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Constructions of adoptive and foster mothering : a discourse analysis
Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2012.
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University of Pretoria
2013
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| _version_ | 1867613448452440064 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author2 | Wagner, Claire |
| author_browse | Wagner, Claire |
| author_facet | Wagner, Claire |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | © 2012 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria |
| description | Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/25683 |
| institution | University of Pretoria (South Africa) |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:36:18.633Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publishDateRange | 2013 |
| publishDateSort | 2013 |
| publisher | University of Pretoria |
| publisherStr | University of Pretoria |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| spelling | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/25683 Constructions of adoptive and foster mothering : a discourse analysis Wagner, Claire andelineds@telkomsa.net Dos Santos, Andeline Family Foster mothering Adoptive mothering Race Intensive mothering UCTD Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. Due to the ever-growing crisis of orphaned and vulnerable children in South Africa, research into strategies of care remains a crucial pursuit. Models of care in the country currently range from informal to formal, including informal fostering / non-statutory foster care; community-based support structures; home-based care and support; unregistered residential care; statutory adoption and foster care; and statutory residential care. This research study focuses on the area of adoption and fostering. Existing adoption and fostering research, locally and internationally, concentrates on the adopted and fostered child with little consideration given to parents. Mothering adopted and foster children in South Africa is a specifically under-researched area. This research contributes within this field, specifically, by exploring how women who have adopted and/or who foster children construct mothering and how these constructions intersect with dominant discourses of mothering. This qualitative study utilises a postmodern and poststructuralist ontology, and both social constructionist and feminist epistemologies. In-depth interviews were conducted with 21 adoptive and foster mothers and data were analysed through discourse analysis. Ten key discourses and eight main constructs emerged. Participants engaged with discourses of natural mothering, and good mothering in which the constructs of the good mother, the good adoptive mother and the good foster mother operate. These two broad discourses are informed by the construct of the family. Constructions of adoption and fostering are formed in relation to notions of the family; and this family construct also largely informs and is informed by the discourse of legitimate belonging, the construct of the child; and the discourse of collaborative parenting. These discourses and constructs have conversations with and are formed in relation to broader discourses of gender, race, culture and HIV/AIDS. Adoption and fostering occur in relation to discourses that operate within the institution and in relation to dealing with the institution as a construct. Finally, engagement with these discourses and constructs inform how the discourse of support is constructed in relation to adoptive and foster mothering. Through exploring these constructs and discourses in relation to one another, three key arguments emerged. The first relates to a mechanism of how the ideology of intensive mothering operates through the manner in which it constructs natural mothering and good mothering. The second conclusion reached is that ambivalence is a key component of the constructions of adoptive and foster mothers. Thirdly, the study indicates that the construct of the good mother, as it operates within the ideology of intensive mothering, is resistant to deconstruction. After proceeding through the analysis, and exploring how the findings intersect particularly with discourses within the ideologies of patriarchy, technology, capitalism and race, the study offers specific recommendations for the support of adoptive and foster mothers. Psychology unrestricted 2013-09-06T23:21:08Z 2013-06-27 2013-09-06T23:21:08Z 2013-04-11 2012 2013-06-19 Dissertation Dos Santos, AJ 2012, Constructions of adoptive and foster mothering : a discourse analysis, MA dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://hdl.handle.net/2263/25683 > E13/4/755/gm http://hdl.handle.net/2263/25683 http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-06192013-182523/ © 2012 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria application/pdf University of Pretoria |
| spellingShingle | Family Foster mothering Adoptive mothering Race Intensive mothering UCTD Constructions of adoptive and foster mothering : a discourse analysis |
| title | Constructions of adoptive and foster mothering : a discourse analysis |
| title_full | Constructions of adoptive and foster mothering : a discourse analysis |
| title_fullStr | Constructions of adoptive and foster mothering : a discourse analysis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Constructions of adoptive and foster mothering : a discourse analysis |
| title_short | Constructions of adoptive and foster mothering : a discourse analysis |
| title_sort | constructions of adoptive and foster mothering a discourse analysis |
| topic | Family Foster mothering Adoptive mothering Race Intensive mothering UCTD |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/2263/25683 http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-06192013-182523/ |