Facing the sexual demon of colonial power: Decolonising sexual violence in South Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 214-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Azille Coetzee ◽  
Louise du Toit
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Central Theme ◽  
Central Question ◽  
Colonial Power ◽  
Dominant Discourse ◽  
Native Woman ◽  
Central Argument ◽  
Colonial Violence

In this article the authors discuss in broad strokes the work of two theorists, namely Nigerian sociologist Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí and Argentinian philosopher Maria Lugones to argue that a specific logic of sexualisation accompanied, permeated and coloured the colonial project of racialising the ‘native’. The sexual wound which to a great extent explains the abjection of the racialised body, is a key aspect of the colony and should therefore also be a central theme in any properly critical discourse on decolonisation in Africa. After drawing on Oyĕwùmí and Lugones to make their central argument, the authors apply this framework to the problem of sexual violence in South Africa. Understanding the nature of the sexual-racial wound of coloniality will not only ensure that the problem of sexual violence gets properly addressed as a central question of decolonisation, but will also suggest new ways of concretely addressing the problem. In particular, the dominant discourse needs to shift away from the ‘emasculated man’ trope and towards a critical feminist decoloniality which views the radical dehumanisation of native woman as key to colonial violence understood as a world-destructive.

scholarly journals Sexual violence and the mental health system: A critical discourse analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Getchell
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Health System ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Mental Health System ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Health Service Providers ◽  
Broad Term

Sexual violence is a relevant topic in the Canadian mental health system. However, the dominant bio-medical understanding of mental health can be harmful to survivors. This study is focused on analyzing how sexual violence is discussed within the bio-medical mental health system. The bio-medical understanding of mental health is one that conceptualizes “mental illness” is brain disease and emphasizes pharmacological treatment. Sexual violence is a broad term that describes any violence, physical or psychological, carried out through sexual means or by targeting sexuality. Critical Discourse Analysis is used in this study to find and analyze discourses in the bio-medical mental health system found in three interviews with mental health service providers. The discourses that emerged were as follows: 1. people were “boiled down” to their diagnoses or experiences of sexual violence; 2. professionalism; 3. being funneled into “streams of care”; 4. what makes someone credible; and 5. who “gets it”. The MRP concludes with a discussion of implications of these findings for social work.

scholarly journals Biometrics: constructing 'ideal' subjects and 'aliens' at the Canada-U.S. border

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirjana Mandaric
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Vulnerable Populations ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Social Research ◽  
September 11 ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Strategic Objectives ◽  
Central Argument ◽  
Post September 11 ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers

Employing critical social research in combination with critical discourse analysis, this paper examines the use of biometrics technology in the citizenship and immigration context with particular emphasis on its application at the Canada-U.S. border. The central argument of thls paper is that through the use of biometrics technology at the Canada-U.S crossing, the border has become a social filter that separates welcome from unwelcome migrants depending on strategic objectives to include and exclude population groups, which makes them part of a social an economic strategy in the post-September 11 securitized environment. Moreover, the paper takes the position that through the use of biometrics technology at the Canada-U.S. border, the notion of citizenship is being reconstructed whereby racialized migrants and vulnerable populations will be tremendously affected: most notably, poor migrants from the South as well as refugees and asylum seekers from elsewhere.

scholarly journals Biometrics: constructing 'ideal' subjects and 'aliens' at the Canada-U.S. border

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirjana Mandaric
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Vulnerable Populations ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Social Research ◽  
September 11 ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Strategic Objectives ◽  
Central Argument ◽  
Post September 11 ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers

Employing critical social research in combination with critical discourse analysis, this paper examines the use of biometrics technology in the citizenship and immigration context with particular emphasis on its application at the Canada-U.S. border. The central argument of thls paper is that through the use of biometrics technology at the Canada-U.S crossing, the border has become a social filter that separates welcome from unwelcome migrants depending on strategic objectives to include and exclude population groups, which makes them part of a social an economic strategy in the post-September 11 securitized environment. Moreover, the paper takes the position that through the use of biometrics technology at the Canada-U.S. border, the notion of citizenship is being reconstructed whereby racialized migrants and vulnerable populations will be tremendously affected: most notably, poor migrants from the South as well as refugees and asylum seekers from elsewhere.

scholarly journals Legitimation of Poverty in School Economics Textbooks in South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jugathambal Ramdhani ◽  
Suriamurthee Maistry
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
South African ◽  
Function Analysis ◽  
Further Education ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Value Systems ◽  
Critical Knowledge ◽  
Analytical Tools ◽  
Selection Of

In South Africa, the school textbook remains a powerful source of content knowledge to both teachers and learners. Such knowledge is often engaged uncritically by textbook users. As such, the worldviews and value systems in the knowledge selected for consumption remain embedded and are likely to do powerful ideological work. In this article, we present an account of the ideological orientations of knowledge in a corpus of school economics textbooks. We engage the tenets of critical discourse analysis to examine the representations of the construct “poverty” as a taught topic in the Further Education and Training Economics curriculum. Using Thompson’s legitimation as a strategy and form-function analysis as specific analytical tools, we unearth the subtext of curriculum content in a selection of Grade 12 Economics textbooks. The study reveals how power and domination are normalised through a strategy of economic legitimation, thereby offering a “legitimate” rationale for the existence of poverty in the world. The article concludes with implications for curriculum and a humanising pedagogy, and a call for embracing critical knowledge on poverty in the South African curriculum.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Traci C. West
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
American History ◽  
Gender Violence ◽  
Narrative Approach ◽  
History Of ◽  
Interdisciplinary Framework ◽  
Theoretical Foundations ◽  
The U.S

This chapter presents the interdisciplinary framework of the book and its core argument linking issues of racism and religion--particularly heteropatriarchal Christianity--in the cultural support for gender violence. It argues that the conjoined presence of religion, anti-black racism, and sexual violence against women in American history of slavery and colonialism compels a similarly transnational exploration of inspiration from Africana activists and scholars to address U.S. gender violence. A methodological overview describes the book’s theoretical foundations in feminist and womanist studies, and how tools of ethnography, anthropology, and Christian theo-ethics inform the its unconventional narrative approach. The U.S.-based analysis features snapshots of the author’s encounters with leaders and their contexts, not a broad survey or comparison of gender violence in Ghana, South Africa, and Brazil.

The Injustices of Rape

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine O. Jacquet
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Women's Liberation ◽  
Black Freedom Movement ◽  
Dominant Discourse ◽  
Women’S Liberation ◽  
Black Freedom ◽  
History Of ◽  
Male Supremacy

From 1950 to 1980, activists in the black freedom and women's liberation movements mounted significant campaigns in response to the injustices of rape. These activists challenged the dominant legal and social discourses of the day and redefined the political agenda on sexual violence for over three decades. How activists framed sexual violence--as either racial injustice, gender injustice, or both--was based in their respective frameworks of oppression. The dominant discourse of the black freedom movement constructed rape primarily as the product of racism and white supremacy, whereas the dominant discourse of women's liberation constructed rape as the result of sexism and male supremacy. In The Injustices of Rape, Catherine O. Jacquet is the first to examine these two movement responses together, explaining when and why they were in conflict, when and why they converged, and how activists both upheld and challenged them. Throughout, she uses the history of antirape activism to reveal the difficulty of challenging deeply ingrained racist and sexist ideologies, the unevenness of reform, and the necessity of an intersectional analysis to combat social injustice.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document