Deconstructing vulnerability: exploring the lives of young black men in urban informal settlements
| dc.contributor.advisor | Visser, Gustav | |
| dc.contributor.author | Zweig, Patricia | |
| dc.contributor.other | Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Geography and Environmental Studies. | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2022-10-14T10:37:16Z | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2023-01-16T12:40:15Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2022-10-14T10:37:16Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2023-01-16T12:40:15Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2022-12 | |
| dc.description | Thesis (DPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2022. | en_ZA |
| dc.description.abstract | ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Globally, over a billion urban dwellers live in slum conditions today, increasing by around ten million inhabitants annually. Much of this growth is occurring in Africa, where some estimates suggest that more than half the urban population already lives informally. Generally unplanned and inadequately serviced, these densely settled urban areas are becoming hot spots of urban risk, strongly rooted in social and economic vulnerabilities associated with unstable sources of livelihood and deplorable living conditions. Daily life in these contexts is thus a precarious and constant confrontation with the lived realities of poverty that shapes the way people respond to the world around them. In these environments, women and children are generally considered to be most vulnerable to the hazards associated with daily life. But there is growing concern about the lives of men and their perceived marginalisation, feelings of self-worth, and collective and individual vulnerability in an urban environment in which their roles have fundamentally changed. If we are to influence behaviour change among young men to reduce the acknowledged risks they pose to others, we must understand how they are being made vulnerable in a changing society that no longer defends their rights. This study sought to understand the challenges faced by young Xhosa men and the nature of their vulnerabilities in informal settlements in contemporary South Africa, by determining the building blocks of their vulnerability and how these are shaped and change over time and space. In contemporary South Africa, poor young Black men are being confronted with new circumstances that are profoundly shaping their identities. Adopting an interpretivist theoretical approach, a grounded methodology involving suite of methods was employed to interrogate the nature of the young men’s perceived vulnerabilities, how they coped with them and how in response they constructed their identities. These ranged from adapted participatory methods involving drawing, to diary-keeping and one-on-one discussions. In describing their lives in informal settlement environments the young men in the study revealed how they were made vulnerable and what they were vulnerable to, which included physical threats but also less tangible forms of susceptibility that included navigating relationships in a changing world, unemployment, living up to the social and cultural expectations placed on Xhosa men - both by themselves as well as others around them - and trying to accommodate new gender and other fundamental rights discourses brought by democracy that have brought traditional masculine forms of identity into question. In navigating complex urban informal landscapes, the identities of young men were found to be constantly mediated in response to new circumstances in which they find themselves. As a consequence, they shift interchangeably between different masculine identities to reduce their perceived vulnerability, often accommodating conflicting value systems, with each man positioning himself in relation to the power dynamics he encounters, shifting from hegemonic to subordinate forms of masculinity. This study has revealed that young men are currently conflicted in not knowing how to accommodate change without forfeiting the very essence of what it is that they believe makes them men. It suggests that we should adopt a far more culturally attuned and Afro-centric approach to understanding poor young African men that considers the ways in which they are made to feel vulnerable. This means challenging our preconceived notions about the masculine identities we think they are invested in. | en_ZA |
| dc.description.abstract | AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Oor die wereld heen bly meer as ʼn biljoen stadsbewoners vandag in krottoestande, en hierdie syfer neem jaarliks met ongeveer tien miljoen inwoners toe. Die meeste van hierdie groei kom in Afrika voor, waar meer as die helfte van die stadsbevolking na raming reeds informeel woon. Hierdie digbevolkte stadsgebiede is in die algemeen onbepland met onvoldoende dienste, en raak tans gevaarpunte vir stadsrisiko’s wat sterk gewortel is in maatskaplike en ekonomiese kwesbaarhede wat met onstabiele lewensbestaanbronne en betreurenswaardige lewenstoestande gepaardgaan. Die daaglikse lewe in hierdie kontekste behels dus ʼn gevaarvolle en konstante konfrontasie met die geleefde realiteite van armoede, wat die manier beinvloed waarop mense op die wereld om hulle reageer. In hierdie omgewings word vroue en kinders in die algemeen as die kwesbaarste vir die gevare wat hul daaglikse lewe inhou, beskou. Daar is egter toenemende kommer oor die lewens van mans en hul waargenome marginalisering, gevoelens oor eiewaarde en gesamentlike en individuele kwesbaarheid in ʼn stedelike omgewing waarin hul rolle wesenlik verander het. Ten einde gedragsverandering onder jong mans te beinvloed om die erkende risiko’s wat hulle vir ander inhou, te verminder, moet ons verstaan hoe hulle kwesbaar gemaak word in ʼn veranderende samelewing wat nie meer hul regte verdedig nie. Die doel van hierdie studie was om begrip te verkry van die uitdagings vir jong Xhosa-mans en die aard van hul kwesbaarhede in informele nedersettings in hedendaagse Suid-Afrika deur die boustene van hul kwesbaarheid te bepaal, asook hoe dit met verloop van tyd en oor ruimte heen gevorm word en verander. In hedendaagse Suid-Afrika kom arm, jong swart mans voor nuwe omstandighede te staan wat ʼn grondige invloed op hul identiteitsvorming het. ʼn Grondige metodologie bestaande uit ʼn reeks metodes volgens ʼn interpretivistiese teoretiese benadering is gebruik om die aard van die jong mans se waargenome kwesbaarhede te ondersoek, asook hoe hulle dit hanteer het en hoe hulle in reaksie daarop hul identiteite saamgestel het. Dit het gewissel van aangepaste deelnemende metodes soos tekeninge maak tot dagboekhouding en persoonlike gesprekke. In die beskrywing van hul lewens in die omgewing van informele nedersettings het die jong mans in die studie aangetoon hoe hulle kwesbaar gemaak is en waarvoor hulle kwesbaar was, insluitende hul kwesbaarheid vir fisiese bedreigings, maar ook minder tasbare vorme van kwesbaarheid soos die hantering van verhoudings in ʼn veranderende wereld, werkloosheid, voldoening aan die sosiale en kulturele verwagtinge van Xhosa-mans – sowel hul eie verwagtinge as die van ander om hulle – asook pogings om nuwe diskoerse oor gender en ander grondliggende regte te hanteer wat deur demokrasie aangevuur is en hierdie tradisionele manlike identiteitsvorme bevraagteken. Daar is gevind dat die identiteite van die jong mans deurlopend bemiddel word in reaksie op nuwe omstandighede waarin hulle hulself bevind met die hantering van ingewikkelde informele stadslandskappe. As gevolg hiervan verwissel hulle tussen verskillende manlike identiteite om hul waargenome kwesbaarheid te verlaag, en aanvaar hulle dikwels sodoende teenstrydige waardestelsels, met die mans wat hulself posisioneer in verhouding tot die magdinamiek wat hulle teekom in ʼn verskuiwing vanaf hegemoniese tot ondergeskikte vorme van manlikheid. Die studie toon dat hierdie jong mans in ʼn tweestryd verwikkel is omdat hulle nie weet hoe om verandering te hanteer sonder om die wesenlikheid van dít wat hulle glo hulle mans maak, prys te gee nie. Dit doen aan die hand dat ons ʼn veel meer kultureel ingestelde en Afrosentriese benadering tot begrip van arm jong Afrika-mans moet inneem wat die maniere waarop hulle kwesbaar gemaak word in ag neem. Dit verg ʼn ondersoek na ons vooropgesette menings oor die manlike identiteite waarin hulle na ons mening verwikkel is. | af_ZA |
| dc.description.version | Doctoral | en_ZA |
| dc.format.extent | 262 pages : illustrations | en_ZA |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/125895 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_ZA | en_ZA |
| dc.publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University | en_ZA |
| dc.rights.holder | Stellenbosch University | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Masculinity | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Squatter settlements | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Vulnerability (Personality trait) | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Environmental risk assessment | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Xhosa (African people) | |
| dc.subject | UCTD | |
| dc.title | Deconstructing vulnerability: exploring the lives of young black men in urban informal settlements | en_ZA |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_ZA |
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