C.Kriel 2010 Rubgy, Race and Rhetoric
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Rugby, race, and rhetoric: A thematic content analysis of constructions of race in the South African newspaper media in relation to South African rugby Student : Chris Kriel Supervisor : Prof.Norman Duncan This research report is submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Research Psychology). University of the Witwatersrand, 2010. i ABSTRACT This study aimed to explore the newspaper media’s constructions of blackness and whiteness as contained in a set of 84 articles published by the Independent Media Group in the same month (June) over four years (2005 to 2008). The data was collected using the Independent Media Online database. Various search strings were used and the final data set was drawn from an original sample of over 50 000 articles. The final set of 84 articles was examined using a thematic content analysis of the broad trends in relation to the constructions of blackness and whiteness in relation to black players specifically. This analysis revealed negative constructions of blackness such as black players being described as weak, lazy, and inherently lacking the skills, abilities and attributes to represent South Africa at a national level. The concurrent positive portrayal of whiteness results in white players being constructed as trustworthy, capable, meritorious and above all innately capable of playing rugby at an international level. Examples of black and white exceptionalism support the earlier findings regarding blackness and whiteness but take them further by examining examples that don’t fit the typical construction of race presented earlier. i DECLARATION I declare that this research report entitled “Rugby, race, and rhetoric: A thematic content analysis of constructions of race in the South African newspaper media in relation to South African rugby” is my own, unaided work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated by means of complete references. It is being submitted for the degree of Master of Arts (Research Psychology) at the University of the Witwatersrand. It has not been submitted before for any degree or examination at any other university. Signed this _______ day of _________ 2010 ____________ Chris Kriel ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank all my family and friends for all their support and encouragement throughout the duration of this research endeavour. Although the friends are too many to mention I would like to specifically thank Brendan, Craig, Guy, Marco, Mark, Matt, Phil, and Steve. I promise never to miss another social event because I am ‘working on my Masters’. To my parents, thank-you for always understanding me and believing in my ability. We have been through a lot and I cannot begin to define how much you mean to me. To Polly, for her tireless and thankless contribution to the completion of this project, I doubt it would have been completed if not for your help. Your love is boundless and I can only strive to be to you but a fraction of what you mean to me. To Norman, I hope that you derive some joy (for the right reasons) from the completion of this project. I am specifically grateful to you for your kind words of encouragement and subtle critiques which always inspire and never dishearten and helped me to always strive for a better result. To Mark, I miss you and wish that you could have read this. I am sorry that you never got the chance and I hope I get to see you again someday. iii Table of contents ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. i DECLARATION ...................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................... iii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALE ....................................................... 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 RATIONALE ........................................................................................................................ 2 1.3 CHAPTER OUTLINE ........................................................................................................ 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................................. 5 2.1 RACE .................................................................................................................................. 5 2.1.1 COLONIALISM ................................................................................................................ 8 2.1.2 NAZISM .......................................................................................................................... 12 2.1.3 APARTHEID .................................................................................................................. 15 2.2 RACISM .................................................................................................................. 21 2.2.1 THE IDEOLOGY OF RACISM ...................................................................................... 23 2.2.2 DISCOURSE AND RACISM ........................................................................................... 25 2.2.3 MEDIA RACISM ............................................................................................................. 25 2.3 TRENDS IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICAN PSYCHOLOGY IN RELATION TO RACE ................................................................................................................................ 28 2.4 SPORT ................................................................................................................................ 30 2.4.1 HISTORICAL CONSTRUCTIONS OF SPORT .......................................................... 30 2.4.2 APPROACHES TO STUDYING SPORT AND SOCIETY ........................................ 32 2.4.2.1 FUNCTIONALIST APROACH ................................................................................. 32 2.4.2.2 CONFLICT APPROACH ........................................................................................... 33 2.4.2.3 CRITICAL APPROACH ........................................................................................... 34 2.4.2.4 SYBOMIC INTERACTIONISM .............................................................................. 34 2.4.3 SPORT AND RACE IN SOUTH AFRICA ................................................................. 35 2.4.3.1 THE EMERGENCE OF WHITE DOMINATED SPORT IN SOCIETY ................. 36 2.4.3.2 WHITE DOMINATED CRICKET IN SOUTH AFRICA ........................................ 38 2.4.3.3 WHITE DOMINATED RUGBY IN SOUTH AFRICA ............................................. 39 2.4.3.3.1 IMPERIAL INFLUENCES ON SOUTH AFRICAN RUGBY ................................ 39 2.4.3.3.2 APARTHEID INFLUENCES ON SOUTH AFRICAN RUGBY ........................... 40 2.4.3.4 BLACK RUGBY IN SOUTH AFRICA .................................................................... 45 2.4.3.5 DEMOGRAPHICS OF INTERNATIONAL SPORT ............................................... 46 2.4.3.6 DEMOGRAPHICS OF SOUTH AFRICAN RUGBY ................................................. 48 iv 2.4.4 PARTICULAR INSTANCES OF RACISM IN SOUTH AFRICAN SOCIETY .......... 51 2.5 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................. 52 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................... 53 3.1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 53 3.2 RESEARCH AIMS ........................................................................................................... 53 3.3 RESEARCH SAMPLE ...................................................................................................... 53 3.3.1 TIME-FRAME ................................................................................................................ 53 3.3.2 NEWSPAPERS SAMPLED ............................................................................................ 54 3.3.3 SAMPLING PROCEDURE ............................................................................................ 55 3.4 RESEARCH METHOD .................................................................................................... 57 3.4.1 HISTORY OF CONTENT ANALYSIS (QUANTITAVE CONTENT ANALYSIS) .. 57 3.4.2 QUALITATIVE CONTENT ANALYSIS .................................................................... 59 3.4.3 DEFINING THEMES USING THEMATIC CONTENT ANALYSIS ...................... 61 3.4.3.1 INDUCTIVE CATEGORY DEVELOPMENT .......................................................... 61 3.4.3.2 DEDUCTIVE CATEGORY DEVELOPMENT .......................................................... 62 3.5 COMPUTER AIDED CONTENT ANALYSIS ............................................................... 62 3.6 GOOD QUALITATIVE PRACTICE ............................................................................... 64 CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS ........................................ 68 4.1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 68 4.2 QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS