Gender, geography and urban form : a case study of Durban.
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Date
1987
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Abstract
This research project is primarily a theoretical work which
critiques androcentric knowledge in general and androcentricism in
South African human geography in particular . It therefore has
relevance both for local geographers and local feminists . The
project as a whole has been informed by feminist politics at a
theoretical , practical and personal level .
The lack of gender-consciousness in the local radical geography
tradition is challenged and local geographers are provided with
specific pointers for moving beyond a gender-blind impasse .
Furthermore , it is argued that the majority of the local
gender-conscious literature has inadequately theorised patriarchal
gender relations and that such a theorisation would have crucial
bearing on developing strategies for social change .
It is suggested that a materialist feminist theoretical framework
offers the most sophisticated tool yet developed for understanding
the oppression of women . Hence , a variety of contemporary
materialist feminist work is reviewed, and a realist perspective
is offered as a way of theorising the complex interconnections
between the social relations of race, class and gender . This
materialist approach has thus far had the greatest impact on
feminist geographers. A selection of the latter 's work is
therefore presented in order to illustrate how they have expanded
our understanding of urban processes .
Finally, empirical data pertaining to Durban is used to illustrate
a) how gender is socially constructed: b) how gender meanings
change over time and c) the way in which patriarchal gender
relations have been expressed in the local context.
It is ultimately asserted that geographers must take it as
implicit that the categories and forces of the processes of
urbanisation are dependent upon a specific construction of gender .
The study of this, must in consequence become an integral part of
human geographical analysis .
Description
Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1987.
Keywords
Feminism--Durban., Women--Durban--Social conditions., Durban--Social conditions., Theses--Geography.