Browsing by Author "Noble, Vanessa."

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Against the odds : a social history of African women medical doctors in South Africa, 1940s-2000s.
(2017) Rehman, Amanda-Bea.; Noble, Vanessa.
This thesis focuses on the lives of six women medical doctors of African ethnicity, from the 1940s to the 2000s. These women are of different generations and were all born in South Africa. They trained in South Africa and have worked in a variety of institutions across the country. It investigates how the profession of medicine has evolved over time and what role a changing political climate has had on the development of the medical profession; particularly in terms of race and gender. It considers the broad historical context within which South Africa’s general medical training and professional development took place during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It then looks at the early lives of the six interviewees, which include their childhood and later motivations to study medicine. It also investigates the medical training experiences of these African women doctors. The lives and experiences of black women doctors after they graduated from medical school with a Bachelor of Medicine (MBChB) degree, during the apartheid period, is also discussed. Their training experiences, internship experiences and the experiences of their working lives in post-apartheid South Africa is a focus of this study too. Finally, it considers the impact of recent political transformation on the racial, gendered and class dimensions of the medical profession.
Divided facilities : early cottage hospitals and the provision of health care Services in Natal, 1880-1910.
(2018) Ngubane, Nontobeko.; Noble, Vanessa.
This dissertation investigates the history of the introductory of the cottage hospital system in the colony of Natal. This thesis examines the history of three cottage hospitals that were erected in Natal from the late 1880s to 1910, namely; Umsinga (1889), Newcastle (1901) and Dundee (1903). This thesis examines the reasons behind the formation of these public health care facilities and how they worked. Furthermore, this study considers the contributions made by these cottage hospitals in the magisterial districts where they were erected. Initially, these cottage hospitals were located in small villages that were fully funded by the colonial government, but in later years were also built in more urbanised areas. Similar to other institutions, these cottage hospitals were not immune from inequalities that were associated with race. This research also considers whether or not these cottage hospitals were used as tools or instruments of empire by the British. Finally, this study also investigates the decline of the cottage hospital system in Natal in 1910, including the effect the formation of the Union of South Africa had on these health care institutions.
A doctor of conscience: an analysis of the life of Ivan Toms, a medical practitioner, conscientious objector and LGBTQ rights activist in South Africa, 1952 to 2008.
(2022) Lea, Cameron Trevor.; Noble, Vanessa.
Using a micro historical lens, this thesis examines the life history of Ivan Toms. Born in 1952 in Cape Town to a white middle class family, after qualifying as a medical doctor, Toms was conscripted into the South African Defence Force (SADF) as a non-combatant doctor in 1978. He, like many 17- to 65-year-old South African males of European descent, were required (i.e., it was made compulsory) to join the SADF to protect the white minority government from what it regarded as anti-apartheid threats both in South Africa and north of its borders. As a conscript, he experienced first-hand the brutality of the apartheid regime’s military arm while serving in the SADF in South West Africa (now known as Namibia). After his return, he witnessed the apartheid regime’s violence at the Empilisweni informal settlement clinic, which he helped establish in the Cape Flats area. These experiences, together with his experiences of being gay, propelled him to become a founding member of the End Conscription Campaign (ECC), which ultimately led to his imprisonment. During the early 1990s, after his release from Pollsmoor prison, he became a health and gay rights activist until his untimely death in 2008. This thesis on Dr Ivan Toms contributes to the historiography on South Africa’s militarization and Conscientious Objection history. A microhistory on a Conscientious Objector like Toms, not only makes a concerted effort to provide a deeper understanding of the multi-faceted life experiences of a particular individual, but through an analysis of his life, try to comprehend more about the broader history of the period of military conscription and Conscientious Objection in apartheid South Africa. In addition, while there has been a surge of interest in the study of black anti-apartheid activists in the post-apartheid period, there has been a shift away from analysis of white activists who contributed to the anti- apartheid movement. This study seeks to bring me attention back to the struggles of such an individual who was active in the ECC, LGBTQ rights movement and health rights struggle.
Femininity, weight stigma and well-being: the lived experiences of ‘fat’ women in an extended Muslim Indian South African family.
(2023) Rawat, Azeeza Mohammed.; Mkhize, Gabisile Promise.; Noble, Vanessa.
Being overweight or ‘fat’ (a reclaimed term used by scholars working in the fat feminism field) negatively affects the physical, psychological, and social well-being of individuals. Challenges with physicality is a direct consequence of excess weight, while weight stigma is an indirect consequence that many ‘fat’ people face. Most women face stricter societal beauty standards, and therefore, often deal with a higher level of weight discrimination. However, weight discrimination and lived experiences may differ from one ‘fat’ woman to another depending on other intersecting identities such as race, culture, religion, and nationality. There is a scarcity of studies on weight perception and beauty standards amongst ‘fat’ Indian Muslim South African women. To address this gap, this MA research study investigated the lived experiences of ‘fat’ women (used in the fat feminist sense) in an extended Muslim Indian South African family. South African Muslim Indians were chosen as the researcher of this study is a member of this community and has firsthand experience of socio-cultural weight perceptions and expectations targeted towards women of this cultural group. This research study focused on their intergenerational experiences; including how and why older women in the study participant’s family teach younger women certain viewpoints and values regarding body size and image. It also delved into the physical and psycho-social consequences of these weight perceptions for women in the family of this study’s participants. Furthermore, it considered whether there has been any change over time in terms of the research participants’ experiences. It utilised qualitative research design methods in conjunction with autoethnography, fat feminism, intersectionality, and social constructionism. Finally, it drew on in depth interviews with six considered ‘fat’ Indian Muslim South African women from one family and a reflexive journal was kept by the researcher, thereby totalling seven participants. The findings of this study highlight that thinness is a vital beauty ideal for both men and women in the Muslim Indian South African community. However, adverse consequences, such as decreases in marriageability were highlighted for ‘fat’ women only. There are also common physiological causes of weight gain, such as cultural food choices and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), and psychological causes, including stress, emotional eating, and anxiety in relation to public exercising. Further, this study found that Islamic dressing is shown to alleviate some weight-related worry and self-consciousness. There are inconsequences to the weight stigma in this community; for instance, the women interviewed, including myself, reported experiences of psychological distress, body insecurity and engaging in yoyo dieting. This research study thus recommends awareness to help combat ‘fat’ phobia, and to increase the well-being of ‘fat’ individuals, especially in the Muslim Indian South African community. Future studies could include larger samples of women from this community and focus more on weight perceptions and weight stigma amongst men in this community.
A laboratory of change : a critical study of the Durban Medical School and its community health experiment, 1930-1960.
(1999) Noble, Vanessa.; Burns, Catherine E.
No abstract available.
A social history of clients’ perspectives on and use of traditional healing therapies in KwaMashu M Section, KwaZulu-Natal, 1960s-2000s.
(2021) Nawe, Thabile Bridget.; Noble, Vanessa.
This thesis focuses on the history of traditional healing from the client’s perspective. It does this by examining the perspectives on and experiences of various African men and women who lived in KwaMashu’s M Section in Durban between the 1960s and 2000s. These clients are of different ages, education levels and socio-economic backgrounds. This study seeks to determine what these people think about the value and use of the services of traditional healers and traditional medicines in their community. It also seeks to understand whether their perceptions of and use of traditional healing therapies in this KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) community have changed over time and in what ways. In addition, it examines whether KwaMashu M Section clients have historically adopted pluralistic health-seeking strategies and thus encouraged borrowings across different healing traditions. The research is important as many Africans living in KwaZulu-Natal continue to use traditional healing therapies on a daily basis. This means that it remains a popular alternative to biomedical health care services. Moreover, although there has been much literature produced on the subject of traditional healers, few scholars have worked on the “patient’s view” on this subject. My research contributes to this wider historiography on traditional healing by exploring the voices of clients of traditional healers. It seeks to expand the focus on patients in medical history.
A social history of the experiences of Africans with physical disabilities who were associated with the Cripple Care Association (renamed the Association for the Physically Challenged) in KwaZulu-Natal, 1970s to 2000s.
(2017) Nxumalo, Siyabonga.; Noble, Vanessa.
This thesis provides an analysis of the social experiences of people with disabilities who belonged to the Cripple Care Association (CCA), which was later, renamed the Association for the Physically Challenged (APC). The experiences of people living with disabilities during apartheid and post-apartheid are different from one person to another. During apartheid race, class and gender influenced the lives of people with disabilities in what would become the province of KwaZulu-Natal especially in accessing resources. During the apartheid period, the state played a limited role in assisting and caring for the needs of people with impairments in South Africa. This compelled families to take an active role in caring for the needs of such persons. After 1994, the democratic government in South Africa produced a variety of policies for the betterment of people living with disabilities. This research also considers the experiences of people with disabilities who have lived in the post-apartheid period and looks at whether the lives of people with physical impairments has changed for the better.