BDSM (bondage, discipline/dominance, submission/sadism and masochism) has recently gained greater visibility in dominant discourses around sexuality. However, these depictions are often constructed in rigid ways to typically exclude experiences of sexual intimacy. Despite this apparent exclusion, constructions of subspace (an altered mental state induced through BDSM encounters) on online blogs intrigued me to consider it as an alternative to widely accepted notions of sexual intimacy. Using a poststructuralist theoretical framework, I conducted an online ethnographic study in which I explored the varied ways in which self-identified South African BDSM individuals construct meaning around sexual intimacy. Through a Foucauldian discourse analysis, I consider how constructions of intimacy in the BDSM community might have been silenced through exclusionary definitions in dominant discourses. I identified four discourses in the text: A discourse of romantic vulnerability, a discourse of knowledge, a discourse of difference/sameness and a discourse of role differentiation. The findings suggest that BDSM practitioners, in constructing meaning around intimacy, at times comply with dominant discourses and at other times subvert normative ideas around sexuality, gender and sexual intimacy. I conclude with implications for gender and sexuality studies as well as the discipline of psychology in its engagement with BDSM identities and practices. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / Psychology / Unrestricted

Magister Artium - MA / The study explores the negotiation of identities through linguistic innovations such as codeswitching, code-mixing and differing language choices in different domains of home and school in Belhar. The focus is to examine how languages are used to negotiate class, age, generational, socio-economic, etc differences in selected schools and homes in the community of Belhar. The specific study objectives include the following: 1. To find out the linguistic options and identities (including hybrid identities), that are available to the Belhar community. 2. To explore how Afrikaans and English (and other languages) are used as linguistic resources in the community of Belhar. The Belvue Primary school was used as a vehicle to gain access to the families in Belhar which were used as case studies. The data was collected by observing learners in the classroom, interviewing educators, interviewing parents and observing linguistic practices in the homes/families of selected learners. Using poststructuralist coupled with the social constructionist approach the study is a clear departure from studies and paradigms current in vogue in South Africa, which have linked language and ethnic identity in unambiguous ways. These paradigms also see ethnic identity as fixed and communities as homogenous and language as having a one-to-one correlation with identity. However, these studies do not consider that identities are constructed and negotiated during interaction with others. In this regard it was found that individuals in the community of Belhar constantly construct and negotiate identity using language as central to the identity behaviour. Thus ultimately their language and identity cannot be described as pro-English or pro- Afrikaans.

Sexual deviancy and addiction are two concepts that have undergone considerable development in the way in which they are constructed. Since the 1800s both concepts have come to the attention of the medical field, psychological field and the criminal justice system which have made numerous attempts to regulate and treat them within these realms. By using the lens of social construction and Spector and Kitsuse’s theory of social problems, this project explores how experts describe sexual deviancy and addiction. Important considerations involving the significance of victims and a victim status emerge from the analysis, as the differentiating factors between demands for treatment for addiction, while sexual deviancy experiences an increasingly punitive regime.

In this study, I aim to examine (1) how authority is established and (2) how it is displayed. Through the use of content analysis, I investigate how the topics of "gender" and "race" within a contemporary social problems textbook compares and contrasts to corresponding Wikipedia articles. Through my research I wish to shed light on the social construction of knowledge within our modern society while also shedding light on the role that authority plays within knowledge. In order to examine how authority is established I examined the number of citations found in each topic, the publishing date of each reference and the location from which a citation emanated from. I found that authority is established differently between the two sources as each medium differed considerably in the number of citations presented, the average publishing date and the medium from which their resources were taken. To examine how authority is displayed I investigated the topics selected for both gender and race as well as the amount of space devoted to each topic. While there were similarities in regards to topic selection between the textbook Wikipedia I also found a number of topics present within the Wikipedia articles that were not addressed at all within the textbook. I found that the disparities between the textbook and Wikipedia simply illustrated a difference in perspective between the two mediums. The textbook featured a large number of citations predominantly from peer-reviewed, social scientific sources as is common within the academic world while Wikipedia featured a large number of citations that drew from a wide range of locations. This distinction highlights the idea that while knowledge may be viewed by the general public as objective and unchanging there are in fact significant differences in how knowledge is presented and legitimated depending on its originating source.

Masters of Art / This mini thesis is an exploratory study of the lived experiences of bisexual and lesbian women in the Western Cape with regard to how they claim agency and negotiate their individual sexualities. Using mixed methodologies this study aims to look at the ways in which bisexual and lesbian women negotiate their sexuality in a landscape dominated by heterosexual discourses. Also considered are the contradictory ways in which these women assert their roles as lesbians and bisexual individuals and how these roles serve to simultaneously reinforce and challenge the dominant order of heterosexuality. The conflicting views of the respondents are documented which further demonstrates the complexities surrounding sexuality. This research identifies and explores both international and local research already conducted on alternative sexualities and address the lack of black researchers' conduct of these studies on the African continent. The study also records an acknowledgement of the researcher's reflection that she too holds contradictory views on some of these issues.

There is a lack of research on the relationship between dehumanization of minority religious groups and affiliation with terrorism, which suggests a need to consider the consequences of dehumanization perceptions beyond promoting aggression. This qualitative case study addresses whether dehumanization embedded in public policies influences Muslim Americans 18 to 25 years of age, native and nonnative, to engage in homegrown terrorism. Using Schneider and Ingram’s social constructions of target populations as the foundation, research questions focused on how perceptions of mechanistic dehumanization in policy design influence homegrown terrorism among Muslim- American adults. Data were acquired through archival data that included historical documents, artifacts, and recorded testimonies of U.S. senior policymakers and organizations. These data were inductively coded, and through thematic analysis, Muslim Americans’ opinions and experiences with mechanistic dehumanization in policy settings were examined. Key themes indicated that during the early stages of the War on Terror, Americans dehumanized U.S. Muslims, which corresponded to support for exclusionary policies. However, there were no indications of modification to target group political orientation. The implications for positive social change include recommendations to policy makers to reevaluate social and public policies for Muslim Americans, counterterrorism practitioners, and scholars to avoid unfocused and unjust policies that impose collateral damage against all Muslims and not the intended targets of international extremists.

No description available.

In the study of identity and conflict, much research has focused on a macro-perspective where two or more antagonists are in conflict of power. Social construction of identity, and more precisely identity as social categories that are changeable and the result of discourse, human thinking and action provides a picture of how identity may change as context changes. A  social constructionist perspective also provides an understanding about the endogenous relationship between identity and conflict where they both influence each other. In November 2020, an armed conflict broke out in Ethiopia where ethnicity and ethnic identity played a big role, both historically and contemporary. The aim of this study is to understand the more profound mechanisms of how the conflict has contributed to identity formation by interviewing Ethiopians. The results show that the conflict in Ethiopia contributed to change the respondents attitude towards other people, religion, politics, ethnicity/nationality and future. The five categories are understood as processes in which they have affected, and often deteriorated trust and attitude towards the said object. The results thus showed how the conflict through the five processes, contributed to change the respondents identity. Understanding the five processes of how conflicts affect identity provides an interesting insight about the mechanisms that tend to drive conflict in the endogenous relationship between identity and conflict.

The context of this research project is Eersterust, a suburb situated east of Pretoria. Eersterust is hallmarked by socio-economic contrast: While some people in the community live comfortable lives, other community-members endure poverty and hardship. Eersterust is plagued by socio-economical problems including unemployment, crime, substance abuse and gang-activity. Music Therapy was established in Eersterust in 2003 at a community-based centre called YDO (The National Youth Development Outreach). YDO facilitates the social rehabilitation of adolescents who are at risk of coming in conflict with the law or have already committed some sort of petty crime. When Music Therapy was introduced at YDO it was isolated from the rest of the organisation as well as from the broader community of Eersterust. The Music Therapist at YDO realised that she had to adapt her work in order for it to justly address the needs of the context. In the process of adaptation, Music Therapy became integrated within the organisation and currently works both with and within the broader community of Eersterust. The adaptation of the Music Therapy practice has lead to some unconventional practices of Music Therapy according to traditional Music Therapy discourse. These Music Therapy practices may be described from a Community Music Therapy angle. The aim of this research project is to analyse the narrative of the Music Therapist working within YDO/Eersterust in order to describe the practice of Music Therapy within this context from the angle of Community Music Therapy. The following research questions were addressed in this research study: <ol><li> How is Community Music Therapy at Eersterust constructed in the context of a Music Therapy narrative? </li> <li>How does the narrative draw from and contribute to the emerging field of Community Music Therapy?</li></ol> The study is conducted within a qualitative paradigm and methods of narrative analysis were used to describe the practice of Music Therapy in the context of YDO/Eersterust. The research study is data-driven and raw data consisted of a single semi-structured interview conducted with the Music Therapist working at YDO. The narrative text was transcribed, coded and categorized. From the analysis process themes emerged that indicated the primacy of the context in influencing the construction of the narrative of the Music Therapist. These themes were used to answer the two pertaining research questions. The discussion focuses on the importance of the context as it seems to impinge directly on the Music Therapy practice within the context of YDO/Eersterust. The discussion draws from Social Construction Theory to explain how Community Music Therapy is constructed within the narrative of the Music Therapist. At the same time Community Music Therapy draws from and contributes to the narrative of the Music Therapist. Certain areas of discussion were highlighted in the emerging themes and these areas are used to describe Community Music Therapy within the context of YDO/Eersterust. In this research project the Consensus Model is presented as a contrasting thinking tool to Community Music Therapy discourse. The Consensus Model describes the standardised practice of Music Therapy as a neutral and transferable therapeutic model that can be applied in a similar way in all contexts while Community Music Therapy advocates context-bound and context-specific Music Therapy work with and within communities. Community Music Therapy implies that Music Therapy is not necessarily a neutral model that can be transferred from one context to the next. Areas may exist where Community Music Therapy and the Consensus Model may present different opinions regarding Music Therapy practice. The narrative data concludes that both Community Music Therapy and the Consensus Model are constructed within the narrative of the Music Therapist. Both these models exist simultaneously in the context of YDO/Eersterust. Music Therapy in South Africa is still an emerging field of practice. Community Music Therapy may be especially relevant to South Africa as Music Therapists are increasingly called upon to work in the contexts of socio-economically disadvantaged communities, similar to Eersterust. Whilst this study may have focused only on a single community in South Africa, my hope is that it will encourage Music Therapists in South Africa to review and research Music Therapy with and within communities in South Africa. This study will also contribute to the emerging discourse of Community Music Therapy. / Dissertation (MMus (Music Therapy))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Music / Unrestricted

The purpose of this qualitative, descriptive study was to obtain insight into how Grade 9 learners (average age of 15 years) in a secondary rural school conceptualise school violence. The study was framed by a social constructionism paradigm, focusing on the co-construction of knowledge and meanings by the researcher and participants through personal engagement. Bronfenbrenner‟s Bioecological Theory of Human Development, operationalised by the Process-Person-Context-Time Model, provided a theoretical grounding for the inquiry. An instrumental case study design was followed, whereby nine Grade 9 learners (4 boys and 5 girls) in a rural secondary school participating in an academic service learning project were conveniently selected as the unit of study. Qualitative data from a focus group and task-based activities were transcribed, whilst participant observations were documented in a research journal through photographs. Constructivist grounded theory principles guided the thematic analysis. Three primary themes emerged: Violence as behaviour; Violence as experience and Power and authority. Findings indicate that school violence was perpetuated by both peers and teachers, in physical and verbal forms. Corporal punishment continued to be a prevalent strategy for maintaining discipline and authority within the school. It was also evident in the findings that learners differentiated between acts of school violence and play-fighting according to the intentions and responses of those involved. Contradictory sentiments regarding the acceptability of school violence emerged. On the one hand participants wanted school violence to stop, describing it as hurtful. However, they also expressed views that when used by someone in authority for the purpose of discipline or protection, school violence was appropriate and acceptable. Therefore, the current study suggests that participants view school violence in a duplicitous role – used negatively to cause harm, but also positively to enforce order and protect. This study contributes to literature by providing youth-generated conceptualisations of school violence. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted