Gamification as a Tool for Social Change: A Case of Gender-Based Violence in South Africa
Folasayo Enoch Olalere 
Issue: Vol.3 No.13 December 2022 Article 5 pp.701-715
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.20223135 | Published online 22nd December 2022.
© 2022 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is one of the most significant social issues affecting the world, and just as in many other countries, GBV is pervasive in South Africa, where cultural norms and gender-based customs and traditions serve to condone and reinforce abusive practices. According to Article 13 of the Istanbul Convention, a preventive intervention requires heightened awareness as a first step in changing attitudes and behaviour that perpetuate the different forms of GBV. Hence, this study explores how awareness-raising can be effectively used as a preventive strategy to induce change in attitudes and behaviour associated with gender-based violence (GBV). Firstly, a systematic literature review was conducted to identify, select, and critically appraise existing empirical studies on GBV in South Africa. The systematic review used PRISMA guidelines for literature selection and Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) data extraction form to extract relevant data. The findings from the systematic review were described using a summary table, which reveals the different forms of GBV, the overarching causes and the contributing factors to GBV in South Africa. As this is a preliminary study expected to lead into future studies, relevant secondary data, including previous empirical studies, were reviewed to explore how gamification can be employed for awareness campaigns that challenge persistent myths, prejudices, and stereotypes and disrupt different pathways that lead to GBV. Finally, the study provides a structure for the future experimental study where an interactive awareness-raising game will be developed. This paper also stimulates new research directions on the potential of gamification for social change.
Keywords: Awareness-raising game, Gamification, Gender-based violence, Gender theory
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Folasayo Enoch Olalere is a designer, educator, and interdisciplinary researcher. He is currently a senior lecturer in the Department of Visual Communication Design at the Durban University of Technology, South Africa. He holds a PhD in Product Design from the Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Malaysia. His main research interests are the links between contemporary issues, design processes, and indigenous knowledge systems (IKS). Exploring these links from an experience-centred viewpoint is the basis for his inter- and trans-disciplinary research in design for experience, culture, and social change.
Olalere, F.E. “Gamification as a Tool for Social Change: A Case of Gender-Based Violence in South Africa,” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 3, no.13 (2022):701-715. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.20223135
© 2022 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Publishers. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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