The social geographies of school-related gender-based violence on children’s school journeys in rural KwaZulu-Natal.
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Date
2022
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Abstract
This study examined the social geographies of school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV)
on children’s journeys to and from school (hereafter, school journeys). In particular, the study
explored the spaces and places identified by primary school children as the social geographies
of SRGBV on their school journeys. Moreover, the study investigated how primary school
children negotiated their spatial safety when navigating their school journeys. Twenty primary
schoolchildren, aged between 10-12 years and attending Grades 5-7, were purposively
recruited from one resource-poor rural community in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands, in South
Africa (SA). The study recruited only primary schoolchildren who walked without adult
supervision for at least five kilometres to and from school. Data was generated using
participatory visual methodologies, which involved the use of photovoice and participatory
mapping. These visual data were supplemented by four focus group discussions (FGD). Data
analysis occurred in two layers. The first layer involved the analysis of visual artefacts and the
explanations provided by the participants during the FGD. The second layer involved thematic
and visual data analysis of all the data generated.
Conceptually, the study was guided by both the feminist geographies and the broadly conceived
children’s geographies frames of thinking. Feminist geographies provided a lens for
understanding how gender shaped primary school children’s understandings and experiences
of SRGBV on their school journey. On the other hand, children’s geographies provided a frame
for understanding the sociocultural meanings children attached to their engagement with both
their social geographies and the people they interacted with across space/place. Theoretically,
the analysis was informed by the defensible space theory, which analysed how and why certain
social geographies exposed primary school children to gender-based violence (GBV).
Data analysis revealed a plethora of social geographies that rendered participants vulnerable to
GBV on their school journeys. These geographies included dense bushes, taverns, and other
public and economic spaces such as tuckshops in and around the community. Moreover, since
these children walked to school without adult supervision, they reported a sense of fear and
terror in navigating unsafe social geographies in their community. Finally, while they feared
walking to school, participants demonstrated agency in negotiating their spatial safety by
drawing from the available community and interpersonal resources. The use of participatory visual methods offered a unique opportunity to see how primary school children constructed
and understood the social geographies of their school journeys, and how in these spaces, forms
of GBV occurred.
Description
Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.