Giddens, Sen and IsiXhosa-Speaking Women Traders: Theoretical Grafting to Enhance Analysis

Abstract

ABSTRACT Grafting selected elements into a primary theory from another theoretical approach can sometimes enhance the theoretical framework to facilitate more refined data analysis. Because of the possible risks of theoretical fragmentation that may result from incorporating elements of different theories into a single framework, we opted for grafting selected elements of one theory into our primary theory, to carefully retain the logical coherence of the main theory. In this paper, we draw on a study of isiXhosa-speaking women traders in Cape Town’s Langa Township (hereafter referred as Langa) to argue that grafting elements of Sen’s capability approach (CA) into Giddens’s structuration theory (ST) enhanced our theoretical framework. This improved the quality of our analysis and enabled us to generate more nuanced findings. Our qualitative study with 25 African women traders investigated how these women exercised agency in responding to structural constraints and opportunities that affected their trading businesses. We used participant observation and in-depth interviews to collect data. Sen’s CA (grounded in social justice) expanded on Giddens’s notion of structures as constraining and enabling. For this aspect of our theoretical framework, CA informed by Sen’s research on women’s empowerment projects amplified the intersection of gender, class and race constraints that affected the women traders. Furthermore, CA’s emphasis on quality of life and well-being outcomes was useful in helping us assess the transformative capacity of the women traders’ agency. This dimension complemented Giddens’s ST and therefore our theoretical framework was enhanced by grafting in these elements from Sen’s CA.