The political ecology of wildlife conservation in Kenya, 1895-1975
- Authors: Matheka, Reuben M
- Date: 2002
- Subjects: Wildlife conservation -- Kenya Environmental policy -- Kenya Wildlife conservation -- Political aspects -- Kenya
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2595 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007530
- Description: The study examines the development of wildlife conservation policy and practice in Kenya from 1895 to 1975. Started by the colonial state as part of its resource control programme, wildlife conservation in Kenya gradually became an important aspect of the country's economy chiefly because of its significance as the basis of a vibrant tourist industry. The conservation programme was also important to conservationists who viewed Kenya's wildlife as a heritage to humanity. Similarly, local communities, which were affected in various ways by wildlife conservation policies, had their own perceptions of the programme. All this led to the proliferation of groups whose interests were potentially conflicting. Wildlife conservation in Kenya during the period under examination was thus characterised by various struggles between interest groups such as conservationists, the state, and local communities. The struggles centred around such issues as the costs and benefits of conservation and were manifested through anti-conservation activities like the poaching of wild animals by dissatisfied groups. These struggles changed over time in line with social, economic, political, and ecological developments. International events/processes (such as the two world wars, economic booms/depressions, and decolonisation) triggered local processes which influenced conservationism either positively or negatively. Wildlife conservation in Kenya during the period under study was dynamic. The thesis challenges the myth of a monolithic 'colonial' wildlife policy often implied in many studies on the subject. The thesis also lays emphasis on the ecological basis of wildlife conservation while recognising the impact of social, political, and economic developments on the evolution of wildlife conservation policy and practice in Kenya. The country's 'geography' not only provided the foundation for conservation but also influenced the programme over time. Droughts, floods, army worm infestations, and other 'natural' occurrences interacted with social and economic changes, such as population growth and the development of capitalism, to shape conservation policy. The conservation programme was thus influenced by a complex interaction of a variety of factors.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2002
- Authors: Matheka, Reuben M
- Date: 2002
- Subjects: Wildlife conservation -- Kenya Environmental policy -- Kenya Wildlife conservation -- Political aspects -- Kenya
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2595 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007530
- Description: The study examines the development of wildlife conservation policy and practice in Kenya from 1895 to 1975. Started by the colonial state as part of its resource control programme, wildlife conservation in Kenya gradually became an important aspect of the country's economy chiefly because of its significance as the basis of a vibrant tourist industry. The conservation programme was also important to conservationists who viewed Kenya's wildlife as a heritage to humanity. Similarly, local communities, which were affected in various ways by wildlife conservation policies, had their own perceptions of the programme. All this led to the proliferation of groups whose interests were potentially conflicting. Wildlife conservation in Kenya during the period under examination was thus characterised by various struggles between interest groups such as conservationists, the state, and local communities. The struggles centred around such issues as the costs and benefits of conservation and were manifested through anti-conservation activities like the poaching of wild animals by dissatisfied groups. These struggles changed over time in line with social, economic, political, and ecological developments. International events/processes (such as the two world wars, economic booms/depressions, and decolonisation) triggered local processes which influenced conservationism either positively or negatively. Wildlife conservation in Kenya during the period under study was dynamic. The thesis challenges the myth of a monolithic 'colonial' wildlife policy often implied in many studies on the subject. The thesis also lays emphasis on the ecological basis of wildlife conservation while recognising the impact of social, political, and economic developments on the evolution of wildlife conservation policy and practice in Kenya. The country's 'geography' not only provided the foundation for conservation but also influenced the programme over time. Droughts, floods, army worm infestations, and other 'natural' occurrences interacted with social and economic changes, such as population growth and the development of capitalism, to shape conservation policy. The conservation programme was thus influenced by a complex interaction of a variety of factors.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2002
Bones of contention : contestations over human remains in the Eastern Cape
- Authors: Mkhize, Nomalanga
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Dead -- Political aspects -- South Africa Human body -- Symbolic aspects Human remains (Archaeology) -- Repatriation Human remains (Archaeology) -- Repatriation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs Eastern Cape (South Africa) -- Social life and customs Eastern Cape (South Africa) -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2597 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007665
- Description: This thesis examines three contestations involving human remains which have arisen in the Eastern Cape over the past fifteen years. It shows that the value or meaning attached to human remains is constructed through the socio-historical dynamics out of which these contestations arise. The meaning and value of human remains is neither inherent nor neutral. In Ndancama's case, the need for housing in Fingo Village led hundreds of poor residents to settle on the township's Old Cemetery in 1972. Basic material needs trumped concerns for those buried in the cemetery. When the post-apartheid municipality sought to provide sewerage and housing infrastructure for Ndancama in 2003, its development plans were constrained by new heritage legislation which protects historic cemeteries. Residents insisted that their infrastructural needs were of primary importance. In 1993, the unearthing of human remains at the Old Military Cemetery in King William's Town created a thirteen year long saga which was only resolved with the reburial of the remains in 2006. The presence of the remains proved problematic for a number of reasons. Local authorities failed to rebury the remains speedily. The burden to store them fell on the Kaffrarian Museum which came under fire because this was considered unethical in the postapartheid era. The identity of the remains became a bone of contention in 2006 when the new Amathole District Municipality concluded that the remains were those of victims who died in the 1856-57 Great Cattle Killing. The remains and their reburial became symbols of past injustice and present restoration of African heritage. The 1996 quest by 'Nicholas Gcaleka', a 'self-styled' chief and traditional healer, to search for King Hintsa's skull in the United Kingdom provoked unprecedented public engagement with the incomplete narrative on the fate of Hintsa's body. The power to represent history, and the methods through which historical truth is discovered were at the heart of the contestation. Elites such as the Xhosa Royal and the white scientific establishment were considered neither credible nor authoritative on this historical matter. Public support for Gcaleka revealed that many South Africans sought just recompense for colonial injustices.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Mkhize, Nomalanga
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Dead -- Political aspects -- South Africa Human body -- Symbolic aspects Human remains (Archaeology) -- Repatriation Human remains (Archaeology) -- Repatriation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs Eastern Cape (South Africa) -- Social life and customs Eastern Cape (South Africa) -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2597 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007665
- Description: This thesis examines three contestations involving human remains which have arisen in the Eastern Cape over the past fifteen years. It shows that the value or meaning attached to human remains is constructed through the socio-historical dynamics out of which these contestations arise. The meaning and value of human remains is neither inherent nor neutral. In Ndancama's case, the need for housing in Fingo Village led hundreds of poor residents to settle on the township's Old Cemetery in 1972. Basic material needs trumped concerns for those buried in the cemetery. When the post-apartheid municipality sought to provide sewerage and housing infrastructure for Ndancama in 2003, its development plans were constrained by new heritage legislation which protects historic cemeteries. Residents insisted that their infrastructural needs were of primary importance. In 1993, the unearthing of human remains at the Old Military Cemetery in King William's Town created a thirteen year long saga which was only resolved with the reburial of the remains in 2006. The presence of the remains proved problematic for a number of reasons. Local authorities failed to rebury the remains speedily. The burden to store them fell on the Kaffrarian Museum which came under fire because this was considered unethical in the postapartheid era. The identity of the remains became a bone of contention in 2006 when the new Amathole District Municipality concluded that the remains were those of victims who died in the 1856-57 Great Cattle Killing. The remains and their reburial became symbols of past injustice and present restoration of African heritage. The 1996 quest by 'Nicholas Gcaleka', a 'self-styled' chief and traditional healer, to search for King Hintsa's skull in the United Kingdom provoked unprecedented public engagement with the incomplete narrative on the fate of Hintsa's body. The power to represent history, and the methods through which historical truth is discovered were at the heart of the contestation. Elites such as the Xhosa Royal and the white scientific establishment were considered neither credible nor authoritative on this historical matter. Public support for Gcaleka revealed that many South Africans sought just recompense for colonial injustices.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
South Africa's chemical and biological warfare programme 1981-1995
- Authors: Gould, Chandré
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Basson, Wouter, 1950- Basson, Wouter, 1950 -- Trials, litigation, etc Biological warfare -- South Africa Chemical warfare -- South Africa Trials (Political crimes and offenses) -- South Africa South Africa -- Politics and government -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2544 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002396
- Description: In 1981 the apartheid military initiated a chemical and biological warfare (CBW) programme (code-named Project Coast). The programme, terminated in 1993, was aimed at developing novel irritating and incapacitating agents for internal and external use, covert assassination weapons for use against apartheid opponents, and defensive equipment for use by South African Defence Force (SADF) troops in Angola. The CBW programme was driven by a single individual, Dr Wouter Basson, who reported to a military management committee (the Co-ordinating Management Committee) which comprised a select group of high ranking officers. Practical and financial oversight of the programme was weak which allowed both for the abuse of programme funds and for senior military officers to deny knowledge of aspects of the programme. The biological component of Project Coast was conducted in violation of the commitments of the South African government to the Biological and Toxins Weapons Convention (BTWC). While the state’s commitment to the BTWC was one of the factors considered when initiating the programme, it was not a sufficient constraint to prevent the development of the biological weapons programme, but rather influenced its structure such that the programme could avoid national and international detection. Despite efforts to conceal the military front companies where the chemical and biological warfare (CBW) research and development was undertaken, evidence presented in this thesis shows that the United States had sufficient information about the programme to have been aware of its existence. Yet, it was only in 1993, on the eve of the democratic election in South Africa, that any attempt was made by the US administration to pressure the government to terminate the programme. This thesis considers the factors which influenced the decision to develop Project Coast; the structure and nature of the programme; the motivations of scientists to become involved in the programme and remain involved; the use of chemical and biological agents against opponents of the state, and the factors which influenced the termination of the programme on the eve of the first democratic elections in 1994. It also considers the nature and exent of international support, both tacit and overt, for the programme and argues that the failure of Western nations to call for the termination of the programme before the early 1990s was a function of political expediency and indicates a significant weakness in the ability of international agreements to constrain the development of such programmes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Gould, Chandré
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Basson, Wouter, 1950- Basson, Wouter, 1950 -- Trials, litigation, etc Biological warfare -- South Africa Chemical warfare -- South Africa Trials (Political crimes and offenses) -- South Africa South Africa -- Politics and government -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2544 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002396
- Description: In 1981 the apartheid military initiated a chemical and biological warfare (CBW) programme (code-named Project Coast). The programme, terminated in 1993, was aimed at developing novel irritating and incapacitating agents for internal and external use, covert assassination weapons for use against apartheid opponents, and defensive equipment for use by South African Defence Force (SADF) troops in Angola. The CBW programme was driven by a single individual, Dr Wouter Basson, who reported to a military management committee (the Co-ordinating Management Committee) which comprised a select group of high ranking officers. Practical and financial oversight of the programme was weak which allowed both for the abuse of programme funds and for senior military officers to deny knowledge of aspects of the programme. The biological component of Project Coast was conducted in violation of the commitments of the South African government to the Biological and Toxins Weapons Convention (BTWC). While the state’s commitment to the BTWC was one of the factors considered when initiating the programme, it was not a sufficient constraint to prevent the development of the biological weapons programme, but rather influenced its structure such that the programme could avoid national and international detection. Despite efforts to conceal the military front companies where the chemical and biological warfare (CBW) research and development was undertaken, evidence presented in this thesis shows that the United States had sufficient information about the programme to have been aware of its existence. Yet, it was only in 1993, on the eve of the democratic election in South Africa, that any attempt was made by the US administration to pressure the government to terminate the programme. This thesis considers the factors which influenced the decision to develop Project Coast; the structure and nature of the programme; the motivations of scientists to become involved in the programme and remain involved; the use of chemical and biological agents against opponents of the state, and the factors which influenced the termination of the programme on the eve of the first democratic elections in 1994. It also considers the nature and exent of international support, both tacit and overt, for the programme and argues that the failure of Western nations to call for the termination of the programme before the early 1990s was a function of political expediency and indicates a significant weakness in the ability of international agreements to constrain the development of such programmes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Politics, polemics and practice: a history of narratives about, and responses to, AIDS in South Africa, 1980-1995
- Authors: Tsampiras, Carla
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: AIDS (Disease) -- Government policy -- South Africa AIDS (Disease) -- Political aspects -- South Africa -- History AIDS (Disease) -- South Africa -- Public opinion -- History AIDS (Disease) -- Social aspects -- South Africa -- History South Africa -- Politics and government -- 20th century African National Congress Health Policy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2517 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001653
- Description: The ongoing urgency of addressing AIDS in South Africa has kept academics and activists focussed primarily on the immediate crises of AIDS ‘in the present’. This thesis, covering the period 1980 – 1995, examines narratives about, and responses to, AIDS ‘in the past’ and explores the interplay between these narratives and elites in medical and political communities trying to address AIDS during a period of political transition. The thesis begins by examining the hegemonic medico-scientific narratives about AIDS that featured in the South African Medical Journal, an important site of enquiry as AIDS was primarily conceived of as a ‘medical issue’. The SAMJ narratives, which often relied on constructed ‘AIDS avatars’, framed understandings of the syndrome and influenced responses to it by medical and political communities. The first community that the thesis explores is the African National Congress (ANC) in exile, which had to address AIDS in exile communities and prepare health strategies for ‘the new South Africa’. Secondly, the thesis analyses government responses to AIDS and argues that four phases of response can be identified. These phases were characterised by minimum concerns about obtaining information and providing health advice; efforts to gather infection data while exploiting political and public fear; attempts to extend health education and (belatedly) encourage broader engagement; and finally, consultative, democratic ideals. The thesis then examines the National Medical and Dental Association (NAMDA) a progressive medical organisation that worked with the ANC on influential health (and AIDS) strategies. NAMDA members ‘crossed over’ between various medical and political communities and both reinforced and challenged hegemonic AIDS narratives. Finally, the thesis moves from the abstract, via the practical, to the personal and concludes with a detailed account of the experiences of two sexuality activists at the intersections of these communities and narratives. By focussing on these medical and political communities, and analysing the relationships between these communities, the existing AIDS narratives, and individuals, the thesis also reveals the constructions of morality, ‘race’, gender, and sexuality that infused them. In doing this it shows how polemic and politics combined to influence practical responses to, and personal experiences of, AIDS.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Tsampiras, Carla
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: AIDS (Disease) -- Government policy -- South Africa AIDS (Disease) -- Political aspects -- South Africa -- History AIDS (Disease) -- South Africa -- Public opinion -- History AIDS (Disease) -- Social aspects -- South Africa -- History South Africa -- Politics and government -- 20th century African National Congress Health Policy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2517 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001653
- Description: The ongoing urgency of addressing AIDS in South Africa has kept academics and activists focussed primarily on the immediate crises of AIDS ‘in the present’. This thesis, covering the period 1980 – 1995, examines narratives about, and responses to, AIDS ‘in the past’ and explores the interplay between these narratives and elites in medical and political communities trying to address AIDS during a period of political transition. The thesis begins by examining the hegemonic medico-scientific narratives about AIDS that featured in the South African Medical Journal, an important site of enquiry as AIDS was primarily conceived of as a ‘medical issue’. The SAMJ narratives, which often relied on constructed ‘AIDS avatars’, framed understandings of the syndrome and influenced responses to it by medical and political communities. The first community that the thesis explores is the African National Congress (ANC) in exile, which had to address AIDS in exile communities and prepare health strategies for ‘the new South Africa’. Secondly, the thesis analyses government responses to AIDS and argues that four phases of response can be identified. These phases were characterised by minimum concerns about obtaining information and providing health advice; efforts to gather infection data while exploiting political and public fear; attempts to extend health education and (belatedly) encourage broader engagement; and finally, consultative, democratic ideals. The thesis then examines the National Medical and Dental Association (NAMDA) a progressive medical organisation that worked with the ANC on influential health (and AIDS) strategies. NAMDA members ‘crossed over’ between various medical and political communities and both reinforced and challenged hegemonic AIDS narratives. Finally, the thesis moves from the abstract, via the practical, to the personal and concludes with a detailed account of the experiences of two sexuality activists at the intersections of these communities and narratives. By focussing on these medical and political communities, and analysing the relationships between these communities, the existing AIDS narratives, and individuals, the thesis also reveals the constructions of morality, ‘race’, gender, and sexuality that infused them. In doing this it shows how polemic and politics combined to influence practical responses to, and personal experiences of, AIDS.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
F C Erasmus and the politics of South African defence, 1948-1959
- Authors: Boulter, Roger Stephen
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: Erasmus, F C (Francois Christiaan) South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1948-1961 South Africa -- Armed Forces -- History South Africa -- Military policy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2534 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002386
- Description: FC Erasmus became South Africa's defence minister in 1948 after two decades as a leading political organiser for the National Party. Although an architect of the Nationalists' post-war election victory he was not considered a minister of the first rank. Erasmus initiated a process of ridding the defence force of officers who he believed were associated with the Smuts government and replacing them with party supporters. As a result the military often lost experienced and talented officers. Erasmus felt that the armed services had been too British in ethos and appearance. He inaugurated tighter regulations on bi-lingualism, reintroduced boer rank titles, launched new uniforms and original medals and decorations, to the acclaim of the volk. His purpose was to have a defence force which was uniquely South African. Many of his policies came under attack not only from the United Party but also groups such as the Torch Commando and the veterans organisations. With the apparent lack of an imminent military threat to the apartheid government Erasmus never received substantial budgetary allocations from finance ministers. The defence force, one without conscription, remained small with largely antiquated equipment for the important air and land forces. However by the decade's end the navy was gradually receiving modern ships under the terms of the Simonstown agreement, which Erasmus had negotiated with Britain. The events of the Sharpeville crisis, just after Erasmus left defence, demonstrated that the armed forces as moulded by the minister were in poor condition to assist the civil power in suppressing disturbances. Overseas Erasmus hoped to increase the acceptability of the Union as a defence partner among Western countries by providing personnel for the Berlin Air Lift and the Korean conflict and promising a contingent for the Middle East. He attempted unsuccessfully to instigate anti-communist alliances for the land and maritime defence of Africa when the European powers were leaving the continent. These actions were primarily to obtain political support for the Union, whose prestige was rapidly decreasing as apartheid became better known. The external initiatives with the exception of the Simonstown naval agreements were not lasting.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1998
- Authors: Boulter, Roger Stephen
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: Erasmus, F C (Francois Christiaan) South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1948-1961 South Africa -- Armed Forces -- History South Africa -- Military policy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2534 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002386
- Description: FC Erasmus became South Africa's defence minister in 1948 after two decades as a leading political organiser for the National Party. Although an architect of the Nationalists' post-war election victory he was not considered a minister of the first rank. Erasmus initiated a process of ridding the defence force of officers who he believed were associated with the Smuts government and replacing them with party supporters. As a result the military often lost experienced and talented officers. Erasmus felt that the armed services had been too British in ethos and appearance. He inaugurated tighter regulations on bi-lingualism, reintroduced boer rank titles, launched new uniforms and original medals and decorations, to the acclaim of the volk. His purpose was to have a defence force which was uniquely South African. Many of his policies came under attack not only from the United Party but also groups such as the Torch Commando and the veterans organisations. With the apparent lack of an imminent military threat to the apartheid government Erasmus never received substantial budgetary allocations from finance ministers. The defence force, one without conscription, remained small with largely antiquated equipment for the important air and land forces. However by the decade's end the navy was gradually receiving modern ships under the terms of the Simonstown agreement, which Erasmus had negotiated with Britain. The events of the Sharpeville crisis, just after Erasmus left defence, demonstrated that the armed forces as moulded by the minister were in poor condition to assist the civil power in suppressing disturbances. Overseas Erasmus hoped to increase the acceptability of the Union as a defence partner among Western countries by providing personnel for the Berlin Air Lift and the Korean conflict and promising a contingent for the Middle East. He attempted unsuccessfully to instigate anti-communist alliances for the land and maritime defence of Africa when the European powers were leaving the continent. These actions were primarily to obtain political support for the Union, whose prestige was rapidly decreasing as apartheid became better known. The external initiatives with the exception of the Simonstown naval agreements were not lasting.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1998
Perceptions and constructions of cholera in the Eastern Province Herald and Daily Dispatch, 1980-2003
- Authors: Van Zyl, Kylie
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Daily Dispatch (East London, South Africa) Eastern Province Herald (Port Elizabeth, South Africa) Journalism -- South Africa -- 20th century Journalism -- South Africa -- 21st century Cholera -- Reporting -- South Africa Epidemics -- Reporting -- South Africa Mass media -- Moral and ethical aspects -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2566 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002419
- Description: While the growing literature on South Africa’s healthcare and epidemics has often mentioned cholera in passing, there is as yet little academic work dedicated to it. This thesis addresses that deficit by examining the causes, spread and extent of cholera in South Africa between 1980 and 2003. Furthermore, it examines cholerarelated coverage in two newspapers, the Daily Dispatch and the Eastern Province Herald to determine how cholera and people with cholera were represented, and show how changes in the coverage of two major epidemics between 1980 and 2003 exemplify the political transition in South Africa, reflect changing political ideologies and reveal the shifting role of media within this period. The thesis argues three main points. Firstly, that representations of cholera and those who were sick with cholera were based on long-standing tropes connecting disease, class and ‘race’. Secondly, that policy-making based on these tropes influenced the unfair distribution and quality of health resources along racial lines, resulting in cholera outbreaks during the apartheid era. Failure to address these inequities post-apartheid, and the replacement of racial bias with discrimination on the grounds of socioeconomic development, resulted in further cholera outbreaks. Thirdly, using Alan Bell’s newspaper-discourse analysis framework to examine cholera-related articles the thesis compares and contrasts apartheid and postapartheid coverage in the two newspapers. This analysis reveals that during the 1980s the coverage was uncritical of the government’s handling of the epidemic or of its racially-discriminatory healthcare system. The newspapers uncritically accepted government-employed medical professionals as the final authorities on the epidemic, excluding alternative viewpoints. The coverage also “blamed the victim”, constructing affected “black” groups as potential threats to healthy “white” communities. Conversely, post–1994 coverage was criticised the government’s handling of the epidemic and the state of the public healthcare system. Government-employed medical professionals or spokespeople were not accepted as incontestable authorities and a range of sources were included. The coverage also shifted blame for the outbreaks to the government and its failure to address public health service delivery and rural development problems. The thesis shows the historical threat to the health of communities posed by uncaring governments.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Van Zyl, Kylie
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Daily Dispatch (East London, South Africa) Eastern Province Herald (Port Elizabeth, South Africa) Journalism -- South Africa -- 20th century Journalism -- South Africa -- 21st century Cholera -- Reporting -- South Africa Epidemics -- Reporting -- South Africa Mass media -- Moral and ethical aspects -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2566 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002419
- Description: While the growing literature on South Africa’s healthcare and epidemics has often mentioned cholera in passing, there is as yet little academic work dedicated to it. This thesis addresses that deficit by examining the causes, spread and extent of cholera in South Africa between 1980 and 2003. Furthermore, it examines cholerarelated coverage in two newspapers, the Daily Dispatch and the Eastern Province Herald to determine how cholera and people with cholera were represented, and show how changes in the coverage of two major epidemics between 1980 and 2003 exemplify the political transition in South Africa, reflect changing political ideologies and reveal the shifting role of media within this period. The thesis argues three main points. Firstly, that representations of cholera and those who were sick with cholera were based on long-standing tropes connecting disease, class and ‘race’. Secondly, that policy-making based on these tropes influenced the unfair distribution and quality of health resources along racial lines, resulting in cholera outbreaks during the apartheid era. Failure to address these inequities post-apartheid, and the replacement of racial bias with discrimination on the grounds of socioeconomic development, resulted in further cholera outbreaks. Thirdly, using Alan Bell’s newspaper-discourse analysis framework to examine cholera-related articles the thesis compares and contrasts apartheid and postapartheid coverage in the two newspapers. This analysis reveals that during the 1980s the coverage was uncritical of the government’s handling of the epidemic or of its racially-discriminatory healthcare system. The newspapers uncritically accepted government-employed medical professionals as the final authorities on the epidemic, excluding alternative viewpoints. The coverage also “blamed the victim”, constructing affected “black” groups as potential threats to healthy “white” communities. Conversely, post–1994 coverage was criticised the government’s handling of the epidemic and the state of the public healthcare system. Government-employed medical professionals or spokespeople were not accepted as incontestable authorities and a range of sources were included. The coverage also shifted blame for the outbreaks to the government and its failure to address public health service delivery and rural development problems. The thesis shows the historical threat to the health of communities posed by uncaring governments.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Re-creating home: British colonialism, culture and the Zuurveld environment in the nineteenth century
- Authors: Payne, Jill
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Imperialism -- Social aspects , Imperialism -- Environmental aspects -- South Africa , Imperialism -- Environmental aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2552 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002404 , Imperialism -- Social aspects , Imperialism -- Environmental aspects -- South Africa , Imperialism -- Environmental aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: This thesis centres on the environmental impact of British colonialism in the Zuurveld during the nineteenth century. Within this context, it addresses the extent to which human-engineered environmental change is dictated by cultural mindset. Consideration of the links between culture and landscape transformation illuminates a little-considered aspect of the colonial experience in the Zuurveld. The British worldview at the turn of the eighteenth century is examined, with special reference to attitudes towards the environment. The changes which occurred in this attitude while the colonists adjusted to a foreign environment are traced. Precolonial societies manipulated the environment to a certain extent, but it was the British colonists who were to have the most profound effect on the ecosystem. The colonists impacted on the Zuurveld in a variety of ways. Much of the environmental change they induced resulted from their attempts to construct a familiar world from the alien landscape surrounding them. Attempts to "re-create home" in the Zuurveld were closely linked to the desire to exert control over what was to the colonists an "untamed wilderness." To this end land was cleared and new land use methods put into practice. Wildlife species threatening productivity were eliminated or forced through loss of habitat to retreat to the peripheries of the settlement. Exotic flora and fauna took the place of indigenes. The introduction of a capitalist economy meant that greater demands were made on the carrying capacity of the land. Conservation legislation introduced to limit increasing environmental degradation and protect commercial productivity simultaneously limited African access to the environment. Control of the land was closely linked to control of Africans: their labour was needed to facilitate the subjugation of the environment. Only through an appreciation of the British colonial mentality can changes to the Zuurveld environment during the nineteenth century be fully understood. Consequently, this study indicates that cultural mindset can play a pivotal role in shaping the environment.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1999
- Authors: Payne, Jill
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Imperialism -- Social aspects , Imperialism -- Environmental aspects -- South Africa , Imperialism -- Environmental aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2552 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002404 , Imperialism -- Social aspects , Imperialism -- Environmental aspects -- South Africa , Imperialism -- Environmental aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: This thesis centres on the environmental impact of British colonialism in the Zuurveld during the nineteenth century. Within this context, it addresses the extent to which human-engineered environmental change is dictated by cultural mindset. Consideration of the links between culture and landscape transformation illuminates a little-considered aspect of the colonial experience in the Zuurveld. The British worldview at the turn of the eighteenth century is examined, with special reference to attitudes towards the environment. The changes which occurred in this attitude while the colonists adjusted to a foreign environment are traced. Precolonial societies manipulated the environment to a certain extent, but it was the British colonists who were to have the most profound effect on the ecosystem. The colonists impacted on the Zuurveld in a variety of ways. Much of the environmental change they induced resulted from their attempts to construct a familiar world from the alien landscape surrounding them. Attempts to "re-create home" in the Zuurveld were closely linked to the desire to exert control over what was to the colonists an "untamed wilderness." To this end land was cleared and new land use methods put into practice. Wildlife species threatening productivity were eliminated or forced through loss of habitat to retreat to the peripheries of the settlement. Exotic flora and fauna took the place of indigenes. The introduction of a capitalist economy meant that greater demands were made on the carrying capacity of the land. Conservation legislation introduced to limit increasing environmental degradation and protect commercial productivity simultaneously limited African access to the environment. Control of the land was closely linked to control of Africans: their labour was needed to facilitate the subjugation of the environment. Only through an appreciation of the British colonial mentality can changes to the Zuurveld environment during the nineteenth century be fully understood. Consequently, this study indicates that cultural mindset can play a pivotal role in shaping the environment.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1999
The historiographical development of the concept "mfecane" and the writing of early Southern African history, from the 1820s to 1920s
- Authors: Richner, Jürg Emile
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: South Africa -- History , South Africa -- Historiography , Bantu-speaking peoples -- Migrations , Africa, Southern -- History -- Mfecane period, 1816-ca. 1840
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2554 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002406 , South Africa -- History , South Africa -- Historiography , Bantu-speaking peoples -- Migrations , Africa, Southern -- History -- Mfecane period, 1816-ca. 1840
- Description: The mfecane was for most of the twentieth century regarded as a historical certainty for the South African public and the Apartheid government, as well as for historians here and world-wide. The mfecane had achieved the permanence of a paradigm and a dominant discourse, as it was accepted equally by settler, liberal, Afrikaner, Africanist and Neo-Marxist historians. This certainty was shaken when Cobbing’s mfecane critique appeared in 1988, with which I concur. This study examines how mfecane history was written from the first published articles in mid-1823 until Walker coined the concept mfecane in 1928. This thesis undertakes a journey through a host of published works, books, pamphlets and articles in journals, magazines and newspapers, from which a number of conclusions emerge. The mfecane narrative was developed over a period of a hundred years in the English language by almost exclusively white, English-speaking male amateur historians and ethnographers. Their occupations, age, ideology and level of education differed markedly, but they shared one European ideological value, the discourse of the European “Image of Africa”, which regarded Africans as the negative Other of their own positively perceived society. This was a culturallyshared view of Africans, which formed the baggage in the mind of all writers examined, and accounts for the mfecane narrative’s negative attitude towards Africans. Furthermore, mfecane history was influenced by racism and the use of literary devices such as the gothic novel and the romance. Authors writing in the 1823 to 1846 period on events which had taken place in the “blank space” beyond the Cape Colony, which most of them had never visited, laid the basis for the mfecane narrative. It constituted a set of geographical or ethnically focused, separate accounts. These separate accounts focused on the themes of Shaka’s creation of the Zulu state, including his expulsion of several chiefdoms; his depopulation of Natal and the flight of the Fingo to the Transkei; the path of destruction of the Hlubi and Ngwane during their flight from Natal via the greater Caledon Valley area to the Transkei; the incorporation of the Kololo and other Sotho chiefdoms into the Mantatees - due to pressure from the invaders from Natal - who subsequently laid waste the Free State and Transvaal as far as Dithakong, where they were defeated; the further depopulation of the Transvaal by the Ndebele during their escape from Shaka; the flight of Moshoeshoe and his people to Thaba Bosiu where he built up the Sotho state, with Moshoeshoe being the only positive figure in this history. This multi-narrative was thereafter repeated without any critical thought by all authors examined until in 1885 Theal created a Zulu-centric, geographically integrated mfecane narrative whereby he integrated the previously separate accounts into one coherent whole - a whole which was so much more than the sum of its parts, but so far without a defining name. That was provided by Walker in 1928 when he coined the Xhosa neologism, mfecane. The Theal, Cory and Walker racist mfecane was thus bequeathed as the mfecane to the rest of the twentieth century.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Richner, Jürg Emile
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: South Africa -- History , South Africa -- Historiography , Bantu-speaking peoples -- Migrations , Africa, Southern -- History -- Mfecane period, 1816-ca. 1840
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2554 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002406 , South Africa -- History , South Africa -- Historiography , Bantu-speaking peoples -- Migrations , Africa, Southern -- History -- Mfecane period, 1816-ca. 1840
- Description: The mfecane was for most of the twentieth century regarded as a historical certainty for the South African public and the Apartheid government, as well as for historians here and world-wide. The mfecane had achieved the permanence of a paradigm and a dominant discourse, as it was accepted equally by settler, liberal, Afrikaner, Africanist and Neo-Marxist historians. This certainty was shaken when Cobbing’s mfecane critique appeared in 1988, with which I concur. This study examines how mfecane history was written from the first published articles in mid-1823 until Walker coined the concept mfecane in 1928. This thesis undertakes a journey through a host of published works, books, pamphlets and articles in journals, magazines and newspapers, from which a number of conclusions emerge. The mfecane narrative was developed over a period of a hundred years in the English language by almost exclusively white, English-speaking male amateur historians and ethnographers. Their occupations, age, ideology and level of education differed markedly, but they shared one European ideological value, the discourse of the European “Image of Africa”, which regarded Africans as the negative Other of their own positively perceived society. This was a culturallyshared view of Africans, which formed the baggage in the mind of all writers examined, and accounts for the mfecane narrative’s negative attitude towards Africans. Furthermore, mfecane history was influenced by racism and the use of literary devices such as the gothic novel and the romance. Authors writing in the 1823 to 1846 period on events which had taken place in the “blank space” beyond the Cape Colony, which most of them had never visited, laid the basis for the mfecane narrative. It constituted a set of geographical or ethnically focused, separate accounts. These separate accounts focused on the themes of Shaka’s creation of the Zulu state, including his expulsion of several chiefdoms; his depopulation of Natal and the flight of the Fingo to the Transkei; the path of destruction of the Hlubi and Ngwane during their flight from Natal via the greater Caledon Valley area to the Transkei; the incorporation of the Kololo and other Sotho chiefdoms into the Mantatees - due to pressure from the invaders from Natal - who subsequently laid waste the Free State and Transvaal as far as Dithakong, where they were defeated; the further depopulation of the Transvaal by the Ndebele during their escape from Shaka; the flight of Moshoeshoe and his people to Thaba Bosiu where he built up the Sotho state, with Moshoeshoe being the only positive figure in this history. This multi-narrative was thereafter repeated without any critical thought by all authors examined until in 1885 Theal created a Zulu-centric, geographically integrated mfecane narrative whereby he integrated the previously separate accounts into one coherent whole - a whole which was so much more than the sum of its parts, but so far without a defining name. That was provided by Walker in 1928 when he coined the Xhosa neologism, mfecane. The Theal, Cory and Walker racist mfecane was thus bequeathed as the mfecane to the rest of the twentieth century.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Continuity and change in Xhosa historiography during the nineteenth century : an exploration through textual analysis
- Tisani, Nomathamsanqa Cynthia
- Authors: Tisani, Nomathamsanqa Cynthia
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Xhosa (African people) -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2563 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002416
- Description: This study is an exploration of the making of Xhosa historiography from the end of the eighteenth century to the close of the nineteenth century. Continuity and change are key features that are identifiable in the writing of Xhosa history over the period. Selected documents provide evidence on how different writers built on the works of their predecessors. At the same time, over a period of hundred years, due to changing socio-political contexts, new ideas and perceptions crept into Xhosa history. European writers, who dominated the writing of Xhosa history, were made up of colonial officials, missionaries, and travellers. Sharing a common European Christian background these writers brought along their particular understanding of history, and held assumptions about the indigenous people and their past. However such assumptions were always in a state of flux. South-east Africans were also major contributors to the making of Xhosa history. Their oral traditions were important sources from which Xhosa history was produced. The African and European encounter in the making of Xhosa history meanHhat historioracy and historiography came together in the production of Xhosa history. At the end of the eighteenth century there were a handful of European travellers who explored the interior of southern Africa and recorded their observations of indigenous communities. These observations of south-east Africans, whom they divided into three racial groups, formed the basis of later writings about the indigenous communiti~s. The beginning of the nineteenth century brought the establishment of British rule at the C,ppe. This introduced new players into the African-European drama that was being acted out on the frontier. Colonial officials set out to inform themselves about the indigenous people, and this meant writing up their history. From the 1820s missionaries were a main source of information on amaXhosa. Xhosa history produced under the missionary influence included works by African converts, among whom Noyi was the most noteworthy. As British imperialism gained ground from the middle of the nineteenth century, history was increasingly used by British officials as a tool to justify their colonial expansion. Under Governor Grey there was a deliberate production of a Xhosa history that depicted amaXhosa as having a barbaric past and in need of civilisation. Theal who consulted Dutch and British archives as well as oral tradition made a major contribution to the writing of Xhosa history. But Theal later began to select evidence to show that amaXhosa were recent immigrants into southeast Africa. During the last quarter ofthe nineteenth century a band of literate Africans, using newspapers like Isigidimi and later Imvo Zabantsundu, embarked on writing African history. This study highlights the development of certain themes in Xhosa history, themes which remained central in later years. The royal theme became pivotal and in the process displaced other histories in African communities, like clan histories. This study has also traced the roots of some historical myths. For example claims by early travellers about an empty land fed into the migration theme which sought to explain amaXhosa as recent immigrants into south-east Africa. Xhosa historiography, just like its European counterpart, marginalised ordinary people, especially women, and became primarily an account of the lives and activities of ruling men.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
- Authors: Tisani, Nomathamsanqa Cynthia
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Xhosa (African people) -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2563 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002416
- Description: This study is an exploration of the making of Xhosa historiography from the end of the eighteenth century to the close of the nineteenth century. Continuity and change are key features that are identifiable in the writing of Xhosa history over the period. Selected documents provide evidence on how different writers built on the works of their predecessors. At the same time, over a period of hundred years, due to changing socio-political contexts, new ideas and perceptions crept into Xhosa history. European writers, who dominated the writing of Xhosa history, were made up of colonial officials, missionaries, and travellers. Sharing a common European Christian background these writers brought along their particular understanding of history, and held assumptions about the indigenous people and their past. However such assumptions were always in a state of flux. South-east Africans were also major contributors to the making of Xhosa history. Their oral traditions were important sources from which Xhosa history was produced. The African and European encounter in the making of Xhosa history meanHhat historioracy and historiography came together in the production of Xhosa history. At the end of the eighteenth century there were a handful of European travellers who explored the interior of southern Africa and recorded their observations of indigenous communities. These observations of south-east Africans, whom they divided into three racial groups, formed the basis of later writings about the indigenous communiti~s. The beginning of the nineteenth century brought the establishment of British rule at the C,ppe. This introduced new players into the African-European drama that was being acted out on the frontier. Colonial officials set out to inform themselves about the indigenous people, and this meant writing up their history. From the 1820s missionaries were a main source of information on amaXhosa. Xhosa history produced under the missionary influence included works by African converts, among whom Noyi was the most noteworthy. As British imperialism gained ground from the middle of the nineteenth century, history was increasingly used by British officials as a tool to justify their colonial expansion. Under Governor Grey there was a deliberate production of a Xhosa history that depicted amaXhosa as having a barbaric past and in need of civilisation. Theal who consulted Dutch and British archives as well as oral tradition made a major contribution to the writing of Xhosa history. But Theal later began to select evidence to show that amaXhosa were recent immigrants into southeast Africa. During the last quarter ofthe nineteenth century a band of literate Africans, using newspapers like Isigidimi and later Imvo Zabantsundu, embarked on writing African history. This study highlights the development of certain themes in Xhosa history, themes which remained central in later years. The royal theme became pivotal and in the process displaced other histories in African communities, like clan histories. This study has also traced the roots of some historical myths. For example claims by early travellers about an empty land fed into the migration theme which sought to explain amaXhosa as recent immigrants into south-east Africa. Xhosa historiography, just like its European counterpart, marginalised ordinary people, especially women, and became primarily an account of the lives and activities of ruling men.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
Confrontation, cooptation and collaboration : the response and reaction of the Labour Party of South Africa to Government Policy, 1965-1984
- Authors: Du Pré, Roy Howard
- Date: 1995
- Subjects: South African Labour Party -- History Colored people (South Africa) -- Politics and government South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1948-1994
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2539 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002391
- Description: The Labour Party was a prominent political party amongst coloured people for more than twenty-five years. Formed in 1965 to contest elections for the Coloured Persons' Representative Council (CRC), the Labour Party at the outset adopted an anti-apartheid, anti-separate representation and anti-eRe stance. During the first five years of its existence, the party tried to muster coloured support for its policies. Its promise to cripple the CRC by refusing to occupy seats in the council became the rallying call. The Labour Party won a majority of the elected seats in the first CRC election in 1969 but the government nominated progovernment candidates to all the nominated seats, depriving the Labour Party of an overall majority. Thwarted in their bid to "wreck" the CRC, Labour Party members instead took their seats in the council, vowing to destroy it from within. For the next five years the Labour Party pursued a policy of "confrontation. " By using a "boycott" strategy, it not only hamstrung the effective working of the CRC but thwarted the government in other areas of its "coloured" policy. In the 1975 election the Labour Party won an outright victory, giving it the power to cripple the CRC. However, it did not seize this opportunity. Its decision to "govern" in the CRC constituted a decisive step in the change from confrontation to cooptation. The Labour Party's continued support of the CRC drew widespread criticism from supporters and opponents alike. Its leaders tried to hold together a disaffected party and eventually agreed to the dissolution of the CRC in 1980 in an effort to paper over the cracks in party unity, and to forestall growing coloured opposition to the CRC at the next election. In 1983, the Labour Party displayed a decisive shift in its anti-separate representation stance by lending support to the tricameral system. By doing so, it laid itself open to the same charge of collaboration it had levelled at the other CRC parties. This thesis will examine the history of the Labour Party from its formation in 1965 as an anti-government party, to one of cooperation with its erstwhile opponent by 1984.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1995
- Authors: Du Pré, Roy Howard
- Date: 1995
- Subjects: South African Labour Party -- History Colored people (South Africa) -- Politics and government South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1948-1994
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2539 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002391
- Description: The Labour Party was a prominent political party amongst coloured people for more than twenty-five years. Formed in 1965 to contest elections for the Coloured Persons' Representative Council (CRC), the Labour Party at the outset adopted an anti-apartheid, anti-separate representation and anti-eRe stance. During the first five years of its existence, the party tried to muster coloured support for its policies. Its promise to cripple the CRC by refusing to occupy seats in the council became the rallying call. The Labour Party won a majority of the elected seats in the first CRC election in 1969 but the government nominated progovernment candidates to all the nominated seats, depriving the Labour Party of an overall majority. Thwarted in their bid to "wreck" the CRC, Labour Party members instead took their seats in the council, vowing to destroy it from within. For the next five years the Labour Party pursued a policy of "confrontation. " By using a "boycott" strategy, it not only hamstrung the effective working of the CRC but thwarted the government in other areas of its "coloured" policy. In the 1975 election the Labour Party won an outright victory, giving it the power to cripple the CRC. However, it did not seize this opportunity. Its decision to "govern" in the CRC constituted a decisive step in the change from confrontation to cooptation. The Labour Party's continued support of the CRC drew widespread criticism from supporters and opponents alike. Its leaders tried to hold together a disaffected party and eventually agreed to the dissolution of the CRC in 1980 in an effort to paper over the cracks in party unity, and to forestall growing coloured opposition to the CRC at the next election. In 1983, the Labour Party displayed a decisive shift in its anti-separate representation stance by lending support to the tricameral system. By doing so, it laid itself open to the same charge of collaboration it had levelled at the other CRC parties. This thesis will examine the history of the Labour Party from its formation in 1965 as an anti-government party, to one of cooperation with its erstwhile opponent by 1984.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1995
A social and cultural history of Grahamstown, 1812 to c1845
- Authors: Marshall, Richard Graham
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Cities and towns -- Growth -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Community development, Urban -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Eastern Cape (South Africa) -- History -- 19th Century Grahamstown (South Africa) -- History -- 19th Century Grahamstown (South Africa) -- History -- Social aspects -- 19th Century Grahamstown (South Africa) -- Social conditions -- 19th Century Grahamstown (South Africa) -- Economic conditions -- 19th Century
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2549 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002401
- Description: This thesis examines the development of Grahamstown from its inception in 1812 to the mid-1840s, paying particular attention to the social and cultural life of the town. It traces the economic development of the town from a military outpost to a thriving commercial settlement, noting the essential factor of the town's proximity to the Cape frontier in this process. The economic interaction between diverse groups in the town mirrors the social and cultural interaction which occurred between British settlers, Khoekhoe and Africans. The result of these interactions was the creation of a new, distinctively South African urban society and culture, despite the desire of the white settlers to reproduce a “typical” English environment in their new home. The conflict between attempts to anglicise the urban environment and the realities of Grahamstown's situation on a colonial frontier was reflected in the architecture and layout of the town. Attempts to recreate an English social environment also failed. New classes arose in the town in response to the economic opportunities available on the frontier. Although some settlers prospered, many did not, and the presence of an impoverished white working class undermines settler historians' picture of settler success and affluence. The poorest people in the town, though, were the increasing numbers of Khoekhoe and Africans who migrated from the surrounding countryside, and who were unequally incorporated into the urban community as a colonial labouring class. In response to these unique circumstances, white settlers in Grahamstown developed a powerful political and propaganda machine, which helped lay the foundations of a distinct settler identity in the eastern Cape.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Marshall, Richard Graham
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Cities and towns -- Growth -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Community development, Urban -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Eastern Cape (South Africa) -- History -- 19th Century Grahamstown (South Africa) -- History -- 19th Century Grahamstown (South Africa) -- History -- Social aspects -- 19th Century Grahamstown (South Africa) -- Social conditions -- 19th Century Grahamstown (South Africa) -- Economic conditions -- 19th Century
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2549 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002401
- Description: This thesis examines the development of Grahamstown from its inception in 1812 to the mid-1840s, paying particular attention to the social and cultural life of the town. It traces the economic development of the town from a military outpost to a thriving commercial settlement, noting the essential factor of the town's proximity to the Cape frontier in this process. The economic interaction between diverse groups in the town mirrors the social and cultural interaction which occurred between British settlers, Khoekhoe and Africans. The result of these interactions was the creation of a new, distinctively South African urban society and culture, despite the desire of the white settlers to reproduce a “typical” English environment in their new home. The conflict between attempts to anglicise the urban environment and the realities of Grahamstown's situation on a colonial frontier was reflected in the architecture and layout of the town. Attempts to recreate an English social environment also failed. New classes arose in the town in response to the economic opportunities available on the frontier. Although some settlers prospered, many did not, and the presence of an impoverished white working class undermines settler historians' picture of settler success and affluence. The poorest people in the town, though, were the increasing numbers of Khoekhoe and Africans who migrated from the surrounding countryside, and who were unequally incorporated into the urban community as a colonial labouring class. In response to these unique circumstances, white settlers in Grahamstown developed a powerful political and propaganda machine, which helped lay the foundations of a distinct settler identity in the eastern Cape.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
A historical study of John Graham Lake and South African/United States pentecostalism
- Authors: Burpeau, Kemp Pendleton
- Date: 2002
- Subjects: Lake, John G , Pentecostalism -- South Africa , Pentecostalism -- United States , Pentecostals , Christianity and politics -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2587 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006484 , Lake, John G , Pentecostalism -- South Africa , Pentecostalism -- United States , Pentecostals , Christianity and politics -- South Africa
- Description: American minister John Graham Lake (1870-1935) was a pivotal participant in an era of profound religious and political transition. Surprisingly, Lake's often provocative life had previously been largely neglected as a field of academic inquiry. In the U.S. Lake associated with key Holiness, Wesleyan and Apostolic Faith charismatics like John Alexander Dowie of the Zion City, Illinois Utopia, Charles Parham of the Topeka Revival and William Seymour of the Azusa Street Revival. Lake served as an important intermediary between Parham's often reactionary, white orientation that was unreceptive to an enthusiastic black liturgy and Seymour's expansive African-American egalitarianism expressed through exuberant spirit manifestations. Lake's South African ministry was shaped by his middle class white business background, Azusa Street message and American perspectives. He brought together the faith healing movement inspired by Dutch Reformed minister Andrew Murray, P. Ie Roux's black and white Zion charismatic adherents affiliated with Dowie and the new U.S. Pentecostalism of Parham and Seymour. Lake's African-American influenced Pentecostalism was compatible with indigenous African worship. His emphasis on the spiritual needs of the disempowered found a receptive audience in talented black evangelists Elias Letwaba and Edward Lion. Even though acquainted with Mohandas Gandhi, Lake did not undertake a South African social gospel-type civil protest against societal injustice. In fact, Lake's participation with Afrikaner politicians like Louis Botha in fashioning a segregationist land use law was most troubling. Lake was ambivalent about racial integration. His belief in an egalitarian status for all Christians, his Populist/Progressive ethics and his enthusiastic promotion of women's rights were complicated by his advocacy, or at least tolerance, of some disparate racial treatment in his Apostolic Faith Mission and South African society at large. Lake's paternalism and notion of Westem cultural superiority conflicted with his love of all persons. Lake's otherworldly prioritization of individual spiritualism over a socioeconomic agenda usually stymied activism. His uncharacteristic use of nonviolent protest to protect faith healing formed a remarkable contrast with his reluctance to actively campaign against unequal racial treatment in Africa and America. Historiographical perspectives on Lake range from the saintly pioneer charismatic missionary to the Elmer Gantry type charlatan acting only for personal benefit. Lake was a unique personality with his flamboyant rhetoric, strong convictions and feelings of personal worth. His distinctive Jesus as healing and suffering God theology evidenced both consistency with precedent as well as creative anticipation. Shortcomings resulting from his preference to address social concerns on an individual spiritual rather than societal level, his liberties with truth and his bad business judgments resulting in litigation. Nevertheless, Lake's life demonstrated that a gifted but imperfect instrument could accomplish a meaningful ministry. , Adobe Acrobat Pro 9.5.4 , Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2002
- Authors: Burpeau, Kemp Pendleton
- Date: 2002
- Subjects: Lake, John G , Pentecostalism -- South Africa , Pentecostalism -- United States , Pentecostals , Christianity and politics -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2587 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006484 , Lake, John G , Pentecostalism -- South Africa , Pentecostalism -- United States , Pentecostals , Christianity and politics -- South Africa
- Description: American minister John Graham Lake (1870-1935) was a pivotal participant in an era of profound religious and political transition. Surprisingly, Lake's often provocative life had previously been largely neglected as a field of academic inquiry. In the U.S. Lake associated with key Holiness, Wesleyan and Apostolic Faith charismatics like John Alexander Dowie of the Zion City, Illinois Utopia, Charles Parham of the Topeka Revival and William Seymour of the Azusa Street Revival. Lake served as an important intermediary between Parham's often reactionary, white orientation that was unreceptive to an enthusiastic black liturgy and Seymour's expansive African-American egalitarianism expressed through exuberant spirit manifestations. Lake's South African ministry was shaped by his middle class white business background, Azusa Street message and American perspectives. He brought together the faith healing movement inspired by Dutch Reformed minister Andrew Murray, P. Ie Roux's black and white Zion charismatic adherents affiliated with Dowie and the new U.S. Pentecostalism of Parham and Seymour. Lake's African-American influenced Pentecostalism was compatible with indigenous African worship. His emphasis on the spiritual needs of the disempowered found a receptive audience in talented black evangelists Elias Letwaba and Edward Lion. Even though acquainted with Mohandas Gandhi, Lake did not undertake a South African social gospel-type civil protest against societal injustice. In fact, Lake's participation with Afrikaner politicians like Louis Botha in fashioning a segregationist land use law was most troubling. Lake was ambivalent about racial integration. His belief in an egalitarian status for all Christians, his Populist/Progressive ethics and his enthusiastic promotion of women's rights were complicated by his advocacy, or at least tolerance, of some disparate racial treatment in his Apostolic Faith Mission and South African society at large. Lake's paternalism and notion of Westem cultural superiority conflicted with his love of all persons. Lake's otherworldly prioritization of individual spiritualism over a socioeconomic agenda usually stymied activism. His uncharacteristic use of nonviolent protest to protect faith healing formed a remarkable contrast with his reluctance to actively campaign against unequal racial treatment in Africa and America. Historiographical perspectives on Lake range from the saintly pioneer charismatic missionary to the Elmer Gantry type charlatan acting only for personal benefit. Lake was a unique personality with his flamboyant rhetoric, strong convictions and feelings of personal worth. His distinctive Jesus as healing and suffering God theology evidenced both consistency with precedent as well as creative anticipation. Shortcomings resulting from his preference to address social concerns on an individual spiritual rather than societal level, his liberties with truth and his bad business judgments resulting in litigation. Nevertheless, Lake's life demonstrated that a gifted but imperfect instrument could accomplish a meaningful ministry. , Adobe Acrobat Pro 9.5.4 , Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2002
A history of the German settlers in the Eastern Cape, 1857-1919
- Authors: Zipp, Gisela Lesley
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Colonists -- Eastern Cape -- 19th Century Immigrants -- Germany -- History Immigrants -- Germany -- Social life and customs
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3609 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004215
- Description: This thesis came into being as the result of a question innocently posed to me three years ago: Why do some towns in the Eastern Cape have German names? This thesis is not so much an answer to that question (which is answered in the following paragraphs) as an attempt to answer the questions that followed: Were the Germans really as benevolent and hard-working as much of the most readily available literature implies? Why did the military settlers leave and the peasant farmer settlers remain? What was the nature of relationships between the German settlers and other groups in the area? How did the German settlers see themselves? The existing literature provides the historic details, more or less, but not the context and explanations I sought. As such, I set out to find them and document them myself, addressing three main questions: 1. What was the (changing) nature of the German settlers' day-to-day lives between 1857 and 1919? 2. How was a German identity maintained/constructed within the German communities of the Eastern Cape between 1857 and 1919? 3. How did the Germans interact with other groups in the area? In answering these questions, I have also provided the necessary background as to why these settlers chose to come to South Africa, and why some of them left. I have limited this study to the period between 1857 and 1919 so as to include the First World War and its immediate aftermath, a time when enmity between Great Britain and Germany would have made life difficult for German descendants in the Union of South Africa. Introduction, p. 7.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Zipp, Gisela Lesley
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Colonists -- Eastern Cape -- 19th Century Immigrants -- Germany -- History Immigrants -- Germany -- Social life and customs
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3609 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004215
- Description: This thesis came into being as the result of a question innocently posed to me three years ago: Why do some towns in the Eastern Cape have German names? This thesis is not so much an answer to that question (which is answered in the following paragraphs) as an attempt to answer the questions that followed: Were the Germans really as benevolent and hard-working as much of the most readily available literature implies? Why did the military settlers leave and the peasant farmer settlers remain? What was the nature of relationships between the German settlers and other groups in the area? How did the German settlers see themselves? The existing literature provides the historic details, more or less, but not the context and explanations I sought. As such, I set out to find them and document them myself, addressing three main questions: 1. What was the (changing) nature of the German settlers' day-to-day lives between 1857 and 1919? 2. How was a German identity maintained/constructed within the German communities of the Eastern Cape between 1857 and 1919? 3. How did the Germans interact with other groups in the area? In answering these questions, I have also provided the necessary background as to why these settlers chose to come to South Africa, and why some of them left. I have limited this study to the period between 1857 and 1919 so as to include the First World War and its immediate aftermath, a time when enmity between Great Britain and Germany would have made life difficult for German descendants in the Union of South Africa. Introduction, p. 7.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
The history of marine fish systematics in South Africa
- Authors: Gon, O (Ofer), 1949-
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology Fishes -- Research -- South Africa -- History Fishes -- Catalogs and collections -- South Africa -- History Museums -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2599 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007800
- Description: South African marine fish collections and systematic research are relatively young, essentially a product of the 20th century. Their history in South Africa comprises three distinct periods: the emergence of fish collections (before 1895), the beginning of research (1895-1945) and modern research (1945-1999). From the outset of their arrival in South Africa in the mid-17th century, the European settlers of the Cape Colony supplemented their diet with fishes. Therefore it is not surprising that when natural history museums appeared in the 19th century fishes were among the first specimens they procured or received from the public. In these early days, fishes were acquired for display purposes and were curated together with other natural history specimens. There were no fish collections as such and, in many ways, the early history of South African fish collections closely followed the history of the institutions in which they were housed. Major political events in South Africa between 1850-1910 had little effect on the slow growth offish collections as the low influx of specimens from the public did not change. None of the museums did any active fish collecting and no fish research as such took place during these years. The second period in the growth of fish collections in South Africa was characterised by a general shift to collecting for research rather than display. It was also a period during which the need for aquatic research was recognized by and began to attract funding from the South African government, starting with the establishment of the Marine Biological Survey in Cape Town. However, with the exception of the Albany Museum's self-trained J.L.B. Smith, no trained marine fish systematists were working in museums either as curators or as researchers. In the first half of the 20"' century South Africa experienced the fast growth of the fishing industry, the development of academic and applied research in marine biology, and the thriving of sport fishing. These developments created a demand for well-trained professional ichthyologists. J.L.B. Smith was the first to fill this professional gap. The growth rate offish collections increased significantly through the interaction between museum scientists, such as Smith in Grahamstown and K.H. Barnard in Cape Town, with the fishing industry, government biologists and fisheries officers, and anglers. Barnard's review of the South African marine fish fauna was published in mid-I920s. The discovery of the first living coelacanth placed South African ichthyology and Smith on the international stage. The identification of this fish, made by a relatively inexperienced Smith, changed the way ichthyology has been viewed in South Africa. At the beginning of the third period, largely due to the establishment of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in 1945, science in South Africa underwent a process of reorganisation. As funding became more available museums were able to enlarge their research staff. Natural history museums hired qualified experts to conduct research and manage collections of specific groups of organisms. For the first time, trained ichthyologists started working in museums and initiated research projects that were the main contributors to the growth of fish collections around the country. Furthermore it was a period of consolidation offish collections resulting in two large marine fish collections, one at the South African Museum, Cape Town, and another at the J .L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology, Grahamstown. This period also witnessed the establishment of the latter as a research institute dedicated to the study of fishes and its rise to international prominence. The last 55 years at J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology can be divided into two distinct periods, 1945-1967 and 1968-1999, each consisting of similar elements of research work and objectives. These included the research and production of major reviews of the fish faunas of South Africa, the western Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean, as well as research on the coelacanth. While in the former period the work was done by one scientist, J.L.B. Smith, the latter period has been characterised by collaborative projects including scientists from South Africa and abroad. As this history shows, the establishment of a viable, long-lasting collection is a lengthy process. For about 60 years the durability of fish collections depended on the enthusiasm and persistence of individual curators and scientists who were not ichthyologists. More often than not, enthusiasm disappeared when such individuals left their museums. This dependence existed until Rhodes University College established the Department of Ichthyology (1947) and the South African Museum created a post specifically for the curation of the fish collection (1957) and thus ensured continuity. The continuity of biosystematic research in South Africa has been a minor concern for the nation's systematists for decades. The threats to marine fish systematics have been of a financial, political and professional nature. The latter has been the most serious one because of the dearth of South Africans trained in marine fish systematics. After J.L.B. Smith's death in 1968 M.M. Smith had to work hard to convince the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and Rhodes University that she could step into her late husband's shoes. Realizing that there was nobody to take over from her she initiated the first and only postgraduate programme in ichthyology in South Africa. The teaching started in the academic year of 1970171 at the J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology, but to date only one student has completed a thesis in marine fish systematics. Due to the government's transformation policy all the practising marine fish systematists in South Africa will be retiring in the course of the present decade. Consequently, if no aspiring, motivated students appear on the scene in the next couple of years marine fish systematics in this country will be in a deep crisis by the year 2010, possibly even earlier.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
- Authors: Gon, O (Ofer), 1949-
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology Fishes -- Research -- South Africa -- History Fishes -- Catalogs and collections -- South Africa -- History Museums -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2599 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007800
- Description: South African marine fish collections and systematic research are relatively young, essentially a product of the 20th century. Their history in South Africa comprises three distinct periods: the emergence of fish collections (before 1895), the beginning of research (1895-1945) and modern research (1945-1999). From the outset of their arrival in South Africa in the mid-17th century, the European settlers of the Cape Colony supplemented their diet with fishes. Therefore it is not surprising that when natural history museums appeared in the 19th century fishes were among the first specimens they procured or received from the public. In these early days, fishes were acquired for display purposes and were curated together with other natural history specimens. There were no fish collections as such and, in many ways, the early history of South African fish collections closely followed the history of the institutions in which they were housed. Major political events in South Africa between 1850-1910 had little effect on the slow growth offish collections as the low influx of specimens from the public did not change. None of the museums did any active fish collecting and no fish research as such took place during these years. The second period in the growth of fish collections in South Africa was characterised by a general shift to collecting for research rather than display. It was also a period during which the need for aquatic research was recognized by and began to attract funding from the South African government, starting with the establishment of the Marine Biological Survey in Cape Town. However, with the exception of the Albany Museum's self-trained J.L.B. Smith, no trained marine fish systematists were working in museums either as curators or as researchers. In the first half of the 20"' century South Africa experienced the fast growth of the fishing industry, the development of academic and applied research in marine biology, and the thriving of sport fishing. These developments created a demand for well-trained professional ichthyologists. J.L.B. Smith was the first to fill this professional gap. The growth rate offish collections increased significantly through the interaction between museum scientists, such as Smith in Grahamstown and K.H. Barnard in Cape Town, with the fishing industry, government biologists and fisheries officers, and anglers. Barnard's review of the South African marine fish fauna was published in mid-I920s. The discovery of the first living coelacanth placed South African ichthyology and Smith on the international stage. The identification of this fish, made by a relatively inexperienced Smith, changed the way ichthyology has been viewed in South Africa. At the beginning of the third period, largely due to the establishment of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in 1945, science in South Africa underwent a process of reorganisation. As funding became more available museums were able to enlarge their research staff. Natural history museums hired qualified experts to conduct research and manage collections of specific groups of organisms. For the first time, trained ichthyologists started working in museums and initiated research projects that were the main contributors to the growth of fish collections around the country. Furthermore it was a period of consolidation offish collections resulting in two large marine fish collections, one at the South African Museum, Cape Town, and another at the J .L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology, Grahamstown. This period also witnessed the establishment of the latter as a research institute dedicated to the study of fishes and its rise to international prominence. The last 55 years at J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology can be divided into two distinct periods, 1945-1967 and 1968-1999, each consisting of similar elements of research work and objectives. These included the research and production of major reviews of the fish faunas of South Africa, the western Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean, as well as research on the coelacanth. While in the former period the work was done by one scientist, J.L.B. Smith, the latter period has been characterised by collaborative projects including scientists from South Africa and abroad. As this history shows, the establishment of a viable, long-lasting collection is a lengthy process. For about 60 years the durability of fish collections depended on the enthusiasm and persistence of individual curators and scientists who were not ichthyologists. More often than not, enthusiasm disappeared when such individuals left their museums. This dependence existed until Rhodes University College established the Department of Ichthyology (1947) and the South African Museum created a post specifically for the curation of the fish collection (1957) and thus ensured continuity. The continuity of biosystematic research in South Africa has been a minor concern for the nation's systematists for decades. The threats to marine fish systematics have been of a financial, political and professional nature. The latter has been the most serious one because of the dearth of South Africans trained in marine fish systematics. After J.L.B. Smith's death in 1968 M.M. Smith had to work hard to convince the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and Rhodes University that she could step into her late husband's shoes. Realizing that there was nobody to take over from her she initiated the first and only postgraduate programme in ichthyology in South Africa. The teaching started in the academic year of 1970171 at the J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology, but to date only one student has completed a thesis in marine fish systematics. Due to the government's transformation policy all the practising marine fish systematists in South Africa will be retiring in the course of the present decade. Consequently, if no aspiring, motivated students appear on the scene in the next couple of years marine fish systematics in this country will be in a deep crisis by the year 2010, possibly even earlier.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
Race against democracy: a case study of the Mail & Guardian during the early years of the Mbeki presidency, 1999-2002
- Authors: Steenveld, Lynette Noreen
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Mbeki, Thabo -- In mass media , Mail & Guardian , South African newspapers , Press -- South Africa , Press and politics -- South Africa , Journalism -- South Africa , Mass media and race relations -- South Africa , Racism in the press -- South Africa , Mass media -- Political aspects -- South Africa , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 20th century
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3537 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1015572
- Description: This thesis examines the 1998 complaint of racism against the Mail & Guardian, a leading exponent of South Africa's alternative press in the 1980s, and important contemporary producer of investigative journalism. The study is framed within a cultural studies approach, analysing the Mail & Guardian as constituted by a 'circuit of production': its social context, production, texts, and audiences. The thesis makes three main arguments. First, that the claim of racism cannot be understood outside of a consideration of both the changing political milieu, and subtle changes within the Mail & Guardian itself. Significant social changes relate to the reconfiguration of racial and class identities wrought by the 'Mbeki state'. Within the Mail & Guardian, the thesis argues for the importance of the power and subjectivity of the editor as a key 'factor' shaping the identity of the paper, evidenced in its production practices and textual outputs. In this regard, the thesis departs from a functionalist analysis of particular 'roles' within the newsroom, drawing instead on a post-structuralist approach to organisational studies. Based on this production and social context, the thesis examines key texts which deal with aspects of South Africa's social transformation, and which exemplify aspects of the Mail & Guardian's reporting which led to the complaint of racism by the Black Lawyers Association (BLA) and the Association of Black Accountants (ABASA). Their complaint was that the Mail & Guardian's reporting impugned the dignity of black people, and in so doing was a violation of their rights to dignity and equality which are constitutionally guaranteed. However, as freedom of the press is also guaranteed by the South African constitution, their complaint to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) resulted in public debate about these contending rights. My second argument relates to the jurisprudential approach to racism, and the related issue of affirmative action, which informed the complaint against the paper. Contrary to the 'normative', liberal approach to these issues, this thesis highlights Critical Race Theory as the jurisprudential basis for both the claimants' accusation of racism against the Mail & Guardian, and aspects of its implicit use in South African human rights adjudication. The thesis argues that in failing to recognise these different philosophical and political bases of legal reasoning, the media, including the Mail & Guardian, in reporting on these matters failed in their purported role of serving the public interest. The thesis concludes by applying Fraser's critique of Habermas's notion of a single, bourgeois public sphere to journalism, thereby suggesting ways in which the critiques of some of the Mail & Guardian's own journalists could be employed to enlarge its approach to journalism - giving voice to constituencies seldom heard in mainstream media.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Steenveld, Lynette Noreen
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Mbeki, Thabo -- In mass media , Mail & Guardian , South African newspapers , Press -- South Africa , Press and politics -- South Africa , Journalism -- South Africa , Mass media and race relations -- South Africa , Racism in the press -- South Africa , Mass media -- Political aspects -- South Africa , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 20th century
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3537 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1015572
- Description: This thesis examines the 1998 complaint of racism against the Mail & Guardian, a leading exponent of South Africa's alternative press in the 1980s, and important contemporary producer of investigative journalism. The study is framed within a cultural studies approach, analysing the Mail & Guardian as constituted by a 'circuit of production': its social context, production, texts, and audiences. The thesis makes three main arguments. First, that the claim of racism cannot be understood outside of a consideration of both the changing political milieu, and subtle changes within the Mail & Guardian itself. Significant social changes relate to the reconfiguration of racial and class identities wrought by the 'Mbeki state'. Within the Mail & Guardian, the thesis argues for the importance of the power and subjectivity of the editor as a key 'factor' shaping the identity of the paper, evidenced in its production practices and textual outputs. In this regard, the thesis departs from a functionalist analysis of particular 'roles' within the newsroom, drawing instead on a post-structuralist approach to organisational studies. Based on this production and social context, the thesis examines key texts which deal with aspects of South Africa's social transformation, and which exemplify aspects of the Mail & Guardian's reporting which led to the complaint of racism by the Black Lawyers Association (BLA) and the Association of Black Accountants (ABASA). Their complaint was that the Mail & Guardian's reporting impugned the dignity of black people, and in so doing was a violation of their rights to dignity and equality which are constitutionally guaranteed. However, as freedom of the press is also guaranteed by the South African constitution, their complaint to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) resulted in public debate about these contending rights. My second argument relates to the jurisprudential approach to racism, and the related issue of affirmative action, which informed the complaint against the paper. Contrary to the 'normative', liberal approach to these issues, this thesis highlights Critical Race Theory as the jurisprudential basis for both the claimants' accusation of racism against the Mail & Guardian, and aspects of its implicit use in South African human rights adjudication. The thesis argues that in failing to recognise these different philosophical and political bases of legal reasoning, the media, including the Mail & Guardian, in reporting on these matters failed in their purported role of serving the public interest. The thesis concludes by applying Fraser's critique of Habermas's notion of a single, bourgeois public sphere to journalism, thereby suggesting ways in which the critiques of some of the Mail & Guardian's own journalists could be employed to enlarge its approach to journalism - giving voice to constituencies seldom heard in mainstream media.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
In time of plague : the Basotho and the rinderpest, 1896-8
- Authors: Phoofolo, Pule
- Date: 2000
- Subjects: Rinderpest -- Lesotho -- History Epidemics -- Africa -- History Livestock -- Diseases -- Africa Sotho (African people) -- Social life and customs Lesotho -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2553 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002405
- Description: Rinderpest, the most dreaded bovine plague, struck the cattle of the BaSotho in British Basutoland early in 1897. By December the murrain had spent itself, having reduced the cattle population by half As it did so, the rinderpest claimed the primary historical significance of an epidemic. By sharpening behaviour and illuminating latent or developing tendencies, the rinderpest helped to reveal the nooks and crannies of contemporary historical processes that would have otherwise eluded historical visibility. This thesis brings out the complexities and ambiguities surrounding the epidemic. It uses the crisis occasioned by the panzootic in its multifaceted manifestations as a prism through which we might view the complex aspects of contemporary historical processes. It goes beyond the narrow limits of the crisis itself to discerning the broader and wider historical patterns that the rinderpest helped to highlight.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2000
- Authors: Phoofolo, Pule
- Date: 2000
- Subjects: Rinderpest -- Lesotho -- History Epidemics -- Africa -- History Livestock -- Diseases -- Africa Sotho (African people) -- Social life and customs Lesotho -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2553 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002405
- Description: Rinderpest, the most dreaded bovine plague, struck the cattle of the BaSotho in British Basutoland early in 1897. By December the murrain had spent itself, having reduced the cattle population by half As it did so, the rinderpest claimed the primary historical significance of an epidemic. By sharpening behaviour and illuminating latent or developing tendencies, the rinderpest helped to reveal the nooks and crannies of contemporary historical processes that would have otherwise eluded historical visibility. This thesis brings out the complexities and ambiguities surrounding the epidemic. It uses the crisis occasioned by the panzootic in its multifaceted manifestations as a prism through which we might view the complex aspects of contemporary historical processes. It goes beyond the narrow limits of the crisis itself to discerning the broader and wider historical patterns that the rinderpest helped to highlight.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2000
The changing face of Rhodes University: exploring aspects of visuality, sexuality and protest between the apartheid and postapartheid periods
- Authors: Stein, Jonathan Harry
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Rhodes University , Apartheid South Africa , Post-apartheid era South Africa , College students Attitudes , Student movements South Africa , Decolonization South Africa , Aesthetics Political aspects South Africa , Sex Political aspects South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60530 , vital:27790
- Description: This thesis seeks to provide an historical overview of changing trends within specific spheres of the institutional and student culture of Rhodes University between the apartheid and post-apartheid periods. In particular, this thesis seeks to examine changes and developments within the visual and aesthetic culture of the university, and within the sphere of sexual norms and relations within the Rhodes student community. The historical dimensions of these two spheres of the university’s culture will be explored in light of the #RhodesMustFall protest of 2015 and the #RUReferenceList protest of 2016, which drew attention to a perceived lack of institutional transformation related to these two areas.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Stein, Jonathan Harry
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Rhodes University , Apartheid South Africa , Post-apartheid era South Africa , College students Attitudes , Student movements South Africa , Decolonization South Africa , Aesthetics Political aspects South Africa , Sex Political aspects South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60530 , vital:27790
- Description: This thesis seeks to provide an historical overview of changing trends within specific spheres of the institutional and student culture of Rhodes University between the apartheid and post-apartheid periods. In particular, this thesis seeks to examine changes and developments within the visual and aesthetic culture of the university, and within the sphere of sexual norms and relations within the Rhodes student community. The historical dimensions of these two spheres of the university’s culture will be explored in light of the #RhodesMustFall protest of 2015 and the #RUReferenceList protest of 2016, which drew attention to a perceived lack of institutional transformation related to these two areas.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
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