Browsing by Author "Zibane, Sibonsile Zerurcia."

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6

Deconstructing African identities: notions of fatherhood amongst Zulu men in Eshowe, KwaZulu-Natal.
(2023) Mdletshe, Prudence Thandeka.; Zibane, Sibonsile Zerurcia.; Hlengwa, Wellington Mthokozisi.
This study is a decolonial study of fatherhood in South Africa. It is located within the broader ambit of decolonial liberatory psychology and Afrocentrism. It is informed by the hypothetical claim about the erosion of African cultures, being, and subjectivities. It posits that while fatherhood is obviously socially, culturally, and historically contingent, the Anglo-American notions of fatherhood are the most dominant in South Africa. This is because of the matrix of power of the modern colonial world system that undermines African identities. Data was collected using Indigenous research methods which share some similarities with qualitative research methods. These included the sharing circles and conversational interviews that were used to collect data. A total of two sharing circle interviews and 20 one-on-one in-depth conversational interviews were conducted in Eshowe which is a rural community of KwaZulu-Natal. Study participants consisted of Zulu people from 35 to 75 + years of age. The interviews were conducted in IsiZulu; and recorded using a digital audio-recorder, and then transcribed later. The transcription first took place in the language of the respondents and then were translated into English. Zulu Folklores and proverbs were also used in the data collection process. They also served as conversation starters, reflection points, and for stimulating the conversation exchanges in sharing circles. Data was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). IPA was chosen because it is a method that allows for the data to be collected using Indigenous research methods. It is a qualitative analysis method that is primarily used in the disciplines of the human sciences. This method is mainly concerned with giving voice to the voiceless people who are either marginalized or excluded in society such as peasants, women, and indeed racialized populations. Most significantly, IPA also seeks to explore such participants’ experiences and the meaning they attribute to their experiences. The findings of the research are presented in the form of thick descriptions of the participant’s notions of fatherhood. The participants’ experiences, memories, and stories symbolized the resilience of indigenous knowledge systems in Eshowe. As one of the participants opined, as long as the Zulu people still live, their culture cannot be entirely obliterated by the old and new forms of colonialism.
Exploring child participation in parental divorce matters in African ind[i]genous communities of KwaZulu-Natal.
(2021) Zondi, Nokukhanya.; Zibane, Sibonsile Zerurcia.
This descriptive, Afrocentric study was aimed at exploring child participation in parental divorce matters in indigenous African communities of KwaZulu-Natal. The research paradigm, methodology, principles, values, and processes underpinning this study were framed within the context of the Afrocentric philosophical and theoretical perspective. Since the study focused on African knowledge and value systems, it thus placed the African people, their culture, and experiences at the centre. The data were generated from the perspectives of indigenous Black African people. This study adopted a qualitative research approach and utilised a descriptive Afrocentric research design. Semi-structured interviews were used as data collection tools. The participants were selected using the purposive and snowball sampling techniques. The total sample was fourteen, of whom nine were senior community members and five were indigenous leaders who have facilitated divorce mediation in indigenous African communities. The data collected were then analysed using thematic analysis. The findings have revealed that mediation is an ancient practice and a system that has been addressing the needs of children in indigenous African communities. The indigenous African people cherish mediation not as a single incidence but as a way of life that is embedded in the indigenous African family systems. The study further revealed that in the indigenous setting child participation occurs in various forms both direct and indirect forms and occurs in different stages of a couple’s marital life. In indigenous African communities, child participation begins from the period of pregnancy. Thus, the concept of child participation is better understood through an understanding of the role children play in indigenous African marriages and family system. The child’s role in mediation is culturally defined and relates to their phase of development and the sequence of childbirth from the firstborn to the last-born child. In this study, mediation has therefore been discussed as an accessible, appropriate communication platform, a unit of psychosocial support, and a costless emotional support system embedded in African indigenous settings.
Exploring employees’ perceptions and understandings of mental illness in the workplace: a case study of employees of eThekwini Municipality.
(2021) Dudeni, Nokuzola S'Phiwe Sindisiwe.; Zibane, Sibonsile Zerurcia.
This study explored EThekwini municipality employees’ perceptions and understanding of mental illnesses in the workplace. Furthermore, the researcher wanted to understand the ways in which support for mental illnesses or mental health related issues is provided. This study aimed to uncover employees’ perceptions, knowledge, and beliefs about mental illness. The study draws from the belief that mental health issues are stigmatised and poorly addressed in the workplace due to a lack of knowledge. This impacts on the wellbeing and recovery of mental health sufferers, thus, negatively impacting on productivity and job security. The study adopted a qualitative research design positioned within the interpretivist paradigm. Purposive and snowballing sampling methods were used to select eighteen participants. Data was collected using a semi-structured interview guide from a sample of eighteen participants in the EThekwini municipality Water and Sanitation department (EWS). Data were analysed using the thematic content analysis. The research findings established that mental illnesses are caused by psychosocial problems and certain beliefs about life in general. Importantly, the study revealed that mental illness is prevalent among female employees at the EThekwini municipality Water and Sanitation department. Additionally, the findings suggest that the provision of constructive guidance and support to all the EWS employees with mental illnesses will aid in addressing mental illnesses at EWS. EThekwini municipality needs to create programmes and policies that will educate and normalise mental illnesses in the workplace to reduce stigma. This will be achieved by improved and sustained communication and collaboration at an organisational and managerial level between all EWS employees, EWS management and the social worker.
Exploring the meanings girls attach to virginity testing in the 21st century: a study on maidens from a cultural institute in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal.
(2021) Nsele, Zamansele.; Zibane, Sibonsile Zerurcia.
Abstract available in PDF.
Exploring the students' experiences of (de)coloniality: a case study of Social Work programme at a South African university in the province of KwaZulu-Natal.
(2020) Makhanya, Thembelihle Brenda.; Zibane, Sibonsile Zerurcia.
This thesis unpacks African graduates' understanding of (de)colonial Higher Education through the narratives of post-graduate social work students and practitioners who attended a university located in KwaZulu-Natal. This study is inspired by the 2015/2016 #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall South African students’ movement, which called for a need to explore students' views about (de)coloniality in Higher Education. The case study was framed within the anti-colonial and Afrocentric theory and drawn on the tenets of the social constructionism paradigm in understanding the participants’ experiences of university education. Twenty-two (22) graduates who were purposively selected participated in this study. Data was collected through focus group discussions and semi-structured individual interviews. The collected data was analysed through thematic content and discourse analysis. In a setting dominated by colonial legacies, graduates spoke about coloniality as the endorsed activities that oppress African people's humanity through Western domination. The study findings suggest that colonial cultures, white supremacy, colonial language/s, and difficulty in accessing the African university not only hinder access of African students in higher education (HE), but also suppress their emancipation during academic engagements. The graduates thus spoke about teaching and learning pedagogies, epistemologies, and languages as vital instruments that enforce coloniality in social work education and practice. Although participants acknowledged the encountered transformations in the new democratic dispensation of South African higher education; they perceive such transformation as at the minimal. Graduates thus called for higher education institutions (HEIs) to be mindful of the stubborn and persistent colonial realities still existing in African universities.
Negotiating sexuality: informal sexual cultures amongst young people at a township high school in KwaZulu-Natal.
(2017) Zibane, Sibonsile Zerurcia.; Bhana, Deevia.; Pattman, Robert.
This thesis is an ethnography of teenage girls and boys in grade 11 who are located in a township school in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Against the backdrop of major social and health problems in the country, including gender and sexual violence, high levels of teenage pregnancy and young women’s particular vulnerability to HIV, an understanding of the ways in which young people’s sexualities are constructed are crucial for addressing sexuality education programmes to intervene against risky sexual behaviour. The ethnographic study is framed within feminist post-structuralist theory and draw on the tenets of social constructuralist paradigm in exploring the participants’ realities. The study is based on two purposively selected grade 11 classes. The data was collected by means of participant observations, focus groups and conversations with teenage learners between the ages of 16 and 18 years old. The first class was a mixed sex group of 12 boys and 20 girls. The second class was a predominantly boys’ class of 22 boys and 3 girls. The study explores the meanings and significance which the teenage girls and boys attach to sexuality in their everyday lives; and the ways they define, position and group themselves as boys and girls in relation to dominant discourses of sexuality. This study argues that, for effective sexuality education programmes, we need to pay close attention to how young people’s knowledge about gender and sexuality is produced and reproduced. In a setting where young people are constructed as either sexually innocent or sexually deviant and where teen sexual agency is viewed as dangerous and an impediment to the academic purpose of schooling, grade 11 learners construct sex and sexuality as a positive development that enables active, self-aware, pleasure-seeking agents to negotiate their identities. Young people talked about high school years as ‘the’ time for sexual fun, sexual identity constructions, sexual exploration and sexual freedom. Notably, young people acknowledged that their sexuality constructions are negotiated in a context (a township) that still bear the brunt of a long history of violence, legacies of apartheid and inequalities, economic exclusion, oppression, the dominance of hegemonic masculinities and passive femininities. Throughout the thesis, attention is given to the ways in which boys and girls accommodate, resist and mediate dominant sexuality and expectations against surrounding social, political, cultural and economic context of the township. Implications are suggested in the conclusion of the thesis with respect to sexuality education.