“Real men”, “Proper ladies” and mixing in-between : a qualitative study of social cohesion and discrimination in terms of race and gender within residences at Stellenbosch University

dc.contributor.advisorPattman, R.en_ZA
dc.contributor.authorRobertson, Megan Aimeeen_ZA
dc.contributor.otherStellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Sociology and Social Anthropology.en_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-05-20T09:29:37Z
dc.date.available2015-05-20T09:29:37Z
dc.date.issued2015-04en_ZA
dc.descriptionThesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractENGLISH ABSTRACT: My research is motivated by concerns with promoting „transformation‟ in Stellenbosch University, a formerly white Afrikaans University which is still predominantly white in terms of numbers and proportions of students attending the institution. While I argue about the importance of taking measures to promote more „diverse‟ student populations, I am critical of discourses which equate transformation with „improving‟ demographic profiles defined in terms of numbers of black, white, coloured and Indian students. I argue that understandings of transformation and diversity need to engage with the students‟ views and experiences of the university in order to make meaningful change with regard to social cohesion and integration, which goes beyond statistical change. My research does this by exploring how students from particular residences, in Stellenbosch University, construct and experience university and residence life and their own identifications. The students were interviewed in friendship groups, selected by the students themselves, and a key concern of mine was to facilitate conversations with them on broad themes relating to their reasons for coming to Stellenbosch and their interests, aspirations, motivations, identifications and disidentifications as particular students in particular residences in Stellenbosch. I was particularly concerned to pick up on issues which the students raised in these „focus group discussions‟ so that the students, themselves, played a key role in setting the agenda in the discussion and they and their reflections on their experiences and constructions of themselves and others became the topic of discussion. Rather than taking the group interview as an „instrument‟ (as interviews, like questionnaires, are often described in methods texts in the social sciences), I write about it as ethnographic encounter involving them and myself as participants, and I explore insights about the nature of their friendships and relationships derived from first-hand experience, of how they engage with their selected friends and with me in the research group. Furthermore, by engaging with them as authorities about their lives and identifications as particular kinds of students at Stellenbosch, and posing questions which encouraged them to reflect on these. I argue that this kind of research can itself become a model of good pedagogic and „transformative‟ practice.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractAFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Nie beskikbaaraf_ZA
dc.format.extent99 pages
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/97085
dc.language.isoen_ZAen_ZA
dc.publisherStellenbosch : Stellenbosch Universityen_ZA
dc.rights.holderStellenbosch Universityen_ZA
dc.subjectTransformation -- South Africa -- Stellenboschen_ZA
dc.subjectUCTDen_ZA
dc.subjectStudents -- South Africa -- Stellenbosch -- Attitudesen_ZA
dc.subjectStellenbosch University -- Students -- Attitudesen_ZA
dc.subjectRace relations -- South Africa --- Stellenboschen_ZA
dc.subjectDiscrimination in higher education -- South Africa -- Stellenboschen_ZA
dc.subjectCultural pluralism -- South Africa -- Stellenboschen_ZA
dc.subjectMulticultural education -- South Africa -- Stellenboschen_ZA
dc.title“Real men”, “Proper ladies” and mixing in-between : a qualitative study of social cohesion and discrimination in terms of race and gender within residences at Stellenbosch Universityen_ZA
dc.typeThesisen_ZA
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
robertson_men_2015.pdf
Size:
2.22 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.71 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description: