The purpose of this study was to examine the complexities that constitute women’s
narratives within a mining organisation in South Africa. A review of the literature suggests that
social constructions about gender influence the way in which individuals construct narratives and
meaning in their lives, which inform their ways of being. This research draws upon two main
schools of thought, that is, post-modern social constructionism and post-structuralism. Based on
these world views, a qualitative analysis was selected as the most appropriate research design.
This research examined the narratives of nine women in senior positions from a single mining
organisation, in the form of semi-structured in depth interviews carried out in September 2011.
An ethnographic research design was selected, in line with the theoretical framework of this
study. A thematic analysis was conducted, and the results revealed two central themes, viz.
Navigating the interceptions between occupational and multiple identities; and negotiating a
space for women in mining.
The nature of identity that emerged from participant’s narratives was viewed as an act of
weaving together the multiple strands of the self, where participants recognise the points at
which these multiple strands intercept and where they diverge. So rather than merging these
strands into a unified (and essentialist) self, participants seemed to recognise the fluid, dynamic
and contextual sense of self and in-so-doing, participants began to, in their narrative, construct an
authentic sense of self. At each interception participants are faced with (i) contradictions and
ambiguity, or (ii) congruency of the self between roles, which emerged as ‘identity salience’.
Interceptions were interpreted as an illustration of the micro-physics of power, as postulated by
Foucault (1979). In some cases, participants internalise normative and ‘masculine’ prescriptions
of the self, resulting in the reification of gendered norms and the subsequent ‘disciplining’ of the
self to embody such norms. However, participants also exercise individual and collective agency
in resisting dominant ideology, thereby driving shifts in the power dynamics of society and
negotiating an authentic and egalitarian self, and space for women in mining. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/9671 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Johnstone, Leigh. |
| Contributors | Bhagwanjee, Anil M., Bobat, Shaida. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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