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Racial identity as narrated by young South African adults with parents from different racial and national heritages
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2015.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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University of Pretoria
2015
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| _version_ | 1867613713302814720 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author2 | Ebersohn, L. (Liesel) |
| author_browse | Ebersohn, L. (Liesel) |
| author_facet | Ebersohn, L. (Liesel) |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | © 2015 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 | Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2015. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/45886 |
| institution | University of Pretoria (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:40:31.230Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publishDateRange | 2015 |
| publishDateSort | 2015 |
| 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:2263/45886 Racial identity as narrated by young South African adults with parents from different racial and national heritages Ebersohn, L. (Liesel) Vandeyar, Saloshna Carvalho-Malekane, Wendy M. UCTD Racial identity Mixed heritage Multiracial identity Narrative identity Social identity Inclusion Post-apartheid Cultural hybridity Education theses SDG-04 Education theses SDG-10 Education theses SDG-16 Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2015. Against a burgeoning worldwide discourse on how individuals from interracial parentage construct an identity in racialised societies, I conducted a study to explore and describe the way in which young biracial adults construct and negotiate their identities in post-apartheid South Africa. The study was informed by a qualitative and narrative research design within a postcolonial feminist paradigm. Theoretically, the study is informed by both Root’s ecological framework of multiracial identity and Gaventa’s power-cube theory. I purposefully selected young biracial adults (n=10, 5 males, 5 females) adhering to specific age criteria (18 to 25) who are first-generation offspring from interracial relationships. For snowball sampling, I used social networks such as Facebook and twitter, as well as word of mouth, to locate participants. Written narratives and narrative interviews (audio recorded and transcribed verbatim) served as data sources and were supplemented by researcher field notes. By means of inductive thematic analysis, the following four themes emerged: the influence of family on biracial identity construction; participants negotiating an identity within social milieus and relationships; expressions of multiple identities in the construction of biracial identity; and the stigma, discrimination, stereotyping and dominant discourses associated with biracial identity construction. The identity construction of the young biracial South Africans in this study did not follow a clear linear progression, but changed and evolved in the participants’ life course. This concurs with findings in existing literature. Racial identities included predominantly a white identity during the earlier years, followed by a progressively more black identity, and a biracial identity in later years. As also seen in other studies, the young biracial South African adults opted for non-racial qualifiers of identity, including cultural, religious and national identities. They said that their parents had been influential in their choice to identify with their biracial identity/heritage, which was in line with the findings of other studies. However, contradictory to what was found in other studies, the young biracial South African adults in this study did not experience rejection from both black and white peer groups and identified with peers from various racial groups. The young biracial adults purposefully constructed identities that allowed them to experience power and privilege, as opposed to oppression. This also entailed the young adults’ voicing their preferred choice of identity in a post-apartheid South African society, thus moving away from the prescribed racial categories by choosing new racial identities, such as biracial and mixed-race identities. I posit that constructive identity manipulation appropriation explains how South African young biracial adults may construct their identities in post-apartheid South Africa. tm2015 es2026 Educational Psychology PhD Unrestricted SDG-04: Quality education SDG-10: Reduced inequalities SDG-16: Peace, justice and strong institutions 2015-07-02T11:05:50Z 2015-07-02T11:05:50Z 2015/04/29 2015 Thesis Carvalho-Malekane, WM 2015, Racial identity as narrated by young South African adults with parents from different racial and national heritages, PhD Thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/45886> A2015 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/45886 en © 2015 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 | UCTD Racial identity Mixed heritage Multiracial identity Narrative identity Social identity Inclusion Post-apartheid Cultural hybridity Education theses SDG-04 Education theses SDG-10 Education theses SDG-16 Racial identity as narrated by young South African adults with parents from different racial and national heritages |
| title | Racial identity as narrated by young South African adults with parents from different racial and national heritages |
| title_full | Racial identity as narrated by young South African adults with parents from different racial and national heritages |
| title_fullStr | Racial identity as narrated by young South African adults with parents from different racial and national heritages |
| title_full_unstemmed | Racial identity as narrated by young South African adults with parents from different racial and national heritages |
| title_short | Racial identity as narrated by young South African adults with parents from different racial and national heritages |
| title_sort | racial identity as narrated by young south african adults with parents from different racial and national heritages |
| topic | UCTD Racial identity Mixed heritage Multiracial identity Narrative identity Social identity Inclusion Post-apartheid Cultural hybridity Education theses SDG-04 Education theses SDG-10 Education theses SDG-16 |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/2263/45886 |