'Reading between the lines' : exploring the telling, hearing, reflective and relational components of women traders' narratives.

Description

This
research
project
focused
on
understanding
the
narratives
of
women
informal
street
traders
in
Warwick
Junction,
Durban.
This
is
a
diverse
and
vibrant
trading
community
and
the
five
women
interviewed
have
been
working
in
the
area
for
many
years.
This
means
that
these
research
participants
offer
a
unique
window
in
on
the
intersections
between
individual
(psychological)
realities
and
historical,
sociopolitical
and
economic
life.
The
project
adopted
a
narrative
approach,
analyzing
the
ways
in
which
1)
particular
incident
narratives
(PINs)
within
each
life
narrative
reflect
key
aspects
of
the
life
story
and
draw
on
narrative
principles
to
convey
this;
2)
the
ways
in
which
narratives
are
interactively
constructed
between
the
researcher
and
participants
in
the
interview
situation;
and
3)
the
relational
construction
of
individual
lives
in
networks
of
communities.
The
results
highlighted
the
inherently
interwoven
nature
of
identity
construction
between
individuals
and
the
communities
with
which
they
associate.
The
overarching
factors
of
poverty,
gender
and
trauma
were
shown,
in
all
three
levels
of
analysis,
as
key
elements
that
tied
the
women
together
through
relationships
of
shared
experiences.
The
stories
that
the
women
chose
to
share
were
strongly
influenced
by
the
presence
and
responses
of
the
interviewer
and
the
researcher
and
thus,
the
ways
in
which
power,
entrenched
in
history
and
culture,
influenced
the
narratives
became
most
evident.
The
ways
in
which
the
women
connect
and
disconnect
with
relational
others
was
shown
to
influence
their
sense
of
belonging
within
various
communities,
both
real
and
imagined.
This
contributed
to
the
women’s
development
of
resilience
and
salient
identities
as
cohesive
communities
were
shown
to
be
buffers
against
adversity
and
influencers
in
the
construction
of
identity.

Links & Downloads

1. http://hdl.handle.net10539/13921

Tags

Women--Employment--South Africa.

Peddlers--South Africa.

Additional Fields

Identifer	oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/13921
Date	24 February 2014
Creators	Coats, Tamryn
Source Sets	South African National ETD Portal
Language	English
Detected Language	English
Type	Thesis
Format	application/pdf, application/pdf