An examination of activism and ‘political listening’ during the year of student protest at the University of Cape Town from 9 March 2015 to 9 March 2016
- Mufamadi, Azwihangwisi Eugene
- Authors: Mufamadi, Azwihangwisi Eugene
- Date: 2022-10-04
- Subjects: Student movements South Africa Cape Town , Democracy South Africa , Listening Political aspects , Journalistic ethics , Journalism Political aspects , Communication in social action South Africa Cape Town , University of Cape Town , Cape Times Ltd.
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/327144 , vital:61085 , DOI 10.21504/10962/327144
- Description: This study sets out to examine democratic participation in South Africa and the role that ‘political listening’ could play in making participation more equitable. It considers protest action on a South African university campus, which at times not only resulted in significant and swift concessions from the university leadership but also sparked national political action which got an equally swift response from the South African government. It considers the social movement, the RhodesMustFall movement (RMF), as one way in which students can organise themselves to get a better hearing from the University of Cape Town (UCT) management in their attempt to make a meaningful contribution to the university’s micro democracy. This study examines whether the interaction between the UCT management and RMF could be considered ‘political listening’, and the possible role of the Cape Times newspaper within this context of participation. Using data gathered through interviews, written communications, observation and newspaper articles, the study shows that in all of the interactions between RMF and the UCT management, both groups were seldom willing to forego their power to engage in genuine listening. Instead, the two parties guessed at what power the other party might have and acted to reduce that power. It is in this context of guessing at and figuring what power the other party has that listening occurs. Furthermore, the study shows that during the RMF protest, the UCT management viewed their responsibility for the institution mainly through the lens of Private Property Law which framed protest as something to be dealt with by restoring law and order. The study also details the role of the Cape Times newspaper in the interactions between RMF and the UCT management and considers if this role could be political listening. The study is exploratory and demonstrates how political listening could work more optimally in real-life instances. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Journalism and Media Studies, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-04
- Authors: Mufamadi, Azwihangwisi Eugene
- Date: 2022-10-04
- Subjects: Student movements South Africa Cape Town , Democracy South Africa , Listening Political aspects , Journalistic ethics , Journalism Political aspects , Communication in social action South Africa Cape Town , University of Cape Town , Cape Times Ltd.
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/327144 , vital:61085 , DOI 10.21504/10962/327144
- Description: This study sets out to examine democratic participation in South Africa and the role that ‘political listening’ could play in making participation more equitable. It considers protest action on a South African university campus, which at times not only resulted in significant and swift concessions from the university leadership but also sparked national political action which got an equally swift response from the South African government. It considers the social movement, the RhodesMustFall movement (RMF), as one way in which students can organise themselves to get a better hearing from the University of Cape Town (UCT) management in their attempt to make a meaningful contribution to the university’s micro democracy. This study examines whether the interaction between the UCT management and RMF could be considered ‘political listening’, and the possible role of the Cape Times newspaper within this context of participation. Using data gathered through interviews, written communications, observation and newspaper articles, the study shows that in all of the interactions between RMF and the UCT management, both groups were seldom willing to forego their power to engage in genuine listening. Instead, the two parties guessed at what power the other party might have and acted to reduce that power. It is in this context of guessing at and figuring what power the other party has that listening occurs. Furthermore, the study shows that during the RMF protest, the UCT management viewed their responsibility for the institution mainly through the lens of Private Property Law which framed protest as something to be dealt with by restoring law and order. The study also details the role of the Cape Times newspaper in the interactions between RMF and the UCT management and considers if this role could be political listening. The study is exploratory and demonstrates how political listening could work more optimally in real-life instances. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Journalism and Media Studies, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-04
Exploring the value of an educational partnership within a multilingual pre-school setting
- Authors: Maritz, Anneliese
- Date: 2022-10-04
- Subjects: Early childhood education Parent participation South Africa Eastern Cape , Early childhood teachers Training of , Home and school South Africa Eastern Cape , Parent-teacher relationships South Africa Eastern Cape , Communication and education South Africa Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/327111 , vital:61082 , DOI 10.21504/10962/327111
- Description: This modest research project was situated in a multilingual Early Childhood Development (ECD) setting in the Eastern Cape (EC) province of South Africa. In the context of high levels of poverty and unemployment in the EC, issues such as under-funding, the nature of the training of practitioners, translating the importance of learning through play into practice, difficulties dealing with diverse cultural practices and the use of multiple languages, all impact ECD provision. Research has shown that parental involvement and creating parent-school partnerships can assist children to progress at school. The overall objectives of this project were to explore how a team in an ECD centre might communicate more effectively with parents and how early stimulation practices in home and school might benefit the child’s development. The theoretical framework draws upon Vygotsky’s (1978) socio-cultural historical theory, Bernstein’s (1971) elaborated and restricted language codes and Bourdieu’s (1977) concepts of social reproduction. A research project in the Netherlands Thuis in School, used an education partnership approach (Iliás et al., 2019). They developed a manual that was adapted for our local context by drawing from the theories mentioned, and to counter the dominant approaches where parenting programs have often been offered from a deficit, narrow perspective. Action Research guided the interventionist approach to workshop sessions, to enable mutual capacity-building of parents and practitioners. To ensure informed consent, participants’ first languages were used. High risk factors related to photographs and videos of participating parents and minor children were successfully addressed. Pre- and post-interviews and workshop data were analysed using template analysis, within a constructivist paradigm. Findings include vignettes to introduce the contexts and parents' ideas prior to the sessions. Then, sessions are summarised as action cycles, with key participants' responses. Finally, post-session evaluations highlight the topics the parents found most meaningful; and parents’ and practitioner accounts of changes in practices. This research illustrates ways that educational partnership elements can influence practice and policy, to improve home and school environments for the benefit of children. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-04
- Authors: Maritz, Anneliese
- Date: 2022-10-04
- Subjects: Early childhood education Parent participation South Africa Eastern Cape , Early childhood teachers Training of , Home and school South Africa Eastern Cape , Parent-teacher relationships South Africa Eastern Cape , Communication and education South Africa Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/327111 , vital:61082 , DOI 10.21504/10962/327111
- Description: This modest research project was situated in a multilingual Early Childhood Development (ECD) setting in the Eastern Cape (EC) province of South Africa. In the context of high levels of poverty and unemployment in the EC, issues such as under-funding, the nature of the training of practitioners, translating the importance of learning through play into practice, difficulties dealing with diverse cultural practices and the use of multiple languages, all impact ECD provision. Research has shown that parental involvement and creating parent-school partnerships can assist children to progress at school. The overall objectives of this project were to explore how a team in an ECD centre might communicate more effectively with parents and how early stimulation practices in home and school might benefit the child’s development. The theoretical framework draws upon Vygotsky’s (1978) socio-cultural historical theory, Bernstein’s (1971) elaborated and restricted language codes and Bourdieu’s (1977) concepts of social reproduction. A research project in the Netherlands Thuis in School, used an education partnership approach (Iliás et al., 2019). They developed a manual that was adapted for our local context by drawing from the theories mentioned, and to counter the dominant approaches where parenting programs have often been offered from a deficit, narrow perspective. Action Research guided the interventionist approach to workshop sessions, to enable mutual capacity-building of parents and practitioners. To ensure informed consent, participants’ first languages were used. High risk factors related to photographs and videos of participating parents and minor children were successfully addressed. Pre- and post-interviews and workshop data were analysed using template analysis, within a constructivist paradigm. Findings include vignettes to introduce the contexts and parents' ideas prior to the sessions. Then, sessions are summarised as action cycles, with key participants' responses. Finally, post-session evaluations highlight the topics the parents found most meaningful; and parents’ and practitioner accounts of changes in practices. This research illustrates ways that educational partnership elements can influence practice and policy, to improve home and school environments for the benefit of children. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-04
Language Learning Anxiety: a bometric investigation of stress and language learning using wearable devices
- Authors: MacDonald, William Tait
- Date: 2022-10-04
- Subjects: Language and languages Study and teaching Psychological aspects , Wearable technology , Heart rate monitoring , Stress (Psychology) Testing , Anxiety Testing
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/327133 , vital:61084 , DOI 10.21504/10962/327133
- Description: As Sapolsky (2015) notes, stress research has long been characterised by definitional debates that gave rise to a lack of agreement between theorists. An example of this definitional confusion can be seen in the area of Language Learning Anxiety, where there appears to be confusion in the literature over terms such as anxiety and stress. This study investigated the link between stress and language learning using wearable devices measuring heart rate variance, as a means of establishing the feasibility of using this new technology in stress research. The results indicate that the contextualised longitudinal data delivered by wearable devices mitigates against the current dominant paradigm in Language Learning Anxiety, which postulates a straight-line negative correlation between stress and learning. Instead, the inverted U stress relationship proposed by theorists such as Hebb (1955) seem to be a better fit for the data. The nature of the contextualised data generated in this study allowed for comparisons between participants’ stress readings in academic contexts, such as language and non-language classes, and their free time. The findings suggest that certain long-held assumptions about heightened stress in academic contexts may not hold true. While the findings of this study did not reach the levels of statistical significance, they constitute proof of concept that the type of contextualised data delivered by wearable devices may allow for a new type of stress research that incorporates contextualising longitudinal perspectives on participants’ stress levels. In this study the inclusion of contextualising data led to fundamentally different conclusions about the relationship between stress and language learning. The same may be true of many areas of stress research. The findings presented in this study have broader paradigm-altering implications not only for educational policy, but also for stress research in general. Perhaps equally important was that the type of data delivered by wearable devices was qualitatively different from that normally associated with quantitative studies. This presented challenges in data analysis in this study, but also opens intriguing possibilities regarding a means of reconciling the qualitative and quantitative split in research modalities. The use of wearable devices is not without issues, and some of the issues, ranging from practical considerations to ethical conundrums, are presented for the reader’s consideration and to inform future researchers regarding potential pitfalls. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-04
- Authors: MacDonald, William Tait
- Date: 2022-10-04
- Subjects: Language and languages Study and teaching Psychological aspects , Wearable technology , Heart rate monitoring , Stress (Psychology) Testing , Anxiety Testing
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/327133 , vital:61084 , DOI 10.21504/10962/327133
- Description: As Sapolsky (2015) notes, stress research has long been characterised by definitional debates that gave rise to a lack of agreement between theorists. An example of this definitional confusion can be seen in the area of Language Learning Anxiety, where there appears to be confusion in the literature over terms such as anxiety and stress. This study investigated the link between stress and language learning using wearable devices measuring heart rate variance, as a means of establishing the feasibility of using this new technology in stress research. The results indicate that the contextualised longitudinal data delivered by wearable devices mitigates against the current dominant paradigm in Language Learning Anxiety, which postulates a straight-line negative correlation between stress and learning. Instead, the inverted U stress relationship proposed by theorists such as Hebb (1955) seem to be a better fit for the data. The nature of the contextualised data generated in this study allowed for comparisons between participants’ stress readings in academic contexts, such as language and non-language classes, and their free time. The findings suggest that certain long-held assumptions about heightened stress in academic contexts may not hold true. While the findings of this study did not reach the levels of statistical significance, they constitute proof of concept that the type of contextualised data delivered by wearable devices may allow for a new type of stress research that incorporates contextualising longitudinal perspectives on participants’ stress levels. In this study the inclusion of contextualising data led to fundamentally different conclusions about the relationship between stress and language learning. The same may be true of many areas of stress research. The findings presented in this study have broader paradigm-altering implications not only for educational policy, but also for stress research in general. Perhaps equally important was that the type of data delivered by wearable devices was qualitatively different from that normally associated with quantitative studies. This presented challenges in data analysis in this study, but also opens intriguing possibilities regarding a means of reconciling the qualitative and quantitative split in research modalities. The use of wearable devices is not without issues, and some of the issues, ranging from practical considerations to ethical conundrums, are presented for the reader’s consideration and to inform future researchers regarding potential pitfalls. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-04
Views of the journey of grade 1 learners with barriers to learning, in the inclusive education system: a multi-level systemic investigation
- Van Vuuren, Cornelia Margaretha
- Authors: Van Vuuren, Cornelia Margaretha
- Date: 2022-10-04
- Subjects: Inclusive education South Africa Eastern Cape , Special education teachers South Africa Eastern Cape Attitudes , South Africa. Department of Education , Children with disabilities Education (Elementary) Government policy South Africa , Special education teachers Training of South Africa Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/327122 , vital:61083 , DOI 10.21504/10962/327122
- Description: Embedded in South Africa’s humanitarian discourse, inclusive education (IE) followed global trends of inclusion of all people into wider society without discrimination. Inclusion in mainstream schools should also, according to the Salamanca agreement provide equal quality education, enabling learners with special educational needs (LSEN) to reach their full potential as a basic human right. IE started in South Africa with the implementation of the inclusive policy EWP6 in 2001. Including all children with barriers to learning in schools in their communities promoted social inclusion with their peers. The DoE introduced the Policy of Screening, Identification, Assessment and Support (SIAS) in 2014. This policy was implemented to assist teachers to identify learning barriers, as a means of offering support to these learners through the inclusive system. However, it seems that educators found this process cumbersome, without resources to maintain the process and with multiple systemic barriers preventing, rather than enhancing, support to LSEN. This multi-level systemic study explores the views of educators and other stakeholders on the effectiveness of the IE system in supporting LSEN, to serve the best interests of these learners in their first year of formal schooling. The study was conducted in three selected diverse mainstream Eastern Cape (EC) rural schools, involving the views of educators, district officials and parents. The study probed the impact of the inclusive system on LSEN’s development and social wellbeing, the perceived effects and benefits of the current system, and how the education model contributes towards human rights objectives and constitutional imperatives. The study acknowledges the theories and policies of the current inclusive system as promoting inclusion, but not being successfully realised in rural areas in the South African context, due to several systemic and contextual barriers. The findings revealed that although all participants noted the possible benefits of IE, the current system did not serve the individual educational needs of LSEN in rural mainstream schools, in their first formal year of schooling. Several constraints were reported including lack of resources, insufficient Allied Health support services, and insufficient training of educators. These lead to feelings of inadequacy in educators, along with systemic and contextual barriers and financial constraints in the schools. There also seems to be a need for better collaboration between education and other departments serving children and communities. To conclude, this study suggests a broader multi-level networked system, in which there needs to be greater interaction between the DoE and other government departments supporting children with barriers, like the Departments of Health (DoH), Social Development (DSD) and Justice (DoJ). , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-04
- Authors: Van Vuuren, Cornelia Margaretha
- Date: 2022-10-04
- Subjects: Inclusive education South Africa Eastern Cape , Special education teachers South Africa Eastern Cape Attitudes , South Africa. Department of Education , Children with disabilities Education (Elementary) Government policy South Africa , Special education teachers Training of South Africa Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/327122 , vital:61083 , DOI 10.21504/10962/327122
- Description: Embedded in South Africa’s humanitarian discourse, inclusive education (IE) followed global trends of inclusion of all people into wider society without discrimination. Inclusion in mainstream schools should also, according to the Salamanca agreement provide equal quality education, enabling learners with special educational needs (LSEN) to reach their full potential as a basic human right. IE started in South Africa with the implementation of the inclusive policy EWP6 in 2001. Including all children with barriers to learning in schools in their communities promoted social inclusion with their peers. The DoE introduced the Policy of Screening, Identification, Assessment and Support (SIAS) in 2014. This policy was implemented to assist teachers to identify learning barriers, as a means of offering support to these learners through the inclusive system. However, it seems that educators found this process cumbersome, without resources to maintain the process and with multiple systemic barriers preventing, rather than enhancing, support to LSEN. This multi-level systemic study explores the views of educators and other stakeholders on the effectiveness of the IE system in supporting LSEN, to serve the best interests of these learners in their first year of formal schooling. The study was conducted in three selected diverse mainstream Eastern Cape (EC) rural schools, involving the views of educators, district officials and parents. The study probed the impact of the inclusive system on LSEN’s development and social wellbeing, the perceived effects and benefits of the current system, and how the education model contributes towards human rights objectives and constitutional imperatives. The study acknowledges the theories and policies of the current inclusive system as promoting inclusion, but not being successfully realised in rural areas in the South African context, due to several systemic and contextual barriers. The findings revealed that although all participants noted the possible benefits of IE, the current system did not serve the individual educational needs of LSEN in rural mainstream schools, in their first formal year of schooling. Several constraints were reported including lack of resources, insufficient Allied Health support services, and insufficient training of educators. These lead to feelings of inadequacy in educators, along with systemic and contextual barriers and financial constraints in the schools. There also seems to be a need for better collaboration between education and other departments serving children and communities. To conclude, this study suggests a broader multi-level networked system, in which there needs to be greater interaction between the DoE and other government departments supporting children with barriers, like the Departments of Health (DoH), Social Development (DSD) and Justice (DoJ). , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-04
Digital finance and poverty in selected Sub-Saharan Countries
- Dube, Ziphozethu https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4532-5346
- Authors: Dube, Ziphozethu https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4532-5346
- Date: 2022-10
- Subjects: Electronic funds transfers , Transmission mechanism (Monetary policy)
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/23347 , vital:57616
- Description: Since the 21st century, digital finance has emerged as a critical enabler and an excellent tool for meeting the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through increasing financial inclusion and poverty reduction. The objective of achieving universal financial access by 2030 has led to recognising that financial inclusion has a significant role in economic growth and poverty eradication. The literature demonstrates that access to finance can affect poverty through access to credit, enabling savings, thereby facilitating intertemporal consumption smoothing. Digital finance is key to unlocking financial inclusion, particularly in developing countries. Building capacity in digital payments is one of the best ways to ensure a faster, better, and more cost-effective way to access financial services. The gender gap in developing countries states that (59% of men were reported to have a bank account in 2014, while 50% of women only had a bank account). Some groups, including women and the rural poor, are financially excluded compared to others. This study applied panel data regression analysis and structural equation modelling to investigate the nature of digital finance, its relationship with poverty and the transmission mechanism from digital finance to poverty in selected Sub-Saharan Countries. The results indicate that remittance is one of the most significant determinants of the use of digital finance in the Sub-Saharan region compared to other determinants of use for digital finance. Regarding the transmission mechanism between digital finance and poverty, the path analysis results suggest that the channel for remittance in the transmission mechanism has a more substantial impact on reducing poverty than savings in the Sub-Saharan region. The study recommends that remittance is essential, but savings are not critical in this digital age. This study contributed to literature by identifying the transmission mechanism between digital finance and poverty. This is beneficial to researchers and policymakers . It provides policy practitioners with a reference point on a model to build upon towards providing solutions to the problem, Sub-Saharan Countries encounter on delivering sustainable and broad-based economic growth. The study concludes by proposing that digital finance, particularly mobile money presents an excellent opportunity to increase access to finance and reduce poverty. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Management and Commerce, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10
- Authors: Dube, Ziphozethu https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4532-5346
- Date: 2022-10
- Subjects: Electronic funds transfers , Transmission mechanism (Monetary policy)
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/23347 , vital:57616
- Description: Since the 21st century, digital finance has emerged as a critical enabler and an excellent tool for meeting the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through increasing financial inclusion and poverty reduction. The objective of achieving universal financial access by 2030 has led to recognising that financial inclusion has a significant role in economic growth and poverty eradication. The literature demonstrates that access to finance can affect poverty through access to credit, enabling savings, thereby facilitating intertemporal consumption smoothing. Digital finance is key to unlocking financial inclusion, particularly in developing countries. Building capacity in digital payments is one of the best ways to ensure a faster, better, and more cost-effective way to access financial services. The gender gap in developing countries states that (59% of men were reported to have a bank account in 2014, while 50% of women only had a bank account). Some groups, including women and the rural poor, are financially excluded compared to others. This study applied panel data regression analysis and structural equation modelling to investigate the nature of digital finance, its relationship with poverty and the transmission mechanism from digital finance to poverty in selected Sub-Saharan Countries. The results indicate that remittance is one of the most significant determinants of the use of digital finance in the Sub-Saharan region compared to other determinants of use for digital finance. Regarding the transmission mechanism between digital finance and poverty, the path analysis results suggest that the channel for remittance in the transmission mechanism has a more substantial impact on reducing poverty than savings in the Sub-Saharan region. The study recommends that remittance is essential, but savings are not critical in this digital age. This study contributed to literature by identifying the transmission mechanism between digital finance and poverty. This is beneficial to researchers and policymakers . It provides policy practitioners with a reference point on a model to build upon towards providing solutions to the problem, Sub-Saharan Countries encounter on delivering sustainable and broad-based economic growth. The study concludes by proposing that digital finance, particularly mobile money presents an excellent opportunity to increase access to finance and reduce poverty. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Management and Commerce, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10
Exclusion of women in the church governance structures : The Case of the Baptist Church of Southern Africa in Cradock Region
- Authors: Mbali, Nkosinati McGiven
- Date: 2022-10
- Subjects: Women in church work , Church and social problems -- South Africa , Cradock Baptist Church
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/23924 , vital:61567
- Description: In every community there are women. However, they are often marginalized because they are perceived as being unable to make a meaningful contribution to various economic endeavours or society in general. Sometimes they are shunned by their own families, while even church communities have been known to treat women in thoughtless ways. As a result, their spiritual potential cannot be effectively tapped. The research has explored many experiences of women in the mainstream Baptist Churches of Southern Africa in Cradock Region in the Eastern Cape. The study delves into the barriers that prevent the full inclusion of women in church life and what churches are and/or should be doing to remove such barriers so that women can embrace all that a church has to offer and progress on their spiritual journey. The study also looks at the importance of systematic theology in the church and how it should be directed at enabling women to exercise their spiritual gifts. The study applied the theoretical framework that discussed what is faced by women in the church, providing in-depth literature and Biblical review, and examining selected individuals who contributed to the study on what is faced by women daily in their spiritual growth. It provided important insights into how involved the participants are in church activities and whether they face subtle or more overt discrimination. A few strategies were also considered aimed at improving conditions for excluded women in the church, not only through better physical access but also through greater acceptance by the church leadership and the membership as a whole. The findings from the study will not only help the churches that were the focus of the fieldwork to help their women members embrace church life more fully and exercise their spiritual gifts, but they will also provide important insights for the broader Christian church towards the potential of inclusive community that will contribute richly to the spiritual enhancement of their church, family and community. For the survey work, the researcher adopted a qualitative approach. The participants' sample consisted of adults with a range of women and men of the church. Supplementary input was solicited from women and men who understand the challenges presented by both parties – particularly when a lack of familiarity with certain physical conditions leads to an unthinking, and sometimes uncaring, attitude. The data has been collected using informal and semi-structured interviews and observation. Being able to exercise choice and having control over their lives and a sense of independence were singled out as being of great importance to the women participants, as these factors contributed to their well-being and satisfaction with life. Most of the participants reported that they were not warmly embraced by their churches, because of their gender, and they were able to lead a fulfilling life of worship. However, more could be done to enhance their participation in church affairs and to become role models for other church communities that are not as accommodating through a lack of knowledge, training and resources. The research only focused on the rural, white, Coloured, Indian and African residential areas in Cradock in the Eastern Cape. Therefore, the study will only focus on the Baptist Church of Southern Africa in Cradock Region and should ideally not be generalized to areas other than those selected for this study. There is much scope for more detailed research to be conducted on disability in other Christian churches to break down both physical and attitudinal barriers that prohibit many individuals' spiritual and emotional satisfaction and growth. Each Chapter has a unique contribution to advancing the central argument of the study with Chapter One introducing and painting a backdrop against which the problem of the marginalisation and exclusion of women in church leadership and structures must be understood. In Chapter Two the researcher reviews the relevant literature, gaining a deeper understanding of what knowledge already exists in the body of knowledge, identifying gaps and using the study to propose solutions for what might be done to mitigate the challenge. In an attempt to guide the study, an appropriate research methodology is suggested and discussed in Chapter Three. This chapter deals with what data needed to be collected and what instrument had to be used to analyse the data. The appropriateness of the research methodology is of the essence in deciding what path the study must follow to realise the objectives of the study and respond to the set research questions. In Chapter Four, the collected data is presented and analysed using the mechanisms proposed in Chapter Three. Finally, a consolidation of the findings is presented in a summary with recommendations of what mechanisms the researcher has distilled from the analysed data. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10
- Authors: Mbali, Nkosinati McGiven
- Date: 2022-10
- Subjects: Women in church work , Church and social problems -- South Africa , Cradock Baptist Church
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/23924 , vital:61567
- Description: In every community there are women. However, they are often marginalized because they are perceived as being unable to make a meaningful contribution to various economic endeavours or society in general. Sometimes they are shunned by their own families, while even church communities have been known to treat women in thoughtless ways. As a result, their spiritual potential cannot be effectively tapped. The research has explored many experiences of women in the mainstream Baptist Churches of Southern Africa in Cradock Region in the Eastern Cape. The study delves into the barriers that prevent the full inclusion of women in church life and what churches are and/or should be doing to remove such barriers so that women can embrace all that a church has to offer and progress on their spiritual journey. The study also looks at the importance of systematic theology in the church and how it should be directed at enabling women to exercise their spiritual gifts. The study applied the theoretical framework that discussed what is faced by women in the church, providing in-depth literature and Biblical review, and examining selected individuals who contributed to the study on what is faced by women daily in their spiritual growth. It provided important insights into how involved the participants are in church activities and whether they face subtle or more overt discrimination. A few strategies were also considered aimed at improving conditions for excluded women in the church, not only through better physical access but also through greater acceptance by the church leadership and the membership as a whole. The findings from the study will not only help the churches that were the focus of the fieldwork to help their women members embrace church life more fully and exercise their spiritual gifts, but they will also provide important insights for the broader Christian church towards the potential of inclusive community that will contribute richly to the spiritual enhancement of their church, family and community. For the survey work, the researcher adopted a qualitative approach. The participants' sample consisted of adults with a range of women and men of the church. Supplementary input was solicited from women and men who understand the challenges presented by both parties – particularly when a lack of familiarity with certain physical conditions leads to an unthinking, and sometimes uncaring, attitude. The data has been collected using informal and semi-structured interviews and observation. Being able to exercise choice and having control over their lives and a sense of independence were singled out as being of great importance to the women participants, as these factors contributed to their well-being and satisfaction with life. Most of the participants reported that they were not warmly embraced by their churches, because of their gender, and they were able to lead a fulfilling life of worship. However, more could be done to enhance their participation in church affairs and to become role models for other church communities that are not as accommodating through a lack of knowledge, training and resources. The research only focused on the rural, white, Coloured, Indian and African residential areas in Cradock in the Eastern Cape. Therefore, the study will only focus on the Baptist Church of Southern Africa in Cradock Region and should ideally not be generalized to areas other than those selected for this study. There is much scope for more detailed research to be conducted on disability in other Christian churches to break down both physical and attitudinal barriers that prohibit many individuals' spiritual and emotional satisfaction and growth. Each Chapter has a unique contribution to advancing the central argument of the study with Chapter One introducing and painting a backdrop against which the problem of the marginalisation and exclusion of women in church leadership and structures must be understood. In Chapter Two the researcher reviews the relevant literature, gaining a deeper understanding of what knowledge already exists in the body of knowledge, identifying gaps and using the study to propose solutions for what might be done to mitigate the challenge. In an attempt to guide the study, an appropriate research methodology is suggested and discussed in Chapter Three. This chapter deals with what data needed to be collected and what instrument had to be used to analyse the data. The appropriateness of the research methodology is of the essence in deciding what path the study must follow to realise the objectives of the study and respond to the set research questions. In Chapter Four, the collected data is presented and analysed using the mechanisms proposed in Chapter Three. Finally, a consolidation of the findings is presented in a summary with recommendations of what mechanisms the researcher has distilled from the analysed data. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10
Land expropriation without compensation: a study of constructions of the Parliamentary process in selected mainstream and “ground-up” media from 27 February – 12 August 2018
- Authors: Jacobs, Luzuko G
- Date: 2022-10
- Subjects: Discourse analysis , Communication Political aspects South Africa , Land reform Press coverage South Africa , Land reform Government policy South Africa , Communication in mass media , Frames (Sociology) South Africa , Journalism Political aspects South Africa , Moneyweb Holdings Ltd. , City Press (South Africa) , Afriforum (South Africa) , African Farmers’ Association of South Africa (AFASA)
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/297807 , vital:57630 , DOI 10.21504/10962/297807
- Description: This study investigates the constructions of land expropriation without compensation (LEwC) in the discourses of two mainstream media, Moneyweb and City Press, and two ground-up platforms, Afriforum and the African Farmers’ Association of South Africa (AFASA). It follows the February 2018 adoption by Parliament, of LEwC as a policy to reorder the country’s unequal and racially bifurcated economy. The motivations for, and opposition to the policy locate land as ‘the issue’ in conquest and capitalism. How land is signified therefore, is important to the understandings of ‘restitution’ and/or ‘resolution’. The news platforms selected here are diverse: Moneyweb focuses on investments. City Press concerns itself with politics. Afriforum and AFASA are alternative sphericules linked to ethnically- polarised quotidian concerns with land as a key focus. Discourses are central to how citizens see and construct themselves and one another as subjects. As such, media frames can be connected to justice and inter-‘race’ complexities. This is a study of media influences in cultivating certain meanings and understandings of tenuous and fractious political situations characterised by inequality and interracial enmity. The thesis draws from the Epistemologies of the South as well as Marxism to constitute the locus of its enunciation of colonisation, liberal capitalism, land question, justice, ideology, discourse, and framing. This framework is geared towards emic understanding of interrelated local and global contexts of the land question. Conceptual clarity is key to the development of an emancipatory imagination. Qualitative framing analysis and critical discourse analysis are used in this study to examine a diachronic corpus of 124 articles from the four platforms covering 167-days, from the adoption of the LEwC motion through the initial round of public hearings. The findings suggest a strong influence of the structures of coloniality in discourses across a wide political spectrum. The frames and counter-frames in the four platforms are simultaneously divergent and similar. Some are reactionary and conservative, others are liberal-transformational and even radical-prefigurative. All however, orbit around abyssal, North-centric, liberal capitalist normativity as the centripetal centre. The study proposes rethinking of the land question, a radical exorcism from land discourses, of structures of coloniality of power, knowledge, and being. Their mobilisation, predominance and naturalisation in political communication is anti-transformation and helps keep Black South Africans to this day, under the heavy yoke of an oppressive colonial and Apartheid reality as perpetual economic slaves. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Journalism and Media Studies, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10
- Authors: Jacobs, Luzuko G
- Date: 2022-10
- Subjects: Discourse analysis , Communication Political aspects South Africa , Land reform Press coverage South Africa , Land reform Government policy South Africa , Communication in mass media , Frames (Sociology) South Africa , Journalism Political aspects South Africa , Moneyweb Holdings Ltd. , City Press (South Africa) , Afriforum (South Africa) , African Farmers’ Association of South Africa (AFASA)
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/297807 , vital:57630 , DOI 10.21504/10962/297807
- Description: This study investigates the constructions of land expropriation without compensation (LEwC) in the discourses of two mainstream media, Moneyweb and City Press, and two ground-up platforms, Afriforum and the African Farmers’ Association of South Africa (AFASA). It follows the February 2018 adoption by Parliament, of LEwC as a policy to reorder the country’s unequal and racially bifurcated economy. The motivations for, and opposition to the policy locate land as ‘the issue’ in conquest and capitalism. How land is signified therefore, is important to the understandings of ‘restitution’ and/or ‘resolution’. The news platforms selected here are diverse: Moneyweb focuses on investments. City Press concerns itself with politics. Afriforum and AFASA are alternative sphericules linked to ethnically- polarised quotidian concerns with land as a key focus. Discourses are central to how citizens see and construct themselves and one another as subjects. As such, media frames can be connected to justice and inter-‘race’ complexities. This is a study of media influences in cultivating certain meanings and understandings of tenuous and fractious political situations characterised by inequality and interracial enmity. The thesis draws from the Epistemologies of the South as well as Marxism to constitute the locus of its enunciation of colonisation, liberal capitalism, land question, justice, ideology, discourse, and framing. This framework is geared towards emic understanding of interrelated local and global contexts of the land question. Conceptual clarity is key to the development of an emancipatory imagination. Qualitative framing analysis and critical discourse analysis are used in this study to examine a diachronic corpus of 124 articles from the four platforms covering 167-days, from the adoption of the LEwC motion through the initial round of public hearings. The findings suggest a strong influence of the structures of coloniality in discourses across a wide political spectrum. The frames and counter-frames in the four platforms are simultaneously divergent and similar. Some are reactionary and conservative, others are liberal-transformational and even radical-prefigurative. All however, orbit around abyssal, North-centric, liberal capitalist normativity as the centripetal centre. The study proposes rethinking of the land question, a radical exorcism from land discourses, of structures of coloniality of power, knowledge, and being. Their mobilisation, predominance and naturalisation in political communication is anti-transformation and helps keep Black South Africans to this day, under the heavy yoke of an oppressive colonial and Apartheid reality as perpetual economic slaves. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Journalism and Media Studies, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10
Stakeholder engagement in social enterprise: designing a sustainable business model for the ‘Food for Us’ mobile application
- Authors: Tantsi, Idah Thato
- Date: 2022-10
- Subjects: Business planning South Africa , Sustainability South Africa , Mobile apps South Africa , Social responsibility of business South Africa , Social entrepreneurship South Africa , Food for Us (Application software)
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/317141 , vital:59904
- Description: This study aimed to develop a sustainable business model that is cognisant of the fundamental principles of social enterprises that can sustain the operation of the Food for Us mobile application that links farmers with buyers in Eastern and Western Cape, South Africa. The Food for Us mobile application lacks a supporting sustainable social business model to sustain its continued operations, hence the need to develop one. In the study, data was generated qualitatively underpinned by an interpretive paradigm, in three workshops guided by the Delphi method. A stakeholder salience model was applied to identify key stakeholders and their salience. Three key stakeholders, namely users (farmers and buyers), Experts (App developers) and the consortium were identified. The study concluded that developing a sustainable social, innovative business model requires substantive consultation with multiple stakeholders in society. Every stakeholder is important and possesses varying salience, hence stakeholder mapping is an important exercise. The study further concluded that financial sustainability and social inclusion are critical social enterprise elements to consider in the process. The undertaking to enhance financial sustainability opens an understanding on the importance of income streams, the key activities, and value propositions offered by the mobile application. The need to remain socially inclusive brings forth questioning of value propositions, accessibility, user friendliness towards stakeholder diversity and needs. The study offers a solution for the Food for Us mobile application in the form of a prototype which is ready for testing, and if desired results are achieved, this can enhance the much needed continued operations of the mobile application. , Thesis (MBA) -- Faculty of Commerce, Rhodes Business School, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10
- Authors: Tantsi, Idah Thato
- Date: 2022-10
- Subjects: Business planning South Africa , Sustainability South Africa , Mobile apps South Africa , Social responsibility of business South Africa , Social entrepreneurship South Africa , Food for Us (Application software)
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/317141 , vital:59904
- Description: This study aimed to develop a sustainable business model that is cognisant of the fundamental principles of social enterprises that can sustain the operation of the Food for Us mobile application that links farmers with buyers in Eastern and Western Cape, South Africa. The Food for Us mobile application lacks a supporting sustainable social business model to sustain its continued operations, hence the need to develop one. In the study, data was generated qualitatively underpinned by an interpretive paradigm, in three workshops guided by the Delphi method. A stakeholder salience model was applied to identify key stakeholders and their salience. Three key stakeholders, namely users (farmers and buyers), Experts (App developers) and the consortium were identified. The study concluded that developing a sustainable social, innovative business model requires substantive consultation with multiple stakeholders in society. Every stakeholder is important and possesses varying salience, hence stakeholder mapping is an important exercise. The study further concluded that financial sustainability and social inclusion are critical social enterprise elements to consider in the process. The undertaking to enhance financial sustainability opens an understanding on the importance of income streams, the key activities, and value propositions offered by the mobile application. The need to remain socially inclusive brings forth questioning of value propositions, accessibility, user friendliness towards stakeholder diversity and needs. The study offers a solution for the Food for Us mobile application in the form of a prototype which is ready for testing, and if desired results are achieved, this can enhance the much needed continued operations of the mobile application. , Thesis (MBA) -- Faculty of Commerce, Rhodes Business School, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10
Blue and white metal teacup, saucer and teaspoon set
- Date: 2022-09-16
- Subjects: Bam, Brigalia , Teacups
- Language: English
- Type: realia
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/56367 , vital:56545
- Description: Blue and white metal teacup, saucer and teaspoon set, which was a gift to Dr. Brigalia Bam from the people of Russia. Dr. Bam was to attend an event but was refused entry as she was in possession of a United Nations passport. It was also coincidentally a birthday gift. , Donated/gifted to Nelson Mandela University Archives , Forms part of: Brigalia Bam collection
- Full Text: false
- Date: 2022-09-16
- Subjects: Bam, Brigalia , Teacups
- Language: English
- Type: realia
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/56367 , vital:56545
- Description: Blue and white metal teacup, saucer and teaspoon set, which was a gift to Dr. Brigalia Bam from the people of Russia. Dr. Bam was to attend an event but was refused entry as she was in possession of a United Nations passport. It was also coincidentally a birthday gift. , Donated/gifted to Nelson Mandela University Archives , Forms part of: Brigalia Bam collection
- Full Text: false
Multicolored crocheted shawl/leg blanket with crocheted black boarder
- Date: 2022-09-16
- Subjects: Bam, Brigalia , Crocheting
- Language: English
- Type: realia
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/56500 , vital:56544
- Description: Multicolored crocheted shawl/leg blanket with crocheted black border. This was a gift to Dr Bam, by one of Mrs Bam Senior's ex students. Mrs Bam Snr. was a teacher who was taught in her final year at Shawberry in Transkei, EC where her father taught Mrs Bam Snr. Dr Bam formed part of a strike, in 1950s at Shawberry. Winnie Mandela also attended this same school. Dr Bam was a strike leader in form 3. Dr Bam was questioned whether Winnie was part of this strike in 1950s. This story evoked a lot of nostalgia, when she was telling it. , Donated/gifted to Nelson Mandela University Archives , Forms part of: Brigalia Bam collection
- Full Text: false
- Date: 2022-09-16
- Subjects: Bam, Brigalia , Crocheting
- Language: English
- Type: realia
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/56500 , vital:56544
- Description: Multicolored crocheted shawl/leg blanket with crocheted black border. This was a gift to Dr Bam, by one of Mrs Bam Senior's ex students. Mrs Bam Snr. was a teacher who was taught in her final year at Shawberry in Transkei, EC where her father taught Mrs Bam Snr. Dr Bam formed part of a strike, in 1950s at Shawberry. Winnie Mandela also attended this same school. Dr Bam was a strike leader in form 3. Dr Bam was questioned whether Winnie was part of this strike in 1950s. This story evoked a lot of nostalgia, when she was telling it. , Donated/gifted to Nelson Mandela University Archives , Forms part of: Brigalia Bam collection
- Full Text: false
Ceramic blue vase decorated with gold and bronze details
- Date: 2022-09-15
- Subjects: Bam, Brigalia , Vases
- Language: English
- Type: realia
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/56249 , vital:56486
- Description: A ceramic vase given to Dr. Brigalia Bam by Ahmed Ben Bella, the first president of Algeria. He was honouring Dr. Bam for having visited his home where he was born and raised. Dr. Bam went to see the home, and particularly the kitchen, where Ben Bella's mother had cooked a meal for Nelson Mandela before he was arrested. This was during a visit of the Panel of the Wise to Algeria. Ahmed Ben Bella was the first Chairperson of the Panel of the Wise, appointed by the African Union. , Donated/gifted to the Nelson Mandela University Archives , Forms part of: Brigalia Bam collection
- Full Text: false
- Date: 2022-09-15
- Subjects: Bam, Brigalia , Vases
- Language: English
- Type: realia
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/56249 , vital:56486
- Description: A ceramic vase given to Dr. Brigalia Bam by Ahmed Ben Bella, the first president of Algeria. He was honouring Dr. Bam for having visited his home where he was born and raised. Dr. Bam went to see the home, and particularly the kitchen, where Ben Bella's mother had cooked a meal for Nelson Mandela before he was arrested. This was during a visit of the Panel of the Wise to Algeria. Ahmed Ben Bella was the first Chairperson of the Panel of the Wise, appointed by the African Union. , Donated/gifted to the Nelson Mandela University Archives , Forms part of: Brigalia Bam collection
- Full Text: false
Mexican woven belt
- Date: 2022-09-15
- Subjects: Bam, Brigalia , Belts (Clothing)
- Language: English
- Type: realia
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/56259 , vital:56487
- Description: Mexican woven belt gifted to Dr. Brigalia Bam at the first United Nations World Conference on Women, in Mexico in 1975. , Donated/gifted to Nelson Mandela University Archives , Forms part of: Brigalia Bam collection
- Full Text: false
- Date: 2022-09-15
- Subjects: Bam, Brigalia , Belts (Clothing)
- Language: English
- Type: realia
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/56259 , vital:56487
- Description: Mexican woven belt gifted to Dr. Brigalia Bam at the first United Nations World Conference on Women, in Mexico in 1975. , Donated/gifted to Nelson Mandela University Archives , Forms part of: Brigalia Bam collection
- Full Text: false
Multicolored crocheted shawl/leg blanket
- Date: 2022-09-15
- Subjects: Bam, Brigalia , Crocheting
- Language: English
- Type: realia
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/56239 , vital:56485
- Description: Multicolored crochet shawl/leg blanket, with turquoise crocheted background, 13 rows of 8 squares sewn together, made by Mrs Bam Senior. , Donated/gifted to Nelson Mandela University Archives , Forms part of: Brigalia Bam collection
- Full Text: false
- Date: 2022-09-15
- Subjects: Bam, Brigalia , Crocheting
- Language: English
- Type: realia
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/56239 , vital:56485
- Description: Multicolored crochet shawl/leg blanket, with turquoise crocheted background, 13 rows of 8 squares sewn together, made by Mrs Bam Senior. , Donated/gifted to Nelson Mandela University Archives , Forms part of: Brigalia Bam collection
- Full Text: false
Set of three pink circular crochet doilies
- Date: 2022-09-15
- Subjects: Bam, Brigalia , Doilies
- Language: English
- Type: realia
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/56279 , vital:56505
- Description: Set of 3 pink circular crochet doilies, crafted by Mrs Bam Senior. , Donated/gifted to Nelson Mandela University Archives , Forms part of: Brigalia Bam collection
- Full Text: false
- Date: 2022-09-15
- Subjects: Bam, Brigalia , Doilies
- Language: English
- Type: realia
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/56279 , vital:56505
- Description: Set of 3 pink circular crochet doilies, crafted by Mrs Bam Senior. , Donated/gifted to Nelson Mandela University Archives , Forms part of: Brigalia Bam collection
- Full Text: false
White cotton table mat with red, white and black designs
- Date: 2022-09-15
- Subjects: Bam, Brigalia , Tablecloths
- Language: English
- Type: realia
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/56270 , vital:56492
- Description: White cotton table mat with red, white and black designs on the front side of the cloth. Dr. Brigalia Bam received this gift from the Orthodox Church of Romania for leading and facilitating workshops and programs representing the World Council of Churches. , Donated/gifted to Nelson Mandela University Archives , Forms part of: Brigalia Bam collection
- Full Text: false
- Date: 2022-09-15
- Subjects: Bam, Brigalia , Tablecloths
- Language: English
- Type: realia
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/56270 , vital:56492
- Description: White cotton table mat with red, white and black designs on the front side of the cloth. Dr. Brigalia Bam received this gift from the Orthodox Church of Romania for leading and facilitating workshops and programs representing the World Council of Churches. , Donated/gifted to Nelson Mandela University Archives , Forms part of: Brigalia Bam collection
- Full Text: false
Yellow-gold crocheted table-runner
- Date: 2022-09-15
- Subjects: Bam, Brigalia , Crocheting
- Language: English
- Type: realia
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/56226 , vital:56484
- Description: Yellow crocheted table runner sewn by Mrs Bam Senior. The table runner is made up of 12 crocheted panels, sewn together. Dr. Bam saved this crocheted piece while she was in Switzerland, as it reminded her of her mother. Mrs Bam Senior crocheted the table runner from a crochet pattern. While recounting this story of her mother, Dr. Bam's face lit up. Mrs Bam Senior taught many women how to knit and also other handwork skills, which enabled others to use these skill to make a living. , Donated/gifted to Nelson Mandela University Archives , Forms part of: Brigalia Bam Collection
- Full Text: false
- Date: 2022-09-15
- Subjects: Bam, Brigalia , Crocheting
- Language: English
- Type: realia
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/56226 , vital:56484
- Description: Yellow crocheted table runner sewn by Mrs Bam Senior. The table runner is made up of 12 crocheted panels, sewn together. Dr. Bam saved this crocheted piece while she was in Switzerland, as it reminded her of her mother. Mrs Bam Senior crocheted the table runner from a crochet pattern. While recounting this story of her mother, Dr. Bam's face lit up. Mrs Bam Senior taught many women how to knit and also other handwork skills, which enabled others to use these skill to make a living. , Donated/gifted to Nelson Mandela University Archives , Forms part of: Brigalia Bam Collection
- Full Text: false
Analysis of early-phase contact tracing during the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak in Mangaung Metro, Free State
- Monyobo, Priscilla Kesaletseng
- Authors: Monyobo, Priscilla Kesaletseng
- Date: 2022-09
- Subjects: COVID-19 (Disease) , Contact tracing (Epidemiology) , Public health
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/23533 , vital:58105
- Description: Background and Aim Contact tracing is a critical public health measure for controlling and preventing the spread of infectious diseases. Although the principles underlying this strategy are not novel, understanding the changes in infectiousness of COVID-19 is indeed novel. As are the capacity and operating procedures required to support disease investigation in Mangang Metro during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic. On 16 March 2020, the first coronavirus disease case in the area, which led to a larger outbreak, occurred in Mangaung Metro, Free State province, South Africa. To date, Mangaung Metro remains the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic and the primary driver of the caseload in the Free State province. The aim of this study was to analyse contact tracing data in Mangaung Metro during the early phase of the COVID-19 outbreak (16 March 2020 – 30 June 2020) in order to measure the viral transmissibility of COVID-19 in the early stages of the outbreak, specifically in the context of Mangaung Metro. Methods A descriptive systematic analysis of index COVID-19 cases and their contacts in Mangaung Metro was conducted. The review period ran from 16 March to 30 June 2020, during which there was a total of 1 001 cases in Mangaung Metro. Data was captured on an Excel spreadsheet using the contact line list variables from the established National Institute of Communicable Disease contact line list framework. The inferential statistics were based on a time series analysis to compare the impact of contact tracing stratified by symptomatology and the root cause of the cases to the overall cases in Mangaung Metro. The study determined whether isolation, quarantine, and contact tracing were able to control outbreaks in the early phase using characteristics of disease transmission and parameters particularised to the COVID- 19 pathogen. Results As of 30 June 2020, the Free State province had a total of 2 072 COVID-19 cases. Mangaung Metro contributed 1 001 cases (48percent) of the total number of cases in the study period. Between March and June 2020, 3 553 contacts were traced in Mangaung Metro. This number translates to at least three investigated and traced contacts per index or laboratory confirmed positive case. From the traced contacts, 1 080 samples were collected and sent for laboratory testing. In April 2020, the greatest number of samples were collected. This high rate in sample collection is posited to be the result of the high rate of contacts traced, as well as the initial clinical guidelines followed for contact tracing. Most positive contacts were discovered in March 2020. One of the possible reasons for the high detection of COVID-19 confirmed positive contacts during the early stages of the outbreak was the focus and importance of contact tracing while the caseload remained relatively low. However, as the outbreak progressed in the Mangaung Metro context, the number and relative percentage of positive cases detected through contact tracing decreased. In total, the positive contacts recorded in March 2020 amounted to 92 (51.3percent), 18 in April (10.5percent), 41 in May (22.9percent), and 28 in June (15.6percent). The March 2020 tracking rate was the highest at 73.2percent, with an average contact tracing rate of 15.5percentby the end of June 2020. Of all the contacts traced, 7.9percent involved healthcare workers in the Free State. Conclusion The study’s findings show that contact tracing was an effective control measure during the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak in Mangung Metro district. Furthermore, the impact was greatest when the caseload was low and the burden on the healthcare system less severe. Mangaung Metro demonstrated the capability of tracing more contacts in the early-early phase of the outbreak; however, as the outbreak progressed to the latent early phase, the caseload increased and fewer contacts were traced. The consequence of contact tracing not being as effective during the latent early phase relates to the increase in both exposed and untraceable contacts, which in turn fueled the increase of new cases. This further impacted the at-risk and vulnerable population, especially the elderly, who were at an increased risk if not traced in a timely manner, possibly resulting in mortality. , Thesis (MPH) -- Faculty of Health Sciences, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-09
- Authors: Monyobo, Priscilla Kesaletseng
- Date: 2022-09
- Subjects: COVID-19 (Disease) , Contact tracing (Epidemiology) , Public health
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/23533 , vital:58105
- Description: Background and Aim Contact tracing is a critical public health measure for controlling and preventing the spread of infectious diseases. Although the principles underlying this strategy are not novel, understanding the changes in infectiousness of COVID-19 is indeed novel. As are the capacity and operating procedures required to support disease investigation in Mangang Metro during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic. On 16 March 2020, the first coronavirus disease case in the area, which led to a larger outbreak, occurred in Mangaung Metro, Free State province, South Africa. To date, Mangaung Metro remains the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic and the primary driver of the caseload in the Free State province. The aim of this study was to analyse contact tracing data in Mangaung Metro during the early phase of the COVID-19 outbreak (16 March 2020 – 30 June 2020) in order to measure the viral transmissibility of COVID-19 in the early stages of the outbreak, specifically in the context of Mangaung Metro. Methods A descriptive systematic analysis of index COVID-19 cases and their contacts in Mangaung Metro was conducted. The review period ran from 16 March to 30 June 2020, during which there was a total of 1 001 cases in Mangaung Metro. Data was captured on an Excel spreadsheet using the contact line list variables from the established National Institute of Communicable Disease contact line list framework. The inferential statistics were based on a time series analysis to compare the impact of contact tracing stratified by symptomatology and the root cause of the cases to the overall cases in Mangaung Metro. The study determined whether isolation, quarantine, and contact tracing were able to control outbreaks in the early phase using characteristics of disease transmission and parameters particularised to the COVID- 19 pathogen. Results As of 30 June 2020, the Free State province had a total of 2 072 COVID-19 cases. Mangaung Metro contributed 1 001 cases (48percent) of the total number of cases in the study period. Between March and June 2020, 3 553 contacts were traced in Mangaung Metro. This number translates to at least three investigated and traced contacts per index or laboratory confirmed positive case. From the traced contacts, 1 080 samples were collected and sent for laboratory testing. In April 2020, the greatest number of samples were collected. This high rate in sample collection is posited to be the result of the high rate of contacts traced, as well as the initial clinical guidelines followed for contact tracing. Most positive contacts were discovered in March 2020. One of the possible reasons for the high detection of COVID-19 confirmed positive contacts during the early stages of the outbreak was the focus and importance of contact tracing while the caseload remained relatively low. However, as the outbreak progressed in the Mangaung Metro context, the number and relative percentage of positive cases detected through contact tracing decreased. In total, the positive contacts recorded in March 2020 amounted to 92 (51.3percent), 18 in April (10.5percent), 41 in May (22.9percent), and 28 in June (15.6percent). The March 2020 tracking rate was the highest at 73.2percent, with an average contact tracing rate of 15.5percentby the end of June 2020. Of all the contacts traced, 7.9percent involved healthcare workers in the Free State. Conclusion The study’s findings show that contact tracing was an effective control measure during the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak in Mangung Metro district. Furthermore, the impact was greatest when the caseload was low and the burden on the healthcare system less severe. Mangaung Metro demonstrated the capability of tracing more contacts in the early-early phase of the outbreak; however, as the outbreak progressed to the latent early phase, the caseload increased and fewer contacts were traced. The consequence of contact tracing not being as effective during the latent early phase relates to the increase in both exposed and untraceable contacts, which in turn fueled the increase of new cases. This further impacted the at-risk and vulnerable population, especially the elderly, who were at an increased risk if not traced in a timely manner, possibly resulting in mortality. , Thesis (MPH) -- Faculty of Health Sciences, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-09
Clinical governance implementation challenges in the Department of Health, Mpumalanga, South Africa
- Maduna, Patrick Hawkins https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4926-1661
- Authors: Maduna, Patrick Hawkins https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4926-1661
- Date: 2022-09
- Subjects: Clinical competence , Evidence-based medicine , Health services administration
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/23600 , vital:58194
- Description: Clinical governance (CG) is the system through which health authorities are accountable for continuously improving the quality of their services and safeguarding high standards of care by creating an environment in which clinical excellence flourishes. South Africa is one of the countries where CG has not been successfully implemented. This study sought to explore the CG implementation challenges in the Mpumalanga province, South Africa. The study objectives included the seven pillars of CG. The study was a qualitative and exploratory, using purposive sampling technique to select study participants. A total of twenty-two (22) individuals were selected for the study. Semi-structured interviews were used for data collection. Each interview was transcribed verbatim by the researcher. Confidentiality was ensured through the coding of interviewee names. The content analysis technique was used for data analysis, using the study objectives as themes. The study found general lack of understanding of the concept of CG, poor performance of clinical audits, sub-standard clinical performance and effectiveness, poor clinical risk management, poor patient and public involvement in patient care, lack of evidence-based practice and research, inadequate training and development of healthcare workers, and sub-standard health information management across the department. The researcher recommends that the CG policy be prioritised by the Mpumalanga DOH, that systems be put in place to facilitate policy implementation, and that the departmental staff establishments at all levels, prioritise healthcare professionals in key leadership positions. In conclusion, there are numerous challenges that confront the Mpumalanga Department of Health regarding the implementation of clinical governance, requiring urgent attention. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Health Sciences, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-09
- Authors: Maduna, Patrick Hawkins https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4926-1661
- Date: 2022-09
- Subjects: Clinical competence , Evidence-based medicine , Health services administration
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/23600 , vital:58194
- Description: Clinical governance (CG) is the system through which health authorities are accountable for continuously improving the quality of their services and safeguarding high standards of care by creating an environment in which clinical excellence flourishes. South Africa is one of the countries where CG has not been successfully implemented. This study sought to explore the CG implementation challenges in the Mpumalanga province, South Africa. The study objectives included the seven pillars of CG. The study was a qualitative and exploratory, using purposive sampling technique to select study participants. A total of twenty-two (22) individuals were selected for the study. Semi-structured interviews were used for data collection. Each interview was transcribed verbatim by the researcher. Confidentiality was ensured through the coding of interviewee names. The content analysis technique was used for data analysis, using the study objectives as themes. The study found general lack of understanding of the concept of CG, poor performance of clinical audits, sub-standard clinical performance and effectiveness, poor clinical risk management, poor patient and public involvement in patient care, lack of evidence-based practice and research, inadequate training and development of healthcare workers, and sub-standard health information management across the department. The researcher recommends that the CG policy be prioritised by the Mpumalanga DOH, that systems be put in place to facilitate policy implementation, and that the departmental staff establishments at all levels, prioritise healthcare professionals in key leadership positions. In conclusion, there are numerous challenges that confront the Mpumalanga Department of Health regarding the implementation of clinical governance, requiring urgent attention. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Health Sciences, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-09
Consumerism, authenticity and African communalism
- Smook, E https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4226-6029
- Authors: Smook, E https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4226-6029
- Date: 2022-09
- Subjects: Consumption (Economics) , Authenticity (Philosophy) , Philosophy, African
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/23958 , vital:62022
- Description: Let me state, from the outset, that the issues raised below may be considered from various vantage points – Capitalism, Marxism, etc. However, this thesis is an endeavour to account for the loss of authenticity due to the most salient features of the consumer paradigm, which is the manufactured object, the production line and the proliferation of said objects. True relationships, or shall we say authentic dialogue, is based upon a difference of viewpoints – or epistemic distance – between the interlocutors. This difference of opinion, it may be argued, allows for a cognitive jostling between the subjects involved and represents, as it were, the reciprocal back and forth movement of ideas that betokens actively engaged dialogue. Crucial, then, to true, and by extension authentic, relationships is an epistemic distance steeped in variegated, heterogeneous points of view. For it is in sharing the differences in our points of view or interpretations of the world that we may start a dialogue far removed from each other and then sustain said dialogue in an attempt to reconcile our differences. The continuation of the dialogue, then, depends upon difference. Without the latter difference, the conditions of true dialogue, which is also a marker of authentic relationships, the need for sustained debate is forfeited and the dialogue ceases to serve a purpose – for the subjects involved in the intellectual jostling and exchange of ideas may already anticipate the thoughts of the other. In so anticipating the thoughts of the other, what is brought to the fore is not the ideas of the other, and by extension the other’s existence distinct from mine, but rather my own existence and thoughts. Were I and the other to share a constellation of beliefs, I am left with only that which I already believe in and so only with my own thoughts. The other’s differing opinion is crucial to their appearing to me as an element discreet and distinct from me. For if the other’s being is in essence of the same ilk as mine – and with that I mean if the other’s points of view and adopted systems of praxis mirror mine – we are like trees in a forest. The existence of collective nouns attests to this latter remark; we are prone to see the forest, not the similar trees that constitute it. Now the question arises as to the constitution of the self; what is it that makes up the character and nature of a person and how, if at all, may subjects be said to differ epistemically? According to Sartre, the ego is a transcendent object for consciousness, meaning that it exists out there in the world just like other objects. This is the case because consciousness is essentially empty. Recall Sartre’s famous claim that existence precedes essence, which in turn means that consciousness, or the ego, is filled up inchmeal with contents outside itself. In other words, that with which we are engaged constitutes the contents of consciousness. Repeated exposure to certain objects, or phenomena, brings about the cultivation of states and qualities – these, as it were, constituting the ego in the end. Moreover, these states and qualities, as arisen from repeated exposure to like phenomena, will instil in the subject a certain proclivity for a certain manner of action under specific conditions. As such, having been presented with something disagreeable many times over, a state of repulsion might gain a foothold in my ego regarding the phenomenon in question. This in turn will dictate how I act in the presence of said phenomenon or any other phenomena that include, adumbrationally, some of the qualities of the original phenomenon. As such, then, my actions are reflections of the states that I experience in the presence of certain objects or phenomena and, it may be argued, reflexively represent the world around me as that which constitutes my ego. The facticity of the world, then, has a great bearing upon the manner in which I perceive and engage the world. However, claims Sartre, facticity is but one side of the coin. The world and its meaning are constituted by what Sartre calls brute meaning. This refers to the fact that meaning is a matter of public opinion and does not precede the phenomenon or object itself – the latter being, in essence, but a bare, pliable, monstrous mass of being-in-itself. Due to this occurrence of meaning being man made, we are in a unique position of freedom. We are, he further claims, capable of transcending these brute meanings, enabling us to avail ourselves of the objects or phenomena in question in a bespoke manner. Freedom to choose how we interact with and interpret the world is thus the ontological ground of choice. We have, on the one side, the world in its undifferentiated state – being-in-itself – and on the other the possibility to give this world a specific meaning in accordance with our intentions – being-for-itself. Freedom to choose, so construed, thus ontologically underlies the very fabric of our existence, hence the claim that we are condemned to be free. Choosing whether to continue along the path set out by our original factual condition or to transcend it and make of it something different altogether is thus not a choice at all, but the obligatory condition of the human condition. Once again, this is the case because consciousness, as per Sartre, is empty to start with and can only be filled with the contents of phenomena or objects in accordance with our intentional engagement of them. However, Sartre continues, this freedom of meaning and the fact that brute existents represent nothing more than the convergence of publicly ascribed meaning awaken in the subject a certain nausea – a nausea born of the fact that we, the people, are at every junction in a position where we have to choose the meaning of life. Determinism, thusly, does not exist and we are not only free to choose the meanings of our own lives, but are responsible for what our lives become. This realisation proves to be too much for most to stomach and leads them along a specific path of choice: over-identification with either their factual realities or with the possibility to transcend the latter. Either way, what they aim to achieve with this overidentification is the suppression of the nauseating reality that reality is nought but what we make it to be and we are thus responsible for what it becomes. Sartre calls this bad faith. Pandering to this proclivity towards bad faith, or alternatively, the propensity for overidentification with either side on the facticity/transcendence dichotomy, we find consumerism. The consumer paradigm delineates happiness as an objective ideal, attainable through the acquisition of specific markers of demonstrable happiness. At the same time, it also provides an answer to the nauseating reality that we, humans, are never fully determined beings, but find ourselves vacillating between our factual constraints and our transcendences thereof. It offers us the crystalised means of becoming this or that individual by way of populating our immediate and personal surroundings with signifiers of happiness. Considering, moreover, that a liberalist conception of human being clearly indicates that individuation of each subject is an important aspect of existence, authenticity in terms of rights emerge as a corollary of said individuation. Each individual, so construed, is given the opportunity, the right, to acquire said markers of happiness and individuation. Obtaining these, it may be argued, allows the individual two things: firstly, to quell the nausea that haunts our dualistic lives by concretising it altogether and so doing highlighting the factual side of things; and secondly, to become discreet and individuated subjects, authentic in their beings. However, the authenticity so begotten provides nought but a thin veneer of idiosyncrasy, as the markers of said authenticity are publicly available and so the same for everyone. The problem, thus, of self-individuation is resolved by providing the subject the means of over-identification with their factual realities whilst convincing them, the consumers, that the objects on offer will afford them a degree of happiness and set them apart from their fellow subjects. The unfortunate upshot of this is that subjects all avail themselves of the same set of objects in an attempt to quell the nausea that besets the individual plunged into an undifferentiated existence. We are here at the heart of the matter. Due to the proliferation of like objects throughout the life-world, a specific system of praxis is implied. So as to navigate the life-world and utilise the similar objects that populate it, consumers are driven towards shared ideologies and courses of action. Moreover, their intentions also converge, as they all seek to establish a web of objects around them that would bespeak their individuation and happiness. Where the life-world has become such a homogeneous landscape, it may be argued, in line with Sartrean thought, that the contents of consciousness would also be similar for all. And where the contents of consciousness is similar for all, we may argue that reasoning would be similar for all. It is at this point that dialogue breaks down, for there is nothing epistemically to separate interlocutors and therefore no differences of opinion to sustain true dialogue. If, as it was reasoned some pages prior, it is the case that sustained dialogue provides the predicate upon which authentic relationships are to be based, the collapse of this epistemic distance between consumers must then also lead to a collapse of authentic relationships. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-09
- Authors: Smook, E https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4226-6029
- Date: 2022-09
- Subjects: Consumption (Economics) , Authenticity (Philosophy) , Philosophy, African
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/23958 , vital:62022
- Description: Let me state, from the outset, that the issues raised below may be considered from various vantage points – Capitalism, Marxism, etc. However, this thesis is an endeavour to account for the loss of authenticity due to the most salient features of the consumer paradigm, which is the manufactured object, the production line and the proliferation of said objects. True relationships, or shall we say authentic dialogue, is based upon a difference of viewpoints – or epistemic distance – between the interlocutors. This difference of opinion, it may be argued, allows for a cognitive jostling between the subjects involved and represents, as it were, the reciprocal back and forth movement of ideas that betokens actively engaged dialogue. Crucial, then, to true, and by extension authentic, relationships is an epistemic distance steeped in variegated, heterogeneous points of view. For it is in sharing the differences in our points of view or interpretations of the world that we may start a dialogue far removed from each other and then sustain said dialogue in an attempt to reconcile our differences. The continuation of the dialogue, then, depends upon difference. Without the latter difference, the conditions of true dialogue, which is also a marker of authentic relationships, the need for sustained debate is forfeited and the dialogue ceases to serve a purpose – for the subjects involved in the intellectual jostling and exchange of ideas may already anticipate the thoughts of the other. In so anticipating the thoughts of the other, what is brought to the fore is not the ideas of the other, and by extension the other’s existence distinct from mine, but rather my own existence and thoughts. Were I and the other to share a constellation of beliefs, I am left with only that which I already believe in and so only with my own thoughts. The other’s differing opinion is crucial to their appearing to me as an element discreet and distinct from me. For if the other’s being is in essence of the same ilk as mine – and with that I mean if the other’s points of view and adopted systems of praxis mirror mine – we are like trees in a forest. The existence of collective nouns attests to this latter remark; we are prone to see the forest, not the similar trees that constitute it. Now the question arises as to the constitution of the self; what is it that makes up the character and nature of a person and how, if at all, may subjects be said to differ epistemically? According to Sartre, the ego is a transcendent object for consciousness, meaning that it exists out there in the world just like other objects. This is the case because consciousness is essentially empty. Recall Sartre’s famous claim that existence precedes essence, which in turn means that consciousness, or the ego, is filled up inchmeal with contents outside itself. In other words, that with which we are engaged constitutes the contents of consciousness. Repeated exposure to certain objects, or phenomena, brings about the cultivation of states and qualities – these, as it were, constituting the ego in the end. Moreover, these states and qualities, as arisen from repeated exposure to like phenomena, will instil in the subject a certain proclivity for a certain manner of action under specific conditions. As such, having been presented with something disagreeable many times over, a state of repulsion might gain a foothold in my ego regarding the phenomenon in question. This in turn will dictate how I act in the presence of said phenomenon or any other phenomena that include, adumbrationally, some of the qualities of the original phenomenon. As such, then, my actions are reflections of the states that I experience in the presence of certain objects or phenomena and, it may be argued, reflexively represent the world around me as that which constitutes my ego. The facticity of the world, then, has a great bearing upon the manner in which I perceive and engage the world. However, claims Sartre, facticity is but one side of the coin. The world and its meaning are constituted by what Sartre calls brute meaning. This refers to the fact that meaning is a matter of public opinion and does not precede the phenomenon or object itself – the latter being, in essence, but a bare, pliable, monstrous mass of being-in-itself. Due to this occurrence of meaning being man made, we are in a unique position of freedom. We are, he further claims, capable of transcending these brute meanings, enabling us to avail ourselves of the objects or phenomena in question in a bespoke manner. Freedom to choose how we interact with and interpret the world is thus the ontological ground of choice. We have, on the one side, the world in its undifferentiated state – being-in-itself – and on the other the possibility to give this world a specific meaning in accordance with our intentions – being-for-itself. Freedom to choose, so construed, thus ontologically underlies the very fabric of our existence, hence the claim that we are condemned to be free. Choosing whether to continue along the path set out by our original factual condition or to transcend it and make of it something different altogether is thus not a choice at all, but the obligatory condition of the human condition. Once again, this is the case because consciousness, as per Sartre, is empty to start with and can only be filled with the contents of phenomena or objects in accordance with our intentional engagement of them. However, Sartre continues, this freedom of meaning and the fact that brute existents represent nothing more than the convergence of publicly ascribed meaning awaken in the subject a certain nausea – a nausea born of the fact that we, the people, are at every junction in a position where we have to choose the meaning of life. Determinism, thusly, does not exist and we are not only free to choose the meanings of our own lives, but are responsible for what our lives become. This realisation proves to be too much for most to stomach and leads them along a specific path of choice: over-identification with either their factual realities or with the possibility to transcend the latter. Either way, what they aim to achieve with this overidentification is the suppression of the nauseating reality that reality is nought but what we make it to be and we are thus responsible for what it becomes. Sartre calls this bad faith. Pandering to this proclivity towards bad faith, or alternatively, the propensity for overidentification with either side on the facticity/transcendence dichotomy, we find consumerism. The consumer paradigm delineates happiness as an objective ideal, attainable through the acquisition of specific markers of demonstrable happiness. At the same time, it also provides an answer to the nauseating reality that we, humans, are never fully determined beings, but find ourselves vacillating between our factual constraints and our transcendences thereof. It offers us the crystalised means of becoming this or that individual by way of populating our immediate and personal surroundings with signifiers of happiness. Considering, moreover, that a liberalist conception of human being clearly indicates that individuation of each subject is an important aspect of existence, authenticity in terms of rights emerge as a corollary of said individuation. Each individual, so construed, is given the opportunity, the right, to acquire said markers of happiness and individuation. Obtaining these, it may be argued, allows the individual two things: firstly, to quell the nausea that haunts our dualistic lives by concretising it altogether and so doing highlighting the factual side of things; and secondly, to become discreet and individuated subjects, authentic in their beings. However, the authenticity so begotten provides nought but a thin veneer of idiosyncrasy, as the markers of said authenticity are publicly available and so the same for everyone. The problem, thus, of self-individuation is resolved by providing the subject the means of over-identification with their factual realities whilst convincing them, the consumers, that the objects on offer will afford them a degree of happiness and set them apart from their fellow subjects. The unfortunate upshot of this is that subjects all avail themselves of the same set of objects in an attempt to quell the nausea that besets the individual plunged into an undifferentiated existence. We are here at the heart of the matter. Due to the proliferation of like objects throughout the life-world, a specific system of praxis is implied. So as to navigate the life-world and utilise the similar objects that populate it, consumers are driven towards shared ideologies and courses of action. Moreover, their intentions also converge, as they all seek to establish a web of objects around them that would bespeak their individuation and happiness. Where the life-world has become such a homogeneous landscape, it may be argued, in line with Sartrean thought, that the contents of consciousness would also be similar for all. And where the contents of consciousness is similar for all, we may argue that reasoning would be similar for all. It is at this point that dialogue breaks down, for there is nothing epistemically to separate interlocutors and therefore no differences of opinion to sustain true dialogue. If, as it was reasoned some pages prior, it is the case that sustained dialogue provides the predicate upon which authentic relationships are to be based, the collapse of this epistemic distance between consumers must then also lead to a collapse of authentic relationships. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-09
Exploring the perceptions and attitudes of University of Fort Hare students towards seeking psychological counselling services
- Authors: Pantshwa, Siziphiwe
- Date: 2022-09
- Subjects: Counseling , Helping behavior , Psychology, Applied
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/23809 , vital:60807
- Description: The purpose of this study was to explore and examine the perceptions and attitudes of Fort Hare students towards seeking psychological help. It provided an understanding of factors that influence the help-seeking behaviours of university students. The study used an explorative qualitative approach in collecting data to find problems frequently encountered by students, their preferred sources of help for those problems, and their attitudes towards seeking psychological help. The sample was selected through a non-probability convenience sampling technique. Six participants, undergraduate and post-graduate students from the University of Fort Hare, East London campus, participated in the study. The data was collected in face-to-face semi-structured individual interviews in which participants were questioned orally. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data collected from the semi-structured interviews were thematically analysed by employing Braun and Clarke’s six steps of thematic analysis. Social constructionism as a meta-theory and Ecosystems theory provided the theoretical underpinning for the interpretation of the study. The study results revealed that close friends and family members were the preferred sources of help chosen by students. Five significant problems were experienced by students. Financial issues, difficulty adjusting to the university environment, academic stress, being away from home and managing time were at the top list of the challenges experienced by students. The factors that inhibited -seeking for psychological help were social stigma, access to a psychologist, financial constraints, and viewing a psychologist as a stranger. However the study further found that students had a positive attitude toward professional psychological help. This indicates a slight shift from previous studies, which reported negative attitudes among university students. Participants also reported on the influence of their socio-cultural background, the opinions held by their family and community members towards seeking psychological help. This study recommends specific interventions in which seeking psychological help can be reinforced, such as holding workshops to psycho-educate students about the benefits of using counselling services and the negative implications of not seeking professional help when experiencing psychological distress. , Thesis (MSoc) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-09
- Authors: Pantshwa, Siziphiwe
- Date: 2022-09
- Subjects: Counseling , Helping behavior , Psychology, Applied
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/23809 , vital:60807
- Description: The purpose of this study was to explore and examine the perceptions and attitudes of Fort Hare students towards seeking psychological help. It provided an understanding of factors that influence the help-seeking behaviours of university students. The study used an explorative qualitative approach in collecting data to find problems frequently encountered by students, their preferred sources of help for those problems, and their attitudes towards seeking psychological help. The sample was selected through a non-probability convenience sampling technique. Six participants, undergraduate and post-graduate students from the University of Fort Hare, East London campus, participated in the study. The data was collected in face-to-face semi-structured individual interviews in which participants were questioned orally. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data collected from the semi-structured interviews were thematically analysed by employing Braun and Clarke’s six steps of thematic analysis. Social constructionism as a meta-theory and Ecosystems theory provided the theoretical underpinning for the interpretation of the study. The study results revealed that close friends and family members were the preferred sources of help chosen by students. Five significant problems were experienced by students. Financial issues, difficulty adjusting to the university environment, academic stress, being away from home and managing time were at the top list of the challenges experienced by students. The factors that inhibited -seeking for psychological help were social stigma, access to a psychologist, financial constraints, and viewing a psychologist as a stranger. However the study further found that students had a positive attitude toward professional psychological help. This indicates a slight shift from previous studies, which reported negative attitudes among university students. Participants also reported on the influence of their socio-cultural background, the opinions held by their family and community members towards seeking psychological help. This study recommends specific interventions in which seeking psychological help can be reinforced, such as holding workshops to psycho-educate students about the benefits of using counselling services and the negative implications of not seeking professional help when experiencing psychological distress. , Thesis (MSoc) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-09