In the South African context there have been individuals who have made remarkable
contributions to the anti-apartheid struggle and towards the establishment of the democratic
society we live in today. Their âfinished livesâ warrant closer investigation to uncover what
these persons may have to teach South African society (or societies at large) today. Dr Beyers
Naudé (1915-2004) was such a figure. He was born of Voortrekker stock into the Afrikaner
elite, but he vehemently opposed apartheid and became one of the heroes of the anti-apartheid
struggle and made a significant contribution to contemporary South African society. Although
much has been written on the life and work of Naudé, none of the literature adopts a specific
psychological focus and no psychobiographical study of the life of Naudé exists. As such,
Naudé was selected for this study by means of purposive sampling.
Naudéâs life history was uncovered in this psychobiography through the systematic
and consistent collection and analysis of life history materials. Data were collected from both
primary and secondary sources of life history materials. Psychobiographical research is
qualitative research that involves the investigation of unique and âgreatâ lives as well as the
investigation of the lives of contentious or controversial figures. This is achieved through the
application of formal psychological theory to the life history of these individuals.
Psychobiographical research may investigate the origin, development and nature of constructs
such as psychological strenghts, optimal wellness and coping. This is referred to as a
eugraphic approach in psychobiography as opposed to the pathographic approach in
psychobiography which focuses on psychopathology. This psychobiographical study may
also be described as eugraphic in nature.
The aim of the study was to explore and describe Naudéâs holistic wellness and faith
development. A framework consisting of a wellness model and a faith development theory
was employed in order to âuncoverâ Naudéâs wellness and faith development over his lifespan.
The wellness model employed in this study was the Wheel of Wellness (Myers et al., 2000;
Witmer and Sweeney, 1992) and the faith development theory employed was Fowlerâs Faith
Development Theory (Fowler, 1981). Alexanderâs (1988) indicators of saliency and
McAdamsâ (1996) approach to investigating life stories were employed to identify salient data
or themes that were investigated in this study. Furthermore, conceptual frameworks or
matrices were also presented to organise data, integrate findings and guide the presentation
and discussion of findings. The frameworks were derived from the historical periods in Naudéâs life, on the one hand, and the theoretical perspectives of the Wheel of Wellness
model (Myers, Witmer & Sweeney, 2000; Witmer & Sweeney, 1992) and the Faith
Development Theory (Fowler, 1981) respectively, on the other.
Findings in this study regarding Naudéâs holistic wellness indicated that he was able
to successfully negotiate the life tasks as outlined by the Wheel of Wellness model throughout
his lifespan. These were spirituality, self-direction, work and leisure, friendship and love.
Findings also indicated that Naudé progressed through all the stages of faith development
proposed by the Faith Development Theory and reached a very mature level of faith
development, namely, universalising faith. Furthermore, findings also suggest that both
Naudéâs holistic wellness and faith development were influenced by personal experiences,
societal forces (life forces) and global events.
This study provides a positive demonstration of the value of the Wheel of Wellness
Model (Myers et al., 2000; Witmer & Sweeney, 1992) and the Faith Development Theory
(Fowler, 1981) to describe the holistic wellness, on the on hand, and faith development, on the
other, over an individual life. Additionally, recommendations are made for future research
employing the psychobiographical research design and methodology to uncover the lives of
âgreatâ and enigmatic or contentious and controversial personalities.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-08192014-144755 |
| Date | 19 August 2014 |
| Creators | Burnell, Barbara |
| Contributors | Prof R van Niekerk, Prof J P Fouché |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-08192014-144755/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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