There have been profound changes within German culture and society in recent decades including the social reality and legal equality of same-sex couples and parents and an increased visibility of non-heterosexual individuals. Through my many years of formal education and as a teacher of English as a Second or Other language (TESOL) in Germany, I have not seen this reality represented in TESOL education in target language samples, textbooks, images or critical discussions. The aim of this thesis was to explore whether teachers and students on a TESOL language teacher education (LTE) programme at a Bavarian university are aware of issues of gender, sexual diversity and heteronormativity on their programme and in their classrooms. This fits well with the many other studies carried out internationally in this field over the past few years but looks specifically at a politically and culturally homogeneous part of Germany. By adopting a feminist poststructuralist and queer-theoretical approach to create, deliver and reflect on a course geared specifically towards troubling the silence and exclusion of sexual diversity in (language) teacher education, it investigates if and how social change has manifested itself in a Bavarian LTE programme. Through the use of multiple data collection methods, a background questionnaire to situate the students in this Bavarian context, interviews with non-heterosexual staff and students, a troubling course-construction, delivery and recording, a researcher reflective journal, and participant exit interviews and reflective written assessments, this case study examines staff and students' experiences of and attitudes towards heteronormativity in LTE and que(e)ries the potential for change. The findings reveal that there is initially little conscious awareness of the pervasiveness of heteronormative discourses in LTE TESOL classrooms or in language use, but that through que(e)rying materials, critical dialogue, reflection in interviews and classes, practice and active explicit analysis of taken-for-granted exclusions and silences, a heightened and critical awareness can be achieved.

MGS / Institute for Gender and Youth Studies / ‘Gonyalelwa lapa’ is a form of a marriage whereby a family marries a woman to a deceased son who passed on without having biological children, for the purpose of restoring or reviving the deceased’s name. The woman is married with her existing children, or to bear children who will take the surname of the deceased man. Women find it difficult to leave such marriages for the fear of losing their children whom they signed off by accepting to be married under this type of marriage. This study employs the feminist standpoint methodological approach in order to explore experiences of women who are married for ‘lapa’. The study purposefully selected a sample of 8 women who are married under ‘Gonyalelwa lapa’ as well as 4 key informants. Findings demonstrate that women marry for ‘lapa’ mainly for economic reasons, to escape stigmatization, for the acquisition of the marital surname, which is tied to being acknowledged, respected and recognized by the community. Nevertheless, these women face multidimensional challenges within their in-laws’ households: they receive no support from the inlaws; their girl-children suffer discrimination based on ‘sex-preference’, boys are given more value on the basis that a boy will be able to perpetuate a deceased man’s name. Most women married under this type of marriage suffer from emotional and economic abuse at the hands of their in-laws. The study reveals that these challenges are attributed to lack of physical presence of the husband in the family. The study recommends that a large scale study be conducted on this or related topic, to build knowledge and create an awareness of such a marriage as to facilitate its inclusion in Customary Marriage Act.

Submitted by Eunice Nunes (eunicenunes6@gmail.com) on 2018-09-17T23:14:46Z No. of bitstreams: 1 SANTOS_Welson_2015.pdf: 1790675 bytes, checksum: decc84edd2e2462a98f55796012db47f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Eunice Nunes (eunicenunes6@gmail.com) on 2018-09-17T23:15:09Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 SANTOS_Welson_2015.pdf: 1790675 bytes, checksum: decc84edd2e2462a98f55796012db47f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Eunice Nunes (eunicenunes6@gmail.com) on 2018-09-17T23:16:18Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 SANTOS_Welson_2015.pdf: 1790675 bytes, checksum: decc84edd2e2462a98f55796012db47f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-17T23:16:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 SANTOS_Welson_2015.pdf: 1790675 bytes, checksum: decc84edd2e2462a98f55796012db47f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-05-26 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the edification of knowledge concerning the construction of youth masculinity. The hypothesis is that heterosexuality needs homosexuality for its own strengthening and that by accusing, signaling and judging the "less" or non-hegemonic male, or the homosexual, it reinforces itself. Established by cultural experiences, masculinity is built through social relationships and communication in places such as school and the internet. So, to connect both of these spaces methodologically, the study initially includes 600 subjects, both male and female, of two educational institutions in the municipal of Uberaba-MG, Brazil. From this particular group only 200 males, between ages 14 to 16, were identified and invited to continue taking part in the study. The students were asked several objective questions which led to the identification of 17 out of the 200 subjects. The use of communication through social networks with the identified males allowed for the observation of their speech and expressions, which has been used as reinforcement and reference for this discussion. So referenced, conceivable understandings of social components and procedures of the formation of male adolescents’ identity and the independence between each category have risen. Furthermore this thesis attempts to contribute to the understanding of how masculinities in adolescence are determined, experienced and inherited / O objetivo dessa tese é contribuir para a edificação de saberes sobre a construção da masculinidade adolescente frente à heteronormatividade. Parto da hipótese de que a heterossexualidade precisa da homossexualidade para seu fortalecimento e, na medida em que acusa, sinaliza e condena o “menos” masculino, o homossexual ou a masculinidade não hegemônica, ela se fortalece. Inscritas por meio de experiências culturais, as masculinidades têm sido edificadas pelo discurso e através de relações sociais, em espaços como a escola e a internet. Assim, buscando metodologicamente articular essas duas esferas, o trabalho envolveu inicialmente 600 sujeitos do sexo masculino e feminino de duas instituições de ensino localizadas no Município de Uberaba–MG. Do grupo citado, foram identificados e convidados a continuar participando do trabalho somente 200 estudantes do sexo masculino de 14 a 16 anos. O adotar de um questionário objetivo com esses 200 sujeitos possibilitou a identificação de 17 deles. O uso de rede social virtual com o grupo identificado permitiu a observação de suas falas e discursos, sendo material usado no fortalecimento e referência da discussão aqui desenvolvida. A partir do material colhido, foram buscados possíveis entendimentos dos componentes e processos sociais de constituição das identidades de adolescentes do sexo masculino e interdependências entre as categorias que foram levantadas. Ainda, a discussão pretende contribuir no entendimento de como as masculinidades na adolescência são determinadas, vivenciadas e repassadas