Masculinities and Narrating the Past: Experiences of Researching White men who Refused to Serve in the Apartheid Army

Conway, D. 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. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794106093631

TitleMasculinities and Narrating the Past: Experiences of Researching White men who Refused to Serve in the Apartheid Army
AuthorsConway, D.
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.

Keywordsmasculinities, militarisation, army research, reflexivity, interviewing, qualitative research, ethnography, South Africa, apartheid, narratives, sexuality, LGBT
JournalQualitative Research
Journal citation8 (3), pp. 347-354
ISSN1468-7941
Year2008
PublisherSage
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794106093631
Publication dates
PublishedJul 2008

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