Citation

Wet CD. Child Abuse Res. South Afr. 2016; 17(2): 49-63.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, South African Professional Society on the Abuse of Children)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study explores contemporary South African young adult fiction's (YAF) portrayal of bullying. The eleven books that received the M.E.R. prize for YAF books during the period 1995 to 2015 and describe one or more incident of bullying form the corpus of the text for the study. Content analysis was used to gain insight into YAF authors' portrayal of bullying. The study shows that bullying is not an important theme in South African YAF. The study sheds light on YAF authors' characterisation of child victims, bullies, bully-victims and bystanders; the different types of bullying; and the coping strategies of the victims. Four of the YAF books characterise adults-as-bullies and give insight into the types of bullying they perpetrate. Although the study reveals similarities between the authors' portrayal of bullying and empirical research findings, the study has also found that the YAF books often perpetuate bullying myths. The study highlights the need for a comprehensive list of South African YAF books dealing with bullying; a proliferation of YAF on bullying that recognises South Africa's unique sociocultural and political context; and the possibility of therapists, including bibliotherapists and teachers, to use YAF to help children cope with bullying.

Language: en