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""Of molecules and men"" : inaugural lecture delivered at Rhodes University

  • Authors: Kaye, P T
  • Date: 1989
  • Subjects: Biochemistry , Chemistry, Organic , Chemistry
  • Language: English
  • Type: Text
  • Identifier: vital:643 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1020712 , ISBN 0868101842
  • Description: Inaugural lecture delivered at Rhodes University , Rhodes University Libraries (Digitisation)
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  • Date Issued: 1989

"A complex and delicate web" : a comparative study of selected speculative novels by Margaret Atwood, Ursula K. Le Guin, Doris Lessing and Marge Piercy

"A dark revolt of being" abjection, sacrifice and the real in performance art, with reference to the works of Peter van Heerden and Steven Cohen

  • Authors: Balt, Christine
  • Date: 2009
  • Subjects: Cohen, Steven, 1962- Van Heerden, Peter Phelan, Peggy Kristeva, Julia Lacan, Jacques Performance art -- South Africa Abject art
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2132 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002364
  • Description: This thesis is an exploration of some of the defining characteristics of performance art, and an investigation of how such characteristics relate to ritual. It highlights some key notions, such as that of the “Real” and the live, which are introduced in the first chapter. This chapter explores the theories of Peggy Phelan, Julia Kristeva and Jacques Lacan in its attempts to conceptualize the Real. It assesses how performance art as ritual attempts to revise traditional apparatuses of representation. It argues that, through a transgression of representation, performance art has the potential to challenge and revise established discourses on identity, culture and violence. The second chapter of this study is an attempt to provide a history and subsequent conceptualization of performance art, based on its exposition of the live. I have taken into consideration certain strategies that performance artists employ to evoke the live, referring specifically to the manipulation of the body. It is through abject encounters with the unsymbolizable “Real” that the performance artist reaches the borders of his/her subjective constitution, and performs a transformation of his/her identity that transcends the mechanisms of representation. The third chapter of this study attempts to find the connections that exist between performance art and sacrificial ritual. I will refer specifically to the theories of Rene Girard. Girard‟s notion of the “violent sacred” and its significance within sacrifice as an antidote to community crises will be explored in relation to collective transformation within the performance event. I choose to focus specifically on the role of the performer as surrogate victim/pharmakon, and the spectators/witnesses as part of the community. The fourth chapter explores how two South African performance artists, Steven Cohen (1961) and Peter van Heerden (1973), perform the abject body as the monster. Kristeva‟s notion of the abject will be examined in terms of the transformation of the individual performer as subject within performance art, and how, through the assumption of an “othered,” monstrous identity, the performer becomes the surrogate victim. The fifth chapter will entail an examination of Peter van Heerden‟s 6 Minutes. I will attempt to draw parallels between performance art and ritual through using this performance piece as a case study. I will focus on the strategies that Van Heerden implements to resist theatrical representation. 6 Minutes will be observed in terms of its link to sacrificial ritual, and it presentation of the live, and the Real. In light of these discoveries, I aim to locate performance art within politically-driven modes of art-making, and how such an endeavour relates to South African modes of theatre and performance.
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  • Date Issued: 2009

"A lean-led-evaluation" of infrastructure development improvement programme in South Africa

  • Authors: Monyane, Thabiso Godfrey
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: Construction industry -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44535 , vital:38131
  • Description: A doctoral study was embarked upon with the intentions of addressing cost management problems encountered on Infrastructure Delivery Projects in South Africa. Given that poor cost performance constitute hindrance to the realization of project goals, it is imperative to eliminate it from project delivery. The prevalence of cost overrun in public sector projects is a call to all stakeholders to address cost management issues in the construction industry. The predominance of cost overruns in public sector construction projects in South Africa has been observed. With the decline of the current economic conditions in South Africa, project performance is a great concern that needs attention. In addition, ineffective initiatives to curb the abuse of the procurement processes are directly affecting the outcomes of construction projects, and if these status quo remains, the sector will continue to have a bad image and continued waste of taxpayers’ money will not cease until the public sector remove non-value adding activities in their operations. Study adopted a mixed methods designed that collected both textual and statistical data. Semistructured interviews were undertaken to determine the outcomes of current project management practices in South Africa. In terms of performance of projects, the status quo paints a disconsolate picture. Findings reveal protracted processes, and the use of unqualified and inexperienced contribute to poor performance of public sector projects. Poor performance continues to dominate the construction sector, especially in the public sector. Interviews data were contrasted with evidence from project-related documents. Based on the data, the study produces a vignette of existing cost management frameworks applied to such projects. Encompassing various stages of the project delivery lifecycle, this vignette will enable an identification of the challenges afflicting cost management on projects. Accordingly, this study identified Lean opportunities from existing cost management practices. Such opportunities will enable identification of effective cost management during project delivery. There appears a need for collaborative cost management practices. Lean tools mentioned for improvement include the 5Whys, the big room, target value design, and the integration of design and construction. A collaborative cost management framework was developed through relevant theories to improve the cost management process of public sector projects.
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  • Date Issued: 2019

"A sociological investigation of the influence of regular school feeding scheme on learners' academic performance at Ngqele Primary School in Nkonkobe municipality, Eastern Cape"

  • Authors: James, Ntombovuyo Gloria
  • Date: 2017
  • Subjects: School children--Health and hygiene Nutrition--South Africa--Eastern Cape School attendance--South Africa--Eastern Cape
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , Sociology
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/11516 , vital:39079
  • Description: This study sought to examine a sociological approach of the influence of regular provision of school feeding scheme on learners’ academic performance at Ngqele Primary School, Nkonkobe Municipality, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The study explored the views of teachers and parents pertaining to regular provision of school feeding scheme on learners’ academic performance. In addition, the study examined the impact of regular provision of school feeding scheme on school attendance and the sustainability of the regular provision of school feeding scheme. The study utilized both qualitative and quantitative research methods in the form of in-depth interviews, and a survey method. The process was made possible through the use of purposive sampling and cluster sampling to generate the targeted participants of the study. The findings of the study have shown that the school feeding scheme has got an impact on learner’s academic performance due to the fact that learners are able to listen and pay attention to the teacher if they are fed, the SFS has a positive impact on learners’ attendance and high enrolment. However, the study has also shown that, despite the positive impact of the school feeding Scheme, there were some challenges that also impacted negatively on learners, the school and the implementation of the programme. Such challenges include irregular supply of food, food shortages and poor quality of food.
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  • Date Issued: 2017

"Abject dictatorship of the flesh" : corporeality in the fiction of Patrick White

"All vistas close in the unseen" : a study of the transcendent in the fiction of E. M. Forster

  • Authors: Butler, Ian
  • Date: 1987
  • Subjects: Forster, E. M. (Edward Morgan), 1879-1970 -- Criticism and interpretation , Forster, E. M. (Edward Morgan), 1879-1970
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2175 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001826
  • Description: From introduction: It has become something of a commonplace among critics to remark Forster's relative lack of success in offering an alternative to the world which he satirises with such wit and humour. His comic treatment of the suburban absurdities of the Edwardian Englishman is, on the whole, far more compelling and memorable than the often vague, symbolic gestures by means of which he implies the possibility of something better. With the exception of his last and greatest novel, A Passage to India, his "alternatives" are largely factitious and contrived. Worse, the reader senses a fundamental uncertainty on the part of the author: his characteristic ambivalence in itself an indication of a perceptive and discriminating mind -- all too often suggests lack of conviction rather than an intelligent awareness of the infinitude of human possibilities.
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  • Date Issued: 1987

"Burnout" in children's home houseparents

  • Authors: Bath, Peter John
  • Date: 1983
  • Subjects: Uncatalogued
  • Language: English
  • Type: Master's theses , text
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/193118 , vital:45300
  • Description: Aimed at replicating the results of an American study into "Burnout" in Group Home houseparents, this research had the following aims: 1) To ascertain the validity and reliability of the instrument used in the original study and presented as a "useful measure of burnout”. 2) To establish whether this line of research, within a highly problematic research field, can at present offer any guidelines in the resolution of the current staffing crisis faced by South African children's homes. 3} To describe more closely the burnout syndrome. 4) To study possible etiological factors within a local context. Sixty three houseparents completed questionaires and three independent measures of burnout were obtained. The results were regarded as having failed to replicate those of the original study. The reason for this was found to be the low validity of the original instrument. The main conclusion drawn was that the line of research adopted in the original study can offer only very tentative guidelines towards the resolution of the staffing crisis faced until such time as valid and reliable instruments to measure burnout have been developed. Many of the suggested relationships between situational variables and ones of personal characteristics were confirmed for the local population of houseparents. , Thesis (MSocSci) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 1983
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  • Date Issued: 1983

"But what story?": a narrative-discursive analysis of "white" Afrikaners' accounts of male involvement in parenthood decision-making

  • Authors: Morison, Tracy
  • Date: 2011
  • Subjects: Family planning -- South Africa -- Psychological aspects Family size Birth intervals Men -- South Africa -- Attitudes Men -- South Africa -- Psychology Couples -- South Africa -- Psychology Afrikaners -- Attitudes
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: vital:3025 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002534
  • Description: Despite the increased focus on men in reproductive research, little is known about male involvement in the initial decision/s regarding parenthood (i.e., to become a parent or not) and the subsequent decision-making that may ensue (e.g., choices about timing or spacing of births). In particular, the parenthood decision-making of “White”, heterosexual men from the middle class has been understudied, as indicated in the existing literature. In South Africa, this oversight has been exacerbated by the tendency for researchers to concentrate on “problematic” men, to the exclusion of the “boring, normal case”. I argue that this silence in the literature is a result of the taken for granted nature of parenthood in the “normal” heterosexual life course. In this study, I have turned the spotlight onto the norm of “Whiteness” and heterosexuality by studying those who have previously been overlooked by researchers. I focus on “White” Afrikaans men’s involvement in parenthood decision-making. My aim was to explore how constructions of gender inform male involvement in decision-making, especially within the South African context where social transformation has challenged traditional conceptions of male selfhood giving rise to new and contested masculine identities and new discourses of manhood and fatherhood. In an effort to ensure that women’s voices are not marginalised in the research, as is often the case in studies of men and masculinity, I conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews about male involvement in decision-making with both “White” Afrikaans women and men. There were 23 participants in total, who all identified as heterosexual and middle-class. The participants were divided into two age cohorts (21 – 30 years and >40 years), which were then differentiated according to gender, reproductive status, and relationship status. Treating the interviews as jointly produced narratives, I analysed them by means of a performativity/performance lens. This dual analytic lens focuses on how particular narrative performances are simultaneously shaped by the interview setting and the broader discursive context. The lens was fashioned by synthesising Butler’s theory of performativity with Taylor’s narrative-discursive method. This synthesis (1) allows for Butler’s notion of “performativity” to be supplemented with that of “performance”; (2) provides a concrete analytical strategy in the form of positioning analysis; and (3) draws attention to both the micro politics of the interview conversation and the operation of power on the macro level, including the possibility of making “gender trouble”. The findings of the study suggest that the participants experienced difficulty narrating about male involvement in parenthood decision-making, owing to the taken for granted nature of parenthood for heterosexual adults. This was evident in participants’ sidelining of issues of “deciding” and “planning” and their alternate construal of childbearing as a non-choice, which, significantly served to bolster hetero-patriarchal norms. A central rhetorical tool for accomplishing these purposes was found in the construction of the “sacralised” child. In discursively manoeuvring around the central problematic, the participants ultimately produced a “silence” in the data that repeats the one in the research literature.
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  • Date Issued: 2011

"Changing ourselves, changing others" : an analysis of the life stories of participants in a training course for volunteers within a non-governmental organisation in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa

  • Authors: Harper, Christopher Duncan
  • Date: 2000
  • Subjects: Non-governmental organizations -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Violence -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Abused women -- Counseling of , Women -- Crimes against -- South Africa , Volunteers
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2985 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002494 , Non-governmental organizations -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Violence -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Abused women -- Counseling of , Women -- Crimes against -- South Africa , Volunteers
  • Description: Gender-based violence has been recognized as a pressing mental health problem that is prevalent within South African society. Non-governmental organizations play a major role in addressing and highlighting the issue. These organizations make use of volunteers in order to assist in meeting their goals. The modernist perspective has been the dominant investigative mode when research into volunteers has been conducted. However, this study has been conducted with an emphasis on narrative. In its use of this constitutionalist and deconstructive perspective, it examines the identity of the research participants within the dominant social and cultural discourses that story their lives. This presents a major challenge to the modernist framework. In examining the life stories of the participants an emergent nature of identity is noted. Through the process of storying their lives and ascribing meaning to their experiences and understandings, the participants engaged in a process of constructing their identity. This research recognizes that identity is both multi-sited and multi-storied. The emphasis on personal agency enables the participants to restory their lives in the light of challenging prevailing discourses. It is in this process of challenge that they reauthor their lives and are in a position to change their own lives and the lives of others.
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  • Date Issued: 2000

"Chimurenga" 1896-1897: a revisionist study

  • Authors: Horn, Mark Philip Malcolm
  • Date: 1987
  • Subjects: National liberation movements -- Zimbabwe , Political violence -- Zimbabwe , Zimbabwe -- Politics and government -- 1980- , Zimbabwe -- History -- Chimurenga War, 1966-1980
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2546 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002398 , National liberation movements -- Zimbabwe , Political violence -- Zimbabwe , Zimbabwe -- Politics and government -- 1980- , Zimbabwe -- History -- Chimurenga War, 1966-1980
  • Description: There were no "Rebellions" in 1896-7. The concept of "risings" which is to be found in the European perspective of the escalated violence has distorted an understanding of the complex nature of the events. The events of 1896-7 must rather be explained through an examination of the details of the conflict. European pressure on the African people prior to 1896 was minimal and cannot be assumed to be the "cause" of the first "Chimurenga". There was no planned, organised or coordinated "rebellion" in Matabeleland in March 1896. Further, no distinction can be made between a "March" rebellion in Matabeleland and a June "rebellion" in Mashonaland. A European war of conquest in 1896-7 evoked the responce known now as the first "Chimurenga". It was the war of conquest of 1896-7 which saw the ascendancy of the European perspective over the African and thereby established the psychological foundations of the Rhodesian colonial state. The complex nature of the events of 1896-7 is to be understood through an appreciation of the different perspectives of those who became embroiled in the conflict.
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  • Date Issued: 1987

"Christian Missions in 19th and 20th century Southern Africa and in comparative perspective" conference.

  • Authors: Badat, Saleem
  • Date: 2007-07-08 , 2014-07-14
  • Language: English
  • Type: Text
  • Identifier: vital:7638 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012617
  • Description: Welcome address by the Vice-chancellor, Dr Saleem Badat, at the "Christian Missions in 19th and 20th century Southern Africa and in comparative perspective" conference, Rhodes University, 8 July 2007.
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  • Date Issued: 2007-07-08

"Complexes of carbohydrates with magnesium-ions" : "the isolation of an oligosaccharide containing L-galactose from the polysaccharide of Aeodes orbitosa" : "horizontal cellulose colum chromatography of sugars"

  • Authors: Van der Linde, Michael John
  • Date: 1974
  • Subjects: Magenesium , Ions , Carbohydrates , Oligosaccharides , Polysaccharides , Chromatographic analysis
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: vital:4504 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013282
  • Description: Sugar complexes with anions and cations are reviewed. Evidence is presented for the formation of a complex of stoichiometry 1:1 in aqueous solution between methyl-α-Dglucopyranoside and magnesium perchlorate. The complex may be detected by the method of continuous variations. Measurements of changes in the proton chemical shifts of the glucoside in dauterium oxide, indicate that the complex is probably formed between the vicinal hydroxyl groups at C-2 and C-3 of the pyranoside ring and the hydrated cation. At elevation temperatures there is evidence for the presence of a complex of stoichiometry 2:1. Experiments conducted on cellulose indicate the possible formation of cellulose - magnesium-ion complexes . These complexes provide an explanation for the "protective action" of mEgnesium compounds on the cellulose portion of pulp during alkali-oxygen bleaching.
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  • Date Issued: 1974

"Constructive critic" or "donor agency": does the World Bank have a role to play in sub-Saharan Africa's development beyond that of providing economic aid?

  • Authors: Thompson, Christine Audra
  • Date: 1992
  • Subjects: Africa, Sub-Saharan -- Economic conditions -- 20th century , World Bank -- Africa, Sub-Saharan , Africa, Sub-Saharan -- Economic conditions
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2835 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003045 , Africa, Sub-Saharan -- Economic conditions -- 20th century , World Bank -- Africa, Sub-Saharan , Africa, Sub-Saharan -- Economic conditions
  • Description: This thesis attempts to evaluate the role of the World Bank in Sub-Saharan Africa's development. It argues that the World Bank has stepped beyond the boundaries of a typical lending institution by linking its aid to political reform. The study argues that in this capacity the Bank has contributed to the halting democratization process currently underway in Africa. The economic effects of the World Bank's Structural Adjustment Programmes have been less successful. As yet, the programmes have not produced the expected results and there is no evidence of long-term, sustainable economic recovery in Sub-Saharan Africa. These programmes are, however, long-term strategies and it may therefore be too premature to reach a final conclusion. They may also have been affected negatively by unfavourable political environments. This study, noting the negative effects of the international terms of trade and prices for African exports, concludes that although economic recovery in Sub-Saharan Africa will be facilitated by domestic political and economic policy reform, there is also a need for reform of the international economic order. The World Bank has correctly identified the need for domestic improvement, but it has a tendency to disregard the negative consequences of the existing structure of the international economy.
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  • Date Issued: 1992

"Dudu's Ghost" and the Dedication Orchestra at the 100 Club

  • Authors: Alfred, Luke
  • Date: 2012 , 1993
  • Subjects: McGregor, Chris -- 1936-1990 , Blue Notes (Musical group : South Africa) , Pukwana, Dudu , Jazz , Jazz musicians , Dyani, Johnny Mbizo , Feza, Mongezi , Miller, Harry , Dedication Orchestra , 100 Club
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: vital:13472 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001394 , McGregor, Chris -- 1936-1990 , Blue Notes (Musical group : South Africa) , Pukwana, Dudu , Jazz , Jazz musicians , Dyani, Johnny Mbizo , Feza, Mongezi , Miller, Harry
  • Description: The Dedication Orchestra is a group of contemporary English and South African musicians formed in honour of the memory of the Blue Notes, the seminal South African jazz band who found a home from home in London during the early 60s. , Photocopied article from the newspaper SA Times about a concert by the Dedication Orchestra at the 100 Club, London, in honour of the memory of the Blue Notes. There are 5 pictures with the article. The left picture shows Dudu Pukwana playing soprano saxophone, the top middle photo shows Johnny Dyani playing double bass, Mongezi Feza is on the below photo, Chris McGregor is on the top right picture and on the below right photo there is Harry Miller.
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  • Date Issued: 1993

"Effulgent in the firmament" the politics of representation and the politics of reception in South Africa's 'poetry of commitment', 1968-1983

  • Authors: Mde, Vukani
  • Date: 2002
  • Subjects: South African literature -- Black authors -- History and criticism , Politics and literature -- South Africa -- History -- 20th century , Literature and state -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:10987 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/288 , South African literature -- Black authors -- History and criticism , Politics and literature -- South Africa -- History -- 20th century , Literature and state -- South Africa
  • Description: This dissertation re-examines an era in the production and reception of English language poetry in South Africa by black writers. Intellectually the 1970's was the Black Consciousness phase of South African history and very few aspects of life in the country were untouched by the intellectual movement led by Steve Biko and other young black student leaders. The aesthetic and literary output of the time, like all other facets of South African life, exhibited the influence and pressures brought to bear by Black Consciousness. Moreover, the Black Consciousness poets introduced the most vibrant and innovative phase for English language poetry produced in South Africa. It is my contention, however, that such vibrancy and innovation has consistently been compromised by unsympathetic, often hostile, and almost-always ill-informed criticism. The dissertation offers a critique of the academic and journalistic practice of criticism in South Africa. I argue that critical practice in South Africa has been engaged throughout the twentieth century in the discursive enforcement of ‘discipline’. In his Discipline and Punish (1977) the French post-structuralist philosopher Michel Foucault demonstrated how power is wielded against oppressed/suppressed groups through self regulated proscriptions, and argued that power is a discursive rather than a corporeal phenomenon. My dissertation follows Foucault in reading the critical reception of Black Consciousness poetry as the practice of disciplinary power. The dissertation also engages critically with the poetry of Oswald Mtshali, Mongane Serote and Sipho Sepamla, and argues that their work is the inscription of black subjectivity into the literary and cultural mainstream. It situates their work within wider 6 societal debates and definitions of ‘blackness’. In this regard use is made again of Michel Foucault’s insights and methodology of discourse analysis as shown in The Archaeology of Knowledge (1972). I argue that Oswald Mtshali’s work is a failed attempt at a dissection of apartheid and colonialism from a broadly Christian and humanist perspective. In my reading of Mongane Serote I explore the relationship between women’s bodies and the practice of representation. It is my contention that Serote is most concerned with claims of belonging, and this is shown through his extensive use of the trope of ‘Mother’. My discussion of the poetry of Sipho Sepamla focuses on language and (self- )representation, particularly the use of practices of naming in constructing subjectivity. My contention is that Sepamla ultimately abandons attempts at representation in favour of oppositional self-construction in language. In the concluding chapter I defend the thesis that the politics of discipline have prevented the broad critical establishment from gaining access to these discursive constructions of blackness in the committed poetry of South Africa.
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  • Date Issued: 2002

"Feeling foggy?": an investigation into the self-reported post-concussive symptoms in rugby union players at university level

  • Authors: Boulind, Melissa
  • Date: 2005
  • Subjects: Brain damage , Brain -- Wounds and injuries -- Complications , Brain -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychology , Sports injuries -- Psychological aspects , Rugby football injuries , Rugby Union football players
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2938 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002447 , Brain damage , Brain -- Wounds and injuries -- Complications , Brain -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychology , Sports injuries -- Psychological aspects , Rugby football injuries , Rugby Union football players
  • Description: A study was conducted on the self-reported symptoms of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury sustained in Rugby Union at the pre- and post-season stages. A full sample of 30 rugby players at Rhodes University was compared to 27 non-contact sport controls. A reduced sample of 20 rugby players and 9 control participants provided improved control for education and IQ and was compared. Measures included the WAIS-III Vocabulary and Picture Completion Sub-tests to estimate IQ level, the symptom checklist on a widely used computer-based program (ImPACT), and a paper and pencil self-report 31-Item Post-Concussion Symptom Questionnaire. Independent and Dependent T-Test comparisons were conducted on the full and reduced samples. The symptoms reported by the rugby group appeared to be more pronounced on both the ImPACT Symptom Scale and the 31-Item Post-Concussion Symptom Questionnaire when compared to the control group at both the pre-and post-season stages. It was concluded that the rugby players demonstrated evidence to support the hypothesis of having sustained more previous concussions and reporting more symptoms at the pre-season stage when compared to comtrol participants. No prevalent changes for either the rugby or control groups were seen in dependent comparisons from pre-to post-season.
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  • Date Issued: 2005

"Fit for purpose": towards tracking the quality of university education of entry-level journalists

  • Authors: Berger, Guy
  • Date: 2010
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/159835 , vital:40348 , DOI: 10.1080/02560054.2005.9653329
  • Description: Debate about the extent to which university education should serve industry is an important consideration for institutions of higher learning in a transforming South Africa, and particularly for those teaching would-be journalists. This issue can also be profitably analysed with reference to the current framework of the South African education authorities who argue that the quality of higher education institutions should be measured in terms of their “fit for purpose” to missions aligned to stakeholder interests in the transformation of the country as a whole. This criterion for quality assessment tends to focus on the educative processes within a university, but it can be argued that it ought to extend into the examination of the output consequences of journalism teaching. This would amount to not just fitness for purpose, but also achievement of purpose – and the latter including a creative and critical impact.
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  • Date Issued: 2010

"Form fading among fading forms" death, language and madness in the novels of Samuel Beckett

  • Authors: Springer, Michael Leicester
  • Date: 2008
  • Subjects: Beckett, Samuel, 1906-1989 -- Criticism and interpretation English fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism Death in literature Mental illness in literature
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2198 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002240
  • Description: The primary thesis of this dissertation is that the development of narrative strategy and technique through the course of Samuel Beckett’s fictional oeuvre enacts a parody of the Cartesian method of doubt, in which the search for first principles, instead of providing grounds for certainty, is a hopeless, grotesque quest for a self which eludes any and every assertion. My chief concerns are thus, firstly, to explicate and elucidate the nature of such narrative strategies and techniques, and how these can be said to parody epistemological procedure; and secondly, to interrogate the implications of this parody for the epistemological and interpretative endeavour of which the human sciences are comprised. These two issues are explored by way of an examination of Beckett’s earliest novel, Murphy, and the narrative impasse that arises from the contradiction between this work’s largely realist form and quasi-postmodern content. I thereafter argue that the later fiction, most particularly the Trilogy, achieves formal and stylistic solutions to the aesthetic and epistemological challenges raised by the earlier work. Beckett’s fictional oeuvre, I contend, can best be construed as an attempt to attain that which exceeds and escapes narrative in and through narrative, namely madness or death. The achievement of either would entail the obliteration of the possibility of narrating at all, and the novels, engaging in a self-deconstructing endeavour, thus occupy a profoundly paradoxical position. Any attempt to interpret a body of work of this nature can only respond in an analogous manner, by trying to make meaning of the subversion of meaning, and deconstructing the assumptions that inform its procedures. This dissertation argues that it is precisely in the way in which it necessitates such selfreflexive discursive analysis that the import of Samuel Beckett’s fiction lies, and extrapolates the significance of this for an understanding of discourse, literary criticism, and epistemological procedure.
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  • Date Issued: 2008

"Freelance mystic": individuation, mythopoeia and metafiction in the early fiction of Russell Hoban

  • Authors: Rumbold, Matthew Ivan
  • Date: 2007 , 2013-06-26
  • Subjects: Hoban, Russell -- Criticism and interpretation
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2257 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004455
  • Description: This thesis is an exploration of three interrelated modes - the psychological, the religious or mythopoeic, and the metafictional - in the early novels of Russell Hoban. It investigates the relationship between Hoban's religious vision and his literary style, through the lens of his 'fictional philosophy' as it is presented in his essay collection The Moment under the Moment. In Chapter One, Kleinzeit is analysed to illustrate Hoban's portrayal of a contemporary crisis of meaning. It includes an introduction to the pattern of individuation and an exposition of Hoban's unique notion of heroism as embodied in Kleinzeit's journey of self-discovery. Hoban's mythopoeic impulse is elucidated with particular reference to his use of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth. Finally, in an attempt to demonstrate Hoban's ideas on the relationship between language and reality, various metafictional techniques are examined, especially in relation to the theme of transcendence. In Chapter Two, the individuation theme in The Medusa Frequenry is considered as a work of mourning, portraying Herman Orfrs movement towards reconciliation and creative renewal. Following Paul Ricoeur, the Orpheus and Eurydice myth is seen as a myth of fault, embodying a primal transgression, and a source of the creative arts. The metafictional style is examined, especially the narrative mode, in order to show how Hoban dissolves the everyday world of reality into a fantastic realm of myth. Chapter Three focuses on the individuation pattern as initiation in Riddley Walker, charting the hero's growth into adulthood. Various myths in the text are analysed to show how they portray human development and the nuclear catastrophe as a mythic Fall. The chapter argues that through Riddley's quest Hoban evokes a redemptive and regenerative fertility myth. The unique literary style of the novel, including the characteristics of 'Riddleyspeak' and the complexity of the process of interpretation is studied. In Chapter Four, which deals with Pilgermann, the final phase of individuation - preparation for death - is discussed. Hoban's religious vision is dissected in relation to his mystical impulse as exemplified in the construction of the Hidden Lion pattern. Hoban's notion of God is investigated in relation to the philosophical problem of evil and suffering. Finally, Pilger mann is shown to be Hoban's mOSt experimental literary novel as it activates his recurring meta fictional techniques, investigations into narrative, and the relationship between language and the sacred. This thesis concludes that Hoban's fiction is best understood holistically with both his religious and literary concerns inextricably entwined. Throughout his novels Hoban explores the human condition in modernity affirming the paradoxical, dialectical and mysterious nature of being. , KMBT_363 , Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in
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  • Date Issued: 2007
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