M.A. (African Languages) / This research concentrates primarily on feminism and attempts to study it in relation to Northern Sotho literature. As Kekana is undoubtedly the first author to deal with this topic in her novel - NONYANA YA TOKOLOGO (The Bird of Freedom), this proves the fact that in Northern Sotho literature feminism is still at its infancy stage, hence, the topic of this research - KEKANA'S NONYANA YA TOKOLOGO AS REPRESENTATIVE OF EMERGING FEMINISM IN NORTHERN SOTHO LITERATURE. Feminism emerges in Northern Sotho literature for the following two reasons: firstly, Kekana is the first writer in Northern Sotho to show vested interest in the topic; secondly, though her efforts in pioneering this path are appreciated, she should have clearly shown the way women should go to be liberated from patriarchal prison. After demonstrating so well that men oppress women in a patriarchal society, she dampens women's morale to aspire to freedom by returning Taamane to her oppressor- Tshaledi.

M.A. / This dissertation investigates the work of black women poets in South Africa during the period 1970 - 1991, within the context of race and gender politics. The period 1970 - 1991 represents the approximately two decades in which black poetry became recognised as an important development in South African literary studies. Although several studies of the work of black male poets have been written, hitherto no substantial study of the writings of black women poets, in particular, has been undertaken. Although relatively few black women poets published their work during this era, when compared to their male counterparts, this critical survey will attempt to give a broad overview of the poetry black women produced. Focusing on poetry written in English, this dissertation will argue that the majority of black women poets writing during this period harnessed their writing to the anti-Apartheid or liberation struggle in South Africa. Many of these poets regarded their writing as a 'cultural weapon' which could contribute to political transformation, and although few regarded themselves as 'feminist' poets, their poetry reveals a deep concern with gender oppression as well as racial and class oppression. Chapter one, the introduction, focuses on the way in which black South African women poets have been largely ignored, neglected and 'silenced' by the majority of critics. This chapter will also consider some of the factors that may have prevented more black women from producing and publishing poetry: social factors such as education, literacy and access to publication will be explored. The second chapter explores the emergence of South African 'protest poetry', and focuses on the poetry of Jennifer Davids and Gladys Thomas in relation to the 'protest' tradition. It will be argued that while poet Gladys Thomas defined her writing in terms of 'protest' literature, Jennifer Davids produced a more introspective, personal poetry that was primarily concerned with the difficulties of 'finding an individual voice' in the South African environment. The third chapter focuses on the more intensified phase of 'protest poetry' which was produced after 1976 by the growing culture of literary activism in the black townships, and will show how women poets write of the suffering specific to township women. This chapter will also focus on an analysis of gender oppression within the poets' own homes and communities, as well as celebrations of political activities by women. In particular, this chapter concentrates on women's poetry published in the literary magazine, Staffrider, established to promote the work of black writers. The Trade Union Movement was a major influence on literary production during this time, as we shall see from the 'worker poetry' produced by many women in the 1980s. Chapter four will concentrate on the poetry produced by black South African women in exile, most of whom were active in the ANC. It will be argued that rather than producing introspective poetry about the condition of exile, these women harnessed their writing to `the struggle'. This poetry can broadly be defined as 'resistance' or 'liberation' poetry. Some of these poets also explore the issue of gender in relation to liberation politics.

Ce mémoire explore les liens intertextuels existants entre les féminismes noirs et les œuvres afrofuturistes Metropolis de Janelle Monáe et Pumzi de Wanari Kahiu. Une revue de la littérature a permis de montrer que des personnages incarnés par des femmes noires dans des rôles principaux sont peu présents dans le genre cinématographique de la science-fiction, mais qu’ils tiennent une place centrale dans l’afrofuturisme. Cette recherche s’interroge ainsi sur le manque de représentation des femmes noires dans la science-fiction et offre une étude de l’évolution du courant afrofuturiste, de ses modalités intermédiales, et des conséquences de sa récente popularisation. Cette recherche propose donc une analyse textuelle de Pumzi et de Metropolis et une exploration de l’interaction de ces deux objets culturels avec les courants féministes noirs en relation avec le principe de l’intertextualité. Il émerge de cette analyse une étude sur la récente marchandisation et édulcoration subséquente des motivations sociales radicales du courant afrofuturiste, entraînant un questionnement sur les possibilités d’une redéfinition. / This thesis explores the intertextual links between black feminism and the afrofuturist works Metropolis by Janelle Monae and Pumzi by Wanari Kahiu. A literature review showed that characters played by black women in protagonist roles had a minimal presence in the cinematic genre of science fiction but that they had a central place in afrofuturism. This research interrogates black women lack of representation in science fiction and futurism and studies the evolution of the afrofuturist movement, its intermediality and the consequences of its recent popularization. This research proposes a textual analysis of Pumzi and Metropolis and an exploration of the interaction between those two cultural objects and black feminism movements in relation with the concept of intertextuality. Out of this investigation emerges a study of the recent commodification of the afrofuturist movement and the subsequent weakening of its radical and social motivations, leading to a questioning on the possibility of a redefinition.

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The professionalization of blogs has elevated blogging to an organizational field whereby bloggers develop a legitimate career path. For many minority women bloggers, the transition from being traditionally employed to managing a one-person digital enterprise is often met with racial and gender imbalances created by nontraditional modes of work. The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was to gain a deeper understanding of how African American women bloggers described their lived experiences with managing a one-person digital enterprise and the implications of their racial and gender identity within this nontraditional mode of work. To address this gap, a transcendental phenomenological method was used to collect data from African American women bloggers. This study was framed by 3 key concepts focused on African American women bloggers: Brydges and Sj00F6holm’s concept of personal style blogger, Martinez Dy et al’s concept of women digital entrepreneurs, and Gabriel’s concept of Black female identity online. Data were gathered using 9 virtual semi-structured interviews and analyzed using the modified Van Kaam method. Eight themes emerged when answering the research question. The findings of the research showed that being an African American woman blogger means conducting entrepreneurial activity, working towards financial solvency, being proud of racial identity, and creating and delivering content as a blogger. Results gleaned from this transcendental phenomenological study may help promote social change by bringing awareness to policymakers on the issues of equity, access, and opportunity for marginalized populations who seek to become digital entrepreneurs.

Objektifiering är en av de vanligaste formerna av diskriminering mot kvinnor. Befintlig forskning inom ämnet är övervägande kvantitativ och har i huvudsak genomförts på vita kvinnor i en nordamerikansk kontext. Syftet med föreliggande studie var därför att undersöka svarta kvinnors upplevelser av objektifiering i Sverige. Sju semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes och analyserades genom tematisk analys. Resultatet utmynnade i tre teman: Objektifierad – hur, var, av vem?, Att vara ett objekt och Motståndskraft. Studiens resultat visade att deltagarnas erfarenheter har skett mot bakgrund av patriarkala samhälleliga strukturer i kombination med stereotypa föreställningar och fördomar om svarta kvinnor. Den vanligast förekommande formen av objektifiering var att få utseendet granskat och utvärderat genom blickar, kommentarer eller fysisk beröring utifrån fysiska attribut som är stereotypt kännetecknande för svarta kvinnor. Deltagarna beskrev att deras erfarenheter bland annat har resulterat i en ökad vaksamhet, kroppsupptagenhet samt påverkade och förändrade relationer. Slutligen nämndes strategier för hur deltagarna hanterade de påfrestningar som objektifiering innebar. Studien understryker vikten av ökad kunskap i samhället avseende vilka faktorer som möjliggör objektifiering av svarta kvinnor. / Objectification is one of the most common forms of discrimination towards women. Contemporary research in the subject is predominantly quantitative and has mostly been done on white women in a North American context. The aim of this study was therefore to examine black women’s experiences of objectification in Sweden. Seven semi-structured interviews were performed and analyzed through thematic analysis. The result ensued in three themes: Objectification – how, where, by whom?, To be an object and Resistance. The study’s result showed that the participants’ experiences have occurred as a consequence of patriarchal societal structures, combined with stereotypical conceptions and prejudice about black women. The most common form of objectification was having one’s appearance scrutinized and valuated through looks, comments or physical touches of those physical attributes which are stereotypical features of black women. Participants expressed that their experiences have, among other things, resulted in increased watchfulness, bodily consciousness and affected and changed relations. Lastly, the participants described strategies applied to handle the strain caused by objectification. The study emphasizes the importance of increased societal knowledge in regards of which factors enable the objectification of black women.

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« Les femmes noires qui aiment les femmes : résistance aux rapports de pouvoir enchevêtrés » aborde les questions de survie d’un point de vue queer et diasporique. Cette thèse soutient que les pratiques et positionnements au quotidien des participantes se situent dans les failles d’un système qui criminalise l’existence même des personnes noir.e.s. L’analyse des conditions de vie de ces femmes permet de mieux comprendre le panorama complexe des systèmes de pouvoir à l’intersection des rapports de classe, de genre, de race et de l’hétéropatriarcat. Elle permet également de reconnaitre leur capacité à créer un espace alternatif, un univers des possibles qui s’oppose aux catégories normatives et hégémoniques. Les réalités des participantes génèrent donc des points de départ où l’altérité devient outil de pensée critique, moyen de résistance et fondement d’un futur substantiellement différent infusé par l’espoir de l’amélioration. Cette recherche se base sur l’autoethnographie, une ethnographie de la participation et des entretiens semi-dirigés de 22 personnes qui s’identifient comme femmes, noires et ayant des rapports sexo-affectifs avec d’autres femmes. Cette thèse porte donc sur le désir et s’appuie sur de multiples apports, majoritairement de théoriciennes racisées, qu’elles soient issues du milieu académique ou fassent partie de mon cercle privé. Elle est formée par de puissants récits, mais également par des silences tout aussi évocateurs, par une attention accrue au domaine du micro et à la description, par une autoethnographie de la participation et par la volonté de dépeindre sur quelques pages ne serait-ce qu’un extrait de la flamboyance de ces femmes. / "Black Women Who Love Women: Resisting Entangled Power Dynamics" addresses issues of survival from a queer and diasporic perspective. This thesis argues that the participants’ everyday practices and positioning are situated within the cracks of a system that criminalizes the very existence of Black people. Analysing these women’s living conditions allows to better understand of the complex landscape of power systems at the intersection of class, gender, race and heteropatriarchy. It also recognizes their ability to create an alternative space, a universe of possibilities that opposes normative and hegemonic categories. The participants’ realities, thus, generate starting points where otherness becomes a tool for critical thinking, a means of resistance, and a foundation for a substantially different future infused with the hope of improvement. This research is based on autoethnography, an ethnography of participation, and semistructured interviews of 22 individuals who identify as female, Black, and have romantic and sexual relations with womens. This thesis, then, centers on desire and draws on multiple inputs, mostly from racialized female theorists, whether from the academic world or from my private circle. It is shaped by powerful narratives, but also by equally impactful silences, by a strong attention to what happen on the micro scale and to description, by an autoethnography of participation, and by a willingness to depict in a few pages even a snippet of these women’s flamboyance.

Brazil is in the 132nd position in the ranking for female parliamentary participation according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s latest report (2019). Black women are the ones least involved in national politics. In the state of São Paulo 94 state Deputies were elected in 2018, of these only 11 are women and only 3 are black. This research looks at black female political participation in Brazil, focusing on political engagement in the state and municipality of São Paulo. It employs black feminist theory to investigate the hindrances for black women’s political participation. Intersectionality and political science theories were used as part of the theoretical framework. The research question explored was: “What are the obstacles for black female political participation in Brazil?”. This question is connected to larger issues of gender, race, class, political representation and participation. Semi-structured interviews with black women engaged with institutional politics were conducted, followed by a thematic analysis. The research found four main obstacles preventing a greater participation of black women in politics. The issue of visibility, that is, having enough social capital to gain attention from voters, prevents many black women from receiving support by their political parties. Having a network is also said to be important for those starting in politics, as it can give them the necessary visibility to grow in their political parties. Political education is considered an important tool to have a successful candidacy and is currently overlooked by political parties. Finally, financial investment is said to be underprovided to black female candidates. The interviews show that the obstacles presented are linked to structural racism and sexism within the political parties and in society. Despite their personal investment and engagement, black women are often demeaned. They are perceived as not capable of being good politicians. The oppressions they suffer for their race, gender and class are also experienced in the political arena. They are often silenced as political subjects, but they keep fighting back.

Black women mortality rates are perceived to be impacted by communication barriers, trust issues, and the lack of quality preventive health services. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore communication barriers and trust issues perceived by Black women when seeking preventive health services. HMB was used to identify public attitudes around receiving preventive health services and to construct each question based on perceived susceptibility and perceived severity of communication barriers and trust issues. An ecological model of the communication process was used as a framework to identify fundamental relationships between the Black female patients and health care providers. Data were collected using open-ended interview questions from Black women in public health and health care professions in southeast Texas (N=10). Results were coded and evaluated by thematic analysis. NVivo 10 software was used to store and manage data. Study findings showed 4 participants voiced their beliefs that their healthcare provider was somewhat apathetic when it came to addressing their health care needs, and 3 of the participants who visited a doctor's office within the last 12 months reportedly expressed having poor communication and trust issues with their health care provider. Emerged themes included lack of attentiveness from health care providers and lack of a comfortable atmosphere or bedside manner when receiving preventive health care services from their healthcare provider. This research has implications for social change if the health inequalities of Black women are identified and addressed, then Black women may have a reduction in health disparities when receiving preventive health services and an increase healthier outcomes.