Biological citizenship in Blikkiesdorp : the case of the disability grant

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis examines local understandings and use of the Disability Grant in The Symphony Way Temporary Relocation Area, locally referred to as Blikkiesdorp (tin can town). The study takes an ethnographic approach and focuses particularly on a group of people accessing or seeking to access Disability Grants who formed a support group as a result of the study. Findings reveal that in a context of social and economic marginalisation, there is a high reliance on government grants for survival and a particularly high demand for Disability Grants by the unemployed in Blikkiesdorp. As social assistance in South Africa is categorically targeted at particular vulnerable groups, the majority of the unemployed of working age are not eligible for social assistance. As a result, Disability Grant recipients face significant pressure from their households and the community at large to share their grants with those who cannot find unemployment but are not catered to by the social security system. It also means that disability or illness is often valued over health. Given the use of the Disability Grant as a livelihood strategy within households and the related importance of Disability Grants to individuals and families, those who receive their grants on a temporary basis engage in a struggle to reapply for grants through performances of disability and humanitarian appeals to medical doctors who, as a result, are not only burdened by high numbers of grant applications, but also pressured to make decisions that go beyond their role as medical professionals. The analysis draws on the concept of biological citizenship to explore the relationship created between illness or disability of the bodies of marginalised citizens and the potential to access to social citizenship rights, enabled through the receipt of the Disability Grant.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University