Young people’s discursive constructions of fatherhood in South Africa

Abstract

The voices of young people remain, for the most part, underconsidered within research on South African fathers. The present study relies on photo-elicitation interviews to explore how isiXhosaspeaking adolescents construct fathering roles and responsibilities in South Africa. Using discursive psychology, it was found that participants drew on the ‘Essential Fathering’ and ‘Social Fathering’ discourses to construct South African fatherhood. The discourses appeared to valorize biological fatherhood situated within the nuclear family, while - at the same time - valuing socialized paternal formations that need not be constituted biologically. It is suggested that although genuine paternal abandonment should not be excused, policy, parental programmes and legislation in South Africa must consider the voices of young people as well as the myriad parenting modalities that exist outside of hegemonic family forms.