Educators’ experiences of psychosocial support workshops during COVID-19 in Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Mabasa, Rendani Mirriam
- Date: 2024-04-04
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/435457 , vital:73159
- Description: There is growing awareness of the value and central role of immediate and long-term mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) interventions, especially during times of crisis such as Covid-19. The World Health Organization has identified the education sector as a crucial intervention site for public mental health promotion. In collaboration with members of the Makhanda education community, the Rhodes University Community Engagement office identified psychosocial support for educators and educational practitioners as a key societal and educational challenge. Focusing specifically on the experiences of educators, this study sought to solicit their experiences of MHPSS workshops in a rural city of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Focus groups with educators and educational practitioners in non-government organisations, care centres and other educational settings who participated in the psychosocial support workshops were conducted. Data was analysed using community psychology’s social action framework. Four broad themes emerged from the data: the responsibilisation of educators during and post-Covid-19, educators’ resilience and support for each other, educators’ mental health promotion through psychosocial support workshops, and top-down intervention strategies that fall short in addressing educators’ and learners’ needs. This study demonstrates the value of university-community partnerships in education settings which are key sites for public mental health promotion. In this study, I advocate psychosocial support as a standard practice available for educational practitioners and show how professional training programmes in higher education can be responsive to societal challenges via collaborative approaches. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 2024
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- Authors: Mabasa, Rendani Mirriam
- Date: 2024-04-04
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/435457 , vital:73159
- Description: There is growing awareness of the value and central role of immediate and long-term mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) interventions, especially during times of crisis such as Covid-19. The World Health Organization has identified the education sector as a crucial intervention site for public mental health promotion. In collaboration with members of the Makhanda education community, the Rhodes University Community Engagement office identified psychosocial support for educators and educational practitioners as a key societal and educational challenge. Focusing specifically on the experiences of educators, this study sought to solicit their experiences of MHPSS workshops in a rural city of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Focus groups with educators and educational practitioners in non-government organisations, care centres and other educational settings who participated in the psychosocial support workshops were conducted. Data was analysed using community psychology’s social action framework. Four broad themes emerged from the data: the responsibilisation of educators during and post-Covid-19, educators’ resilience and support for each other, educators’ mental health promotion through psychosocial support workshops, and top-down intervention strategies that fall short in addressing educators’ and learners’ needs. This study demonstrates the value of university-community partnerships in education settings which are key sites for public mental health promotion. In this study, I advocate psychosocial support as a standard practice available for educational practitioners and show how professional training programmes in higher education can be responsive to societal challenges via collaborative approaches. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 2024
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Lemons or Lemonade? Examining the economic and social outcomes of engaging in the export-driven citrus value chain of South Africa for selected commercial citrus farmers and farm workers in the Raymond Mhlaba Municipal District, Eastern Cape
- Authors: Sizani, Simbulele
- Date: 2024-04-04
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/435553 , vital:73168
- Description: This study examines the economic and social outcomes of participating in a global citrus value chain for selected commercial farmers and farm workers in Raymond Mhlaba Municipal District in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. A global chain refers to international production sharing through cross-border trade. Multilateral organizations (and some prominent global chain scholars) that support neoliberal economic globalization perceive global chains as ideal channels of economic and social upgrading for participants, particularly those from the global South. From the abovementioned perspective, global chains enhance efficiency through inter-firm relations that promote the distribution of technology and access to capital, thus leading to economic and social upgrading in developing countries. Economic upgrading, on the one hand, can briefly be described as the movement of supplier firms from lower to higher-value activities in global chains. Social upgrading, on the other hand, is the improvement of employment conditions and outcomes of workers employed by supplier firms at the production node of global chains. This study adopts the dual theoretical framework (Global Chain Framework and Labour Process Theory) proposed by Newsome, Taylor, Bair and Rainnie (2015) in their seminal book ‘Putting Labour in its Place: Labour Process Analysis and Global Value Chains’. This dual framework is ideal because it conceptualizes the spheres of trade exchange and production, which are the primary research sites of this study. Qualitative research methods were adopted and utilized to collect and analyse data in this study. These methods were ideal for this study, as they captured the subjective accounts of the selected commercial citrus farmers and farm workers in the Raymond Mhlaba Municipal District in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The findings in this study showed that the outcomes of these selected commercial citrus farmers and farm workers in this region are variegated, meaning that, there is evidence of economic upgrading, social upgrading and social downgrading as well. Amongst farm workers in the region, only a small group of (mostly older male) farm workers enjoyed social upgrading, whilst the majority of seasonal (mostly female) farm workers experiences social downgrading. The findings in this study showed that the variegated economic and social outcomes of the selected commercial farmers and farm workers were primarily determined by their economic class and position within the citrus value chain of South Africa. These findings highlight the importance of positionality in determining the fate of participants in global chains. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2024
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- Authors: Sizani, Simbulele
- Date: 2024-04-04
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/435553 , vital:73168
- Description: This study examines the economic and social outcomes of participating in a global citrus value chain for selected commercial farmers and farm workers in Raymond Mhlaba Municipal District in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. A global chain refers to international production sharing through cross-border trade. Multilateral organizations (and some prominent global chain scholars) that support neoliberal economic globalization perceive global chains as ideal channels of economic and social upgrading for participants, particularly those from the global South. From the abovementioned perspective, global chains enhance efficiency through inter-firm relations that promote the distribution of technology and access to capital, thus leading to economic and social upgrading in developing countries. Economic upgrading, on the one hand, can briefly be described as the movement of supplier firms from lower to higher-value activities in global chains. Social upgrading, on the other hand, is the improvement of employment conditions and outcomes of workers employed by supplier firms at the production node of global chains. This study adopts the dual theoretical framework (Global Chain Framework and Labour Process Theory) proposed by Newsome, Taylor, Bair and Rainnie (2015) in their seminal book ‘Putting Labour in its Place: Labour Process Analysis and Global Value Chains’. This dual framework is ideal because it conceptualizes the spheres of trade exchange and production, which are the primary research sites of this study. Qualitative research methods were adopted and utilized to collect and analyse data in this study. These methods were ideal for this study, as they captured the subjective accounts of the selected commercial citrus farmers and farm workers in the Raymond Mhlaba Municipal District in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The findings in this study showed that the outcomes of these selected commercial citrus farmers and farm workers in this region are variegated, meaning that, there is evidence of economic upgrading, social upgrading and social downgrading as well. Amongst farm workers in the region, only a small group of (mostly older male) farm workers enjoyed social upgrading, whilst the majority of seasonal (mostly female) farm workers experiences social downgrading. The findings in this study showed that the variegated economic and social outcomes of the selected commercial farmers and farm workers were primarily determined by their economic class and position within the citrus value chain of South Africa. These findings highlight the importance of positionality in determining the fate of participants in global chains. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2024
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The CODESRIA debate on academic and intellectual freedom in Africa: the role and responsibility of African intellectuals
- Authors: Cabe, Loyiso
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/431463 , vital:72774
- Description: According to Fagunwa (2011), intellectuals serve as the glue that binds societies together and serve as the foundation upon which new civilizations are created and dismantled. The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) of 1990 entrusted intellectuals with crucial transformative tasks (roles) and responsibilities in Africa. This study explores the transformational roles and responsibilities of African intellectuals in neo-liberal and neo-colonial Africa as well as how academic freedom must be understood by African academics in accordance with the present debate on academic freedom in South Africa, which was fueled by Nattrass (2020) paper. The primary premise of this study is that academic freedom in Africa today is viewed differently than it was during the CODESRIA meeting on academic freedom in 1990, and that this is because of African intellectuals not carrying out their roles and responsibilities in Africa. In CODESRIA 1990, academic freedom referred to an academic’s unrestricted, yet responsible, right to pursue their academic interests (CODESRIA 1990; Kampala Declaration 1990). African academics now understand academic freedom to be merely their own freedom, unrelated to their responsibility to use it ethically and professionally. Hence, for them, academic freedom entails the freedom to express oneself without restrictions or fear of criticism (Chachage, 2008; Nattrass, 2020b; Esso, and Long, 2020). Looking at this current misinterpretation of academic freedom, the 1990 CODESRIA meeting is a good reference point to the debate on academic freedom in Africa and role and responsibility of African intellectuals. This is because, it was where academic freedom and the role and responsibility of African intellectuals in Africa was professionally conceptualized. Thus, this study reviews the 1990 CODESRIA debate to understand the role and responsibility of African intellectuals. This study utilizes two theories, Social Constructivism Theory and the Social Responsibility Theory, to explain the position it has taken on the subject at hand. Thus, these theories provide an umbrella and a point of departure for understanding the context and dynamics of the ongoing conflict between academic freedom and social responsibility in South Africa's higher education institutions. , Thesis (MSocSci) -- Faculty of Humanities, Political and International Studies, 2023
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- Authors: Cabe, Loyiso
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/431463 , vital:72774
- Description: According to Fagunwa (2011), intellectuals serve as the glue that binds societies together and serve as the foundation upon which new civilizations are created and dismantled. The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) of 1990 entrusted intellectuals with crucial transformative tasks (roles) and responsibilities in Africa. This study explores the transformational roles and responsibilities of African intellectuals in neo-liberal and neo-colonial Africa as well as how academic freedom must be understood by African academics in accordance with the present debate on academic freedom in South Africa, which was fueled by Nattrass (2020) paper. The primary premise of this study is that academic freedom in Africa today is viewed differently than it was during the CODESRIA meeting on academic freedom in 1990, and that this is because of African intellectuals not carrying out their roles and responsibilities in Africa. In CODESRIA 1990, academic freedom referred to an academic’s unrestricted, yet responsible, right to pursue their academic interests (CODESRIA 1990; Kampala Declaration 1990). African academics now understand academic freedom to be merely their own freedom, unrelated to their responsibility to use it ethically and professionally. Hence, for them, academic freedom entails the freedom to express oneself without restrictions or fear of criticism (Chachage, 2008; Nattrass, 2020b; Esso, and Long, 2020). Looking at this current misinterpretation of academic freedom, the 1990 CODESRIA meeting is a good reference point to the debate on academic freedom in Africa and role and responsibility of African intellectuals. This is because, it was where academic freedom and the role and responsibility of African intellectuals in Africa was professionally conceptualized. Thus, this study reviews the 1990 CODESRIA debate to understand the role and responsibility of African intellectuals. This study utilizes two theories, Social Constructivism Theory and the Social Responsibility Theory, to explain the position it has taken on the subject at hand. Thus, these theories provide an umbrella and a point of departure for understanding the context and dynamics of the ongoing conflict between academic freedom and social responsibility in South Africa's higher education institutions. , Thesis (MSocSci) -- Faculty of Humanities, Political and International Studies, 2023
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Two dermestid pests of hide and skins in South Africa
- Authors: Walker, J D
- Date: 1941
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/193702 , vital:45387
- Description: In a paper entitled "Bacteria of the Soil", Dr. Russell of Rothamsted is quoted as saying, ”The top six lashes might almost be called a separate world? 80 great is the number and variety of its inhabitants”• It is with a few forms belonging to this enormous biological complex that the author intends to deal, viz*, representatives of the Orders Pauropoda, Symphyla, Protura, Coleoptera and Hemiptera. Time does not permit the inclusion of a study of the multitude of Arthropod, species that occur in the soil, but a more complete work on these soil groups is intended in the future. McCullogh and Hayes (1922,p.288) state that the soil is an integral factor In the study of biological problems. Hence an understanding of the organic life of the soil, which is of great importance in relation to the other aspects of pedology, is a necessary adjunct to the study of the soil ae a whole. , Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science, 1941
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- Authors: Walker, J D
- Date: 1941
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/193702 , vital:45387
- Description: In a paper entitled "Bacteria of the Soil", Dr. Russell of Rothamsted is quoted as saying, ”The top six lashes might almost be called a separate world? 80 great is the number and variety of its inhabitants”• It is with a few forms belonging to this enormous biological complex that the author intends to deal, viz*, representatives of the Orders Pauropoda, Symphyla, Protura, Coleoptera and Hemiptera. Time does not permit the inclusion of a study of the multitude of Arthropod, species that occur in the soil, but a more complete work on these soil groups is intended in the future. McCullogh and Hayes (1922,p.288) state that the soil is an integral factor In the study of biological problems. Hence an understanding of the organic life of the soil, which is of great importance in relation to the other aspects of pedology, is a necessary adjunct to the study of the soil ae a whole. , Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science, 1941
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