'n Vergelykende studie van Ingrid Winterbach se Die boek van toeval en toeverlaat (2006) en Etienne van Heerden se Asbesmiddag (2007)
- Authors: Strydom, Gideon Louwrens
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Winterbach, Ingrid. Die boek van toeval en toeverlaat , Van Heerden, Etienne 1954- . Asbesmiddag , Afrikaans literature -- 21st century -- History and criticism
- Language: Afrikaans
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:8449 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1419 , Winterbach, Ingrid. Die boek van toeval en toeverlaat , Van Heerden, Etienne 1954- . Asbesmiddag , Afrikaans literature -- 21st century -- History and criticism
- Description: The focus of this dissertation is a comparative study of Ingrid Winterbach's Die boek van toeval en toeverlaat (2006) [The Book of Happenstance (2008)] and Etienne van Heerden's Asbesmiddag (2007) [Asbestos Afternoon] within an intertextual and socio-political framework. Both novels show strong links to the literary traditions of which they form part through a high degree of intertextuality with literary predecessors (intertexts from Afrikaans and South African English literature, but also classical intertexts emanating from the larger field of world literature). Both texts exhibit an overt metatextual consciousness. The protagonists in each of these novels are portrayed as novelists. One of the main aims of the study is to interrogate the implied ideological perspectives in both novels - the nature and extent of the reflection of the current South African socio-political system. Winterbach and Van Heerden‘s texts may both be read as fictionalised forms of "protest" against the extrinsic South African socio-political order. These forms of protest focus on the inevitable change from one stage/era to the next, the old South Africa to the new, in a quest for artistic (creative writing and literature) and cultural (Afrikaner identity and language) survival. Die boek van toeval en toeverlaat (2006) and Asbesmiddag (2007) contribute to contemporary discourse by offering implied ideological insights into specific socio-political and metatextual phenomena. This is done in fictional guise - through the characters populating the fictional world of the novel, and also through the authors' implied ideological views. Both novels are intensely concerned with language issues, as well as the status of literature as cultural product. On the metatextual level theoretical issues concerning literature are in the focus, such as the precarious position of the novelist (and the academic) in contemporary South African society, and the status of literature and Afrikaans as a minority language. The purpose of this comparative study is to look at the metatextual, ideological and linguistic aspects of the novels through an extensive intertextual study, in order to interrogate and illustrate the socio-political discourse embedded in them.
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- Date Issued: 2010
A comparison between the written English of deaf and hearing children in the Nelson Mandela Metropole
- Authors: Weir, Carolyn Louise
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Deaf children -- Education -- South Africa , English language -- Written English
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:8361 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1083 , Deaf children -- Education -- South Africa , English language -- Written English
- Description: The main purposes of this thesis are to investigate the difference between the written English of deaf children and the written English of hearing children and to make recommendations on how to improve the writing of deaf children. In order to achieve this goal, both quantitative and qualitative research was done. The comparison of the writing of deaf and hearing children relies on quantitative research while the recommendations are based on qualitative analysis. The dissertation is divided into seven chapters. The first chapter discusses the problem, the significance of the research, the purpose of the study, the background to the problem and the theoretical framework. This chapter indicates the prevalence of deafness worldwide and in South Africa and its negative impact on the writing abilities of children. The second chapter provides a literature review on the theory behind reading and writing, with specific emphasis on emergent literacy and its relevance to the language acquisition and print language learning of deaf children. Another aspect of this chapter is the effect of different aspects of deafness on language acquisition and learning. The chapter also highlights the challenges for deaf children in South Africa and debates regarding the language of instruction that should be used to teach deaf children writing/reading, as well as arguments concerning bottom-up, top-down, and interactive approaches to writing. The third chapter provides the overall philosophical framework for the quantitative and qualitative research as well as the methodology used for the qualitative research. This is followed by the results of the quantitative research and a discussion of these results in Chapter 4. The fifth chapter is in the form of a second literature review that contains recommendations for improving the writing of deaf children. Following this, in Chapter 6, is a discussion of some of the theory behind interview interaction, as well as an analysis of how to develop a valid study. The researcher also sets out the interview structure. The seventh chapter contains a discussion of the findings of the interview to see if they confirm the findings in Chapter 5, as well as overall conclusions about assisting deaf children with their writing, a reflection on the study as a whole and suggestions for future research. This study argues that in order for deaf children in South Africa to develop their writing, immediate government assistance is necessary in order to implement countrywide newborn hearing screening, followed by medical and/or language-based ii intervention to minimise the impact of deafness on the language and writing abilities of deaf children. This is an essential foundation from which parents and teachers can build and play a key role in helping their children reach age-appropriate levels of written English.
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- Date Issued: 2010
An explanatory study into the rehabilitation of ex-freedom fighters in Gweru, Zimbabwe from 1990 to 1995
- Authors: Charema, John
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Guerrillas -- Zimbabwe -- Gweru , Political rehabilitation -- Zimbabwe -- Gweru , Nationalism -- Zimbabwe -- Gweru , Zimbabwe -- Politics and government -- 1990-1995 , Zimbabwe -- History -- 1990-1995
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:8202 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1223 , Guerrillas -- Zimbabwe -- Gweru , Political rehabilitation -- Zimbabwe -- Gweru , Nationalism -- Zimbabwe -- Gweru , Zimbabwe -- Politics and government -- 1990-1995 , Zimbabwe -- History -- 1990-1995
- Description: The purpose of the study was to explore the rehabilitation of ex-combatants who fought the Zimbabwe liberation war, thus to find out if these ex-combatants received counseling and were resettled or reintegrated within the period 1990 to 1995. In order to maintain focus the aims of the study were set out as follows: • to focus on rehabilitation which encompasses taking care of the ex-combatants who were disabled and or injured during the war, as well as counseling, reintegrating and resettling them and • to explore whether the ex-combatants who were demobilized and those who opted for a civilian life were rehabilitated. • to explore if the ex-combatants were reintegrated. • to understand how the ex-combatants were coping with their lives and • to discover how they perceived their support from the government at the time of their demobilisation. The study concentrated on ex-combatants in Gweru, who were to be rehabilitated from 1990 to 1995. In-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted to achieve the objectives set out for the study. The results of the study indicate that there was no rehabilitation, counseling, resettlement and real integration. The findings clearly indicate that these ex-combatants still think of being resettled, allocated good land for farming. They went on to suggest being paid pension by the government and to have their children employed, educated and supported by the government.
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- Date Issued: 2010
An exploration of myth in the adaptation processes of Zimbabwean migrants residing in Port Elizabeth
- Authors: Kritzinger, Barbara
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Migrant labor -- Zimbabwe , Migrant labor -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Xenophobia -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Immigrants -- Violence against -- South Africa , Migration, Internal -- Economic aspects -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:16136 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1430 , Migrant labor -- Zimbabwe , Migrant labor -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Xenophobia -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Immigrants -- Violence against -- South Africa , Migration, Internal -- Economic aspects -- Zimbabwe
- Description: Migration is recognised as an escalating phenomenon of human behaviour worldwide. In the Southern African region African migrations and migrants have remained a focal point of discussion amongst politicians, citizens and migrants themselves in recent years. In South Africa, a major destination of migrants from various African Diasporas, this renewed interest in the topic has occurred in the context of xenophobic related violence aimed at foreigners within the broader economic, political and social arena. These factors extend to South Africa’s relationships with her near neighbours. Thus, Zimbabwe’s political, economic and social crisis has overflowed into South African borders, contributing large numbers of migrants to her population. Previous research has underrepresented the perspectives of migrants and Zimbabwean migrants in particular. Zimbabwean migrants seek economic opportunities to better themselves and maintain the survival of their families who remain in their country of origin. They are transnationals who engage in continuous movement between one place and the next, supporting various livelihoods. Little is understood about migrant adaptation to their complex contexts. In this research project, content analysis was conducted of data gathered during interviews and participant-observation of Zimbabwean migrant traders on the beachfront informal market in Port Elizabeth. The maintenance of the cultural values and identity of the myth of the hero as upholder of household honour was found to be significant in the adaptation of migrants to their multi-faceted lives. The findings indicate that migrant life is indeed uncertain and ever-changing. Their resilience in the face of continual change illustrated both conflict and compromise between “social cohesiveness (and) social flexibility” (Bauman, 1998: 15-16)
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- Date Issued: 2010
An exploration of voluntary counselling and testing : a Port Elizabeth-based study
- Authors: Foster, Caron
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: HIV-positive persons -- Counseling of -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , AIDS (Disease) -- Patients -- Counseling -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , HIV Infections -- Diagnosis -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , AIDS (Disease) -- Diagnosis -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:16139 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1204 , HIV-positive persons -- Counseling of -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , AIDS (Disease) -- Patients -- Counseling -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , HIV Infections -- Diagnosis -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , AIDS (Disease) -- Diagnosis -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Description: The purpose of this study was to explore and identify factors that either facilitate or inhibit individuals volunteering for HIV-testing. The target group was comprised of Xhosa first-language construction workers in a company with an HIV/AIDS workplace policy and programme. This programme provides basic education and awareness about HIV/AIDS. This education includes information about where to access voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) services. Interpretive qualitative research was undertaken in order to explore the beliefs, perceptions and intentions of the target group in regard to the utilisation VCT services. Data was collected using an unstructured interview guide. The data was analysed using Tesch’s approach to content analysis. Concerns about validity and reliability were engaged throughout the research process and supported further by using researcher reflexivity and an independent researcher. The independent researcher analysed data separately and only after discussion and consensus being found between the two researchers were final categories and codes agreed upon and data analysis considered complete. Findings revealed that an HIV/AIDS workplace programme has a positive impact on the health-seeking behaviour of workers in the construction company used in this research. Respondents knew how HIV/AIDS is transmitted, how to prevent transmission and where to find HIV-testing treatment and support. In this case HIV-testing services can easily be accessed further facilitating respondents volunteering for HIV-testing. It was also found that family, friends and churches support HIV-testing behaviour by providing education, guidance and support to respondents encouraging behaviour change. On the other hand, respondents held that community members who had not benefited from an HIV/AIDS workplace programme such as theirs are exposed daily to the devastating effects of HIV leading to AIDS deaths and live in fear of the disease. Debilitating illness and eventual death is equated with an HIV-positive diagnosis which causes community members to believe it is better not to volunteer for HIV-testing than to ascertain one’s HIV-status. The HIV/AIDS workplace policy and xv programme on the other hand is seen to have provided respondents with HIV/AIDS knowledge enabling them to overcome their fear of an HIV-positive diagnosis and to volunteer for regular HIV-testing.
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- Date Issued: 2010
An exploration of Zimbabwean migrant women's perceptions of their identity : selected case studies in Gqebera, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
- Authors: Moorhouse, Lesley
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Women immigrants -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Women -- Identity , Emigration and immigration -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Immigrants -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Gender identity -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:16140 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1200 , Women immigrants -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Women -- Identity , Emigration and immigration -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Immigrants -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Gender identity -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Description: This study explores the perceptions of women who had migrated to Gqebera, Port Elizabeth, South Africa, from Zimbabwe, in terms of their own identity. In-depth interviews were conducted, situated within a phenomenological paradigm with a feminist epistemological orientation, in order to describe the rich detail of a woman’s quotidian existence subsequent to the migratory experience. Findings suggest that women’s identities are constructed in relation to other people, both those who form their in-group and their out-group. The process of migration and difficulties associated with assimilation into the host community impacts on felt ethnicity, strengthening ties to the homeland and to fellow Zimbabweans. Identity is also impacted on by spatiality, or lived space, in terms of both memories of home and present space occupied. Migration incorporating even the post-migration period may well form an extended liminal experience for women.
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- Date Issued: 2010
An investigation into the competencies associated with change leadership : a case study analysis of an information technology organisation
- Authors: Britton, Leola
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Organizational change -- Management
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:16138 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1227 , Organizational change -- Management
- Description: In this research, the researcher-consultant together with the management corps of a merged IT organisation, embarked on a process of participative research with the aim to identify the competencies and skills that are required of the management-leadership corps to drive a process of change management and to ensure the organisation will be characterised by sustained growth and development. In using participative research methodology, qualitative data was mainly gathered through informal interviews and focus group sessions to identify the competencies and skills that are defined as important for the change manager-cum-leader role within the merged IT organisation. In addition, a matrix was compiled to enable each manager/leader to undertake a self-assessment of how capable they are in using the identified competencies and skills. The outcome of the assessment provided an indication of the areas of competencies and skills that through various interventions would enable the management-leadership corps to deal with the challenges of change, as well as to guide those that report to them through a process of change. While the management-leadership corps – referred to as the Executive, Senior, and Middle Management cohorts – all require enhancing their change management / leadership competencies and skills capability, it is the Middle Management cohort that is better equipped to perform their change management and leadership role. During the research, focus group sessions enhanced a participative methodology to enable identification of competencies important to the IT Company’s vision, mission and core values, as well as opportunity to identify interventions that will encourage an on-going process of change, growth and development. However, there is indication that the members of the Executive and Senior Management cohorts assessed themselves higher on those competencies that relate directly to their functionary roles, rather than the change management-leadership role. The scope of a treatise limits an in-depth and expanded research endeavour; however, the methodology used provided information on how a platform for participation in a change management process can be enabled. Furthermore, this research gives indication of how a management-leadership strata can ‘buy-in’ to the process of change, growth and development, commencing with the self and, which is aimed to encourage the same in those that share responsibility for sustained growth and development of the IT company. The research is also example of how an applied sociology endeavour can be undertaken.
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- Date Issued: 2010
An investigation of the African subjectivity represented in Gavin Hood's Tsotsi (2006)
- Authors: Siwak, Jakub
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Subjectivity in literature , Subjectivity Drama , Violence in motion pictures
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:8391 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1093 , Subjectivity in literature , Subjectivity Drama , Violence in motion pictures
- Description: This treatise will focus on a critical examination of Gavin Hood’s South African Oscar-winning film, Tsotsi (2006), in the interest of exploring how the mass media creates a problematic configuration of the subject, in virtue of its valorization of the continued discursive colonization of Africans (identified broadly in geographical rather than racial terms). That is, within the narrative of the film, the protagonist, after engaging in a crime spree, gives himself over to the state authorities and emotively confesses to his transgressions. Importantly, this dramatic confession is represented as a triumph of the human spirit – in the form of an autonomous rehabilitation on the part of the criminal. However, if one understands the protagonist as a subject constituted by what Foucault terms the discursive regimes of disciplinary/bio-power, what emerges into conspicuity is that the protagonist’s actions rather than being the result of his growing maturity and concomitant augmenting ‘humanity’ are the consequence of a set of discursive imperatives which render him docile and prostrate. Arguably, what this serves to represent, and, indeed, propagate, is more of a superimposition of Western cultural discourses on African subjects, and less of a negotiation with such discourses by such subjects. The treatise aims to provide a theoretical solution to the negation of alternative modes of being by disciplinary/bio-power imperatives inextricable from neo-liberal subjectivity. However, in its attempts to encourage cultural negotiation between North and South, the treatise will avoid simplistic, ‘orthodox’, Marxist solutions and will instead critically contend with the theory of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, and their perspectives on how radical democracy can be achieved.
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- Date Issued: 2010
An investigation of the continued relevance of Faludi's Backlash (1992) for the negotiation of gender identity, in the wake of the "Lara Croft" phenomenon
- Authors: Van Antwerpen, Lee-Anne
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Gender identity in mass media , Feminism , Feminism -- Public opinion , Women -- Social conditions , Women -- Psychology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:8390 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1129 , Gender identity in mass media , Feminism , Feminism -- Public opinion , Women -- Social conditions , Women -- Psychology
- Description: In the 1990s, Susan Faludi’s Backlash: The Undeclared War Against Women (1992) was arguably of signal importance in the thematization of the limits imposed by the media on the negotiation of gender identity. However, the utilization of Faludi’s various analyses, in the interest of rendering social critique, has become progressively more problematic during the first decade of the 21st century. This is because her analyses engage neither with the development of media technologies subsequent to the early 1990s, nor with the way in which such technological developments now engage audiences on a greater multiplicity of levels than before, in a manner that consequently stands to inform their subjectivity to a degree hitherto unimagined. (A good example of the latter would, of course, be the proliferation of interactive exchanges on the World Wide Web). As such, in the light of such technological developments, this treatise is orientated around an investigation of the continued relevance of Faludi’s Backlash (1992) for the negotiation of gender identity in the contemporary era. In particular, its focus falls on West’s film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), which is considered against the backdrop of the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider phenomenon, which encompasses sequels to the film, online interactive sites, graphic novels, figurines, and video games, among other products. This investigation draws on the reception theory of, on the one hand, Adorno and Horkheimer, and, on the other hand, Stuart Hall.
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- Date Issued: 2010
An investigation of the use of social media news releases to create dialogue around brands
- Authors: Barnard, Marieka Helen
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Social marketing -- South Africa , Social media -- South Africa -- Marketing , Branding (Marketing) -- South Africa , Brand name products -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:8389 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1264 , Social marketing -- South Africa , Social media -- South Africa -- Marketing , Branding (Marketing) -- South Africa , Brand name products -- South Africa
- Description: This study aimed to provide South African public relations professionals with insights into the use of the Social Media News Release (SMNR) as a PR 2.0 tool that has the potential to elicit consumer-driven dialogue in social media channels about information, a brand, product or service advocated by the particular social media news release. Drawing on literature from fields such as public relations, new media studies, marketing, and consumer studies, an analysis of two South African SMNR case studies was conducted including the Samsung Omnia i900 SMNR and the Standard Bank Pro20 2008 and 2009 SMNRs. An in-depth content analysis applying limited designations analysis and detailed assertions analysis techniques was performed on selected content from the dedicated social media platforms linked to in the SMNRs to determine the origins, tone and thematic nature of communications on the platforms. A total of 2071 messages was analysed by means of content analysis across six social media platforms in the two case studies. In order to triangulate and support data, an online survey was conducted with 43 social media users as respondents in order to determine social media users’ interactions with the social media platforms and SMNRs. The study found that the social media platforms linked to the SMNRs in the two case studies largely successfully elicited and hosted social media user-generated conversations about the themes advocated by the SMNR. The Blog, Facebook and YouTube platforms proved to be most successful in generating social media conversation, while the Flickr, Twitter and Delicious platforms were less effective among South African consumers. It was found that social media news releases are likely to elicit consumer-driven dialogue on the dedicated social media platforms linked to by the SMNRs if the platforms are managed correctly. Factors that were identified as important management considerations include ensuring the relevancy and timeliness of content on the social media platforms, the involvement by the platform creator in stimulating and encouraging participation from social media users where necessary, as well as the swift response to user comments, deleting of spam comments and pro-active management of negative perceptions that may arise from user comments on the platforms.
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- Date Issued: 2010
Company-community participation as a conflict management strategy: a case study of AngloGold Ashanti in Mongbwalu, Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Authors: Barnett, Sarah
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Conflict management -- Congo (Democratic Republic) , Mining corporations , Social participation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:8200 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1265 , Conflict management -- Congo (Democratic Republic) , Mining corporations , Social participation
- Description: Mining companies operating in developing countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have come under increasing public criticism for not only failing to bring benefits to the country in which they operate but for often making the situation even worse through adverse environmental and social impacts. The particular focus of this treatise is the social division that a new mining project can generate between the operating company and the community living on or near to the mine site. In one area in north-eastern DRC, a large multinational mining company, AngloGold Ashanti, plans to develop a gold mine. While there have been no manifest conflicts between the company and the host community, there is evident latent conflict in the form of uncertainty and mistrust between parties. Although the company is engaged in two different models of companycommunity participation, this has either resulted in or failed to prevent tensions between the company and the local community. This research offers an exploration and discussion of the existing models of company-community participation as a conflict management strategy. With reference to relevant research and literature, as well as other available models for company-community participation, this treatise will provide a series of recommendations as to how the existing models could be made more effective in managing conflict.
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- Date Issued: 2010
Die geskiedenis van Despatch, 1945-1995: 'n verkennende studie
- Authors: Steyn, Jacobus Pieter
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Dispatch (South Africa) -- History , Afrikaners -- South Africa -- Despatch
- Language: Afrikaans
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:16142 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1116 , Dispatch (South Africa) -- History , Afrikaners -- South Africa -- Despatch
- Description: Hierdie studie se fokus is op die wit Afrikaanssprekende-gemeenskap van Despatch. Daar word op die sosiale, politieke en godsdienstige geskiedenis van die wit Afrikaanssprekende-gemeenskap op Despatch gekonsentreer. Die studie ondersoek slegs die geskiedenis van die wit Afrikaanssprekende-gemeenskap van Despatch aangesien die dorp bekend daarvoor is dat dit oorwegend ʼn wit Afrikaanssprekende-gemeenskap is. Die ekonomie van Despatch en die bruin en swart inwoners word egter kortliks bespreek. Die tydperk van hierdie studie handel van 1945 – 1995. Dit was tydens hierdie jare wat Despatch amptelik as ʼn munisipaliteit gefunksioneer het. Uit die aard van die saak moet die studie gebeure wat aanleiding tot die nedersetting van wit mense langs die oewer van die Swartkopsrivier bespreek. Daar word ʼn kort studie gemaak van die periode 1700 (toe die eerste wit mense hulle langs die oewers van die Swartkopsrivier gevestig het) tot 1939 (wat die begin was van permanente nedersettings langs die syspoor op Despatch). Sekere gebeure word verder as 1995 bespreek. Dit word gedoen om kontinuiteit te behou wanneer belangrike gebeurtenisse, soos die oorskakeling na demokratiese regering in 1994, ondersoek word. Die doel van die studie is om ʼn verkennende ondersoek rakende die geskiedenis van die wit Afrikaanssprekende-gemeenskap van Despatch te doen. Die studie is ʼn verkennende ondersoek omrede nie al die aspekte van die geskiedenis van Despatch ondersoek sal word nie. Slegs die wit Afrikaanssprekende-gemeenskap se sosiale strukture (onderwys, godsdiens en kultuur), munisipale bestuur en politiek sal ondersoek word.
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- Date Issued: 2010
Impact assessment of local economic development in the Amathole district municipality with special reference to agriculture
- Authors: Mpengu, Mbuyiseli
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Sustainable development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agriculture and state -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Municipal government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:8203 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1198 , Sustainable development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agriculture and state -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Municipal government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: In this study, Local Economic Development (LED) is defined as an outcome of processes aimed at building up the capacity of local areas for sustainable economic development. The study assesses whether LED interventions, especially agricultural programmes, improve the livelihoods of poor communities in the Amathole District Municipality. Data was collected by use of both qualitative and quantitative research methods through interviews and questionnaires, respectively. Probability and non-probability sampling techniques were used to identify the research sample from the target population. These were further broken down into stratified, purposive and snowball sampling to enable the researcher to select specific municipalities, councillors, officials and stakeholders who participated in the study. Budgetary constraints, staff shortages and lack of required skills/ expertise were identified as the main challenges facing the district. The latter makes it difficult for the municipality to effectively implement sound LED programmes. Consequently, LED benefits are minimal. It is, therefore, recommendable for the municipality to seek other means of generating and boosting their financial viability through partnerships and private sector investments. This in turn will generate revenue for the municipality and ensure economic development in the district, thereby making a meaningful contribution towards the realization of a goal for “a better life for all”.
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- Date Issued: 2010
Investigating the effects of form-focused activities on the Acquisition of articles and pronouns in English amongst Grade 11 Xhosa learners
- Authors: White, Emma Lindsey
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:8362 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1317
- Description: The main purpose of this dissertation is to investigate if a teaching method called Focus on Form (FonF) in an English as a Second Language (ESL) class is effective in the acquisition of two grammatical forms namely articles ("a", "an" and "the") and a selection of pronouns. In order to test this hypothesis, quantitative research was performed. The analysis of a series of tests was done quantitatively to prove the hypothesis. The dissertation includes a theory section on Social Capital (SC) and discusses why it might play an important part in South Africa and in offering some help to the communities to enable them to help in the education of their children within South Africa. This dissertation is divided into five chapters. The first chapter introduces the problem and explains how South African education, historically, had devastating effects in the past and continues having a far reaching effect on today‟s learners. It discusses why this dissertation focuses on English and highlights how extensively English has spread throughout the world. It contains an explanation of the value of being competent in the English language. The chapter continues with a depiction of the poor pass rates of the end of year high school examinations, The National Senior Certificate (NSC). It explains the significance of the research, the purpose of the study, its theoretical framework and finally what this study proposes. Chapter two is a literature review of the available literature discussing second language acquisition (SLA) and the difference between English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and English as a Second Language (ESL). The chapter continues with a detailed description of how English was taught historically with an explanation of the approach being used in this study. Chapter two continues with details of the historical "Bantu Education Act No 47 of 1953" and the racist policies of the government of the time with an exploration of the effect these policies had on the education of learners. It also specifies the grammatical forms being used in this study. A summary of Black South African English (BSAE) is included accompanied by a description of language transfer. The chapter contains a section on SC, with an explanation of how this term came about historically and what it means. The chapter includes social problems that South Africa is facing today and how these problems tie in with diminished SC. It explains the importance of SC in Education. The chapter concludes with an explanation of how SC can be utilized in communities and why it is important in a democratic country. Chapter three explains the methodology used in this study as that of positivism and that this study in one sense is purely an empirical study and the reasons behind the choice of methodology. It also explains how a section of this study is pragmatic. Although the testing and analysis is purely statistical, the lessons that took place in the classroom, the interpersonal communication combined with the interaction between the learners and the researcher was not quantitative in nature. This interaction had no outright bearing on the results, but allowed the researcher the opportunity to observe and take notes on the experiences of the learners and the researcher in the classroom. These observations included incidents within the lessons and external problems the learners face which are linked to social issues within the literature. The chapter also contains an explanation of the testing instruments used in this study and how they were developed along with the ethical considerations of the study. Chapter four details the statistical results of this study. It also contains the write up of the field notes of the researcher who took note of incidents that happened within the classes. There are some examples of family and personal problems related to the learners and details the environment of the school. Some of these issues tie in with the theory included; illustrating the ideas and concerns associated with SC and demonstrates how these social problems are truly part of each learner‟s life in a township school. Chapter five offers recommendations to English teachers, the Department of Education (DoE) and to future researchers based on the results of Chapter four. It contains a discussion on how the community can increase SC within their own areas and within the schools. This study argues that the Education system is in dire need of help as evidenced by the dismal exam results. It also argues that South Africa has a variety of social problems that are contributing to the overall failure and dropout rate in schools. It offers some general suggestions on how the community can work together to build systems within the community, to help themselves and their children to become educated, productive members of society. The only way for the children of South Africa to succeed is with a good education as their starting point.
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- Date Issued: 2010
Nature, narrative and language in Marlene van Niekerk's Agaat
- Authors: Moore-Barnes, Shannon-Lee
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Van Niekerk, Marlene. Agaat , Narration (Rhetoric) , Storytelling , Women and literature -- South Africa , Afrikaans fiction -- 21st century
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:8453 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1235 , Van Niekerk, Marlene. Agaat , Narration (Rhetoric) , Storytelling , Women and literature -- South Africa , Afrikaans fiction -- 21st century
- Description: Conrad Aiken’s observation that the “landscape and the language are the same, and we ourselves are language and are land,” depicts the material terrain we inhabit as necessarily informing the language we speak. An important corollary to Aiken’s observation is language itself writes the land. I argue that the binary division between culture and nature, as well as the attempts to universalise languages, abstracts discourse from necessary situated knowledges, alienating the land from the language it embodies. The severing of culture and nature as implied by Aiken’s observation is indicative of humanity’s progressive isolation from the land through language, as well as from their embodied natures. Remoteness results in what Marlene van Niekerk’s novel Agaat (2006) terms a “poverty disease” (2006: 251). Michiel Heyns confirms that the character Agaat relates this barrenness of spirit to her “diagnosis of spiritual ills through human dealings with the soil” (2009: 132). I illustrate the novel’s revitalisation of language as an act of ecological recuperation that alleviates dis-eased consciousnesses by potentially recognising, valuing and responding to situated knowledges revealed in land narratives.1 My argument therefore uncovers the challenges that the novel directs at an unreformed and universal Western2 To this end I use critiques of colonialism that reveal culture’s assimilation of the Other, rationalist discourse that continues to appropriate nature as resource for a hierarchical culture. 3 By combining this literary analysis with a wider eco-theoretical enquiry I position my study in an interdisciplinary field of investigation. This is in response to the damaging consequences of the inherited and fragmentary nature of specialisation. In addition, by detailing literary and feminist especially the work of Val Plumwood, Donna Haraway and Nicole Brossard. I use these critiques to analyse self/Other oppositions that Western culture constructs and patrols to maintain a defensive culture of domination. I show how nature and all those feminised and marginalised by Western discourses that hierarchise culture have been consistently overlooked and under-represented by those who purport to ‘control’ the environment and privilege the symbolic language as the carrier of culture. Agaat provides fruitful terrain for the reflection of marginalised voices; voices that confirm the environment and language as necessarily both feminist and social justice issues. 1 My preference for the hyphenated usage of the word ‘dis-ease’ signals the equation between discomfort or unease and disease or sickness. 2 While I am concerned over emphasising words such as Western and Apartheid by capitalising them, I have decided to retain this form so as not to diminish the magnitude of the effect these discourses have had on global and regional communities. 3 When referring to Others I, like Karen J. Warren, capitalise the term. Warren defines Others as all earth Others subjected to “unjustified domination-subordination relationships” (2005: 252). responses to Western patriarchal discourse and its impact on nature, I show the ways in which literature negotiates the possible re-conceptualisation of our collective cultural imagination. Van Niekerk’s novel offers a sustained critique of the oppressive Western conceptual frameworks that have dominated Others through hegemonic constructions. Furthermore, I investigate what this writer might offer as an alternative to systems of social, political and ecological control and the violence it inflicts.
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- Date Issued: 2010
Risk management
- Authors: Derrocks, Velda Charmaine
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Risk management -- South Africa , Banks and banking -- South Africa , Financial risk management -- South Africa , Risk management -- South Africa -- Decision making
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:8633 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1480 , Risk management -- South Africa , Banks and banking -- South Africa , Financial risk management -- South Africa , Risk management -- South Africa -- Decision making
- Description: The objective of the study is to establish a perspective of risk management by doing an assessment of current risk management practices, especially in the aftermath of the 2008/2009 global financial crisis. Risk management, as a component of corporate governance, was analysed by addressing the following: - The nature of value-creating assets in business; - The primary challenges for risk management over the next three years; - The changing approaches towards risk management; - The role of legislation and external stakeholders; - The role of risk management in strategic planning; - The cost of risk management; and - The benefits of improved risk management capabilities. A survey was conducted in the form of a questionnaire in order to obtain primary information from business owners on the current role of risk management in their organisations as well as their view on the role of risk management going forward. Businesses operating in the Port Elizabeth and surrounding area with an existing relationship with Absa Business Banking Services participated in the study. Quantitative techniques were used to analyse the data that were obtained from the sample group. The study revealed that the role of risk management in enterprises is evolving into an integrated, enterprise wide risk management function that can be utilised as a source of competitive advantage, from both a funding perspective for Banks and a business perspective for business owners. Capitalising on risk management as a competitive advantage will ultimately lead to long term sustainability and profitability of South African business enterprises and the South African Banking system.
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- Date Issued: 2010
The Coega project: creative politicking in Post-Apartheid South Africa
- Authors: Mtimka, Ongama
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: South Africa -- Politics and government , Industrial development projects -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:9425 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1576 , South Africa -- Politics and government , Industrial development projects -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Description: This treatise revisits the process of the implementation of the Coega Project and discusses political economic issues which emerge therein locating them in the political economic context of post-1994 South Africa. Based on an in-depth study of the “Coega Story”, and three years of observing the Coega Development Corporation engaging in the political economic space to implement the project, key themes which are relevant in understanding the nature of politics in the country are highlighted and discussed with a view to drawing lessons for future implementers of economic development projects and policy makers. Key discussions in the study include a critical analysis of the symbiotic relationship between politics and development (or broadly the economy) – where emphasis is made about the centrality of politics in implementing economic development projects; the developmental state – where key characteristics of a developmental state are highlighted; the transition from apartheid to democracy and its implications on the nature of political relations post-apartheid; industrial development as a growth strategy and the interplay of social forces in the post- 1994 political economic space. The Coega Project is located within the broader context of the ruling party seeking to advance what is called the second and, perhaps the ultimate task of the liberation struggle, socio-economic liberation. Its strategic fit in that task is discussed critically taking into account paths to industrialisation as they have been observed from Newly Industrialising Countries and South Africa’s attempts at industrialisation before and after 1994.
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- Date Issued: 2010
The experience of instant messaging upon adolescent female relationship
- Authors: Eberhardt, Antoinette
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Adolescent psychology -- South Africa , Instant messaging -- South Africa , Friendship in adolescence -- South Africa , Teenage girls -- Social networks , Social networks -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:9877 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1324 , Adolescent psychology -- South Africa , Instant messaging -- South Africa , Friendship in adolescence -- South Africa , Teenage girls -- Social networks , Social networks -- Psychological aspects
- Description: Social Interaction Technologies (SIT) have broadened the horizon of communication in terms of the way people are able to communicate. It is now possible to interact with others across the world and engage in numerous activities ranging from dating to political movements, hobbies and even professions (Chigona, Chigona, Ngqokelela, & Mpofu, 2009). Adolescents and pre-adolescents especially are inclined to make use of SIT in their social lives with the most popular mode of communication, apart from email, being instant messaging (IM) (Brown, Mounts, Lamborn, & Steinberg, 1993; Bryant, Sanders-Jackson, & Smallwood, 2006; Madden & Rainie, 2003). Adolescents tend to use IM regularly as a tool to maintain relationships and girls especially, use it as a tool to socialise (Jennings & Wartella, 2004; Lenhart, Rainie, & Lewis, 2001). The mobile phone or cell phone, which is another example of an SIT-based communication, has become an established medium of technical, social and commercial communication in South Africa. It has given rise to the development and vast growth of a mobile youth culture who consider it an essential tool for communicating (Bosch, 2008). In South Africa, instant messages may be sent via mobile phone using one of two methods: MXit and the SMS (short messaging service). MXit and the SMS are considered convenient tools of communication as an ongoing conversation in the form of a text message may be maintained in the present (Yoshii, Matsuda, Habuchi, Dobashi, Iwata, & Kin, 2002).
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- Date Issued: 2010
The national curriculum statement on writing practice design for grades 11 and 12: implications for academic writing in higher education
- Authors: Townsend, Rodwell
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Literacy -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa , Information literacy -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa , Academic writing -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa , Curriculum change -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:8368 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1125 , Literacy -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa , Information literacy -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa , Academic writing -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa , Curriculum change -- South Africa
- Description: This study examines the role of academic literacies and academic-writing practices at two diverse South African senior secondary schools and the implications that these practices have for academic-literacy teaching in Higher Education (HE). As student academic writing is central to teaching, learning and assessment in HE, learner academic-writing standards at schools will often impact on academic success in HE. This is a concern for HE as research from South African schooling contexts have found that students from secondary schools are seldom equipped to cope with the demands of HE writing practices. In addition, the introduction of a new curriculum (National Curriculum Statement – NCS) based on the principles of the South African constitution and informed by the Bill of Rights, impacted for the first time on senior secondary schools in 2006, when it was implemented in grade 10, and HE received its first cohort of matriculants with an NCS educational background in 2009. Therefore, this study specifically explores teachers' writing practices within an NCS writing-practice design for grades 11 and 12, and assesses its current implications for academic-writing practices in HE. Critical ethnography was selected as the primary methodology as it is concerned with multiple perspectives and explores local-practice contexts. Therefore, it provides a holistic understanding of the complexity of writing practices by examining the participants' writing-practice perceptions, observing their teaching practices and analysing their written responses or feedback to first and final drafts. The data/study sample consisted of three grades 11 and one grade 12 English Home Language and English First Additional Language teachers as well as selected learners from two secondary schools in the Port Elizabeth district. The data was collected by means of classroom observations, teacher interviews and learner samples of academic writing. Although this study focused on the teaching of academic writing by the four teachers, literacy understandings were also explored by describing what literacy practices subjectively meant to the four teachers by determining the meanings they collectively and individually gave to dominant literacy practices in academic writing, especially feedback practices in text production. A detailed examination of the new NCS requirements suggest that it offers an understanding of knowledge as a social construct, advocates a multiple literacies approach to teaching and learning, and allows for a process approach to cognitively-demanding writing which takes cognisance of the rhetorical, social and cultural dimensions of literacy. Collectively, the ASs in LO3 reflect a process approach to writing, from planning, drafting, feedback, revision to presentation of the final text. It also considers the specific rhetorical dimensions of purpose, audience, and context. Therefore, these NCS writing practices should benefit learners advancing to HE. This study argues that if teachers in secondary schools were to adhere more closely to the NCS's LO3 and its ASs implementation guidelines, learners would be better prepared to cope with HE academic-writing requirements. Instead, the study found that the teachers tended to reduce writing practices to the mastery of discrete sets of technical skills with a focus on surface features of language like spelling and grammar. In addition, the study found that when the teachers' perceptions of the NCS and their own classroom-writing practices were explored, they tended to resist a social-practice approach to academic writing, and, as a result, mostly adapted LO3 of the NCS rather than adopting it as intended by the policy-makers. Similar to other South African studies, this study concludes that teachers remain largely rooted in their autonomous teaching practices favouring traditional methods with which they are familiar over curricula policies which could emancipate learners toward levels of achievement which would better prepare them for both HE and the world of work. In other words, teachers in the sample tend to conserve their traditional methodologies which are predominantly informed by deficit views of learners‟ problems, selectively including new policy requirements which create the impression of compliance, rather than fundamentally altering their approaches pedagogically in the classroom and their academic-writing practices in particular.
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- Date Issued: 2010
Unfinished business: current and past trade union leaders' perceptions of the political transition after the first decade of democracy (1994-2004) in South Africa
- Authors: Mpunzima, Kayalethu Wycliff
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Labor unions -- South Africa , Democratization -- South Africa , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:11001 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1284 , Labor unions -- South Africa , Democratization -- South Africa , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994-
- Description: The study reviews the political transition after the first decade of democracy from the trade union leaders’ perspectives. It seeks to understand whether trade union leaders see workers as having reaped benefits from their struggles. Interviews were conducted with ten current and past trade union leaders on their perceptions about the political transition. The trade union leaders that were interviewed have rich experience of combining their organisational and mobilising strength with strategies of engagement. Their involvement with trade unions can be traced back during the dark years of Apartheid. Some of them are still active members of trade unions who are deeply involved in policy formulation at national level. Others occupy influential positions in the private and public sectors. The study investigates and analyses the labour movement’s objectives, strategies and struggles from the apartheid, transition, and democratic eras and into the future. It looks at how these objectives were achieved and how the strategies were implemented. The study revealed that progress was made in the political sphere, e.g. a parliamentary office was established to ensure that workers have a voice in parliament. The study found clear evidence of influence by the labour movement in economic and labour legislation through structures like NEDLAC. In the economic arena, the study found that workers’ economic expectations were partially fulfilled. Trade union leaders attributed this to the failure of the government’s GEAR policy to create jobs. They insisted that RDP should be implemented. The study revealed evidence of serious tensions within the ANC/COSATU/SACP Alliance. The study found that the influence of the labour ally, COSATU, in the Tripartite Alliance had been curtailed. The study also found that the strength of the labour movement eroded during the first decade of democracy. The research found that the labour movement took new initiatives such as union investment companies. The research also found support for the theory that COSATU’s obsession with alliance politics was a barrier to labour unity. COSATU was not involved in the merger talks between FEDUSA and NACTU. The respondents generally felt positively about the future prospects. Respondents were mostly optimistic about the political transformation. If there was slow delivery or no delivery by the government or business, the unions vowed to take to the streets.
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- Date Issued: 2010