"On se Débrouille": Congolese migrants' search for survival and success in Muizenberg, Cape Town
- Authors: Owen, Joy N
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Foreign workers, Congolese -- Social aspects -- South Africa -- Muizenberg Social capital (Sociology) Immigrants -- Social networks -- South Africa -- Muizenberg South Africa -- Emigration and immigration -- Social aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2094 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002657
- Description: Situated in a Congolese transnational 'community' in Muizenberg, a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa, the thesis focuses on the lives of three middle class Congolese male informants. Their contingent acquaintance with a South African white Christian man gave them access to valuable social capital; social capital that positioned them advantageously to date and eventually marry European white women and thereby further their culturally-defmed economic/material career goals. To demonstrate the socio-economic trajectory of the three, I compare their social positioning with other Congolese men and women resident in Muizenberg. I show how these men and women, like my three main informants, activate their Congolese 'habitus' to secure access to social networks and the social capital therein. The difference between these Congolese men and women and my three main informants, however, is their strategic use of contingency, and the instrumental capitalisation of their cultural capital through the creation of a client-patron relationship with a South African in order to further their life goals. The thesis reorientates the migration literature on African migration from a focus on the implications of migrant remittances to the home country, to a focus on individual migrants' agency in the host country and the cultural influence of the society of origin. While I acknowledge that my research participants are part of a transnational social field, the focus on one locality and the relatively longitudinal approach of the study grounds the analysis both in the day-to-day lives of these migrants and in their migrant careers in and beyond Muizenberg and South Africa. With this orientation, the thesis is able to reveal that some Congolese migrants are comfortable to create a holding place for themselves in South Africa, while others - ever aware of the Congolese ambition to travel overseas - migrate beyond South African borders. For these Congolese migrants, South Africa is then a transit space. Fundamentally, all of my research participants give expression to Mobutu's edict of on se debrouille (literally, 'one fends for oneself), but some are more able to achieve the ultimate aspiration of settling in the First World -lola.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Owen, Joy N
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Foreign workers, Congolese -- Social aspects -- South Africa -- Muizenberg Social capital (Sociology) Immigrants -- Social networks -- South Africa -- Muizenberg South Africa -- Emigration and immigration -- Social aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2094 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002657
- Description: Situated in a Congolese transnational 'community' in Muizenberg, a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa, the thesis focuses on the lives of three middle class Congolese male informants. Their contingent acquaintance with a South African white Christian man gave them access to valuable social capital; social capital that positioned them advantageously to date and eventually marry European white women and thereby further their culturally-defmed economic/material career goals. To demonstrate the socio-economic trajectory of the three, I compare their social positioning with other Congolese men and women resident in Muizenberg. I show how these men and women, like my three main informants, activate their Congolese 'habitus' to secure access to social networks and the social capital therein. The difference between these Congolese men and women and my three main informants, however, is their strategic use of contingency, and the instrumental capitalisation of their cultural capital through the creation of a client-patron relationship with a South African in order to further their life goals. The thesis reorientates the migration literature on African migration from a focus on the implications of migrant remittances to the home country, to a focus on individual migrants' agency in the host country and the cultural influence of the society of origin. While I acknowledge that my research participants are part of a transnational social field, the focus on one locality and the relatively longitudinal approach of the study grounds the analysis both in the day-to-day lives of these migrants and in their migrant careers in and beyond Muizenberg and South Africa. With this orientation, the thesis is able to reveal that some Congolese migrants are comfortable to create a holding place for themselves in South Africa, while others - ever aware of the Congolese ambition to travel overseas - migrate beyond South African borders. For these Congolese migrants, South Africa is then a transit space. Fundamentally, all of my research participants give expression to Mobutu's edict of on se debrouille (literally, 'one fends for oneself), but some are more able to achieve the ultimate aspiration of settling in the First World -lola.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Spirituality in the fiction of Henry Rider Haggard
- Authors: Senior, John
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: Haggard, H. Rider (Henry Rider), 1856-1925 -- Religion Haggard, H. Rider (Henry Rider), 1856-1925 -- Criticism and interpretation Religion in literature Spirituality in literature
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2209 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002252
- Description: Neither an unquestioning support for British imperialism nor a personal pre-Jungian philosophy were the driving forces behind Rider Haggard’s beliefs or his literature. These two concerns were secondary to the author’s fascination with the supernatural, a theme prominent in his era, but less so in our own. A declining faith in European religion provided the dominant focal point in Haggard’s work. Although there are important overtones of imperial concern and indeed points of Jungian significance in the texts, these are generally subservient to an intensive wide-ranging spiritual discourse. The place of Haggard’s work in history and its literary merit are thus misunderstood when his spiritualism is not taken into account. No analysis of the author’s work can be complete without first coming to terms with his spiritual ideas and then with their impact on other topics of significance to both the author and audiences of his day. The spiritual or religious aspect of his writing has been largely ignored because of its subtle nature and its relative unfashionability throughout most of the twentieth century in the critical and intellectual climate of the Western world. However, in the Victorian era, under the materialist impact of Darwin, Marx and industrialization, Europe's Christian God was pushed from centre stage, creating widespread spiritual hunger and anguish. In the resulting religious vacuum Haggard's overtures were of particular significance to his audience. In fact, when considered in terms of his immense contemporary popularity, the pervasive presence of spirituality throughout Haggard's works and in his personal writing gives some indication of the subject's enormous importance not only to the author, but to late Victorian society as a whole. In light of this Victorian significance, the spiritual element rises, by its constant presence and persistent foregrounding, to subvert not only the imperial and the Jungian, but even Haggard's overt adventure text by dealing directly with the underlying metaphysical crisis in Western society.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
- Authors: Senior, John
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: Haggard, H. Rider (Henry Rider), 1856-1925 -- Religion Haggard, H. Rider (Henry Rider), 1856-1925 -- Criticism and interpretation Religion in literature Spirituality in literature
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2209 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002252
- Description: Neither an unquestioning support for British imperialism nor a personal pre-Jungian philosophy were the driving forces behind Rider Haggard’s beliefs or his literature. These two concerns were secondary to the author’s fascination with the supernatural, a theme prominent in his era, but less so in our own. A declining faith in European religion provided the dominant focal point in Haggard’s work. Although there are important overtones of imperial concern and indeed points of Jungian significance in the texts, these are generally subservient to an intensive wide-ranging spiritual discourse. The place of Haggard’s work in history and its literary merit are thus misunderstood when his spiritualism is not taken into account. No analysis of the author’s work can be complete without first coming to terms with his spiritual ideas and then with their impact on other topics of significance to both the author and audiences of his day. The spiritual or religious aspect of his writing has been largely ignored because of its subtle nature and its relative unfashionability throughout most of the twentieth century in the critical and intellectual climate of the Western world. However, in the Victorian era, under the materialist impact of Darwin, Marx and industrialization, Europe's Christian God was pushed from centre stage, creating widespread spiritual hunger and anguish. In the resulting religious vacuum Haggard's overtures were of particular significance to his audience. In fact, when considered in terms of his immense contemporary popularity, the pervasive presence of spirituality throughout Haggard's works and in his personal writing gives some indication of the subject's enormous importance not only to the author, but to late Victorian society as a whole. In light of this Victorian significance, the spiritual element rises, by its constant presence and persistent foregrounding, to subvert not only the imperial and the Jungian, but even Haggard's overt adventure text by dealing directly with the underlying metaphysical crisis in Western society.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
The phytochemistry of several South African aloe species
- Authors: McCarthy, Terence John
- Date: 1967
- Subjects: Botanical chemistry Aloe -- Research -- South Africa Aloe -- Analysis Medicinal plants -- Research -- South Africa Drugs -- Research Chromatographic analysis
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3836 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007621
- Description: Introduction: Despite the tremendous advances made with regard to synthetic organic medicinals within the last two decades, heavy reliance is still placed on plant products. This is especially true of the anthracene derivatives used medicinally as purgatives, and which are derived principally from senna, cascara, rhubarb, frangula and aloes. While particular attention has been paid to the chemistry of the former group in recent years, aloes has been largely neglected, possibly due to the fact that the Aloe species are confined largely to areas where extensive research facilities are lacking, such as Africa , India and the West Indies. Thus research in Europe has been confined largely to the lump aloes of commerce, derived from relatively few species. In 1953 a comprehensive report by Hodge (103) appeared on "The Drug Aloes of Commerce, with Special Reference to the Cape Species". Hodge observed that South Africa abounds in species just as abundant as A.ferox, (which is the prime source of Cape aloes), and advised that a systematic chemical survey might show certain of these to be not only higher yielders of bitter aloetic juice but also sources of a superior drug product. Consequently an investigation along these lines is presented here, and it is observed that several species apart from A.ferox not only contain aloin, but also yield a large volume of aloetic juice. Only pharmacologic studies can reveal if the juice of these species is as safe as that of A.ferox, but without doubt they could be used for the extraction of crystalline aloin. Concurrently, the distribution of the Aloe resins, said by some to be purgative themselves, has been studied. The investigation has revealed that the structurally similar compound homonataloin enjoys an equally wide distribution as aloin. However, almost invariably it is confined to small species yielding little aloetic juice, apart from which nothing is known regarding its pharmacologic properties. It is interesting to note that the resin distribution in the homonataloin-containing species is very similar to that of the aloin-containing species, but differs widely from. that of the species containing neither of these principles. Apart from aloin and homonataloin, aloinoside and chrysophanol also occur in Aloe species, and together with the resins, these indicate that when all the South African Aloe species have been investigated, they may well be of chemotaxonomic value. Within the comparatively short space of the last decade some work has been performed on aspects of the metabolism of such anthracene-containing species as Rheum, Rhamnus and Rumex. These investigations have shown that the anthracene derivatives are not merely waste products, but perform definite metabolic functions. The latter portion of this work has been devoted to this relatively neglected aspect of the Aloe species.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1967
- Authors: McCarthy, Terence John
- Date: 1967
- Subjects: Botanical chemistry Aloe -- Research -- South Africa Aloe -- Analysis Medicinal plants -- Research -- South Africa Drugs -- Research Chromatographic analysis
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3836 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007621
- Description: Introduction: Despite the tremendous advances made with regard to synthetic organic medicinals within the last two decades, heavy reliance is still placed on plant products. This is especially true of the anthracene derivatives used medicinally as purgatives, and which are derived principally from senna, cascara, rhubarb, frangula and aloes. While particular attention has been paid to the chemistry of the former group in recent years, aloes has been largely neglected, possibly due to the fact that the Aloe species are confined largely to areas where extensive research facilities are lacking, such as Africa , India and the West Indies. Thus research in Europe has been confined largely to the lump aloes of commerce, derived from relatively few species. In 1953 a comprehensive report by Hodge (103) appeared on "The Drug Aloes of Commerce, with Special Reference to the Cape Species". Hodge observed that South Africa abounds in species just as abundant as A.ferox, (which is the prime source of Cape aloes), and advised that a systematic chemical survey might show certain of these to be not only higher yielders of bitter aloetic juice but also sources of a superior drug product. Consequently an investigation along these lines is presented here, and it is observed that several species apart from A.ferox not only contain aloin, but also yield a large volume of aloetic juice. Only pharmacologic studies can reveal if the juice of these species is as safe as that of A.ferox, but without doubt they could be used for the extraction of crystalline aloin. Concurrently, the distribution of the Aloe resins, said by some to be purgative themselves, has been studied. The investigation has revealed that the structurally similar compound homonataloin enjoys an equally wide distribution as aloin. However, almost invariably it is confined to small species yielding little aloetic juice, apart from which nothing is known regarding its pharmacologic properties. It is interesting to note that the resin distribution in the homonataloin-containing species is very similar to that of the aloin-containing species, but differs widely from. that of the species containing neither of these principles. Apart from aloin and homonataloin, aloinoside and chrysophanol also occur in Aloe species, and together with the resins, these indicate that when all the South African Aloe species have been investigated, they may well be of chemotaxonomic value. Within the comparatively short space of the last decade some work has been performed on aspects of the metabolism of such anthracene-containing species as Rheum, Rhamnus and Rumex. These investigations have shown that the anthracene derivatives are not merely waste products, but perform definite metabolic functions. The latter portion of this work has been devoted to this relatively neglected aspect of the Aloe species.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1967
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