Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The objective of this study is to examine culture and gender in the Xhosa novel, Ukuqhawuka kwembeleko, which was one of the popular novels in the 1980s. The novel is about forced marriages, but the fact that such marriages are forced on educated children has disastrous ends. In as far as the Xhosa culture of forced marriages is concerned, the novelist makes a point that it is a soulless marriage, it dehumanises both the minors who are involved in it and it treats the woman being married as if she were an object that is sold. In the humiliating process the father of the young woman gets good cattle to his satisfaction. In the Xhosa novel, Ukuqhawuka kwembeleko, the fact that Zoleka resisted such a marriage to the end of her life shows that traditional Xhosa women used to be treated as objects of their patriarchal society that sees them as objects that should die at their in-laws. Because that is where they belong, their fathers need cattle with such an exchange. But Zoleka, as a modern educated woman, has been empowered to resist such dehumanisation. She rebels against hlonipha culture of her in-laws. She shows them that she is not their bought property, and also that she would not bow to the pressure of their patriarchal rules. She does everything possible in the book to flaunt the rules of their hlonipha culture, and eventually they feel she is a makoti not worthy their valuable cattle. She consequently leaves and claims her independence. Her rebellious acts are a feminist declaration that the educated women of the 1980s challenge the male dominated system by not obeying to its rules. Yet how her father tracts her down after her departure from her in-laws and chases her with a horse home, whilst he severely beats her up in public to the horror of onlookers, is an indication that the gate keepers of the Xhosa patriarchal system are prepared to go to all lengths, including using the cruelest methods, to defend the system that has, over the years, benefited them in all aspects of life. But the fact that Zoleka eventually wins and retains her independence and later commits suicide, is a feminist statement that the modern Xhosa women are willing to liberate themselves even if it means taking their lives. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doelstelling van hierdie studie is om kultuur en gender te ondersoek in die Xhosa novelle, Ukuqhawuka kwembeleko, wat In populêre novelle in die tagtigerjare was. Die novelle handel oor geforseerde huwelike, en die feit dat die afdwing van sulke huwelike op opgeleide kinders, rampspoedige gevolge het. Aangaande die Xhosa kultuurverskynsel van geforseerde huwelike, maak die skrywer 'n punt dat dit 'n siellose huwelik is, dit verneder sowel die kinders wat betrokke is, sowel as behandel die vrou wat in die huwelik tree as 'n voorwerp wat verkoop word. In hierdie vernederende proses kry die vader van die jong vrou beeste wat hom tevrede stel. In die Xhosa novelle, Ukuqhawuka kwembeleko toon die feit dat Zoleka so 'n huwelik teengestaan het tot die einde van haar lewe aan dat Xhosa vroue tradisioneel as voorwerpe behandel is van 'n patriargale gemeenskap wat hulle beskou het as eiendom van hulle skoonfamilie. Die vroue se vaders kry beeste in ruil hiervoor. Maar Zoleka, as 'n moderne opgeleide vrou, is bemagtig om sulke vernedering teen te staan. Sy rebelleer teen die hlonipha-kultuur van haar skoonfamilie en sy wys vir hulle dat sy nie hulle aangekoopte eiendom is nie, en dat sy nie sal buig voor die patriargale reëls nie. Sy gaan verder en daag die hlonipha-kultuur uit totdat die skoonfamilie eventueel dink dat sy nie 'n waardige skoondogter is nie en nie hulle beeste werd is nie. Zoleka gaan gevolglik weg en eis haar onafhanklikheid op. Haar handelinge is 'n feministiese verklaring dat die opgeleide vroue die mans-gedomineerde sisteem uitdaag. Zoleka se eie vader agtervolg haar egter en verneder haar in die openbaar. Hy dui daarmee aan dat die patriargale bewaarders tot enige uiterste sal gaan om die sisteem te beskerm. Die feit dat Zoleka egter haar onafhanklikheid behou en later selfmoord pleeg is 'n feministiese stelling dat sy haarself bevry het van die patriargale sisteem.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study examines gender and culture in L.L. Ngewu's novel, Koda kube nini na? The aim is to examine the influence of culture on how women and men as characters are portrayed. The study is motivated by the fact that despite the new democratic dispensation in South Africa since 1994, there is still a lot of gender discrimination in the Xhosa society. This is the result of the old traditional practices that severely discriminated against women on the bases that they are women. Chapter 2 of the study presents theoretical aspects of gender and culture. Chapter 3 analyses character and space in Ngewu's novel, Koda kube nini na? It is found that the characters of the novel are well-rounded. They are complex and dynamic. Space in the novels is concrete, but it also assumes symbolic significance in the way it represents a bigger picture: South African that is still in the legacy of apartheid. Chapter 4 deals with gender, and the concentration is on male and female characters. It is observed from the analyses that men dominate women. Women are subordinates of men by virtue of being women. In Chapter 5 we examine culture and find that culture can be used as an instrument in the patriarchal Xhosa society to oppress women. Our conclusion is that Ngewu's novel, Koda kube nini na? does not present democratised images of men and women. The images still depict in traditional Xhosa culture. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek gender en kultuurvraagstukke in L.L. Ngewu se novelle Koda kube nini na? Die doelstelling is om die invloed te ondersoek van hoe mans en vroue as karakters voorgestel word. Die studie is veral gemotiveer deur die feit dat afgesien van die nuwe demokratiese bestel in Suid-Afrika sedert 1994, bestaan daar steeds aansienlike genderdiskriminasie in die Xhosa gemeenskap. Dit is die resultaat van ou tradisionele praktyke wat teen vroue diskrimineer op grond van hulle geslag. Hoofstuk 2 van die studie gee 'n oorsig van relevante teoretiese perspektiewe oor gender en kultuur. Hoofstuk 3 ontleed die aspekte van karakter en ruimte in Ngevu se novelle Koda kube nini na? Daar word bevind dat die karakters van die novelle afgerond is. Hulle is kompleks en dinamies. Die ruimte in die novelle is konkreet, maar dit neem ook simboliese betekenis aan daarin dat dit 'n groter beeld bied. Suid-Afrika bevind hom steeds in die nagevolge van apartheid. Hoofstuk vier ondersoek gender, en daar word aandag gegee aan manlike sowel as vroulike karakters. Daar word aangetoon uit die analises dat mans tot 'n groot mate vir vroue domineer. Vroue is ondergeskik aan mans op grond van hulle geslag. In hoofstuk 5 word aandag gegee aan kultuur. Daar word bevind dat kultuur as 'n instrument gebruik kan word in 'n patriargale Xhosa gemeenskap om vroue te onderdruk. Die bevinding is dat Ngevu se novelle Koda kube nini na? nie 'n gedemokratiseerde uitbeelding van mans en vroue gee nie. Die uitbeelding reflekteer steeds tradisionele Xhosa kultuur.

published_or_final_version / Comparative Literature / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Literary and Cultural Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / English / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Conversation analytic (CA) and ethnomethodological (EM) techniques are employed in this study to explore the ways speakers within and between interactional turns build and resist gender category by resisting its activities/predicates. It aims to reveal how a sex-reassigned child’s identity is pertinent to the construction of membership categorization and the doing of resistance towards category-bound activities/predicates.  The study attempts to explain how the child tries to design her answers in a way that - both explicitly and implicitly - resist both the gender membership categorization she is being assigned to be and its ties (predicates/activities) she is being asked to accomplish. Membership categorization analysis (MCA), formulated by Sacks (1979), is employed here to show that the identity categories used in talk are tools by which participants organize and perform activities/predicates to establish their categories. The human subject that this project concentrates on is an immigrant family having a sex-reassigned child called Aidan. The data, which is analyzed, was collected during a dispute around the haircut and clothing style for the sex-reassigned child between the child and the parents. During the interaction the parents try to generate the category predicates for building up a set of activities around what might be considered ‘normal’ within a community that enables them to define and validate the child particular membership category. The main resistance strategies adopted by the child are dispreferred actions such as refusals mainly through accounting (e.g., justification and explanation) and disagreement.

Scholars in the field are of the opinion that the early simultaneous bilingual and bicultural exposure not only does not harm the bilinguals, but also strengthens their social and cultural foundations and keeps them from getting vulnerable to external environment (Deuchar and Quay 1999, 2000; Genesee 1989; Genesee, Nicoladis, and Paradis 1995; Holowka, Brosseau-Lapre ́, and Petitto 2002; Lanza 1992; Meisel 1989; Petitto et al. 2001). Also it has been demonstrated that bilingual children have differentiated systems to provide them with the ability to distinguish between their two input languages from the beginning of language acquisition (Petitto & Holowka, 2002). However, the driver of the children’s language preference patterns at home needs to be further explored. The present study is indeed an attempt to answer the question of why it is that some children regularly exposed to their heritage language from a very young age actually continue to actively use it, and other children involving in similar parental policy about bilingualism do not? It aims to examine the impacts of parental language strategies during the childhood on children language preference at home after they achieve the key competences in each of the two languages. The foci are parental attitudes towards the patterns of language choice and their influence on child language preference. Data are collected from two Iranian immigrant families; one has been experiencing additive bilingualism, while the other has been involved in the process of subtractive phenomenon. Some implications for parent-child closeness, heritage language and the risk of language contamination are touched on briefly.

Women have long been confronted with challenges to their "right" to participate in the labor force on a level equal to men. I posit that this confrontation is situated in a conflict over gendered roles and the "appropriateness" of certain jobs for women. Such an arrangement sets up a contradiction for women in the military. If a woman possesses those attributes seen as desirable, she may be seen as violating traditional gender norms. Yet, a woman possessing attributes seen as feminine may be viewed as not possessing those attributes required to be a "good soldier." Is there a narrowly defined range of acceptable behaviors for women in the military? Are there penalties for women who are perceived to be "too feminine" or "too masculine?" What might those penalties be? Finally, do women employ strategies to manage gender and, if so, what types of strategies do they employ? About two-thirds of the women in this study believe that there are penalties for women perceived as "too feminine" or "too masculine." Women who are perceived as "too feminine" face a number of penalties such as being perceived as weak, incompetent, or sexually available. The dominant penalty for being perceived as "too masculine" is to be labeled a lesbian. Forty-one percent of respondents acknowledged utilizing strategies to manage perceptions of gender. Of this group, seventy-one percent strategize toward femininity only. Seventeen percent strategize toward both femininity and masculinity and twelve percent strategize toward masculinity only. While lesbian and bisexual women were more likely to indicate that penalties exist, they were no more likely than heterosexual women to engage in management strategies. This research adds to our knowledge of how women negotiate gender conflicts. It provides empirical support for the claim that gender is not simply a role, but is an ongoing accomplishment situated within everyday encounters. Additionally, the barriers that women confront have as their foundation a complex interweaving of social constructions of gender and sexuality. By examining this relationship, this research contributes to theory which examines the intersection of gender and sexuality, and its impact on women throughout society.

This is a study of gender ideology in African popular literature published from the seventies onwards. First the thesis argues that, far from being merely the demonised Other of high literature, contemporary African popular literature can be profitably studied as a distinct modality of ideological signification. Secondly, it is argued that there are three dominant modes of representation of gender ideology in contemporary African popular literature. There is the conservative model which merely reproduces dominant gender ideology in a fictive modality. Then there are those texts which operate with a liberal model of ideological representation, within which the principle of pragmatic management of crisis within gender ideology is contained by an ideological ambivalence. The third mode of representation of dominant gender ideology employs a radical reading of gender difference and goes beyond mere analysis to envisioning the possibility of gender egalitarianism. Each mode of representation is illustrated by an in-depth study of select texts. All in all, what is offered is a materialist theory of cultural authenticity and taxonomy.