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Regime, reputation and resilience: the queer experience of Cape Town's single-sex schools
The following research paper explores the experiences of self-identified queer past pupils of single-sex schools in Cape Town, South Africa. The intention of the study was to gain insights into the implicit and explicit psycho-social and systematic control felt by student bodies in highly-traditiona...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English English |
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African Studies
2025
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| _version_ | 1867613156685119488 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Cassells, Kirstin |
| author2 | Bennett, Jane |
| author_browse | Bennett, Jane Cassells, Kirstin |
| author_facet | Bennett, Jane Cassells, Kirstin |
| author_sort | Cassells, Kirstin |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | The following research paper explores the experiences of self-identified queer past pupils of single-sex schools in Cape Town, South Africa. The intention of the study was to gain insights into the implicit and explicit psycho-social and systematic control felt by student bodies in highly-traditional school spaces, through the specific lens of queer students and their navigations of such spaces. The theoretical frameworks of Bourdieu's Social Reproduction Theory, the hidden curriculum, Freire's Critical Consciousness and hook's Engaged Pedagogy provide the theoretical foundation, in addition to Butler's Gendered Performativity. Research findings revealed the strict school environment, moulding an idealised archetype expected of the students, which aligned closely with heteronormative, middle-class, whiteness. This archetype was upheld through the hierarchy of academic excellence, internalised compliance, and strict boundaries of acceptable behaviour that were maintained through discipline and reward practices. Within this strict environment, queer students and educators were located through the accounts provided by participants. Their resilience, navigation and endurance of the school space are central to this dissertation. This study provides a clear example of Bourdieu's Social Reproduction Theory and the hidden curriculum at work in the school environment. The impact of pervasive heteronormative white hegemony, the remaining legacy of the white-dominated Apartheid system and the conservative societal expectations of gender performativity are revealed to have an ever-present role in the experience of single-sex schools in Cape Town. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/42128 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | English eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:31:38.662Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | African Studies |
| publisherStr | African Studies |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/42128 Regime, reputation and resilience: the queer experience of Cape Town's single-sex schools Cassells, Kirstin Bennett, Jane Queer Cape Town Single-sex schools The following research paper explores the experiences of self-identified queer past pupils of single-sex schools in Cape Town, South Africa. The intention of the study was to gain insights into the implicit and explicit psycho-social and systematic control felt by student bodies in highly-traditional school spaces, through the specific lens of queer students and their navigations of such spaces. The theoretical frameworks of Bourdieu's Social Reproduction Theory, the hidden curriculum, Freire's Critical Consciousness and hook's Engaged Pedagogy provide the theoretical foundation, in addition to Butler's Gendered Performativity. Research findings revealed the strict school environment, moulding an idealised archetype expected of the students, which aligned closely with heteronormative, middle-class, whiteness. This archetype was upheld through the hierarchy of academic excellence, internalised compliance, and strict boundaries of acceptable behaviour that were maintained through discipline and reward practices. Within this strict environment, queer students and educators were located through the accounts provided by participants. Their resilience, navigation and endurance of the school space are central to this dissertation. This study provides a clear example of Bourdieu's Social Reproduction Theory and the hidden curriculum at work in the school environment. The impact of pervasive heteronormative white hegemony, the remaining legacy of the white-dominated Apartheid system and the conservative societal expectations of gender performativity are revealed to have an ever-present role in the experience of single-sex schools in Cape Town. 2025-11-06T11:23:55Z 2025-11-06T11:23:55Z 2025 2025-11-06T11:04:45Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters Masters http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42128 en eng application/pdf African Studies Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Queer Cape Town Single-sex schools Cassells, Kirstin Regime, reputation and resilience: the queer experience of Cape Town's single-sex schools |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Regime, reputation and resilience: the queer experience of Cape Town's single-sex schools |
| title_full | Regime, reputation and resilience: the queer experience of Cape Town's single-sex schools |
| title_fullStr | Regime, reputation and resilience: the queer experience of Cape Town's single-sex schools |
| title_full_unstemmed | Regime, reputation and resilience: the queer experience of Cape Town's single-sex schools |
| title_short | Regime, reputation and resilience: the queer experience of Cape Town's single-sex schools |
| title_sort | regime reputation and resilience the queer experience of cape town s single sex schools |
| topic | Queer Cape Town Single-sex schools |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42128 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT cassellskirstin regimereputationandresiliencethequeerexperienceofcapetownssinglesexschools |