Abstract
Life trajectories of children with no connections to support from their fathers have received research attention. Within this group is a sub-group who do not know their fathers and no research has attempted to understand their experiences. We present accounts of how young South Africans deal with and seek to uncover undisclosed paternity. Forty young men and women aged 16 to 22 volunteered to participate in a qualitative study on distress that was conducted in the Eastern Cape Province. All interviews were conducted in isiXhosa, following a semi-structured guide. Our findings show that interest in father identity was motivated by harsh circumstances in the maternal home, notably when financial difficulties, exclusion from critical decision making and bullying by non-biological siblings were felt. The search for father identity was pursued in solitude by some participants: their fear of elders’ response restrained them from asking. Some thought that it would be interpreted as being disrespectful and ungrateful to ask ‘such a question’, whilst others worried that they might be victimized or, worse, thrown out by their mothers or maternal guardians. We present accounts of accidental disclosures by strangers and also inadvertent involvement in an incestuous relationship. Open and honest communication with children about their paternal identity should be promoted to prevent the currents of silence, secrecy and anxiety, and avoid unpleasant surprises for the children.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Babbie, E. (2008). The basics of social research (4th ed.). USA: Thompson Wadsworth Publishers.
Coovadia, H., Jewkes, R., Barron, P., Sanders, D., & McIntyre, D. (2009). The health and health system of South Africa: Historical roots of current public health challenges. Lancet, 374(9692), 817–834.
Datta, K. (2007). “In the eyes of a child, a father is everything”: Changing constructions of fatherhood in urban Botswana? Women’s Studies International Forum, 30(2), 97–113. doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2007.01.005.
Denis, P., & Ntsimane, R. (2006). Absent fathers: Why men don’t feature in stories of familes affected by HIV/AIDS in Kwazulu-Natal? In L. Richter & R. Morrell (Eds.), Baba: Men and fatherhood in South Africa (pp. 237–249). Cape Town: South Africa: HSRC Press.
Department of Health, Medical Research Council, & Measure DHS+. (2002). South African demographic and health survey–1998. Retrieved from http://www.doh.gov.za/facts/1998/sadhs98/.
Department of Health, Medical Research Council, & OrcMacro. (2007). South African demographic and health survey 2003 (SADHS) Retrieved from http://www.doh.gov.za/search/index.html.
Eddy, G. (2009). Unhappy families. Fast Facts: South African Institute of Race Relations, 7, 2–12.
Euler, H. A., Hoier, S., & Rohde, P. A. (2001). Relationship-specific closeness of intergenerational family ties: Findings from evolutionary psychology and implications for models of cultural transmission. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32(2), 147–158.
Freeman, M., & Nkomo, N. (2006). Guardianship of orphans and vulnerable children. A survey of current and prospective South African caregivers. AIDS Care, 18(4), 302–310.
Guma, M., & Henda, N. (2004). The socio-cultural context of child abuse: A betrayal of trust. In L. Richter, A. Q. Dawes, & C. Higson-Smith (Eds.), Sexual abuse of young children in Southern Africa (pp. 95–109). Cape Town: HSRC Press.
Hunter, M. (2006). Fathers without amandla: Zulu speaking men and fatherhood. In L. Richter & R. Morrell (Eds.), Baba; men and fatherhood in South Africa (pp. 99–107). Cape Town, South Africa: HSRC Press.
Jewkes, R., Morrell, R., & Christofides, N. (2009). Empowering teenagers to prevent pregnancy: Lessons from South Africa. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 11(7), 675–688.
Jewkes, R., Nduna, M., Levin, J., Jama, N., Dunkle, K., Khuzwayo, N., et al. (2006). A cluster randomized-controlled trial to determine the effectiveness of stepping stones in preventing HIV infections and promoting safer sexual behaviour amongst youth in the rural Eastern Cape, South Africa: Trial design, methods and baseline findings. Tropical Medicine and International Health, 11(1), 3–16.
Jewkes, R., Penn-Kekana, L., & Rose-Junius, H. (2005). “If they rape me, I can’t blame them”: Reflections on gender in the social context of child rape in South Africa and Namibia. Social Science and Medicine, 61(8), 1809–1820.
Kane-Berman, J. (2009). A risk not recognised. Fast facts: South African Institute of Race Relations, 7(1), 1.
Kaufman, C. E., deWet, T., & Stadler, J. (2001). Adolescent pregnancy and parenthood in South Africa. Studies in Family Planning, 32(2), 147–160.
Kuckertz, H. (1990). Creating order: The image of the homestead in Mpondo social life. South Africa: Witwatersrand University Press.
Madhavan, S., Townsend, N. W., & Garey, A. I. (2008). ‘Absent breadwinners’: Father-child connections and paternal support in rural South Africa. Journal of Southern African Studies, 34(3), 647–663.
Mager, A. (1998). Youth organisations and the construction of masculine identities in the Ciskei and Transkei, 1945–1960. Journal of Southern African Studies, 24(4), 653–667.
Malherbe, V. C. (2006). Illegitimacy and family formation in colonial Cape Town, to c. 1850. Journal of Social History. Retrieved from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Illegitimacy and family formation in colonial Cape Town, to c. 1850-a0149463680.
Malherbe, V. C. (2007). Born Into Bastardy: The out-of-wedlock child in early Victorian Cape Town. Journal of Family History, 32(1), 21–44.
Mavundla, T. R., Netswera, F. G., Bottoman, B., & Toth, F. (2009). Rationalization of indigenous male circumcision as a sacred religious custom: Health beliefs of Xhosa men in South Africa. Journal of Transcultural Nursing OnlineFirst.
May, J., & Norton, A. (1997). A difficult life: The perceptions and experience of poverty in South Africa. Social Indicators Research, 41(1/3), 95–118.
Mekoa, I. (2003). Traditional African social organization and governance. New Agenda: South African Journal of Social and Economic Policy, 24, 36–40.
Mkhize, N. (2006). African traditions and the social, economic and moral dimensions of fatherhood. In L. Richter & R. Morrell (Eds.), Baba: Men and fatherhood in South Africa (pp. 183–198). Cape Town, South Africa: HSRC Press.
Moore, H. L. (1988). Feminism and anthropology. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Morrell, R., & Richter, L. (2006). Introduction. Cape Town, South Africa: HSRC Press.
Nduna, M. (2010). Distress and dating in Butterworth, the Eastern Cape, South Africa. In O. Obono (Ed.), A tapestry of human sexuality in Africa (pp. 87–104). South Africa: Fanele, an imprint of Jacana Media (PTY) Ltd.
Nduna, M., & Jewkes, R. (2010). Disempowerment and distress in the lives of young people in Eastern Cape, South Africa. (undereview).
Nduna, M., & Maseko, V. (2008). Discontinued Intimacy, denied paternity. Sexuality in Africa Magazine, 4(4), 11–14.
Niehaus, I. (2002). Bodies, heat, and taboos: Conceptualizing modern personhood in the South African Lowveld. Ethnology, 41(3), 189–207.
O’Connor, H., & Gibson, N. (2003). A step-by-step guide to qualitative data analysis. Pimatisiwin: A Journal of Indigenous and Aboriginal Community Health, 1(1), 63–90.
Plotnik, R. (1999). Introduction to psychology (5th ed.). USA: Brooks/Cole Wadsworth.
Posel, D., & Devey, R. (2006). The demographics of fatherhood in South Africa: An analysis of survey data, 1993–2002. In R. Morrell & L. Richter (Eds.), Baba: Men and fatherhood in South Africa (pp. 38–52). South Africa: HSRC Press.
Ramphele, M., & Richter, L. (2006). Migrancy, family dissolution and fatherhood. In L. Richter & R. Morrell (Eds.), Baba: Men and fatherhood in South Africa (pp. 73–81). Cape Town: HSRC Publication.
Rice, F. P. (1984). The adolescent: Development, relationships, and culture (4th ed.). USA: Allyn and Bacon.
Risseeuw, C. I., & Palriwala, R. (1996). Shifting circles of support. In R. Palriwala & C. I. Risseeuw (Eds.), Shifting circles of support: Contextualizing kinship and gender in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. USA: Altamira Press, A division of Sage publication, Inc.
Santrock, J. W. (1992). Life-span development (4th ed.). USA: WCB Publishers.
Santrock, J. W. (2005). Life-span development (10th ed.). USA: McGraw Hill.
Sebastian, C., Burnett, S., & Sarah-Jayne, B. (2008). Development of the self-concept during adolescence. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 12(11), 441–446.
Shaffer, D. R. (2002). Developmental psychology: Childhood and adolescence (6th ed.). USA: Wadsworth.
Speziale, H. J. S., & Carpenter, D. R. (2007). Qualitative research in nursing: Advancing the humanistic imperative (4th ed.). USA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Thomas, R. M. (1992). Comparing theories of child development (3rd ed.). California: Wadsworth.
Townsend, N. W., Madhavan, S., & Garey, A. I. (2005). Father presence in rural South Africa: Incorporating social connection and life course experience. Paper presented at the 2005 Meeting of the American Sociological Association. Retrieved from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p21047_index.html.
Turney, L. (2005). Paternity secrets: Why women don’t tell. Journal of Family Studies, 11(2), 227–248.
Weiten, W. (2001). Psychology: Themes and variations (5th ed.). USA: Wadsworth Thomson Learning.
Zimardo, P., McDermott, M., Jansz, J., & Metaal, N. (1993). Psychology: A European text. UK: Harper Collins.
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by funding received from the Ford Foundation through the Africa Regional Sexuality Resources Centre, the Faculty of Humanities and the Carnegie Fellowship Awards received from the University of Witwatersrand. We thank all the participants who volunteered their time on the project and colleagues who provided feedback throughout the writing process, in particular Yandisa Sikweyiya and Lindiwe Farlane for their insightful comments on earlier drafts.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nduna, M., Jewkes, R. Undisclosed Paternal Identity in Narratives of Distress Among Young People in Eastern Cape, South Africa. J Child Fam Stud 20, 303–310 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-010-9393-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-010-9393-4