1.5 THE CONTEXT OF THE STUDY
1.5.2 The national education policy context
1.5.2.1 Geographic and socio-cultural context of the study
The study was conducted in two primary schools within the Pinetown District office (see Figure 1.1) of the Department of Education in the province of Kwa-Zulu- Natal. The two primary schools are in the Mafukuzela-Gandhi Circuit, which comprises 296 schools. These schools are situated in a densely populated semi-rural township in the northern part of the province. Both the schools have enrolled girls and boys starting from Grade R to Grade 7.
Durban is the city situated in the KwaZulu-Natal Province, in the past it was known as the Natal Colony. Durban is situated along the broad Kwa-Zulu Natal coastline and is the busiest port in Africa.
13 Figure 1: Map of Kwa-Zulu Natal (SA Car Rental, 2003).
Most members of the African community experiences high levels of unemployment and poverty.
Within the community adults are the figures of authority in such a way that children cannot answer back or disagree with them. Communities still maintain a culture which regards children as minors who cannot engage in conversation with adults. As an educator in the same community I have observed for a number of years that this cultural belief is also exercised inside the classroom. As educators we are in position of power and authority, we are the ones who ask questions and come up with problems. Therefore, the students‟ responsibility is to answer
14 questions and solve the problems. Children in this area do not ask questions; they conform to what is said by adults. The cultural context in Kwa-Zulu Natal is patriarchal, with various traditional, cultural norms and practices. The structure of Zulu society seems to be in addition contributing to gender inequality and injustice.
One such practice is when the father of the house passes away; the son irrespective of age becomes “inkosana” (heir). This means the son will take over his father‟s responsibilities like taking decisions and ensuring that the family has all life‟s basic requirements. Most of the times a boy who is tasked with this kind of responsibility leaves school in order to fulfil his role otherwise he will be regarded as a failure. In this study, I argue that this puts pressure on boys and is unjust if they have to give up their future plans. I remember when my father passed away in 1990, my elder brother had to leave school and be a bus driver in order to take care of the family needs. At the same time, culturally girls are expected to respect “inkosana” as the father of the family. Inkosana has the powers to take “ilobola” (cows) in exchange for his sister without her consensus. This means a girl will be pressured to marry someone she is not in love with. I argue that Zulu cultural beliefs and practice seem to be perpetuating gender inequality if a boy has to take decision for a girl as if she incapable and absent from her own life. At the same time, boys do not celebrate the inkosana/indlalifa (in heir) privilege as they are pressured to give up their future plans, hence I take a stand that girls and boys equally suffer the consequences of gender inequality.
15 1.5.3 Theoretical context of the study
The sociological theory of social constructionism and the theory of performativity were used to answer the research questions of this study. The sociological perspective led me to answer questions about girls‟ and boys‟ experiences of gender as well as the discourses and practices within the school. The theory of performativity (Butler, 1997) was used to find ways in which girls and boys navigate their gender-based experiences. These theoretical approaches were helpful to empower the study to demonstrate the dynamics of gender with the aim that this would contribute to creating a more equitable schooling environment.
The theoretical constructions, childhood and gender socialisation, illuminate insights into the complex relationship between hegemony, discourses, childhood and gender socialisation, and into the ways these tend to perpetuate gender inequalities within the learning environment.
Gender discourses in schools are a vehicle by which gender meaning are created (Bhana, 2005a;
Morojele, 2011, 2011a). In this study girls and boys are constructed as conforming to the school discourse as if they come into this world with the concepts that their community holds about them (Morojele, 2011) as discussed in detail in Chapter 5. The fish-in-water metaphor has also been used by a French sociologist, Bourdieu in explaining how the concept of “habitus” operates in social (gendered) relations. He introduces the notion “ontological complicity” in an attempt to undermine dualistic thinking by suggesting a process akin to insinuation. Ontological complicity moves the concept of gender beyond mere discourse, and brings into play the significance of gender embodiment as a critical component of analysis in gender debates (Bourdieu, 2013, p.
320).
16 This means habitus is not simply a mental schema, in other words gender is also a way of bodily being in the world whose experience goes beyond discursive constructions of gender in a context. It was through applying Butler‟s theory of performativity that I was able to answer one of my research questions, namely: In what ways do children exercise agency to navigate gender- based experiences and positioning within the schools? Implied in the above is the notion that identity is never complete. Rather, it is always in the process of production within a field of competing discourses, in discursive spaces that do not necessarily carry equal weight or power. I have acknowledged that, in a particular single discourse, there is more than one subject position.
Typically, the prevailing discourse portrays males and boys as having power to protect and undermine females and girls. Than the question is, do boys get pleasure from the dominance privilege? Or are they forced to perform the prescribed notion of being a boy?
According to Butler (1997), Foucault‟s notion of power as that which “presses on the subject from the outside, as what subordinates, sets underneath, and relegates to the lower order” renders the subject passive. She suggests that the subject is already caught up “in the scene of psychoanalysis” that is, the subject emerges simultaneously with the unconscious and as such there is indecisiveness from the moment the subject is constituted. The two-mindedness at the point of inception presupposes some form of attachment and dependency by the subject. As Butler puts it, she takes for granted “a specific psychoanalytic valence when I consider that no one subject emerges without a passionate attachment on whom he or she is fundamentally dependent” (Butler, 1997, p.7).
17 1.5.4. The methodological context of the study
I used qualitative research methodology as my approach of enquiry in exploring the central phenomenon; namely, gender. My own ontological and epistemological orientations have informed the design, research methods and processes, and data analysis in this study. The ontology appropriate to participatory action research reflects a version of the world and reality created by both researchers and participants, guided by their own consciousness and lived experiences within the community. Therefore, the ontology in participatory action research is subjective and links critical interpretivism and an emancipatory paradigm into a framework that guides this study as they both seek to empower and emancipate both the researcher and the participants from the margins of their own community involvement. This perspective is participative in nature and allows for multiple voices to be heard and respected. Hence I brought to this research project my own positioning as a woman, values, power, strengths and weaknesses which have intricately inflected this study.
The use of narrative inquiry in individual and gender-based focus group interviews assisted me in gathering valuable and rich information.The addition of the participatory technique, namely photovoice, empowered and added value to girls and boy‟s narratives by enabling their ways of illustrating their experiences of gender. The photos that the participants took resulted in the emergence of the subsequent themes through data analysis, namely: gendered spaces and places within the school context, gender discourses and practices and the ways in which girls and boys exercise agency to navigate gender-based experiences within schools. The basic content and thematic analysis was utilised in this study for data analysis.
18 My interacting with Grade 7 girls and boys within the school and building rapport enabled them to freely expose their experiences of gender, the spaces and places within the school as well the agency to navigate their gender experiences (Baxter & Jack, 2008). The use of narrative inquiry during the individual and gender-based focus group interviews allowed me to easily tell girls and boys life experiences based on gender. This study turned out to be flexible as I allowed girls and boys to freely express themselves and that made them comfortable but that flexibility was expressed within the framework of social constructionism, the new sociology of childhood, and the theory of performativity. This framework was used to maintain the purpose of the study.