Creative production and existential thought: a feminist existential analysis of South African visual artist Berni Searle’s artwork
- Authors: Mokwena, Palesa
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Women artists -- South Africa , Women artists, Black -- South Africa , Existentialism and art , Feminism and art -- South Africa , Searle, Berni
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/148005 , vital:38701
- Description: Through an analysis of the work of South African artist Berni Searle, my study will investigate feminist existential ideas and concepts that have been explored by various creative producers in and outside of Europe/South Africa through different forms of creative productions and under different epistemological categories. ‘Canons’ of European existentialist/feminist thought often exclude the existence of feminist existential knowledge productions and producers outside of Europe. In conducting this study, I am responding to the past and present separatist and identitarian categorisations of creative productions from black/African creative producers, particularly women creative producers in South Africa, creating an alternative canonisation around their selected works. Although canons have been and can be used to drive separatist and identitarian categorisations, it is my hope to elucidate a discourse around the preservations and acknowledgements of South African creative and knowledge productions through a feminist existential framework that canonises important black feminist existentialist works and thereby brings to light their intellectual contributions over and above their identities. My development of a South African feminist existentialism is an attempt to graft a more intersectional, holistic framework to introduce in the feminist and existential discourses, and to proffer a new intersectional holistic paradigm of discussing categories that do not limit creative productions. To frame this research, I will reflect on the politics of historical and contemporary South African society as it is reflected in the works of the chosen creative producers and theorists and to question how we respond as creative feminist existentialists to contemporary South African struggles and how such a lens can be activated as a creative-theoretical tool of investigation.
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- Date Issued: 2020
Investigating how teacher leadership can be developed among teachers in a rural school Namibia
- Authors: Shapange, Laban
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Technical education -- South Africa , Vocational education -- South Africa , Educational leadership -- South Africa , Postsecondary education -- South Africa -- Administration
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/144728 , vital:38374
- Description: In established democracies, the notion of ‘singular’ school leadership practised by the principal has been challenged and a more expansive approach to leadership, which includes teacher leadership, is now widely accepted. However, in Namibia, as with many countries on the African continent, the idea of ‘singular’ school leadership embedded in the position of principal still prevails. Effective leadership is generally accepted as being core to effective school improvement. The evidence from the school improvement literature constantly highlights that productive leaders exercise an indirect influence on a school’s ability and potential to improve and enhance the achievement of learners. This influence does not necessarily come from senior managers only, but partly lies in the strength of middle level leaders and teachers. Research has shown that when teachers assume shared leadership in the redesign of the school, mentor their colleagues, engage in problem solving at the school level and provide professional growth opportunities for their colleagues, they can be effective in bringing about positive change. These findings triggered my interest to study the potential of this approach to teacher leadership development in Namibia. In this context, this study investigated how teacher leadership can be developed among the teachers in a combined school in rural Namibia. The study examined both the understanding of the concept and the practices of teacher leadership among the teachers and school management team and also aimed at bringing about transformation in their practice. The study was a qualitative case study, which took an interventionist approach, framed by Cultural Historical Activity Theory as the theoretical and analytical framework. In addition, the study also used Grant’s Model of Teacher Leadership as an analytical tool. Eleven teachers and three members of the management team took part in the study as research participants and were selected by means of the purposive sampling method. Data were generated from two different phases. The first phase of the study examined perceptions and practices of leadership, while in the second phase of the study, a series of intervention Change Laboratory Workshops were conducted. Document analysis, observations, focus group interviews and closed-ended questionnaires were used as data gathering tools. The study lasted for a period of six weeks. Data were analysed using inductive and abductive approaches. The main findings of the study revealed that teacher leadership is understood as an ability to influence and inspire both learners and other teachers. Furthermore, although the participants demonstrated an understanding of teacher leadership as a concept, their understanding of teacher leaders’ roles was more on classroom management and control of learners. Teacher leadership development was understood as the process of empowering teachers to take-up various roles and delegated functions through school structures such as committees and within the community. The study further revealed a number of cultural-historic contextual tensions that led to constraints of teacher leadership practice in the case study school. For example, school management team members were seen as a barrier to teacher leadership practice and development. Factors such as limited involvement of teachers in decision-making in the school and lack of school-based continuous professional development programmes for teachers emerged as causes that constrained teacher leadership practice and development in the case study school. The Change Laboratory Workshop findings suggested that in the participants’ view, the revival of the different school committees would especially make a positive contribution to teacher leadership practice and development at the case study school.
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- Date Issued: 2020
Exploring how the integration of indigenous knowledge in the topic of acids and bases influences Grade 10 Physical Science learners’ conceptions, dispositions and sense-making
- Authors: Haimene, Johanna Shetulimba
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Physical sciences -- Study and teaching -- Namibia , Ethnoscience -- Study and teaching -- Namibia , Science -- Study and teaching -- Namibia , Curriculum planning -- Study and teaching -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/94996 , vital:31105
- Description: The inclusion of indigenous knowledge (IK) in science education is gaining momentum. That is, it is acknowledged that the starting point in learning is what learners already know from their homes or community. This will be consolidated by what these learners will learn in classroom. It is for this reason that the Namibia National Curriculum for Basic Education (NCBE) advocates Learner Centred Education (LCE). The Physical science syllabus also encourages the use of practical activities to enhance the conceptual understanding of the learners. However, the views and beliefs that learners have towards science influence their learning of science. Looking at the same context, various studies carried out have pointed out that the attitude of learners towards the subject influences their performance in that specific subject. It is against this background that this study sought to explore how the integration of indigenous knowledge in lessons on acids and bases influences (or not) learners’ conceptions, dispositions, interest and sense-making. This study used a mixed-method approach whereby both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered. It is underpinned by the interpretive paradigm. Within the interpretive paradigm a case study approach was employed. The study was carried out with the Grade 10B Physical Science learners at Namaela Secondary School (Pseudonym) in the Oshikoto Region. To generate data, a variety of data generation techniques were employed, namely pre-and post-intervention questionnaires, pre-and post-test, observations, learners’ journal reflections and semi-structured interviews. Conceptions, dispositions and sense-making, and Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory were used as a lens to analyse the data. A deductive-inductive approach was adopted for data analysis. The findings from the study revealed that learners were able to make sense of science concepts when IK is integrated in the lessons. Additionally, the learners’ conceptions and dispositions shifted positively due to the use of the everyday materials. It emerged that learners were able to learn science well when they link their everyday experiences to school science. This study thus recommends that teachers should be encouraged to integrate IK in their lessons. In order for teachers to effectively integrate IK, the curriculum developers should be explicit on how teachers should integrate IK in their lessons. Moreover, teacher-training institutions should include ways of integrating IK when they are training teachers.
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- Date Issued: 2019
Hearing silenced voices: a learning-centred approach to sustainable land rehabilitation and natural resource management
- Authors: Wolff, Margaret Gascoyne
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Watershed management -- South Africa -- Citizen participation , Water-supply -- Management -- Citizen participation , Environmental education -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/94958 , vital:31101
- Description: South Africa is a semi-arid country with dysfunctional water management. The National Water Act encourages integrated water resource management and public participation in contributing to strategies for managing water within delineated areas. Various challenges hamper progress of integrated water resource management and meaningful participation by residents in catchments across the country. One of the challenges is the lack of knowledge about their role in water resource management. By viewing catchments as complex social-ecological systems, this case study investigates how to establish a learning-centred approach to catchment management forum (CMF) formation. The study addressed three sub-questions: What activity systems need to be prioritised for community participation in CMF formation? What existing learning can be identified within the activity systems? What are the sources for expansive social learning in and between the activity systems? The study draws on social learning theory, and on cultural historical activity theory as it offers a methodological approach to identifying a learning-centred approach to learning in a catchment context. Drawing on this theoretical framework, for research question 1, I identified five activity systems that are present in the study area, are partly representative of the people who live in the area, and are linked to land and water governance either through their positions as government employees within the sector, or the NLEIP in ways that influence communities’ lives and livelihoods. To address question 2, I ran learning-centred workshops and interviewed people who lived in the study area. Careful, respectful listening and participants’ use of home language created the safe space in which residents revealed that they know which water resources are important to protect and where breakdowns in communication happen. For question 3, I analysed the data from the workshops and interviews using a cultural historical activity theory framework to identify discursive manifestations of contradictions within and between activity systems which illuminate the potential for expansive social learning. This study recommends developing an understanding of the complex social-ecological context and prioritising co-learning and community participation in a learning-centred approach to catchment management forum formation. For this, there is need to develop in-depth insight into activity systems associated with water governance in local contexts. In this study I identified five of these activity systems, but the study points to a further range of activity systems that need to be considered for a learning-centred approach to be fully established. The study also found that communities are learning via engaging in the rehabilitation work, through engagements in workshops and within the municipal structures. Additionally, the study identified a number of contradictions that can provide sources of learning for taking an expansive learning approach further in CMF formation. Such an approach may provide the space to build bridges of trust between diverse knowledge systems, and has the potential to encourage sustainable co-operation in natural resource management.
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- Date Issued: 2019
Cradock thermal springs spa: the design of a thermal springs spa located at the Cradock hot springs
- Authors: Ferreira, Anita
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Health resorts -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Design and construction Bathhouses -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Design and construction , Health resorts -- Decoration -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Interior architecture -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/15334 , vital:28220
- Description: This treatise is focussed on the design of a Healing Spa Complex based on the relationship to the natural thermal springs 4km outside of the town of Cradock in the Karoo region of the Eastern Cape. The design response extends the dialogue between man and nature to structure in order to create an environment for healing within the natural landscape. The structure will accommodate spa facilities situated and specialized around the natural source of thermal water from the three springs on site. The site currently houses pool and accommodation facilities run by the local municipality. Due to a lack of funding these facilities have become dilapidated to the point where most of the buildings on site are unused and structurally unsound. The spring source on site was previously a major tourism attraction, but has subsequently shut down due to the degradation of the facilities. The Karoo is a dry, harsh and unforgiving landscape within which water is one of the most precious life-giving elements. Life is situated and celebrated around water, not only by humans, but also by nature. Settlements were built adjacent to rivers or springs, greenbelts flourished and formed along its edges, and animals migrate following the waters' (Hawkins, Sharrock and Havens, 2008). The region is characterised by extremes and contrasts, from scolding heat to freezing snow. This has contributed to a continuous display of dramatic contrasts within the landscape and created a unique character. Rain usually arrives in summer in the form of dramatic aernoon thunderstorms that bring relief to the relentless dry summer heat. Winter months are usually dry, allowing the sun to slowly heat up the open frosted plains before the intensely cold night brings another layer of snow to the Karoo koppies (Bloom, 2001). Eve Palmer, in her book, the Plains of Camdeboo, describes her Trust memories of the Karoo summer: “.....heat like blazing ovens; of shutters and sunbeams making a hot bright path through a chink in a dark blind, of soil too hot to walk on barefoot and rocks too hot to touch.” (Palmer 1986:3) Rain makes life possible in this part of the world. The joy and relief bit brings to the residents is very real and palpable (Palmer 1986:6). In response to the sensitivity of the natural environment of the site, and the desire to link this to the development of a healing environment, the architecture in this treatise will explore the unique sense of place of the Karoo and more speciacally the Cradock area. This will entail the exploration of the region and area in terms of physical and spatial features. Through the analyses of the natural structural elements, characteristics and local materials and assessment of Karoo architecture in terms of its use of materials, layout and craftsmanship, an appropriate response to the Karoo context should be achieved. The harsh environment will provide the opportunity to explore innovative means of optimum utilisation of resources, in order to ensure that the design is sustainable and therefore relevant to its context. This will contribute to a architectural expression which would allow a connection to nature and the area, by using nature to inspire this insight.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Linking livelihood and ecosystem change in two dryland sites in Southern Africa over a period of 30 years
- Authors: Masunungure, Current
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Marwendo Village (Zimbabwe) -- Social conditions , Tshivhulani Village (South Africa) -- Social conditions , Marwendo Village (Zimbabwe) -- Environmental conditions , Tshivhulani Village (South Africa) -- Environmental conditions , Climatic changes -- South Africa -- Tshivhulani Village , Climatic changes -- Zimbabwe -- Marwendo Village
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/4819 , vital:20732
- Description: The ongoing and rapid change (from global to local level) in climate, populations, governments, cultures, environment, land use and economies are critical issues, especially for poor rural communities found in the dryland parts of southern Africa. The manifestations of change can combine to increase rural livelihood vulnerability, through the erosion of assets and insecurity, but can at the same time create new opportunities. Studies that consider the complex nature of change across scales and how it affects changes in livelihoods, ecosystems and responses at local level, are increasingly needed. This study, carried out in two purposefully selected study sites in the communal drylands of south-eastern Zimbabwe (Marwendo village) and Limpopo province in South Africa (Tshivhulani village), examined the complex nature of change across scales by assessing the way in which change at the global scale results in localised trends, shocks and stressors, and its impacts on livelihoods and ecosystems and responses over the past 30 years. The study applies social-ecological system thinking in understanding human-environment change. Particular emphasis was put on the role of social protection and natural resources in responding to change, shocks and stressors. The study employed a mixed method approach to gather data which included a household survey, life history interviews, transect walks, focus group discussions as well as secondary sources of information. The results of the study illustrate that shocks and stressors are common in both villages and are likely to increase in severity and frequency with ongoing and rapid human-environmental change, especially climate change. The local responses to change, shocks and stressors are primarily reactive and mainly intensify exploitation of existing natural resources and social protection as safety-nets. In Marwendo village, the villagers relied more on the use and sale of natural resource products readily available to them, whereas in Tshivhulani village they mainly tend to rely on social grants. Thus, in the future, households’ vulnerability might increase, and may be worse in Marwendo village, since important components of current livelihoods remain natural resource-based and climate sensitive. In Tshivhulani village, livelihoods characterised by high dependence on social grants can have severe consequences for households as children get older or elderly members die and grants cease to be available. Social grants therefore only really offer a temporary relief. This coupled with environmentally destructive practices such as brick-moulding in Marwendo village and uncontrolled settlements in Tshivhulani village may reinforce the negative impacts of change and thus undermine sustainable adaptation. The study concludes that multiple lenses for understanding the links between livelihood and ecosystem vulnerability in the context of the ongoing and rapid change are essential, and these provide insights into how different policy options for livelihood improvement and social protection might be appropriate for reducing household and ecosystem vulnerabilities in the future.
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- Date Issued: 2017
SecMVC : a model for secure software design based on the model-view-controller pattern
- Authors: Colesky, Michael Robert
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Computer networks -- Security measures -- Software , Computer software -- Development , Model-driven software architecture
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
- Identifier: vital:9823 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1020614
- Description: Current advances in the software development industry are growing more ubiquitous by the day. This has caused for security, not only in the broader sense, but specifically within the design and overall development of software itself, to become all the more important. An evidently prevalent problem in the domain of software development is that software security is not consistently addressed during design, which undermines core security concerns, and leads to the development of insecure software. This research seeks to address this issue via a model for secure software design, which is based on a software design pattern, namely, the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern. The use of a pattern to convey knowledge is not a new notion. However, the ability of software design patterns to convey secure software design is an idea worth investigating. Following identification of secure software design principles and concepts, as well as software design patterns, specifically those relating to the MVC pattern, a model was designed and developed. With the MVC pattern argued as being a suitable foundation for the model, the security conscious MVC (SecMVC) combines secure software design principles and concepts into the MVC pattern. Together herewith, the MVC pattern’s components in the MVC Compound pattern, namely: the Observer pattern, the Strategy pattern, and the Composite pattern, have provided further sub-models for less abstraction and greater detail. These sub-models were developed, as a result of the SecMVC model’s evaluation in the validation for this study, an expert review. Argued in the light of similar research methods, the expert review was chosen – along with a process that included the use of two expert participants to validate the SecMVC model. It was determined through the expert review that the SecMVC model is of sufficient utility, quality, and efficacy to constitute research value. The research methodology process followed was design science, in which the SecMVC model, which includes its related sub-models, serves as the artefact and research output of this study. This research study contributes evidence of the feasibility for integrating knowledge into software design patterns. This includes the SecMVC model itself. In addition, it argues for the use of an expert review, as an evaluative research method for such an artifact.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Project 1 - Student teachers' exploration of beadwork : cultural heritage as a resource for mathematical concepts
- Authors: Dabula, Nomonde Patience
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Ethnomathematics , Beadwork -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Beadwork , Mathematics -- Study and teaching , Culture -- Study and teaching
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:1415 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003292
- Description: This portfolio consists of three research projects that predominantly lie within the socio-cultural strand. The first project is a qualitative ethnomathematical study that links students' knowledge of mathematics to their cultural heritage. The study was conducted with a group of final year student teachers at a College of Education in Umtata, Eastern Cape. These students visited a city museum where mathematics concepts were identified from beadwork artifacts. Mathematics concepts that were identified consisted of symmetry, tessellation and number patterns. Students' views about the nature of mathematics shifted radically after their own explorations. Initially students did not perceive mathematics as relating to socio-cultural practices. But now, they have reviewed their position and see mathematics as inextricably interwoven in everyday activities and as such, a product of all cultures. They also pride themselves of their own cultural heritage to have mathematical connections. A more positive attitude towards studying mathematics in this approach was noticed. Data was collected by means of interviews, reflective journal entries and photographs. The second project is a survey with a group of practising teachers who have already implemented Curriculum 2005, and a group which is about to implement it in 2001. The study sought teachers' understanding of connections between mathematics and socio-cultural issues. The new mathematics curriculum in South Africa calls for teachers to grapple well with these issues. About a third of the articulated specific outcomes specifically relate to socio-cultural issues. If teachers' understanding of these issues is poor, implementation of the new curriculum will remain a mere dream. The findings of the survey revealed that the majority of teachers could not identify the culture related specific outcomes in the new mathematics curriculum. Complicated language used in the OBE policy documents was found to inhibit meaning to these teachers. Although, all teachers showed a positive attitude towards the inclusion of socio-cultural issues in the mathematics classroom, the implementation of these outcomes was found to be very problematic. In this survey data was collected by means of questionnaires. The third project is a literature review on the need to popularise mathematics to students in particular, and to the broader public in general. The 21 st century places great technological demands. Mathematics underpins most thinking behind technological development. The role played by mathematics in advancing other fields is largely hidden to the majority of people. There is, therefore, a need to bring forth the vital role that mathematics plays in these fields. The number of students participating in mathematics is decreasing. Mathematics, as a field, is experiencing competition from other science fields. There is a need to bring some incentives to attract more students into this field and retain those mathematicians already involved. Also important, is the need to change the negative image that the public often holds about mathematics. Many people are mathematically illiterate and do not see mathematics as an everyday activity that relates to their needs. There is, therefore, a need to change the face of mathematics.
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- Date Issued: 2001