"We are not fully humans, we are half-humans” : the study of how Nhlalakahle informal residents construct their own-group infrahumanization.
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Date
2016
Authors
Sithole, Thandiwe.
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Abstract
Informal settlements are sites of oppression where residents yearn for social, political and
economic change. Informal residents live under harsh conditions, deprived of basic resources
including water, electricity, proper dumping sites and sanitary toilets. Such deprivation makes
them vulnerable to discrimination and mistreatment by formal residents, and this is perceived in
a form of infra-humanization. Infra-humanization between out-groups and in-groups has been
explored, but few studies focus on own-group dehumanization. This study aimed to explore
intergroup relations between informal residents with formal residents as their neighbors in
adjacent suburbs and how this manifest in own-group infra-humanization. To accomplish this,
eleven interviews were conducted with residents of the Nhlalakahle informal settlement situated
in Northdale, Pietermaritzburg. The results show that informal residents construct themselves as
infra-humanized by their formal neighbors however; they preserve their human worth and
dignity through resistance.
Description
Master of Social Science in Psychology. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg 2016.