Ethics

There are always ethical issues when conducting studies like this, particularly in relation to confidentiality and emotional distress, and especially during the interviews, which involve talking about parenting, problematic relationships or family issues, where other previous negative experiences regularly resurface. Parenting is a very sensitive topic in the South Sudanese community, and participant identities were protected by ensuring that all data are stringently de-identified. Where there were possible risks to

confidentiality for participants, for example, through participating in focus groups, those risks were clearly explained before gaining each participant's consent. During focus group meetings, participants were also asked general questions (see Appendix 4B) and I emphasised that participants need not to answer any specific question if it made them feel unsafe or uncomfortable.

Since most participants do not write or speak English, I always ensured that the project, its ethical guidelines, and the participants’ roles and rights in this research were clearly explained in the languages they understood and that they were confident about taking part. In the case of any distress or concern triggered by involvement in the research, participants were provided with relevant information about where they could get some help.

As mentioned above, ethics approval was sought and granted for this project through the Victoria University Human Research Ethics Committee. Participants were also given an explanation on how to direct any queries about their participation in this project to my Principal Supervisor at Victoria University, or for any further ethical

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complaints about the way I treated them to contact the Ethics Secretary at the Victoria University Human Research Ethics Committee Office and counselling support services.

Conclusion

This chapter has outlined the concepts of narrating and constructing meaning in relation to South Sudanese traditional parenting practices, transitional experiences, the impact of changes within their families and their coping strategies. Part One presented the three components that make up the research design: theoretical perspectives, methodology and methods. Employing a constructivist approach provided an opportunity to make sense of South Sudanese parenting experiences in Australia as an inside researcher. Narrative and constructivist grounded theory were used to inform interpretation of the data gathered through individual interviews and focus group meetings. The methods of interviewing participants are always connected with ethical issues, but these ethical issues were addressed.

The second part of this chapter outlined the participant recruitment process - how I gained access to the South Sudanese community as an inside researcher and built rapport with potential participants. It described how interviews and focus groups were conducted. In my view, being an insider, speaking the same languages and knowing the culture led to easy access, interactions and contacts with the community and

participants.

The third part demonstrated how the data were analysed and the research located through the initial coding process, a very important step which allowed the portions of transcription selected for analysis to emerge. The same process made sure that all of the participants’ comments were captured, word by word and line by line. Since most interviews were conducted in South Sudanese native languages such as Dinka and Sudanese Arabic, the initial coding involved not only transcribing, but translating them first into English.

The next crucial step in the data analysis was memo writing, which was pivotal in comparing codes from throughout the initial coding. Writing memos makes it easier to draw concepts from occurrences as well as to keep track of, refine and develop ideas

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through identifying concepts and accompanying themes. This procedure eventually led

to focused coding, in which data or codes are constantly compared. These processes tend to be more conceptual as they enhance the writing of the memos and lead into generating theory. Focused coding was very helpful in sorting through the large amount of data, as the participants' comments tended to become more repetitive.

Also discussed in Part Three of this chapter was theoretical sampling which helped to develop and refine theoretical categories. The theoretical sampling process enhanced my understanding of South Sudanese parenting practices, issues and challenges, which I had gained through engaging with them, not only through the interviews and focus group meetings, but also through community activities and events, and took it beyond what I already knew as an insider. This stage of the data analysis process involved arranging and elevating categories into concepts and theory through grouping them under the larger themes.

The final section of this chapter was Part Four, which discussed participant

demographics, the rigor and trustworthiness of the research and how I used personal reflection to locate myself as an insider within the research. This chapter concluded by highlighting the issues such as conflicts of interest and ethical concerns that might have arisen from being an inside researcher within the South Sudanese community, and how some of these were addressed.

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CHAPTER FIVE

Delineating traditional South Sudanese family structure, parenting practices

and customary law

Introduction

The main focus of this chapter is to provide an overview of South Sudanese traditions and culture around parenting practices, beliefs and values. These include customary laws, gender roles and the responsibilities of parents and other family members. It analyses how South Sudanese define family and children's upbringing, their traditional beliefs and values, marriage arrangements and divorce. It is supplemented by the narratives that South Sudanese migrants have brought with them to Australia.

As part of their cultural beliefs, South Sudanese perceive parenting to be about

nurturing children to be successful and respectful people in society. Some cross-cultural studies support the concept that different groups of people possess different beliefs and engage in different behaviours that may be normative in their own culture, but not in another (Bornstein, 2012). Bornstein stated that every culture is characterised and distinguished from another by widely recognised ideas about how one needs to feel, think and act as a functioning member of a given culture. Harwood et al. (1999)

stipulated that parents hold goals which are consistent with those goals and expectations held by the society they are associated with. The central, integral part of South Sudanese parenting practices and culture, alongside gender roles and the responsibilities of every family member, is respect for parents and elders. This is a concept that dominated most participants’ comments and discussion on the topics covered in this and subsequent chapters. Respect is knotted into almost every aspect of South Sudanese parenting practices, cultural beliefs and norms.

According to South Sudanese traditions, a family includes extended family members and in-laws and, within this paradigm, the role of looking after and disciplining children is shared. Although the immediate parents are expected to be central in such a noble and challenging role, members of the wider community are also expected to help in

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disciplining children and shaping their behaviour for a better future. As a result, South Sudanese see parenting as a collective practice in which every member of society should be involved to help in children's upbringing. This emanates from the South Sudanese belief in the social reproduction of parenting from one generation to the next with the aim of raising positive children, which is an essential purpose of procreation.

South Sudanese understandings of ‘good and bad’ parenting are seen as an important element in fostering a respectful, successful new generation, or its opposite. ‘Good parenting’ according to South Sudanese is about meeting children's needs, so they become positive, disciplined and deferential members of the society, whereas ‘bad parenting’ is the reverse of these characteristics. This links to South Sudanese views as to what constitutes a ‘good and bad’ child. A good child is understood to be a product of good parenting, and South Sudanese believe that a ‘good child’ is someone who is a good listener, follows societal rules and is respectful to parents and all in the

community, whereas a ‘bad child’ is the reverse of these. I also consider here the significance of discipline, its impact on children’s developmental outcomes, and how South Sudanese connect it with ‘good and bad’ parents and children and see it as an integral part of their parenting practices.