Through a case study of female traditional healers who practice same sex relationships, this study attempts to provide some reasons for the opposition to same sex-relationships in Africa. The main question that the study grapples with is: If traditional healers practice same sex relationships, why does the Zulu community (and African communities in general) insist that same sex relationships are “un-African?” Given that homosexuality has been labeled as “un-African” and “un-cultural”, how does one explain the existence of homosexual relationships amongst Zulu sangomas, who are considered the custodians of culture? The study draws on the experiences of ten female traditional healers from Kwa-Ngcolosi and Inanda. The data was produced through workshops, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews. Queer theory and African feminist cultural hermeneutics were the lenses through which the data was analyzed. The findings show that beliefs in procreation as a means for the continual survival of the ancestors in the community and beliefs in the supremacy of the male in society as demonstrated in the killing of lesbians are the major reasons for the rejection of same sex relationships in African societies. The study concludes that within the traditional belief systems of the ancestors, women do have authority and can choose alternative relationships. Furthermore, in the sphere of traditional healing, recognition is given to different sexualities. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.

Gender based violence still remains an international public health and human rights issue and a concern to many. Very few studies have been undertaken to address the impact of gender based violence on men. The aim of this dissertation is to try and fill this gap by exploring gender based violence against men in the Clermont Township using qualitative and quantitative research methods. The quantitative method used was a survey conducted with 100 men, and the qualitative method used was in-depth interviews with 20 men in Clermont Township. Consistent with previous research, this study found that abused men experience different forms of gender based violence at the hands of their intimate partners. This study found various reasons why abused men stay in abusive relationships. This study also found that abused men do not report the incidents because they feel that no one will believe them and the community will ridicule them. This under reporting of gender based violence against men makes it difficult to have accurate statistics and also to prevent further abuse of men in intimate relationships. Various reasons were given for not reporting the incidents to the relevant institutions. This study also shows that there are not any institutions that provide services for male victims of gender based violence. This is of concern as this pandemic is escalating and it puts men at risk of future violence. Communities should also embark on door-to-door campaigning about GBV against men, so that the communities will know that it is happening, and that it is a threat to many families. / Thesis (M.Dev.Studies)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

The transnational migration of students is a vast yet under-researched area with most studies focusing on skilled and unskilled foreign immigrants. The transnational experience of studying outside their home country and constant negotiations of new social and cultural environments provides students with an opportunity to either challenge or reinforce their perspectives of gender. An examination of gender in a transnational context however continues to be a much neglected domain. Gender is salient in migration because not only do gender relations facilitate or constrain both men's and women's movements but they also structure the whole migration process including practices and the construction of self. This thesis interrogates the reconstruction of gender identities by foreign students of African origin at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN hereafter) in Durban South Africa. This study aims to contribute to the fields of gender and migration by examining ways in which gender shapes migratory flows and examining how migration shapes gender relations. Through exploring the tensions that students perceive and undergo and struggle with as they bring their own cultural insights , values and practices to a new context at UKZN, I seek to highlight the complexity of their gender identities as negotiated in a transnational context. By using an interpretivist theoretical paradigm which is a qualitative approach, I highlight how the communal process of the views and perceptions of the students and my multidimensional positionality intersected to produce knowledge. I also highlight the gender relations as an important dynamic in the data collection process. The body of data reveals that men and women cite different factors as influencing their propensity to migrate namely gender role socialisation on the part of the men and education and empowerment on the part of the women. In spite of the gender differences in facilitating their migration to South Africa, both men and women display resonance in terms of choosing South Africa and UKZN in particular as a study destination showing gender to be situational. This is in light of opportunity structures in place at UKZN that are available to both men and women thus enabling the foreign African women students to take advantage of opportunities they may not have had in their home countries The study also generates critical insights about the complexities experienced by these students as a result of immersing themselves in UKZN embedded in Durban a multiracial environment which is still a much divided society. I also examine how these students perceive and interpret gender norms in South Africa and how these gender norms challenge or support conceptions of gender norms in their country of origin. The themes presented in this study reveal that gender identity construction is related to the struggle over power and social status. A significant aspect of the findings was how the students were re-interpreting and re-defining their gender roles and expectations in the transnational space. Gender roles were enacted in different ways by students to express social status, position and power. This study also interrogates how the interplay of social ranking such as gender, class, ethnicity and nationality serve to construct several versions of masculinity and femininity in the transnational space. The exploration of the students' engagement with the gender discourse highlights the dilemma based on the dialectic between modern gender roles as a result of western education and maintaining traditional gender roles as a result of cultural upbringing. The study also explores the development of hybridised gender identities within the transnational space. In the course of the study religion was highlighted as key factor in influencing the ways in which migrants renegotiate their beliefs, practices and attitudes and personal as well as social identities in the host country. The study examined how religion informed the transnational students' ethnic and gender-based identities and their experiences of social life and their appropriations of religion to form alternative identities. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

This research project was aimed at identifying the perceptions of adolescent boys and girls with regard to the role function of men and women in society. Quantitative and qualitative methods, and a hybrid form of sampling were employed in this research project. The sample for this study was drawn from 5 secondary schools and comprised 65 boys and 65 girls. The adolescents' perceptions were analysed and interrogated critically against the yardstick provided by the non-sexist values of the South African constitution. An attempt was made to identify the extent to which the adolescents' perceptions are in synch with rigid patriarchy, sexism and the gendered division of labour, and the extent to which the adolescents' perceptions are in synch with the non-sexist South African constitution. The analysis of the adolescents' perceptions were informed inter alia by the theories of essentialism and constructivism. The research revealed, inter alia, that most of the adolescents reject rigid patriarchy; reject the gendered division of labour in some spheres ; accept the gendered division of labour in some spheres ; accept and favour the economic empowerment of women ; believe that sex should be negotiated ; believe that men are more suited to be leaders than women ; are against the perpetration of violence by either of the sexes and are homophobic and heterosexist • It was also evident that while both boys and girls rejected rigid patriarchy; girls were decidedly more receptive to the empowerment of women than boys. The study revealed that while there has been an erosion of the rigid division of the masculinized public sphere and the feminized domestic sphere, the public sphere is perceived as one in which men should dominate while the domestic sphere is deemed more suitable for women than men with women and men playing supportive, subdued albeit ever increasing roles in the public and domestic spheres respectively - the researcher as termed the existing perception the yin-yang worldview and the emergent perception the yanging-yin-yining-yang worldview. The study also highlighted that perceptions are not determined entirely by knowledge and ideals and served to bring home forcefully, the overriding potency of social realities and conditioning in shaping and regulating perceptions. In short the study demonstrated that the adolescents have not fully embraced the non-sexist values of the new constitution. The findings of the study were utilized by the researcher as a diagnostic instrument to produce recommendations and solutions - based on Freirean praxis - for the elimination of sexist, patriarchical perceptions. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2003.

In South Africa, HIV and AIDS is a crisis particularly for young women between the ages of 15-24. HIV and AIDS is gendered disease and its spread is heterosexual. The effects of the disease have led to an increasing examination of what sexual and gendered identities mean for young people. Using individual and focus-group interviews, this study explores young people’s sexual cultures amidst the backdrop of HIV and AIDS. It focuses on the ways in which young Indian men and women (aged 16-17) in a low to middle income context in Chatsworth, Durban, construct heterosexual relationships. The study explores how this selected group of learners navigate themselves as sexual subjects in the context of sexual passions and sexual risk. The study focuses on relationship cultures, sexual risk and the ways in which gender is constructed in heterosexual relationships. Currently we know very little of young people’s heterosexual relationships and in particular, we know very little of young Indian sexualities. In the context of sexual risk taking and broader concerns about sexual health, young people’s perceptions about sex and sexuality are important. Insight into how the youth understand gender and sexuality is necessary for addressing educational strategies in sexuality education, Life Orientation and HIV/AIDS education in South Africa. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

This study was based on the heterosexual form of sexuality as it is the most dominant form of masculinity amongst the Congolese. The aim of this dissertation was to investigate the type of migrant Congolese heterosexual men living in Durban who mostly use sex-enhancing substances and the reasons behind the practice. It sought to explore the impact of the black African isiZulu cultural environment influence about the use of sex-enhancing substances on the DRC men heterosexual in their negotiation of masculinities within the transnational space Further, the study critically examined how migrant Congolese heterosexual men are renegotiating their masculinities in a transnational space through sex enhancing substances. The key question in this study was “How are men from the DRC using sex-enhancing substances to re-negotiate their masculinities in the transnational space”? The methodology was qualitative and in-depth interview was utilized as the method of data collection. The results of this study indicated that the migrant Congolese heterosexual men in renegotiating their masculinities within the transnational space through sex-enhancing reinforce existing hegemonic notions of masculinities and also end up creating new forms of hegemonic notions of masculinities. Keywords: Masculinities, Gender identities. / Thesis (M.A.)-Universtiy of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

This study aims to explore how young coloured girls, aged 16-17, give meaning to sexuality. Coloured girls’ are often marginalised in South African research and debate around gender and sexuality. This study focuses on coloured girls in two different social and economic contexts in Durban. The one context is Wentworth which remains a predominantly coloured working class area. The other is a middle class former white area in Glenwood Durban. The study draws on qualitative research using interview methods to focus on eight girls in these two areas. Three of the girls emerged from Glenwood whilst five others live in Wentworth. The aim of the study was to understand the ways in which class impacted on their meanings of sexuality. Gender, race and class are intertwined social constructs which assist in the formulation of sexual identities. This study investigated the similarities and differences between the two groups of coloured girls. They differed in relation to: their mindsets regarding everyday life, for example the girls from Glenwood interacted with boys from all four racial groups and had a better understanding of their different cultures. The girls from Wentworth found boys from racial groups other than coloured more attractive due to lack of knowledge of them. Thus the girls from Glenwood were open to multi-racial relationships whilst the girls from Wentworth were afraid to do so, as they would be subject to ridicule from the community. In Wentworth ones status is defined by clothing, cash and cars and in order for these young girls to be successful in this community they must affiliate themselves with boys/men who can provide such things; even if they come at a high price. In this study the girls were similar in that they all wanted to be independent, wanted to finish school, find good jobs, and buy their own cars, thus we see the feminine agency of coloured girls from two different socio-economic contexts. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2011.