South African estuaries in the Anthropocene
- Authors: Perissinotto, Renzo
- Subjects: Estuaries -- South Africa , Geology, Stratigraphic -- Anthropocene , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/20977 , vital:29424
- Description: In the new geological epoch of total human dominance of the planet, already widely referred to as the “Anthropocene”, estuaries are among the most vulnerable ecosystems to the changes that man’s activities have imposed on the coastal zone. For the non-specialist, an estuary is a “semi-enclosed coastal body of water, which has a permanent or temporary connection with the open sea, and within which sea water is diluted with fresh water from land drainage”.
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Stigma syndemics & symbolic (isms) in the context of HIV: ways of knowing in health care
- Authors: Naidoo, Joanne Rachel
- Subjects: Stigma (Social psychology) , HIV-positive persons -- Care , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/55010 , vital:48778
- Description: The negating effect of stigma on health outcomes has been widely established. Described as a hidden burden of disease, stigma significantly influences the inequities in health. The seminal work of Sociologist, Erving Goffman’s initially published in 1963 continue to underpin our current understanding of stigma as socially influenced through the symbolic interactions of everyday experiences that influences behaviour. Within the context of HIV, stigma remains a barrier in ending the epidemic and is associated with diminished health outcomes, health seeking patterns and poor quality of life. The significant advances in HIV treatment, has increased the life expectancy of people living with HIV, and has shifted the management of HIV as a manageable chronic illness. However the negative stigma outcomes experienced by people living with HIV remains. Moreover, the interactions of other syndemics (that is the co-existence of another disease/s, or social factors) further contributes to the stigma experienced by people living with HIV. This may refer to the co-existence of TB, depressive or other mental health disorder, younger woman, pregnancy, and occupations or work type industry, such as mini-bus taxi drivers, sex workers to name a few syndemics. Central to the health are the values and attributes of caring, towards the restorative process for sustained health and improved wellbeing. To enable care, there is a need for health care professionals to know how to care. Patterns of Knowing or Ways of Knowing developed by nurse theorist Barbra Carper (1975, 1978) and extended by Chinn and Kramer (2008) has become widely applied in nursing and health professions education and training. Ways of knowing acknowledges five inter related facets (empirical, ethical, personal, aesthetic and emancipatory) inherent in the provision of holistic care. The lecture will reflect on the syndemics associated with HIV related stigma, and the symbolic interactions with health care; in the provision of health care and in education and training of health care professionals. This will be framed against ways of knowing, how health care professionals know how to care, the inherent and learnt symbolic meanings in how care is provided, and its potential to demystify and eliminate the perpetuated HIV related stigma.
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Water under troubled bridge: the (ir)relevance of Development Studies pedagogies in African universities
- Authors: Makuwira, Jonathan
- Subjects: Development economics , Universities and colleges -- Africa -- Curricula , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/20375 , vital:29271
- Description: The demand for “methodologies of education and learning” is very significant in the current FeesMustFall discourse. This is not just because it is necessary to consider education methodologies, but in the broader scheme of things, it is also a call to both mental and ideological transformation. It challenges university lecturers and educators alike to question their own preconceived pedagogies and engage in an introspection - a 2 reflective moment in their teaching. I will come back to this later in my presentation. The point I am trying to emphasis is that the call for “The-Fall-in-Fees” is a development issue. It is a development issue because it gravitates around access to [Higher] education. We just need to remind ourselves by what Nelson Mandela once said: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. We all know-education is a fundamental human right; so too is development (United Nations, 1986). The denial to education is an act of injustice. But like Martin Luther King Jr. said: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (Luther King Jr, 1963). In this regard, there is a lot of development injustice to which my lecture this evening alludes to.
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