The significance of Nguni cattle with reference to traditional value in agriculture
- Authors: Nxoko, Lloyd Chumani
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs , Xhosa (African people) -- Rites and ceremonies , Nguni cattle -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/10243 , vital:26645
- Description: In the Xhosa culture, Nguni cattle have always been valued due to cultural rituals purpose but were not viewed from a development perspective. In fact, traditionally, in Xhosa society, cattle were used not only as primary sources of food such as milk, meat and other related secondary products, but in the performance of rituals. From milk one can get sour milk (amasi) which is a staple diet for both young ones and adults. Furthermore, butter, which was traditionally used for cosmetics purposes, is also derived from milk. Thus, the focus of this study is on the paradigm shift, as well as the role played by cattle in Xhosa cultural rituals and agriculture.
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- Date Issued: 2015
The socio-economic impact of a food production programme: Qamata irrigation scheme
- Authors: Mafu, Nozipho
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Food security -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Irrigation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/7772 , vital:24283
- Description: Irrigation Schemes were introduce to be hub for food production and provision of job opportunities for rural communities. The idea also focused on provision of water in most dry areas but with potential soil for production. The introduction of government food security program came as means to achieve these objectives by subsidizing farmers with inputs and mechanical operations so as to reduce cost of production. This paper analyses the social and economic impact of massive food program in changing the lives of communities at Qamata Irrigation scheme. The data were collected from households who were beneficiaries of massive food program at Qamata Irrigation scheme and analysed using a descriptive statistics. The results show that socio-economic factors which include storage facilities, access to markets channels, land acquisition and size, change in income limit the ability of farmers to produce and sell productively, since they cannot store their produce for better market prices and are also limited in terms of available market. They are forced to sell at local village level on credit or have their produce loss in poor storage facilities. Qamata irrigation scheme had limited access to formal markets and market information.
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- Date Issued: 2015
The sustainability of KwaZakhele's permaculture vegetable production project
- Authors: Jali, Sakhiwo
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Permaculture Vegetable gardening
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/12138 , vital:27036
- Description: The current study aimed at investigating the sustainability of KwaZakhele's Permaculture Project and was conducted in the Eastern Cape Province within the Nelson Mandela Metro Municipality at Ward 22 according to Municipal Ward demarcations. The researcher was motivated to carry out this study due to the fact that many food production projects in the NMMM are not sustainable and thus contribute to food insecurity and a high rate of unemployment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential of permaculture projects in solving some of the food insecurity and unemployment issues in the NMMM. The KwaZakhele Permaculture Project (KPP) is a vegetable garden which produces different types of vegetables for marketing purposes and for household consumption. The KPP is supported financially by overseas-based organisations and have created ten direct work opportunities for KwaZakhele community. All the project members of the KPP are women. A qualitative research approach was employed in this study, with the emphasis of collecting primary data from the project participants as well as consulting secondary data from sources such as academic journals, books and government policy documents. The study reveals that permaculture design training and project monitoring are the most important developmental support permaculture projects need before and after implementation. The study also determined that the costs of establishing permaculture project can be higher or lower depending on the project size. Consultation and co-ordination fees account for a greater portion of the funding followed by permaculture infrastructure. The results of the study also indicate that permaculture design principles and ethics are seen as a strength for the sustainability of KPP.
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- Date Issued: 2015
The ‘obesity epidemic’ : an analysis of representations of obesity in mainstream South African newspapers post-1997
- Authors: Malan, Chantelle Therese
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Obesity -- South Africa , Obesity -- Press coverage -- South Africa , Obesity -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Discrimination against overweight persons -- South Africa , Social medicine -- South Africa , Agent (Philosophy) , Social control -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2892 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1019751
- Description: This study of 449 newspaper articles from South Africa from 1997 provides an analysis of the representations of obesity evinced in the corpus. The research argues that obesity is overwhelmingly framed as being diseased and that there are four main refrains within this frame, namely, statistics on obesity, the naturalisation of negative assumptions about fat, the social dysfunction of fat and the use of crisis metaphors to describe fatness. This framing lends itself to representations of obesity which are raced, gendered and classed. Fat bodies are portrayed as being in deficit and fat people as lacking agency. The disproportional focus on black bodies in the corpus can be attributed to assumptions of ‘incivility’ which are premised on racial stereotypes which construct black people as being unintelligent, irrational, lacking agency and being largely dependent on others to survive. This disproportional focus on black bodies can also be understood in the context of emerging markets. This study argues that the medicalisation of obesity has contributed to many oversimplifications and contradictions in the representation of obesity in the corpus, which seem to go unquestioned, such as the conflation of weight and health, something I argue is one of the main contributors to the negative consequences of the dominant framing of obesity. Framing obesity as medicalised also promotes fat shaming and acts as a form of social control which maintains existing power relations through the use of discursive practices for the identification and control of deviants. These representations are problematic chiefly because they promote the dehumanisation of fat people, but also because that they do not promote good health as they claim to do.
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- Date Issued: 2015
Through the Burtonesque looking-glass : interrogating the psychoanalytic in Tim Burton's adaptation of selected children's texts
- Authors: Van Zyl, Simone
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Burton, Tim, -- 1958 Children's literature Psychoanalysis and literature
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/12304 , vital:39251
- Description: The primary aim of this thesis is to interrogate existing psychoanalytical theory, as well as to conduct research on ‘the Burtonesque’ in order to examine two of Tim Burton's filmic adaptations of classic literary works for children, namely: Alice in Wonderland (2010), an adaptation inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice books, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), based on Roald Dahl's novel of the same title. Firstly, the chapters will explore the psychological elements found in the original texts, which Burton amplifies in his onscreen adaptations by means of various stylistic and thematic techniques that have become known as ‘the Burtonesque’. Secondly, the ‘Burtonesque’ itself will be explored, and thirdly, by means of comparative analysis, the investigation will focus on the manner in which such aesthetics aid Burton in highlighting psychological concerns in his films, as well as interrogate his cinematic alterations to existing texts in order to further his purpose. As a keen enthusiast of psychology and having won awards within the field, Tim Burton, a foremost contemporary Hollywood filmmaker, in his adaptations of children’s classics, deliberately magnifies the psychoanalytic components that are often found in the tales. Through his unique interpretation, Burton brings the psychoanalytic approach to children’s stories to a new level. He explores certain themes such as death, childhood fantasies, psychological development and parental relationships, and makes use of specific artistic techniques that create a sense of the uncanny and defamiliarisation in the viewer. Due to his gothic cinematic approach, Burton is one of the most recognisable artists in his field, with a consistent vision that is concerned with cinematic and thematic aspects of his work, branding his films with a unique ‘Burtonesque’ quality that has become instantly identifiable. As a result of Burton’s psychological interest in children’s stories, Tim Burton’s film adaptations of the Dahl and Carroll classic children’s stories can be interrogated under a psychoanalytic lens. Psychoanalytic literary criticism is a method of literary analysis that is informed by the tradition of psychoanalysis established by Freud. In Burton scholarship, critical exploration should take the form of not only a close reading of the original text and analysis of the film version in order to come to a psychoanalytic interpretation, but by means of comparison of film and text, highlight the methods applied by psychoanalytic theory. A close comparative analysis of original literary works by Roald Dahl and Lewis Carroll, and Tim Burton’s filmic adaptations will be conducted in this study. Thereby, the manner in which Tim Burton employs specific techniques in order to emphasise the stories’ psychological components will be explored. Biographical information of Dahl and Lewis, as well as a short synopsis of their stories will be included in order to provide the context for psychoanalytical criticism. A discussion of ‘the Burtonesque’ will be provided, as well as a brief exploration of his adaptation history and Burton’s specific interest in psychology. Research methods to be applied in the analysis of the original texts and their film versions are psychoanalytic literary theory, drawing predominantly on the work of theorists: Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan and Carl Jung. A close examination of auteur theory, the unique voice Burton has established through his iconic cinematic techniques, now coined ‘the Burtonesque’, will also be applied to provide a fuller and rounder interrogation. The focus of this project is to investigate thempsychoanalytical elements found in the texts and films, in order to clearly illustrate how Tim Burton’s cinematic approach serves to highlight a psychoanalytic interpretation.
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- Date Issued: 2015
Training of officials in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality
- Authors: Charles, Kidwell
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Municipal officials and employees -- Training of , Local government -- South Africa -- East London , Customer relations -- South Africa -- East London
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/7659 , vital:22480
- Description: The impetus that informs the drive for developmental state that promotes growth and development centres on the local capacity of the local sphere of the government to effectively discharge its responsibilities. The essence of this study is to evaluate the training of officials in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality and assess the extent to which service delivery has impacted on the lives of the community within this area.
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- Date Issued: 2015
Tug of war : a critical discourse analysis of Punch and Daily Trust newspapers' coverage of polio eradication in Nigeria
- Authors: Oyewo, Ayanfeoluwa Olutosin
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Punch (Nigeria) , Daily Trust (Nigeria) , Poliomyelitis -- Nigeria , Communication in medicine -- Nigeria , Journalism -- Political aspects -- Nigeria , Journalistic ethics -- Nigeria , Journalism -- Objectivity -- Nigeria , Critical discourse analysis
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3546 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017787
- Description: The resurgence of the polio virus in Nigeria following vaccine rejections poses a severe threat to the total worldwide eradication of polio. Vaccine refusals are a huge problem in Nigeria, especially in the North, which accounts for about 60 percent of polio cases in 2013. These refusals were informed by claims that polio vaccines contained anti-fertility properties that were designed by the ‘West’ to reduce the Muslim population. These claims and subsequent vaccine rejections culminated in the killing of health workers during an immunisation exercise in February 2013. This study is an analysis of the coverage of the polio eradication controversy by two newspapers- Punch and Daily Trust, following the killings of the health workers. Daily Trust is situated in Northern Nigeria, while Punch is situated in the South. The choice of these newspapers is based on the argument by Ayodele (1988) and Omenugha (2004) that the Nigerian press has been accused of escalating tension in the country because they view many aspects of the Nigerian reality from the lenses of religious, political and cultural prejudices. Because it is a text-based study, the chosen research method is Fairclough’s (1995) model of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), following a preliminary thematic content analysis. In addition to Fairclough’s model, the study employs textual analytic tools such as narrative analysis and rhetoric/argumentative analysis. The selected texts, which comprise editorials and news stories are analysed based on the themes identified during the thematic content analysis. The study concludes that while the two newspapers differ in their locations and stylistic approach to news, they are similar in their coverage of the polio eradication crisis. They both side with the Federal Government and help perpetuate the South versus North animosity thereby ignoring the intricacies involved in the polio eradication controversy.
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- Date Issued: 2015
Understanding how students' relationships with their cellphones inform their experience of social participation online and offline
- Authors: Oosthuizen, Jess
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Cell phones -- South Africa -- Psychological aspects , Social participation , Cell phones -- South Africa -- Social aspects , College students -- South Africa , Social media addiction
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3264 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017887
- Description: The pervasive presence of cellphones in the lives of urban young people around the globe has led to widespread research to evaluate the impact that this device has on young people’s overall psychosocial development. This relationship is often characterised as “addictive”. This research study presents a unique South African youth perspective in a field of research that is predominantly conducted in the United States, Europe and Asia. It explores the relationship that students (ages 18–21) at Rhodes University have with their cellphones in order to understand how this device informs their experience of social participation online and offline. Central to the design of this study is a “social media detox” which involved the research participants volunteering to restrict their social media and cellphone use for an agreed-upon period of time. The study employs interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to uncover key themes from in-depth interviews before and after the detox. Eight respondents were interviewed twice; once before and once after their detox. This study provides insights into the integral role of a cellphone as reported from a young adult’s perspective. Communicating on social media platforms using a cellphone has become normalised among this age-group and the respondents described how the cellphone feels like “a part of you”. Unlike interacting face-to-face which is potentially awkward and involves effort, socialising on a cellphone offers the respondents a sense of companionship, control and instant access to their peer groups. The respondents in this study seemed unaware of their own agency in social situations until their participation in the social media detox. By participating in this study, the participants became more aware of how their cellphone use influences social behaviour, both online and offline. The study proposes that the term “addiction” undermines the positive association young people have with their cellphones. Instead, this study suggests that “social fitness” would be a more relevant construct through which to encourage and support young people to exercise agency in their social lives. This exploratory study raises new questions for researchers, programme developers and educators to take up in future studies and programme development
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- Date Issued: 2015
University students’ drinking motives : relationship with alcohol use
- Authors: Maphisa, Jabulani Maphisa
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: College students -- Alcohol use -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , College students -- South Africa -- Grahamstown -- Conduct of life , College students -- South Africa -- Grahamstown -- Attitudes , Motivation (Psychology) -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Social integration -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Adjustment (Psychology) -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Conformity -- South Africa -- Grahamstown
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3266 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1019760
- Description: Alcohol use among university students is a worldwide social and clinical reality. Understanding and addressing this phenomena is an imperative recognised by the government of South Africa and its Higher Education institutions, where student drinking has a plethora of negative consequences. This study builds on the work of Young and de Klerk (2012) with Rhodes University students by adding drinking motives to their findings of demographic correlates. The motivational model of alcohol use (Cox & Klinger, 1988) posits that drinking motives are a proximal predictor of alcohol use. The model further delineates four drinking motives (social, enhancement, coping, and conformity) which are hypothesized to lead to phenomenological distinct patterns of alcohol use. An online survey method was utilized to collect data and a representative sample of 501 students participated. Descriptive and inferential statistics were computed to address five research questions: (1) to establishing the current alcohol use trend; (2) to investigate the demographic factors associated with alcohol use; (3) to describe students‘ drinking motives; (4) to explore the correlates of drinking motives; and, finally, the primary aim was (5) to investigate whether students‘ drinking motives predicted alcohol use when controlling for the effects of descriptive drinking norms and demographic variables. The results indicate that 68.5% of participants currently consume alcohol, and 51.0 % of these drinking students consume five or more drinks during a drinking session. 20.7 % of the drinking students used alcohol at the harmful or alcohol dependent levels. Increased alcohol use was associated more with males, undergraduates, early onset drinkers, more disposable income, and students‘ perceptions of their peers‘ drinking. Students endorsed enhancement motives marginally more than social motives, followed by coping and conformity motives. Males, early onset drinkers, black students, and at risk (of alcohol use disorders) students endorsed more motives, especially social and enhancement motives. Of primary concern was the role of drinking motives on alcohol use after controlling for the effects of descriptive drinking norms. The four block hierarchical regression model which was run explained 38% of the variance in alcohol use. Drinking motives, particularly enhancement motives, displayed a statistically significant impact on alcohol use adding 11% to the variance. Additionally, age of alcohol use onset, monthly pocket money, age, and gender predicted alcohol use separately. The results of this study indicate that alcohol use has multi-factorial influences. Of note, the results confirmed the motivational model of alcohol use by indicating that alcohol use is partially motivational and that drinking behaviour is not a unitary phenomenon but instead it represents heterogeneity based on the affective change individuals anticipate to gain by drinking. The high binging rate (51%) among this sample may speak to the greater endorsement of enhancement motives, which have been shown in previous studies to be associated with heavy drinking. Enhancement motives are attempts to attain positive affect which, due to the psychoactive properties of alcohol, require greater consumption and intoxication. Additionally, as a result of the greater quantities of alcohol, individuals who drink for enhancement motives would be more prone to alcohol consequences. The results suggest that a multi-level intervention framework targeting individual students, the university community, and the surrounding community, is indicated. Furthermore, intervention may be tailored-made to address specific drinking motives.
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- Date Issued: 2015
Violence: an exploratory study of the lived experiences of violent re-offending youth
- Authors: O'Connell, Tracy
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Criminal psychology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Violent crimes -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Ecological Systems Theory -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Violent offenders -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/5236 , vital:20823
- Description: Although much research has been conducted on violence, its effects, and which circumstances put an individual at risk of becoming a potential victim, there is a paucity of studies that focus on the perpetrators of violence. Much of the literature available on this subject is dated, providing information which is already dated and, frequently no longer relevant. This research has sought to explore and understand violent crimes from the psychological and emotional standpoint of the individual who perpetrated them. One objective of the study was to facilitate the development of a profile of youths who chronically commit crime, and more specifically crimes of violence. This study utilised the qualitative research design of Phenomenology, which allows for the exploration of the phenomena from the perspective of the participants. The sample for this study consisted of five male individuals who are currently incarcerated in a correctional institution situated in the Eastern Cape. The sample was chosen according to the non-probability purposive-sampling technique, based on their relevance to the study. The selected male offenders from the correctional institution ages ranged between 18 and 31. Specific criteria were identified against which participants were measured in order to be selected to participate in the research. Data was obtained from the participants via a questionnaire, a journal, and semi-structured interviews conducted by the researcher. Other data for the study was obtained from official documents. The study was embedded in the ecological theory of Bronfenbrenner, which provided the psychological framework in which to explain and understand the results of the study and the development of violence. The major findings of this study include; growing up violently, the reasons for violence, justificationa and perseptions of violence, society and the culture of 10 violence, and the environmental impact. These findings will contribute to the development of treatment programmes, which better facilitate the reformation and rehabilitation of criminals.
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- Date Issued: 2015
Women farmers' representation in Botswana Agrinews Magazine
- Authors: Morupisi, Joseph
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Mass media and women -- Botswana , Women in agriculture -- Botswana
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/6567 , vital:21112
- Description: The Government of Botswana recognises the important role that women can play in the economic development of the country, particularly in the agricultural sector, with respect to food security at both household and national levels. The study sought to investigate how women in agriculture are represented in the Botswana Agrinews Magazine. Moreover, it sought to establish whether, and how, messages conveyed to audience by the Botswana Agrinews Magazine promote any type of social or economic interaction between farming communities, individuals and/or government and other stakeholders. The sources of data were the articles that reported on women farmers from the sample of the Botswana Agrinews Magazine, over 24 months, that is, from January 2012 to December 2013. This magazine under study is a government publication targeting the broad Botswana farming community. Critical discourse analysis revealed that women farmers participated in events associated with commercial horticultural farming, dry land farming (field crop production), in the arable farming sector, at Consumer Fairs and Regional Agricultural shows for Commercial Farmers respectively, as well as in pastoral farming sector events at Agricultural shows. They also participated in the arable farming sector agricultural activities for commercial horticultural farmers and those for subsistence dry land farming. Furthermore, the results revealed that women farmers encountered constraints in the different ventures, they undertook in both arable and pastoral farming. However, the reports showed that they received support from the government and/or other stakeholders to counteract their constraints. Furthermore, the analysis identified the coverage on the themes of (1) arable farming, (2) pastoral farming, (3) integrated farming, and (4) attitudes of both women in agriculture and Ministry of Agriculture workers, which promoted women farmers’ participation in the agricultural sector.
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- Date Issued: 2015
“Bold Distinguished You”: a critical discourse analysis of the representation of masculinity in Destiny Man, 2012 - 2013
- Authors: Hutcheson, Lauren
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/56032 , vital:26767
- Description: Radical social and economic changes have transformed the employment opportunities available to black men in South Africa, and consumer magazines like Destiny Man have been quick to respond. Historical shifts in the configuration of an ideal black masculinity have been proposed over time in magazine representations of black men. Critiques of the representations of black men in consumer magazines pre- and post- independence interrogate the politics of the ways in which black masculinity has been, and is, configured around classed identities. In this study, I present the findings of a critical discourse analysis (CDA) on the construction and representation of masculinity within a contemporary South African’s men’s lifestyle magazine, Destiny Man. This study presents an analysis of the subject positions that this magazine constructs for its male readers. Destiny Man proposes particular kinds of discursive subjects in its sets of representations, both in word and image. The images and copy validate a neo-liberal elite masculinity achieved through self-surveillance and a variety of technologies of self, with the ultimate focus on material success. I argue that these representations have implications for the development of masculinities in a context marked by extreme inequality.
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- Date Issued: 2015
Clinical psychologists' perceived barriers to the provision of psychological services for people with first-episode schizophrenia in urban public health care settings
- Authors: Barnwell, Garret Christopher
- Subjects: Clinical psychologists -- South Africa -- Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality , Schizophrenia -- Treatment -- South Africa -- Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality , Urban health -- South Africa -- Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality , Health facilities -- South Africa -- Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality -- Administration
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:10083 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1020304
- Description: This study explored and described the perception of clinical psychologists regarding thebarriers to the provision of psychological services in urban public health settings for people with first-episode schizophrenia. The qualitative research study utilised an explorative, descriptive interpretive research design. Purposive sampling was utilised to gain access to clinical psychologists, who had at least two years of public health experience working with people recently diagnosed with schizophrenia. Data was gathered from 11 participants from the Nelson Mandela Bay Health District of the Eastern Cape by means of in-depth interviews that were conducted in English by the researcher until data saturation had occurred. A computer-assisted qualitative thematic analysis of the collected data was conducted using NVIVO software. The findings have been categorised according to three broad domains: 1)contextual barriers 2)health care system-related barriers and 3)first-episode schizophrenia syndrome-related barriers. Several specific sub-themes were identified for each of these main domains allowing for recommendations and suggestions to be provided for attending to and overcoming these perceived barriers.
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