Resilient black South African girls in contexts of adversity : a participatory visual study
Abstract
Resilience refers to a process involving positive outcomes in the face of exposure to
significant adversity. The Social Ecology of Resilience Theory outlines four principles
that guide how resilience processes are understood and explained, namely,
decentrality, complexity, atypicality, and cultural relativity (Ungar, 2011). From this
perspective, resilience involves a complex process of culturally-appropriate
transactions between individuals and their social ecologies that facilitate positive
adjustment. What resilience theory does not sufficiently explain is how culture and
gendered ways of living and being inform resilience processes among women and
girls (Jordan, 2013). Even less is known about how culture and gendered ways of
living shape resilience processes among black South African girls living in rural
contexts of structural adversity.
Therefore, the purpose of this visual study was to explore why Sesothospeaking
South African girls living in rural contexts of structural adversity are
resilient. To achieve this aim, sub-aims (detailed below) were developed to answer
the research question. This study contains four manuscripts; each addresses a subaim.
Using a qualitative synthesis, Manuscript 1 explored the existing
understanding of resilience processes among women and girls’ across diverse
cultures, and how this understanding reflects universal gendered ways of living and
being. The findings revealed that universal gendered ways of living and being such
as interdependence, the emotional caretaking of others, and emotional expressivity
are evident in resilience processes of women and girls. The universal resilience
processes included: emotionally and pragmatically supportive constructive relational
contexts in which women and girls received and reciprocated support: agency: and
strength-fostering spirituality. Ultimately, emotionally and pragmatically supportive
constructive relational contexts, agency and strength-fostering spirituality supported
women and girls to adjust well to diverse adversities. Due to limited extant
understandings of resilience among black South African girls, it was not clear how
applicable Manuscript 1’s findings are to explain their resilience. This then led to
Manuscript 2 detailed below.
Manuscript 2 employed sophisticated visual methodologies (community-based
participatory video, Draw-and-Talk, and Draw-and-Write) to answer how applicable
the gendered theory developed in Manuscript 1 was to explaining Sesotho-speaking
girls’ resilience. A total of 28 Sesotho-speaking girls living in rural contexts of
structural adversity participated. Findings revealed that the universal gendered ways
of living and being are evident, but how they play out for Sesotho-speaking girls is
informed by their rural context and traditional African culture. Using this I concluded
that social ecological action such as assisting girls towards healthy forms of
emotional expression, supporting women’s sustained presence in girls’ lives,
encouraging father-involvement, and advocating for quality education is crucial to
facilitate resilience among Sesotho-speaking girls.
In Manuscript 2, the girls only briefly mentioned teachers as supportive of their
resilience in their creation of participatory videos. Because of this, in Manuscript 3, I
revisited the remaining data to explore if and how teachers, as key members of
school-going girls’ social ecology, facilitate their resilience. My focus on teachers
related to their prominence in the extant resilience literature. The findings revealed
that teachers who promoted resilience among Sesotho-speaking girls were teachers
who: were empathic and listened and provided guidance; motivated the girls towards
positive futures; and who initiated teacher-girl partnerships. In conclusion, I provided
key leverage points to support teachers in their facilitation of girls’ resilience, such
as: initiating teacher-learner partnerships; advocating for a changed education
landscape; and providing positive feedback.
To understand how visual methods can be used to explore and support social
ecologies to advocate for girls’ resilience, Manuscript 4 explored the value and
challenges of using community-based participatory video to explore resilience
among black, school-going, South African girls. In conclusion, community-based
participatory video is a powerful visual took that emphasises resilience as a person
context exchange, and heightens participants’ awareness of potential supports
through the research process. Sophisticated methodologies like community-based
participatory video can be used to sensitise girls’ social ecologies to the important
role they play in facilitating girls’ resilience.
Taken together, these manuscripts confirm the assumptions of the Social
Ecology of Resilience Theory (SERT) and Relational Cultural Theory (RCT) that
resilience is a gendered process and that constructive relationships are key in
promoting resilience among girls. Moreover, this study furthers understandings of the
sociocultral and structural determinants of resilience among Sesotho-speaking girls.
In my study, meaningful relationships for Sesotho-speaking girls were those that
aligned with their traditional African values of interrelatedness. The meaningfulness
of relationships was also shaped by the girls’ rural context of structural adversity that
meant the girls drew on support by available others which included predominantly
women teachers, social workers, and friends/family. In the girls’ accounts of their
resilience, the social ecology played a crucial role. My study thus contributes towards
the current conversations among resilience researchers which emphasises the
importance of social ecologies working to address the adversities that place young
people at risk.
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