged society to alter the way we have been taught to engage with rape and gender-based violence. Despite many interventions, gender-based violence remains an intractable social problem. This study uses Lipari’s (2014) concept of “listening otherwise” to respond to the challenge. By interrogating how South Africa’s violent history and patriarchal society has been normalised, the study attempts to see beyond the narrow ideas prescribed by the country’s history and violent cultures. This study uses the grounded theory approach (Glaser & Strauss 1967) to investigate the relationship between listening and gender-based violence in South Africa. The concept of “listening otherwise” is explored alongside the concepts “voice”, “speak out” and “break the silence” that are the most visible and codified strategies in the fight against gender-based violence. Following the exploration, the study then develops a theoretical and methodological framework for “listening otherwise” in the spaces, fields, and engagements that deal with gender-based violence in South Africa. The two central questions of the study ask; how do we reshape the collective emotional response to patriarchal structural violence? And furthermore, how do we listen otherwise when faced with experiences of gender-based violence in South Africa? The data used to construct the framework includes in-depth interviews, studies of actual cases, academic literature, news interviews and newspaper articles. There are a multitude of ways in which people are talking about gender-based violence, exposing perpetrators and “breaking the silence”. There is, in fact, no silence around rape, gender-based violence and femicide. The silence exists around engagements about gender, misogyny and patriarchy when discussing the causes of gendered violence in the country. This research found that the public’s listening practices around gender-based violence are shaped by patriarchal cultures and rape myths which are endemic in media discourses, legal discourses and in general social talk. Building a caring society, in which people play and use restorative justice practices, may alter the communal listening practices and have an impact on the public response to gender-based violence. The framework for listening otherwise, that emerged as a result of the research, is a contribution to listening scholarship and the activism against gender-based violence. The framework considered various aspects of listening and the field of gender-based violence and arrived at six conceptual considerations and six actions for listening otherwise. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Journalism and Media Studies, 2025
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The making of masculinities: the hidden curriculum about Gender-Based Violence and Rape Culture at an elite private school in South Africa
- Authors: Talbot, Alexandreo Zinhle
- Date: 2024-10-11
- Subjects: Masculinity South Africa , Private schools South Africa , Rape culture , Gender-based violence , Hegemony , High school students Attitudes , Hierarchies
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/466038 , vital:76679
- Description: This study examines the formation of ‘ruling class’ masculinities and their relationship to gender-based violence (GBV) and rape culture at an elite private school (called Blue School for the purposes of this study). Through interviews with alumni, the research explores the recollections and narratives of young men in terms of how they navigated and experienced masculine identity formation in the school context during their adolescence, and also deciphers their awareness regarding GBV and rape culture. The findings demonstrate that identity formation within the school studied is complex and often reflected as a Western-centric masculinity drenched in heteronormativity. This is captured through the shared experiences alumni of the school regarding their adherence to traditional values, submission to hierarchical structures, collective mockery of vulnerability and the instillation of competitive individualism. The alumni speak to the ways in which boyhood and gender are conceptualised through the taught curriculum, contrasted with the hidden scripts of masculinities in the boarding school environment. The complex interplay between institutional culture and the formation of gender identities shows a superficial adherence to progressive ideals, unveiling the entrenched hegemonic practices that reinforce restrictive norms. Most alumni expressed a sense of living in an isolated bubble, where wrongdoings are swept under the carpet. Through these practices, elite private schools depict institutional blindness as an entangled strategy to protect institutional reputation and capital. Insinuating irrelevance of GBV within elite private boys’ schools emphasises the racist and homophobic discourses that deem who is capable of performing and experiencing gendered and sexual violence. By drawing on African feminism and Foucault, the study provides insight into the pervasive disciplinary mechanisms and their lasting impact on the alumni’s personal and social embodiment of masculinity. This highlights the urgent need for a reimagined approach to masculinity that is inclusive and cognizant of historical and socio-political nuances. The thesis calls for a systemic examination of the elite private school system across South Africa and African-centred pro-feminist educational strategies to address the genealogical discourses embedded in these institutions. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Political and International Studies, 2024
- Full Text:
- Authors: Talbot, Alexandreo Zinhle
- Date: 2024-10-11
- Subjects: Masculinity South Africa , Private schools South Africa , Rape culture , Gender-based violence , Hegemony , High school students Attitudes , Hierarchies
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/466038 , vital:76679
- Description: This study examines the formation of ‘ruling class’ masculinities and their relationship to gender-based violence (GBV) and rape culture at an elite private school (called Blue School for the purposes of this study). Through interviews with alumni, the research explores the recollections and narratives of young men in terms of how they navigated and experienced masculine identity formation in the school context during their adolescence, and also deciphers their awareness regarding GBV and rape culture. The findings demonstrate that identity formation within the school studied is complex and often reflected as a Western-centric masculinity drenched in heteronormativity. This is captured through the shared experiences alumni of the school regarding their adherence to traditional values, submission to hierarchical structures, collective mockery of vulnerability and the instillation of competitive individualism. The alumni speak to the ways in which boyhood and gender are conceptualised through the taught curriculum, contrasted with the hidden scripts of masculinities in the boarding school environment. The complex interplay between institutional culture and the formation of gender identities shows a superficial adherence to progressive ideals, unveiling the entrenched hegemonic practices that reinforce restrictive norms. Most alumni expressed a sense of living in an isolated bubble, where wrongdoings are swept under the carpet. Through these practices, elite private schools depict institutional blindness as an entangled strategy to protect institutional reputation and capital. Insinuating irrelevance of GBV within elite private boys’ schools emphasises the racist and homophobic discourses that deem who is capable of performing and experiencing gendered and sexual violence. By drawing on African feminism and Foucault, the study provides insight into the pervasive disciplinary mechanisms and their lasting impact on the alumni’s personal and social embodiment of masculinity. This highlights the urgent need for a reimagined approach to masculinity that is inclusive and cognizant of historical and socio-political nuances. The thesis calls for a systemic examination of the elite private school system across South Africa and African-centred pro-feminist educational strategies to address the genealogical discourses embedded in these institutions. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Political and International Studies, 2024
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Ukuma njenge ndoda: the making of Xhosa masculinities in Mthatha, Eastern Cape
- Authors: Silosini, Tandokazi
- Date: 2024-10-11
- Subjects: Xhosa (African people) South Africa Mthatha , Men, Black South Africa Mthatha , Men Identity , Masculinity , Gender-based violence
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/466317 , vital:76717
- Description: This study examines how young men construct their masculine identities in daily life through the collection of activities that happen throughout young men's lives in Mthatha, Eastern Cape. The aim of the research is to examine how black men construct their identity as men. It seeks to examine the everyday ways in which young men speak of their masculinity, how they understand themselves in relation to women and the causes of gender-based and sexual violence in South Africa. The study conceptualises Xhosa masculinities and manhood within the framework of masculinist violence and the state. It demonstrates the intersection of manhood violence and the state within the discipline of international relations which is characterised by ideas of state security and war. Interviews with Xhosa men in Mthatha illuminated that boys are raised to be men who stand, articulated as ukuma njenge ndoda (standing up as a man), for themselves, family and community. Ukuma operates as an assertion and protection of self, a demonstration of independence and being self-sustaining. It importantly speaks to the gendered division of labour where over and above standing up for oneself, it is a man’s duty and responsibility “ukumela izinto zekhaya” – to stand up for his home and family. This thesis shows that the different forms that ukuma carry with them expectations of dominance and control or at least maintain the appearance of it. Ultimately, the concept of ukuma serves as a way to legitimise the use of force or violence in certain instances where men feel that an act of violence constitutes ukuzimela (standing up for himself) or ukumela ikhaya (standing up for his family). The masculinising of this duty implicates not only the men it is bestowed upon the women and children who are the ones supposedly protected and provided for. , Thesis (MSocSci) -- Faculty of Humanities, Political and International Studies, 2024
- Full Text:
- Authors: Silosini, Tandokazi
- Date: 2024-10-11
- Subjects: Xhosa (African people) South Africa Mthatha , Men, Black South Africa Mthatha , Men Identity , Masculinity , Gender-based violence
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/466317 , vital:76717
- Description: This study examines how young men construct their masculine identities in daily life through the collection of activities that happen throughout young men's lives in Mthatha, Eastern Cape. The aim of the research is to examine how black men construct their identity as men. It seeks to examine the everyday ways in which young men speak of their masculinity, how they understand themselves in relation to women and the causes of gender-based and sexual violence in South Africa. The study conceptualises Xhosa masculinities and manhood within the framework of masculinist violence and the state. It demonstrates the intersection of manhood violence and the state within the discipline of international relations which is characterised by ideas of state security and war. Interviews with Xhosa men in Mthatha illuminated that boys are raised to be men who stand, articulated as ukuma njenge ndoda (standing up as a man), for themselves, family and community. Ukuma operates as an assertion and protection of self, a demonstration of independence and being self-sustaining. It importantly speaks to the gendered division of labour where over and above standing up for oneself, it is a man’s duty and responsibility “ukumela izinto zekhaya” – to stand up for his home and family. This thesis shows that the different forms that ukuma carry with them expectations of dominance and control or at least maintain the appearance of it. Ultimately, the concept of ukuma serves as a way to legitimise the use of force or violence in certain instances where men feel that an act of violence constitutes ukuzimela (standing up for himself) or ukumela ikhaya (standing up for his family). The masculinising of this duty implicates not only the men it is bestowed upon the women and children who are the ones supposedly protected and provided for. , Thesis (MSocSci) -- Faculty of Humanities, Political and International Studies, 2024
- Full Text:
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