Return to search

Cultural narrative in TAT responses : a thematic analysis of stories told by Mamelodi adolescents

In South Africa, where a large portion of the population lives in townships, more often than not, the therapist and client do not share a similar cultural context. Cultural knowledge is therefore pertinent to generating a complex and thorough interpretation of any psychological assessments. This study aims to explore possible cultural narratives evoked in the responses to the Thematic Apperception Test so that cross-cultural use of the test would be more effective in the Mamelodi township. The research is done from a narrative point of view, where lived experience is understood by organising it into structured narratives or stories that repeat throughout a person’s life. The pictures of the TAT were viewed as a context that could elicit such life narratives from respondents. TAT stories from five adolescent residents in Mamelodi were thematically analysed as a method of identifying common stories that could reflect the cultural narratives that young persons in Mamelodi draw from to make sense of their world. The results indicated common narratives concerning the following: the experience of violence and danger, the experience of close relationships, dealing with challenges, and the role that clothes play. These findings, and possible findings from similar future research, might aid psychologists towards a better understanding of the TAT in the township context. Copyright / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Psychology / unrestricted

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:up/oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/30223
Date07 December 2012
CreatorsVorster, Theunis Gert
ContributorsMs I Ruane, theunis_vorster@yahoo.com
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeDissertation
Rights© 2012, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria

Page generated in 0.0027 seconds