The effects of a personal growth programme on self esteem, loneliness and other indicators of divorce adjustment in a group of divorced women
- Authors: Harms-Smith, Linda
- Date: 1990
- Subjects: Divorced women -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:687 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002012
- Description: Divorce is a major personal and social phenomenon, having a profound effect on those involved both directly or indirectly. The social work profession is faced with a large and vulnerable population at risk, and needs to take cognizance of the effects of divorce as well as the process of divorce adjustment in order to make a contribution in this area. Due to the significantly high divorce statistics, families and individuals are increasingly having to reorganise and adjust to the divorced status. This adjustment is a process which, if successfully negotiated, may ultimately lead to positive personal growth. Divorce, although extremely painful, may therefore paradoxically lead to growth and wholeness. It is during the stage of divorce adjustment that the social worker has a particular role to fulfil. Divorce adjustment may be assessed in terms of the attainment of positive functioning, making use of specific indicators for divorce adjustment. These indicators include self esteem; autonomy vs attachment; loneliness; parenting; social skills; and resolution of feelings around the divorce. Not only is there a need for the development of a clear measure for these indicators and therefore for divorce adjustment, but also for the development of a treatment approach specifically suited to the needs of divorcees in the process of post-divorce adjustment. The present researcher has aimed to address these issues by designing, implementing and then evaluating a personal growth programme and its effects on indicators of divorce adjustment. An extensive review of the literature was done. This covered the impact of divorce, the process of divorce adjustment, indicators of divorce adjustment, social work treatment approaches, and group work in divorce. An empirical study was then conducted whereby an experimental group was exposed to the group work treatment programme and a control group was not. A quasi-experimental design was used to measure the significance of changes in scores on various indicators of divorce adjustment. standardised measuring scales were used for the measurement of self esteem and loneliness, while a measure for indicators of divorce adjustment was especially designed for the purposes of this study. Both the experimental and control groups completed the measurements before and after the period of treatment. The present researcher designed a group work programme related to the needs of divorcees generally, and the needs identified by the participants in the study specifically. It was conducted over a period of ten weeks, consisting of ten one-and-a-half hour sessions. Eight divorced women attended the group. All had children and all had custody of their children. The programme included sessions on self esteem and self awareness; social skills (assertiveness and conflict resolution); loneliness; depression; and parenting. The sessions were structured and learning was based on experiential learning principles with brief didactic inputs. An eclectic approach was used by the researcher, drawing on theoretical models such as cognitive restructuring, gestalt techniques, psycho-drama, the client-centred approach and behaviourist techniques. An atmosphere of mutual support and feedback was encouraged and conscious use was made of self esteem/self-awareness building techniques. The main findings of the study showed that the personal growth programme (using a structured, skills training, self esteem/self awareness building, and experiential learning approach) had a significantly positive effect on self esteem and other indicators of divorce adjustment, but not on loneliness. The programme may therefore successfully be implemented in work towards divorce adjustment among divorced clients.
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The role of the marriage counsellor in a Xhosa community: an exploratory-descriptive study
- Authors: Phorie, Constancia Lineo
- Date: 1990
- Subjects: Marriage counselling -- South Africa Xhosa (African people) -- Marriage customs and rites Marriage customs Family
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:686 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002011
- Description: The focus of this study is on the role the marriage counsellor should play in the Black community. This role is being placed in sharp perspective as a result of social change affecting the Black family. Problem-solving, including marriage counselling has traditionally been done by the extended family. This role of the family as a natural support system has been weakened by factors such as urbanization and Westernisation. This has prompted Black couples experiencing in particular marriage problems to make use of professional marriage counselling services from specialised and other welfare agencies. A major problem in the rendering of professional counselling services is that they are to a great extent based on Western civilization as far as basic philosophy and underlying assumptions are concerned. Thus intervention modalities used for marital problems in the Black community do not address the real needs of the people. The main objective of this study was to investigate how marriage counselling services are perceived in the Black community. It is expected that research findings would assist the helping professions make the necessary adjustments to make marriage counselling approaches more relevant to problems experienced in married life in the Black community. The study revealed that the family in the Black community is still regarded as the main problem-solver although people do go beyond the family for assistance. The nuclear family has also started to emerge in the Black community and bonds to the bigger family systems are beginning to loosen. The research findings indicated clearly that there is a need for professional marriage counselling and that services of this nature should be extended further into the Black community. A problem in this regard however is that the community will have to be educated to use these services
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The Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC) : part of a whole or a cover?
- Authors: Lubbe, Ingrid Lisa
- Date: 1990
- Subjects: Southern African Development Coordination Conference
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2753 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002000
- Description: The object of this analysis of the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC) was to examine the interaction between the states which comprise the organisation in terms of regional and international factors which either facilitated or constrained the pursuit of the organisation's economic goals. To this end a theoretical orientation which would place the organisation in context of regional and international political and economic interaction was necessary. International regime theory was used to place the organisation in an international context, and at the same time provided a theoretical dimension which could be used to analyse empirical evidence on the SADCC organisation's functioning. The application of regime theory clearly highlighted the fact that SADCC's economic goals are constrained by the degree to which all of the SADCC states are integrated on the economic level with western market economy and furthermore , by the fact that these links are reinforced for seven of the nine SADCC states by their economic dependence on South Africa. The above conclusion showed that in terms of the perpetuation of the SADCC organisation as an economic regime, according to the regime theory outlined in Chapter One, the goals of SADCC did not create a firm basis for economic cooperation in the long term. The future of the SADCC organisation in it's present form will depend on how long the racial policies of South Africa continue, for the analysis makes clear that the organisation has much more political than economic coherency. The use of a regime framework showed that in terms of the SADCC states individual economic positions, the historical and structural links between South Africa, the majority of the SADCC states and the West will continue indefinitely due to the strength of the structural economic links between the Southern African region and the western market economy. Thus the analysis proves, within the parameters of international regime theory, the lack of economic coherency within the SADCC organisation's goals, and the strength of the economic ties between the Southern African region and the West.
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"Us" and "them": disagreement over the meanings of terms, ambiguity, contestability and strategy in the Zimbabwean House of Assembly
- Authors: Hasler, Arthur Richard Patrick
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Politicians -- Zimbabwe -- Language , Zimbabwe -- Politics and government -- 1980- |xLanguage
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2083 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001600
- Description: This is a study of how certain value loaded political terms are used in Zimbabwean Parliamentary debate. Before 1980 it is argued that aspects of lexical choice and an individual's sociopolitical position were extremely closely related, especially in the case of "white Rhodesians". There was also a marked lack of ambiguity in the use of value loaded terms at this time. In contemporary Zimbabwean House of Assembly, however, terms which became popularized when the new government came to power in 1980 are used with considerable ambiguity and contestability in order to further specific strategies. Though correlations between the choice of lexical units and individuals' positions in the social structure have been identified as "sociolinguistic variables" (Downes 1984, 75), it is argued that an analysis of this type of correlation should lead us to an analysis of how these lexical units or "terms" are used by individual speakers in a micro-political process. I hypothesize that the ambiguity and contestability which encompass certain key terms used in the Zimbabwean House contribute to their being used as strategies to achieve individual or party goals. I show that the terms are manipulated by individuals in various contexts, and that the normative connotations of terms, that is what the terms "ought" to mean, is not consistent with the ways in which they are used. This, in turn, has an effect on how people think the terms should be used. This process of language change exposes the interface between language usage and social life. Though not reducible to a single "correct" interpretation, it does provide rich material for the analysis of culture.
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A metabletic study of the male/female process in psychology
- Authors: O'Brien, Keith Stanley Edward Michael
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Psychology -- Philosophy , Sex difference (Psychology) , Psychotherapy
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2908 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002073
- Description: The motivation to explore the subject matter of this thesis arises from two interlinked processes: (1) the experience of the power and pervasiveness of a "basic split" experienced in therapy in the unity of the individual, (2) the tendency in the unitary discipline psychology for theorists to adopt views which are polar opposites. In trying to understand these phenomena one has to explore the basic paradox of being which has fascinated thinkers and mystics down through the ages, the paradox of the One and the many, and thus the phenomenon of change. This paradox is explored in mythology, in the "philosophia perennis" and as encountered in high-energy sub-atomic physics. Out of this emerges the awareness of Being as One but as embodying a dynamic polar process, the first of whose manifestations is the male and the female process (or Yin/Yang in Chinese). The male/female process is defined and explored and it is shown that the female process has been progressively ignored and largely repressed in the West. I demonstrate this process in a metabletic (hermeneutical phenomenological) study of Greek sacred architecture. Metabletics as defined by its originator, J.H. van den Berg, is "the theory of change" or a psychology of history. It is thus a particularly suitable method of analysing the cultural-historical process of the repression of the female process in Western society. The emergence of the male process as predominant in the West is explored hermeneutically through the emergence of the individual and the suppression of the old unity centred in the Mother Goddess, and the receding of the Father God to the heavens. The choice by the great Greek philosophers of the male process is particularly important because of their emphasis on the Logico-Mathematical Sequential (L.M.S.) mode of knowing and perception at the expense of the female process, Intuitive-Creative Holistic (I.C.H.) mode.The dominance of the male process in the West is traced from the aboriginal female-process state through neolithic village culture to the rise of the first cities. Processes studied are the rise of kingship, war, private property and the splitting of labour. The roots of anomie and alienation are described. The emergence of god as powerful ruler and lawgiver is shown. The splitting of the male/female process leads to the splitting of the individual from him/herself, from others, from the world and from the divine. This is traced in the mystery religions, in religious dualism, in the rise of the Judaeo-Christian tradition and Gnosticism. The split and its effects are demonstrated in Western science and psychology. The necessity and possibility of integration in science and in psychology is demonstrated through the integration of our process of knowing and perceiving which is used as a model for the integration of psychology. The effects of the male/female split on the individual in Western society are shown. The split in our society leads to anomie and alienation, which produce "socioses". These affect the child born into the society and lead to a "Parent/Child" split. The possibility of healing the split in the individual, between people, between humankind and the world and in re-establishing our unity in the One is illustrated. The unity of the One is experienced through the dynamic polar interaction of the male/female process.
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An "unobtrusive art" : Elizabeth Gaskell's use of place in Ruth, North and South, and Wives and Daughters
- Authors: Eve, Vivian Jeanette
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn, 1810-1865 , Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn, 1810-1865 -- Criticism and interpretation
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2173 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001824
- Description: The purpose of this study is to show how Elizabeth Gaskell creates a sense of place and why place is important in her novels. Gaskell's life and works indicate an interest in place and an ability to recreate it, but, although most critics mention her descriptive powers, few examine how a sense of place is achieved. Indeed, setting as a tool of analysis has received critical attention only fairly recently. Here the term 'place' has been chosen because it embraces the social, physical, and personal aspects of setting as well as the objects with which spaces are furnished, and for the purpose of discussing its significance a model of the novel has been devised which shows the interrelationships of character, action, setting, language, and ideas, as well as the influence of context (Introduction). Gaskell creates a sense of place in many unobtrusive ways, but particularly important are point of view, windows as vantage points, the connection of place with memory, and similarities in perception between scenes in the novels and fashions in painting (Chapter One). An analysis of Ruth illustrates the interrelationship of character and place. Ruth's journey mirrors her spiritual development, and character is often revealed through response to environment or the displacement of emotions onto it, while place is also used to signify innocence and to emphasize the plea for understanding of the unmarried mother and her child (Chapter Two). Places in North and South represent important aspects of newly industrialized Britain, and are significant to the novel's vision of a coherent society; an examination of how apparently irreconcilable communities are shown to be mutually dependent underlines the importance of place to the novel's ideas (Chapter Three). Wives and Daughters has a complicated plot based on a number of parallel, interlocking stories each centred on a home in the neighbourhood of Hollingford. How event, story, and plot are connected to these places shows their relationship with action (Chapter Four). Thus is an appreciation of Gaskell's literary achievement enhanced, and place shown to be a significant element in her novels.
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An existential-phenomenological explication of being-a-black student at a predominantly white university, with special reference to Rhodes University
- Authors: Harilall, Rehena Ranir
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Racism , South Africa , Black university students , College , Racism -- South Africa -- Psychological aspects , College students, Black , College students, Black -- South Africa -- Psychology
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2903 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002067
- Description: This study attempts to explore, theoretically and empirically, the experience of being black in a predominantly white university. It is more specifically concerned with perceived interaction between members of different cultural and ethnic groups, namely, between black and white. Using the existential-phenomenological method the experience of seven subjects, both male and female, were explicated. This explication revealed that black students become aware of their "difference" during interaction with members of the dominant white group. The black students perceive the behaviour of the white-dominant group to be racist and this creates a great deal of latent hostility, anger, and resentment. It is suggested that a programme be developed to diffuse the conflict situation during intergroup interaction at university.
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An investigation into the social/personality guidance needs of a group of secondary school pupils
- Authors: McGregor, Dale
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Interpersonal relations in adolescence , Personality in adolescence , Educational counseling , Adolescent psychology , Youth -- Counseling of
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1353 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001419
- Description: School guidance aims to meet the social/personality, educational and vocational needs of pupils, and the curriculum, organised and drawn up by the relevant State education departments, attempts to address these needs. This investigation set out to discover the guidance needs of pupils specifically in the social/personality area, and further, to state these needs in such a way as to allow the logical development of guidance programmes. Group and individual interviews were conducted using a sample of 72 high school pupils, selected from standards six to eight. The results show clearly the areas in which the pupils perceive their needs to lie. It is also apparent that further research in this area is strongly indicated.
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Arguments for other minds
- Authors: Dowling, Dolina Sylvia
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Mind and body -- Philosophy
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2702 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001977
- Description: If I am aware of my own mental states by introspection (a) How can I know that other people have minds? and (b) How can I know what their mental states are? These are two of the questions with which I will be concerned in this dissertation. I discuss five different attempts to deal with them. (i) The claim that we can know that other people have minds by an argument from analogy. I show a number of serious flaws in Russell's and other versions of this argument. (ii) Malcolm's thesis that the criteria by which we apply mental terms to others are just different from the criteria one applies in one's own case. I argue that Halcolm's accounts of both first- and third-person criteria are not adequate. (iii) I consider Strawson claim that 'persons' is a primitive concept and that behavioural criteria are "logically adequate" for determining the correctness of statements about the mental states of others. I argue that both of his key concepts are underanalysed. (iv) A quite different attempt to answer our questions (a) and (b) is given by the empirical realist who argues that knowledge claims about other minds are best understood as hypotheses in a wider psycho-physical theory. I show that the major fault in Putnam's version of empirical realism is that he overlooks the subjective character of (iii) our mental states. (v) Finally I consider the claim, due to Nagel, that a conception of mental states is possible which incorporates both subjective and objective aspects of the phenonemon. I speculate that with a great deal of development this approach might hold the answer to our questions.
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Educare work in Ciskei with special reference to the Keiskammahoek district
- Authors: Oosthuysen, Lucia
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Educare , Education, Preschool -- South Africa -- Ciskei , Education, Primary -- South Africa -- Ciskei , Readiness for school -- South Africa -- Ciskei
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1356 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001422
- Description: High drop-out rates in the sub-standards in developing countries prompted the researcher to investigate preschool education in first and third world countries, and attend to the related problem of school readiness. The rapidly expanding Educare preschool project in the rural area ot Keiskammahoek in Ciskei was investigated as an example ot community-based low-cost preschool education. A final sample of 41 children who had attended Educare Centres were matched to a control group on age, sex, primary school (where possible), and breadwinner's occupation. The Abbreviated Aptitude Test for School Beginners (standardised on Xhosa-speaking school beginners) was used to test tor significant differences between the two groups six to seven weeks atter school entry. A t-test was used on raw scores and chi-squared tests on staves. No signiticant difference was found between the means of the experimental and control groups. On a subjective rating scale for general-linguistic development and socio-emotional adjustment, no significant difference between means of the experimental and control groups was found. The experimental group's tailure to perform better than the control group, could be ascribed to various reasons, amongst others, the possible shortcoming that the pairs were not matched on intelligence, severe lack ot equipment in Educare Centres, large numbers of children in the majority of groups, uniform programmes for a wide age range, irregular attendance ot children, the low level of training of supervisors and poor home conditions. Scholastic abilities of school beginners in the Keiskammahoek District, as tested, were poor. Results deviated grossly from standardised norms. The expected percentage for the combined categories Very Weak and Weak is, tor instance, 31%; in this investigation, however, 73% of the testees fell in these two classes. Chronologically older children generally performed better. A highly significant difference existed between testees under six years and those over six years. This investigation indicated the need for better organised preschool education in rural areas in Ciskei. proposals with substantial financial implications are: Better training of para-professional staff by qualified staff. Training of qualified staff to provide expertise in preschool education in Ciskei. Provision of sufficient educational materials by Government subsidies and private sponsors. Institution of bridge classes by the Ciskei Department of Education to promote school readiness. Suggestions without financial implications include: An investigation of regulations regarding entrance age for basic education. Only in exceptional cases should children under six be admitted. Daily programmes in Educare Centres geared towards learning readiness without becoming academic. An age limit of three years for admittance to Educare Centres. Very young children should be catered for separately. Liaison between Sub A teachers and Educare staff. , Adobe Acrobat 9.53 Paper Capture Plug-in
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Health and politics : appraisal and evaluation of the provision of health and mental health services for Blacks in South Africa
- Authors: O'Donoghue, Sean B
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Black people -- Mental health -- South Africa , Mental health services -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2909 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002074
- Description: The aim of this study has been to examine, in the light of recent events in the field of Health Care in South Africa, the remarks and claims made by the World Health Organization, and the American Psychiatric Association between 1976 and 1978 on Health Care services, as provided for Blacks, by the South African government. In two reports, these organizations instituted the earliest, and arguably most significant claims against South Africa's system of Health Care. This study sketches firstly the political genesis and social context of the WHO, and APA examinations. Secondly, this study evaluates responses made by the South African State to the critical climate inspired by the above mentioned reports, through a close analysis of recent events associated with the politics, and provision of Health Care Facilities - particularly with regard to Black South Africans. This analysis suggests that the governments' earlier tentative policy of privatisation (which was soundly condemned by WHO and the APA) has been even more enthusiastically pursued - in contradiction to it's avowed policies of Commu ity Health Care, and to the continuing detriment of those South African communities who are in most need of adequate Health Care services. The study concludes that the criticisms raised by the WHO and APA had the effect of inspiring positive reforms in South Africa's health services, but in no way thwarted the governments', at first only tentative plans, to increasingly privatise it's psychiatric and other medical institutions.
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Some reading problems encountered by Ciskeian second language English readers in subject content areas, with special reference to geography at the Standard Six level
- Authors: Pillay, Lionel Franklin
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Content area reading , Language arts -- Correlation with content subjects , Language and education , Geography -- Study and teaching (Secondary) , English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1368 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001434
- Description: Since in our educational system a great deal of learning is supposedly dependant upon a child's ability to read and assimilate information from textbooks, this study investigated what reading skills are required by a second language reader of English to read textbooks with comprehension and understanding in relation to the reading skills of a competent reader and how Ciskeian Standard 6 pupils perform in relation to a Geography text prescribed at that level. A test, designed to measure eight reading comprehension skills, was given to a sample of 250 children from four schools in Zwelitsha, Ciskei, to establish whether the subjects are able to: a) give the literal meaning of words; b) derive the appropriate meaning of an ambiguous word from the context in which it appears; c) find answers to questions by making direct reference to the text; d) identify the major points and details in a text; e) use the information in the text to predict what the writer is going to talk about next; f) find the referent for anaphoric terms; g) use discourse markers to predict information/meaning to come, and see the relationships between what they have just read and what they are about to read; h) activate and use the background knowledge and schemata that they have to understand the text topic.The results of this study indicate that these children are: a) unfamiliar with the structure of expository texts; b) linguistically bound to a text and that they fail to use linguistic and contextual clues even when they are explicit in the text. The study also shows that the ability to make inferences and predictions is determined to a large extent by the prior knowledge and background experience that a pupil brings with him to the text and by his ability to activate that background knowledge. The findings suggest that in the English classroom, in an English as a second language (L2) medium situation, the L2 teacher has a responsibility to prepare the child for the study, which includes reading, writing, listening and speaking, of all subjects across the curriculum through the second language, which is the medium of instruction
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The empty-nest stage of life : a comparative study of women and men facing transition
- Authors: Kaplan, Ernest
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Empty nesters , Parent and child , Sex role -- Psychological aspect , Men -- Sexual behavior , Women -- Sexual behavior
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2899 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002063
- Description: This thesis encompasses a study of the empty-nest stage of life. For the purposes of this study, the above-mentioned stage was defined as that period in the family when the youngest child matriculates. Thirty-five empty-nest couples were interviewed during 1984, in the city of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The mean age of the subjects was 49.5, and the standard deviation was 4.9. The couples were asked about their attitudes towards the empty-nest, using a structured questionnaire, the Family Attitude Survey (FAS). This survey consisted of nine-point attitude statements, which focused on theoretical issues pertinent to this stage, viz. children are on-time or off-time with regard to major life events, impact of children leaving home on the parents, degree of parental involvement with children, parent-child relationships, ageing, sexuality, menopause, work-career, and attitudes towards the past, future and death. The general purpose of the present study was to determine the extent to which the empty-nest stage of life constitutes a negative crisis period, or a positive period of stability and growth for the empty-nest parents. Overall, it was concluded that the empirical evidence depicting the empty- nest stage of life as a positive period of stability and growth rather than a negative crisis period, is persuasive for some of the empty-nest parents in the present study, in view of the empirical findings regarding certain of the above-mentioned theoretical issues examined in the present thesis. Notwithstanding this, it was deemed essential to qualify the above conclusion, given the fact that the same and other respondents experienced difficulty with the following issues, viz. children being off-time with regard to major life events, the departure of children from the home, overinvolvement with children, problematic relationships with them, perceptions of themselves as failures as parents, inability to accept their own ageing, problems with changing sexuality, diminishing enjoyment in their occupations, and lack of prospects for future career advancement, negative preoccupation with the past and future, anxiety about death, and an impoverished marital relationship. It was also demonstrated empirically that wives experience particular psychological problems at this time, viz., firstly, they are more adversely affected by their children's departure from the home than their husbands, secondly, they undergo a rehearsal for widowhood more frequently than them, and thirdly, a minority of them are unable to come to terms with the menopause. Finally, the finding that the majority of wives experienced relief with the onset of the menopause when viewed from the perspectives of general emotional impact, children, and the spousal relationship, conflicts with existing theories in this area. However, it is supported by and large by the majority of empirical studies.
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The history of Pirie Mission and amaHleke chiefdom
- Authors: Vazi, Clifford Mlandeli
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Presbyterian Church -- Missions -- South Africa , Pirie Mission , Ross, John , Xhosa (African people) -- History
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2528 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001857
- Description: This thesis deals with the history of the amaHleke people and Pirie Mission, which have become so closely associated that they cannot be separated. It covers the period from the time of Chief Hleke to 1967, the year in which the amaHleke cheiftainship was resuscitated. The first chapter relates the origin of the amaHleke, from the time of Hleke himself (17th century) to Jwarha (about 1820). It explains the relationship between the different branches of the Hleke royal line, and it covers the Hleke settlement at the Mgqakhwebe river. The second chapter deals with the establishment of Pirie Mission by the Presbyterian missionaries John and Bryce Ross. It discusses the various aspects of the mission operation, and explains why and how the amaHleke opposed it. But the situation changed as a result of the 1850-3 Frontier War. Whereas the other Xhosa were expelled from their lands, the Hleke connection with Pirie Mission enabled them to stay on. The Hleke were therefore united with the mission, whether they liked it or not. The remainder of the chapter describes the educational and cultural changes which the mission imposed on them. The third chapter covers economic change at Pirie. Like other mission stations, it was converted from communal to individual land tenure. This was opposed by Chief Jwarha as a blow to his authority, but it did not result in the growth of a peasant class. The chapter concludes with the implementation of betterment in 1963. The fourth chapter explains what happened to the mission after the death of Bryce Ross. The Ross missionaries had frustrated black aspirations in teh church. This was especially frustrating to Burnet and Ntsikana Gaba, the great-grandsons of the prophet Ntsikana. Burnet broke away under the banner of the "Wee Free" branch of the Church of Scotland. This church also could not accommodate Burnet's aspirations. The remainder of the chapter deals with educational developments, with an emphasis on the introduction of Bantu Education. The last chapter deals with the political history of Pirie after the death of Chief Jwarha. The Cape government tried to replace chieftainship by a headman and a Village Management Board. But the Board did not function satisfactorily, and it was scrapped in 1921. Pirie continued to be administered by headmen. Applications for the revival of chieftainship were turned down, partly because there was no agreement on Jwarha's heir. However, this was finally resolved in 1967 with the appointment of Chief Pani Busoshe.
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The life and times of Kama Chungwa, 1798-1875
- Authors: Yekela, Drusilla Siziwe
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Kama, William, 1798-1875 , Shaw, William, 1798-1872 , Methodist Church of Southern Africa -- Missions , Gqunukhwebe (African people) -- History , Wesleyville mission , Gqunukhwebe (African people) -- Kings and rulers , South Africa -- History -- Frontier Wars, 1811-1878 , South Africa -- History -- Xhosa Cattle-Killing, 1856-1857 , Converts -- South Africa , Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) -- Politics and government
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2520 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001849
- Description: Few students of History understand the derivation and/or origin of the Gqunukhwebe oath "Ndifung' uChungw' efel' ennyameni: I swear by Chungwa who is lying dead at Mnyameni (Alexandria)." A desire to eludicate this point and other related facts inspired me to undertake a close examination of the history of the Gqunukhwebe people, selecting as my main theme the life-work of Chief Kama. In the first chapter I am discussing the creation of the Gqunukhwebe Chiefdom under Khwane by the Xhosa King, Tshiwo. The central theme here is the Black-White confrontation of the 17th - 18th centuries on the Cape Eastern Frontier. As a result of the collision the Gqunukhwebe people were forced to make a home on the banks of the Thwecu River along the east coast. It was here that Kama reached early manhood. The second chapter describes the establishment of Wesleyville Missionary Station by William Shaw in 1823, the first Methodist Missionary Institution in all Xhosaland. In chapter three the discussion centers on the significance of Kama's conversion. An unforeseen outcome of his public profession of the Christian faith was that it not only stigmatized the latter religion as a force destructive of the old order in Xhosa society, but it also reshaped Kama's political image for the good of his religious life. He not only fled from the neighbourhood of his relations and sojourned in a strange land, but also reinforced the Colonial forces in the contemporary frontier struggles. His integrity, self-sacrifice and pro-Colonial inclination eventually won him Middledrift. Chapter four opens with Kama's settling in Middledrift. The theme here is two-pronged. It presents the 'Cattle-Killing' delusion as a source of new trials for the 'priest-chief', and at the same time exposes the Colonial Government's efforts to gain ascendancy above the Xhosa chiefs. Kama's land was the first testing ground in this respect, and the Chief was initially agreeable to the scheme. Chapter five alludes to instances of Chief Kama's unco-operative attitude as signs that his compromising spirit had its limits. An atmosphere of disregard towards Kama pervades the period. But the adversities that threatened to dominate his later life did not by any means shake his Christian principles and convictions. The traces of his good works may to this day be seen in Middledrift, the traditional home of the Kamas.
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An analysis of the structural use of music, song and dance in certain novels by West African writers in relation to concepts of time
- Authors: Baxter, Marion
- Date: 1988
- Subjects: Music and literature
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2174 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001825
- Description: The topic of this thesis is time in the West African novel in English and French, and the key approach is that West African time is readily grasped through a study of West African music. Though Western time is not exclusively or only linear, mechanical and exploitative, and African time not exclusively cyclic, synchronic and experiential, yet there is a characteristically African view of time and preferred modes of its employment in West African fiction. The novelists considered here wrote in European languages, yet each was a member of a specific cultural group and concerned to portray the aesthetics of his inheritance, an important aspect of which is the predominance of repetitive formulae, both in music and in oral literature. The Introduction offers an historical survey of some of the main notions of time that have been manifest in the West, and compares them with notions of African time. Chapter One examines the structural use of rhythm and repetition in the novels of Camara Laye. Chapter Two discusses the griot and other traditions of oral literature in the novels of Ayi Kwei Armah and Yambo Ouologuem, novels which are concerned with the griot 's continuing role in the creation and dissemination of historical perspective. Chapter Three analyses Chinua Achebe 's portrayal of the values of pre-colonial life in Igbo society where the role of music is to limit behaviour through the structures of ritual which thus create static/cyclic time. Chapter Four describes the syncretic art-form, 'highlife', as used by novelists such as Wole Soyinka, which, because it is transitory and always changing, underscores the ironies of modern city life. The thesis concludes that the authors discussed above are aware that music, because it is predominantly social in Africa, is a powerful medium for achieving a healing synthesis between the traditional past when communalistic values were binding, and the urban-orientated present with its insistence on individuation and material enrichment.
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An existential-phenomenological exploration of interracial love relationships in South Africa
- Authors: Ross, Christopher James
- Date: 1988
- Subjects: Interpersonal relations -- South Africa , South Africa -- Race relations
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2900 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002064
- Description: The aim of the study was to explicate the experience of interracial love relationships between Blacks and Whites in South Africa. As a point of departure, a basic question was established which would elicit the actual experience of this phenomenon. The researcher conducted twelve interviews and chose the six psychologically richest accounts. The researcher then analysed in detail (using the phenomenological method) the resulting protocols comprising the interviews. The researcher then explicated the experience and discovered that interracial love was a historical process of going through a relationship over time. The subjects experienced a particular historical background in the face of which they felt unfulfilled which brought about the potential to search for authenticity in a particular way. The subjects were placed in a situation where interracial love became a possibility. The subjects saw the other as human and fell in love. A new horizon emerged and a learning experience, about themselves and the world, occurred. The element of conflict was always present which was exacerbated by the South African Apartheid system. Subjects experienced fulfillment and disappointment depending on whether or not their historical demand was met. This structure of the experience was dialogued with the writings of existential-phenomenological philosophers and psychologists and also with that of previous research in the context of discussing particular areas of psychological significance such as historical background and Apartheid, racism, alienation, motives for interracial love, love and the universality of human nature and interracial love as a learning experience.
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Concept development in aspects of ecology
- Authors: Webb, Paul
- Date: 1988
- Subjects: Ecology -- Study and teaching
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1354 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001420
- Description: In this study food webs and a case study are used to investigate concepts which university students and high school pupils hold about ecology and the degree to which concept development has taken place at particular educational levels. The sample was drawn from first year zoology students and biology pupils in standards eight and ten. Present data indicate that students and pupils could solve problems involving the interactions of populations only if they were simple enough to be answered using strategies based on the food chain concept. Very few subjects could succesfully determine all the interacting pathways along which effects may be transmitted within a food web. The ability to determine all the pathways along which the effects of a change in population numbers within a community are spread, and to analyse the possible net manifestation of sometimes conflicting forces, requires a clear understanding of the concept of food web. An immature understanding of the food web concept by the subjects of this study is suggested as, in most cases, they identified alternate pathways within the food web when explicitly asked to do so, but did not apply this strategy when asked to solve problems based on the same principle. The case study also revealed immature ecological concepts. Responses by standard eight pupils indicate that the opportunity exists at this level to develop a clear and mature understanding of the concept of food web, while comparison of data provided by the three age groups suggests that if clear conceptual development regarding food webs does not take place at school, misconceptions are likely to persist among first year university students.
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Defined by wine : a study of sacramentalism in George Herbertʾs poetry
- Authors: Goddard, Kevin Graham
- Date: 1988
- Subjects: Herbert, George, 1593-1633 -- Criticism and interpretation , Christian poetry, English -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2177 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001828
- Description: This dissertation proposes that George Herbertʾs poetry may profitably be understood as a sacramental means by which the divine is made present in temporal existence. In order to support this claim, the relation between sacramental symbolism and literary symbolism, particularly Herbertʾs, is examined from a number of perspectives. The symbolic meanings suggested by Herbertʾs title (The Temple), and their relation to sacramentalism are considered in the opening chapter. This includes a consideration of some of the background to the analogical thinking prevalent in both the seventeenth-century and Herbert. It is followed in the second chapter by an examination of some of the modern theories about how literary symbolism may relate to sacramental symbolism, a discussion which is followed by a consideration of this dissertation's argument in relation to modern scholarship. The chapter ends with a reading of ʺThe Flowerʺ. The third chapter discusses the poet's attempt to imitate the divine by ʺcopyingʺ both Scripture and Nature, and this includes a consideration of the allegorical and hieroglyphic modes of thought prevalent in the poems. The concern with imitation encourages an examination of the poet's frequent invitation for God actually to assume the poet's role, and this is the subject of the fourth chapter. The argument suggests that the poet's attempt to ʺsacrificeʺ his own writing may be seen in his concern with corporate imagery and corporate (impersonal) structures. The five ʺAfflictionʺ poems are examined as examples of the first, while structures such as synecdoche and metonymy are examined as examples of the second. The final chapter considers aspects of narrative time in the poems, particularly the sense often evoked of the eternal being imminent in the present. This involves a consideration of both liturgical imagery, and what may be called liturgical structures as they can be seen to operate in the poems. Particular examples of the latter are the relation between the liturgical anamnesis and the poems, as well as certain narrative structures that may be called ʺachronisticʺ.
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Lovedale 1930-1955 : the study of a missionary institution in its social, educational and political context
- Authors: White, Timothy Raymond Howard
- Date: 1988
- Subjects: Lovedale Institution , History , South Africa , Education , African people
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2527 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001856
- Description: Lovedale was founded by the Glasgow Missionary Society as an eduational centre for Africans. Education was to be adapted to the lives of the Africans which would be a departure from the English classical tradition. This meant that emphasis was placed on vocational training and that academic education focussed on the study of English rather than the Classics. But the importance of mother-tongue education was also stressed. The missionaries placed emphasis on village education, whereby the African would be taught skills and crafts that would be useful to him in life. Education, they argued, should also aim at character-training and at spreading the Christian message. They also wanted to see co-operation between the Church and the State in the education of the African. Vocational education was designed to create African artisans who would be able to compete with Whites; but it also aimed at emphasizing the importance of industry in building up character. The Lovedale Press illustrates vocational training in progress, dealing with the difficulties that arose when African printers came into competition with Whites. But the missionaries also used the Press to propagate the Christian message and to promote African literature. An ideological rift began to open up between the missions and the new Black political beliefs of the Second World War. This led to the Lovedale Riot which is considered in the broader framework of sociopolitical unrest within the country. After the 1948 Election an ideological rift also developed between the missions and the State. This study concludes by examining the introduction of the Bantu Education Act and the Lovedale response to this. It was felt that although Bantu Education threatened to undermine their educational endeavour, they should nevertheless cooperate with the system in order to save what they had built up.
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