The environmental imagination in Arthur Nortje’s poetry
- Authors: Kaze, Douglas Eric
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Nortje, Arthur, 1942-1970 -- Criticism and interpretation , Ecology in literature , Race awareness in literature , South African poetry (English) -- History and criticism , Nature in literature , Transversal postcolonial environmental criticism
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/58024 , vital:27033
- Description: This thesis seeks to contribute to the conversations in the humanities about the treatment of the physical environment in the context of a global ecological fragility and increased scholarly interest in the poetry of Arthur Nortje, a South African poet who wrote in the 1960s. While previous studies on Nortje concentrate on the political, psychic and technical aspects of his poetry, this study particularly explores the representations of the environment in Nortje’s poetic imagination. Writing in the dark period of apartheid in South Africa’s history, Nortje’s poetry articulates a strong interest in the physical environment against the backdrop of official racialization of space and his personal nomadic life and exile. The poetry abounds with constant intersections of nature and culture (industrialism, urbanity and the quotidian), a sense of place and a deep sense of dislocation. The poems, therefore, present a platform from which to reevaluate conventional ecocritical ideas about nature, place-attachment and environmental consciousness. Drawing mainly on Felix Guattari’s ideas of three ecologies and transversality along with other theories, I conduct the study through what I call a transversal postcolonial environmental criticism, which considers the ecological value of the kind of assemblages that Nortje’s works represent. The first chapter focuses on conceptualizing a postcolonial approach to the environment based on Guattari’s concept of transversality to lay the theoretical foundation for the whole work. The second chapter analyses Nortje’s poetic imagination of place and displacement through his treatment of the private-public tension and the motif of exile. While the third chapter examines Nortje’s depiction of nature as both an everyday and urban phenomenon, the fourth chapter turns to his direct treatment of environmental crises handled through his imagination of the Canadian urban spaces, exile memory of apartheid geography, war and ecocide and the human body as a subject of environmental degradation. The fifth chapter, which is the conclusion, takes a brief look at the implication of Nortje’s complex treatment of the environment on postcolonial environmentalism.
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- Date Issued: 2018
Exploring attitudes and perceptions about the knowledge acquisition process and experiences of Ngangelizwe youth graduates in the Eastern Cape to understand the significance of their education: a Freirean approach
- Authors: Bango, Yanda Tamsanqeleka
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Freire, Paulo, 1921-1997 , Education -- Sociological aspects -- South Africa -- Mthatha , College graduates, Black -- South Africa -- Mthatha -- Attitudes , College graduates, Black -- South Africa -- Mthatha -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/4277 , vital:20642
- Description: Education is a critical phenomenon which cannot be ignored as its effects cut across all spheres of life, especially the social and economic aspects. In the particular case of South Africa, education has been a serious issue of concern for a very long time and after the transition process took place in 1994 it became a priority on all agendas of governance. Expanding on the already existing debate about education in South Africa, this thesis specifically explores attitudes and perceptions about the knowledge acquisition process and experiences of Ngangelizwe youth graduates to understand the significance of education in their lives. As Freire wrote about the phenomenon of education from the point of view of the oppressed and marginalized in society, his theory explains and aids as a tool for careful analysis in this case. Moreover, considering that at the centre of Freire’s world view was the belief that humans have an ontological vocation to become more fully human, the youth graduates of Ngangelizwe became a good case as they live under conditions that one would regard as dehumanizing and oppressive. The youth graduates’ actions and attitudes would therefore guide and provide indication as to whether their education, both from academic spaces and the community, has empowered them to challenge the dehumanizing and oppressive nature of the dominant culture as a means to becoming fully human in their life and time, particularly in their community of Ngangelizwe. While the general finding has been that the participants’ education portrays both elements of banking and problem-posing education, it was also discovered that it all depends on the level and forces of education that the participants receive their inspiration from. This is due to the fact that education is not one dimensional, it begins from the moment one is born up until he or she no longer exists on earth. Therefore, education does not belong to one group of people; everyone has the ability to educate in as much as he or she has the ability to be educated.
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- Date Issued: 2017
New rules or no rules? a critical corpus analysis of gender in South African English televised-sport commentary
- Authors: Foster, Gordon
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Critical discourse analysis , Sportscasters -- Language , Masculinity in sports , Masculinity in mass media , Mass media and sports , Competition (Psychology)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/36116 , vital:24480
- Description: This research project makes use of multiple linguistic and sociological theories. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (as developed by Fairclough 2001, 2013, Wodak 1995, 1997, and van Dijk 2001), and corpus linguistics (following Baker 2012, Baker et al., 2008 and Xiao & McEnery, 2005 - see Website Reference 4), it attempts to critically discuss the language evident in a corpus constructed from transcribed sport broadcasts televised in South Africa, interrogated with the use of AntConc software, maintaining a particular focus on gender representation. It does this with the help of CMT (Contemporary Metaphor Theory) as developed by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) and Lakoff (1993), which allows for the deconstruction and categorisation of metaphorical mappings in the data. With the help of CMT I describe the cognitive mapping of competition through war terminology and uncover a diligent committal to discourses which support hegemonic masculinity, as well as an underlying ideology that purports that rules are breakable and rule infringement will not be significantly penalised (particularly for men). Special attention is paid to collocating language and the ability of these terms to infuse a subject with an evaluative aura. This involves, in particular: using wordlists to identify pertinent content words in the corpus, addressing collocates to reveal semantic prosodies in the text, and analysing concordance data to see how particular discursive strategies were used in context. Particular interest is paid to the depictions of masculinity seen in sport as a potential reflection of the views held in competitive sport playing societies at large, and to this end it focuses on language and imagery which is used in the discursive construction of the terms: men, women, champion, and physicality. The ideology of male hegemony is found to be dominant in the corpus data, seen in, among other things: the positioning of women, the inclusion of traditional discourses relating to the performance of masculinity and the construction of the 'new man'. White, heterosexual men are shown to be represented as exemplars of hegemonic masculinity, subordinating both black and homosexual men. Laughter is also seen as affirmation of the naturalised cheekiness of men and boys and their tendency to break rules in order to succeed, and betting is identified as a potentially destructive influence in sport.
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- Date Issued: 2017
On the shop-floor: ten years at Ford
- Authors: Cilibe, Mpumelelo
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Creative writing (Higher education) South Africa , South African fiction (English) 21st century , Autobiographical fiction, South African (English) 21st century , Xhosa fiction 21st century , Short stories, Xhosa 21st century
- Language: English , Xhosa
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7257 , vital:21234
- Description: My autobiographical novella covers a period of my life between 1974 and 1984, when I worked at the Ford Motor company Struandale Assembly plant in Port Elizabeth. This period predated the formation of NUMSA (the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa) and COSATU - it was a time when automobile industry workers broke away from the race- based unions to form MACWUSA (Motor Assemblers and Component Workers Union of SA). Around the same time Rev Leon Sullivan was putting pressure on US companies, including Ford, to move away from apartheid labour practices. As quite an angry young man influenced by the Black Consciousness movement, I got deeply involved in union activities mainly for my own survival, and as a personal reaction to racism in the workplace. The story is told in a realist style, with many anecdotal detours giving the flavour of life in New Brighton in the 1980s. Important influences have been Bloke Modisane's autobiography, Blame Me on History and Studs Terkel's interviews of Ford plant workers and management in his book Working. , Growing up in New Brighton gave me so many stories that had never been written before but that were told person to person by the residents of my neighbourhood. Some of the tales in this collection are based on such stories. Others are stories that are reminiscent of childhood while growing up with an elder brother. I take the inspiration from different books that are in line with the stories that I am writing: collections of Extreme Fiction - Fabulists and Formalists that were edited by Robin Hemley and Michael Martone and The Best Bizarro Fiction of the Decade edited by Jeremy Robert Johnson and Cameron Pierce. Some stories by L.L. Ngewu and L.S. Ngcangata, and a novellette by P.T. Mtuze, Alitshoni Lingaphumi, also bring much influence as they reveal suffering in the lives of black people who endured forced removals, and other situations that are of interest to build my stories on. , Le ngqokolela yamabali iqulathe amabali asekelwe kumabali endandiweva ebaliswa ebuntwaneni bam ndisakhula. Amanye amabali angeenkumbulo zasebuntwaneni ngethuba ndandikhula nomkhuluwa wam ongasaphiliyo. Ifuthe lokuwaqamba ndilifumene kwiincwadi zababhali abanje ngabo bafumaneka kwiingqokolela ezihlelwe nguRobin Hemley no Michael Martone kwincwadi ethi Extreme Fiction - Fabulists and Formalists, noJeremy Robert Johnson enoCameron Pierce kwingqokolela ethi, The Best Bizarro Fiction of the Decade. Amanye amabali abenefuthe ndiwafumene kwiincwadi zooP.T. Mtuze, kwinovella yakhe ethi Alitshoni Lingaphumi, nakwezoL.L. Ngewu noL.S. Ngcangatha apho babalisa ngobomi basekuhlaleni ngexesha abantu babedudulwa befuduswa ngetshova ukususwa kwiindawo zabo zokuhlala. , This thesis is presented in two parts: English and isiXhosa
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- Date Issued: 2017
Algorithms for the solution of the quadratic programming problem
- Authors: Vankova, Martina
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: Quadratic programming , Nonlinear programming , Algorithms
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:11086 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/348 , Quadratic programming , Nonlinear programming , Algorithms
- Description: The purpose of this dissertation was to provide a review of the theory of Optimization, in particular quadratic programming, and the algorithms suitable for solving both convex and non-convex quadratic programming problems. Optimization problems arise in a wide variety of fields and many can be effectively modeled with linear equations. However, there are problems for which linear models are not sufficient thus creating a need for non-linear systems. This dissertation includes a literature study of the formal theory necessary for understanding optimization and an investigation of the algorithms available for solving a special class of the non-linear programming problem, namely the quadratic programming problem. It was not the intention of this dissertation to discuss all possible algorithms for solving the quadratic programming problem, therefore certain algorithms for convex and non-convex quadratic programming problems were selected for a detailed discussion in the dissertation. Some of the algorithms were selected arbitrarily, because limited information was available comparing the efficiency of the various algorithms. Algorithms available for solving general non-linear programming problems were also included and briefly discussed as they can be used to solve quadratic programming problems. A number of algorithms were then selected for evaluation, depending on the frequency of use in practice and the availability of software implementing these algorithms. The evaluation included a theoretical and quantitative comparison of the algorithms. The quantitative results were analyzed and discussed and it was shown that the results supported the theoretical comparison. It was also shown that it is difficult to conclude that one algorithm is better than another as the efficiency of an algorithm greatly depends on the size of the problem, the complexity of an algorithm and many other implementation issues. Optimization problems arise continuously in a wide range of fields and thus create the need for effective methods of solving them. This dissertation provides the fundamental theory necessary for the understanding of optimization problems, with particular reference to quadratic programming problems and the algorithms that solve such problems. Keywords: Quadratic Programming, Quadratic Programming Algorithms, Optimization, Non-linear Programming, Convex, Non-convex.
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- Date Issued: 2004
Coping and satisfaction with life of retired elderly females in a residence for the aged
- Authors: Yerushalmi, Orit
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: Older women -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- Attitudes , Old age homes -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:11027 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/383 , Older women -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- Attitudes , Old age homes -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Description: Demographically the aged are the fastest growing group both world-wide and in South Africa but despite this, psychologists have neglected psycho-geriatric research and its importance. In the past, old age has been studied by psychologists as a deviation from the norm of youth. The primary focus has been on the rate of cognitive decline, the process of social withdrawal and the etiology of dementia. Although these issues are of significant importance, the positive aspects of aging should also be considered; thereby challenging the stereotype that old age means disengagement, decline and degeneration. This study aimed to explore and describe the coping and life satisfaction of the retired elderly females in a residence for the aged. A quantitative exploratory descriptive research design was employed, making use of non-probability convenience sampling. The sample consisted of 40 retired females who have been living in a residence for the aged for at least 12 months. Further inclusion criterions were that the participants should have a relatively "sound/stable" neuropsychological status (i.e., they should not be suffering from any clinically diagnosed disorders, for example, dementia and/or Alzheimer's disease). The Coping Resources Inventory (CRI) was utilized to identify the coping resources used by the participants; the Orientation to Life Questionnaire (SOC-29) was utilised as a measure of the participants' sense of coherence; the Life Satisfaction in the Elderly Scale (LSES) was employed to measure the global life satisfaction of the participants, namely on the cognitive level. A biographical questionnaire collated important demographic and background information. The data was analysed through computing descriptive statistics. Following this a Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was utilised to inter-correlate the total score of the SOC-29 and the total score of the LSES with the individual subscales of the CRI. The results of the present study indicated the following: the SOC-29 revealed a relatively high mean score for the current sample. Results of the CRI revealed relatively high mean scores for the total scale as well as the five different subscales. The highest scores were obtained for the Spiritual/Philosophical and Physical Resources Subscales, while the lowest score was obtained for the Cognitive Resource Subscale. Results from the LSES indicated relatively high mean scores for both the total and all eight subscales. The highest scores were obtained for the Mood and xii Social contacts Subscales, while the lowest scores were obtained for the Health and Finance Subscales. Significant positive correlation was evident between the total scores of the CRI, the SOC-29 and the LSES. With regard to the individual subscales of the CRI, the results indicated significant moderate relationships between the SOC- 29 total raw score, the LSES total raw score and the Cognitive, Social and Physical Subscales scores of the CRI. However, the SOC-29 and LSES total raw scores did not correlate with the Emotional and Spiritual/Philosophical subscales of the CRI.
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- Date Issued: 2004
The serpent both in water and on land : a critical phenomenological investigation of foreign students' experiences of learning English in South Africa
- Authors: Picard, Michelle Yvette
- Date: 2000
- Subjects: English language -- Grammar -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers , English language -- Foreign speakers
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:1408 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002639
- Description: In this dissertation I attempt to examine “the experience of the perspective” of foreign students introduced into English classrooms in South Africa. I acknowledge the importance of focussing on the individual’s narrative, since it is “only through an unconscious synthetic activity of consciousness” that perspectives are connected together (Carspeken 1996:11), but, along with Freire, I believe that “generative themes” can only be investigated in “man-world relationships”. The researcher needs to examine the phenomenon in context of the world that it originated from, since “historical themes are never isolated , independent, disconnected or static” (Freire 1972: 73). In this dissertation I, therefore, carefully follow the classic phenomenological steps to analyse data from my respondents and then immediately contextualise it in term of literature about the learners background, the educational and political system in which they currently find themselves as well as general literature about the phenomenon of immigrants and learning of a second language. The premise underlying this research is the “taken-for-granted certainty” (Carspeken 1996:11) that there is something unique in the South African situation which results in foreign students experiencing the learning of English in a particular way within this context.
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- Date Issued: 2000
Countertransference in rape counselling
- Authors: Whyle, Susan Lynn
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: Countertransference (Psychology) -- Therapeutic use , Rape victims -- Counseling of
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3085 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002594 , Countertransference (Psychology) -- Therapeutic use , Rape victims -- Counseling of
- Description: The study examined rape counselling, with particular emphasis on countertransference reactions experienced by the counsellors of rape survivors. Four subjects participated in semi-focused, open-ended interviews, which were taped and transcribed verbatim. The phenomenon of countertransference was discussed, and countertransference reactions identified and examined. The management of empathic strain, in order to sustain empathic inquiry and therapeutic efficacy, was discussed. The main results of the study included the identification of common victim themes, and the feelings evoked in the counsellor in the therapeutic relationship. These included feelings of anger, hopelessness, helplessness and sadness, particularly in the counselling of children, who may be HIV positive as a result of the attack, and victims of chronic abuse. Challenges of rape counselling included shortcomings in the system, and rape myths which trivialize the crime and blame the victim. The need for education and enlightenment of both the public and magistrates on the deleterious effects of rape was emphasized by all subjects.
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- Date Issued: 1998
Newspapers in education programmes and South African youth: a survey of the relationship between South African school-goers and newspapers in Esikhawini, Kwazulu-Natal
- Authors: McComb, Roslin Vanessa
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: Newspapers in education -- South Africa , School children -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal -- esikhawini , Newspapers in education
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3465 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002920 , Newspapers in education -- South Africa , School children -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal -- esikhawini , Newspapers in education
- Description: This study examines the relationship which scholars have with newspapers against the background of a Newspapers in Education (NIE) programme in two black South African primary schools. Considering the presence of newspapers in the class as a medium of instruction, a number of factors are found to influence the -relationship which scholars have with newspapers. These factors are: scholars' access to newspapers; the nature of lessons using the newspaper; the character of the newspaper used in NIE and the context of education at the particular schools, including the attitudes and organisational abilities of both teachers and the principal. A description and analysis of this relationship is conducted in terms of the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour which scholars had -in te1ation to newspapers. This research is qualitative, undertaken from a constructivist-interpretative approach, and is set within international and South African contexts. The findings are relevant to understanding NIE programmes' interface with scholars' educational performance and with newspaper marketing objectives, as well as to the theorisation of NIE practices.
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- Date Issued: 1997
The politics of administration: a study of the career of Dr D L Smit with special reference to his work in the Department of Native Affairs, 1934-1945
- Authors: Bell, M M S
- Date: 1978
- Subjects: Smit, Douglas Lainge,1885- , South Africa. Native Affairs Commission , South Africa -- Native Affairs Department , South Africa -- History -- 1909-1961
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2596 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007624 , Smit, Douglas Lainge,1885- , South Africa. Native Affairs Commission , South Africa -- Native Affairs Department , South Africa -- History -- 1909-1961
- Description: The written history of modern South Africa is limited by the moratorium on archival material common to' all contemporary research, and the present study is intended, in part, to help fill this gap. It has a two- fold design: first, to point out some of the anomalies in the relationship between administration and policy and secondly, to show the extent to which they are interdependent in Dr. D.L. Smit ' s career. In the process, I hope to clarify and to comment on some of the mechanics involved in Native Administration.
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- Date Issued: 1978