"Yes please" Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath
- Unknown
- Authors: Unknown
- Date: 1981
- Subjects: McGregor, Chris--1936-1990 , Brotherhood of Breath (Musical group) , Jazz
- Language: French
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:13753 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012768
- Description: Photocopied article from the CFDT Magazine about the recording "Yes please" (Musica Distribution) by Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1981
- Authors: Unknown
- Date: 1981
- Subjects: McGregor, Chris--1936-1990 , Brotherhood of Breath (Musical group) , Jazz
- Language: French
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:13753 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012768
- Description: Photocopied article from the CFDT Magazine about the recording "Yes please" (Musica Distribution) by Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1981
#KeepItReal: discursive constructions of authenticity in South African consumer culture
- Authors: Plüg, Simóne Nikki
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Consumer behavior Consumers' preferences -- South Africa Brand choice -- South Africa Marketing -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/64973 , vital:28641
- Description: Writers as diverse as Oscar Wilde (1915), Matthew Arnold (1960), Erich Fromm (1997) and a proliferation of contemporary self-help gurus, variously assert that it is preferable for people to focus on “being”, or to value “who you are”, instead of emphasising “having” or the material possessions you have acquired. These discourses assert that individuals content with “being” are happier and more fulfilled than those involved in the constant (and alienating) motion of acquiring material goods as representations of themselves (de Botton, 2004; Fromm, 1997; James, 2007). This thesis provides an in-depth critical exploration of one of these ideal “ways of being”: authenticity. It does not seek to discover what authenticity is in an empirical sense, nor to define what it should be in a normative sense, but to map the cultural work done by changing and often contradictory discourses of personal authenticity. More specifically, this study uses a qualitative research design, social constructionist theoretical framework, and discourse analytic method to critically discuss the discursive constructions of subject authenticity in South African brand culture. The sample consisted of (1.) ten marketing campaigns of several large, mainstream brands, which were popular in South Africa from 2015 to 2017, and (2.) fifteen smaller South African “craft” brands popular in the “artisanal” context. The analysis is presented in two distinct, but interrelated, sections (namely, Selling Stories and Crafting Authenticity), where the relevant discourses of authenticity for each data set are explored in depth. Through this analysis the thesis provides a critical discussion of the ways in which these discourses of authenticity work to produce and maintain, (or challenge and subvert), subject positions, ideologies, and power relations that structure contemporary South African society.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Plüg, Simóne Nikki
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Consumer behavior Consumers' preferences -- South Africa Brand choice -- South Africa Marketing -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/64973 , vital:28641
- Description: Writers as diverse as Oscar Wilde (1915), Matthew Arnold (1960), Erich Fromm (1997) and a proliferation of contemporary self-help gurus, variously assert that it is preferable for people to focus on “being”, or to value “who you are”, instead of emphasising “having” or the material possessions you have acquired. These discourses assert that individuals content with “being” are happier and more fulfilled than those involved in the constant (and alienating) motion of acquiring material goods as representations of themselves (de Botton, 2004; Fromm, 1997; James, 2007). This thesis provides an in-depth critical exploration of one of these ideal “ways of being”: authenticity. It does not seek to discover what authenticity is in an empirical sense, nor to define what it should be in a normative sense, but to map the cultural work done by changing and often contradictory discourses of personal authenticity. More specifically, this study uses a qualitative research design, social constructionist theoretical framework, and discourse analytic method to critically discuss the discursive constructions of subject authenticity in South African brand culture. The sample consisted of (1.) ten marketing campaigns of several large, mainstream brands, which were popular in South Africa from 2015 to 2017, and (2.) fifteen smaller South African “craft” brands popular in the “artisanal” context. The analysis is presented in two distinct, but interrelated, sections (namely, Selling Stories and Crafting Authenticity), where the relevant discourses of authenticity for each data set are explored in depth. Through this analysis the thesis provides a critical discussion of the ways in which these discourses of authenticity work to produce and maintain, (or challenge and subvert), subject positions, ideologies, and power relations that structure contemporary South African society.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
& salt the earth behind you
- Authors: Naidoo, Prenesa
- Date: 2021-04
- Subjects: Creative writing (Higher education) -- South Africa , South African fiction (English) -- 21st century , South African poetry (English) -- 21st century , Short stories, South African (English) -- 21st century , Diaries -- Authorship , Korean fiction -- 21st century -- History and criticism , Short stories, Argentine -- 21st century -- History and criticism , Arabic fiction -- Palestine 21st century -- History and criticism , Argentine fiction -- 21st century -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: thesis , text , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/178212 , vital:42921
- Description: My thesis is a collection of prose pieces in the form of short stories, flash fiction and prose poetry drawing on memory and lived experiences to explore the trauma of death, grief and displacement, solace and the paroxysms of home. As a young woman from an Indian South Africa community, Hindu superstitions and folktales are my second skin, and shape both my worldview and my writing. I am inspired by Lidia Yuknavitch’s observation that, “all artists see things that are not there”, and by Dambudzo Marechera’s belief that, “Beneath reality, there is always fantasy: the writer’s task is to reveal it, to open it out, to feel it, to experience it.” In my stories about trauma and grief, I often distort the line between seen and unseen worlds, where, for example, hauntings are taken seriously as lived experiences. I have also been influenced by Han Kang’s The White Book, Kali Fajardo-Anstine’s Sabrina & Corina, and Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street. Read together, Kang’s stand-alone short stories form part of a greater collective ‘memory’ or ‘life’; Fajardo-Anstine’s collection illustrates how to write about a specific female Latina community while still telling individual stories; and Cisneros’ fragments of memories tell the story of a person’s life in narratives which are as long or short as they need to be. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Languages and Literatures, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-04
- Authors: Naidoo, Prenesa
- Date: 2021-04
- Subjects: Creative writing (Higher education) -- South Africa , South African fiction (English) -- 21st century , South African poetry (English) -- 21st century , Short stories, South African (English) -- 21st century , Diaries -- Authorship , Korean fiction -- 21st century -- History and criticism , Short stories, Argentine -- 21st century -- History and criticism , Arabic fiction -- Palestine 21st century -- History and criticism , Argentine fiction -- 21st century -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: thesis , text , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/178212 , vital:42921
- Description: My thesis is a collection of prose pieces in the form of short stories, flash fiction and prose poetry drawing on memory and lived experiences to explore the trauma of death, grief and displacement, solace and the paroxysms of home. As a young woman from an Indian South Africa community, Hindu superstitions and folktales are my second skin, and shape both my worldview and my writing. I am inspired by Lidia Yuknavitch’s observation that, “all artists see things that are not there”, and by Dambudzo Marechera’s belief that, “Beneath reality, there is always fantasy: the writer’s task is to reveal it, to open it out, to feel it, to experience it.” In my stories about trauma and grief, I often distort the line between seen and unseen worlds, where, for example, hauntings are taken seriously as lived experiences. I have also been influenced by Han Kang’s The White Book, Kali Fajardo-Anstine’s Sabrina & Corina, and Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street. Read together, Kang’s stand-alone short stories form part of a greater collective ‘memory’ or ‘life’; Fajardo-Anstine’s collection illustrates how to write about a specific female Latina community while still telling individual stories; and Cisneros’ fragments of memories tell the story of a person’s life in narratives which are as long or short as they need to be. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Languages and Literatures, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-04
'A search for educational relevance' : an investigation into the teaching of the rural settlement component of the secondary school syllabus with special reference to Venda
- Authors: Mphaphuli, Shonisani Eunice
- Date: 1993
- Subjects: Geography -- Curricula -- South Africa Geography -- South Africa -- Study and teaching (Secondary) Rural geography -- Study and teaching -- South Africa Land settlement -- South Africa -- Venda
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1760 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003645
- Description: School geography has been identified as the one subject which has the most potential to develop pupils' ability to identify with their community and with their environment. Through the development of a sense of place pupils are encouraged to become effective perceivers, users, appreciators, evaluators and developers of their environment (Catling 1987. This approach to the teaching of geography implies that the content and the teaching strategies need to be perceived as relevant. Relevance in this study is taken to incorporate not only the needs of the pupils and the community but also of the subject. The location of this study in Venda, an area which is predominantly rural in nature sought to emphasise the important role which rural settlement geography can play in aiding the development of these pupils' sense of place and social identity. The research therefore concentrated on the approaches and teaching strategies used in the teaching of rural settlement in Venda secondary schools. This was achieved through a survey which involved geography teachers and pupils in the Thohoyandou inspection area. The place of rural settlement in the current geography curriculum was established through an analysis of the relevant syllabuses, textbooks and senior certificate examination papers. This analysis was primarily undertaken to illuminate the extent to which rural settlement geography in the South African curriculum complies with accepted criteria for relevance. The study revealed that the teaching of rural settlement in Venda is textbook-related and teacher- directed with no attempt to capitalise upon the pupils' experience of their rural environment. This was largely ascribed to the constraints of the syllabus and the demands of the examination system. When allied to the problems teachers have concerning syllabus development, the validity and relevance of this aspect of the syllabus is reduced. More importantly, because the local environment is not perceived as having value in the teaching of geography, the Venda pupils' perception of the value of their environment is diminished.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1993
- Authors: Mphaphuli, Shonisani Eunice
- Date: 1993
- Subjects: Geography -- Curricula -- South Africa Geography -- South Africa -- Study and teaching (Secondary) Rural geography -- Study and teaching -- South Africa Land settlement -- South Africa -- Venda
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1760 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003645
- Description: School geography has been identified as the one subject which has the most potential to develop pupils' ability to identify with their community and with their environment. Through the development of a sense of place pupils are encouraged to become effective perceivers, users, appreciators, evaluators and developers of their environment (Catling 1987. This approach to the teaching of geography implies that the content and the teaching strategies need to be perceived as relevant. Relevance in this study is taken to incorporate not only the needs of the pupils and the community but also of the subject. The location of this study in Venda, an area which is predominantly rural in nature sought to emphasise the important role which rural settlement geography can play in aiding the development of these pupils' sense of place and social identity. The research therefore concentrated on the approaches and teaching strategies used in the teaching of rural settlement in Venda secondary schools. This was achieved through a survey which involved geography teachers and pupils in the Thohoyandou inspection area. The place of rural settlement in the current geography curriculum was established through an analysis of the relevant syllabuses, textbooks and senior certificate examination papers. This analysis was primarily undertaken to illuminate the extent to which rural settlement geography in the South African curriculum complies with accepted criteria for relevance. The study revealed that the teaching of rural settlement in Venda is textbook-related and teacher- directed with no attempt to capitalise upon the pupils' experience of their rural environment. This was largely ascribed to the constraints of the syllabus and the demands of the examination system. When allied to the problems teachers have concerning syllabus development, the validity and relevance of this aspect of the syllabus is reduced. More importantly, because the local environment is not perceived as having value in the teaching of geography, the Venda pupils' perception of the value of their environment is diminished.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1993
'Alternative foods' and community-based development : Rooibos tea production in South Africa's West Coast mountains
- Nel, Etienne L, Binns, Tony, Bek, David
- Authors: Nel, Etienne L , Binns, Tony , Bek, David
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6718 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006791
- Description: Rooibos tee (red bush tea) (Aspalathus linearis, Fabaceae), which is indigenous only to the Cedarberg and neighbouring mountains of South Africa, has become popular internationally as a result of its apparent health-giving properties. Situated within the broader contexts of alternative food networks, alternate economic spaces and local/community-based development, this paper examines how two marginalised communities have successfully penetrated international markets by supplying organically produced rooibos tea which is certified by the international Fairtrade system. Focusing on the cases of Wupperthal and Heiveld, the paper explores the dynamics of the production and marketing process and the key variables involved. Success has been achieved through active NGO support, which has engaged with local skills and social capital, and has led to significant social and economic upliftment among the participating communities. The experience illustrates how, given the right conditions, poor communities in the South might participate successfully in global alternative food networks.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Nel, Etienne L , Binns, Tony , Bek, David
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6718 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006791
- Description: Rooibos tee (red bush tea) (Aspalathus linearis, Fabaceae), which is indigenous only to the Cedarberg and neighbouring mountains of South Africa, has become popular internationally as a result of its apparent health-giving properties. Situated within the broader contexts of alternative food networks, alternate economic spaces and local/community-based development, this paper examines how two marginalised communities have successfully penetrated international markets by supplying organically produced rooibos tea which is certified by the international Fairtrade system. Focusing on the cases of Wupperthal and Heiveld, the paper explores the dynamics of the production and marketing process and the key variables involved. Success has been achieved through active NGO support, which has engaged with local skills and social capital, and has led to significant social and economic upliftment among the participating communities. The experience illustrates how, given the right conditions, poor communities in the South might participate successfully in global alternative food networks.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
'Amanuensis' and 'Steatopygia': the complexity of 'Telling the Tale 'in Zoë Wicomb's David's Story
- Authors: Dass, Minesh
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142599 , vital:38094 , http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/eia.v38i2.3
- Description: Two words, 'amanuensis' and 'steatopygia,' each burdened with its own history, appear in Zoë Wicomb's David's Story with a frequency that commands further consideration. This study shows that these two words are in fact narratives which reveal the tension, inherent in all historical narratives, between that which is denotative or factual and that which is connotative or fictional. Similarly, the words also form the shifting horizon from which we may see history as a narrative of the past that is always also a narrative of the present. The link between these words will ultimately show the complex, compromised role of the narrator and, perhaps, of all historians.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Dass, Minesh
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142599 , vital:38094 , http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/eia.v38i2.3
- Description: Two words, 'amanuensis' and 'steatopygia,' each burdened with its own history, appear in Zoë Wicomb's David's Story with a frequency that commands further consideration. This study shows that these two words are in fact narratives which reveal the tension, inherent in all historical narratives, between that which is denotative or factual and that which is connotative or fictional. Similarly, the words also form the shifting horizon from which we may see history as a narrative of the past that is always also a narrative of the present. The link between these words will ultimately show the complex, compromised role of the narrator and, perhaps, of all historians.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
'Becoming animal': motifs of hybridity and liminality in fairy tales and selected contemporary artworks
- Authors: Wasserman, Minke
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Fairy tales -- History and criticism , Liminality in literature , Cultural fusion in literature , Cultural fusion and the arts , Art, Modern -- 21st century -- Themes, motives , Art, Modern -- 21st century -- Exhibitions , Human-animal relationships in art , Human-animal relationships in literature
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2512 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1019759
- Description: ‘Becoming Animal’: Motifs of Hybridity and Liminality in Fairy Tales and Selected Contemporary Artworks serves as a theoretical examination of the concept of the hybrid. My research unpacks the liminal aspect of hybridity, locating the hybrid in the imaginative world of popular fairy tales, folk lore and mythology. In my accompanying MFA exhibition, Becoming(s), I explore these motifs through an installation of mixed-media sculptures which are based on the hybrid creatures that populated the fantasy world of my childhood. The written component of my MFA submission will relate directly to my professional art practise, developing it further and situating it within a relevant context. In my mini-thesis I will consider the liminal in relation to the ‘animal turn’ in contemporary art, with a particular focus on relevant artists working with the motifs of hybridity, such as Nandipha Mntambo, Jane Alexander and Kiki Smith. The ‘animal turn’ is a term used by Kari Weil (2010: 3) to describe a contemporary interest in issues of the nonhuman, and in the ways that the relationship between humans and nonhumans is marked by “difference, otherness and power”. Of key concern to my research will be Giles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s concept of ‘becoming animal’. Rather than describing a transition from one stable state to another, ‘becoming animal’ suggests a radical dissolution of boundaries – not just between species (such as ‘human’ and ‘animal’) but between any essentialising binaries. As such, ‘becoming animal’ suggests a conception of identity as being fluid and mutable, rather than stable and fixed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Wasserman, Minke
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Fairy tales -- History and criticism , Liminality in literature , Cultural fusion in literature , Cultural fusion and the arts , Art, Modern -- 21st century -- Themes, motives , Art, Modern -- 21st century -- Exhibitions , Human-animal relationships in art , Human-animal relationships in literature
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2512 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1019759
- Description: ‘Becoming Animal’: Motifs of Hybridity and Liminality in Fairy Tales and Selected Contemporary Artworks serves as a theoretical examination of the concept of the hybrid. My research unpacks the liminal aspect of hybridity, locating the hybrid in the imaginative world of popular fairy tales, folk lore and mythology. In my accompanying MFA exhibition, Becoming(s), I explore these motifs through an installation of mixed-media sculptures which are based on the hybrid creatures that populated the fantasy world of my childhood. The written component of my MFA submission will relate directly to my professional art practise, developing it further and situating it within a relevant context. In my mini-thesis I will consider the liminal in relation to the ‘animal turn’ in contemporary art, with a particular focus on relevant artists working with the motifs of hybridity, such as Nandipha Mntambo, Jane Alexander and Kiki Smith. The ‘animal turn’ is a term used by Kari Weil (2010: 3) to describe a contemporary interest in issues of the nonhuman, and in the ways that the relationship between humans and nonhumans is marked by “difference, otherness and power”. Of key concern to my research will be Giles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s concept of ‘becoming animal’. Rather than describing a transition from one stable state to another, ‘becoming animal’ suggests a radical dissolution of boundaries – not just between species (such as ‘human’ and ‘animal’) but between any essentialising binaries. As such, ‘becoming animal’ suggests a conception of identity as being fluid and mutable, rather than stable and fixed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
'Becoming citizens': young people making sense of citizenship on a South African community radio station youth show
- Karamagi, Sharon Benna Kyakyo
- Authors: Karamagi, Sharon Benna Kyakyo
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Citizenship -- Study and teaching -- South Africa Youth -- Social conditions Community radio -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Grahamstown (South Africa) -- Economic conditions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3444 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002898
- Description: This research set out to investigate the role that community radio can potentially play as a space in which young people engage with their own role as citizens and, in so doing, participate in discussions that seek to address social problems in a community divided by class, income, gender and race. The study examines how a local community radio station - Radio Grahamstown - developed a youth programme Y4Yin which the producers of the show and its audience came together to negotiate the meaning of citizenship. The study examines whether this interactive programme was able to function as something like a public sphere where in young people were able to develop a greater sense of agency, at least in the realm of citizenship. Using evidence gathered through focus group discussions with a group of young school-going leamers, interviews conducted with the producers of the show Y4Y, and drawing on Dahlgren's elaboration of a functional public sphere, the research concludes that the show provided a useful platform for Grahamstown high school students to develop their own notions of citizenship and to, at least partially and tentatively, build some 'bridges' across the vectors of socio-economic division in the town. However, the research also concludes that the Y4Y producers often failed to use a mode of address contemporary to the youth and often did not use production techniques congruent with young people's cultural tastes. This limited the programme's appeal and its potential as an enabler of discussion about notions of citizenship and as a platform for social bridging. In addition, because of the producers' control over the choice of topics put up for discussion, open interaction was more limited than could have been expected. In addition, the study also concludes that various limitations to the leamers' freedom of expression (including their fear that teachers might be listening in to the shows) inhibited the programme's role as a deliberative public sphere where issues could be aired, common ground found, and solutions discussed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Karamagi, Sharon Benna Kyakyo
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Citizenship -- Study and teaching -- South Africa Youth -- Social conditions Community radio -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Grahamstown (South Africa) -- Economic conditions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3444 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002898
- Description: This research set out to investigate the role that community radio can potentially play as a space in which young people engage with their own role as citizens and, in so doing, participate in discussions that seek to address social problems in a community divided by class, income, gender and race. The study examines how a local community radio station - Radio Grahamstown - developed a youth programme Y4Yin which the producers of the show and its audience came together to negotiate the meaning of citizenship. The study examines whether this interactive programme was able to function as something like a public sphere where in young people were able to develop a greater sense of agency, at least in the realm of citizenship. Using evidence gathered through focus group discussions with a group of young school-going leamers, interviews conducted with the producers of the show Y4Y, and drawing on Dahlgren's elaboration of a functional public sphere, the research concludes that the show provided a useful platform for Grahamstown high school students to develop their own notions of citizenship and to, at least partially and tentatively, build some 'bridges' across the vectors of socio-economic division in the town. However, the research also concludes that the Y4Y producers often failed to use a mode of address contemporary to the youth and often did not use production techniques congruent with young people's cultural tastes. This limited the programme's appeal and its potential as an enabler of discussion about notions of citizenship and as a platform for social bridging. In addition, because of the producers' control over the choice of topics put up for discussion, open interaction was more limited than could have been expected. In addition, the study also concludes that various limitations to the leamers' freedom of expression (including their fear that teachers might be listening in to the shows) inhibited the programme's role as a deliberative public sphere where issues could be aired, common ground found, and solutions discussed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
'Carrying the fire' : Cormac McCarthy's moral philosophy
- Authors: Davies, Christopher
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: McCarthy, Cormac, 1933- -- Criticism and interpretation American fiction -- 20th century -- Moral and ethical aspects American fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2217 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002260
- Description: In this thesis, I argue that the question of ethics, despite claims to the contrary, is a central concern in Cormac McCarthy’s fiction. My principal contention, in this regard, is that an approach that is not reliant on conventional systems of meaning is needed if one is to engage effectively with the moral value of this writer’s oeuvre. In devising such an approach, I draw heavily on the ‘immoralist’ writings of Friedrich Nietzsche. The first chapter of the study contends that good and evil, terms central to conventional morality, do not occupy easily definable positions in McCarthy’s work. In the second chapter, the emphasis falls on the way in which language and myth’s mediation of reality informs choice. The final chapter focuses on the post-apocalyptic setting of The Road, in which normative systems of value are completely absent. It argues that, despite this absence, McCarthy presents a compassionate ethic that is able to find purchase in the harsh world depicted in the novel. Finally, then, this study argues that McCarthy’s latest novel, The Road, requires a reconsideration of the critical claim that his work is nihilistic and that it negates moral value.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Davies, Christopher
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: McCarthy, Cormac, 1933- -- Criticism and interpretation American fiction -- 20th century -- Moral and ethical aspects American fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2217 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002260
- Description: In this thesis, I argue that the question of ethics, despite claims to the contrary, is a central concern in Cormac McCarthy’s fiction. My principal contention, in this regard, is that an approach that is not reliant on conventional systems of meaning is needed if one is to engage effectively with the moral value of this writer’s oeuvre. In devising such an approach, I draw heavily on the ‘immoralist’ writings of Friedrich Nietzsche. The first chapter of the study contends that good and evil, terms central to conventional morality, do not occupy easily definable positions in McCarthy’s work. In the second chapter, the emphasis falls on the way in which language and myth’s mediation of reality informs choice. The final chapter focuses on the post-apocalyptic setting of The Road, in which normative systems of value are completely absent. It argues that, despite this absence, McCarthy presents a compassionate ethic that is able to find purchase in the harsh world depicted in the novel. Finally, then, this study argues that McCarthy’s latest novel, The Road, requires a reconsideration of the critical claim that his work is nihilistic and that it negates moral value.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
'Come back when you are 65, Sir': discrimination in respect of access to social assistance for the elderly
- Authors: Krüger, Rósaan
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/71119 , vital:29786 , http://www.ldd.org.za/images/stories/Ready_for_publication/V10-2_Come_back_65.pdf
- Description: Messrs Roberts, Whitebooi, Casling and Visagie are four elderly gentlemen who live in poverty in Gelvandale, Port Elizabeth. At the end of 2005 they wished to apply for social assistance from the State. At the time of their applications, the men were over the age of 60, but none of them had attained the age of 65. Had they been female, they would have qualified for social assistance in the form of old age pensions at the age of 60. 'These pensions would not have made them rich, but would have enabled them to sustain themselves.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Krüger, Rósaan
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/71119 , vital:29786 , http://www.ldd.org.za/images/stories/Ready_for_publication/V10-2_Come_back_65.pdf
- Description: Messrs Roberts, Whitebooi, Casling and Visagie are four elderly gentlemen who live in poverty in Gelvandale, Port Elizabeth. At the end of 2005 they wished to apply for social assistance from the State. At the time of their applications, the men were over the age of 60, but none of them had attained the age of 65. Had they been female, they would have qualified for social assistance in the form of old age pensions at the age of 60. 'These pensions would not have made them rich, but would have enabled them to sustain themselves.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
'Committed, motivated and joyful?'Job satisfaction and organisational commitment of managers at a South African public utility
- Mayer, Claude-Hélène, Louw, Lynette, Baxter, Jeremy
- Authors: Mayer, Claude-Hélène , Louw, Lynette , Baxter, Jeremy
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/123320 , vital:35427 , https://doi.org/10.4102/acom.v15i1.291
- Description: During the past decade, publications and conferences on management in African organisations (Kamoche 2011a; 2011b) and in global contexts (Mangaliso 2001; Jackson 2004)1 have increased steadily. In various African contexts and organisations, job satisfaction (JS) (Walumbwa et al. 2005) and organisational commitment (OC) (Gbadamosi 2003; Wasti 2003; Nyengane 2007; Pillay 2008) have been researched. Most of the previous research is quantitative in nature. Although quantititative research provides insights into the relationships between variables, it does not necessarily provide in-depth meaningful conclusions on micro-psychological levels (e.g. Sempane, Rieger & Roodt 2002; Buitendach & De Witte 2005).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Mayer, Claude-Hélène , Louw, Lynette , Baxter, Jeremy
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/123320 , vital:35427 , https://doi.org/10.4102/acom.v15i1.291
- Description: During the past decade, publications and conferences on management in African organisations (Kamoche 2011a; 2011b) and in global contexts (Mangaliso 2001; Jackson 2004)1 have increased steadily. In various African contexts and organisations, job satisfaction (JS) (Walumbwa et al. 2005) and organisational commitment (OC) (Gbadamosi 2003; Wasti 2003; Nyengane 2007; Pillay 2008) have been researched. Most of the previous research is quantitative in nature. Although quantititative research provides insights into the relationships between variables, it does not necessarily provide in-depth meaningful conclusions on micro-psychological levels (e.g. Sempane, Rieger & Roodt 2002; Buitendach & De Witte 2005).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
'Committed, motivated and joyful?'Job satisfaction and organisational commitment of managers at a South African public utility:
- Authors: Snowball, Jeanette D
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/70495 , vital:29667 , https://doi.org/10.1080/09548963.2017.1380706
- Description: The cultural and creative industries (CCIs) have been hailed as offering great potential to create jobs and to be socially inclusive. Since artistic success is defined by individual talent, or merit, the CCIs should be one sector that is especially open to, and appreciative of, social diversity in terms of race, class, cultural group and gender. However, as expected, recent studies in both the UK and the US have revealed that employment in the CCIs is heavily dominated by the middle classes, and is not as diverse in terms of other characteristics. Since the advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994, transformation of firm ownership, previously dominated by white people, to include more black, coloured and Indian/Asian-origin South Africans, has been an important part of achieving greater economic equality and social cohesion, as well as being more representative of the cultures of the majority of the population. Using data from a survey of 2400 CCIs firms in South Africa, this paper examines the extent to which the CCIs in South Africa have transformed in terms of ownership and employment. Comparisons are also made across the six UNESCO [(2009). Framework for cultural statistics. UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.uis.unesco.org/culture/Pages/framework-cultural-statistics.aspx] “Cultural Domains” in terms of ownership, average monthly turnover and the number of full-time, part-time and contract employees. Results show some diversity in the industry, but significant differences between the Domains. Statistical analysis demonstrates that CCI funding policy in South Africa is sensitive to advancing the transformation agenda in that more transformed firms were shown to be more likely to have received some form of government grant as part of their income.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Snowball, Jeanette D
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/70495 , vital:29667 , https://doi.org/10.1080/09548963.2017.1380706
- Description: The cultural and creative industries (CCIs) have been hailed as offering great potential to create jobs and to be socially inclusive. Since artistic success is defined by individual talent, or merit, the CCIs should be one sector that is especially open to, and appreciative of, social diversity in terms of race, class, cultural group and gender. However, as expected, recent studies in both the UK and the US have revealed that employment in the CCIs is heavily dominated by the middle classes, and is not as diverse in terms of other characteristics. Since the advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994, transformation of firm ownership, previously dominated by white people, to include more black, coloured and Indian/Asian-origin South Africans, has been an important part of achieving greater economic equality and social cohesion, as well as being more representative of the cultures of the majority of the population. Using data from a survey of 2400 CCIs firms in South Africa, this paper examines the extent to which the CCIs in South Africa have transformed in terms of ownership and employment. Comparisons are also made across the six UNESCO [(2009). Framework for cultural statistics. UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.uis.unesco.org/culture/Pages/framework-cultural-statistics.aspx] “Cultural Domains” in terms of ownership, average monthly turnover and the number of full-time, part-time and contract employees. Results show some diversity in the industry, but significant differences between the Domains. Statistical analysis demonstrates that CCI funding policy in South Africa is sensitive to advancing the transformation agenda in that more transformed firms were shown to be more likely to have received some form of government grant as part of their income.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
'Environmental policy to community action': methodology and approaches in community-based environmental education programmes in Uganda
- Authors: Babikwa, Daniel J
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: Environmental education -- Uganda -- Case studies Education and state -- Uganda Community development -- Uganda -- Case studies Sustainable development -- Uganda -- Case studies Environmental policy -- Uganda -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1518 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003400
- Description: This research was conducted in Luwero, a rural district in central Uganda, over a period of three years, half of which entailed fulltime engagement in a participatory action research process with VEDCO, an indigenous NGO. The study focuses on the educational processes involved in the translation of Uganda's environmental policy into action at community level. It looks at community-based education and development activities run by VEDCO among smallholder farmers. The study addressed four objectives. For the first objective I developed a conceptual framework through a review of theories informing education in general and environmental education, adult education, community education, and community development in particular. The second objective was to conduct a situational analysis to identify contextual issues related to policy implementation at community level. The third objective was to engage in a participatory action research process with the NGO in the farming community in response to the identified contextual issues, and the fourth was to explore and comment on environmental education methods used within a community context. PRA techniques, interviews, and other participatory data collection methods were used to generate the data. The study reveals contradictions that limit NGO capacity to make appropriate use of participatory education processes in implementing policy-related training at community level. Elements in the National Plan for the Modernisation of Agriculture, for example, conflicted with the principle of sustainable development underlying the policy. VEDCO itself was changing from a social-welfare-oriented organisation into a commercial enterprise pursuing economic goals, which conflicted with its social goals. The capitalist development ideology of the donor was being adopted by VEDCO, which contradicted the goals of people-centred development. This was exacerbated by VEDCO's dependency on donor funds for its activities. Contextual issues like people's history; poverty, gender and inconsistent land policies further complicated the policy implementation processes. There were also inconsistencies in the epistemological assumptions and didactic approaches evident in the implementation. The study shows that the intended emancipatory education processes are more often supplanted by technicist methodologies. Thus, it exposes the underlying historical, ideological and epistemological tensions and contradictions within the field of education, particularly in relation to the `paradigmatic' orientations (neo-classical, liberal and socially critical/emancipatory) outlined in the literature. Conclusions are made at two levels: in relation to the study goals, of examining policy implementation at community level and in terms of the study's contribution to the understanding of current education theory in the context of sustainable development among communities.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
- Authors: Babikwa, Daniel J
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: Environmental education -- Uganda -- Case studies Education and state -- Uganda Community development -- Uganda -- Case studies Sustainable development -- Uganda -- Case studies Environmental policy -- Uganda -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1518 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003400
- Description: This research was conducted in Luwero, a rural district in central Uganda, over a period of three years, half of which entailed fulltime engagement in a participatory action research process with VEDCO, an indigenous NGO. The study focuses on the educational processes involved in the translation of Uganda's environmental policy into action at community level. It looks at community-based education and development activities run by VEDCO among smallholder farmers. The study addressed four objectives. For the first objective I developed a conceptual framework through a review of theories informing education in general and environmental education, adult education, community education, and community development in particular. The second objective was to conduct a situational analysis to identify contextual issues related to policy implementation at community level. The third objective was to engage in a participatory action research process with the NGO in the farming community in response to the identified contextual issues, and the fourth was to explore and comment on environmental education methods used within a community context. PRA techniques, interviews, and other participatory data collection methods were used to generate the data. The study reveals contradictions that limit NGO capacity to make appropriate use of participatory education processes in implementing policy-related training at community level. Elements in the National Plan for the Modernisation of Agriculture, for example, conflicted with the principle of sustainable development underlying the policy. VEDCO itself was changing from a social-welfare-oriented organisation into a commercial enterprise pursuing economic goals, which conflicted with its social goals. The capitalist development ideology of the donor was being adopted by VEDCO, which contradicted the goals of people-centred development. This was exacerbated by VEDCO's dependency on donor funds for its activities. Contextual issues like people's history; poverty, gender and inconsistent land policies further complicated the policy implementation processes. There were also inconsistencies in the epistemological assumptions and didactic approaches evident in the implementation. The study shows that the intended emancipatory education processes are more often supplanted by technicist methodologies. Thus, it exposes the underlying historical, ideological and epistemological tensions and contradictions within the field of education, particularly in relation to the `paradigmatic' orientations (neo-classical, liberal and socially critical/emancipatory) outlined in the literature. Conclusions are made at two levels: in relation to the study goals, of examining policy implementation at community level and in terms of the study's contribution to the understanding of current education theory in the context of sustainable development among communities.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
'God is my forest': Xhosa cultural values provide untapped opportunities for conservation
- Cocks, Michelle L, Dold, Anthony P, Vetter, Susan M
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Dold, Anthony P , Vetter, Susan M
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141198 , vital:37952 , DOI: 10.4102/sajs.v108i5/6.880
- Description: In South Africa conservation is still largely framed in terms of Western scientific values, with a focus on material benefits to local communities, whilst little is known about the intangible values local people attach to nature and biodiversity. We explored the cultural, spiritual and emotional relationships with nature expressed by Xhosa people, within the MaputalandPondoland-Albany Hotspot, as well as the activities that mediate this relationship. A descriptive research approach was applied to document the emotions, meanings and values associated with landscape elements. This approach included group and individual interviews and ‘walk-in-the-woods’ interviews and participatory mapping exercises. Respondents portrayed a strong, although not always easily articulated, appreciation for nature, especially ihlathi lesiXhosa (‘Xhosa forest’, vegetation types within the Thicket Biome).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Dold, Anthony P , Vetter, Susan M
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141198 , vital:37952 , DOI: 10.4102/sajs.v108i5/6.880
- Description: In South Africa conservation is still largely framed in terms of Western scientific values, with a focus on material benefits to local communities, whilst little is known about the intangible values local people attach to nature and biodiversity. We explored the cultural, spiritual and emotional relationships with nature expressed by Xhosa people, within the MaputalandPondoland-Albany Hotspot, as well as the activities that mediate this relationship. A descriptive research approach was applied to document the emotions, meanings and values associated with landscape elements. This approach included group and individual interviews and ‘walk-in-the-woods’ interviews and participatory mapping exercises. Respondents portrayed a strong, although not always easily articulated, appreciation for nature, especially ihlathi lesiXhosa (‘Xhosa forest’, vegetation types within the Thicket Biome).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
'Growing up tough': A national survey of South African youth
- Authors: Everatt, David , Orkin, Mark
- Date: 1993-03
- Subjects: Youth -- South Africa -- Attitudes -- Congresses , Youth -- Research , Youth -- South Africa -- Social conditions , Social surveys -- South Africa -- Congresses , Marginality, Social -- South Africa Congresses
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/65862 , vital:28849
- Description: The Community Agency for Social Enquiry (CASE) was commissioned by the Joint Enrichment Project (JEP) to undertake research for the National Youth Development Conference. The research programme had three components:the compilation of a computerised and annotated youth database, comprising domestic research into youth, and the extraction of five policy papers covering the areas of education, employment-creation, AIDS, violence and social context, and historical context. an international comparative component, which focused on the youth brigades in Botswana, and the whole range of youth development initiatives taking place in Kenya and Uganda, covered in an additional two position papers. a national baseline and attitudinal survey into youth in South Africa. The results of all three components of the research project will be published in book form later this year. The summary reports of the local and international comparative policy papers are available in a separate booklet. This is the report of the national survey into youth in South Africa. Aims of the survey The survey has four main aims: demographic: to accurately describe how many youth are in the different parts of South Africa, how many are in or out of school or work, and so on. attitudinal: to allow youth to express their views on a range of social, economic, political and personal issues.to analyse youth marginalisation: to scientifically analyse and describe the marginalisation of youth within South African society. programmatic: to provide results which directly assist organisations designing programmes which target youth. Designing the survey The survey was designed by the CASE senior research team of Professor Mark Orkin, Director of C A S E; Dr David Everatt, Deputy Director of CASE and project co-ordinator; and Dr Ros Hirschowitz, Specialist Researcher at C A S E. The design process was lengthy and complex, because the aims of the survey were complicated. As a first step, CASE gathered together existing youth research and survey data, in order to see what we could learn from them. We then convened a design workshop to assist us. Participants in the C A S E national youth survey for JEP 1 workshop comprised people who had experience with youth, or with survey design. They included John Aitchison (CASE and the Centre for Adult Education, University of Natal), Debbie Budlender (CASE and the National Women's Coalition), Dr Jannie Hofmeyr (Research Surveys), Ms Vanessa Kruger and Professor Ari Sitas (University of Natal), Ms Anne Letsebe (SABSWA), Mr Steve Mokwena (JEP), Mr Rory Riordan (Human Rights Trust) and Dr Jeremy Seekings (University of Cape Town). We also needed input from the youth themselves. Discussion groups with youth (called 'focus groups') were held with youth from Alexandra and Soweto, from Ciskei and the eastern Cape, from Bophuthatswana and the northern transvaal, from Chatsworth and Claremont in Durban, and elsewhere. We reached youth from cities, squatter camps, towns and rural areas. The focus groups were organised by C A S E and Research Surveys, a professional market research company. The youth told us what their concerns were, what their aspirations and fears were, and what interventions they felt are necessary to improve their lives. CASE then designed a draft survey. We had to try it out (called 'piloting') to find out if the survey tapped the youth's actual views and experiences, and so give the JEP the information they sought. The survey was piloted on a representative sample of 100 youth (aged between 16 and 30) by Research Surveys. Using the results of the focus groups and the pilots, the CASE research team then produced the final questionnaire, which went into the field in November/December 1992.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1993-03
- Authors: Everatt, David , Orkin, Mark
- Date: 1993-03
- Subjects: Youth -- South Africa -- Attitudes -- Congresses , Youth -- Research , Youth -- South Africa -- Social conditions , Social surveys -- South Africa -- Congresses , Marginality, Social -- South Africa Congresses
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/65862 , vital:28849
- Description: The Community Agency for Social Enquiry (CASE) was commissioned by the Joint Enrichment Project (JEP) to undertake research for the National Youth Development Conference. The research programme had three components:the compilation of a computerised and annotated youth database, comprising domestic research into youth, and the extraction of five policy papers covering the areas of education, employment-creation, AIDS, violence and social context, and historical context. an international comparative component, which focused on the youth brigades in Botswana, and the whole range of youth development initiatives taking place in Kenya and Uganda, covered in an additional two position papers. a national baseline and attitudinal survey into youth in South Africa. The results of all three components of the research project will be published in book form later this year. The summary reports of the local and international comparative policy papers are available in a separate booklet. This is the report of the national survey into youth in South Africa. Aims of the survey The survey has four main aims: demographic: to accurately describe how many youth are in the different parts of South Africa, how many are in or out of school or work, and so on. attitudinal: to allow youth to express their views on a range of social, economic, political and personal issues.to analyse youth marginalisation: to scientifically analyse and describe the marginalisation of youth within South African society. programmatic: to provide results which directly assist organisations designing programmes which target youth. Designing the survey The survey was designed by the CASE senior research team of Professor Mark Orkin, Director of C A S E; Dr David Everatt, Deputy Director of CASE and project co-ordinator; and Dr Ros Hirschowitz, Specialist Researcher at C A S E. The design process was lengthy and complex, because the aims of the survey were complicated. As a first step, CASE gathered together existing youth research and survey data, in order to see what we could learn from them. We then convened a design workshop to assist us. Participants in the C A S E national youth survey for JEP 1 workshop comprised people who had experience with youth, or with survey design. They included John Aitchison (CASE and the Centre for Adult Education, University of Natal), Debbie Budlender (CASE and the National Women's Coalition), Dr Jannie Hofmeyr (Research Surveys), Ms Vanessa Kruger and Professor Ari Sitas (University of Natal), Ms Anne Letsebe (SABSWA), Mr Steve Mokwena (JEP), Mr Rory Riordan (Human Rights Trust) and Dr Jeremy Seekings (University of Cape Town). We also needed input from the youth themselves. Discussion groups with youth (called 'focus groups') were held with youth from Alexandra and Soweto, from Ciskei and the eastern Cape, from Bophuthatswana and the northern transvaal, from Chatsworth and Claremont in Durban, and elsewhere. We reached youth from cities, squatter camps, towns and rural areas. The focus groups were organised by C A S E and Research Surveys, a professional market research company. The youth told us what their concerns were, what their aspirations and fears were, and what interventions they felt are necessary to improve their lives. CASE then designed a draft survey. We had to try it out (called 'piloting') to find out if the survey tapped the youth's actual views and experiences, and so give the JEP the information they sought. The survey was piloted on a representative sample of 100 youth (aged between 16 and 30) by Research Surveys. Using the results of the focus groups and the pilots, the CASE research team then produced the final questionnaire, which went into the field in November/December 1992.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1993-03
'Hayi, they don’t know Xhosa’: Comparative isiXhosa teaching challenges in the Eastern Cape and Gauteng
- Kaschula, Russell H, Kretzer, Michael M
- Authors: Kaschula, Russell H , Kretzer, Michael M
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/${Handle} , vital:42499 , https://doi.org/10.1080/02572117.2019.1672318
- Description: Language-in-education policy in South Africa is underpinned by the Constitution. The gap that this research addresses is the inconsistency of policy implementation and the actual teaching of isiXhosa in primary schools. It analyses the official and overt language policy and the (covert) language practices at schools. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with language teachers and principals. Data were also gathered from classroom observations and document analysis in the Eastern Cape and Gauteng. On the one hand, there are standard language policy documents that exist. These advocate for English as a language of learning and teaching and isiXhosa as a subject. On the other hand, the daily reality in classrooms partly reflects this policy implementation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Kaschula, Russell H , Kretzer, Michael M
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/${Handle} , vital:42499 , https://doi.org/10.1080/02572117.2019.1672318
- Description: Language-in-education policy in South Africa is underpinned by the Constitution. The gap that this research addresses is the inconsistency of policy implementation and the actual teaching of isiXhosa in primary schools. It analyses the official and overt language policy and the (covert) language practices at schools. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with language teachers and principals. Data were also gathered from classroom observations and document analysis in the Eastern Cape and Gauteng. On the one hand, there are standard language policy documents that exist. These advocate for English as a language of learning and teaching and isiXhosa as a subject. On the other hand, the daily reality in classrooms partly reflects this policy implementation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
'Here's to you, Mrs Robinson' : peculiarities and paragraph 29 in determining the treatment of domestic partnerships
- Authors: Kruuse, Helen
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article , text
- Identifier: vital:26388 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/54083
- Description: There is always need of persons not only to discover new truths, and point out when what were once truths are true no longer, but also to commence new practices, and set the example of more enlightened conduct. The law is one of the important architects of social norms. At times, it can be a tool to solve problems, eradicate inequalities, and advance the rights of the disadvantaged. At other times, the law is an anchor and a constraint upon social and ideological advances. With regards to equality and non-traditional partnerships, it seems that law falls into this latter category.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Kruuse, Helen
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article , text
- Identifier: vital:26388 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/54083
- Description: There is always need of persons not only to discover new truths, and point out when what were once truths are true no longer, but also to commence new practices, and set the example of more enlightened conduct. The law is one of the important architects of social norms. At times, it can be a tool to solve problems, eradicate inequalities, and advance the rights of the disadvantaged. At other times, the law is an anchor and a constraint upon social and ideological advances. With regards to equality and non-traditional partnerships, it seems that law falls into this latter category.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
'I always knew I would go to university': a social realist account of student agency: part 1
- Authors: Ellery, Karen , Baxen, Jean
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: article , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/61207 , vital:27990
- Description: Academic development programmes at higher education institutions (HEIs) in South Africa are often underpinned by discourses that view students as deficit. Archer's social realist ontology offers a means of understanding reflexivities and agency of students in the higher education context. Using narrative data and drawing on Archer's (2003) theory of mediation between structure and agency through internal conversations, this study examined the socio-economic background of one particular student, Thando, and his agential journey to arrive at the academy. The analysis reveals Thando has a deliberate and determined stance towards achieving his project of obtaining a tertiary education in order to realise a better life for himself and his family. Despite what could be perceived as constraining socio-cultural conditions, Thando strategically circumvents such restrictions and acts in ways that help him pursue his project. It is argued that student agency needs to take a more central place within academic development programmes in higher education.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Ellery, Karen , Baxen, Jean
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: article , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/61207 , vital:27990
- Description: Academic development programmes at higher education institutions (HEIs) in South Africa are often underpinned by discourses that view students as deficit. Archer's social realist ontology offers a means of understanding reflexivities and agency of students in the higher education context. Using narrative data and drawing on Archer's (2003) theory of mediation between structure and agency through internal conversations, this study examined the socio-economic background of one particular student, Thando, and his agential journey to arrive at the academy. The analysis reveals Thando has a deliberate and determined stance towards achieving his project of obtaining a tertiary education in order to realise a better life for himself and his family. Despite what could be perceived as constraining socio-cultural conditions, Thando strategically circumvents such restrictions and acts in ways that help him pursue his project. It is argued that student agency needs to take a more central place within academic development programmes in higher education.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
'I want to tell the story again': re-telling in selected novels by Jeanette Winterson and Alan Warner
- Authors: Collett, Jenna Lara
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Warner, Alan Criticism and interpretation Winterson, Jeanette, 1959- -- Criticism and interpretation English fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2248 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002291
- Description: This thesis investigates acts of ‘re-telling’ in four selected novels by Jeanette Winterson and Alan Warner.Re-telling, as I have defined it, refers to the re-imagining and re-writing of existing narratives from mythology, fairy tale, and folktale, as well as the re-visioning of scientific discourses and historiography. I argue that this re-telling is representative of a contemporary cultural phenomenon, and is evidence of a postmodern genre that some literary theorists have termed re-visionary fiction. Despite the prevalent re-telling of canonical stories throughout literary history, there is much evidence for the emergence of a specifically contemporary trend of re-visionary literature. Part One of this thesis comprises two chapters which deal with Winterson’s Sexing the Cherry (1989) and Weight (2005) respectively. In these chapters, I argue that, although the feminist and historiographic elements of her work are significant, there exist further motivations for Winterson’s acts of re-telling in both Sexing the Cherry and Weight. In Chapter One, I analyse Winterson’s subversion and re-imagining of historiography, as well as her re-telling of fairy tale, in Sexing the Cherry. Chapter Two provides a discussion of Winterson’s re-telling of the myth of Atlas from Greek mythology, in which she draws on the discourses of science, technology, and autobiography, in Weight. Part Two focuses on Warner’s first two novels, Morvern Callar (1995) and These Demented Lands (1997). In both novels, Warner re-imagines aspects of Christian, Celtic and pagan mythology in order to debunk the validity of biblical archetypes and narratives in a contemporary working-class setting, as well as to endow his protagonist with goddess-like or mythical sensibilities. Chapter Three deals predominantly with Warner’s use of language, which I argue is central to his blending of mythological and contemporary content, while Chapter Four analyses his use of myth in these two novels. This thesis argues that while both Winterson and Warner share many of the aims associated with contemporary re-visionary fiction, their novels also exceed the boundaries of the genre in various ways. Winterson and Warner may, therefore, represent a new class of re-visionary writers, whose aim is not solely to subvert the pre-text but to draw on its generic discourses and thematic conventions in order to demonstrate the generic and discursive possibilities inherent in the act of re-telling.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Collett, Jenna Lara
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Warner, Alan Criticism and interpretation Winterson, Jeanette, 1959- -- Criticism and interpretation English fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2248 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002291
- Description: This thesis investigates acts of ‘re-telling’ in four selected novels by Jeanette Winterson and Alan Warner.Re-telling, as I have defined it, refers to the re-imagining and re-writing of existing narratives from mythology, fairy tale, and folktale, as well as the re-visioning of scientific discourses and historiography. I argue that this re-telling is representative of a contemporary cultural phenomenon, and is evidence of a postmodern genre that some literary theorists have termed re-visionary fiction. Despite the prevalent re-telling of canonical stories throughout literary history, there is much evidence for the emergence of a specifically contemporary trend of re-visionary literature. Part One of this thesis comprises two chapters which deal with Winterson’s Sexing the Cherry (1989) and Weight (2005) respectively. In these chapters, I argue that, although the feminist and historiographic elements of her work are significant, there exist further motivations for Winterson’s acts of re-telling in both Sexing the Cherry and Weight. In Chapter One, I analyse Winterson’s subversion and re-imagining of historiography, as well as her re-telling of fairy tale, in Sexing the Cherry. Chapter Two provides a discussion of Winterson’s re-telling of the myth of Atlas from Greek mythology, in which she draws on the discourses of science, technology, and autobiography, in Weight. Part Two focuses on Warner’s first two novels, Morvern Callar (1995) and These Demented Lands (1997). In both novels, Warner re-imagines aspects of Christian, Celtic and pagan mythology in order to debunk the validity of biblical archetypes and narratives in a contemporary working-class setting, as well as to endow his protagonist with goddess-like or mythical sensibilities. Chapter Three deals predominantly with Warner’s use of language, which I argue is central to his blending of mythological and contemporary content, while Chapter Four analyses his use of myth in these two novels. This thesis argues that while both Winterson and Warner share many of the aims associated with contemporary re-visionary fiction, their novels also exceed the boundaries of the genre in various ways. Winterson and Warner may, therefore, represent a new class of re-visionary writers, whose aim is not solely to subvert the pre-text but to draw on its generic discourses and thematic conventions in order to demonstrate the generic and discursive possibilities inherent in the act of re-telling.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
'I won't be squeezed into someone else's frame': Stories of supervisor selection
- Harrison, Liz, McKenna, Sioux, Searle, Ruth
- Authors: Harrison, Liz , McKenna, Sioux , Searle, Ruth
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/187395 , vital:44629 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC15100"
- Description: Using a collection of stories from a group of women who belong to a PhD support group, this article tracks the issue of choosing a supervisor. These women are all academics and therefore had some claim to an "insider" status but as novice researchers they were also "outsiders". Their discussions around how and why they chose their supervisors highlight issues often underplayed or ignored in textbooks on postgraduate supervision. In particular, this article examines issues of knowledge, embodied subjectivity and power by following three questions that arise from the data : whose knowing is important; who should I be, and whose PhD is it?
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
- Authors: Harrison, Liz , McKenna, Sioux , Searle, Ruth
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/187395 , vital:44629 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC15100"
- Description: Using a collection of stories from a group of women who belong to a PhD support group, this article tracks the issue of choosing a supervisor. These women are all academics and therefore had some claim to an "insider" status but as novice researchers they were also "outsiders". Their discussions around how and why they chose their supervisors highlight issues often underplayed or ignored in textbooks on postgraduate supervision. In particular, this article examines issues of knowledge, embodied subjectivity and power by following three questions that arise from the data : whose knowing is important; who should I be, and whose PhD is it?
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010