Browsing by Author "Dube-Addae, Thembelihle"

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    Narrative Identities: Voices of the unemployed youth in a low-income community in South Africa
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12) Dube-Addae, Thembelihle; Naidoo, Anthony V.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Psychology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Narrative identity refers to the stories we tell about who we are and how we have come to be who we are. This study explores the context, content, key constructs and discourses of the narrative identities of 10 unemployed young people of Kayamandi accessed through a participatory action research process. There is a dearth of studies on narrative identity in low income, urban contexts and especially with unemployed young people. This study aims to inform the understanding of narrative identity in an under-researched context vis-a-vis the contemporary research base. Narratives are unique, individual and subjective thus a qualitative, interpretivist research approach was adopted. Narrative Inquiry and Participatory Action Research were the primary methodologies employed in the study whilst social constructionism served as the theoretical framework. Ten in-depth life story interviews were conducted with unemployed youth followed by a series of group discussions. The data were analysed using Template Analysis and Narrative Analysis. The initial, a priori themes emanating from the template analysis were categorised using Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory and these themes were then further analysed using narrative analysis into salient discourses. Agency, communion and meaning-making were the narrative themes that defined the youth’s narrative identities. The grand narratives that emerged were: how poverty fuels unemployment; what it means to be a responsible man/woman; the double edge of education; the importance of (social) support, and the connection between social support and pregnancy. Further analysis revealed the manifestation of ubuntu; freedom of expression; the differences in engagement with unemployment by young men and women; the enduring impact of racism, and the salience of capitalist principles. The dissertation concludes with a proposed intervention framework that appreciates the heterogeneity of unemployed youth and their experiences.