Black youths’ challenges in the “New” South Africa: education, language and identity in Kopano Matlwa’s coconut (2007)

Gqibitole, Khayelihle

Black youths’ challenges in the “New” South Africa: education, language and identity in Kopano Matlwa’s coconut (2007)

dc.contributor.author	Gqibitole, Khayelihle
dc.coverage	China
dc.coverage.conference	issn
dc.date.accessioned	2026-03-26T12:43:08Z
dc.date.available	2026-03-26T12:43:08Z
dc.date.issued	2019
dc.departmentName	English
dc.description.abstract	This study aimed to gain in-depth understanding of the lived identity of black African adolescents in a contemporary South African setting. A purposive sample of 59 adolescents (females= 47%; Sesotho= 46%, Setswana= 36%, Other= 18%) from the Motheo district of the Free State, South Africa, participated in focus group discussions and in-depth individual interviews. Thematic analysis suggested that black South African adolescents experience transitional identities characterised by contrasts and contradictions. Altruism, autonomy, religiosity and cultural experiences were important to their lived identities. The interplay between African rituals, Christian principles, Western values and the globalisation of cultures provided fertile ground for developing a nuanced and multi-dimensional identity as an adolescent living in contemporary South Africa.
dc.faculty	Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
dc.identifier.citation	Gqibitole, K. 2019. Black youths’ challenges in the “New” South Africa: education, language and identity in Kopano Matlwa’s coconut (2007). Open Journal of Social Sciences, 7, pp.238-255.
dc.identifier.issn	2327-5960 (online)
dc.identifier.issn	2327-5952 (print)
dc.identifier.other	https://doi.org/10.4236/jss.2019.712018
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10530/59041
dc.inproceedings	issn
dc.issuenumber	7
dc.keynote	issn
dc.language.iso	English
dc.pages	238 - 255
dc.peerreviewed	Yes
dc.publisher	Scientific Research Publishing
dc.subject	Blackness
dc.subject	Whiteness
dc.subject	Black youth
dc.subject	Institutional racism
dc.title	Black youths’ challenges in the “New” South Africa: education, language and identity in Kopano Matlwa’s coconut (2007)
dc.title.journal	Open Journal of Social Sciences
dc.type	Journal Article
dspace.entity.type	Publication
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