singleness and the Black Seventh-day Adventist Woman

292 Pages·2016·2.77 MB·English

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Institute of Education

UCL

It is not good to be alone; singleness and the Black
Seventh-day Adventist Woman

By
Valerie Y. Bernard-Allan

PhD in Sociology

February 2016
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Abstract

It is not good to be alone; singleness and the Black Seventh-day Adventist
Woman
Over the last decade the literature on adult singleness has highlighted the
pervasiveness of constructions of singleness as an undesirable status. The great majority of
the literature has focused on White women’s accounts of being single and few studies have
examined Christian women’s views about their single identities. A notable exception is
Aune’s (2004) study of British evangelical Christianity and gender which looked at the state
of gender within the New Frontiers International movement (an evangelical house church
movement). Yet while the literature on single women is burgeoning, little is known about
Black single women. The literature that is available suggests that Black single women are
typically portrayed in essentialist and often demeaning discourses that depict them for
instance, as hypersexual. There is even less known about single Black women who are
committed members of a religious organisation.
This thesis contributes to an understanding of singleness by analysing the accounts of
one group of Black British Christian women; Seventh-day Adventist women, mainly of
Caribbean descent. I use thematic analysis to focus on the recurring themes produced by the
women and to explore the ways in which singleness for these women is a complicated
identity. Seventy-nine women were recruited: nine took part in a focus group discussion,
fifty-three filled out a questionnaire, seven contributed written narratives and ten participated
in in-depth interviews.
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The findings illustrate that participants construct singleness as marginal and deficient,
despite this, however, these Black single Seventh-day Adventist women draw on a range of
cultural, religious and non-coupling narratives to construct more positive accounts of their
selves. Intersectionality provided a theoretical framework to illuminate what the key themes
highlight about the complexity of participants’ racialised, religious and gendered identities.
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Acknowledgements

First and foremost thanks and praise to God for his continued grace and support especially in
my time of need.
Special thanks to my supervisor, Ann Phoenix who took me from the ‘ashes’.
Thanks to my soul mate, Mervyn Allan for ‘being there’ and pushing me gently forward.
Thanks to my mother, Sylvia Bernard, for her persistent encouragement and prayers.
Thanks to my sons, Jamaal and Fadil, for believing in me and to my brother and sister,
Patrick and Ruby, who also encouraged me to complete this work.
I also want to thank my extended family and friends for their practical and emotional support.
I finally want to offer heartfelt thanks to the single ‘sisters’ who participated in this study and
shared. I dedicate this work to you.
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Table of Contents

Abstract 3
It is not good to be alone; singleness and the Black Seventh-day Adventist Woman3
Acknowledgements 5
Table of Contents 6
List of Appendices and References 10
List of Figures 11
List of Tables 12
Chapter 1 – Introduction 13
Background to the Study 13
Researching the Problem 15
Background to the Seventh-day Adventist Church 18
The Seventh-day Adventist Presence in Britain 18
The Adventist Family 19
Singleness and Seventh-day Adventism 22
Theoretical underpinning: Intersectionality 23
Outline of the Thesis 35
Chapter 2 - Singleness: marginal, complex and White 38
Introduction 38
Defining Singleness: a complex identity 39
A complex troubled category; negotiating marginalities 41
Single Christian women 49
Marginalised Black women; hyper-visible and matriarchal 60
Hyper-visible and marginal 63
Matriarchal and marginal 65
Marginalised strong Black women 74
Chapter 3 - Methodology 79
1. Introduction 79
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2. Research Design 79
2(a) Ontology and Epistemology 84
2(b) Positionality 86
3. The stages of data collection 87
3(a) Focus group 87
3(b) Rationale for using the focus group as a research method 89
3(c) Difficulties with using a focus group as an initial investigative tool 90
3(d) The Questionnaire 92
3(e) Piloting the questionnaire 93
3(f) The final questionnaire 94
3(g) Rationale for using questionnaires 96
3(h) Difficulties with using questionnaires 96
3(i) Written narratives 98
3(j) Rationale for using written narratives 100
3(k) Difficulties with using written narratives 100
3(l) In-depth interviews 101
3(m) Rationale for conducting in-depth interviews 104
3(n) Difficulties with conducting in-depth interviews 106
4. Analysing data 108
5. Ethical Considerations 113
5(a) Informed consent 114
5(b) Multiplicity: insider outsider status 116
6. Summary 118
Chapter 4 - The Centrality of Marriage 120
Introduction 120
Centralising marriage 121
Marriage as an ordained space 124
Maintaining endogamies: Religious and racial 127
Barriers to marrying; Anomic deviant and oppressed masculinities 134
Anomic masculinities 134
Deviant masculinities 136
Oppressed masculinities 140
Summary 141
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Chapter 5 - Singleness: A Problematic and Marginal Identity 144
Introduction 144
Marginal yet capable, productive yet lonely 145
Loneliness: racialised and incomplete 148
Pressures that illuminate deficiencies 152
Pressure from problematic intruders 154
Strong Black woman: forfeiting marriage 157
Choice: a marginalising opportunity 162
Waiting to be chosen; marginalised hyper-visibility 165
Waiting as a racialised procedure; grappling with idealised accounts of beauty 167
Summary 174
Chapter 6 - Troubled Celibacy 175
Introduction 175
Compliance as Problematic: Centralising Celibacy 176
Disruptive desires: threats that centralise celibacy 183
External threats: predatory masculinities 190
Contesting Celibacy 195
Summary 198
Chapter 7 - Spirituality as a Resource 203
Introduction 203
Defining spirituality 204
Contextualising spirituality: coping with trouble 210
Spirituality as a resource for centralising heteronormative ideals and managing
contradictions 211
Spirituality: situating the single self 218
Spirituality as a resource for producing strength 228
Summary 231
Chapter 8 - An Intersectional view of Singleness: Towards Conclusions235
The background of the research and thesis 235
Taking an intersectional perspective 238
Marginalising difficult journeys 239
Complicated agentic intersectional identities 242
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The Significance of the Study 246
Concluding thoughts 249
Appendix 1 251
Appendix 2 256
Appendix 3 257
Appendix 4 258
Appendix 5 261
Appendix 6 262
Appendix 7 263
REFERENCES 266
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List of Appendices and References

Appendix 1 Questionnaire …..…….…………………..…… Page 251
Appendix 2 Singles Conference …………………………… Page 256
Appendix 3 Writing Seminar ……………………………… Page 257
Appendix 4 Interview Schedule …………………………… Page 258
Appendix 5 In-depth Interviewees ……………………...… Page 261
Appendix 6 Consent Form ………………………………… Page 262
Appendix 7 Transcription Symbols used …………….…… Page 263
References ……………………………………………………….… Page 266