This study aims at exploring how fathers' parenting strategies and the relationship they have with their children influences the children's ability to form other relationships outside the home. The study is based on parenting strategies identified by Diana Baumrind. Reviewed literature state that where a relationship between the father and his children is good, the children are more confident, stable and secure and therefore able to form seemingly stable social relationships. Where the relationship between father and his children is unhealthy, the children may be unsure of themselves and find it harder to form relationship outside the home. The parenting strategy resulting in the best relationships between the father and his children is the authoritative parenting strategy. Authoritative fathers set rules and follow them through while allowing dialogue. They encourage the development of self-identity and are lovingly involved in their children's lives. All participating fathers in this study have a son and daughter in the age range 13 to 25 years and all are able to communicate in English. The four participating fathers are from different ethnic groups, religious faith and professions. For each father interviewed, a son and a daughter were interviewed too. The same father parenting strategies identified in the literature were identified in this study. Three fathers fit the description of the authoritative parental strategy. Their six children agree that their relationships with their fathers are good. Even though these fathers are strict, they are loving and therefore the children feel secure and confident. These children are able to form stable relationships outside the home. The fourth father is an abusive father whose relationship with his children is unhealthy. His children are not very secure and are withdrawn. They have very few friends because they are afraid of the repercussions from friends discovering they have problems with their father. This study is a door opener in an area with little documented research namely parenting strategies in Africa in general and fathering strategies in particular. There is a need to explore the field further in order to develop training and care-giving structures based on African parental voices. / Psychology / D.Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

This study aims at exploring how fathers' parenting strategies and the relationship they have with their children influences the children's ability to form other relationships outside the home. The study is based on parenting strategies identified by Diana Baumrind. Reviewed literature state that where a relationship between the father and his children is good, the children are more confident, stable and secure and therefore able to form seemingly stable social relationships. Where the relationship between father and his children is unhealthy, the children may be unsure of themselves and find it harder to form relationship outside the home. The parenting strategy resulting in the best relationships between the father and his children is the authoritative parenting strategy. Authoritative fathers set rules and follow them through while allowing dialogue. They encourage the development of self-identity and are lovingly involved in their children's lives. All participating fathers in this study have a son and daughter in the age range 13 to 25 years and all are able to communicate in English. The four participating fathers are from different ethnic groups, religious faith and professions. For each father interviewed, a son and a daughter were interviewed too. The same father parenting strategies identified in the literature were identified in this study. Three fathers fit the description of the authoritative parental strategy. Their six children agree that their relationships with their fathers are good. Even though these fathers are strict, they are loving and therefore the children feel secure and confident. These children are able to form stable relationships outside the home. The fourth father is an abusive father whose relationship with his children is unhealthy. His children are not very secure and are withdrawn. They have very few friends because they are afraid of the repercussions from friends discovering they have problems with their father. This study is a door opener in an area with little documented research namely parenting strategies in Africa in general and fathering strategies in particular. There is a need to explore the field further in order to develop training and care-giving structures based on African parental voices. / Psychology / D.Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

La récurrence de la figure du fou errant dans le roman d’Afrique noire suscite bien des questionnements sur les raisons de sa mise en oeuvre dans l’époque tumultueuse des prétendues indépendances. Cette étude couvre un laps de temps allant des années 1950 à la première décennie du nouveau siècle ; et elle inclut les textes narratifs francophones et anglophones en vue de fournir une vue d’ensemble permettant de retracer l’évolution de la représentation du fou d’un point de vue diachronique. L’étude typologique de fous errants précède une analyse du discours dans le texte littéraire focalisée sur trois niveaux : le plan de l’énonciation,celui des techniques romanesques et le plan du langage de l’imaginaire. Il en résulte un dynamisme évoquant l’emprise du fou sur les trois instances du discours, d’où l’hypothèse du fou comme étant une figure de médiation dans les différents domaines de la société : médiateur spirituel et religieux ; interlocuteur intermédiaire avec l’autorité institutionnelle ; et enfin dispositif médian en littérature, aussi bien dans la pratique scripturale que dans l’institution littéraire. Le caractère marginal du fou dans la société et l’élan réformateur qu’il assume à l’époque contemporaine, font de lui un outil cognitif capable de créer un nouveau code littéraire et d’articuler le discours africain en quête d’autonomie. Les mêmes caractéristiques marquent en outre le statut des oeuvres africaines et du romancier dans la situation actuelle. / The recurrence of wandering madmen and fools in the black African novel raises many questions about the reasons behind its implementation during the so-called independences. This study covers a time span ranging from the 1950s to the first decade of 2000. It includes Francophone and Anglophone fiction in order to gain an overview that allows one to observe an evolution in the representation of the fool with a diachronic perspective. The typological study of wandering fools precedes the discourse analysis in the literary texts, focusing on three levels: speech, narrative procedures and imagery. It fallows that the fool’s dynamism recalls his impact on the three modes of discourse. This leads to a hypothesis that he is a figure of mediation in many areas of society, being a spiritual and religious mediator, an intermediary to institutions of authority,and even an intermediary in literature, both in writing and in the literary institution. The social marginalization of the fool and the reformist zeal he takes in contemporary times, make him an instrument of knowledge that can create a new literary code and articulate the African discourse in its quest for autonomy. Moreover, these features mark the social status both of African works and of the novelist in the literary scene. / La ricorrenza della figura del folle in cammino nel romanzo dell’Africa nera suscita numerosi interrogativi sulle ragioni della sua messa in opera nell’epoca turbolenta delle cosiddette indipendenze. Lo studio abbraccia un arco temporale che va dagli anni ’50 al primo decennio del 2000 e comprende la narrativa francofona ed anglofona al fine di ricostruire una panoramica che permetta di tracciare l’evoluzione della rappresentazione del folle sul piano della diacronia. A uno studio tipologico di folli erranti segue l’analisi del discorso nel testo letterario che si focalizza su tre piani: quello dell’enunciazione, quello dei procedimenti narrativi e quello del linguaggio dell’immaginario. Ne risulta un dinamismo che evoca il dominio del folle sulle tre istanze del discorso, da cui l'ipotesi del folle come una figura di mediazione nei diversi ambiti della società : mediatore spirituale e religioso ; interlocutore intermediario con l’autorità istituzionale ; infine strumento mediano in letteratura, tanto nella pratica della scrittura quanto nell’istituzione letteraria. Ilcarattere marginale del folle nella società e lo slancio riformista che egli assume nella contemporaneità, fanno di lui uno strumento conoscitivo in grado di creare un nuovo codice letterario e di articolare il discorso africano in cerca di autonomia. Le stesse caratteristiche segnano lo statuto delle opere africane e del romanziere nello scenario attuale.