Masculinities and mergers: losing ground through territoriality

Abstract

This paper examines the extent to which masculinity played a role in the incorporation of an education college into a university in South Africa. I adopt the theoretical stance that masculinity is not a biological phenomenon that is peculiar to males but the socially constructed behaviour of masculine subjects that is contextually driven, and that the masculinity of institutions, and not only the masculinity of individuals, plays a role in shaping the outcomes of a change process. I go on to show: first that the discourse of power and control underpinned much of the behaviour of senior managers; second, the discourse of territoriality shows that the battle for asserting rights over space is linked to the masculine assertion of power. Finally I argue that masculinities survive and gain predominance, at the expense of other potentially beneficial social practices.

Notes

1. I do not want to delve into an examination of the term ‘incorporation’ here and to distinguish it from other merger forms. Suffice it to say that, from the outset, this term was used by the players in this particular case. In practice it meant that the College was absorbed into the University, leaving no trace of the College. In merger terms this may be likened to an acquisition. For details of this case study and other comparative studies that occurred at the same time, see Jansen (2002).

2. Where possible pseudonyms are used when quoting respondents. Senior officials are indicated by the position they occupied. In some instances dates of interviews are not given to protect the identity of respondents.

3. This person was responsible for incorporating the curriculum of the College into the University.

4. Cape Flats is an area in the Western Cape of South Africa. The area is notorious for its gang violence.

5. I was recently part of a Ministerial Reference Group set up to assess the gender equity achievements of government with respect to education. One of the overwhelming trends to emerge from the data collected from senior women government officials whose task it was to promote gender equity within the various departments of education was the strong and at times provocative resistance they met from male managers and leaders. The report of this commission is not yet available to the public.

6. Shani is the pseudonym given to a senior official, who I interviewed, from the Gauteng Department of Education.

7. Other members of the College management became involved with individuals from the University in facilitating the incorporation. Of course, this was not a smooth process and many battles were fought along the way. Of the staff at the College, I limit my discussion to the rector since it was his actions, or lack thereof, that were volubly and visibly read by other players in the process. Some respondents argued that it was primarily the actions of the rector that set such an aggressive tone for the incorporation. While I do not subscribe to this reading, for the purposes of this paper his actions are central.

8. This was a memorandum from the Rector of the College and other signatories to the Minister of Education dated 17 November 2000. Copies of this memorandum were available to staff. The memorandum is not referenced in any other College documents.

9. For the sake of maintaining the flow of the paper, interview dates are given only the first time a respondent is quoted.

10. As a consequence of a national rationalisation policy the GDE and other provincial departments had to redeploy a large number of staff from various colleges.

11. ‘Boers’ is an emotionally laden term, often used with the intention of being derogatory. It refers to white Afrikaners. Literally the term means ‘farmers’.

12. Undoubtedly, feminist legal professionals like MacKinnon (1983) may argue that this is simply another arena of masculine power.

13. This was in a further submission from the rector and other signatories to the minister of education, date uncertain.

14. There was widespread agreement among all the role‐players that the external facilitator had made no significant contribution to the incorporation process.

15. By this time the rector of the College had retired. The University had posted a campus director, a senior colleague of the deputy dean, to manage the College. The campus director had been allocated an office at the College.

16. The Education and Labour Relations Council is an independent body where matters relating to the employment of educators are determined. It was in this Council that agreement, with respect to the employment and redeployment of educators, was reached between educator unions, the provincial and national departments of education. Since universities are autonomous institutions and each university sets its own conditions of employment, it does not belong to this Council.

17. An agreement signed between the educator unions, provincial education departments and the DoE indicated that staff at closing‐down colleges should be offered a closed vacancy list from their receiving institution, before such vacancies were opened to the public. The universities were not party to this bargaining council. Despite this, other universities followed this procedure. The University in this study was probably the only university that simply ignored this guideline.

18. The respondent lives in the province of Gauteng. Braamfontein and Vereeniging are far from his home town but theoretically the GDE could post him there as these areas are still part of Gauteng.

19. The city of Durban is about 600kms away from the city of Pretoria where the College and the University are located.