New ways of understanding: a governmentality analysis of basic education policy in post-apartheid South Africa
- Authors: Prinsloo, Estelle Helena
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: South Africa -- Department of Basic Education , Basic education -- Government policy -- Research -- South Africa , Post-apartheid era -- Education -- South Africa , Educational change -- Research -- South Africa , South Africa -- Social conditions
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2751 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001384
- Description: Social problems that are identified by government policy are articulated in ways that confer the responsibility of their management onto the state. In this way, policy reform serves as a means to justify political rule, as the ‘answers’ to policy failures are located within the realm of state intervention. This role of policy is maintained by the traditional definition of policy as it enables policies to be presented as the outcome of ‘necessary’ actions taken by state institutions to better the wellbeing of citizens. Since 1994, mainstream research on basic education policy in South Africa has employed traditional understandings of policy and its function. In doing so, these inquiries have failed to question the very idea of policy itself. They have also neglected to identify the productive role played by policy in the practice of power. To illuminate the necessary limits of policy reform, an alternative approach to analyse basic education policy is necessary. This thesis premises policy as discourse and advances a governmentality analysis of basic education policy during the first fifteen years of democracy (1994-2009) in South Africa. By drawing on the work of Michel Foucault, the study argues that government – ‘those actions upon the actions of others’ – during this period in South Africa was informed by both a liberal and a neo-liberal mentality of rule. The tensions between these two rationalities contributed to the continuation of apartheid’s socio-economic inequalities in the postapartheid era; an outcome buttressed by the contradictory impulses within basic education policy. By considering policy as a productive translation of governmental reasoning, the boundaries of intervention for future policy reforms are highlighted. These show that the inequalities that were perpetuated during the first fifteen years of democracy justify policy responses similar to those responsible for their production
- Full Text:
- Authors: Prinsloo, Estelle Helena
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: South Africa -- Department of Basic Education , Basic education -- Government policy -- Research -- South Africa , Post-apartheid era -- Education -- South Africa , Educational change -- Research -- South Africa , South Africa -- Social conditions
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2751 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001384
- Description: Social problems that are identified by government policy are articulated in ways that confer the responsibility of their management onto the state. In this way, policy reform serves as a means to justify political rule, as the ‘answers’ to policy failures are located within the realm of state intervention. This role of policy is maintained by the traditional definition of policy as it enables policies to be presented as the outcome of ‘necessary’ actions taken by state institutions to better the wellbeing of citizens. Since 1994, mainstream research on basic education policy in South Africa has employed traditional understandings of policy and its function. In doing so, these inquiries have failed to question the very idea of policy itself. They have also neglected to identify the productive role played by policy in the practice of power. To illuminate the necessary limits of policy reform, an alternative approach to analyse basic education policy is necessary. This thesis premises policy as discourse and advances a governmentality analysis of basic education policy during the first fifteen years of democracy (1994-2009) in South Africa. By drawing on the work of Michel Foucault, the study argues that government – ‘those actions upon the actions of others’ – during this period in South Africa was informed by both a liberal and a neo-liberal mentality of rule. The tensions between these two rationalities contributed to the continuation of apartheid’s socio-economic inequalities in the postapartheid era; an outcome buttressed by the contradictory impulses within basic education policy. By considering policy as a productive translation of governmental reasoning, the boundaries of intervention for future policy reforms are highlighted. These show that the inequalities that were perpetuated during the first fifteen years of democracy justify policy responses similar to those responsible for their production
- Full Text:
Portfolio
- Hogge, Quentin Edward Somerville
- Authors: Hogge, Quentin Edward Somerville
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Poetry , Post-apartheid , Environment , South African poetry (English) -- 21st century , Creative writing (Higher education) , English language -- Writing
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:5963 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001813
- Description: My initial intention is to try to show how, as a poet in South Africa, I suffer from a creative identity crisis. I am a white English-speaking male. I live surrounded by isiXhosa-speaking people. Is my poetry, or will my poetry be, relevant in the ‘New’ South Africa? Is English, the language of the colonial oppressors, the appropriate medium in the post-apartheid milieu? Will my subject matter be relevant? These questions and my attempts at answering them, form the basis of the poetry and the portfolio that accompanies the poems. My absorption with finding a creative ‘voice’, my concerns with the environment and a questioning of what post-apartheid poetry should write about all seem a bit Quixotic, especially to me! But at another level, they are deeply serious. (p. 5.)
- Full Text:
- Authors: Hogge, Quentin Edward Somerville
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Poetry , Post-apartheid , Environment , South African poetry (English) -- 21st century , Creative writing (Higher education) , English language -- Writing
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:5963 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001813
- Description: My initial intention is to try to show how, as a poet in South Africa, I suffer from a creative identity crisis. I am a white English-speaking male. I live surrounded by isiXhosa-speaking people. Is my poetry, or will my poetry be, relevant in the ‘New’ South Africa? Is English, the language of the colonial oppressors, the appropriate medium in the post-apartheid milieu? Will my subject matter be relevant? These questions and my attempts at answering them, form the basis of the poetry and the portfolio that accompanies the poems. My absorption with finding a creative ‘voice’, my concerns with the environment and a questioning of what post-apartheid poetry should write about all seem a bit Quixotic, especially to me! But at another level, they are deeply serious. (p. 5.)
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The development of an arousal and anxiety control mental skills training programme for the Rhodes University archery club
- Authors: Chiweshe, Malvern Tatenda
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Anxiety , Arousal , Mental skills , Training , Sports -- Psychological aspects -- Research -- South Africa , Archers -- Training of -- Research -- South Africa , Archers -- Psychological aspects -- Research -- South Africa , Psychology, Applied
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2917 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002082
- Description: Research on the development of Mental Skills Training (MST) programmes in sport psychology has largely increased as sport has become more competitive. MST programmes have been seen to improve the performance of athletes. This particular research study focuses on the development of an anxiety and arousal control MST programme designed specifically for, and tailored exclusively to, the needs of four archers from the Rhodes Archery Club in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. The development of the programme was guided by the Organisational Development Process model as the research methodology design. Data from two quantitative measures (CSAI-2 and Sport Grid-R), a focus group, and an individual interview were integrated with currently existing mental skills literature and theory to devise this particular MST programme. The results of the assessment phase showed that individual archers have different experiences in how anxiety and arousal affect their performances. The results also showed that archers have different zones in which they feel their performance is good. These zones depend on their subjective interpretations of anxiety and arousal. The results also showed that other factors that include personality differences, level of experience and level of expertise also influence how anxiety and arousal affect performance. The archers had previous exposure to MST programmes although they had not received systematic training in mental skills training. The programme was developed in the form of MST workshops that would run over a three week period. As part of the programme the archers would be given a mental skills manual to aid in the mental skills training. It is recommended in future that more research in MST programmes be done as a way of improving the performance of athletes in South Africa
- Full Text:
- Authors: Chiweshe, Malvern Tatenda
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Anxiety , Arousal , Mental skills , Training , Sports -- Psychological aspects -- Research -- South Africa , Archers -- Training of -- Research -- South Africa , Archers -- Psychological aspects -- Research -- South Africa , Psychology, Applied
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2917 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002082
- Description: Research on the development of Mental Skills Training (MST) programmes in sport psychology has largely increased as sport has become more competitive. MST programmes have been seen to improve the performance of athletes. This particular research study focuses on the development of an anxiety and arousal control MST programme designed specifically for, and tailored exclusively to, the needs of four archers from the Rhodes Archery Club in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. The development of the programme was guided by the Organisational Development Process model as the research methodology design. Data from two quantitative measures (CSAI-2 and Sport Grid-R), a focus group, and an individual interview were integrated with currently existing mental skills literature and theory to devise this particular MST programme. The results of the assessment phase showed that individual archers have different experiences in how anxiety and arousal affect their performances. The results also showed that archers have different zones in which they feel their performance is good. These zones depend on their subjective interpretations of anxiety and arousal. The results also showed that other factors that include personality differences, level of experience and level of expertise also influence how anxiety and arousal affect performance. The archers had previous exposure to MST programmes although they had not received systematic training in mental skills training. The programme was developed in the form of MST workshops that would run over a three week period. As part of the programme the archers would be given a mental skills manual to aid in the mental skills training. It is recommended in future that more research in MST programmes be done as a way of improving the performance of athletes in South Africa
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The family in Shakespeare's plays: a study of South African revisions
- Authors: Hjul, Lauren Martha
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Parents , Parental bonds , Family , Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- In literature -- Research , Coetzee, J M, 1940-. Disgrace , Gordimer, Nadine. My son's story , Peteni, R L, 1915-. Hill of fools , English drama -- 17th century -- History and criticism , Families in literature , English literature -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2181 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001832
- Description: This thesis provides a detailed consideration of the family in Shakespeare’s canon and the engagement therewith in three South African novels: Hill of Fools (1976) by R. L. Peteni, My Son’s Story (1990) by Nadine Gordimer, and Disgrace (1999) by J. M. Coetzee. The study is divided into an introduction, three chapters each addressing one of the South African novels and its relationship with a Shakespeare text or texts, and a conclusion. The introductory chapter provides an analysis of the two strands of criticism in which the thesis is situated – studies of the family in Shakespeare and studies of appropriations of Shakespeare – and discusses the ways in which these two strands may be combined through a detailed discussion of the presence of power dynamics in the relationship between parent and child in all of the texts considered. The three chapters each contextualise the South African text and provide detailed discussions of the family dynamics within the relevant texts, with particular reference to questions of authority and autonomy. The focus in each chapter is determined by the nature of the intertextual relationship between the South African novel and the Shakespearean text being discussed. Thus, the first chapter, “The Dissolution of Familial Structures in Hill of Fools” considers power dynamics in the family as an inherent part of the Romeo and Juliet genre, of which William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is but a part. Similarly, the impact of a socio-political identity, and the secrecy it necessitates, is the focus of the second chapter, “Fathers, Sons and Legacy in My Son’s Story” as is the role of Shakespeare and literature within South Africa. These concerns are connected to the novel’s use of Shakespeare’s Sonnets, King Lear, and Hamlet. In the third chapter, “Reclaiming Agency through the Daughter in Disgrace and The Tempest”, I expand on Laurence Wright’s argument that Disgrace is an engagement with The Tempest and consider ways in which the altered power dynamic between father and daughter results in the reconciliation of the father figure with society. The thesis thus addresses the tension between parental bonds and parental bondage
- Full Text:
- Authors: Hjul, Lauren Martha
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Parents , Parental bonds , Family , Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- In literature -- Research , Coetzee, J M, 1940-. Disgrace , Gordimer, Nadine. My son's story , Peteni, R L, 1915-. Hill of fools , English drama -- 17th century -- History and criticism , Families in literature , English literature -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2181 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001832
- Description: This thesis provides a detailed consideration of the family in Shakespeare’s canon and the engagement therewith in three South African novels: Hill of Fools (1976) by R. L. Peteni, My Son’s Story (1990) by Nadine Gordimer, and Disgrace (1999) by J. M. Coetzee. The study is divided into an introduction, three chapters each addressing one of the South African novels and its relationship with a Shakespeare text or texts, and a conclusion. The introductory chapter provides an analysis of the two strands of criticism in which the thesis is situated – studies of the family in Shakespeare and studies of appropriations of Shakespeare – and discusses the ways in which these two strands may be combined through a detailed discussion of the presence of power dynamics in the relationship between parent and child in all of the texts considered. The three chapters each contextualise the South African text and provide detailed discussions of the family dynamics within the relevant texts, with particular reference to questions of authority and autonomy. The focus in each chapter is determined by the nature of the intertextual relationship between the South African novel and the Shakespearean text being discussed. Thus, the first chapter, “The Dissolution of Familial Structures in Hill of Fools” considers power dynamics in the family as an inherent part of the Romeo and Juliet genre, of which William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is but a part. Similarly, the impact of a socio-political identity, and the secrecy it necessitates, is the focus of the second chapter, “Fathers, Sons and Legacy in My Son’s Story” as is the role of Shakespeare and literature within South Africa. These concerns are connected to the novel’s use of Shakespeare’s Sonnets, King Lear, and Hamlet. In the third chapter, “Reclaiming Agency through the Daughter in Disgrace and The Tempest”, I expand on Laurence Wright’s argument that Disgrace is an engagement with The Tempest and consider ways in which the altered power dynamic between father and daughter results in the reconciliation of the father figure with society. The thesis thus addresses the tension between parental bonds and parental bondage
- Full Text:
The new Africans: a textual analysis of the construction of 'African-ness' in Chaz Maviyane-Davies' 1996 poster depictions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- Authors: Garman, Brian Donald
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Human rights , Posters , African perspective , Stereotypes , Black men , Maviyane-Davies, Chaz -- Criticism and interpretation , Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- Posters -- Research , Ethnicity -- Research -- Africa , Human rights -- Africa , Pan-Africanism
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3413 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001844
- Description: In 1996, Zimbabwean graphic designer Chaz Maviyane-Davies created a set of human rights posters which represent several articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, from what he calls an “African perspective”. In this study I investigate how Maviyane-Davies has constructed ‘African-ness’ and probe what he refers to as the “alternative aesthetic” that he is trying to create. I use a visual social semiotic approach to examine the discourses he draws on to re-image and re-imagine Africa and Africans in a manner that contests the stereotypical representations found in political, news and economic discourses about Africa, paying particular attention to the ways he uses images of the body. My analysis of the posters shows how complex and difficult it can be to contest regimes of representation that work to fix racialised and derogatory meanings. In response to the pejorative stereotypes of the black body, Maviyane-Davies uses images of strong, healthy, and magnificent people (mostly men) to construct a more affirmative representation of Africa and Africans. Significantly, he draws on sports, touristic, traditional and hegemonic discourses of masculinity in an attempt to expand the complexity and range of possible representations of African-ness. In so doing he runs the risk of reproducing many of the stereotypes that sustain not only the racialised and gendered (masculinist) representations of Africa, but also a sentimentalisation and romanticisation of a place, a people and their traditions. Apart from women in prominent positions, other conspicuous absences from these images include white people and hegemonic references to Western modernity. I do not believe he is discarding whites and modernity as un-African, but is rejecting the naturalisation of whiteness as standing in for humanity, and particular icons of Western modernity as significations of ‘modernity’ itself
- Full Text:
- Authors: Garman, Brian Donald
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Human rights , Posters , African perspective , Stereotypes , Black men , Maviyane-Davies, Chaz -- Criticism and interpretation , Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- Posters -- Research , Ethnicity -- Research -- Africa , Human rights -- Africa , Pan-Africanism
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3413 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001844
- Description: In 1996, Zimbabwean graphic designer Chaz Maviyane-Davies created a set of human rights posters which represent several articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, from what he calls an “African perspective”. In this study I investigate how Maviyane-Davies has constructed ‘African-ness’ and probe what he refers to as the “alternative aesthetic” that he is trying to create. I use a visual social semiotic approach to examine the discourses he draws on to re-image and re-imagine Africa and Africans in a manner that contests the stereotypical representations found in political, news and economic discourses about Africa, paying particular attention to the ways he uses images of the body. My analysis of the posters shows how complex and difficult it can be to contest regimes of representation that work to fix racialised and derogatory meanings. In response to the pejorative stereotypes of the black body, Maviyane-Davies uses images of strong, healthy, and magnificent people (mostly men) to construct a more affirmative representation of Africa and Africans. Significantly, he draws on sports, touristic, traditional and hegemonic discourses of masculinity in an attempt to expand the complexity and range of possible representations of African-ness. In so doing he runs the risk of reproducing many of the stereotypes that sustain not only the racialised and gendered (masculinist) representations of Africa, but also a sentimentalisation and romanticisation of a place, a people and their traditions. Apart from women in prominent positions, other conspicuous absences from these images include white people and hegemonic references to Western modernity. I do not believe he is discarding whites and modernity as un-African, but is rejecting the naturalisation of whiteness as standing in for humanity, and particular icons of Western modernity as significations of ‘modernity’ itself
- Full Text:
The talisman
- Authors: Reed, Graham Conan
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Fiction , Short stories , English , South Africa , Creative writing (Higher education) , Short stories, South African (English) -- 21st century , South African fiction (English) -- 21st century , English language -- Writing
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:5967 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001817
- Description: The Talisman is an adventure story set in a future where much of today's cultural memory and technology has been lost. Following a hunting accident, a young man named Forest survives a life-threatening wound and embarks on a quest for knowledge. Rising sea levels, bands of marauders, wild animals and the perils of survival in the broken world are not the only problems facing the survivors. The nature of the collapse of the society, what triggered it and its subsequent unfolding, bequeaths an existential quandary upon them that only Forest, and a rare text as old as the earth itself, can unravel
- Full Text:
- Authors: Reed, Graham Conan
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Fiction , Short stories , English , South Africa , Creative writing (Higher education) , Short stories, South African (English) -- 21st century , South African fiction (English) -- 21st century , English language -- Writing
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:5967 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001817
- Description: The Talisman is an adventure story set in a future where much of today's cultural memory and technology has been lost. Following a hunting accident, a young man named Forest survives a life-threatening wound and embarks on a quest for knowledge. Rising sea levels, bands of marauders, wild animals and the perils of survival in the broken world are not the only problems facing the survivors. The nature of the collapse of the society, what triggered it and its subsequent unfolding, bequeaths an existential quandary upon them that only Forest, and a rare text as old as the earth itself, can unravel
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Vital threats to human security in Southern Africa : the regional ramifications of the public health crisis in Zimbabwe
- Authors: Mtero, Shingirai
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Human security -- Africa, Southern , Communicable diseases -- Africa, Southern , Public health -- Zimbabwe , Poverty -- Africa, Southern
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2891 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018251
- Description: The southern African region is beset with numerous security concerns: pervasive poverty, deepening inequality, starvation, contamination of essential natural resources, violent crime and state oppression. However, the most vital of the region’s security concerns in the 21st century is the spread of infectious disease. The region shoulders a disproportionate amount of the continent’s infectious disease burden, with diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria claiming more lives every year than any other factor. The nature of these diseases and their propensity to spread, coupled with inadequate regional public health structures pose a significant threat to regional security and stability. The study asserts that southern Africa’s security concerns are most appropriately characterised under the paradigm of Human Security. It further asserts that if such vital threats to human security are not adequately managed they have the ability to permeate across state borders, spelling numerous negative ramifications for the region. To this end, the study details the public health crisis in Zimbabwe and its effects on regional security and stability in southern Africa. An enduring political and economic collapse in Zimbabwe led to the dramatic deterioration of its public health sector, the concomitant mass migration of Zimbabwean nationals across the region presented a unique and complex challenge to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and its member states. As the premier regional governance institution, SADC has failed to adequately mobilise its structures and member states to respond to the challenges resulting from the public health crisis in Zimbabwe. The study explores the factors accounting for this regional inertia, and asserts that while infectious diseases are at present the most vital of the human security threats, similar threats to human security have the potential to affect the region if SADC fails to recognise and prioritise threats to human security as legitimate regional security concerns.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Mtero, Shingirai
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Human security -- Africa, Southern , Communicable diseases -- Africa, Southern , Public health -- Zimbabwe , Poverty -- Africa, Southern
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2891 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018251
- Description: The southern African region is beset with numerous security concerns: pervasive poverty, deepening inequality, starvation, contamination of essential natural resources, violent crime and state oppression. However, the most vital of the region’s security concerns in the 21st century is the spread of infectious disease. The region shoulders a disproportionate amount of the continent’s infectious disease burden, with diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria claiming more lives every year than any other factor. The nature of these diseases and their propensity to spread, coupled with inadequate regional public health structures pose a significant threat to regional security and stability. The study asserts that southern Africa’s security concerns are most appropriately characterised under the paradigm of Human Security. It further asserts that if such vital threats to human security are not adequately managed they have the ability to permeate across state borders, spelling numerous negative ramifications for the region. To this end, the study details the public health crisis in Zimbabwe and its effects on regional security and stability in southern Africa. An enduring political and economic collapse in Zimbabwe led to the dramatic deterioration of its public health sector, the concomitant mass migration of Zimbabwean nationals across the region presented a unique and complex challenge to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and its member states. As the premier regional governance institution, SADC has failed to adequately mobilise its structures and member states to respond to the challenges resulting from the public health crisis in Zimbabwe. The study explores the factors accounting for this regional inertia, and asserts that while infectious diseases are at present the most vital of the human security threats, similar threats to human security have the potential to affect the region if SADC fails to recognise and prioritise threats to human security as legitimate regional security concerns.
- Full Text:
Who knew
- Authors: Gaunt, Hailey Kathryn
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Poetry , Memory , Nature , Marriage , Faith , Death , Meaning , English language -- Writing , South African poetry (English) -- 21st century , Creative writing (Higher education)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:5962 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001812
- Description: This book of poems ranges in style from narrative to condensed lyric moment, and shifts in perspective from observation to introspection. Thematically, these poems explore everyday life through its many manifestations – memory, nature, marriage, faith and death – with an emphasis on finding meaning in absolutely ordinary things. Though their tone is often vulnerable and tender, even when it is more distant the poems are always searching.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Gaunt, Hailey Kathryn
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Poetry , Memory , Nature , Marriage , Faith , Death , Meaning , English language -- Writing , South African poetry (English) -- 21st century , Creative writing (Higher education)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:5962 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001812
- Description: This book of poems ranges in style from narrative to condensed lyric moment, and shifts in perspective from observation to introspection. Thematically, these poems explore everyday life through its many manifestations – memory, nature, marriage, faith and death – with an emphasis on finding meaning in absolutely ordinary things. Though their tone is often vulnerable and tender, even when it is more distant the poems are always searching.
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Negotiating family planning radio messages among Malawian rural men of traditional authority Kadewere, Chiradzulo district
- Authors: Ntaba, Jolly Maxwell
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Family planning -- Malawi , Birth control -- Malawi , Radio advertising -- Campaigns -- Malawi , Men -- Attitudes
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3548 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018258
- Description: Family planning campaigns, using the media among other advocacy interventions, are produced and disseminated by both government and nongovernment organizations in Malawi, with an aim of reducing fertility and promotion of reproductive health. This qualitative audience study looks specifically at the reception by rural men of radio broadcast Public Service Announcements produced by the NGO, Banja La Mtsogolo, a leading provider of family planning services and products based in Blantyre. The aim of the study is to understand how the appropriation of these messages relates to traditional concepts of gender, masculinity and kinship within an area that has not been spared the influences, values and accoutrements of modernity. Underpinned by Hall’s encoding and decoding model, the study reveals that at most men make an oppositional reading of the texts based on their lived and shared cultural experiences. The results show that while people understand and appreciate the importance of family planning, cultural and traditional influences play a major role in how these messages are appropriated by and incorporated into the everyday lives of their listeners. Given the above understandings, the research asks what are the implications for the success of family-planning media campaigns by government and other non-governmental organisations such as Banja La Mtsogolo
- Full Text:
- Authors: Ntaba, Jolly Maxwell
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Family planning -- Malawi , Birth control -- Malawi , Radio advertising -- Campaigns -- Malawi , Men -- Attitudes
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3548 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018258
- Description: Family planning campaigns, using the media among other advocacy interventions, are produced and disseminated by both government and nongovernment organizations in Malawi, with an aim of reducing fertility and promotion of reproductive health. This qualitative audience study looks specifically at the reception by rural men of radio broadcast Public Service Announcements produced by the NGO, Banja La Mtsogolo, a leading provider of family planning services and products based in Blantyre. The aim of the study is to understand how the appropriation of these messages relates to traditional concepts of gender, masculinity and kinship within an area that has not been spared the influences, values and accoutrements of modernity. Underpinned by Hall’s encoding and decoding model, the study reveals that at most men make an oppositional reading of the texts based on their lived and shared cultural experiences. The results show that while people understand and appreciate the importance of family planning, cultural and traditional influences play a major role in how these messages are appropriated by and incorporated into the everyday lives of their listeners. Given the above understandings, the research asks what are the implications for the success of family-planning media campaigns by government and other non-governmental organisations such as Banja La Mtsogolo
- Full Text:
Seductive Manoeuvres: an analysis of the use of feminist performance strategies as a means of staging alternative sexualities in two dance theatre works
- Authors: Barnard, Joni
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76823 , vital:30627
- Description: Located within the discipline of Performance Studies, this thesis seeks to validate performance and theatre, specifically dance theatre, as legitimate fields of research and enquiry that can enrich the polemics surrounding discourse, representation, the body and identity. Within this thesis I explore and analyse the creative processes and performance strategies used in two dance theatres works: Acty Tang’s Chaste (2007) and my own work entitled Displayed and Framed (2008) and how these strategies support the staging of alternative sexualities. I argue that the staging of alternative sexualities calls for an alternative approach to the performance strategies utilised in the production of space, the representations of the body and the use of text in both works. Each work offers a particular exploration of gender and sexuality in the attempt to represent alternative identities, alternative bodies and alternative sexualities. In this thesis I identify the endeavour to stage ‘otherness’ as a feminist endeavour and thus identify the performance strategies utilised in each work as feminist performance strategies. Through my analysis I wish to highlight the ways in which a feminist approach can contribute to and enrich both the staging of and understanding of alternative sexualities. In both Chaste (2007) and Displayed and Framed (2008), the choreographers of each work are also performers in their own work in an endeavour to explore and represent their own identity. The analysis of my own work requires that I play the multiple roles of choreographer, performer and researcher. In this analysis I provide accounts of my own experiences, processes and struggles of creating Displayed and Framed (2008) which are analysed in conjunction with my readings of Chaste (2007) and Tang’s personal experiences in creating the work. Thus this thesis explores the value of reflection and self reflectivity in the processes of creating performance.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Barnard, Joni
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76823 , vital:30627
- Description: Located within the discipline of Performance Studies, this thesis seeks to validate performance and theatre, specifically dance theatre, as legitimate fields of research and enquiry that can enrich the polemics surrounding discourse, representation, the body and identity. Within this thesis I explore and analyse the creative processes and performance strategies used in two dance theatres works: Acty Tang’s Chaste (2007) and my own work entitled Displayed and Framed (2008) and how these strategies support the staging of alternative sexualities. I argue that the staging of alternative sexualities calls for an alternative approach to the performance strategies utilised in the production of space, the representations of the body and the use of text in both works. Each work offers a particular exploration of gender and sexuality in the attempt to represent alternative identities, alternative bodies and alternative sexualities. In this thesis I identify the endeavour to stage ‘otherness’ as a feminist endeavour and thus identify the performance strategies utilised in each work as feminist performance strategies. Through my analysis I wish to highlight the ways in which a feminist approach can contribute to and enrich both the staging of and understanding of alternative sexualities. In both Chaste (2007) and Displayed and Framed (2008), the choreographers of each work are also performers in their own work in an endeavour to explore and represent their own identity. The analysis of my own work requires that I play the multiple roles of choreographer, performer and researcher. In this analysis I provide accounts of my own experiences, processes and struggles of creating Displayed and Framed (2008) which are analysed in conjunction with my readings of Chaste (2007) and Tang’s personal experiences in creating the work. Thus this thesis explores the value of reflection and self reflectivity in the processes of creating performance.
- Full Text:
The disempowering faces of the flexible firm: a case study of Gaborone Private Hospital
- Authors: Makorie, Theona Tariro
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Gaberone Private Hospital -- Employees , Gaberone Private Hospital -- Personnel management , Gaberone Private Hospital -- Management , Nursing services -- Administration , Nurses -- Employment -- Botswana , Nursing -- Law and legislation -- Botswana , Hospitals -- Medical staff -- Botswana , Hospitals -- Administration -- Botswana
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3352
- Description: The purpose of the study was to investigate the ways in which the practice of t the Flexible Firm Model (FFM) disempowered the non-citizen professional nurses at Gaborone Private Hospital (GPH) in Gaborone, Botswana. GPH is a member of the Life Health care group of private hospitals based in South Africa. This study sought to probe the manner in which the practice of FFM influenced the employment relationship for non-citizen professional nurses. It also sought to examine the impact of the nature of the employment relationship on career development and representation and participation. Both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies were applied. Questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data. Thirty-five questionnaires were issued out to professional nursing staff and thirty-three responses were received. The response rate was ninety-four percent. The qualitative research data consisted of twelve in-depth interviews with professional nurses, the human resources manager , a professional nurse agency owner and a private clinic co-owner. Document analysis in the form of labour legislation, employee guides and employment contracts was used to validate data collected from the in-depth interviews. The results from the questionnaire revealed that an overwhelming majority of the professional nurses were Non-Citizens' dependent contractors. Although just under half of the participants held two or more previous contracts with GPH, an overwhelming majority had never been promoted. In addition, none of the participants were affiliated to the Botswana Nurses Association (BNA), the local equivalency of a professional nursing trade union. The in-depth interviews disclosed a sense of helplessness at their perceived disempowerment within the employment relationship, a poor career development and weak representation and participation. This study concluded that disempowerment at GPH was manifested through worker representation and participation and in effective skill upgrade. These forms of disempowerment were made worse by the global professional nurse shortage and maladministration of avail able human resources. Effective use of human resources and continued education could be employed to circumvent the adverse results of disempowerment.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Makorie, Theona Tariro
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Gaberone Private Hospital -- Employees , Gaberone Private Hospital -- Personnel management , Gaberone Private Hospital -- Management , Nursing services -- Administration , Nurses -- Employment -- Botswana , Nursing -- Law and legislation -- Botswana , Hospitals -- Medical staff -- Botswana , Hospitals -- Administration -- Botswana
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3352
- Description: The purpose of the study was to investigate the ways in which the practice of t the Flexible Firm Model (FFM) disempowered the non-citizen professional nurses at Gaborone Private Hospital (GPH) in Gaborone, Botswana. GPH is a member of the Life Health care group of private hospitals based in South Africa. This study sought to probe the manner in which the practice of FFM influenced the employment relationship for non-citizen professional nurses. It also sought to examine the impact of the nature of the employment relationship on career development and representation and participation. Both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies were applied. Questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data. Thirty-five questionnaires were issued out to professional nursing staff and thirty-three responses were received. The response rate was ninety-four percent. The qualitative research data consisted of twelve in-depth interviews with professional nurses, the human resources manager , a professional nurse agency owner and a private clinic co-owner. Document analysis in the form of labour legislation, employee guides and employment contracts was used to validate data collected from the in-depth interviews. The results from the questionnaire revealed that an overwhelming majority of the professional nurses were Non-Citizens' dependent contractors. Although just under half of the participants held two or more previous contracts with GPH, an overwhelming majority had never been promoted. In addition, none of the participants were affiliated to the Botswana Nurses Association (BNA), the local equivalency of a professional nursing trade union. The in-depth interviews disclosed a sense of helplessness at their perceived disempowerment within the employment relationship, a poor career development and weak representation and participation. This study concluded that disempowerment at GPH was manifested through worker representation and participation and in effective skill upgrade. These forms of disempowerment were made worse by the global professional nurse shortage and maladministration of avail able human resources. Effective use of human resources and continued education could be employed to circumvent the adverse results of disempowerment.
- Full Text:
Primary caregivers' experience of raising children with autism: a phenomenological perspective
- Authors: Swanepoel, Yolandi
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Autism in children Autistic children Autism in children -- Diagnosis Parents of autistic children
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3067 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002576
- Description: Autism occupies an extreme position among childhood pathologies due to its severity, duration and impact on the family. In this qualitative study, four primary caregivers of autistic children were interviewed regarding their experiences of the diagnostic process, their post-diagnostic adjustment, and how helping professionals can improve their service rendering to these families. This study utilised a phenomenological approach to look at primary caregivers as the best-informed authority to explore and describe their lived realities and experiences of raising their autistic children in South Africa. The rationale for a phenomenological approach in this study is that such an interpretative inquiry enables material to be collected and analysed within the specific context of the subjective realities of primary caregivers of autistic children in South Africa. The researcher utilised semi-structured, in-depth, face-to-face interviews as method of data collection. Each participant was interviewed over the course of three separate interviews. The themes and categories that resulted from a content analysis of the material were grouped into two broad fields of experience, namely: (1) experiences surrounding the diagnostic process; and (2) the pervasive influence of autism on different areas of family life. In terms of experiences surrounding children’s diagnosis, four themes were identified: (1) Being a new parent and making sense out of chaos; (2) Responsibility and blame; (3) Confusion and disillusionment during early experiences with helping professionals; and (4) Feelings about the diagnosis. The pervasive influence of autism on different areas of family life includes: (5) Strained family relationships; (6) Challenges of behaviour management and disciplining the autistic child; (7) Challenges of finding suitable resources for education and day-care; and (8) Maintaining the family unit and doing things as a family.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Swanepoel, Yolandi
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Autism in children Autistic children Autism in children -- Diagnosis Parents of autistic children
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3067 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002576
- Description: Autism occupies an extreme position among childhood pathologies due to its severity, duration and impact on the family. In this qualitative study, four primary caregivers of autistic children were interviewed regarding their experiences of the diagnostic process, their post-diagnostic adjustment, and how helping professionals can improve their service rendering to these families. This study utilised a phenomenological approach to look at primary caregivers as the best-informed authority to explore and describe their lived realities and experiences of raising their autistic children in South Africa. The rationale for a phenomenological approach in this study is that such an interpretative inquiry enables material to be collected and analysed within the specific context of the subjective realities of primary caregivers of autistic children in South Africa. The researcher utilised semi-structured, in-depth, face-to-face interviews as method of data collection. Each participant was interviewed over the course of three separate interviews. The themes and categories that resulted from a content analysis of the material were grouped into two broad fields of experience, namely: (1) experiences surrounding the diagnostic process; and (2) the pervasive influence of autism on different areas of family life. In terms of experiences surrounding children’s diagnosis, four themes were identified: (1) Being a new parent and making sense out of chaos; (2) Responsibility and blame; (3) Confusion and disillusionment during early experiences with helping professionals; and (4) Feelings about the diagnosis. The pervasive influence of autism on different areas of family life includes: (5) Strained family relationships; (6) Challenges of behaviour management and disciplining the autistic child; (7) Challenges of finding suitable resources for education and day-care; and (8) Maintaining the family unit and doing things as a family.
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Interactivity in online journalism: a case study of the interactive nature of Nigeria's online Guardian
- Authors: Folayan, Oluseyi Olukemi
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: Guardian (Nigeria) Online journalism Electronic publishing -- Nigeria Electronic newspapers -- Nigeria Electronic news gathering -- Nigeria Nigeria -- Newspapers
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3429 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002883
- Description: Interactivity is a distinguishing feature of the online environment but online newspapers have been slow in recognising interactivity as an essential condition of effective Web communication. Existing research show online newspapers generally offer few and token interactive options. This research explored interactivity in online journalism using Nigeria's online Guardian as a case study exploring the nature, levels and utilisation of interactivity and interactive features on the site. This study found that few interactive options are offered in Nigeria's online Guardian and those interactive options on offer just produced an illusion of interactivity; it was apparent that little effort was made to give interactive options on the site the significant attention they deserve. The study highlighted the difference between the availability and use of interactive features on an online newspaper site: the mere presence of such features does not necessarily speak to the levels or nature of interactivity on the site. The difficulty in obtaining findings for the qualitative aspect of this study spoke significantly to the findings in light of the fact that these were attempts using interactive options provided by the newspaper site. They stress what relevant literature highlights: the mere presence of interactive features is not in itself interactivity . Factors contributing to the low levels of interactivity in Nigeria's online Guardian include lack of technical expertise plus human and financial resources and the persistence of a mindset that hinders the development and integration of new information communication technologies and interactivity in online journalism. Theoretically, the possibilities are vast but the likelihood of translating theory into reality appears slim. For Nigeria's online Guardian to become interactive in a participatory way, it must undergo changes and choices about values, goals and standards. There must be a shift in attitudes and approaches towards news-content production and delivery as well as the problematic commercial aspects of electronic publishing routines and the effect of such choices on management and newsroom organisation.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Folayan, Oluseyi Olukemi
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: Guardian (Nigeria) Online journalism Electronic publishing -- Nigeria Electronic newspapers -- Nigeria Electronic news gathering -- Nigeria Nigeria -- Newspapers
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3429 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002883
- Description: Interactivity is a distinguishing feature of the online environment but online newspapers have been slow in recognising interactivity as an essential condition of effective Web communication. Existing research show online newspapers generally offer few and token interactive options. This research explored interactivity in online journalism using Nigeria's online Guardian as a case study exploring the nature, levels and utilisation of interactivity and interactive features on the site. This study found that few interactive options are offered in Nigeria's online Guardian and those interactive options on offer just produced an illusion of interactivity; it was apparent that little effort was made to give interactive options on the site the significant attention they deserve. The study highlighted the difference between the availability and use of interactive features on an online newspaper site: the mere presence of such features does not necessarily speak to the levels or nature of interactivity on the site. The difficulty in obtaining findings for the qualitative aspect of this study spoke significantly to the findings in light of the fact that these were attempts using interactive options provided by the newspaper site. They stress what relevant literature highlights: the mere presence of interactive features is not in itself interactivity . Factors contributing to the low levels of interactivity in Nigeria's online Guardian include lack of technical expertise plus human and financial resources and the persistence of a mindset that hinders the development and integration of new information communication technologies and interactivity in online journalism. Theoretically, the possibilities are vast but the likelihood of translating theory into reality appears slim. For Nigeria's online Guardian to become interactive in a participatory way, it must undergo changes and choices about values, goals and standards. There must be a shift in attitudes and approaches towards news-content production and delivery as well as the problematic commercial aspects of electronic publishing routines and the effect of such choices on management and newsroom organisation.
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"Making the News": a case study of East Cape News (ECN)
- Authors: Davidow, Audrey Beth
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Reporters and reporting Reporters and reporting -- South Africa Attribution of news News agencies -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3424 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002877
- Description: To fully comprehend the complex process of news making, we must first understand that the events we read about everyday in the newspaper are not merely a reflection of the world in which we live. News does not just happen. Rather, it is a socially constructed product in which events are “made to mean” (Hall, 1978). Thus, the news plays a fundamental role in shaping our interpretations of reality - our perceptions of the world as we know it. Informed by a structuralist approach to news making, this research provides a detailed ethnographic study of the determinants that shape and produce news in the South African print media. I provide examples of the influence various factors, operating at all levels, exert within the news making process. The research focuses on the news production process at East Cape News Pty. Ltd. (ECN) a small news agency operating in the peripheral news region of South Africa’s Eastern Cape. It considers the journalistic routines and interests of the ECN reporters; how these reporters select events and turn them into news, how they interpret their significance and how they formulate them as news stories. The research also considers the second stage of selection ECN news must pass before it is read by the public - the “gates” of external newspapers. In this section, the study is primarily concerned with which ECN news stories succeed past the gates of national newspapers as these are the newpapers that play an influential role in shaping national perceptions of the marginalised Eastern Cape region. A province burdened with devastating rural poverty, unstable government, and little economic growth, the Eastern Cape warrants little coverage from the national, Johannesburg-based news market. As a result, little news of the Eastern Cape is published nationally, further perpetuating the region’s perceived insignificance on a national level. This point also demonstrates the fact that news both shapes, and is shaped by, our ideologies. News, therefore is ideological (Fishman, 1977). My findings reinforce many of the observations of other media researchers informed by a structuralist approach in the field of news making. However, some elements of news making emerge which appear to be unique in terms of other studies of news making. These elements are primarily a result of ECN’s informal organisational structures which allow the journalists a greater level of autonomy than a larger more bureaucratic organisation might. Thus, in addition to considering the structures that shape the news, I also discuss the role of human agency in making the news.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Davidow, Audrey Beth
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Reporters and reporting Reporters and reporting -- South Africa Attribution of news News agencies -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3424 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002877
- Description: To fully comprehend the complex process of news making, we must first understand that the events we read about everyday in the newspaper are not merely a reflection of the world in which we live. News does not just happen. Rather, it is a socially constructed product in which events are “made to mean” (Hall, 1978). Thus, the news plays a fundamental role in shaping our interpretations of reality - our perceptions of the world as we know it. Informed by a structuralist approach to news making, this research provides a detailed ethnographic study of the determinants that shape and produce news in the South African print media. I provide examples of the influence various factors, operating at all levels, exert within the news making process. The research focuses on the news production process at East Cape News Pty. Ltd. (ECN) a small news agency operating in the peripheral news region of South Africa’s Eastern Cape. It considers the journalistic routines and interests of the ECN reporters; how these reporters select events and turn them into news, how they interpret their significance and how they formulate them as news stories. The research also considers the second stage of selection ECN news must pass before it is read by the public - the “gates” of external newspapers. In this section, the study is primarily concerned with which ECN news stories succeed past the gates of national newspapers as these are the newpapers that play an influential role in shaping national perceptions of the marginalised Eastern Cape region. A province burdened with devastating rural poverty, unstable government, and little economic growth, the Eastern Cape warrants little coverage from the national, Johannesburg-based news market. As a result, little news of the Eastern Cape is published nationally, further perpetuating the region’s perceived insignificance on a national level. This point also demonstrates the fact that news both shapes, and is shaped by, our ideologies. News, therefore is ideological (Fishman, 1977). My findings reinforce many of the observations of other media researchers informed by a structuralist approach in the field of news making. However, some elements of news making emerge which appear to be unique in terms of other studies of news making. These elements are primarily a result of ECN’s informal organisational structures which allow the journalists a greater level of autonomy than a larger more bureaucratic organisation might. Thus, in addition to considering the structures that shape the news, I also discuss the role of human agency in making the news.
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The effects of night work and task diversification on efficiency of performance
- Authors: Munton, Lynne Kerry
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: Night work -- Evaluation , Shift systems , Performance
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:5175 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018253
- Description: This study investigated the effects of night work on performance efficiency. Night work is generally acknowledged to impair performance, yet much research has contradicted this assertion. The feasibility of including brief periods of physical activity to stimulate arousal within mentally demanding work shifts was also evaluated. Thirty six postgraduate volunteers were assigned to either the cognitive tasks (CT) or cognitive and motor tasks (CMT) group. All subjects performed three psycho-motor tests, using the Vienna Test System, at midday and midnight. The CMT group performed a short cycling activity before each test. Heart rate responses served as physiological measures, the Perceived Strain Scale was used to quantify individual perceptions of strain and performance efficiency was assessed in terms of speed and accuracy. Although several trends were apparent, no significant differences (p < 0.05) were revealed with respect to the three performance variables between the midday and midnight test sessions, or between the CT and CMT subjects, other than the higher heart rates recorded in the CMT group. In summary, neither time of day nor physical activity were found to affect performance within the controlled environment of this study.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Munton, Lynne Kerry
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: Night work -- Evaluation , Shift systems , Performance
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:5175 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018253
- Description: This study investigated the effects of night work on performance efficiency. Night work is generally acknowledged to impair performance, yet much research has contradicted this assertion. The feasibility of including brief periods of physical activity to stimulate arousal within mentally demanding work shifts was also evaluated. Thirty six postgraduate volunteers were assigned to either the cognitive tasks (CT) or cognitive and motor tasks (CMT) group. All subjects performed three psycho-motor tests, using the Vienna Test System, at midday and midnight. The CMT group performed a short cycling activity before each test. Heart rate responses served as physiological measures, the Perceived Strain Scale was used to quantify individual perceptions of strain and performance efficiency was assessed in terms of speed and accuracy. Although several trends were apparent, no significant differences (p < 0.05) were revealed with respect to the three performance variables between the midday and midnight test sessions, or between the CT and CMT subjects, other than the higher heart rates recorded in the CMT group. In summary, neither time of day nor physical activity were found to affect performance within the controlled environment of this study.
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Namibia's long road to independence : the Botha era
- Authors: Ruiters, Michele René
- Date: 1992
- Subjects: United Nations -- Namibia , Namibia -- History -- 1946-1990 , Namibia -- Politics and government -- 1946-1990
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2754 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002001
- Description: This thesis deals with the ten years preceding Namibia's independence in March 1990. It examines the various characters and groups in this process, and how their roles delayed or promoted it. The era of Pieter W. Botha is very significant in that his rule brought many changes to the decision-making process and content of South African foreign policy. This period, 1978 - 1989, marked the formulation of the Total National Strategy in response to the Total Onslaught being waged on South Africa by perceived hostile external forces. Namibia's transition to independence suffered under this military-oriented policy as did the rest of the region. Never before in South Africa's policy-making history had the security sector played such a major role. Regional relations changed subsequent to the policy changes because of the distorted vision the Botha regime had of black-ruled states. Namibia was seen as an important pawn in the Total National Strategy as the last buffer state in Southern Africa protecting South Africa's white minority regime
- Full Text:
- Authors: Ruiters, Michele René
- Date: 1992
- Subjects: United Nations -- Namibia , Namibia -- History -- 1946-1990 , Namibia -- Politics and government -- 1946-1990
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2754 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002001
- Description: This thesis deals with the ten years preceding Namibia's independence in March 1990. It examines the various characters and groups in this process, and how their roles delayed or promoted it. The era of Pieter W. Botha is very significant in that his rule brought many changes to the decision-making process and content of South African foreign policy. This period, 1978 - 1989, marked the formulation of the Total National Strategy in response to the Total Onslaught being waged on South Africa by perceived hostile external forces. Namibia's transition to independence suffered under this military-oriented policy as did the rest of the region. Never before in South Africa's policy-making history had the security sector played such a major role. Regional relations changed subsequent to the policy changes because of the distorted vision the Botha regime had of black-ruled states. Namibia was seen as an important pawn in the Total National Strategy as the last buffer state in Southern Africa protecting South Africa's white minority regime
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An examination of psychological issues in the pregnancy and birth process with reference to personal responsibility and control
- Authors: Selwyn-Cross, Halina
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: Childbirth -- Psychological aspects Pregnancy -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2898 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002062
- Description: This study examines the psychological issues of personal responsibility and control in the childbirth process. It examines the implications of the woman's preparation process and the choices she makes during pregnancy and childbirth. It also explores the way in which the birthing environment and the woman's interpersonal relationships affect her experience of personal control within the context of the childbirth period. Use was made of the case study research design. This qualitative design involved indepth exploration, of cases in which the women had recently given birth to their first child in the local hospital of a small town. The data analysis involved the use of a "reading guide", established by the researcher to allow for the examination of the data specifically in terms of the themes in question. Within the study the importance and value of the woman's accurate and sufficient preparation for the birth was seen to facilitate a realistic sense of predictability, which led to an increased awareness and ability of the woman to remain in control. This, along with the active participation of the husband and supportive network in the hospital, allowed for a sharing of the responsibility within the labour situation. This taking and appropriately yielding of control and responsibility had positive effects on the woman's experience of the event and for initial mother-infant bonding
- Full Text:
- Authors: Selwyn-Cross, Halina
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: Childbirth -- Psychological aspects Pregnancy -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2898 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002062
- Description: This study examines the psychological issues of personal responsibility and control in the childbirth process. It examines the implications of the woman's preparation process and the choices she makes during pregnancy and childbirth. It also explores the way in which the birthing environment and the woman's interpersonal relationships affect her experience of personal control within the context of the childbirth period. Use was made of the case study research design. This qualitative design involved indepth exploration, of cases in which the women had recently given birth to their first child in the local hospital of a small town. The data analysis involved the use of a "reading guide", established by the researcher to allow for the examination of the data specifically in terms of the themes in question. Within the study the importance and value of the woman's accurate and sufficient preparation for the birth was seen to facilitate a realistic sense of predictability, which led to an increased awareness and ability of the woman to remain in control. This, along with the active participation of the husband and supportive network in the hospital, allowed for a sharing of the responsibility within the labour situation. This taking and appropriately yielding of control and responsibility had positive effects on the woman's experience of the event and for initial mother-infant bonding
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An exploration of high self control scores among South African university students
- Authors: Riordan, Janet Susan
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: College students -- South AFrica -- Psychology , Self-control , Self-control -- Research
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2902 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002066
- Description: The Rosenbaum Self Control Schedule is a self-report instrument developed to assess individual tendencies to apply self-control methods to the solution of behavioral problems. Tested on Hebrews and English-speaking Americans, it was found to transfer easily from one situation to the other. When administered in a battery of self-report questionnaires to South African university students it was found that while means of the total sample were similar to those reported overseas, the means of black and white students within the sample were significantly different from each other, with black students having higher self-control scores than the white students in the study and higher than those reported in previous studies. The study was repeated in this research project using a larger group of black students. The finding of significantly higher self-control scores was replicated. This finding was not due to response set, either acquiescence or social desirability, although black subjects were found to be more subject to social desirability response set. Distributions of the samples showed a group of low scoring white subjects for which there was no equal in the black sample. The findings suggest that black university students in South Africa have high levels of learned resoursefulness. This may be due to a selection process reflecting the relative difficulty with which black students reach university level - difficulties relating to student unrest, educational and financial limitations and economic and social drawbacks so that only those students with moderate to exceptional levels of problem solving stategy skills do succeed. Such individuals should be good candidates for cognitive therapies. Item and factor analyses showed the SCS to be psychometrically adequate for the white group but were much less conclusive for the black sample. In this group, a lower Cronbach's alpha was obtained and the factor analysis was less clear.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Riordan, Janet Susan
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: College students -- South AFrica -- Psychology , Self-control , Self-control -- Research
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2902 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002066
- Description: The Rosenbaum Self Control Schedule is a self-report instrument developed to assess individual tendencies to apply self-control methods to the solution of behavioral problems. Tested on Hebrews and English-speaking Americans, it was found to transfer easily from one situation to the other. When administered in a battery of self-report questionnaires to South African university students it was found that while means of the total sample were similar to those reported overseas, the means of black and white students within the sample were significantly different from each other, with black students having higher self-control scores than the white students in the study and higher than those reported in previous studies. The study was repeated in this research project using a larger group of black students. The finding of significantly higher self-control scores was replicated. This finding was not due to response set, either acquiescence or social desirability, although black subjects were found to be more subject to social desirability response set. Distributions of the samples showed a group of low scoring white subjects for which there was no equal in the black sample. The findings suggest that black university students in South Africa have high levels of learned resoursefulness. This may be due to a selection process reflecting the relative difficulty with which black students reach university level - difficulties relating to student unrest, educational and financial limitations and economic and social drawbacks so that only those students with moderate to exceptional levels of problem solving stategy skills do succeed. Such individuals should be good candidates for cognitive therapies. Item and factor analyses showed the SCS to be psychometrically adequate for the white group but were much less conclusive for the black sample. In this group, a lower Cronbach's alpha was obtained and the factor analysis was less clear.
- Full Text:
An investigation of the romantic ballet in its sociocultural context in Paris and London, 1830 to 1850
- Authors: Osborne, Jane
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: Ballet -- France -- Paris , Ballet -- England -- London , Ballet -- History -- 19th century , Ballet -- Sociological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2126 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002028
- Description: Historians have made a considerable contribution to the study of the Romantic ballet in terms of chronological development, the Romantic movement in the arts and the contribution of specific dancers and choreographers; very little research has been attempted to date on the interrelationship between the dance form and the wide range of human experience of the period. This holistic approach provides insight into form, content and stagecraft; political, economic and social influences; the prevailing artistic aesthetic and cultural climate; sex, gender and class issues; and the priorities, value system and nuances of the times. Recent work by historians and social scientists (eg Brinson 1981, Adshead 1983, Spencer 1985, Hanna 1988, Garafola 1989) advocates a recognition of the role of social and cultural systems in the evaluation of dance. This approach further ackowledges the equal status of all cultures, and has opened up areas of African performing dance in cultural systems outside the west. My parallel investigation of the gumboot dance in its South African context, which appears in Appendix B, provides an example. The first half of the nineteenth century was characterized by the disruptive beginnings of the emergent industrial world, centred in Paris and London; and the Romantic ballet tradition reached its greatest heights at this time. Chapter one establishes the political, economic, social and artistic environment, and identifies middle class dominance as a key factor. Chapters two and three focus primarily on the three great ballets of the age, La Sylphide, 1832, Giselie, 1841, and Pas de Quatre, 1845, as expressions of the essential duality of the times, and of Romantic synaesthesia in the arts, which enabled them to transcend the pedestrian bourgeois materialism of faciliatators and audience. Chapter four examines the images of the idealized ballerina and the 'Victorian' middle class woman in relation to bourgeois male attitudes to female sexuality, gender and class. The conclusion sums up the themes of duality, middle class influence, and the Romantic aesthetic, and discusses the prevalent notion that this period was identified as a 'golden age' of the Romantic ballet.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Osborne, Jane
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: Ballet -- France -- Paris , Ballet -- England -- London , Ballet -- History -- 19th century , Ballet -- Sociological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2126 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002028
- Description: Historians have made a considerable contribution to the study of the Romantic ballet in terms of chronological development, the Romantic movement in the arts and the contribution of specific dancers and choreographers; very little research has been attempted to date on the interrelationship between the dance form and the wide range of human experience of the period. This holistic approach provides insight into form, content and stagecraft; political, economic and social influences; the prevailing artistic aesthetic and cultural climate; sex, gender and class issues; and the priorities, value system and nuances of the times. Recent work by historians and social scientists (eg Brinson 1981, Adshead 1983, Spencer 1985, Hanna 1988, Garafola 1989) advocates a recognition of the role of social and cultural systems in the evaluation of dance. This approach further ackowledges the equal status of all cultures, and has opened up areas of African performing dance in cultural systems outside the west. My parallel investigation of the gumboot dance in its South African context, which appears in Appendix B, provides an example. The first half of the nineteenth century was characterized by the disruptive beginnings of the emergent industrial world, centred in Paris and London; and the Romantic ballet tradition reached its greatest heights at this time. Chapter one establishes the political, economic, social and artistic environment, and identifies middle class dominance as a key factor. Chapters two and three focus primarily on the three great ballets of the age, La Sylphide, 1832, Giselie, 1841, and Pas de Quatre, 1845, as expressions of the essential duality of the times, and of Romantic synaesthesia in the arts, which enabled them to transcend the pedestrian bourgeois materialism of faciliatators and audience. Chapter four examines the images of the idealized ballerina and the 'Victorian' middle class woman in relation to bourgeois male attitudes to female sexuality, gender and class. The conclusion sums up the themes of duality, middle class influence, and the Romantic aesthetic, and discusses the prevalent notion that this period was identified as a 'golden age' of the Romantic ballet.
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An investigation of the significance of learned helplessness on membership participation in co-operative movements
- Authors: Norman, Paul Deon
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: Learned helplessness , Psychology , Black people -- South Africa , Attributional Style Questionnaire , Partician Index , Co-operatives , Helplessness (Psychology) , Black people -- Psychology
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2895 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002059
- Description: In this study the psychological phenomenon of learned helplessness is investigated to determine its significance as a characteristic of members of progressive co-operatives within the South African context. Most of the members of these co-operatives are black South Africans. It is argued that because of the country's racial policy, many of the members have become accustomed to a passive response to events in their lives and this gives rise to their failure to utilise the freedom and opportunities of the co-operative structure. The researcher hypothesises that this passive response could be explained in terms of a high level of learned helplessness among co-operative members. Two hypotheses are investigated in this study: Hypothesis 1: Passive co-operative members will have higher levels of learned helplessness than active members. Hypothesis 2:The level of learned helplessness decreases as the length of co-operative members involvement increases. Data collection for this study was carried out by combining a personal interview and a standardised questionnaire (the Attributional Style Questionnaire). To distinguish between the passive and active members, a Participation Index was constructed. The ASQ was translated into Xhosa, adapted for the sample and two translators were employed to conduct the interviews in Xhosa. The sample consisted of 50 black South Africans, many with limited education and was drawn from six co-operatives in the Eastern Cape. No significant differences were found between the active and passive groups in terms of their levels of learned helplessness. Furthermore, the length of involvement in the co-operative had no effect on the level of learned helplessness. No support was found therefore for Hypothesis l and 2. A significant difference, however, was found between active and passive members and the number of months of involvement. This suggests that the length of involvement has an effect on how active members will be in the co-operative. The results of this study indicate that generally the sample does not suffer from learned helplessness. It is argued that Hypothesis 2 is not supported due to confounding variables. The study raises many doubts as to the reliability of the ASQ and the Participation Index used in the study.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Norman, Paul Deon
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: Learned helplessness , Psychology , Black people -- South Africa , Attributional Style Questionnaire , Partician Index , Co-operatives , Helplessness (Psychology) , Black people -- Psychology
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2895 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002059
- Description: In this study the psychological phenomenon of learned helplessness is investigated to determine its significance as a characteristic of members of progressive co-operatives within the South African context. Most of the members of these co-operatives are black South Africans. It is argued that because of the country's racial policy, many of the members have become accustomed to a passive response to events in their lives and this gives rise to their failure to utilise the freedom and opportunities of the co-operative structure. The researcher hypothesises that this passive response could be explained in terms of a high level of learned helplessness among co-operative members. Two hypotheses are investigated in this study: Hypothesis 1: Passive co-operative members will have higher levels of learned helplessness than active members. Hypothesis 2:The level of learned helplessness decreases as the length of co-operative members involvement increases. Data collection for this study was carried out by combining a personal interview and a standardised questionnaire (the Attributional Style Questionnaire). To distinguish between the passive and active members, a Participation Index was constructed. The ASQ was translated into Xhosa, adapted for the sample and two translators were employed to conduct the interviews in Xhosa. The sample consisted of 50 black South Africans, many with limited education and was drawn from six co-operatives in the Eastern Cape. No significant differences were found between the active and passive groups in terms of their levels of learned helplessness. Furthermore, the length of involvement in the co-operative had no effect on the level of learned helplessness. No support was found therefore for Hypothesis l and 2. A significant difference, however, was found between active and passive members and the number of months of involvement. This suggests that the length of involvement has an effect on how active members will be in the co-operative. The results of this study indicate that generally the sample does not suffer from learned helplessness. It is argued that Hypothesis 2 is not supported due to confounding variables. The study raises many doubts as to the reliability of the ASQ and the Participation Index used in the study.
- Full Text: