Financial decision-making of fathers with social grants in Nkonkobe municipality, Eastern Cape province
- Authors: Ketani, Nolubabalo
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Decision making Dependency Public welfare
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , Social Work
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/11773 , vital:39105
- Description: The aim of this study was to examine the role of fathers receiving social grants in family decision-making processes within households in Nkonkobe Municipality, Eastern Cape Province. The study also investigated how money from social grants is utilised by fathers, taking into consideration, the impact of such decisions on the well-being of family members. A methodological triangulation approach was adopted for data collection. One hundred and seventy questionnaires were administered to beneficiaries of social grants, selected using multi stage sampling. The data was then coded on Microsoft excel package and run using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software for analysis. These yielded quantitative results which were then complemented by qualitative results obtained from 25 in-depth interviews conducted with caregivers residing with respondents. The major findings of the study revealed that most fathers earning social grants, made family decisions with their partners. Co-operative bargaining, resulting in the distribution of power in the decision-making process is relatively more prominent in most poor rural households. The effect of bargaining power emphasises the importance of gender empowerment in family decision-making processes. On the other hand, it is established that economic factors (such as income and employment status and age as a social factor) play a critical role in positioning other household members in decision-making within the family. As a result, children and unemployed household members have very limited decision power. The findings also revealed that social grants are the main source of income, if not, the only source of income in most households. Beneficiaries spend the money received on basic needs such as food, school fees, clothing and health, thus reducing hunger and suffering among beneficiaries. Therefore, social grants play a significant role in improving food security among poor households. Additionally, social grants are not only used for meeting individual needs of target groups of people in the household but for the entire needs of the household. The poverty gap been on the decline and such drop has been significant among poorest of the poor. Consequently, they impact positively beyond individual recipients and thus, strengthening intergenerational relations within poor families. Furthermore, it is established from the study that the role of male caregivers is an important one, and it is anticipated that many fathers will be involved in caregiving in the future. This is due to a variety of social demographic factors such as divorce, substance abuse, incarceration of parents, child abuse and neglect, health problems and death. Consequently, fathers receiving social grants, represent an important resource for poor households, especially for children. In a nutshell, with high incidences of poverty, coupled with HIV/AIDS epidemic, economic hardships, high rate of unemployment, absent parents and orphan crisis; the experiences and contributions of social grant earning fathers in caregiving, need to be acknowledged as they play a significant and benevolent role in well-being of family members, especially in the lives of children from vulnerable and poor homes. It is recommended that government should focus on promoting developmental policies that will contribute to poverty alleviation and reduce income inequalities in rural communities. Intervention plans should seek to develop exit programmes that capacitate households and communities to empower themselves. On the other hand, the development of support for male caregivers in private, public and community initiatives are commended to build capacity and empower fathers to cope with challenges associated with parenting.
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- Date Issued: 2017
The design of a new muncipal council chamber in central Port Elizabeth
- Authors: Cizek, Judy Ann
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Municipal buildings -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- Designs and plans , Architecture -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- Designs and plan , Architecture -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MArch
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/39315 , vital:35078
- Description: The student protests in South Africa in 2015 and 2016 that called for ‘decolonisation’ sparked an interest in the contested heritage of a multi-cultural society. In the South African context, there are different experiences and perceptions of the past that have resulted in contested narratives that compete for dominance in the collective memory of society today. Colonialism and its ideologies have shaped the South African built environment, as well as the social construct. Colonialism may not still be an active agent today, but its legacy continues to filter into the lives of South Africans. Apartheid was an extreme extension of colonialist ideology. Since the dawn of South Africa’s democracy, the country has been in a state of post-regime hangover and faced with the task of building a new national identity. This treatise explores the notions of memory and identity to position the indigenous cultures of Southern Africa next to the dominance of colonial culture and to create a dialogue between the legacy of colonial built heritage and post-colonial national identity. Port Elizabeth is the ideal context in which to explore the realm of post-colonial identity in architecture, as it was the first major British settler town and formed the heart of British colonialism. The Old Post Office building complex in Port Elizabeth offers an opportunity for the explorations of postcolonial theory, as it is undoubtedly a colonial building and needs drastic intervention, which could allow more room for adaptation than a building that is in better condition. The building programme for the adaptive reuse of the Old Post Office building complex will be a new municipal council chamber and offices which will act as an extension to the Port Elizabeth city hall. The aim of this treatise is to design an appropriate architectural intervention for the Old Post Office building in Central Port Elizabeth. This architectural intervention must acknowledge and respect the colonial heritage but focus on being a post-colonial building of the future by becoming a useful and relevant place for the people of Central Port Elizabeth. This is achieved through understanding what it means to be postcolonial and what this means for architecture by understanding the spatial implications of colonial planning in Port Elizabeth, the spatial planning of indigenous South African statement patterns and the heritage laws and conservation principles. This will be done through literature reviews, spatial studies, interviews and precedent studies in order to find a strategy for designing a new municipal council chamber in for the Old Post Office building complex in Port Elizabeth.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Understanding how Grade 11 Biology teachers mediate learning of respiration: A Namibian case study
- Authors: Amutenya, Laina N
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Biology -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Namibia , Respiration -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:2020 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017331
- Description: The new curriculum in Namibia has introduced a new approach to teaching and learning requiring teachers to make use of learners’ prior everyday knowledge (PEK) including indigenous knowledge (IK) and practical work/activities. It further emphasizes some variations in teaching methods such as; the use of analogies, the use of mind maps, and so forth with the aim to actively involve learners in the learning process and develop skills to solve global challenges. The emphasis is on understanding of knowledge, skills and the will to use them appropriately throughout their lives. The main aim of this study was to understand and document how Biology teachers mediate learning of the topic respiration. Informed by an interpretive paradigm, a qualitative case study was conducted at two secondary schools in the Kunene region. The participants were selected using a convenience sampling. Data were gathered using three main sources, namely, documents, semi-structured interview questions which culminated into a questionnaire and observations. Triangulation was thus used to give credibility, objectivity and validity to the interpretation of the data. Data analysis in this case study involved a multi-stage process of organizing, coding and categorizing, synthesizing and summarizing. The audio recorded lessons were transcribed into text and I analyzed data using a colour coding technique by segmenting and labelling text to identify descriptions and broad themes in the data. Vygotsky’s Mediation of Learning and Social Constructivism in conjunction with Shulman’s Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) informed the data analysis process. Teacher-learner interactions were the main theme for mediation of learning (social constructivist perspective), hence during analysis I paid more attention to moments where interactions evolved and I used PCK to gain insights in teaching and instructional strategies used by teachers. The findings of this study revealed that: 1) teachers endeavor to use a variety of teaching methods such as the use of a mind maps and question and answer method. Learners were keen to ask questions in order to understand this topic. 2) The study also revealed that a lack of practical activities is one of the challenges teachers are faced with. Based on my research findings, I therefore suggest that there is a need for continuous professional development of biology teachers and capacity building in order to improve both their content and pedagogical content knowledge.
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- Date Issued: 2015
A discourse analysis of print media constructions of 'Muslim' people in British newspapers
- Authors: Nanabawa, Sumaiya
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Muslims -- Great Britain -- Public opinion Islam -- Great Britain -- Public opinion Racism in mass media Mass media -- Political aspects -- Great Britain Mass media -- Social aspects -- Great Britain Journalism -- Social aspects Journalism, Commercial -- Great Britain
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3132 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006767
- Description: This research study aimed to examine how the identity of ' Muslim' people is constructed in British print media today, and whether or not these constructions promote or undermine a xeno-racist project. The research draws on the idea that identity is partly constructed through representation, with an emphasis on how language can be used to construct and position people in different ways. Using a social constructionist paradigm, the study further considers the role that print media has in providing a discursive field within which the construction and reproduction of racist attitudes and ideologies in contemporary global society can take place. Sixty-five newspaper articles were selected from the online archives of British newspapers, The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph using systematic random sampling. These were analysed using the six stages of Foucauldian discourse analysis outlined by Carla Willig. To provide a more fruitful account, the analysis also incorporated the methods of Potter and Wetherell whose focus is on the function of discourse, as well as van Langenhove and Harre's focus on subject positioning, and Parker's use of Foucauldian analysis which looks at power distributions. The analysis revealed that Muslims are discursively constructed as a direct politicised or terror threat, often drawing on discourses of sharia law, and Muslim-Christian relationships. They are also constructed as a cultural threat, drawing on discourses of isolation, oppressed women, the veil/headscarf, identity, visibility and integration. The analysis also showed some variation in constructions, and these extended from the racialization of Muslims to showing the compatibility between Islamic and western values. This study discusses the form these different constructions take and the possible implications these constructions might have in contributing toward a prejudiced and largely negative image of Islam and Muslims.
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- Date Issued: 2013
Glimpsing the balance between earth and sky: a meeting ground for postmodernism and Christianity in four selected novels by Jeanette Winterson and John Irving
- Authors: Edwards, Ross Stephen
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Postmodernism -- Religious aspects Winterson, Jeanette, 1959- Irving, John, 1942- Postmodernism (Literature)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2186 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002228
- Description: The phrase “glimpsing the balance between earth and sky” in the thesis title is taken from Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. In this novel, the central character Jeanette believes she has glimpsed the possibility that human relationships can find their mirror in the relationship with God, as she understands the divine Other. This glimpse has set her wandering, trying to find such a balance. This examination of four selected novels by Jeanette Winterson and John Irving shows that for Irving, “glimpsing the balance” means in part, giving voice to a strongly “Christian” view of humankind and human nature but in an age where the prevailing intellectual worldview is strongly sceptical of any Grand Narrative. The “voice” expressed in Irving’s work has to be situated, like Winterson’s, as one among many possibilities. Irving’s voice is itself masked as different, other/Other, freakish, in the narrative worlds he creates. Through his use of grotesque comedy as a vehicle for deeper philosophical concerns, Irving asks us: What after all in the postmodern world is the main show? This thesis argues that if Winterson and Irving are testing or re-presenting a Christian worldview in a postmodern context, than they are asking whether Christianity is capable of assimilating and rising above the worst circumstances the world, writer, and life can throw at it. In Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Winterson tells a story of “forbidden love”, posed as a direct challenge to the prevailing way of knowing in her character’s community. In Gut Symmetries, she expands this challenge by employing the insights of quantum physics to make sense of the complexities raised by a triangular love relationship. Irving offers the story of Owen in A Prayer for Owen Meany as the kind of story which might possibly make a believer out of him; in short, that he would have to be a witness to some kind of miracle, something utterly inexplicable. In A Son of the Circus Irving narrates the quest for identity undertaken by an Indian doctor who is in every way a Displaced Person – the condition, he implies, of anyone who purports to find their piece of the truth. The theoretical concerns of the postmodern project are examined through Lawrence Cahoone’s argument that postmodern writing offers criticism of: presence, origin, unity and transcendence through an analytical strategy of constitutive otherness. In each of their texts, Irving and Winterson are seen to use these four critical elements and to offer a postmodern strategy of re-presenting meaning through “constitutive otherness”. Both writers also employ a strategy of historiographic metafiction (as defined by Linda Hutcheon) as a means of constructing and re-presenting their narrated stories. Postmodern paradox is compatible with what could be called a Christian plan for living, if the latter is in turn given an appropriate 1990s interpretation. The selected novels by Winterson and Irving are offered as contemporary evidence for this view. This thesis argues that the connection between postmodernism and other worldviews, particularly Christianity, is found in both projects’ process of making meanings through encounters with an other/Other.
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- Date Issued: 1999
Computer control of an HF chirp radar
- Authors: Griggs, Desmond Bryan
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: Radar , Radar meteorology , Computerized instruments , Ionosondes
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5455 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005240 , Radar , Radar meteorology , Computerized instruments , Ionosondes
- Description: This thesis describes the interfacing of an IBM compatible microcomputer to a BR Communications chirp sounder. The need for this is twofold: Firstly for control of the sounder including automatic scheduling of operations, and secondly for data capture. A signal processing card inside the computer performs a Fast Fourier Transform on the sampled data from two phase matched receivers. The transformed data is then transferred to the host computer for further processing, display and storage on hard disk or magnetic tape, all in real time. Critical timing functions are provided by another card in the microcomputer, the timing controller. Built by the author, the design and operation of this sub-system is discussed in detail. Additional circuitry is required to perform antenna and filter switching, and a possible design thereof is also presented by the author. The completed system, comprising the chirp sounder, the PC environment, and the signal switching circuitry, has a dual purpose. It can operate as either a meteor radar, using a fixed frequency (currently 27,99 MHz), or as an advanced chirp ionosonde allowing frequency sweeps from 1,6 to 30 MHz. In the latter case fixed frequency doppler soundings are also possible. Examples of data recorded in the various modes are given.
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- Date Issued: 1991
Some aspects of the effect of temperature on the respiratory and cardiac activities of the Cichlid Teleost Tilapia mossambica
- Authors: Josman, V
- Date: 1971
- Subjects: Fishes -- Effect of temperature on , Cichlids
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5859 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012613
- Description: The importance of the cichlid teleost Tilapia mossambica as a protein source, coupled with its remarkable adaptability, has resulted in its introduction into many water systems throughout the tropical, sub-tropical and even temperate regions of the world. However, its successful exploitation of these waters is dependent very largely upon the value of minimum temperatures and their duration. For e.g. Long et al (1961) has drawn attention to the tremendous mortalities of T. mossambica that occur in shallow water bodies during the precipitous temperature decreases that accompany the winter monsoons in Vietnam and other eastern countries, even at temperatures as high as 14 or 16º C. Coehe (1967) does not recommend stocking with T. mossambica where temperatures are not above 14º C all the time. Ailanson et al (1962) conclude, after an experimental study, that low temperatures (13º C or lower) in South African highveld dams in winter are certainly an important factor in the extensive mortalities of T. mossambica that have been reported from these dams. Jubb (1961) also reports that this species is often killed during a severe winter in Rhodesia. Intro., p.1.
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- Date Issued: 1971
The history and the problems of Bantu urban secondary education in the Eastern Cape, 1937-1954 (Ciskei region)
- Authors: Dyasi, Hubert Mongameli
- Date: 1961
- Subjects: Black people -- Education -- South Africa -- Ciskei , Black people -- Education -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1997 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1014827
- Description: 1. Reasons for Choosing the Topic. Much has been written about secondary education in England, Continental Europe, the United States, Canada, China and other countries mainly "because Secondary Education has been one of the most prized of all formal types of education ... because it has been the rung of the educational ladder that has led to opportunity and preferment". Very little research work has been done on Bantu secondary education in the Ciskei, and still less about Bantu urban secondary education. This is a shortcoming since the Ciskei has been one of the most important educational areas for the Bantu in the Union of South Africa and the territories outside her borders. It was here that the experiment of Bantu day secondary schools was carried out. It could aptly have been said of the Ciskei, too, that "experimental work (destined one day to blaze into a consuming fire) has been carried on, where men and women of faith and inspiration have lit up some dark corner of the field, and where teachers of genius have defied tradition and convention, gone their own way in scorn of consequence, and have lit a candle which will never be put out". The Bantu Urban Day Secondary Schools started amidst conflicting opinions as regards their advantages and disadvantages. Difficulties were encountered and efforts made to overcome them. The present writer attempts to show how the problems of these schools were overcome and to assess the progress that was made. 2. Need for the Study. There is a great need for the study of the history and problems of Bantu Urban Day Secondary education because for many years to come these schools will have to serve an increasing number of urban Bantu pupils. The results of the research may serve as a guide to teachers appointed to these schools. The important history of these institutions preserved only in the minds of old men and women, may be lost to posterity. There is also a great need to bring to light the unique problems confronting these schools. 3. Scope of Dissertation. The dissertation limits itself to Bantu Urban Day secondary education, in specific areas of the Ciskei. Two secondary and two high schools have been chosen for special study. Bantu Urban Day Secondary Schools are those schools which are situated in areas under the jurisdiction of municipalities or town councils irrespective of whether the school admits largely pupils who are outside such an area or only those within it or both. The entrance qualification to these schools has always been a pass in Standard VI (normally after eight years of primary or elementary schooling). For the Bantu pupil the Junior Certificate Course was of three years' duration. The successful completion of the J.C. course qualified pupils to train as nurses, in the case of girls, and agricultural demonstrators in the case of boys. Both sexes could undertake studies for Native Primary Higher Teachers' Course, and the Senior Certificate Course or the Matriculation leading to university degrees.
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- Date Issued: 1961