Constitution and negotiation of rural student identities at an urban South African university

Abstract

Utilising a social constructivist lens, this study explores how students from rural areas consti-tute and negotiate their identities within an urban South African university. Much of the re-search on rurality in South Africa has focused on rural areas as places, and not on the people occupying them. Using a convenience sample of 12 participants, this study was qualitative in nature and employed a case-study approach and narrative inquiry. The theoretical framework of this study was the life course theory of development. Data collection comprised a mix of semi-structured questionnaires and focus group interviews. Data was analysed by means of content analysis. The findings were threefold: first, in constituting their identities, rural stu-dents remained grounded in who they were. Contrary to the literature that found rural students trying to fit into the dominant hegemonic culture of an urban university, the study found that students remained grounded in their rural identities. Second, in negotiating their identities, rural students assumed hyphenated identities - the rural-urban binary - to blend into the urban envi-ronment, assuming a ‘chameleon’ identity, but did not abandon their socio-cultural upbringing, philosophy, values and attributes when they joined an urban institution. Rather than seeking to be assimilated into the new environment, they aligned with philosophies and values that resonated with their upbringing. Third, rural students’ identities shifted when they joined an urban university. They now perceived their role as having shifted from being recipients of their back-ground to becoming contributors to its development.