'n Etnografie van geweld in die konteks van armoede in Davidsonville

D.Litt et. Phil.Poverty and violence are among the most provocative social problems in the present South African context. This study attempts to contribute to our understanding of the complexity of violence in the context of poverty on a microlevel and to explore urban Anthropology as a field of knowledge. The phenomena in question were elucidated conceptually with reference to the literature on poverty and violence. The multilevel manifestation of poverty supplied the context within which the nature, forms and manifestations of violence could be analyzed in its various contexts and in various social categories. To understand violence as a social phenomenon various theoretical perspectives have been discussed. Patriarchy, social learning, resource, exchange, sociobiological and social conflict theories, culture, norms and the ,context were explored as possible instruments of explanation. Both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection were used. All the Standard 7 pupils (N=76) of the local school completed an open as well as a self-concept questionnaire, while 38% of the heads of households (N=235) completed questionnaires. Ethnographic data were collected by making use of participant observation, reports, diaries and essays, as well as interviews and case studies. Sixteen children and three adults in turn kept diaries and wrote reports during the research period of three and a half years. Research was undertaken in Davidsonville, a so-called Coloured township on the West Rand. The insufficient infrastructure, educational and employment opportunities, as well as social prOblems such as alcoholism and unemployment, were mainly products of structural violence and causes of everyday violence and poverty: Domestic and non-domestic violence in terms of their physical and psychic manifestations, were described, analyzed and contextualized ethnographically in the light of poverty and Coloured status in the South African context. Violence, as a process in the social relations of individuals and groups, manifests on various levels, viz. among men and women, adults and children, gangs and members of various "ethnic groups" as well as in various situations (the stokvel, school, public places, and the home). Violence is a universal human characteristic, but the context of poverty exposes man to the chronic experience of violence which causes psychological scars. Poverty is violence, and the fewer the resources available to an individual, the fiercer the competition and the more brutal the face of violence will be