Three perspectives on ukuthwasa: the view from traditional beliefs, western psychiatry and transpersonal psychology
- Authors: Booi, Beauty Ntombizanele
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Healers -- South Africa , Divination -- South Africa , Schizophrenia -- Social aspects , Xhosa (African people) -- Psychology , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2936 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002445 , Healers -- South Africa , Divination -- South Africa , Schizophrenia -- Social aspects , Xhosa (African people) -- Psychology , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs
- Description: Among the Xhosas, the healing sickness called intwaso is interptreted as a call by the ancestors to become a healer. Transpersonalists also see these initiatory illnesses as spiritual crises, while according to the widely accepted Western psychiatric view, illness is purely perceived in physical and psychological terms. A case study was conducted where a single participant who has undergone the process of ukuthwasa and is functioning as a traditional healer was interviewed. A series of interviews were done where information was gathered about significant experiences related to ukuthwasa process. Tapes were transcribed and a case narrative was written and interpreted using the traditional Xhosa beliefs, the western psychiatric and the transpersonal psychology perspectives. Strengths and weaknesses of each perspective were then examined.
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- Authors: Booi, Beauty Ntombizanele
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Healers -- South Africa , Divination -- South Africa , Schizophrenia -- Social aspects , Xhosa (African people) -- Psychology , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2936 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002445 , Healers -- South Africa , Divination -- South Africa , Schizophrenia -- Social aspects , Xhosa (African people) -- Psychology , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs
- Description: Among the Xhosas, the healing sickness called intwaso is interptreted as a call by the ancestors to become a healer. Transpersonalists also see these initiatory illnesses as spiritual crises, while according to the widely accepted Western psychiatric view, illness is purely perceived in physical and psychological terms. A case study was conducted where a single participant who has undergone the process of ukuthwasa and is functioning as a traditional healer was interviewed. A series of interviews were done where information was gathered about significant experiences related to ukuthwasa process. Tapes were transcribed and a case narrative was written and interpreted using the traditional Xhosa beliefs, the western psychiatric and the transpersonal psychology perspectives. Strengths and weaknesses of each perspective were then examined.
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Authority, avoidances and marriage: an analysis of the position of Gcaleka women in Qwaninga, Willowvale District, Transkei
- Authors: Liebenberg, Alida
- Date: 1994
- Subjects: Marriage customs and rites -- South Africa -- Transkei , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs , Women -- Developing countries
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2100 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002663 , Marriage customs and rites -- South Africa -- Transkei , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs , Women -- Developing countries
- Description: Authority as it operates in the daily lives of married women in Gcaleka society is reinforced and maintained by a body of avoidances which women need to observe during their married lives. Avoidances constitute part of the control system in the society whereby wives are being 'kept in their place'. Avoidances do not only restrict her, but also safeguard her position and her interests. Lines of authority emerge through the process of interaction; the structure reveals itself as avoidances are acted out in time and space. This study was conducted in Qwaninga, an administrative area in the coastal area of the Willowvale district, Transkei. The research started out as a study of ritual impurity and the status of women in a traditional, 'red' Gcaleka society. It soon became clear that pollution practices and beliefs associated with women form part of a greater body of avoidances which women need to observe during their married lives. Avoidances entail economic, dietary, sexual, linguistic and spatial prohibitions; as well as restrictions concerning what a woman is supposed to wear, and her withdrawal from social life. These restrictions are enforced through certain ritual and other sanctions. Three forms of avoidances are identified in this study, and are discussed and analysed. Avoidances are found in the everyday male/female division in society; in the ways through which the wife shows respect towards her husband and her in-laws (especially her husband's ancestors); and in the reproductive situations a woman finds herself in from time to time. In many anthropological studies in the past women have often been hidden in the background. This study is an attempt to give women the prominence they should be given, to show that nonwestern women are not as subordinated as people in Western society like to assume. In Gcaleka society the authority structure affecting the position of women is not only based on a distinction being made between males and females. It will be shown that a finer authority structure operates in this society whereby gender as well as age and kinship distinctions are being made. These distinctions constitute a system of classification which is safeguarded and protected by the avoidances and other restrictions imposed on women.
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- Authors: Liebenberg, Alida
- Date: 1994
- Subjects: Marriage customs and rites -- South Africa -- Transkei , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs , Women -- Developing countries
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2100 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002663 , Marriage customs and rites -- South Africa -- Transkei , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs , Women -- Developing countries
- Description: Authority as it operates in the daily lives of married women in Gcaleka society is reinforced and maintained by a body of avoidances which women need to observe during their married lives. Avoidances constitute part of the control system in the society whereby wives are being 'kept in their place'. Avoidances do not only restrict her, but also safeguard her position and her interests. Lines of authority emerge through the process of interaction; the structure reveals itself as avoidances are acted out in time and space. This study was conducted in Qwaninga, an administrative area in the coastal area of the Willowvale district, Transkei. The research started out as a study of ritual impurity and the status of women in a traditional, 'red' Gcaleka society. It soon became clear that pollution practices and beliefs associated with women form part of a greater body of avoidances which women need to observe during their married lives. Avoidances entail economic, dietary, sexual, linguistic and spatial prohibitions; as well as restrictions concerning what a woman is supposed to wear, and her withdrawal from social life. These restrictions are enforced through certain ritual and other sanctions. Three forms of avoidances are identified in this study, and are discussed and analysed. Avoidances are found in the everyday male/female division in society; in the ways through which the wife shows respect towards her husband and her in-laws (especially her husband's ancestors); and in the reproductive situations a woman finds herself in from time to time. In many anthropological studies in the past women have often been hidden in the background. This study is an attempt to give women the prominence they should be given, to show that nonwestern women are not as subordinated as people in Western society like to assume. In Gcaleka society the authority structure affecting the position of women is not only based on a distinction being made between males and females. It will be shown that a finer authority structure operates in this society whereby gender as well as age and kinship distinctions are being made. These distinctions constitute a system of classification which is safeguarded and protected by the avoidances and other restrictions imposed on women.
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Responses to Western education among the conservative people of Transkei
- Authors: Deliwe, Dumisani
- Date: 1993
- Subjects: Xhosa (African people) -- Attitudes , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs , Black people -- Education -- South Africa , Xhosa (African people) -- Education -- South Africa -- Transkei
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2099 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002662 , Xhosa (African people) -- Attitudes , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs , Black people -- Education -- South Africa , Xhosa (African people) -- Education -- South Africa -- Transkei
- Description: This thesis is concerned with the impact of Western education on the social life of the members of a Transkeian village. Various authors in the locally relevant literature, have for a long time commented that, due to Western education and Christianity, African societies became divided into 'school'people, who readily accepted Western education and culture, and 'red' people, who initially resisted these. Whilst the terms 'red' and 'school' became used as analytical constructs for the differing responses to Western culture, they were also used by African people. My findings at Qhude, Transkei, confirmed such a social division. I argue that this social division does not present an absolute distinction, but may best be conceived in terms of a continuum. Whilst the thesis considers interaction between the 'school' and the 'red' people of Qhude in various fields of life such as politics, law, religion (see Chapter Two) and education (see Chapter Six), the main emphasis is on the 'red' people. Thus, the thesis concerns itself, to a large degree, with an analysis of the 'red' people's experience and interpretation of Western education and Western educated people. The main argument is that the 'red' people's perception of Western education and Western educated people is ambiguous. That is, they see them in both positive and negative terms (see Chapter Five). This ambiguity is looked at here as a manifestation of the difficulties encountered by the 'red' people in adjusting to an institution (i.e Western education)that was initially foreign, and to which they were initially opposed. The perception of Western education as positive follows from the fact that it is seen as leading to economic empowerement by the 'red' people of Qhude, who are facing poverty, due to an economic decline (see Chapter Three). However, the economic contribution of the young (who are the ones receiving western education) and the knowledge they gather from school, threaten the authority of elders, as the young become increasingly independent from the elders. As a result of such independence, and other factors, Western education is seen in negative terms by the 'red' people. Such potential dangers of Western education are well recognised by the 'reds' of Qhude, and are dealt with culturally. That is, it is made clear to the young, in particular during occasions such as circumcision rituals, that education has to be made relevant to the building of the homestead, which is under the overlordship of parents whom the young are called upon to respect (see Chapter Six). In conclusion, it is argued that the use of culture in this way, shows how 'tradition' is employed to deal with crisis. Such use of culture necessitates a clarification of the opinion that uneducated Africans rejected Western education (see Chapter Seven).
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- Authors: Deliwe, Dumisani
- Date: 1993
- Subjects: Xhosa (African people) -- Attitudes , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs , Black people -- Education -- South Africa , Xhosa (African people) -- Education -- South Africa -- Transkei
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2099 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002662 , Xhosa (African people) -- Attitudes , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs , Black people -- Education -- South Africa , Xhosa (African people) -- Education -- South Africa -- Transkei
- Description: This thesis is concerned with the impact of Western education on the social life of the members of a Transkeian village. Various authors in the locally relevant literature, have for a long time commented that, due to Western education and Christianity, African societies became divided into 'school'people, who readily accepted Western education and culture, and 'red' people, who initially resisted these. Whilst the terms 'red' and 'school' became used as analytical constructs for the differing responses to Western culture, they were also used by African people. My findings at Qhude, Transkei, confirmed such a social division. I argue that this social division does not present an absolute distinction, but may best be conceived in terms of a continuum. Whilst the thesis considers interaction between the 'school' and the 'red' people of Qhude in various fields of life such as politics, law, religion (see Chapter Two) and education (see Chapter Six), the main emphasis is on the 'red' people. Thus, the thesis concerns itself, to a large degree, with an analysis of the 'red' people's experience and interpretation of Western education and Western educated people. The main argument is that the 'red' people's perception of Western education and Western educated people is ambiguous. That is, they see them in both positive and negative terms (see Chapter Five). This ambiguity is looked at here as a manifestation of the difficulties encountered by the 'red' people in adjusting to an institution (i.e Western education)that was initially foreign, and to which they were initially opposed. The perception of Western education as positive follows from the fact that it is seen as leading to economic empowerement by the 'red' people of Qhude, who are facing poverty, due to an economic decline (see Chapter Three). However, the economic contribution of the young (who are the ones receiving western education) and the knowledge they gather from school, threaten the authority of elders, as the young become increasingly independent from the elders. As a result of such independence, and other factors, Western education is seen in negative terms by the 'red' people. Such potential dangers of Western education are well recognised by the 'reds' of Qhude, and are dealt with culturally. That is, it is made clear to the young, in particular during occasions such as circumcision rituals, that education has to be made relevant to the building of the homestead, which is under the overlordship of parents whom the young are called upon to respect (see Chapter Six). In conclusion, it is argued that the use of culture in this way, shows how 'tradition' is employed to deal with crisis. Such use of culture necessitates a clarification of the opinion that uneducated Africans rejected Western education (see Chapter Seven).
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The structure of an irrigation scheme
- Authors: Holbrook, Gregory Martin
- Date: 1993
- Subjects: Tyefu Irrigation Scheme -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural development projects -- South Africa -- Ciskei , Irrigation -- South Africa -- Ciskei , Xhosa (African people) -- Economic conditions , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2101 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002664 , Tyefu Irrigation Scheme -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural development projects -- South Africa -- Ciskei , Irrigation -- South Africa -- Ciskei , Xhosa (African people) -- Economic conditions , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs
- Description: Faced with problems related to the sustainability and advisability of contemporary irrigation development in Africa, anthropologists have increasingly looked to economic and political explanations for the success or failure of those development schemes. Instead of seeking explanations in these isolated areas, this thesis has argued that irrigation development needs to be understood through relationships within and between politics, economics, social structure and culture. In order to uncover those interactions with regard to the Tyefu Irrigation Scheme in the southern African homeland of Ciskei, reference has been made, firstly, to the mechanisms underlying contemporary state expansion and secondly, to the interaction between external forces, structures and surface forms through time. Anthropological fieldwork techniques have been used to provide detailed descriptions of everyday communications within and between groups associated with the development. Ethnography allows implementation to be conceptualized in terms of the interaction between local level structures and structures associated with the planning and construction of irrigation development itself. When the effect of external forces on the interaction between structures and forms is then taken into account principles emerge that reflect local and historical transformations. These in turn suggest the form of contemporary state expansion in southern Africa, as well as its bearing on daily life on the rural periphery.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Holbrook, Gregory Martin
- Date: 1993
- Subjects: Tyefu Irrigation Scheme -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural development projects -- South Africa -- Ciskei , Irrigation -- South Africa -- Ciskei , Xhosa (African people) -- Economic conditions , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2101 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002664 , Tyefu Irrigation Scheme -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural development projects -- South Africa -- Ciskei , Irrigation -- South Africa -- Ciskei , Xhosa (African people) -- Economic conditions , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs
- Description: Faced with problems related to the sustainability and advisability of contemporary irrigation development in Africa, anthropologists have increasingly looked to economic and political explanations for the success or failure of those development schemes. Instead of seeking explanations in these isolated areas, this thesis has argued that irrigation development needs to be understood through relationships within and between politics, economics, social structure and culture. In order to uncover those interactions with regard to the Tyefu Irrigation Scheme in the southern African homeland of Ciskei, reference has been made, firstly, to the mechanisms underlying contemporary state expansion and secondly, to the interaction between external forces, structures and surface forms through time. Anthropological fieldwork techniques have been used to provide detailed descriptions of everyday communications within and between groups associated with the development. Ethnography allows implementation to be conceptualized in terms of the interaction between local level structures and structures associated with the planning and construction of irrigation development itself. When the effect of external forces on the interaction between structures and forms is then taken into account principles emerge that reflect local and historical transformations. These in turn suggest the form of contemporary state expansion in southern Africa, as well as its bearing on daily life on the rural periphery.
- Full Text:
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