List of Titles

In-betweenness: a postcolonial exploration of sociocultural intergenerational learning through cattle as a medium of cultural expression in Mpembeni, KwaZulu-Natal

- Masuku, Lynette Sibongile

Authors: Masuku, Lynette Sibongile
Date: 2019
Subjects: Postcolonialism , Environmental education -- South Africa , Community education -- South Africa -- KwaZulu Natal , Non-formal education -- South Africa -- KwaZulu Natal , Agricultural education -- South Africa -- KwaZulu Natal , Livestock -- Handling -- South Africa -- KwaZulu Natal , Cattle -- Handling -- South Africa -- KwaZulu Natal , Cattle herding -- South Africa -- KwaZulu Natal , Life skills -- Study and teaching -- South Africa
Language: English
Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68181 , vital:29213
Description: This case study was conducted in a small rural community called Mpembeni, in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province. It was motivated by my observation of high levels of competence in ‘cattle knowledge’ amongst children coupled with a simultaneous failure at school. I view schools as integral parts of the community and consider them as being influenced by the community, which they in turn influence. This study set out to understand that which embodied informal learning in home/pasture-based contexts as well as formalised learning processes in schools. I used Sociocultural theory as the most congruent of educational theories to surface and illuminate the intergenerational learning processes that were taking place in the area. This warranted my use of research investigation methods that could, in non-intrusive ways, expose the everyday community practices that related to cattle as a particular medium of cultural expression. Ethnography, sourced from anthropology, aided by ethnomethods, was not only compatible with my study and the way in which I wanted to write out the research report, but also with my educational theory and its counterhegemonic intents. To understand the colonialities that framed the discord that embodied home and school as learning contexts, I used postcolonial theory, not only as a lens but as a counterhegemonic response. This theory also informed my research methodology as well as afforded me the reflexivity tools for an examination of my own intergenerational learning and the relational identities of myself as ‘Other’ in the lives of the research participants. It further facilitated the exploration of the potential for potential hybrid third spaces within the bubbling meeting nodes of the socio-cultural context of school and home/pasture based settings of learning. I observed cattle herding related practices, interviewed children, their parents and/or carers, dipping tank managers, livestock inspectors, community elders and members. I also analysed some of the written and unwritten content that made up the formal and informal based learning processes and reviewed some of the most recent South African Curriculum Statements and related texts on the representations of cattle. I sought views from teachers on their interactions with the people of Mpembeni, whose children they taught. I also explored axes of tension, silences and presences on anything related to cattle in schools. I argue and make a case for the development of thought by African scholars to advance Africa’s education rather than aid mimicry and the importation of theories of little congruence and relevance to the African context and Africa’s future. The study has made some contributions to new knowledge. This is in its exploration of sociocultural intergenerational methods and techniques that are employed for learning in community contexts, highlighting the importance of surfacing and understanding of children’s knowledge and experiences. The study has gone further to deliberate the in-betweenness of school and home learning environments, highlighting and unsilencing silenced, peripherised, new, old, considered irrelevant in the past, context and time congruent and liberatory knowledges. I propose that the knowledges located in these cleavages of difference be utilised to transform and create learning bridges between home and school environments. I propose that those ways of knowing that see others as nothings, be exposed and unlearned. Methods of learning that naturally unfold at home could be replicated at school with a recognition of the intergenerational methods, techniques, practices and the learning values in a critically constructive manner that narrows difference and othering.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2019

Quick View

Perspectives on land and water politics at Mushandike Irrigation Scheme, Masvingo, Zimbabwe

- Mafukidze, Jonathan

Authors: Mafukidze, Jonathan
Date: 2019
Language: English
Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76479 , vital:30573
Description: Access to, control and ownership of land and water, amongst other natural resources in Zimbabwe, shape and affect rural lives, livelihoods, social relations and social organisation. Rural poverty has been entrenched and exacerbated by, amongst other factors, highly restricted access to these scarce resources. Historically, Zimbabwe’s rural areas (such as communal areas, smallholder irrigation schemes and resettlement areas) have existed as sites of struggles where contestations and negotiations over access to, control or ownership of these resources have taken place. Resultantly, multifaceted and dynamic social relations have been weaved and contested social spaces carved out. In rural Zimbabwe, contestations have tended to be complex, nuanced and intricate, working themselves out in different ways across time and space. In their heightened and more visible state, they have been characterised by violent physical expressions which, in the history of the country, involved two wars of liberation, the First Chimurenga (1896-1897) and the Second Chimurenga (1960s to 1980). The most recent violent manifestation was through nation-wide land invasions, politically christened the Third Chimurenga, which peaked in 2000 and continued sporadically to this day. Few studies on smallholder irrigation schemes in Zimbabwe have focused on understanding how contestations for access to scarce land and water resources are framed and negotiated at the local level. Cognisant of this lacuna, this thesis uses social constructionism in examining, as a case study, Mushandike Smallholder Irrigation Scheme in Masvingo Province in order to understand and analyse how land and water politics occur at the local level. The study deploys a qualitative research methodology approach in examining local water and land politics, which involved original irrigation beneficiaries and more recent land invaders. Findings of the thesis indicate that land and water shortages have increased considerably in the past two decades at the irrigation scheme due to the influx of land invaders into the scheme. This influx has had a negative impact on agricultural production and other livelihood strategies. Both scheme members and land invaders lay claim to land and water at Mushandike. These claims are intricately constructed and contested, and they are linked to broader issues such as partisan party-politics, policy developments, and tradition, origin, indigeneity and belonging. Though the struggles over land and water at Mushandike are firmly rooted in the concrete conditions of existence and experiences of beneficiaries and land invaders, external actors such as political leaders, state bureaucrats and traditional chiefs tend to complicate and intensify the contestations.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2019

Quick View

Intersectionality and complexity in the representation of ‘queer’ sexualities and genders in African women’s short fiction

- Du Preez, Jenny Boźena

Authors: Du Preez, Jenny Boźena
Date: 2019
Subjects: Sexual minority culture , Sexual minorities' writings , African fiction -- Women authors -- History and criticism , Gender identity in literature , Short stories, South African , Feminism in literature , Political poetry , Eroticism in literature , Lesbianism in literature
Language: English
Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/119047 , vital:34697
Description: This thesis sets out to contribute to the growing body of knowledge about queer sexualities and genders in Africa by examining their depiction in selected post-2000 African women’s short fiction written in English. Post-2000, the short story form has become the primary vehicle for queer representations by African women writers, and is thus an important development in the burgeoning body of queer literature by African writers. Broadly speaking, this literary formation can be defined as anti-homophobic, feminist and politically pragmatic. Using an intersectional lens, this thesis sets out to examine four significant strands in the political work these stories engage in. The chapters are structured around four main points of contention that have particular significance at the intersection of ‘queer’, ‘women’ and ‘Africa’. Firstly, I examine South African short stories that perform what I call queer conversations with history: imaginatively asserting a queer South African history, writing back against a male-dominated and heterosexist literary canon and, in doing so, contributing to the reimagination of the contemporary South African nation. Secondly, I analyse short stories from Africa that foreground the family, both as social formation and ideology. I examine how these stories ‘fracture’ this powerful and naturalised heterosexist concept by depicting the tensions and contradictions that queer characters experience in relation to family. Thirdly, I consider short stories from various African contexts that work to reconceptualise queer sexuality in relation to religious discourse in order to challenge homophobic and patriarchal religious authority. Finally, I examine queer, feminist erotic short stories by African women writers that challenges various colonialist, racist, sexist and lesbophobic discourses that have historically stifled the portrayal of sex and erotic experience between women.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2019

Quick View

The environmental imagination in Arthur Nortje’s poetry

- Kaze, Douglas Eric

Authors: Kaze, Douglas Eric
Date: 2018
Subjects: Nortje, Arthur, 1942-1970 -- Criticism and interpretation , Ecology in literature , Race awareness in literature , South African poetry (English) -- History and criticism , Nature in literature , Transversal postcolonial environmental criticism
Language: English
Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/58024 , vital:27033
Description: This thesis seeks to contribute to the conversations in the humanities about the treatment of the physical environment in the context of a global ecological fragility and increased scholarly interest in the poetry of Arthur Nortje, a South African poet who wrote in the 1960s. While previous studies on Nortje concentrate on the political, psychic and technical aspects of his poetry, this study particularly explores the representations of the environment in Nortje’s poetic imagination. Writing in the dark period of apartheid in South Africa’s history, Nortje’s poetry articulates a strong interest in the physical environment against the backdrop of official racialization of space and his personal nomadic life and exile. The poetry abounds with constant intersections of nature and culture (industrialism, urbanity and the quotidian), a sense of place and a deep sense of dislocation. The poems, therefore, present a platform from which to reevaluate conventional ecocritical ideas about nature, place-attachment and environmental consciousness. Drawing mainly on Felix Guattari’s ideas of three ecologies and transversality along with other theories, I conduct the study through what I call a transversal postcolonial environmental criticism, which considers the ecological value of the kind of assemblages that Nortje’s works represent. The first chapter focuses on conceptualizing a postcolonial approach to the environment based on Guattari’s concept of transversality to lay the theoretical foundation for the whole work. The second chapter analyses Nortje’s poetic imagination of place and displacement through his treatment of the private-public tension and the motif of exile. While the third chapter examines Nortje’s depiction of nature as both an everyday and urban phenomenon, the fourth chapter turns to his direct treatment of environmental crises handled through his imagination of the Canadian urban spaces, exile memory of apartheid geography, war and ecocide and the human body as a subject of environmental degradation. The fifth chapter, which is the conclusion, takes a brief look at the implication of Nortje’s complex treatment of the environment on postcolonial environmentalism.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2018

Quick View

Waste management knowledge, its production, recontextualisation and circulation in Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) training programmes

- Giqwa, Nomfundiso Louisa

Authors: Giqwa, Nomfundiso Louisa
Date: 2018
Subjects: Refuse and refuse disposal -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , South Africa. Expanded Public Works Programme , Refuse and refuse disposal -- Employees -- Training of -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , South Africa. Department of Environmental Affairs , Knowledge, Theory of , Knowledge, Sociology of
Language: English
Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63729 , vital:28478
Description: This study set out to investigate the structuring, recontextualisation and circulation of waste management knowledge in the South African environmental Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) Waste Management Projects. In this thesis these projects also referred to as the Working on Waste (WoW) programme or focus area within the Environmental Protection and Infrastructure Programme (EPIP) hosted by the National Department of Environmental Affairs. Expanded Public Work Programmes are a strategy used by governments to address unemployment and in South Africa; the programmes also seek to address a need for skills development. In this study, the focus is on EPWP waste management knowledge, training programmes and activities only. With waste management knowledge as the core interest, the focus of the investigation was on knowledge circulation of waste management via informal (participation in the project) and formal training of workers at Level 2 National Qualifications Framework (NQF). The study started by firstly investigating what waste management knowledge is produced in the Field of Production via scientific research and policy. It then studied how this waste management knowledge is recontextualised into qualifications and skills programmes designed in the official recontextualising field and learning materials and training programmes designed and offered in the professional recontextualising field. The study also focused on the knowledge of workers and their experience of training in the EPWP workplaces, with an emphasis on rural workplaces. This is where the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) is placing emphasis on training for job creation, empowerment and skills development, and it is also where a number of EPWP Working on Waste programmes are being implemented. The aim was also to develop an understanding of how knowledge circulates amongst learners in training sessions and in workplaces. To do this, I drew on Bernstein’s theory of the pedagogical device which provides theoretical lenses and a language of description to explain how knowledge is recontextualised from the field of production to the field of reproduction. To investigate the structuring of this knowledge by official and pedagogical recontextualisers, I drew on the work of Maton, who offers a Legitimation Code Theory to explain the principles structuring knowledge, of which I used specialisation and semantics (two of his suite of knowledge structuring principles) for analysis. The questions that guided the study throughout were: 1. What is the structure of legitimate knowledge and knowers in waste management? 2. What are the underlying principles underpinning knowledge and knowers in waste management? 3. How is the knowledge recontextualised in waste management training qualifications, documents and manuals for worker training at NQF Level 2? 4. How is the knowledge reproduced and evaluated in the waste management EPWP training activities (formal) and workplaces (informal)? 5. How does waste management knowledge circulate amongst the workers in the EPWP training activities and workplaces? For this study I used the case study method, focusing only on one field or DEA EPWP focus area (waste management) and one programme (EPWP Working on Waste), looking in more depth at two cases (two similar types of projects) within the EPWP Working on Waste programme, though they are situated in different areas and though I could only carry through observations of actual workplace training in one of the two sites due to contextual circumstances. The first project was situated in the Amathole District Municipality while the second one was situated in the Chris Hani District Municipality, both of which are in the rural towns of the former Transkei region in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. This area has been at the forefront in accessing funding for these projects due to the level of poverty surrounding these towns and the inability of the local government sphere to deliver on its mandate in the region. Data was collected through document analysis, questionnaires, interviews and observations. Documents analysed were research documents produced by researchers at the level of production as well as legal frameworks guiding waste management processes in this country. Qualifications and Unit Standards at Level 2, as well as training materials designed by providers were analysed. Training in one of the projects was observed and workers in both sites were interviewed twice. The main finding of the study is that waste management knowledge is characterised by interdisciplinarity and a strong epistemic relation which emphasises procedural and technical forms of knowledge. The study found that the knowledge constructed in the field, as well as the policies, qualifications and training programmes are all consequently characterised by a strong epistemic code (ER+) and a weak social relations code (SR-). The study also identified a ‘code clash’ with the knowledge of workers in rural towns whose knowledge and experience of waste management was found to reflect a strong social relation (SR+) and weak epistemic code (ER-), a pattern which was traced back to a similar code in waste management knowledge at home and school (i.e. workers’ prior knowledge and learning experiences). This created difficulties for the trainers who sought to use strategies of descending from the abstract to the concrete in various ‘descending’ semantic waves that tended to move from high levels of semantic density (SD+) to lower levels of semantic density (SD-) as the training provider sought to contextualise a range of concepts. This was the main strategy identified for mediating waste management knowledge reflecting a dominant pattern of SD+/SG- to SD-/SG+ (with SG meaning semantic gravity). This shows that the trainer seldom started mediating concepts from the basis of workers’ prior knowledge and experience and observations showed little responsiveness from workers resulting from this strategy. Despite this, the study found that workers did develop an improved understanding of specialised waste management knowledge over time, especially through observing and doing more complex tasks in the workplace. The study offers a model for addressing the pedagogical difficulty identified around the code clash, and suggests that further attention needs to be given to ‘ascending’ from the concrete to the abstract in pedagogical practices. The study also pointed to the need for a more inclusive knowledge framework for waste management training, especially in the field of recontextualisation (both the official and pedagogical recontextualisation fields) to extend possibilities for workers to learn more about economic potential and access routes into more sustainable jobs. It identifies the need for a more systemic approach to waste management in rural towns and municipalities, improved compliance and also proposes that better waste management practices are modelled to avoid performative contradictions between the knowledge promoted in the field of production and the official and pedagogical recontextualising fields and the field of reproduction, where workers are learning this knowledge via a mix of accredited training and exposure to participation in waste management practices. This study contributes to new knowledge in that it offers an epistemically grounded and theorised pedagogical process model for Level 2 Waste Management Training (in the EPWP programmes, but potentially also more broadly) that accords with the need for a strong epistemic relation code (ER+) embodied in the need for learning scientific and technical waste management knowledge and procedures. It also addresses workers’ needs for greater epistemic access and participation in knowledge building and application of waste management knowledge in praxis as per the purpose of the EPW training programmes, thereby potentially opening up more sustainable learning pathways for them out of poverty through the EPWP training opportunities. The study has pointed to key areas for further research, including further research on the proposed model, further research into Level 2 pedagogical practices and further research into the foundations of waste management learning in schools. Most of the workers who were participating in the training in the EPWP programmes were educated at above Level 2 before participating in the projects, yet their knowledge and experience of waste management was mostly based on everyday knowledge, pointing to an absence of adequate waste management education in schools in rural contexts in South Africa. The study has also made various recommendations for improving waste management education and training at Level 2 in EPWP programmes in rural areas in particular (but potentially also more widely), notably the need to develop a more inclusive knowledge framework that includes historical and economic knowledge more explicitly at all levels of the recontextualisation process; improved pedagogical and assessment practices that take better account of learners knowledge and experiences in knowledge building processes; and giving attention to structural and systemic approaches to waste management in rural areas to avoid performative contradictions that arise between the knowledge being promoted in the field of production and the field of reproduction and the actual context of waste management.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2018

Quick View

The role of microhabitats within mangroves: an invertebrate and fish larval perspective

- Vorsatz, Lyle Dennis

Authors: Vorsatz, Lyle Dennis
Date: 2020
Subjects: Mangrove ecology -- South Africa , Mangrove forests -- South Africa , Niche (Ecology) , Rhizophora mucronata , Acanthaceae , Rhizophoraceae , Fishes -- Larvae -- South Africa , Aquatic ecology -- South Africa
Language: English
Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/167644 , vital:41499
Description: Microhabitats provided through structural complexity are central for the diversity, productivity, connectivity and niche differentiation within and among ecosystems. Mangrove forests afford juvenile fish and invertebrates with nursery and recruitment habitats, facilitated by the fine scale configuration of their specialised root systems. Although the importance of mangroves for resident and transient juveniles is well recognised, the roles that mangrove microhabitats play for larvae is not yet comprehensively understood. This study aimed to determine how microhabitats with varying degrees of complexity influence the composition, abundance and distribution of larval communities that inhabit mangrove forests and the physiological responses of larvae to acute temperature variations in relation to ontogenetic stage and microenvironment exposure. Two relatively pristine study sites were selected to represent a warm temperate and subtropical mangrove system in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal on the east coast of South Africa, respectively. The differences in complexity among the root systems of Rhizophora mucronata, Avicennia marina and Bruguiera gymnorhiza were assessed using 3D scanning and the computed 3D models were then analysed using four complexity metrics. Results indicated that A. marina is the most complex in terms of surface-volume ratio, R. mucronata has the most interstitial space among its roots and B. gymnorhiza and R. mucronata differ in their fractal dimensions. Larvae collected in each microhabitat at each site using light traps showed that, despite temperature and salinity homogeneity across microenvironments, spatio-temporal differences occurred in both fish and invertebrate assemblages. This trend suggests that microhabitat structural complexity exerts an influence on larval community composition by acting as a microscape of available habitat, which ensures ecological linkages within and among the mangrove forest and adjacent ecosystems. In addition, the oxygen consumption rates of mangrove-associated brachyuran larvae varied according to mangrove microhabitat, whereby larvae collected at less complex environments had the highest metabolic rates at increased temperatures. Moreover, ontogenetic shifts in physiology were prevalent as older brachyuran larvae were more eurythermal than earlier stages, suggesting that thermally stressful events will have a greater impact on recently spawned larvae. Overall, the interstitial spaces within individual root systems are the most important complexity measure, as utilisation of these mangrove microhabitats is scale-dependent, and larvae will most likely occupy spaces inaccessible to large predators. Likewise, microscale variation in the environmental conditions and ontogenetic stage of brachyuran larvae within the mangrove microscape, can amplify the physiological responses to rapid temperature variations. Results suggest that early stage larvae are the most vulnerable to mass-mortality, and if thermally stressful events increase in frequency, duration and magnitude, the larval supply for the successful recruitment into adult populations could be under threat. Through linking how mangrove microhabitat complexity influences larvae in terms of community metrics and physiology, this study paves the way for further advancement of our understanding of how microscale processes emerge into meso- and macroscale patterns and influence the stability and functioning of highly productive ecosystems.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2020

Quick View

Ecological assessment of a temperate river system using biomonitoring techniques: a case study of the Bloukrans River system, South Africa

- Magadze, Tinotenda

Authors: Magadze, Tinotenda
Date: 2020
Subjects: Bloukrans River , Ecological assessment (Biology) -- South Africa , Stream ecology -- South Africa , Rivers -- Environmental aspects -- South Africa , Benthic animals -- Effect of human beings on -- South Africa , Water quality biological assessment -- South Africa , Diatoms -- South Africa -- Data processing
Language: English
Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142933 , vital:38177
Description: Escalating pressures from growing human populations and environmental impacts increasingly imperil freshwater ecosystems. The Bloukrans River, which drains an urbanised and agricultural catchment in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, is no exception. Detailed knowledge of the structure and function of the aquatic ecosystems is required in order to create models and matrices that predict, guide assessment and direct intervention on ecological integrity and water quality management in these systems. The main objectives of this research were to: examine the effects of urbanization on the benthic macroinvertebrate functional feeding guild structure among different stream orders; determine if benthic diatoms can be used as effective and reliable indicators of ionic composition and conductivity in different stream order categories and finally; to evaluate the applicability of the South African Diatom Index (SADI) and other indices in the Eastern Cape region of South Africa. Field studies were carried out to explore temporal patterns in community structure (macroinvertebrates and diatoms) and ecosystem function related to land-use patterns, instream habitat availability, and water quality parameters in the Bloukrans River system across four study periods: February (summer) and July (winter) 2016 and February (summer) and May/July (winter) 2018. The study was conducted along a gradient of impacts from less impacted agricultural headwaters to highly impacted urban sites located immediately downstream of the city of Makhanda. Macroinvertebrates were separated into functional feeding groups (FFGs) (i.e. collector-gatherer, collector-filterer, scraper, shredder, and predator) which were then used to assess the effects of selected physico-chemical variables and riparian zone condition on FFG organization. Collector-gatherers were the most abundant in the Bloukrans River and represented 71.3 % of the macroinvertebrate assemblages. Stream order 1species such as Nitzschia palea, Gomphonema parvulum, Tryblionella apiculata, Diploneis vulgaris and Staurosira elliptica. Multivariate analysis (Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA)) indicated that differences in diatom community assemblages were best explained by calcium, magnesium, pH, phosphate, nitrate, dissolved oxygen, sediment nitrate, conductivity and salinity. These results indicate that diatoms can be used as bioindicators for monitoring highly impacted river systems and to also further examine pollution gradients and impacts of specific/point pollution sources. In order to further test the application of diatom indices, nine sites with contrasting water quality were sampled along the length river system in February, May and July 2018. Diatom-based indices incorporated in OMNIDIA software were applied to assess the integrity of the water quality as indicated by diatom communities. For comparative purposes, several foreign indices (e.g. the trophic diatom index (TDI), the percentage pollution-tolerant valves (%PTV), biological diatom index (BDI)) and the South African Diatom Index (SADI) were used in the study. From the results, the Percentage Pollution-Tolerant Valves (%PTV) of most urban sites in the Bloukrans River was above the 20% limit indicating the presence of organic pollutants. Although the foreign diatom indices were applicable in the study, the SADI had significant correlations with most water quality variables (p < 0.05) compared to other indices such as Watanabe Index (WAT), Biological Index of Water Quality Trophic Index (BIWQ) and Trophic Index (TI)). These results support wider use of the SADI as an indicator of water quality conditions in South African river systems. Finally, the observed variations in diatom community structure and composition as a result of changes in water quality were broadly in agreement with the results of macroinvertebrate FFG structure indicating that the two biological indicators can, and should, be used as complementary techniques in the biomonitoring of rivers and streams in South Africa.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2020

Quick View

Aspects Allocentristes de l’Humanisme dans l’Univers Romanesque de Williams Sassine

- Dami, Emmanuel Naancin

Authors: Dami, Emmanuel Naancin
Date: 2018
Subjects: Sassine, Williams, 1944-1997 -- Criticism and interpretation , Guinean fiction (French) -- 20th century -- History and criticism , Humanism in literature , Human beings in literature , Postcolonialism in literature , Existentialism in literature
Language: French , English
Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/61957 , vital:28089
Description: The human being, his behaviour and more importantly, his very essence have, for time immemorial, proven to be enigmatic to many a man and to researchers in particular. Consequently, the need for a thorough and more profound understanding of man has made him the epicentre of epistemic investigations across many academic disciplines. This, unfortunately, does not seem to have shaded bright lights on the grey areas bordering on his nature to his behavior. This, in turn, opens up other windows requiring further probes. For instance, proponents of the Neo-classical economic school contend that the human being is homo oeconomicus. This implies that man is intrinsically egocentric and a rational being whose decisions are based on informed choices driven by his urge for maximal utility geared towards his personal satisfaction (O’Boyle 2009; Caruso 2012). This stance invalidates man’s ability to do ‘disinterested good’ in any form. African francophone literature is replete with different and diverse images of man, his behaviour and existential conditions: sufferings and struggles. It, therefore, constitutes, inter alia, a laboratory in which researchers undertake investigative endeavours. This thesis beams its floodlights on the allocentric aspects of humanism in the novels of Williams Sassine. Thus, using the phenomenological and ‘clavieniste’ lenses as overarching operational theories, the thesis investigates Sassine’s novels with the view to shading a ray of light on the ‘humanistic man’ especially the allocentric dimensions of his nature and comportment. Emphasis is laid on the motives and motivations underlying the individual and the in-group struggle of the sassinien heroes in the emancipation of their society from the shackles of colonial and postcolonial domination, exploitation and subjugation resulting in self-determination and the subsequent disenchantment. Furthermore, the thesis examines the nature and character of human charity, generosity and sacrifices among the characters in the novels. In conclusion, the thesis establishes, through an x-ray of the nature of actions and decisions of certain characters in the novels, the examination of the conscious and subconscious intentions underlying these same actions and decisions which, on a face value, are apparently altruistic, that the sassinien heroes’ efforts and sacrifices are geared towards the common and greater good. This invariably means that man is, indeed, capable of posing disinterested acts of charity and bringing succour, devoid of any ulterior motives for personal gain, to his fellow humans. The position of the Neo-classical economists is consequently over-assuming, sweeping and tad generalizing. The sassinien characters have demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that they are humanists. Their nature, the remote and immediate causes of their fights, the goals and objectives of their struggles and their spirit of abnegation have indeed proven that “human beings have the right and the responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives. [They have stood] for the building of a more humane society through an ethics based on the human and other natural values in a spirit of reason and free inquiry through human capabilities” (AHA 2017 : 3).
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2018

Quick View

Understanding climate change and rural livelihoods in Zimbabwe: adaptation by communal farmers in Ngundu, Chivi District

- Nciizah, Elinah

Authors: Nciizah, Elinah
Date: 2020
Subjects: Agriculture -- Zimbabwe , Agriculture -- Climatic factors -- Chivi District (Zimbabwe) , Chivi District (Zimbabwe) -- Rural conditions
Language: English
Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/118765 , vital:34666
Description: Climate change and variability is a global phenomenon which has deeply localised patterns, dynamics and effects. Amongst those people who are particularly vulnerable to climate change effects are small-scale farmers who are dependent in large part on rain-fed agriculture in pursuing their livelihoods. This is true of small-scale farmers in contemporary Zimbabwe and, more specifically, farmers in communal areas. At the same time, at international and national levels, there are attempts currently to minimise the effects of, and to adapt to, climate change. However, adaptation measures also exist at local levels amongst small-scale farmers, such as communal farmers in Zimbabwe. In this context, as its main objective, this thesis examines climate change and small-scale farmer livelihood adaptation to climate change with specific reference to communal farmers in Chivi District in Zimbabwe and, in particular, in Ward 25 which is popularly known as Ngundu. In pursuing this main objective, a number of subsidiary objectives are addressed, including a focus on the established livelihoods of Ngundu farmers, the perceptions and concerns of Ngundu farmers about climate change, the coping and adaptation measures of Ngundu farmers, and the enablements and constraints which affect attempts by Ngundu farmers to adopt such measures. The fieldwork for the thesis involved a diverse array of research methods, such as a questionnaire survey, life-history interviews, key informant interviews, focus group discussions and transect walks. In terms of theoretical framing, the thesis makes use of both middle-level theory (the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework) and macro-theory in the form of the sociological work of Margaret Archer. Combined, these two theories allow for a focus on both structure and agency when seeking to understand livelihood adaptations to climate change by communal farmers in Ngundu. The thesis concludes that there are massive constraints inhibiting adaptation measures by Ngundu farmers, but that this should not distract from the deep, often historically-embedded, concerns of Ngundu farmers about climate change and the multiple ways in which they express agency in and through adaptation and coping activities. It also highlights the need for more specifically sociological investigations of climate change and small-scale farmer adaptation, as well as the need for localised studies which are able to identify and analyse the specificities of adaptation.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2020

Quick View

The Influence of Clientelism on the Informal Sector in Zimbabwe : a Case Study of Glen View 8 Complex, Harare

- Tandire, Justin

Authors: Tandire, Justin
Date: 2021-04
Subjects: Patron and client -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Informal sector (Economics) -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Informal sector (Economics) -- Political aspects -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Patronage, Political -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , ZANU-PF (Organization : Zimbabwe) , Zimbabwe -- Social conditions , Glen View Complex 8 (Zimbabwe)
Language: English
Type: thesis , text , Doctoral , PhD
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/177986 , vital:42896 , 10.21504/10962/177986
Description: This study focuses on the influence of clientelism in the informal sector of Zimbabwe in Glen View 8 (Complex). The study used the case of Glen view 8 (complex) in Harare Province. The study focused on political dynamics in the informal sector; livelihood strategies employed by informal sector operators; manifestation of “Big Men”, social networks in the informal sector; and different strategies employed by operators to overcome the problems of political manipulation, clientelism and patronage. It employs a qualitative research methodology to enable a nuanced comprehension of the clientelistic relationships that take place in the informal sector of Zimbabwe. Through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, narratives and in-depth interviews with key informants, the study explored the clientelistic nature of the informal sector. The major findings of the study are that the informal sector in Zimbabwe is influenced by political patronage. It was established that patronage influences the informal sector in Zimbabwe in general and at Glen View Complex 8 in particular. Some of the operators revealed that patronage negatively affects their business as they are sometimes forced to attend political party meetings either at the complex or at ZANU-PF star rallies in town. The operators experience a plethora of problems such as lack of security, poor sanitation, stiff competition, poor infrastructure, lack of insurance and fire outbreaks. It has been revealed that most of the problems experienced at the complex are a result of the politicisation of the informal sector particularly by the ZANU-PF party. Operators at the complex have described the politicisation of the informal sector as a major drawback to their efforts of realising maximum benefits from their work. Therefore, the thrust of this thesis is premised on the de-politicisation of the informal sector as the starting point in the transformation of the activities of the operators. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2021
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2021-04

Quick View

A combined modelling approach for simulating channel–wetland exchanges in large African river basins

- Makungu, Eunice J

Authors: Makungu, Eunice J
Date: 2020
Subjects: Watersheds -- Africa , Watershed management -- Africa , Water resources development -- Africa -- International cooperation , Floodplain management -- Africa , Wetland ecology -- Simulation methods -- Africa , Wetland management -- Africa
Language: English
Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/123288 , vital:35424
Description: In Africa, many large and extensive wetlands are hydrologically connected to rivers, and their environmental integrity, as well as their influence on downstream flow regimes, depends on the prevailing channel–wetland exchange processes. These processes are inherently complex and vary spatially and temporally. Understanding channel–wetland exchanges is therefore, indispensable for the effective management of wetlands and the associated river basins. However, this information is limited in most of the river basins containing large wetlands in Africa. Furthermore, it is important to understand the links between upstream and downstream flow regimes and the wetland dynamics themselves, specifically where there are water resource developments that may affect these links (upstream developments), or be affected by them (downstream developments). Hydrological modelling of the entire basin using basin-scale models that include wetland components in their structures can be used to provide the information required to manage water resources in such basins. However, the level of detail of wetland processes included in many basin-scale models is typically very low and the lack of understanding of the wetland dynamics makes it difficult to quantify the relevant parameters. Detailed hydraulic models represent the channel-wetland exchanges in a much more explicit manner, but require relatively more data and time resources to establish than coarser scale hydrological models. The main objective of this study was, therefore, to investigate the use of a detailed hydraulic wetland model to provide a better understanding of channel–wetland exchanges and wetland dynamics, and to use the results to improve the parameterisation of a basin-scale model. The study focused on improving the water resource assessments modelling of three data-scarce African river basins that contain large wetlands: the floodplains of the Luangwa and Upper Zambezi River basins and the Usangu wetland in the Upper Great Ruaha River basin. The overall objective was achieved through a combined modelling approach that uses a detailed high-resolution LISFLOOD-FP hydraulic model to inform the structure and parameters of the GW Pitman monthly hydrological model. The results from the LISFLOOD-FP were used to improve the understanding of the channel–wetland exchange dynamics and to establish the wetland parameters required in the GW Pitman model. While some wetland parameters were directly quantified from the LISFLOOD-FP model results, others, which are highly empirical, were estimated by manually calibrating the GW Pitman wetland sub-model implemented in excel spreadsheets containing the LISFLOOD-FP model results. Finally, the GW Pitman model with the inclusion of the estimated wetland parameters was applied for each basin and the results compared to the available downstream observed flow data. The two models have been successfully applied in southern Africa, with the GW Pitman model being one of the most widely applied hydrological models in this region. To address the issue of data scarcity, during setup of these models, the study mainly relied on the global datasets which clearly adds to the overall uncertainty of the modelling approach. However, this is a typical situation for most of the data scarce regions of the continent. A number of challenges were, however, faced during the setup of the LISFLOOD-FP, mainly due to the limitations of the data inputs. Some of the LISFLOOD-FP data inputs include boundary conditions (upstream and downstream), channel cross-sections and wetland topography. In the absence of observed daily flows to quantify the wetland upstream boundary conditions, monthly flow volumes simulated using the GW Pitman monthly model (without including the wetland sub-model) were disaggregated into daily flows using a disaggregation sub-model. The simulated wetland inflows were evaluated using the observed flow data for downstream gauging stations that include the wetland effects. The results highlighted that it is important to understand the possible impacts of each wetland on the downstream flow regime during the evaluations of the model simulation results. Although the disaggregation approach cannot be validated due to a lack of observed data, it at least enables the simulated monthly flows to be used in the daily time step hydraulic model. One of the recommendations is that improvements are required in gauging station networks to provide more observed information for the main river and the larger tributary inflows into these large and important wetland systems. Even a limited amount of newly observed data would be helpful to reduce some of the uncertainties in the combined modelling approach. The SRTM 90 m DEM (used to represent wetland topography) was filtered to reduce local variations and noise effects (mainly vegetation bias), but there were some pixels that falsely affect the inundation results, and the recently released vegetation-corrected DEMs are suggested to improve the simulation results. Channel cross-section values derived from global datasets should be examined because some widths estimated from the Andreadis et al. (2013) dataset were found to be over-generalised and did not reflect widths measured using high-resolution Google Earth in many places. There is an indication that channel cross-sections digitised from Google Earth images can be successfully used in the model setup except in densely vegetated swamps where the values are difficult to estimate, and in such situations, field measured cross-section data are required. Small channels such as those found in the Usangu wetland could play major role in the exchange dynamics, but digitising them all was not straightforward and only key ones were included in the model setup. Clearly, this inevitably introduced uncertainties in the simulated results, and future studies should consider applying methods that simplify extractions of most of these channels from high-resolution images to improve the simulated results. The study demonstrated that the wetland and channel physical characteristics, as well as the seasonal flow magnitude, largely influence the channel–wetland exchanges and wetland dynamics. The inundation results indicated that the area–storage and storage–inflow relationships form hysteretic curves, but the shape of these curves vary with flood magnitude and wetland type. Anticlockwise hysteresis curves were observed in both relationships for the floodplains (Luangwa and Barotse), whereas there appears to be no dominant curve type for the Usangu wetlands. The lack of well-defined hysteretic relationships in the Usangu could be related to some of the difficulties (and resulting uncertainties) that were experienced in setting up the model for this wetland. The storage–inflow relationships in all wetlands have quite complex rising limbs due to multiple flow peaks during the main wet season. The largest inundation area and storage volume for the Barotse and Usangu wetlands occurred after the peak discharge of the wet season, a result that is clearly related to the degree of connectivity between the main channel and those areas of the wetlands that are furthest away from the channel. Hysteresis effects were found to increase with an increase in flood magnitudes and temporal variations in the wetland inflows. Overall, hysteresis behaviour is common in large wetlands and it is recommended that hysteresis curves should be reflected in basin-scale modelling of large river basins with substantial wetland areas. At a daily time scale, inflow–outflow relationships showed a significant peak reduction and a delayed time to peak of several weeks in the Barotse and Usangu wetlands, whereas the attenuation effects of the Luangwa floodplain are minimal. To a large extent, the LISFLOOD-FP results provided useful information to establish wetland parameters and assess the structure of Pitman wetland sub-model. The simple spreadsheet used to estimate wetland parameters did not account for the wetland water transfers from the upstream to the next section downstream (the condition that is included in the LISFLOOD-FP model) for the case when the wetlands were distributed across more than one sub-basin. It is recommended that a method that allows for the upstream wetland inflows and the channel inflows should be included in the spreadsheet. The same is true to the Pitman model structure, and a downstream transfer of water can be modelled through return flows to the channel. The structure of the wetland sub-model was modified to allow an option for the return flows to occur at any time during the simulation period to provide for types of wetlands (e.g. the Luangwa) where spills from the channel and drainage back to the channel occur simultaneously. The setup of the GW Pitman model with the inclusion of wetland parameters improved the simulation results. However, the results for the Usangu wetlands were not very satisfactory and the collection of additional field data related to exchange dynamics is recommended to achieve improvements. The impacts of the Luangwa floodplain on the flow regime of the Luangwa River are very small at the monthly time scale, whereas the Barotse floodplain system and the Usangu wetlands extensively regulate flows of the Zambezi River and the Great Ruaha River, respectively. The results highlighted the possibilities of regionalising some wetland parameters using an understanding of wetland physical characteristics and their water exchange dynamics. However, some parameters remain difficult to quantify in the absence of site-specific information about the water exchange dynamics. The overall conclusion is that the approach implemented in this study presents an important step towards the improvements of water resource assessments modelling for research and practical purposes in data-scarce river basins. This approach is not restricted to the two used models, as it can be applied using different model combinations to achieve similar study purpose.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2020

Quick View

Performance, functionalism and form in Ịzọn oral poety

- Armstrong, Imomotimi

Authors: Armstrong, Imomotimi
Date: 2020
Subjects: Ijo (African people , Ijo language , Folk poetry, Ijo , Folk poetry -- Nigeria
Language: English
Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140641 , vital:37906
Description: Since the publication of Ruth Finnegan’s influential Oral Literature in Africa, way back in 1970, scholars have been paying earnest attention to oral traditions on the African continent. That seminal book pointed out to Africanist scholars the need to urgently collect and document the oral literatures of their various ethnic groups before they die out. However, it is the verbal arts of the major ethnic groups on the continent that very often benefit from this collection and documentation, as it were. Therefore, this study sought to examine the oral poetry of the Ịzọn, a minority ethnic nationality, located in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The study employed unstructured interviews and participant observations to collect the data for the research. The transcribed and translated data was examined through three eclectic theories to the study of folklore: Russian formalism, performance and functionalism. The study found out that Ịzọn oral poetry is a combination of songs and one person’s praise chants. Moreover, it revealed that praise chanting is a recent practice amongst the Ịzọn that was introduced into Ịzọnland by Chief Adolphus Munamuna from the Yoruba of southwestern Nigeria. Furthermore, the study established that oral poetry plays important roles amongst the people. Besides, it ascertained that the performance of some sub-categories of the poetry is highly dramatic and theatrical. It also discovered that stylistic techniques such as formula, parallelism, proverb, ideophone, praise title, metaphor, repetition, alliteration, assonance, vowel lengthening, amongst others, give the poetry the quality of “literariness.” In addition, the study found out that the poetry, like oral poetry in other ethnic groups, demonstrates the three qualities of change, adaptability and survival. The study has contributed to existing scholarship on African oral traditions in the sense of collecting, documenting and generating awareness on Ịzọn oral poetry, most importantly pointing out the existence of praise chanting amongst a people who had no such culture and the conditions that gave rise to that practice.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2020

Quick View

The precarious ‘good mother’ position: a psychosocial reading of maternal subjectivity of working mothers in scarcely-resourced South African communities

- Kinahan-Sweeney, Siobhan

Authors: Kinahan-Sweeney, Siobhan
Date: 2020
Subjects: Motherhood -- Psychological aspects -- South Africa , Working mothers -- South Africa -- Attitudes , Working mothers -- South Africa -- Psychology
Language: English
Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142464 , vital:38082
Description: This psychosocial study investigates the maternal subjectivities of mothers returning to work after maternity leave, who are living in scarcely-resourced Cape Town communities in South Africa. Engaging with interview texts and listening to mothers’ talk, I explore how and why maternal subjectivity is constructed discursively and defensively in our talk. This thesis claims that these particular mothers predominately employ instrumental mothering discourse. The traditional subject position of the intensive mother – which is typically assumed to be the ‘good mother’ – is not a position available to these mothers due to their social circumstances and working role. Subsequently, material provision, the baby’s thriving and surviving body, finding substitute carers and maternal preoccupation are constructed as qualities of ‘good mothering’ in their talk. This ‘good mother’ position, however, is a precarious position that both these mothers and I invest in to defend against feelings towards their babies and themselves as well as to deny (maternal) ambivalence in a problematic social system. In a combined analysis drawing on discursive theory and psychoanalysis, more specifically contemporary attachment theory and intersubjectivity theory, I illustrate how both these mothers and I – as emotional, social and political subjects – co-construct maternal subjectivity. Based on the findings, recommendations for parent-infant interventions are discussed. Arguing that a purely psychoanalytic reading of investment perpetuates notions of individual blame and pathology, I advocate for a psychosocial reading that does not neglect failing social systems but rather pursues an open and reflective, yet critical, mindfulness when listening to talk.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2020

Quick View

A holistic approach in understanding the effects of dietary protein sources on the growth and reproductive development of farmed abalone, Haliotis midae

- Wu, Yu

Authors: Wu, Yu
Date: 2020
Subjects: Abalones -- Nutrition , Abalones -- Reproduction , Abalones -- Growth , Abalone culture , Haliotis midae -- Nutrition , Haliotis midae -- Reproduction , Haliotis midae -- Growth , Haliotis midae fisheries
Language: English
Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/167719 , vital:41506
Description: The combination of fishmeal and soya in the formulated feed of farmed South African abalone, Haliotis midae, not only improved abalone growth, but also the sustainability of the compound diets by reducing the reliance on fishmeal. However, the presence of soya produced larger gonads compared to those of abalone fed kelp or single-source protein diets. There is an increasing drive to control sexual maturation and reduce undesirable spawning events in farmed abalone. However, the reasons for the reported effects of soya inclusion on the reproductive development of farmed H. midae remain unresolved. The aim of this research was to use a combination of techniques to contribute to the understanding of the relationship between growth, reproductive and nutritional physiology of farmed H. midae fed diets of varying protein sources. These techniques included stable isotope analysis (SIA), fatty acid analysis, gonad histological assessments and haemolymph sexsteroid hormone analysis. The objectives were to examine the allocation of protein and nutritional components to somatic and reproductive tissues. This study also included the first attempt to investigate the role that sex steroid hormones play during gametogenesis. Abalone (40 – 50 g abalone-1) were fed one of four diets: either a single-source protein-based diet, i.e., (1) fishmeal-only (FM) or (2) soya-only (S), or a combination diet of (3) fishmeal-soya (FM S) or (4) fishmeal-sunflower meal (FM SM). Sampling occurred in 45-day intervals over one year. Dietary protein source had an effect on the growth of abalone, with enhancements in growth linked to the combination of fishmeal and a plant-protein source. The fishmeal ingredient was the most utilised protein source throughout the temporal changes in protein allocation into somatic and reproductive tissue, followed by soya and then sunflower meal. The mean whole- body mass of abalone was significantly influenced by an interaction between time and dietary treatment, with average whole-body mass changing differently over time between treatments (RM-ANOVA, F(24, 96) = 2.13, p = 0.005). Overall, abalone that were fed FM S had higher mean whole-body mass values than abalone that were fed the single-protein based diets, while abalone that were fed FM SM were similar to animals from all dietary treatments (RMANOVA, F(3, 12) = 5.75, p = 0.01). Male abalone had significantly higher gonad bulk index (GBI) values compared to females (RM-ANOVA, F(1, 24) = 49.03, p < 0.001) and this was independent of dietary treatment. Within each sex, female abalone fed the FM S diet (15.92 ± 1.88 mm3 g-1) had significantly higher GBI values than abalone fed S (9.76 ± 1.08 mm3 g-1), while abalone fed FM (11.96 ± 1.71 mm3 g-1) and FM SM (11.90 ± 0.80 mm3 g-1) were similar to abalone from all other dietary treatments (Tukey’s HSD, p < 0.05). Male abalone fed the FM S (21.59 ± 2.10 mm3 g-1) and FM SM diet (19.30 ± 2.63 mm3 g-1) had similar GBI values and they were significantly higher than in abalone fed the S diet (14.74 ± 1.27 mm3 g-1), while abalone fed FM S had significantly higher GBI values than abalone that consumed the FM diet (15.08 ±1.63mm3 g-1) ( Tukey’s HSD, p < 0.05). Although sunflower meal was poorly utilised, it produced similar overall growth to abalone that were fed the FM S diets. Yet, feed conversion ratio values were significantly lower for abalone fed FM S (1.30 ± 0.13) compared to those in the other three treatments, with ratios ranging from 1.65 – 1.72 over the one-year. The fatty acid compositions of the somatic and gonadal tissues were similar between treatments (PERMANOVA, p = 0.21), while fatty acid composition was influenced by sampling day, tissue type and abalone sex (PERMANOVA, p < 0.05). The essential fatty acids (EFAs) eicosadienoic acid and a-linolenic acid were present in abalone tissue, but they were not detected in the diets, suggesting the important role that an alternate food source (e.g. farmed abalone also had access to diatoms) may have played and the ability that H. midae may have in converting long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids from C18 precursors. A change in the abundance of EFAs in the gonad tissue during highest and lowest GBI values suggested that arachidonic, eicosapentaenoic, g-linolenic and linoleic acid were important in females, while eicosapentaenoic, eicosadienoic and a-linolenic acid were important for male reproductive development. Dietary protein sources had an effect on the frequency distribution of maturity stages, where females that were fed FM S produced more ripe gonads and more males that were fed FM SM contained testes that showed signs of ripeness over the one-year study. Although dietary protein influenced the sex steroid concentrations in females and males, exhibiting fluctuations throughout the one-year period, no distinct pattern linked to gametogenesis were observed. The results from this study illustrate: (1) the importance of conducting laboratory studies when implementing SIA and mixing models in aquaculture nutrition; (2) conducting nutritional studies on mature, grow-out abalone; and (3) assessing the importance of naturally occurring diatoms in their diet and their contribution to growth and reproduction. The novel contribution of this research towards abalone nutritional physiology, the implications of these findings to industry as well as potential considerations for future studies were addressed.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2020

Showing items 1 - 20 of 328