Abstract:
Utilising a social constructivist lens, this study explores how students from rural areas constitute and
negotiate their identities in the context of an urban South African university. Much of the research on
rurality in South Africa has focused on rural areas as places, and not on the people occupying them.
This qualitative study employed a narrative inquiry, using the life course theory of development as its
theoretical framework. Data collection comprised a mix of semi-structured questionnaires and focus
group interviews. Data were analysed by means of content analysis. The findings were threefold: first,
in constituting their identities, rural students remained grounded in their rural identities. Contrary
to the literature, which found rural students trying to fit into the dominant hegemonic culture of
an urban university. Second, in negotiating their identities, rural students assumed hyphenated
identities – the rural-urban binary – to blend into the urban environment, assuming a ‘chameleon’
identity, but did not abandon their socio-cultural upbringing, philosophy, values, and attributes when
they joined an urban institution. They aligned with philosophies and values that resonated with their
upbringing rather than seeking to be assimilated. Third, when they joined an urban university, they
began to perceive their role as having shifted from being recipients of their background to becoming
contributors to its development.
