Using the life stories of Black women employed by the Department of Employment and Labour, the study explores leadership identity and role congruity through the lenses of intersectionality and post-colonial feminism. Demographically, Black women constitute the majority of women within the senior management service and as such may have the biggest influence on a gendered leadership identity for the Public Service. However, the study investigates how women’s life stories influence the meaning they attach to their gender, race and ethnicity as contributing to their leadership identity and role congruity. Despite the steady progress made in terms of equity representation there is no understanding of how and if Black women in the Department have adapted their leadership identity, what challenges they have experienced and how these challenges could lead to a more gendered leadership understanding. There is a need to explore how the experiences of pre-1994, patriarchy and the triple intersectionality of gender, race and ethnicity affected Black women in senior positions in becoming the leaders that they are, and how those experiences manifest in their leadership interactions. Coupled with understanding the Department’s leadership culture and the expectation placed on women leaders, is the necessity to determine whether it is congruent with the leadership identity of Black women. The tightrope between agency and communion in the workplace is analysed in light of the notion that when women behave outside the gender roles, they are perceived in a negative manner and can suffer prejudice. Thus, the study aims to explore the influence of these variables on the leadership identity of Black women in a comprehensive manner. / Thesis (DAdmin)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / School of Public Management and Administration (SPMA) / DAdmin (Public Administration) / Unrestricted

Magister Artium - MA / His brown hands, tanned darker than they already were from hours of supervising men shoveling sand and mixing concrete on building sites, gripped the steering wheel. Hendrick Vermeulen drove down Voortrekker Road after a long day's work. He had dropped off the last of the guys with his bakkie and was looking forward to resting. He was enjoying the cool night air blowing up his arm. And there it was, that mountain. There was nothing more to think about it. It meant nothing to him; a big rock, a marker to remind where he was. The rich people were there by the mountain; he was not. He drove on. The sun had gone down and he was making his way home. He looked at his eyes in the rear view mirror, the lines on his forehead more visible than they had ever been. He lived close to the university that he dropped out of thirty years ago. He drove past it often - a reminder of a life he could have had. He was supposed to be a teacher and help his mother move out of the coloured townships and into a nice house, nessie wit mense, like the white people, she would say. She always said that and she laughed, with a cough at the end as she slapped her knee. That was a long time ago. He often thought of the past, but he always made sure he snapped out of it soon enough. No time for that, he thought. And then he saw her, the young· lady walking down the street. He slowed the car. What do you think you are doing, he thought to himself as he idled down the main road. She had a plastic shopping bag and was probably on her way home from the Pick 'n Pay. Student life, he thought. He hardly had a taste of it before the riots and state of emergency and all that. Now he was a contractor. Men like him are not supposed to look at girls walking down the streets going home to their flats. Jissus she was beautiful though, he thought as he stopped at the intersection and she crossed the road. She ran across and as she walked under a street light, he got a better view. A thick, brown coat and black pantyhose and not much else. Heshook his head and laughed. These kids of today. But that's how Chalita used to dress. When they were young themselves and fell in love. They were free. When they had dreams and hopes and she thought that things were still decent and they were going to have a double story and everything will be ...

<p>  </p> <p>The following thesis is an autoethnographic study that looks at narratives about communicative events and the social context that impacted the formation of identity, the deconstruction of identity and the reconstruction and integration of multiple identities housed in one body. The focus of the autoethnography is the lived experience of a mixed ethno-racial woman of Mexican heritage and Caucasian identity and how communicative events of validation and invalidation impacted the perceived identity of the individual. The conclusions drawn from the analysis stands as such. First, current theories and methods used to explore identity have limitations and the language and labels we use are inadequate. Second, while external factors including a person’s in-groups and out-groups as well as the social context impact ones perceived identity, through integration of one’s multiplicity of identity, we choose how much we allow it to impact our chosen identity.</p>

This study explored the role of family on the career development of Xhosa-speaking graduates in South Africa. There are multiple environmental and individual influences on career development. However, this study focused specifically on family. The Xhosa culture, like other African cultures, endorses cultural values of deference and strong familial connections with extended family. Data from fourteen semi-structured in-depth interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. The key themes that emerged were (1) cultural beliefs, (2) social support and (3) the notion of black tax. The findings suggested that there is a strong relation between a family's cultural beliefs, family responsibilities and the perceived social support on graduate's career development. The understanding of ‘western' career aspirations with familial cultural expectations and support in forming a coherent self-concept could be considered a significant challenge in the career development of these Xhosa graduates. The findings supported the familial influences on graduates' career development and contributed new insights on how family influence is perceived and maintained from an intersectional perspective. The implications for career development in diverse contexts are offered.

Substance Use Disorder (SUD) has plagued families of rural Appalachia for many years, perpetuating involvement in the criminal justice system as well as generational trauma for people diagnosed with SUD as well as their children. This points to the necessity of a trauma-informed, restorative-justice based framework for rehabilitative services to most effectively heal families, address trauma, and re-integrate people diagnosed with SUD into society. A restorative justice-based program would provide health care services for addiction and any comorbid mental health disorders as well as teach parents how to properly provide for themselves and their families, manage finances, obtain employment, and further education. Current rehabilitative program structures were evaluated in the literature, and it was found that typically, rehabilitative programs provide either strictly addiction services or mental health services, but not both. It was also found that the criminal justice system tends to sentence to 28-day inpatient rehabilitative services, which provides people diagnosed with SUD an opportunity to achieve sobriety and establish some stability; however, with little or no follow up, these people are significantly more likely to relapse. These findings were compared with the structure of Ballad Health Strong Futures, an outpatient addiction services and behavioral health clinic located in Greeneville, TN. It was found that rehabilitative care structures that addresses trauma, addiction, and aspects of daily living such as parenting, finances, education, and employment provides clients with the tools and stability they need to be successful in their respective recovery journeys. This work will provide significant insight for the creation and implementation of other substance use clinics across the country and encourage them to address addiction, mental health, and aspects of daily living to promote clients' success and break cycles of generational trauma.

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / This project was born after the researcher, a practicing social worker at a psychiatric facility, observed the presence of high rates of anxiety and depressive disorders among transgender patients. These patients were often also abandoned by their family or primary caregivers. This research was part of a larger National Research Foundation (NRF) project in the Western Cape and Gauteng, which explored LGBT older persons’ care needs. It differed from the main project in that it focused on the mental health care challenges experienced by older transgender people. The project was funded by the NRF and the researcher was allocated funding from that project to explore LGBT aging and care in the marginalised areas. LGBT discrimination has been indicated as a key factor in the onset of mental health issues later in adulthood. Older adults are generally at a higher risk of developing mental disorders. The older transgender community with mental health care needs thus often suffers multiple forms of oppression within a heteronormative society. The aim of the research was to determine the mental health care challenges experienced by older transgender people in the Cape Metropole, Western Cape. Objectives to reach this aim included exploring and describing the unique challenges faced by older transgender people, their experiences when accessing mental health care, and describing strategies of addressing their mental health care needs. The research methodology entailed a qualitative approach. Snowball sampling was applied for selecting five older transgender participants and five key informants. Photo voice, a Participatory Action Research (PAR) design, was used. Data collection consisted of in-depth interviewing, focus groups, and photo journaling. Themes were developed from the data utilising Thematic Analysis, aided by Atlas.ti software. Ethics and trustworthiness were certified through guidance by the research supervisor. This research was classified as high risk, since it involved marginalised individuals from the aged LGBT community. Anxiety in the group was anticipated and dealt with by providing further counselling where needed. The findings indicate that older transgender people experience minority stress across all racial and age cohorts. They suffer heightened anxiety when accessing healthcare services, as they anticipate transphobia and oppression. In addition, the intersectional socio-economic status of age and gender identity seems to contribute to building resilience within the participants. Lastly, substance use and social and professional support were identified as coping strategies in the face of on-going discrimination.

The aim of this study is to critically analyse the representation of non-ethic Swedes, gender roles and a class ridden society in Children´s literature published in Sweden. The structural discrimination is found within many areas in our society. I have analysed if this discrimination also is to be found in children´s literature. Is there a division between ”us” and “them” in children´s literature? I have analysed books for children from 1980s and 2000s to see if there are any differences between these periods of time. I found that there were differences only in the fields of gender roles. Girls have been given a greater power in the books from 2000s. Other ethnicity´s are hardly found in the books despite the periods of time. White people are still given most space. The meaning of the class ridden society is not to be found in none of the books.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a problem that is present and pervasive globally and in South Africa. In the South African context, IPV exists within a larger context of high levels of interpersonal violence and violence against women. Understanding the context in which IPV occurs from the perspective of survivors is important for informing effective intervention and prevention programs to counteract its effects. This study explores the life histories of South African women who have experienced IPV. Framed through the lens of intersectionality, it gauges the broader context within which IPV emerges and is sustained, and explores how experiences of IPV are shaped at the intersection of women’s identity markers of race, class and gender. This study is one of a few studies that have used life history methods with women to explore their life contexts and experiences of IPV. Purposive sampling was used to recruit a sample of 11 women based in a Cape Town women’s shelter for abused women and children. Two semi-structured qualitative life history interviews were conducted with each participant. The interviews were transcribed and analysed through thematic narrative analysis, where four noteworthy narrative themes emerged, namely An unsteady and violent beginning, No place called home: A search for belonging and survival, IPV: The unanticipated cost of love and belonging, and Normalisation of IPV experiences: The effects of withdrawal from support. The findings and their relation to existing literature as well as recommendations for future IPV research are discussed. One of the key findings of the study was that the childhood context of the participants was the first point of identifying intersectional oppression and marginalisation that may have shaped a vulnerability to the women’s later experiences of IPV. Another key finding was recognising the value that women place on love and belonging in the context of a difficult, violent and low socioeconomic childhood background, and how this could have an impact on the vulnerability of women to IPV. The use of a life history approach framed by intersectionality thus demonstrated significant benefits in tracking the contextual experiences of women who have experienced IPV. These benefits are of significance because they made it possible to identify points of intervention and prevention of IPV amongst marginalised South African women.

Despite recurrent academic interest in the study of race in both South Africa and in Brazil, little work has been done in Anthropology about the two countries of the Global South in relation to each other. This thesis is situated in that gap and presents an ethnographic study about the racialised experiences of Brazilian migrants in South Africa, in order to explore the different processes of racialization that occur in South Africa and Brazil. The first part of the investigation focuses on the conflictual encounter between informants’ internalized racial habitus as learned in Brazil with the one they encounter in South Africa. The second part examines the impact that such racialization has on the racial identity of Brazilian individuals. Informants found themselves in situations of racial ambiguity in which they did not fit perfectly in any of the local racial categories, and were classified by South Africans in different (and sometimes multiple) racial categories from their previous one in Brazil. I use the theoretical lens of intersectionality to explore informants’ reflections on 'what they are’ as they socially adapted to South African racial categorisations and habitus.

This Master’s thesis explores the intersection of powers that create (in)secure female migration to Lebanon. It contributes to a growing literature corpus about the lives of women, originating from South/ South-East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, who migrate to Lebanon to work in the domestic work sector. Ongoing exploitations of migrant domestic workers (MDWs) under Lebanon’s migration regime, the kafala system, have been documented in detail. Yet, the question about which overlapping powers actually shape the migratory experience of MDWs calls for closer inspection – especially in light of previous unidirectional analyses that seem to obscure the intersectional experiences of migrant women. By uncovering intersecting systems of domination and subordination, this analysis aims to deconstruct oppressive powers and to answer the research question about which powers create (in)secure female migration to Lebanon. This objective is approached through ethnographic-qualitative methods of semi-structured interviewing and participant observation during a seven-week field research in Lebanon. Data contributed by research participants, i.e. MDWs themselves and individuals that have experience in supporting them, are analyzed through an intersectional lens that acknowledges the multifacetedness of MDWs as social beings comprised of overlapping and intersecting dynamic facets. This analysis argues for multiple levels and layers that create an enmeshed web of interacting categories, processes and systems that render female migration insecure. Detected underlying powers range from global forces over specific migration regulations to societal structures that are based on sexism, racism, cultural othering and class differences - amongst others. These forces are impossible to deconstruct in isolation because they function through each other. Their multilevel intersections lead to power imbalances between worker and employer, isolation and invisibility of the former on several levels as well as the commodification, dehumanization and mobility limitations of MDWs. Yet, female labor migrants counter these intersecting powers through creative and dynamic acts of resistance and self-empowerment and, thus, prove that the dismantling of overlapping oppressions calls for intersecting multilevel deconstructions.