Masters Degrees (History)

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Browsing Masters Degrees (History) by browse.metadata.advisor "Fourie, Johan"

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    Between duty and desire : pre-nuptial pregnancy and unmarried motherhood in Anglican Cape Town during the first half of the twentieth century
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-12) Richardson, Laura Jane; Fourie, Johan; Ross, Robert; Kok, Jan; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of History.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Throughout the first half of the twentieth century couples were exhorted by both the church and secular authorities to delay sexual intercourse until after marriage, but popular attitudes towards premarital sexuality did not always reflect those of the authorities, nor were such attitudes necessarily a good index of popular behaviour. Marrying qualitative and quantitative techniques in a way that is sensitive to the limitations of both approaches, this thesis presents an interpretation of new evidence regarding prenuptial pregnancy and unmarried motherhood amongst a select group of South Africans living in Cape Town during this period. In so doing, it aims to shed light on the complex relationship between prescription and practice in the intimate lives of ordinary men and women. At the Cape, as in many other areas of the globe, the early to mid-twentieth century – an era often referred to as the ‘golden age’ of marriage and the family – saw a higher share of couples than ever before going to the trouble and expense of contracting marriages recognized by law. Nonetheless, the quantitative evidence presented in this study, compiled using individual-level birth and marriage records drawn from seven socio-economically diverse Anglican parishes in Cape Town, shows that, despite growing pressure towards marriage, out-of-wedlock pregnancies accounted for a substantial proportion of births, particularly within working class coloured communities. Although many out-of-wedlock pregnancies resulted in marriage, falling pregnant outside of wedlock was risky, especially for women from fragile family networks. Initially there was very little help available for women who, having fallen pregnant outside of wedlock, were unable to secure marriage, and while caring for unmarried mothers and their infants did slowly come to be regarded as necessary, if unpopular work, the social stigma attached to unmarried motherhood continued to influence the kinds of assistance they received. The qualitative evidence is used to examine some of the debates that emerged between female philanthropists, social workers, medical professionals and moral conservatives regarding the care of unmarried mothers, looking especially at notions of female deviancy and how these shifted to reflect different moral and political agendas. In addition, case records from two Anglican unmarried mothers’ hostels are used to contrast the ideas put forward in these debates with the actual courtship experiences of unmarried mothers in Cape Town. These records support the hypothesis that attitudes towards premarital sexuality tended to be more ambiguous and courtship experiences more diverse than has previously been supposed.
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    By the stroke of a pen : an evaluation of the Cape Times and Die Burger’s portrayal of racial reclassification from 1980-1990
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-03) Chalmers, Brittany Inge; Fourie, Johan; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of History.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: During apartheid, South Africans were assigned one of four main racial categories: white, black, Indian, or coloured. Given the fluidities of race, “misassignment” was common, leading individuals to apply for a different government-imposed racial classification. In 1950, the racial canvas of South Africa gained definitive lines with the passing of the Population Registration Act. On paper, the racial fluidity that existed before was gone, but on the ground, classifications were in limbo. The Cape Times and Die Burger newspapers reveal the startling statistics, political agendas and emotive stories linked to the complex racial transitions that occurred by the stroke of a government pen.1 This dissertation evaluates how two major newspapers portrayed reclassification during a decade of severe media restrictions. By employing a method of qualitative coding, the discourse styles present in 50 newspaper articles are evaluated. The results reveal the significant comparisons between the Afrikaans Die Burger and the English Cape Times. Reclassification is used as a lens to assess the newspapers and their potential to affect the racial agenda of the day. The lived experiences of individuals affected by the country’s reclassification legislation are also analysed by means of a close reading. This microhistory approach uses the newspaper articles to highlight the stories of the reclassified and in doing so, incorporates them into a history of South Africa from below.
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    Enfranchised Africans and disfranchising legislations : an analysis of the educated landowners of Queenstown as an African middle class, c.1872-1909.
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-03) Visser, Beaurel; Fourie, Johan; Ehlers, Anton; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of History.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The right to vote in public political elections for parliamentary representatives in the Cape Colony was determined by various legislations reflected through the Cape franchise. For 34 years, Africans had the right to vote for parliamentary representatives in the Cape Colony under the Constitution Ordinance of 1853 with no barriers of racial discrimination. Under Responsible Government (1872-1909), franchise requirement became more stringent with the aim of excluding Africans from being able to vote given that they had started to register more frequently. The battle of an emerging African middle class against economic and political forces is explored through the analysis of the implementation of stringent disfranchising legislations implemented in 1887, 1892 and 1894. Newspapers are used alongside a range of government publications to illustrate how the effects of disfranchisement legislations in the Cape Colony were complex and more nuanced than has been explored in existing historiography. The study illustrates some of the effects disfranchisement legislations had on the enfranchised African middle class and uses the Queenstown electoral division as a lens through which it brings this into focus. The primary tools that were used to achieve disenfranchisement were land and education which are themes used throughout the study to demonstrate persistent voter registration of the African middle class despite the implementation of disfranchisement legislations. The study moves away from the emphasis of African political participation as a primary contributor to maintaining certain politicians in parliament but rather illuminates the agency of Africans who desired to participate in Cape politics through the franchise. What this study aims to contribute to historiography is a perspective on the views and experiences of Africans towards disfranchisement as expressed in a selection of newspapers. These African perspectives are complemented by a statistical analysis of the voters' rolls which more precisely determines the size of affected African voters and adds to an understanding of the extent to which Africans participated beyond 1887 with a focus on the Queenstown electoral division.