Dyers, CharlynNtete, SusanDept. of EnglishFaculty of Arts2014-02-062024-03-272010/01/192010/01/192014-02-062024-03-272008https://hdl.handle.net/10566/9984Philosophiae Doctor - PhDThis is a study of the discourses of empowerment and disempowerment that emerge from the critical discourse analysis (CDA) of life-histories written by two classes of Grade 11 high school learners in a township school in Cape Town, South Africa. The line of argument presented by this thesis is that there are political, socio-economic, familial and institutional factors and the discourses that construct them which affect learners’ resilience.enDiscourses of empowermentDiscourses of disempowermentGrade 11 high school learnersTownship school in Cape TownSouth AfricaThesisUniversity of the Western Cape