The presence of a ‘nanny’ in South African infant observations: learning opportunities and challenges for student observers and their teachers

ABSTRACT

Many South African infants are co-reared by a ‘nanny’ employed as a domestic worker in the family home. The racial distribution of this sector of the labour force is 100% black. Domestic workers seldom have any formal or semi-formal training and they remain undervalued and subordinate in labour status. Given the country’s cruel apartheid history; racial, cultural, socio-economic, labour and power dynamics underpin these domestic relationships. There is a paucity of research into the impact of ‘nannies’ on the infant’s early life and development, or on the relational dynamics that develop between infant, mother and ‘shadow mother’ in the South African context. Privileged learning and qualitative research opportunities are proffered by the high percentage of infant observations situations that include the presence of a nanny. Further, the student observer and indeed the observation situation itself are not immune to the influence and impact of the complex relational dynamics. In a country that is working hard to repair damaged relationships in the aftermath of apartheid, small opportunities for hope emerge in the reflective discussions of the seminar groups. This paper explores several of these themes illustrated by vignettes from infant observations presented to the author over several years.

KEYWORDS:

• Infant observation
• nanny
• domestic worker
• South Africa
• teaching

Acknowledgements

I thank my students for sharing their observational material with me.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Nicola Dugmore works as a psychologist in private practice in Cape Town, South Africa. She is an infant observation teacher for the Institute for Child Psychotherapy. She is also an Extraordinary Lecturer in Psychiatry, Stellenbosch University where she teaches infant observation on the MPhil Infant Mental Health programme.

Notes

1 Until 2017, no mental health qualification required of students that they complete an observational study – this has changed with the recent introduction of a new Master’s Degree in Infant Mental Health by Stellenbosch University. A two-year Infant Observation is one of the compulsory modules in the post-graduate degree.

2 A domestic worker in South Africa is defined as a gardener, driver or person who looks after children, the aged, sick, frail or disabled in a private household.

3 The recommended hourly wage is ZAR 15 (BusinessTech, 2018).

4 Grandmother in isiZulu.

5 As of 2019, IPCP infant observation students will be required to follow a Code of Ethics that requires obtaining permission from all caregivers of the observed infant, including nannies.

6 I am aware that I have said nothing about the father, who is perhaps quite often absent from observations; his role side-lined or minimised and rarely observed (Jackson, 2000).