Thesis (MA (Sociology and Social Anthropology))--Stellenbosch University, 2009. / ENGLISH SUMMARY: Women’s livelihoods are not only experienced differently, but are articulated in different ways. This
dissertation begins from the understanding that women’s livelihoods are processual, complex and
contextual. They are embedded in multifarious processes, structures, discourses and everyday practices,
which are locally defined and globally linked. This thesis interrogates women’s articulations of
empowerment and agency that were central to their community and entrepreneurial activities. Women’s
social actions and responses to constraints and transformation they encountered in the valley were sites of
struggle.
Informed by local women’s perspectives and articulations of empowerment, this ethnography focuses on
how women practiced their livelihoods: how they manoeuvred, negotiated and performed their livelihood
tactics in response to local, national and global constraints. The study narrates how women in a rural valley
in the Winelands of the Western Cape (South Africa) spoke of how they felt ‘empowered’ despite
constraints. They claimed that they exhibited productive moments and harnessed opportunities to rise above
constraints. They felt that in general men in their communities were passive in their response to crisis in the
valley. Women’s narratives of empowerment in the Dwars River Valley invoked ideas of ‘women of steel’
and ‘moments’ of agency. These helped to re-fashion local gender orders and rehabilitate notions of
‘appropriate’ women’s work. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die bestaanswyses van vroue word nie slegs in die uitleef daarvan waargeneem nie, maar is dikwels ook ‘n
fokus van gespreksvoering. Die uitgangspunt van hierdie tesis is dat vroue se bestaanswyses metodies,
kompleks en kontekstueel is. Dit word begrond deur uiteenlopende prosesse, strukture, diskoerse, en
alledaagse gebruike wat plaaslik gedefinieer word en globaal gebonde is. Hierdie tesis ondersoek vroue se
artikulasie van bemagtiging en agentskap wat sentraal tot hul gemeenskap en entrepreneurskap aktiwiteite
staan. Vroue se sosiale handelinge en reaksies tot struikelblokke en transformasie wat hulle in die vallei in
die gesig gestaar het, is beduidend van ‘n plek van worsteling.
Hierdie etnografie word toegelig deur plaaslike vroue se perspektiewe en artikulasie van bemagtiging en
fokus op hoe hulle hul bestaanswyse beoefen het: hoe vroue bestaanswyse taktieke gemanipuleer,
onderhandel en ook uitgevoer het as reaksie op plaaslike, nasionale en globale beperkinge. Hierdie studie
vertel hoe vroue in ‘n landelike vallei van die Wynlande in die Wes-Kaap (Suid-Afrika) praat oor hoe hul
‘bemagtig’ voel, ten spyte van beperkinge. Hulle voer aan dat hul produktiewe oomblikke vertoon en
gebruik maak van geleenthede om bo beperkinge uit te styg. Hulle voel dat mans oor die algemeen passief
in hul reaksie op krisis is. Vroue se verhale van bemagtiging in die Dwars Rivier Vallei roep beelde op van
‘vroue van staal’ en ‘oomblikke’ van agentskap. Dit het bygedra tot die herskepping van plaaslike gender
rolle en die hervestiging van idees oor ‘gepaste’ werk vir vroue.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/4073 |
| Date | 03 1900 |
| Creators | Van der Heijden, Ingrid |
| Contributors | Van der Waal, C. S., Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Sociology and Social Anthropology. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | Unknown |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 171 p. : ill., map |
| Rights | Stellenbosch University |
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