Masculinities and narrating the past: experiences of researching white men who refused to serve in the apartheid army

Conway, Daniel (2008). Masculinities and narrating the past: experiences of researching white men who refused to serve in the apartheid army. Qualitative Research, 8(3) pp. 347–354.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794106093631

URL: http://qrj.sagepub.com/content/8/3/347.abstract

Abstract

This article reflexively analyses the construction of identity and the representation of the past in qualitative interviews with white men who refused to serve in the apartheid-era South African Defence Force (SADF). The contribution that white male objectors made to the anti-apartheid struggle occupies an ambivalent and increasingly forgotten aspect of South African liberation history. In a reflexive research story, I argue that the gendered, sexual and raced subjectivities of the researcher and researched are central to the joint construction of meaning in the interview and in the creation of self-narratives. The article also analyses how the narratives of white men's involvement in resisting apartheid are defined by their perceived position and wider power struggles in contemporary South Africa.

Viewing alternatives

Metrics

Item Actions

Export

You can export this page using these formats Digital Object Identifier - DOI