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When the students are revolting: the (im) possibilities of listening in academic contexts in South Africa

  • Authors: Garman, Anthea
  • Date: 2018
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , book
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/158416 , vital:40182 , ISBN 978-3-319-93958-2 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1007/978-3-319-93958-2
  • Description: Student activists in South Africa have put the decolonisation of higher education firmly on the agenda, demanding that researchers and teachers pay attention to something in particular that is very hard to hear and very possibly unhearable. These young, black South Africans are the intellectual force upon whom we are depending for the altered future of our country. We cannot change the circumstances which continue to frustrate and anger them without paying particular attention to them. Taking on the knowledge bases and knowledge generation in the Global South, they are demanding that we rethink the logos-based project of universities in South Africa. Their struggle is critically about how knowledge is implicated as a shaping force in lives which are still defined by colonial governmentality.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

White anxieties in the Post-Apartheid speculative dystopian fiction of Eben Venter, Lauren Beukes and Lily Herne

  • Authors: Matroos, Allissa Shanice
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Dystopias in literature , Women and literature Fiction -- Women authors
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/22682 , vital:30054
  • Description: This study uncovers and critiques the various ways in which Eben Venter‘s Trencherman (2008), Lauren Beukes‘ Moxyland (2008) and Lily Herne‘s Deadlands (2011) manifest an engagement with socio-political expressions of whiteness within post-apartheid South Africa. These overtly dystopian depictions of a country twenty-two years into its democracy reflect a level of anxiety felt by white South Africans attempting to negotiate the change in their socio-political circumstances. Within the alternate post-apartheid South Africa of Trencherman, whiteness comes to the fore as a socially constructed albatross preventing engagement with the trenchant effects of apartheid, as well as a grotesque bulging mass of unearned privilege embodied by a descendent of an Afrikaans farmer. Moxyland and Deadlands, however, portray a less overt engagement with whiteness by foregoing a critique of prevalent racial inequities. Instead, both authors favour an interrogation of South Africa‘s deleterious class hierarchy in settings that are fantastically futuristic and dystopic. This lends to my argument that the genre of speculative dystopian fiction has been sought out as an ideal space for white South African writers to (safely) deal with white anxieties. It is also pivotal to place these texts alongside one another to examine the ways in which white writers deal with whiteness as a marker of social privilege within the South African socio-political landscape. The theory of whiteness and the theories surrounding dystopian fiction will be used as integral theoretical frameworks for this study.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

Whose PARty was this? The dilemmas of a participatory action research process of evaluating a social enterprise.

  • Authors: Lovell, Jacqueline , Akhurst, Jacqueline
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: To be catalogued
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , book chapter
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/436926 , vital:73317 , ISBN 978-3-319-74721-7 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74721-7_24
  • Description: Participatory action research aims to reduce power differentials in research. In this chapter we problematise the blurred boundaries when a participant becomes a researcher. We re-flect on a PhD undertaken by the first author who was a mem-ber of a social enterprise in the UK that provided user-led re-search and training with a diversity of communities. Experienc-es of ten members of the collective were gathered through creative arts-based methodologies designed to be inclusive. We describe three tensions that arose when trialling participa-tory video production, when data analysis could not be under-taken collaboratively, and when reflecting on the solitary nature of PhD thesis writing. We outline the ways these tensions were worked through and explore ways of writing about participatory research in a PhD thesis.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

Why municipalities do not comply and implement expanded public works programmes: a case study of the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality in South Africa

  • Authors: Jikwana, Mvumelwano Valithuba
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Local government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/22486 , vital:29975
  • Description: The Expanded public works programme (EPWP) was a South African government initiative that was meant to fight poverty, reduce unemployment and develop skills for young people, women and people with disabilities. EPWP was to be implemented by the national, provincial and local governments in order to alleviate poverty and increase economic growth. The programme started with phase 1 in April 2004, where the objective was to create a minimum of 1 million job opportunities by March 2009. The target was achieved by the South African government, but many municipalities faced challenges as they were struggling to meet their own targets. EPWP phase 2 started in April 2009, where the target of creating 4.5 million work opportunities was set and it was meant to end in March 2014. Phase 3 was scheduled to start in April 2014 to March 2019. Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM) is a metropolitan municipality, which should implement EPWP, and it consists of the towns of East London, King Williams Town and Bisho. BCMM council accepted the EPWP structure in the financial year 2013/14, charging the Programme Manager to lead the EPWP unit, consisting of a single office to implement the programme. The municipality faced many challenges, in failing to meet the targets set by the National Department of Public Works (NDPW). These challenges include: the lack of political and administration commitment towards EPWP, lack of proper EPWP training and lack of accountability from Senior Management. Other challenges facing BCMM include: a lack of data capturers to consolidate EPWP information, lack of qualifies people to design and implement labour intensive projects and the shortage of staff within the EPWP unit, which was meant to support all departments. If the municipality can overcome all the challenges, the set targets can be met, unemployment can be reduced and poverty can be alleviated. There is an urgent need for the Mayor and Municipal Manager to commit themselves toward the full implementation of EPWP.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

Witches & villains: the nasty tales

  • Authors: Dalldorf, Tamaryn
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: South African fiction (English) -- 21st century , Short stories, South African (English) -- 21st century , Fairy tales -- 21st century
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63087 , vital:28362
  • Description: My thesis compromises a variety of short stories which are modern re-writes of dark fairy tales. Fairy Tales often explore the dark side of human nature and in these stories I focus on the voices of female villains and the strange psychology which drives them. I find Fairy Tales absorbing because they reveal the vulnerabilities, dreams and fears of the human consciousness. My stories contain some satirical expositions of human nature and society. My influences are the anthology of short stories, “My mother She Killed Me and My Father He Ate Me”, The Grimm Fairy Tales (original) and The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault as well as the writing of Horacio Moya, Angela Carter and Alissa Nutting for their dark satire and mockery of social eccentricities. Kate Bernheimer’s “Form is Fairy Tale and Fairy Tale is Form” is very influential in terms of the style it recommends in writing such as: “every day magic”, “flatness” (a form of narration), abstraction and intuitive logic.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

Women's knowledge and attitudes towards discontinuation of the Long-acting reversible contraceptive (Implanon) in Buffalo City Municipality, South Africa

  • Authors: Mrwebi, Khungelwa Patricia
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Contraceptives Birth control Women's health services
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MPH
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/11206 , vital:37231
  • Description: Unintended pregnancy remains a public health concern worldwide despite the availability of many contraceptives options. The South Africa Government introduced Implanon —a Long-acting Reversible Device— with aim to cost effectively prevent unplanned pregnancy. There are concerns that the implementation of this contraceptive option was without prior piloting to test for level of acceptance and attitude towards this contraception. Also, there is paucity of evidence on knowledge of women and their attitude to implanon as well as duration of use and reasons for discontinuation of implanon in South Africa. The present study address this gap by assessing the women’s knowledge of and attitude to implanon as well as reasons for implanon discontinuation in Buffalo City Municipality in South Africa. This prospective observational study administered a pre-validated questionnaire to 189 women who had removed implanon in the reproductive health clinic in one regional hospital and a primary health centre in Buffalo City Municipality. Descriptive statistics were used to analysis the study data. The average duration for implanon use among the participants was 11.2 months. Most participants had poor knowledge of implanon and implanon knowledge was significantly associated was with age. Most participants opined that implanon use is associated with heavy bleeding (60.7), irregular frequent bleeding (84.3percent), and weight gain (67percent). The main reason for implanon discontinuation was its side effects (71.3 percent). Other reasons for discontinuation of implanon are poor or wrong positioning (3.2percent), want to become pregnant (4.3percent). Some participants discontinued implanon because they were on treatment; 24 participants on ARV drug, one on antipsychotic drugs, and one on TB drugs. Experience of heavy bleeding (39.9percent) was the most stated side of implanon leading to implanon discontinuation. The study concluded that women, even though adopted implanon, lack knowledge of implanon mechanism of action and side effects. Poor knowledge of implanon side effects could explain its early discontinuation among women in South Africa. Provider should prioritise comprehensive counselling of clients on implanon side effects and mechanism of action in order to realise the benefit of implanon in this population.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

Women’s participation in Kwasa vegetable garden project in Port Elizabeth

  • Authors: Blauw, Thandiwe
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Women in development , Economic development projects Community gardens -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/23591 , vital:30584
  • Description: Poverty is one of the major challenges faced by South Africa today, even after twenty three years of being a democratic country. A majority of South Africa’s population still lives below poverty line and the most affected are women and children. The alleviation of poverty is one of the priorities for the government, and the communities where the poor live engage in projects that support poverty alleviation while on the same breath also helps with skills development and financial freedom. In this research study, the researcher has investigated the impact of women participation on urban agriculture project by means of a vegetable garden to alleviate poverty at Kwasa Project in Walmer Township. The research has followed a qualitative approach which included individual interviews using an interview schedule. To supplement the above, secondary relevant scholarly sources were consulted. The objectives of the research were outlined which include the investigation of the challenges facing the Kwasa Project in Walmer Township. In the final analysis, the researcher has provided recommendations with the view of resolving some of the problems discovered during the interviews.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

Women’s perceptions of successful financial retirement planning

  • Authors: Durrheim, Meghan
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Women -- Retirement -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Retirement -- Planning , Retirement income -- Planning , Women -- Finance, Personal , Retired women -- Finance, Personal , Regression analysis
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MCom
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60339 , vital:27771
  • Description: Financial retirement planning is an important component in ensuring that individuals accumulate sufficient wealth for retirement. Previous research suggests that many individuals are unable to accumulate sufficient wealth for retirement with the problem being particularly acute for women as they tend to spend less time planning financially for retirement when compared to men. Consequently, many women are unable to accumulate sufficient wealth for retirement. Despite the growing need to investigate women’s financial retirement planning, much research tends to focus on financial retirement planning for males. Consequently, there is a growing need to investigate women’s perceptions of successful financial retirement planning, particularly in Grahamstown. After conducting an in-depth literature study and using the study done by Doa (2014), six independent variables were identified: values, time horizon, attitudes, working life-cycle, risk tolerance and financial literacy. These independent variables were identified as factors which could potentially influence women’s perceptions of successful financial retirement planning. A set of hypothesis were formulated to test the relationship between these independent variables and the dependent variable (women’s perceptions of successful financial retirement planning). The study comprised of 101 participants. A principle component analysis was performed to determine the key variables, with the relevant independent factors being renamed: cultural values, personal values, affective attitudes, time horizon knowledge, time horizon consideration, risk tolerance, financial literacy. An ordinal logit regression analysis was then conducted on these renamed variables to determine the influence of these key independent variables on the dependent variable. After controlling for a set of demographic variables the results of the ordinal logit regression analysis revealed that only affective attitudes, time horizon knowledge, and personal values had a significant relationship with women’s perceptions of successful financial retirement planning. Cronbach’s alpha revealed that the measuring instrument of the significant extracted factors was reliable, while Pearson product moment was used to determine correlations between extracted key independent variables and the dependent variable. The investigation into women’s perceptions of successful financial retirement planning enabled insightful information to be gathered which adds to the body of knowledge. In addition, recommendations were formulated in an attempt to assist women when making financial retirement decisions.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

Wood preservation with gold hydroxyapatite system

  • Authors: Ion, Rodica-Mariana , Nyokong, Tebello , Nwahara, Nnamdi , Suica-Bunghez, Ioana-Raluca , Iancu, Lorena , Teodorescu, Sofia , Dulama, Ioana D , Stirbescu, Raluca M , Gheboianu, Anca , Grigorescu, Ramona M
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: To be catalogued
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/187840 , vital:44702 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-018-0202-5"
  • Description: Over centuries, the external factors such as fire, low temperature, light or microbiological agents, act on the wood and induce some degradation processes, sometimes irreversible, identified by discoloration, fragility and unsightly appearance. Although there are numerous literature reports about different nanomaterials used for preservation and restoration of wood surfaces (calcium hydroxides, magnesium hydroxides, hydroxyapatite, or even organic resins as Paraloid B72), in this paper it is proposed a new system—gold hydroxyapatite (AuHAp), tested on the hazelnut wood samples (young and aged specimens), as a new solution for preservation of some wooden artifacts. This paper addresses a broad range of analytical methods: X-ray diffraction, UV–Vis spectrophotometry, Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy, chromatic parameters and hardness test. Also, humidity sorption/desorption measurements are used for humidity sorption and desorption evaluation. The adsorption and desorption tests determined the hydroscopic sorption properties of the wood specimens by measuring the mass of the specimens in equilibrium with air at a specific temperature and RH. All the results concluded that after the application of the new system on the hazelnut wood surface, a well distributed and uniform layer consisting from AuHAp systems with a network aspect are observed, which covers the wood vessels and fibers, filling the voids and stopping the wood weathering process, more accentuated at aged wood than at the young species.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

Woody plant encroachment in arid and mesic South African savanna-grasslands: same picture, different story?

  • Authors: Skowno, Andrew Luke
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Savanna ecology South Africa Eastern Cape , Remote sensing , Woody plants South Africa Eastern Cape , Grasslands South Africa Eastern Cape , Plant invasions South Africa Eastern Cape
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62603 , vital:28212
  • Description: Woody plant encroachment in South Africa’s savanna-grasslands has been considered a rangeland management problem since the early 1900s. This phenomenon, which has been observed globally, is particularly important in Africa given the extent of tropical grassy biomes on the continent and their importance for rural livelihoods. In this study, local and regional scale approaches were used to investigate woody cover change in South Africa across the important savanna-grassland rainfall threshold of 650 mm mean annual precipitation (MAP). The aim was to test this threshold using remote sensing and demographic surveys in order to better understand the patterns, mechanisms and drivers of encroachment. Rates of encroachment and population demographics of Vachelia karroo were compared at arid and mesic savanna sites in the Eastern Cape, using time-series analysis of historical aerial photographs in conjunction with field surveys. Changes in the extent of woodland vs. grassland were then quantified at a national scale (1990-2013) by combining optical and synthetic aperture radar remote sensing data. This produced the first map of woodland- grassland shifts for South Africa and provided the basis for a spatially explicit investigation of the key drivers of change. The local studies revealed higher rates of encroachment at mesic sites than at arid sites, with a correlation between drought and rate of encroachment at the arid site. Vachelia karroo seedlings and stunted saplings were more prevalent at mesic sites than at arid sites and the growth form of adult trees differed significantly between sites. The national remote sensing investigation showed that woodland replaced grassland in over 5% of South Africa’s savanna- grasslands between 1990 and 2014, at rates consistent with other global and regional studies. Spatially explicit models showed a pattern of incremental expansion of woodland along a ‘tree front’ and complex relationships between woodland increase and fire, rainfall, terrain ruggedness and temperature. Overall, the local and regional scale findings of this work highlight the importance of the savanna rainfall threshold (~650 mm MAP) and the presence / absence of fire in understanding savanna dynamics and woody cover change in the context of global drivers such as elevated atmospheric CO2.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

Worker participation and involvement in a Zimbabwean mining environment

  • Authors: Nyamahowa, Takudzwa Frank
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Management -- Employee participation -- Zimbabwe , Industrial relations -- Zimbabwe Industrial sociology -- Zimbabwe Job satisfaction Work environment -- Zimbabwe
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/34432 , vital:33378
  • Description: Harmonious work relations can be achieved when worker involvement and participation structures are used effectively to ensure that workers‟ interests and rights are addressed. Literature has established the relationship between employee participation and worker satisfaction with working conditions. However, the extent to which employees are happy at work is also affected by their social and living conditions. It is therefore important to know the worker levels of satisfaction with participation on issues that affect them, and if the channels are being used to create an enabling environment. The objective of the study was to look at the influence employee participation has on worker satisfaction with work-life and workers satisfaction with social and living conditions, and the relationship between worker satisfaction with work-life and satisfaction with social and living conditions. The research questions were structured around this premise. The research was quantitative and used a 5-Likert scale using the three factors of employee participation, social and living conditions, and working life. The major findings revealed that there is strong relationship between worker satisfaction with employee participation and worker satisfaction with working life. Social and living conditions through an Exploratory Factor Analysis divided into exterior and interior social and living conditions. Working life was strongly correlated with interior social and living conditions.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

Writing groups as transformative spaces

  • Authors: Wilmot, Kirstin , McKenna, Sioux
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: To be catalogued
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/${Handle} , vital:44576 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2018.1450361"
  • Description: Curriculum transformation is a central concern for higher education in response to rapidly expanding technologies, globalisation and the widening diversity of the student and staff body. This is particularly true for South Africa, which is still grappling with inequalities and pressure for social redress in its universities. Early responses to supporting students took the form of add-on, ‘deficit-model’ approaches which understood poor student retention and success rates as emerging from students’ lack of neutral literacy ‘skills’. Recent initiatives have begun to adopt more socio-cultural understandings of literacy that seek to challenge traditional power structures and cultivate horizontal peer-orientated spaces for learning with a focus on practice rather than on product. Writing groups, as spaces for academic writing development, embrace this orientation and are argued to provide a transformative framework that foregrounds proactive student learning and experience, while still accommodating disciplinary learning through peer engagement. Drawing on the successful implementation of such forms of support at a research-intensive university, this paper argues that writing groups can play a critical role in both personal (student) transformation and broader curriculum transformation. Data include anonymous questionnaires and surveys with participants and coordinators of the writing groups. An inductive, constant comparative analysis indicated that students feel empowered in this space to develop not only their writing practices but also their transforming identities as scholars. Writing groups were found to provide ‘safe spaces’ where academic practices can be made explicit and where they can be challenged. The paper therefore argues that writing groups can play a small but key role in broader transformation efforts.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

Yeast-baculovirus synergism: investigating mixed infections for improved management of the false codling moth, Thaumatotibia leucotreta

  • Authors: Van der Merwe, Marcel
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Cryptophlebia leucotreta , Baculoviruses , Yeast , Citrus Diseases and pests , Biological pest control agents , Pests Integrated control
  • Language: English
  • Type: Master's theses , text
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62963 , vital:28347
  • Description: Thaumatotibia leucotreta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) or otherwise commonly known as the false codling moth is an indigenous pest of the citrus industry in southern Africa. The pest is highly significant as it impacts negatively on the export of fresh citrus fruits from South Africa to international markets. To control T. leucotreta in South Africa, an integrated pest management (IPM) programme has been implemented. One component of this programme is the baculovirus Cryptophlebia leucotreta granulovirus (CrleGV-SA) which has been formulated into the products Cryptogran™ and Cryptex®. It has previously been reported that there is a mutualistic association between Cydia pomonella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) also known as codling moth, and epiphytic yeasts. Cydia pomonella larval feeding galleries were colonised by yeasts and this, in turn, reduced larval mortality and enhanced larval development. It has been demonstrated in laboratory assays and field trials that combining yeast and brown cane sugar with Cydia pomonella granulovirus (CpGV) significantly increased larval mortality and lowered the proportion of injured apple fruit. This suggests that yeasts can enhance the effectiveness of an insect virus in managing pest larvae. In this study, we proposed to determine which species of yeast occur naturally in the digestive tract, frass and on the epidermis of T. leucotreta larvae and to examine whether any of these yeasts, when combined with the CrleGV-SA, have a synergistic effect in increasing mortality of T. leucotreta larvae. Firstly, Navel oranges infested with T. leucotreta larvae were collected from orchards in Sundays River Valley in Eastern Cape of South Africa. Larvae were extracted and analysed for the presence of yeast on their surface, or in their gut and frass. Four yeasts were isolated from T. leucotreta larvae and identified down to species level via PCR amplification and sequencing of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and D1/D2 domain of the large subunit (LSU) of rDNA region. These yeasts were isolated from the frass, epidermis and digestive tract of T. leucotreta larvae. The yeast isolates were identified as Meyerozyma caribbica, Pichia kluyveri, Pichia kudriavzevii and Hanseniaspora opuntiae. A yeast preference assay was conducted on female T. leucotreta moths to examine whether any of the isolated yeast species affected their oviposition preference. Navel oranges were inoculated with the isolated yeast species at a concentration of 6 × 108 cells.ml-1. The assay also included a Brewer’s yeast and distilled water control. Pichia kudriavzevii was shown to be the preferred yeast species for oviposition, as significantly more eggs were deposited on Navel oranges inoculated with this yeast compared to the other treatments. Lastly, a detached fruit bioassay was performed to evaluate the efficacy of mixing P. kudriavzevii with CrleGV-SA to enhance T. leucotreta larvae mortality. Pichia kudriavzevii was selected as it was demonstrated as having an effect on the oviposition preference of female T. leucotreta moths. The concentration at which P. kudriavzevii was applied remained the same as in the preference assay while CrleGV-SA was applied at lethal concentration required to kill 50 % of the population (9.31 × 107 OBs.ml-1). Although an increase in larval mortality was observed between CrleGV-SA being applied alone and the yeast/virus mixture, this result was determined not to be statistically significant. The experiments performed in this study provide a platform for further research into the application of a yeast-virus combination as a novel control option for T. leucotreta in the field. , Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science, Biochemistry and Microbiology, 2018
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  • Date Issued: 2018

Young adults’ perceptions of the psychosocial factors impacting upon self-disclosure online

  • Authors: Edwards, Megan
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Self-disclosure , Young adults -- psychological aspects Interpersonal relations
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/29882 , vital:30788
  • Description: Online communication has become a universal phenomenon, and a significant consequence of computer mediated communication (CMC) is the influence it has on self-disclosure. The aim of the present study was to explore and describe young adults’ perceptions of online self-disclosure, specifically what young adults’ self-disclose online and what psychosocial factors impact upon self-disclosure online. Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Systems Theory and the Johari Window were utilised as the theoretical framework of the study. The present study utilised a qualitative approach and was exploratory and descriptive in design. The sample size of the present study was 13, and semi-structured interviews were utilised as the method of data collection. The data obtained was analysed using thematic analysis, as outlined by Braun and Clarke. Six main themes were identified, namely Types of Online Experience, Online Self-disclosure, Information Disclosed Online, Differences between Online and Offline Self-disclosure, Privacy and Online Regrets. The findings of the present study will generate a better understanding of young adults’ online self-disclosure and can be utilised for future research.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

Young men’s talk about menstruation and hegemonic masculinity in the South African context: a discursive analysis

  • Authors: Glover, Jonathan
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Menstruation -- Social aspects -- -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Hegemony -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Masculinity -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Sex role -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Men -- Attitudes , Men -- Psychology , Human body -- Social aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Men's studies -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60244 , vital:27758
  • Description: Current research in the sub-Saharan and other resource poor contexts indicates the largely negative social constructions of menstruation and menstruating women. Young men have been shown to reproduce these negative constructions and reinforce the stigmatized status of menstruation in these contexts. To my knowledge no studies have examined the ways in which young men talk about menstruation and menstruating women in South Africa. In this research, I aimed to explore the ways in which young men (in a resource poor area in the Eastern Cape) talk about menstruation in with their male peers in a focus group context and how this talk serves to enable specific subject positions (both masculine and feminine) that may reproduce, comply with and resist constructions of hegemonic masculinity (as outlined in previous South African research). By drawing on Raewyn Connell’s influential framework of masculinities and augmenting this with Margaret Wetherell and Nigel Edley’s contributions, this research adds to the growing body of research on masculinities in the South African context. I utilized a discursive framework in which to understand the interpretative repertoires drawn on in everyday talk about menstruation and the specific subject positions made available by these. Purposive sampling was used to recruit a total of 37 participants from two former Department of Education and Training schools in the Eastern Cape. Participants were young ‘black’ men with a mean age of 18.3 In analyzing and interpreting the data two overarching patterns emerged. In the first, the participants discursively distanced themselves from menstruation (and femininity in general) in order to avoid possible marginalisation and subordination in relation to local hegemonic masculine ideals. In doing this, the participants drew on a number of interpretative repertoires including: a dualistic repertoire, a bad (versus ideal) femininity repertoire and an abject femininity repertoire, which assisted in creating numerous subject positions. These subject positions allowed the young men to align themselves closer to hegemonic masculine ideals, and create distance by positioning menstruating women as the ‘other’. In the second overarching pattern, menstruation was constructed as a threat to masculine identity; within this construction, the young men discursively negotiated the ideological dilemmas surrounding this ‘highly feminine’ topic in ways that bolstered their positions within the gender hierarchy. Overall, hegemonic masculinities in this context were discursively reproduced and complied with in the participants’ accounts.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

Zimbabwe mobilizes: ICAC's shift from Coup de Grăce to Cultural Coup

Zooming in: an ethnographic study of visual journalism for smartphones - journalistic roles and routines at South Africa’s largest graphics unit, Graphics24

  • Authors: Gouws, Andries Jacobus
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Journalism -- Technological innovations -- South Africa , Smartphones , Visual communication -- Digital techniques , News Web sites -- South Africa , Online journalism -- South Africa , Information visualization , Graphic arts , Graphics24 , Netwerk24
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63154 , vital:28368
  • Description: This study examines the changing roles of graphics journalists in the digital era at Graphics24, the largest information graphics newsroom in South Africa, in the context of their work for Netwerk24, an online news site published in Afrikaans with a strong focus on mobile-first news. The study examines the discursive construction of these new journalistic roles in the digital era where even the core conceptualisation of what journalism is, is being re-examined. It considers external factors affecting the discourse of change, drawing on a hierarchy of influences analytical model, as well as norms specific to the creation of information graphics. Data for this study was gathered by using ethnographic immersion and semi-structured interviews. This study specifically looks at graphics journalists working in a mobile-first environment, and how the pressures of producing information graphics for consumption on smartphones affects their roles. Evidence of two widely differing discourses in the Graphics24 and Netwerk24 newsrooms was found. Visual journalists in this study have created a discourse around being distinct “service providers”, rather than mobile-first journalists, who do not see the need for full integration in the fast-paced mobile news environment of Netwerk24. Word-centric journalists have, by contrast, created a mobile-first discourse. They experience the separateness of the graphics team as a barrier that impedes the creation of good information graphics for mobile phone consumption. Although this is a very localised study in a very particular context, this study contributes to broader thinking in what is a very under-researched field: The changing roles of visual journalists in the digital era and the discursive construction of these roles. The study suggests that even in the digital era where the definition of newsrooms has become much more fluid and less fixed physically, ethnographic methods can still offer a meaningful way to explore journalistic roles.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

‘I don’t belong nowhere really’: the figure of the London migrant in Dan Jacobson’s ‘A Long Way from London’ and Jean Rhys’s ‘Let Them Call It Jazz’

  • Authors: Naidu, Samantha , Thorpe, Andrea
  • Date: 2018
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68422 , vital:29254 , https://doi.org/10.1080/10131752.2018.1461477
  • Description: Publisher version , In this article we compare and contrast the figure of the migrant, central to Dan Jacobson’s short story ‘A Long Way from London’ ([1953] 1958. A Long Way from London and other stories. London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson), and to Jean Rhys’s short story ‘Let Them Call It Jazz’ ([1962] 1987. The Collected Stories. New York: Norton), both of which are set in London in the early to mid-twentieth century. The main argument is that these figures, as migrants in London from South Africa and the Caribbean respectively, similarly occupy a liminal space despite stark differences in class, race and gender. In both stories this liminal space is described through evocations of London as a hostile diasporic space, lacking in hospitality, and experienced by the migrant figure as a place of confinement and incarceration. Also, both stories utilize the technique of silence or lacunae when it comes to issues of specific discrimination and abuse, such as racism or sexual exploitation. For the purposes of comparison, the character Manwera from ‘A Long Way from London’ and, Selina, the protagonist of ‘Let Them Call It Jazz’, are selected for analysis. Particularly, their respective responses (Manwera’s pride and dignity, and Selina’s recovery after a breakdown, and her musical talent) to the exigencies of migration are suggestive of ‘adaptive strength’ (Steve Vertovec and Robin Cohen [1999] 2001. Migration, Diasporas and Transnationalism. Cheltenham and Northampton MA: Elgar Reference Collection, xviii), a common feature in transnational literature which attempts to celebrate liminality and multiplicity as key characteristics of a transnational subjectivity. In addition, the protagonist of ‘A Long Way from London’, Arthur, offers a contrast to Manwera and Selina, not only because of race and class, but because he is depicted as having adapted to and assimilated into British culture, while being strangely detached from and ambivalent about both homeland and diasporic home. Varying forms of adaptive strength are portrayed in both stories, but they close with intimations of bleak futures for the migrant figures. The essay thus concludes with the observation that in these two stories, the figure of the London migrant is rendered as facing further grave challenges, and that all three figures ‘belong nowhere’ (Rhys [1962] 1987 Rhys, Jean. [1962] 1987. The Collected Stories. New York: Norton. [Google Scholar] , 175).
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  • Date Issued: 2018

‘There is nothing to hold onto here’: complicity and vulnerability in Gavin Krastin’s On Seeing Red and Other Fantasies (2015)

  • Authors: Smit, Sonja
  • Date: 2018
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/156352 , vital:39981 , DOI: 10.1080/10137548.2018.1553626
  • Description: In this article, I analyse some of the ways in which Gavin Krastin’s On Seeing Red and Other Fantasies (2015) engages with outrage and protest in a self-reflexive way. The idea of art as means to question and institute change in society, is contentious and my discussion here focuses on how forms of resistance, are easily subsumed within a capitalist context.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

“But darkness was here yesterday”: an examination of travel writing and colonial narrative constructions of Africa within its sub-genres across three centuries

  • Authors: Halgreen, Wesley John
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Postcolonialism in literature , Modernism (Literature) -- Africa Literature and society -- Africa English literature African literature
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/22156 , vital:29864
  • Description: This study analyses the modern twenty-first century travel writing of Paul Theroux’s Dark Star Safari (2003) to reveal its sustained impetus towards colonial discursive constructions of Africa. In doing so, it will examine the continuation of colonial methods and techniques of literary representation in travel texts by illustrating the early ‘images’ of Africa and Africans as they appear in Henry M. Stanley’s non-fictional travel text Through the Dark Continent (1878) and Joseph Conrad’s fictional travel novella Heart of Darkness (1899). With the purpose of producing a critical literary analysis, this study will employ discourse analysis to interrogate the implications of the continued employment of colonial rhetoric and language by Theroux in his representations and portrayals of Africa and African citizens. It has been found that there is an unproblematised acceptance – even reverie – of colonial sentiment and nostalgia evident in representations of Africa in modern travel literature. Literary representations of this nature continue to portray Africa as the ‘savage’, ‘backward’, ‘violent’ and ‘inferior’ continent that it had signified to travel writers during the colonial epoch. Africans, as they are portrayed in this narrative tradition, are ascribed the same denotations where their subjectivities, individualities, cultures, beliefs, ideologies and personhood are encapsulated under the conceptualisation of ‘darkness’ that signifies ‘African’ as inferior to the West, Europe and North America, and therefore subject to derogation. By demonstrating the violent and damaging nature of these representations, as they remain in twenty-first century travel literature, this dissertation hopes to initiate a dialogue around the genre’s preservation of preconceptions and prejudices that continue to plague Africa and its people. This is possible through literary critique that exposes dated colonial racism and prejudice that appears in the travel literature of the post-independent age in which we now find ourselves.
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  • Date Issued: 2018
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