Analysis of the pre- to post- apartheid language in education policies: an investigation for multilingualism
- Authors: Zumani, Nobesutu Faith
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Multilingual education -- South Africa , Native language and education -- South Africa Language policy -- South Africa African languages -- Social aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44235 , vital:37140
- Description: The 1997 language policy in basic education promotes multilingualism in basic, education where there is under-utilisation of African languages. The main aim of this study is to investigate the reason for the under-utilisation of African languages in basic education. Transitional bilingual education is practised (TBE) instead of developmental maintenance bilingual education (MBE). The pre and post-apartheid language- in-education policies, including the Constitution, were collected, analysed and interpreted to find out why these languages are not used for education. It was discovered that the legacy of the previous policies has had an influence on the present policy. Also, the escape clauses on the present policy, such as “practicably reasonable,” and “choose,” have an impact on non-implementation of the post-apartheid language policy. The researcher recommends the development of an implementation plan and the revision of powers for SGBs to choose languages for their schools.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Zumani, Nobesutu Faith
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Multilingual education -- South Africa , Native language and education -- South Africa Language policy -- South Africa African languages -- Social aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44235 , vital:37140
- Description: The 1997 language policy in basic education promotes multilingualism in basic, education where there is under-utilisation of African languages. The main aim of this study is to investigate the reason for the under-utilisation of African languages in basic education. Transitional bilingual education is practised (TBE) instead of developmental maintenance bilingual education (MBE). The pre and post-apartheid language- in-education policies, including the Constitution, were collected, analysed and interpreted to find out why these languages are not used for education. It was discovered that the legacy of the previous policies has had an influence on the present policy. Also, the escape clauses on the present policy, such as “practicably reasonable,” and “choose,” have an impact on non-implementation of the post-apartheid language policy. The researcher recommends the development of an implementation plan and the revision of powers for SGBs to choose languages for their schools.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Assessing the use of private sector techniques and strategies in the public sector: the case of the department of provincial treasury & planning, Eastern Cape Province
- Authors: Cembi, Amanda Vuyo Obuhle
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Finance, Public , Finance, Public -- Law and legislation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Financial management Public administration
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/37929 , vital:34264
- Description: The aim of this study was to determine and investigate the extent to which the Department of Treasury and Planning manage public finance making use of relevant private sector techniques and strategies. Financial management is a critical element of good governance and it requires a great deal of attention with parallel internal systems and controls. The study determines the role of various bodies within the public finance environment and the relevant legislative frameworks towards efficient and effective financial management by departments. The Public Finance Management Act(1999) and National Treasury Regulations (2009) require all government departments to ensure accountability on resource allocated to be able to measure value for money in relation to the delivery services to communities. The primary objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness and efficient management of public finance in terms of the PFMA as the legislative framework and the MTEF as a financial management tool. The Constitution Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996) makes a provision that all the three government spheres to be developmental-oriented in nature with clear accountability and transparency lines towards service delivery. On the same breath, The Public Finance Management Act of 1999 (PFMA) is meant “To regulate financial management in the national government and provincial governments; to ensure that all revenue, expenditure, assets and liabilities of those governments are managed efficiently and effectively; to provide for the responsibilities of persons entrusted with financial management in those governments; and to provide for matters connected therewith”. With the above introductory contentions from different authors and researchers, this study will basically be on providing more details on the policy documents namely; PFMA so to establish the nature and extent to which effective and efficient financial management has improved good governance in the Department of Treasury & Planning, Eastern Cape Province.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Cembi, Amanda Vuyo Obuhle
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Finance, Public , Finance, Public -- Law and legislation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Financial management Public administration
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/37929 , vital:34264
- Description: The aim of this study was to determine and investigate the extent to which the Department of Treasury and Planning manage public finance making use of relevant private sector techniques and strategies. Financial management is a critical element of good governance and it requires a great deal of attention with parallel internal systems and controls. The study determines the role of various bodies within the public finance environment and the relevant legislative frameworks towards efficient and effective financial management by departments. The Public Finance Management Act(1999) and National Treasury Regulations (2009) require all government departments to ensure accountability on resource allocated to be able to measure value for money in relation to the delivery services to communities. The primary objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness and efficient management of public finance in terms of the PFMA as the legislative framework and the MTEF as a financial management tool. The Constitution Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996) makes a provision that all the three government spheres to be developmental-oriented in nature with clear accountability and transparency lines towards service delivery. On the same breath, The Public Finance Management Act of 1999 (PFMA) is meant “To regulate financial management in the national government and provincial governments; to ensure that all revenue, expenditure, assets and liabilities of those governments are managed efficiently and effectively; to provide for the responsibilities of persons entrusted with financial management in those governments; and to provide for matters connected therewith”. With the above introductory contentions from different authors and researchers, this study will basically be on providing more details on the policy documents namely; PFMA so to establish the nature and extent to which effective and efficient financial management has improved good governance in the Department of Treasury & Planning, Eastern Cape Province.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Beyond Pierre Hadot’s promethean and orphic framework: critical reflections on Leonardo Dicaprio’s environmental documentaries in relation to the veil of ISIS
- Authors: Kotze, Mieke
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Philosophy of nature , Documentary films -- United States -- History and criticism Environmental films -- United States -- History and criticism Motion pictures -- United States -- History -- 21st century
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/40599 , vital:36186
- Description: In his book The Veil of Isis: An Essay on the History of the Idea of Nature (2006), Pierre Hadot details two opposing paradigmatic attitudes to nature that have prevailed over the ages, namely, the Promethean and Orphic approaches, which entail, respectively, the violent unmasking of nature’s secrets through technology and the gentle approximation of them through aesthetic means. However, while this dichotomy does constitute a useful tool for understanding broad attitudes toward nature, it does not allow for consideration of the more nuanced, responses to nature across the various epochs, including the contemporary context of the looming ecological crisis. For this reason in what follows, Hadot’s Promethean-Orphic binary will be extended into a more comprehensive framework that allows for the contemplation of three additional approaches to nature, namely Socratic withdrawal, Aristotelian-inspired faith in teleology and the Hippocratic pursuit of balance with nature – which Hadot sees as either displaced by or incorporated into the Promethean attitude. Thereafter, various historical epochs will be explored through the lens of this extended Hadotian framework in order to assess the manner in which the abovementioned attitudes and approaches to nature have been adopted and progressively rearticulated, from Archaic Greece to Deleuze’s control society. And it will be advanced that, while at the outset, these approaches were more or less equivalent in terms of their discursive influence, over time Prometheanism, and the rearticulated permutations of Socratic withdrawal and Aristotelian-inspired faith in teleology, have combined to constitute what is here referred to as the Promethean/Socratic/Aristotelian nexus; a nexus which, as will be discussed, has progressively eclipsed the less invasive approaches of Hippocratic balance and Orphism, to the detriment of both nature and human relations to it. The progression of such tendencies will then be examined in relation to the two contemporary environmental films associated with Leonardo DiCaprio, namely The 11th Hour (2007) and Before the Flood (2016). This will be done in order to draw into conspicuity the intensification of discourses surrounding the technological dominance of the environment by humans who have withdrawn from nature, inspired by faith in the telos of the free-market economy, along with and the attendant marginalization of balance-seeking and aesthetically-oriented approaches to nature. Furthermore, it will be advanced, in concluding that such discursive patterns could account for the widespread apathy and indifference which characterizes contemporary responses to the environmental crisis.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Kotze, Mieke
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Philosophy of nature , Documentary films -- United States -- History and criticism Environmental films -- United States -- History and criticism Motion pictures -- United States -- History -- 21st century
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/40599 , vital:36186
- Description: In his book The Veil of Isis: An Essay on the History of the Idea of Nature (2006), Pierre Hadot details two opposing paradigmatic attitudes to nature that have prevailed over the ages, namely, the Promethean and Orphic approaches, which entail, respectively, the violent unmasking of nature’s secrets through technology and the gentle approximation of them through aesthetic means. However, while this dichotomy does constitute a useful tool for understanding broad attitudes toward nature, it does not allow for consideration of the more nuanced, responses to nature across the various epochs, including the contemporary context of the looming ecological crisis. For this reason in what follows, Hadot’s Promethean-Orphic binary will be extended into a more comprehensive framework that allows for the contemplation of three additional approaches to nature, namely Socratic withdrawal, Aristotelian-inspired faith in teleology and the Hippocratic pursuit of balance with nature – which Hadot sees as either displaced by or incorporated into the Promethean attitude. Thereafter, various historical epochs will be explored through the lens of this extended Hadotian framework in order to assess the manner in which the abovementioned attitudes and approaches to nature have been adopted and progressively rearticulated, from Archaic Greece to Deleuze’s control society. And it will be advanced that, while at the outset, these approaches were more or less equivalent in terms of their discursive influence, over time Prometheanism, and the rearticulated permutations of Socratic withdrawal and Aristotelian-inspired faith in teleology, have combined to constitute what is here referred to as the Promethean/Socratic/Aristotelian nexus; a nexus which, as will be discussed, has progressively eclipsed the less invasive approaches of Hippocratic balance and Orphism, to the detriment of both nature and human relations to it. The progression of such tendencies will then be examined in relation to the two contemporary environmental films associated with Leonardo DiCaprio, namely The 11th Hour (2007) and Before the Flood (2016). This will be done in order to draw into conspicuity the intensification of discourses surrounding the technological dominance of the environment by humans who have withdrawn from nature, inspired by faith in the telos of the free-market economy, along with and the attendant marginalization of balance-seeking and aesthetically-oriented approaches to nature. Furthermore, it will be advanced, in concluding that such discursive patterns could account for the widespread apathy and indifference which characterizes contemporary responses to the environmental crisis.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Challenging the aesthetics and functionality of metals in contemporary blacksmithing
- Authors: Lucas, Justin
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Art metal-work , Blacksmithing Ironwork
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/40533 , vital:36180
- Description: A forge allows the creation of both utilitarian craftwork and artworks. It is difficult to find blacksmiths who are willing to pass on their knowledge, particularly in South Africa where the art of blacksmithing is practised by a small number of individuals who rely on their labour for an income. This dissertation documents the building of a forge and what is needed to practise the art of blacksmithing, sourcing of the materials, and the application of blacksmithing to make pleasing artefacts. The document includes the processes of forge tool-making, providing an avenue for future students to fabricate tools and use the processes for art-making as well as list of suppliers and list of blacksmiths in South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Lucas, Justin
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Art metal-work , Blacksmithing Ironwork
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/40533 , vital:36180
- Description: A forge allows the creation of both utilitarian craftwork and artworks. It is difficult to find blacksmiths who are willing to pass on their knowledge, particularly in South Africa where the art of blacksmithing is practised by a small number of individuals who rely on their labour for an income. This dissertation documents the building of a forge and what is needed to practise the art of blacksmithing, sourcing of the materials, and the application of blacksmithing to make pleasing artefacts. The document includes the processes of forge tool-making, providing an avenue for future students to fabricate tools and use the processes for art-making as well as list of suppliers and list of blacksmiths in South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Exploring workplace conflict, case study of a day care centre, Nyanga, Western Cape: a conflict management perspective
- Authors: Williams, Annuschka, Angela
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Conflict management -- South Africa -- Cape Town , Mediation and conciliation, Industrial Interpersonal conflict Organizational behavior Teams in the workplace
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44412 , vital:37166
- Description: This study sought to explore a workplace conflict case study through a conflict management framework in an effort to offer recommendations to the organisation. The study was located in a day care centre, which has been in existence for over 15 years and which provides a number of health and social support services, and capacity-building opportunities for children, women and youth. The study presents a literature review and theoretical framework on conflict, workplace conflict and work conflict management as a backdrop for the empirical investigation. The study employed a qualitative research design and methodology. The study found that the conflict in the organisation has multiple bases, of which communication, structure and values are the major contributors. The conflict is both affective and substantive in nature. The essential divining force is the perceived and felt change in the organisational value and orientation which links to the historic versus the emerging developmental approach driving the organisational programmes.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Williams, Annuschka, Angela
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Conflict management -- South Africa -- Cape Town , Mediation and conciliation, Industrial Interpersonal conflict Organizational behavior Teams in the workplace
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44412 , vital:37166
- Description: This study sought to explore a workplace conflict case study through a conflict management framework in an effort to offer recommendations to the organisation. The study was located in a day care centre, which has been in existence for over 15 years and which provides a number of health and social support services, and capacity-building opportunities for children, women and youth. The study presents a literature review and theoretical framework on conflict, workplace conflict and work conflict management as a backdrop for the empirical investigation. The study employed a qualitative research design and methodology. The study found that the conflict in the organisation has multiple bases, of which communication, structure and values are the major contributors. The conflict is both affective and substantive in nature. The essential divining force is the perceived and felt change in the organisational value and orientation which links to the historic versus the emerging developmental approach driving the organisational programmes.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2019
Improving public participation through ward based planning in Port St Johns Local Municipality
- Authors: Koninga, Siyabonga
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Public participation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44720 , vital:38158
- Description: This research study deals with ways in which to improve public participation through ward based planning in Port St Johns local municipality. Public participation in South Africa is important, as it is the backbone of the democratic state that was introduced by the 1994 democratic elections. Public participation is essentially a process that engages communities from the planning phase to the implementation and evaluation phases of a particular activity or project. Public participation has become a key aspect of South African planning and is a recurring theme in several legislative and theoretical documents. Public participation is a principle that is accepted throughout all spheres of government. It is important because it is the only method whereby government can gain a sense of the needs and aspirations of the various communities. With specific reference to municipalities, public participation is enhanced through the establishment of ward based planning. The Port St Johns ward based planning process has not only been an opportunity for households and communities to contribute to the integrated development plan (IDP), it has also provided them with access to information. This is the first step towards re-skilling our people to participate in the knowledge economy. The ward based planning process provides a link between municipal level planning and delivery and activities at ward level. Port St Johns’ ward based planning process is the vehicle for entrenching participation in the IDP in order to maximise co-ordination and synergy between priorities and municipal programs. The main objective and aim of the study was to advance recommendations that may be adopted as solutions to Port St Johns’ municipal management for improving a strategy for the public to participate in municipal activities. In conclusion, this study found that community based planning does influence the municipality’s integrated development plan but its effectiveness lies in proper planning and giving it the attention it deserves as one of the tools to be used to improve public participation in the affairs of the Port St Johns Municipality.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Koninga, Siyabonga
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Public participation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44720 , vital:38158
- Description: This research study deals with ways in which to improve public participation through ward based planning in Port St Johns local municipality. Public participation in South Africa is important, as it is the backbone of the democratic state that was introduced by the 1994 democratic elections. Public participation is essentially a process that engages communities from the planning phase to the implementation and evaluation phases of a particular activity or project. Public participation has become a key aspect of South African planning and is a recurring theme in several legislative and theoretical documents. Public participation is a principle that is accepted throughout all spheres of government. It is important because it is the only method whereby government can gain a sense of the needs and aspirations of the various communities. With specific reference to municipalities, public participation is enhanced through the establishment of ward based planning. The Port St Johns ward based planning process has not only been an opportunity for households and communities to contribute to the integrated development plan (IDP), it has also provided them with access to information. This is the first step towards re-skilling our people to participate in the knowledge economy. The ward based planning process provides a link between municipal level planning and delivery and activities at ward level. Port St Johns’ ward based planning process is the vehicle for entrenching participation in the IDP in order to maximise co-ordination and synergy between priorities and municipal programs. The main objective and aim of the study was to advance recommendations that may be adopted as solutions to Port St Johns’ municipal management for improving a strategy for the public to participate in municipal activities. In conclusion, this study found that community based planning does influence the municipality’s integrated development plan but its effectiveness lies in proper planning and giving it the attention it deserves as one of the tools to be used to improve public participation in the affairs of the Port St Johns Municipality.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Investigating the effects of performance appraisal in the department of water and sanitation: a study of southern operations regional office
- Authors: Adonis, Phelisa
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Employees -- Rating of
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/40226 , vital:35983
- Description: This research examined the use of a personnel performance appraisal, a component of performance management system to evaluate employees at the Southern Operation Region Office of the Department of Water and Sanitation, Port Elizabeth and how this affects their performance. Writers in the available literature, contend that the objective of performance appraisal policy is to review work performance and provide feedback to facilitate measures and programmes to improve employee performance. Cascio and Aginis (2011:73) write that performance appraisal is a systematic description of individual or group job-relevant strengths and weaknesses as an important part of a performance management system. The study firstly analyses the effectiveness of performance appraisal in evaluating the management of the utilisation of resources. Secondly, the appropriateness of the tool in assessing the capacity of employees and contributing towards facilitating programmes and training to develop employee effectiveness. Thirdly, the study also examined the perception of employees on the use of performance appraisal as a management tool in the Department of Water and Sanitation Regional Operation Office. The study adopted a mainly qualitative methodological approach and purposively selected a sample of 30 employees at the Southern Operation Region Office of the Department of Water and Sanitation in Port Elizabeth who completed the questionnaire for the study. The choice of the qualitative research methodology is due to the fact that the approach is well suited to the collection of in-depth and perceptual information and for discovering underlying motivations and perceptions of the employees as respondents. The general employees at the area chosen for the study is one of a relatively young employee profile. The average age of the employees is about 28. The findings revealed that competence, assessment and development, communication and the adequate training which employees received based on the performance appraisal all had an impact on employee performance in Department of Water and Sanitation. Furthermore, factors, such as employee training, competence and communication could not be ignored since they were rated to a moderate extent v by the employees and it also contributed to employee performance. The study findings specifically highlight the importance of effective communication between the employer and the employees in order to improve employee performance appraisal processes. The study recommends a set of guidelines which could be used in improving the current performance appraisal policy and further boost employee performance.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Adonis, Phelisa
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Employees -- Rating of
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/40226 , vital:35983
- Description: This research examined the use of a personnel performance appraisal, a component of performance management system to evaluate employees at the Southern Operation Region Office of the Department of Water and Sanitation, Port Elizabeth and how this affects their performance. Writers in the available literature, contend that the objective of performance appraisal policy is to review work performance and provide feedback to facilitate measures and programmes to improve employee performance. Cascio and Aginis (2011:73) write that performance appraisal is a systematic description of individual or group job-relevant strengths and weaknesses as an important part of a performance management system. The study firstly analyses the effectiveness of performance appraisal in evaluating the management of the utilisation of resources. Secondly, the appropriateness of the tool in assessing the capacity of employees and contributing towards facilitating programmes and training to develop employee effectiveness. Thirdly, the study also examined the perception of employees on the use of performance appraisal as a management tool in the Department of Water and Sanitation Regional Operation Office. The study adopted a mainly qualitative methodological approach and purposively selected a sample of 30 employees at the Southern Operation Region Office of the Department of Water and Sanitation in Port Elizabeth who completed the questionnaire for the study. The choice of the qualitative research methodology is due to the fact that the approach is well suited to the collection of in-depth and perceptual information and for discovering underlying motivations and perceptions of the employees as respondents. The general employees at the area chosen for the study is one of a relatively young employee profile. The average age of the employees is about 28. The findings revealed that competence, assessment and development, communication and the adequate training which employees received based on the performance appraisal all had an impact on employee performance in Department of Water and Sanitation. Furthermore, factors, such as employee training, competence and communication could not be ignored since they were rated to a moderate extent v by the employees and it also contributed to employee performance. The study findings specifically highlight the importance of effective communication between the employer and the employees in order to improve employee performance appraisal processes. The study recommends a set of guidelines which could be used in improving the current performance appraisal policy and further boost employee performance.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Investigating the employee turnover of educators in selected schools in the Butterworth Education District
- Authors: Siganagana, Zimkitha
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Employee turnover
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44634 , vital:38157
- Description: The aim of this study is to investigate the employee turnover of educators in the Butterworth Education District. In order to achieve this goal, it was necessary to review the literature on human resource management. The motivation of job satisfaction was used to utilise the full potential people so as to ensure quality products and services. This is a very complex issue owing to the wide range of internal and external factors that impact on it. The study employed a literature study to examine the employee turnover. Moreover, the study discussed the types, consequences and factors influencing employee turnover. It also discussed retaining strategies, steps to manage employee turnover and methods to reduce employee turnover. The findings of the study revealed that an overview of human resource management plays a key role in determining the survival, effectiveness and competitiveness of an organisation. Factors influencing employee turnover determine employee turnover, and one of these is the labour market, which is determined by economic conditions. The findings also revealed that the causes and consequences of employee turnover can impact both negatively and positively to the organisation. Thus, the management of the Department of Education should perhaps adopt intervention strategies to control the main factors. In this regard, the study made recommendations for the motivation of educators in carrying out the core business of teaching and learning. This would involve the adequate allocation of all resources and benefits that surround teaching and learning and the introduction of a retention policy, which might encourage qualified and productive employees to continue working for the Department and reduce the unwanted voluntary turnover of valuable employees.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Siganagana, Zimkitha
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Employee turnover
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44634 , vital:38157
- Description: The aim of this study is to investigate the employee turnover of educators in the Butterworth Education District. In order to achieve this goal, it was necessary to review the literature on human resource management. The motivation of job satisfaction was used to utilise the full potential people so as to ensure quality products and services. This is a very complex issue owing to the wide range of internal and external factors that impact on it. The study employed a literature study to examine the employee turnover. Moreover, the study discussed the types, consequences and factors influencing employee turnover. It also discussed retaining strategies, steps to manage employee turnover and methods to reduce employee turnover. The findings of the study revealed that an overview of human resource management plays a key role in determining the survival, effectiveness and competitiveness of an organisation. Factors influencing employee turnover determine employee turnover, and one of these is the labour market, which is determined by economic conditions. The findings also revealed that the causes and consequences of employee turnover can impact both negatively and positively to the organisation. Thus, the management of the Department of Education should perhaps adopt intervention strategies to control the main factors. In this regard, the study made recommendations for the motivation of educators in carrying out the core business of teaching and learning. This would involve the adequate allocation of all resources and benefits that surround teaching and learning and the introduction of a retention policy, which might encourage qualified and productive employees to continue working for the Department and reduce the unwanted voluntary turnover of valuable employees.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Music listening and its cognitive effect on learning
- Authors: Freer, Angela Elizabeth
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Music -- Psychological aspects , Music therapy Cognitive learning Music appreciation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MMus
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/39807 , vital:35462
- Description: This experimental study focuses on the activity of music-listening and its effect on students’ learning and memory. This is particularly relevant today given the ‘sound-consuming culture’ which results from advanced multimedia technologies. To determine music-listening’s effect on students, we examined the cognitive effect that music-listening had on their memory and learning. A non-probability convenience sampling technique was employed to recruit a limited population of 227 male and female participants from three Port Elizabeth high schools between the Grades of 8 and 9. A ‘two group design’ was used with 189 students (54 males; 123 females) completing a word-recall test and reading comprehension test. During the first round of testing all participants completed both tests under the first music treatment condition: silence. During the second round of testing, a second set of tests was provided with the experimental group placed under a treatment condition of self-selected background music while the control group remained under the condition of silence. Independent sample t-tests were used to analyse the data of this study. The results showed that listening to self-selected background music had a negative cognitive effect on students’ memory and learning during the completion of the word-recall tests. However, no significant effect was found in students’ ability to complete a reading comprehension. In addition, this study also showed that female students seemed to have significant negative cognitive effect during the word-recall test. The findings of this study therefore showed that, depending on the task, word-recall tests (but not reading comprehension tests) were cognitively affected by music-listening.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Freer, Angela Elizabeth
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Music -- Psychological aspects , Music therapy Cognitive learning Music appreciation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MMus
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/39807 , vital:35462
- Description: This experimental study focuses on the activity of music-listening and its effect on students’ learning and memory. This is particularly relevant today given the ‘sound-consuming culture’ which results from advanced multimedia technologies. To determine music-listening’s effect on students, we examined the cognitive effect that music-listening had on their memory and learning. A non-probability convenience sampling technique was employed to recruit a limited population of 227 male and female participants from three Port Elizabeth high schools between the Grades of 8 and 9. A ‘two group design’ was used with 189 students (54 males; 123 females) completing a word-recall test and reading comprehension test. During the first round of testing all participants completed both tests under the first music treatment condition: silence. During the second round of testing, a second set of tests was provided with the experimental group placed under a treatment condition of self-selected background music while the control group remained under the condition of silence. Independent sample t-tests were used to analyse the data of this study. The results showed that listening to self-selected background music had a negative cognitive effect on students’ memory and learning during the completion of the word-recall tests. However, no significant effect was found in students’ ability to complete a reading comprehension. In addition, this study also showed that female students seemed to have significant negative cognitive effect during the word-recall test. The findings of this study therefore showed that, depending on the task, word-recall tests (but not reading comprehension tests) were cognitively affected by music-listening.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Nostalgia in reimagining the past: the subjectivity of memory in the representation of history. a textual analysis of Rehad Desai's documentary films
- Authors: Dlamini, Philani Vincent
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Documentary films
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44591 , vital:38159
- Description: South Africa occupies a unique space in terms of the decolonization of the continent of Africa. While massive projects of decolonization where happening across the continent, South Africa was subjected to a conservative and racialised project of segregation. This arrested development makes for an interesting anachronism in South Africa as disconcerting “ThirdWorld” and “First-World” economies emerged creating an anomalous temporality. I was born just a month before the inimitable Ruth First was unceremoniously assassinated in Mozambique in 1982. While further South, one of the most underreported conflicts of apartheid South Africa was in its nascent stages no further than a kilometer away from my house. I am referring of course to the violent clashes between factions of both the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the African National Congress (ANC), played in the men’s hostel of the third largest township in the country, Umlazi, South of Durban. These would only come to have meaning to me later, when I was at university. I mention these cultural and perhaps socio-political artefacts in so far as they relate to the kind of environment that lead to this research enquiry. Which is to say that as social beings, we are in fact products of the things that affect the social environment that we exist in. This is not a new idea. What is particularly interesting for this enquiry is the eclecticism of the emblems that survive to shapes one’s own identity and perception of the world around them. Within the above stated mini-biography lies a complex matrix of emotions and extrapolated meanings mediated through a conflicted and negotiated understanding of what the social history of South Africa meant for my own personal history. This paper is an attempt to think through articulations of time as they are constituted by future-orientated subjectivities extending back to varied pasts. It does so by exploring a recent work of black South African self-writing, Jacob Dlamini’s Native Nostalgia (2009). Considering the text’s treatment of time, I argue that porous conceptions of temporality open up possibilities for self-enunciation. What Paul Gilroy has described as “the signs of sameness” (2000, 101). Meaning that these could be quantified and as such researchable and in fact applied across various cultural texts (including but not limited to film). The body of work from South African documentary filmmaker Rehad Desai provides an interesting case study to examine Jacob Dlamini’s thematic pre-occupations with nostalgia. Nostalgia here is used to see if such pre-occupations can be applied to a filmic body of work. Desai’s body of work is interesting to this enquiry because it almost exclusively deals with the temporalities of South Africa as “refracted through the prism of the past”. By this I mean Desai through his work appears to reflect on South Africa’s storied past as it affects current happenings. It is the intention of this paper to argue that Desai deals with his subject (the evolution of the South African political landscape) in similar terms to the way Jacob Dlamini explores the notion of reflective nostalgia.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Dlamini, Philani Vincent
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Documentary films
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44591 , vital:38159
- Description: South Africa occupies a unique space in terms of the decolonization of the continent of Africa. While massive projects of decolonization where happening across the continent, South Africa was subjected to a conservative and racialised project of segregation. This arrested development makes for an interesting anachronism in South Africa as disconcerting “ThirdWorld” and “First-World” economies emerged creating an anomalous temporality. I was born just a month before the inimitable Ruth First was unceremoniously assassinated in Mozambique in 1982. While further South, one of the most underreported conflicts of apartheid South Africa was in its nascent stages no further than a kilometer away from my house. I am referring of course to the violent clashes between factions of both the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the African National Congress (ANC), played in the men’s hostel of the third largest township in the country, Umlazi, South of Durban. These would only come to have meaning to me later, when I was at university. I mention these cultural and perhaps socio-political artefacts in so far as they relate to the kind of environment that lead to this research enquiry. Which is to say that as social beings, we are in fact products of the things that affect the social environment that we exist in. This is not a new idea. What is particularly interesting for this enquiry is the eclecticism of the emblems that survive to shapes one’s own identity and perception of the world around them. Within the above stated mini-biography lies a complex matrix of emotions and extrapolated meanings mediated through a conflicted and negotiated understanding of what the social history of South Africa meant for my own personal history. This paper is an attempt to think through articulations of time as they are constituted by future-orientated subjectivities extending back to varied pasts. It does so by exploring a recent work of black South African self-writing, Jacob Dlamini’s Native Nostalgia (2009). Considering the text’s treatment of time, I argue that porous conceptions of temporality open up possibilities for self-enunciation. What Paul Gilroy has described as “the signs of sameness” (2000, 101). Meaning that these could be quantified and as such researchable and in fact applied across various cultural texts (including but not limited to film). The body of work from South African documentary filmmaker Rehad Desai provides an interesting case study to examine Jacob Dlamini’s thematic pre-occupations with nostalgia. Nostalgia here is used to see if such pre-occupations can be applied to a filmic body of work. Desai’s body of work is interesting to this enquiry because it almost exclusively deals with the temporalities of South Africa as “refracted through the prism of the past”. By this I mean Desai through his work appears to reflect on South Africa’s storied past as it affects current happenings. It is the intention of this paper to argue that Desai deals with his subject (the evolution of the South African political landscape) in similar terms to the way Jacob Dlamini explores the notion of reflective nostalgia.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Re-imagining the Animal in J.M. Coetzee’s The Lives of Animals
- Authors: Wattam, Mcleod Amy
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Animal rights -- Philosophy , Animal welfare -- Moral and ethical aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/45781 , vital:38963
- Description: .M. Coetzee’s The Lives of Animals (1999) is a literary representation of, and intervention into, human-animal relations. It is an experimental literary destabilisation of the generic boundaries that underlie the systematic (mis)representation and (mis)treatment of nonhuman animals, specifically their mass commodification in contemporary societies. The text provides a critique and negotiation of anthropocentric reason and its ramifications for nonhuman animals. This study focuses on how Coetzee’s narrative problematises dominant discourses through questioning their authority and offering alternatives to anthropocentric conceptions of the animal that are based upon reason-centred and dualistic thought. The duality of human versus animal is explored alongside other dualities deconstructed in the text, such as fiction versus nonfiction, and philosophy versus literature. Coetzee’s representation of these constructs and their interconnectedness is investigated, specifically with regards to positively developing human-animal relations. Through exploring what Coetzee calls the ‘sympathetic imagination’, his alternative contribution to the field of human-animal relations will be considered. This study focuses on the space for re-imagination that Coetzee has provided with The Lives of Animals. It highlights the role literature can and ought to play in this re-imagination, and why this re-imagination is necessary for the development of human-animal relations. Posthumanism will be used as a theoretical lens throughout, as it appears to resonate closely with Coetzee’s project. Both the form and the content of the text will be analysed, highlighting their interconnected significance in Coetzee’s project and the continued relevance of interventions such as this.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Wattam, Mcleod Amy
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Animal rights -- Philosophy , Animal welfare -- Moral and ethical aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/45781 , vital:38963
- Description: .M. Coetzee’s The Lives of Animals (1999) is a literary representation of, and intervention into, human-animal relations. It is an experimental literary destabilisation of the generic boundaries that underlie the systematic (mis)representation and (mis)treatment of nonhuman animals, specifically their mass commodification in contemporary societies. The text provides a critique and negotiation of anthropocentric reason and its ramifications for nonhuman animals. This study focuses on how Coetzee’s narrative problematises dominant discourses through questioning their authority and offering alternatives to anthropocentric conceptions of the animal that are based upon reason-centred and dualistic thought. The duality of human versus animal is explored alongside other dualities deconstructed in the text, such as fiction versus nonfiction, and philosophy versus literature. Coetzee’s representation of these constructs and their interconnectedness is investigated, specifically with regards to positively developing human-animal relations. Through exploring what Coetzee calls the ‘sympathetic imagination’, his alternative contribution to the field of human-animal relations will be considered. This study focuses on the space for re-imagination that Coetzee has provided with The Lives of Animals. It highlights the role literature can and ought to play in this re-imagination, and why this re-imagination is necessary for the development of human-animal relations. Posthumanism will be used as a theoretical lens throughout, as it appears to resonate closely with Coetzee’s project. Both the form and the content of the text will be analysed, highlighting their interconnected significance in Coetzee’s project and the continued relevance of interventions such as this.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Resistance: revealing and exposing the constructions of societal control
- Authors: Vaghmaria, Nishil Rishik
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Art, Modern -- 21st century -- Research , Aesthetics Artists -- South Africa -- Exhibitions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/43710 , vital:37035
- Description: This practice based visual arts investigation was triggered by the researcher’s social understandings and personal concern about societal control on the individual, and his resistance to the negative effects of consumerism and capitalism. Through this research project he aims to reveal and expose the workings of those systems of control visually. He pays particular attention to our current global, cultural and socio-political, economic order and the limitations that are imposed on the individual in terms of freedom of choice and expression, and through both the written work and the practical work he aims to influence a revolution of the mind and to encourage critical consciousness and awareness on the part of its audience regarding how individuals are manipulated, distracted and seduced into conformity. As an outcome of his research, and of his intention to act as an agent for socially aware creative practice, he presents a tentative framework for the use of emerging, socially conscious artists and educators. The practical component of this study is focused around the creation and display of graffiti-influenced images in both public and gallery spaces. The researcher makes extensive use of the SI’s subversive artistic technique of Détournement as he engages with the notion of ‘distraction’. This project, with its dual focus on text and on the creation of artworks in both public and gallery spaces, is intended as a contribution to the search for new critical understandings and diagnostic terminologies around social control.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Vaghmaria, Nishil Rishik
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Art, Modern -- 21st century -- Research , Aesthetics Artists -- South Africa -- Exhibitions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/43710 , vital:37035
- Description: This practice based visual arts investigation was triggered by the researcher’s social understandings and personal concern about societal control on the individual, and his resistance to the negative effects of consumerism and capitalism. Through this research project he aims to reveal and expose the workings of those systems of control visually. He pays particular attention to our current global, cultural and socio-political, economic order and the limitations that are imposed on the individual in terms of freedom of choice and expression, and through both the written work and the practical work he aims to influence a revolution of the mind and to encourage critical consciousness and awareness on the part of its audience regarding how individuals are manipulated, distracted and seduced into conformity. As an outcome of his research, and of his intention to act as an agent for socially aware creative practice, he presents a tentative framework for the use of emerging, socially conscious artists and educators. The practical component of this study is focused around the creation and display of graffiti-influenced images in both public and gallery spaces. The researcher makes extensive use of the SI’s subversive artistic technique of Détournement as he engages with the notion of ‘distraction’. This project, with its dual focus on text and on the creation of artworks in both public and gallery spaces, is intended as a contribution to the search for new critical understandings and diagnostic terminologies around social control.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Role of councillors in the roll-out of the national development plan: the case of Chris Hani District Municipality
- Authors: Fololo, Ncumisa Kanyisa
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Political leadership -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Municipal officials and employees -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Local government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/42129 , vital:36628
- Description: The study wants to establish the level of awareness of councillors of their role and responsibility in the National Development Plan as public representatives who are required to provide sustainable ways to meet the socio-economic needs of communities and improve the quality of life. The interest was triggered by the fact that even though the National Development Plan is a national document but its implementation and success will be gauged through the improved lives of community that are led by councillors. All the envisaged programmes and activities that are reflected in the NDP will be implemented in the municipal areas hence councillors as community leaders should be the champions of such. Their contribution as public representatives in the implementation of the NDP is vital and key. The study adopted a case study design that assisted in establishing what is required from councillors in the implementation of the NDP as they plan for communities and municipal officials as a supporting and implementing arm of the council. Qualitative and quantitative data collection instruments were used to collect data. Data collection tools used to obtain information from the councillors and municipal officials were written self-administered questionnaires for councillors and face to face interviews for municipal officials. For councillors the study reflected on their lack in carrying their fiduciary duties in providing leadership and guidance through proper planning and oversight. They have to a certain degree viewed the NDP as political document rather than a government planning framework tool. For municipal officials, the study highlighted their lack of ownership of the NDP which they view it as a separate document rather than considering that the national developed the National Spatial Development Perspective, Provinces, the Provincial Development and Growth Strategies and local government had to develop their Integrated Development Plans and all those were the strategic planning documents to drive development forward, however without having a long term vision which is called by many countries, National Development Plan to provide framework for all these documents. Subsequently, the study made a set of recommendations in this regard.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Fololo, Ncumisa Kanyisa
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Political leadership -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Municipal officials and employees -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Local government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/42129 , vital:36628
- Description: The study wants to establish the level of awareness of councillors of their role and responsibility in the National Development Plan as public representatives who are required to provide sustainable ways to meet the socio-economic needs of communities and improve the quality of life. The interest was triggered by the fact that even though the National Development Plan is a national document but its implementation and success will be gauged through the improved lives of community that are led by councillors. All the envisaged programmes and activities that are reflected in the NDP will be implemented in the municipal areas hence councillors as community leaders should be the champions of such. Their contribution as public representatives in the implementation of the NDP is vital and key. The study adopted a case study design that assisted in establishing what is required from councillors in the implementation of the NDP as they plan for communities and municipal officials as a supporting and implementing arm of the council. Qualitative and quantitative data collection instruments were used to collect data. Data collection tools used to obtain information from the councillors and municipal officials were written self-administered questionnaires for councillors and face to face interviews for municipal officials. For councillors the study reflected on their lack in carrying their fiduciary duties in providing leadership and guidance through proper planning and oversight. They have to a certain degree viewed the NDP as political document rather than a government planning framework tool. For municipal officials, the study highlighted their lack of ownership of the NDP which they view it as a separate document rather than considering that the national developed the National Spatial Development Perspective, Provinces, the Provincial Development and Growth Strategies and local government had to develop their Integrated Development Plans and all those were the strategic planning documents to drive development forward, however without having a long term vision which is called by many countries, National Development Plan to provide framework for all these documents. Subsequently, the study made a set of recommendations in this regard.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Structural violence on economically independent women aged between 30 and 50 years in Nairobi
- Authors: Ndungu, Shelmith
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Women -- Violence against -- Kenya -- Nairobi , Sex role -- Kenya -- Nairobi Social role -- Kenya -- Nairobi Women -- Economic conditions Women and socialism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/42891 , vital:36703
- Description: The reasons patriarchal structural violence on economically independent women continues to happen are not fully understood. Most studies have been focused on socio-economic factors that influence women to stay in abusive relationships and the interventions that address these factors. However, the problem goes beyond economic ability. This study aimed to provide insight which can serve as the basis for remedial action and ultimately the development of an international standard prohibiting women’s abuse and domestic violence in families. The study focused on two key objectives; the role of culture and patriarchy in maintaining structural violence. The study aimed to investigate how these variables influence women’s decision to continue staying in abusive relationships. The target population was people working in non-governmental organisations which deal with domestic violence survivors in Nairobi, Kenya. A sample of 12 respondents was utilised in a qualitative study. The study employed qualitative interviews whose data were thematically analysed. Results indicate that gender based violence can start early in the relationship sometimes even during courtship. What changes over time is the severity of the violence. The main type of abuse experienced by the women visiting the sampled centres was physical abuse. The main reason given for staying in an abusive relationship is the fear that their children would be abused if left with the abusive partner. Societal norms also emerged as a barrier for women in abusive relationships. The study recommends creation of awareness in the general population on how to identify gender-based violence for the purpose of intervention.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Ndungu, Shelmith
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Women -- Violence against -- Kenya -- Nairobi , Sex role -- Kenya -- Nairobi Social role -- Kenya -- Nairobi Women -- Economic conditions Women and socialism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/42891 , vital:36703
- Description: The reasons patriarchal structural violence on economically independent women continues to happen are not fully understood. Most studies have been focused on socio-economic factors that influence women to stay in abusive relationships and the interventions that address these factors. However, the problem goes beyond economic ability. This study aimed to provide insight which can serve as the basis for remedial action and ultimately the development of an international standard prohibiting women’s abuse and domestic violence in families. The study focused on two key objectives; the role of culture and patriarchy in maintaining structural violence. The study aimed to investigate how these variables influence women’s decision to continue staying in abusive relationships. The target population was people working in non-governmental organisations which deal with domestic violence survivors in Nairobi, Kenya. A sample of 12 respondents was utilised in a qualitative study. The study employed qualitative interviews whose data were thematically analysed. Results indicate that gender based violence can start early in the relationship sometimes even during courtship. What changes over time is the severity of the violence. The main type of abuse experienced by the women visiting the sampled centres was physical abuse. The main reason given for staying in an abusive relationship is the fear that their children would be abused if left with the abusive partner. Societal norms also emerged as a barrier for women in abusive relationships. The study recommends creation of awareness in the general population on how to identify gender-based violence for the purpose of intervention.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
The aesthetic manifestations of nothingness in contemporary visual arts practice
- Authors: Munnick, Robyn Therése
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Art -- Research
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/41625 , vital:36546
- Description: The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the notion of nothingness and how it [nothingness] is the conceptual and theoretical foundation for my practice. Furthermore, within this study I explicate how my art uses my mother’s battle with cancer and the subsequent void it created in me as source material for the artistic expression of nothingness. The diagnosis which followed by a physical and emotional absence of the matriarch of my family, led to an emotional trauma that triggered a feeling of nothingness within me. The overarching problem in the study is therefore how this nothingness could be expressed in my art. Nothingness, as a product of expectation, is a notion which refers to where something used to be, should be or is not anymore, and attempts to grasp what is there by not being there. In attempting to express nothingness, the research aimed to build on an exploration of the various materials and modes utilized in order to underpin the research objectives. The primary mode of delivery for my art-making process is painting. However, through strengthening the messages and meaning of the hypothesis of nothingness within my art and research, the use of further modes and materials became pivotal. This involved the use of unconventional contrasting modes within painting such as the cloth doily, thread, tubing, ceramics, food colour, spray paint, PVA, plaster, wooden boxes and fragments thereof. These materials and modes were vital in visualising and aestheticising the conceptual underpinnings of the research. As a result, this strengthened and emancipated my art from the traditional bounds of pure painting. Methods of data gathering took the form of artefacts, document analysis and field notes in the form of photographic journaling. Ultimately my body of work and research validates that the idea of nothingness can be artistically explored.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Munnick, Robyn Therése
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Art -- Research
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/41625 , vital:36546
- Description: The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the notion of nothingness and how it [nothingness] is the conceptual and theoretical foundation for my practice. Furthermore, within this study I explicate how my art uses my mother’s battle with cancer and the subsequent void it created in me as source material for the artistic expression of nothingness. The diagnosis which followed by a physical and emotional absence of the matriarch of my family, led to an emotional trauma that triggered a feeling of nothingness within me. The overarching problem in the study is therefore how this nothingness could be expressed in my art. Nothingness, as a product of expectation, is a notion which refers to where something used to be, should be or is not anymore, and attempts to grasp what is there by not being there. In attempting to express nothingness, the research aimed to build on an exploration of the various materials and modes utilized in order to underpin the research objectives. The primary mode of delivery for my art-making process is painting. However, through strengthening the messages and meaning of the hypothesis of nothingness within my art and research, the use of further modes and materials became pivotal. This involved the use of unconventional contrasting modes within painting such as the cloth doily, thread, tubing, ceramics, food colour, spray paint, PVA, plaster, wooden boxes and fragments thereof. These materials and modes were vital in visualising and aestheticising the conceptual underpinnings of the research. As a result, this strengthened and emancipated my art from the traditional bounds of pure painting. Methods of data gathering took the form of artefacts, document analysis and field notes in the form of photographic journaling. Ultimately my body of work and research validates that the idea of nothingness can be artistically explored.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
The aesthetic manifestations of nothingness in contemporary visual arts practice
- Authors: Munnick, Robyn Therése
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Art, Modern -- 21st century , Aesthetics , Visual perception , Art -- Philosophy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/41636 , vital:36550
- Description: The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the notion of nothingness and how it [nothingness] is the conceptual and theoretical foundation for my practice. Furthermore, within this study I explicate how my art uses my mother’s battle with cancer and the subsequent void it created in me as source material for the artistic expression of nothingness. The diagnosis which followed by a physical and emotional absence of the matriarch of my family, led to an emotional trauma that triggered a feeling of nothingness within me. The overarching problem in the study is therefore how this nothingness could be expressed in my art. Nothingness, as a product of expectation, is a notion which refers to where something used to be, should be or is not anymore, and attempts to grasp what is there by not being there. In attempting to express nothingness, the research aimed to build on an exploration of the various materials and modes utilized in order to underpin the research objectives. The primary mode of delivery for my art-making process is painting. However, through strengthening the messages and meaning of the hypothesis of nothingness within my art and research, the use of further modes and materials became pivotal. This involved the use of unconventional contrasting modes within painting such as the cloth doily, thread, tubing, ceramics, food colour, spray paint, PVA, plaster, wooden boxes and fragments thereof. These materials and modes were vital in visualising and aestheticising the conceptual underpinnings of the research. As a result, this strengthened and emancipated my art from the traditional bounds of pure painting. Methods of data gathering took the form of artefacts, document analysis and field notes in the form of photographic journaling. Ultimately my body of work and research validates that the idea of nothingness can be artistically explored.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Munnick, Robyn Therése
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Art, Modern -- 21st century , Aesthetics , Visual perception , Art -- Philosophy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/41636 , vital:36550
- Description: The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the notion of nothingness and how it [nothingness] is the conceptual and theoretical foundation for my practice. Furthermore, within this study I explicate how my art uses my mother’s battle with cancer and the subsequent void it created in me as source material for the artistic expression of nothingness. The diagnosis which followed by a physical and emotional absence of the matriarch of my family, led to an emotional trauma that triggered a feeling of nothingness within me. The overarching problem in the study is therefore how this nothingness could be expressed in my art. Nothingness, as a product of expectation, is a notion which refers to where something used to be, should be or is not anymore, and attempts to grasp what is there by not being there. In attempting to express nothingness, the research aimed to build on an exploration of the various materials and modes utilized in order to underpin the research objectives. The primary mode of delivery for my art-making process is painting. However, through strengthening the messages and meaning of the hypothesis of nothingness within my art and research, the use of further modes and materials became pivotal. This involved the use of unconventional contrasting modes within painting such as the cloth doily, thread, tubing, ceramics, food colour, spray paint, PVA, plaster, wooden boxes and fragments thereof. These materials and modes were vital in visualising and aestheticising the conceptual underpinnings of the research. As a result, this strengthened and emancipated my art from the traditional bounds of pure painting. Methods of data gathering took the form of artefacts, document analysis and field notes in the form of photographic journaling. Ultimately my body of work and research validates that the idea of nothingness can be artistically explored.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
The challenges facing small, medium and microsize enterprise in public procurement: a case of Sundays River Valley Municipality
- Authors: Mkele, Makhaya Nelson
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Government purchasing -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Government purchasing -- Case studies Small business -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Small business -- Research -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/40017 , vital:35675
- Description: The purpose of this study is to investigate challenges facing Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) in order to improve the participation of SMMEs in public procurement processes within category B municipalities. A Total Quality Management approach was used to interpret the manner in which to install change within a selection of supplier procedures. The study employed desktop analysis to explain and describe the challenges SMMEs are facing in public procurement in the Sundays River Valley Municipality. Based on the discussions of the participation of SMMEs in public procurement, the challenges which exist within a centralised approach of public procurement were discovered. The findings of the study revealed that SMMEs are challenged by the lack of entrepreneurial coaching by local government, low demand for the commodities, lack of experience, skills and knowledge, limited access to debt finance, poor marketing skills, poor managerial and lack of planning skills, gaps in implementation of preference point system, poor management of core strategies of the preferential system, gaps in implementation of preference point system, poor management of the tender system, improper integration of central supplier database, globalisation and the impact of e-procurement on local government level. Subsequently, the study made recommendations in this regard.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Mkele, Makhaya Nelson
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Government purchasing -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Government purchasing -- Case studies Small business -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Small business -- Research -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/40017 , vital:35675
- Description: The purpose of this study is to investigate challenges facing Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) in order to improve the participation of SMMEs in public procurement processes within category B municipalities. A Total Quality Management approach was used to interpret the manner in which to install change within a selection of supplier procedures. The study employed desktop analysis to explain and describe the challenges SMMEs are facing in public procurement in the Sundays River Valley Municipality. Based on the discussions of the participation of SMMEs in public procurement, the challenges which exist within a centralised approach of public procurement were discovered. The findings of the study revealed that SMMEs are challenged by the lack of entrepreneurial coaching by local government, low demand for the commodities, lack of experience, skills and knowledge, limited access to debt finance, poor marketing skills, poor managerial and lack of planning skills, gaps in implementation of preference point system, poor management of core strategies of the preferential system, gaps in implementation of preference point system, poor management of the tender system, improper integration of central supplier database, globalisation and the impact of e-procurement on local government level. Subsequently, the study made recommendations in this regard.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
The contribution of tourism in local economic development: the case of Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality
- Authors: Tshobeni, Yolanda
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Local government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Economic development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Sustainable development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Tourism -- South Africa -- Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality Tourism -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/43732 , vital:37039
- Description: The primary aim of the study was to analyse the contribution of tourism to Local economic development in BCMM. Tourism is one of the most important sectors of the economy and an extremely lucrative business. The industry is growing and carries great potential of contributing to a country and/or local areas’ economy and development. What motivated the study is that there are no published studies on the contribution of tourism to LED in BCMM. Therefore, is a lack of information on the importance of tourism activities on promoting the local communities’ economies and social well-being by helping to reduce poverty. Even though, the municipality gives some information on activities that are being done by the municipality to work with the local communities that have tourist attraction hubs, the information does not delve into economic issues that are needed to ensure that there is promotion of development in areas that are around the tourist attraction hubs. The study was qualitative and it used secondary data to achieve its objectives. Data was sourced from journals, municipal documents, newspapers and many other secondary sources. Results showed that tourism in BCCM has led to economic development in that there are quite a number of attractions and tourism products in the city i.e. museums, theatres, beautiful beaches, conference, restaurants, and accommodation facilities, and this is where job opportunities are created. The tourism sector is one of the key areas with great potential for poverty alleviation and has been taken as a key portfolio to be appropriately monitored to foster its growth and development in the Buffalo City Metropolitan.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Tshobeni, Yolanda
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Local government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Economic development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Sustainable development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Tourism -- South Africa -- Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality Tourism -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/43732 , vital:37039
- Description: The primary aim of the study was to analyse the contribution of tourism to Local economic development in BCMM. Tourism is one of the most important sectors of the economy and an extremely lucrative business. The industry is growing and carries great potential of contributing to a country and/or local areas’ economy and development. What motivated the study is that there are no published studies on the contribution of tourism to LED in BCMM. Therefore, is a lack of information on the importance of tourism activities on promoting the local communities’ economies and social well-being by helping to reduce poverty. Even though, the municipality gives some information on activities that are being done by the municipality to work with the local communities that have tourist attraction hubs, the information does not delve into economic issues that are needed to ensure that there is promotion of development in areas that are around the tourist attraction hubs. The study was qualitative and it used secondary data to achieve its objectives. Data was sourced from journals, municipal documents, newspapers and many other secondary sources. Results showed that tourism in BCCM has led to economic development in that there are quite a number of attractions and tourism products in the city i.e. museums, theatres, beautiful beaches, conference, restaurants, and accommodation facilities, and this is where job opportunities are created. The tourism sector is one of the key areas with great potential for poverty alleviation and has been taken as a key portfolio to be appropriately monitored to foster its growth and development in the Buffalo City Metropolitan.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
The design of a building linking central and the Baakens river mouth
- Authors: De Klerk, Paul
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Architecture -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- 21st century , Urban renewal -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Architecture -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MArch
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/43138 , vital:36746
- Description: This treatsie focuses around the reationship of the Baakens Valley and the historical core and their respective declined states that has been affected through shifts in urban development and urban sprawl. Urban centres are moving away from the core decentralizing activity affecting the central areas allowing people-orientated environments to decline as an outcome of urbanism. Settlement expansion was forced along the coast due to topography Decentralised city growth with urban sprawl far from the historical core. New centres developed within residential realms detracted from people returning to the historical core Increased major arterial routes diminished density through vehicular orientated living spaces vs the density of the historical core orientated to the pedestian and mixed use activity City centre deteriorated due to Urban expansion and activity centres leaving the CBD resulting in a dilapidated city core.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: De Klerk, Paul
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Architecture -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- 21st century , Urban renewal -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Architecture -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MArch
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/43138 , vital:36746
- Description: This treatsie focuses around the reationship of the Baakens Valley and the historical core and their respective declined states that has been affected through shifts in urban development and urban sprawl. Urban centres are moving away from the core decentralizing activity affecting the central areas allowing people-orientated environments to decline as an outcome of urbanism. Settlement expansion was forced along the coast due to topography Decentralised city growth with urban sprawl far from the historical core. New centres developed within residential realms detracted from people returning to the historical core Increased major arterial routes diminished density through vehicular orientated living spaces vs the density of the historical core orientated to the pedestian and mixed use activity City centre deteriorated due to Urban expansion and activity centres leaving the CBD resulting in a dilapidated city core.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
The design of a learning resource centre in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth
- Authors: Henderson, Lauren
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: School buildings -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- Designs and plans , Elementary school buildings -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- Design and construction School buildings -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth Architecture -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- 21st century
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MArch
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/42705 , vital:36683
- Description: Streets and sidewalks should be seen as public spaces within themselves (Flositz, 2010,iii) this thought triggered an interest in public spaces and what they offer the users and community in which they are placed. This research will examine not only the impacts of the colonialist regime’s planning on Port Elizabeth, but more specifically the segregation and planning of public spaces affecting New Brighton, a predominantly “Black” suburb along the periphery of the city that came to be as a result of forced removals from the city centre (Pettman, 1913: 298). The main argument being carried through this treatise is the significant role that public spaces play in the lives of the urban poor (Dewar & Uytenbogaardt, 1995: 10) especially looking at South Africa and the impact apartheid had on public spaces. It looks at the potential and the ability of the design of public architecture to develop community spaces for all that contributes to a sense of place and pride for the community of New Brighton, Port Elizabeth. This treatise uses the understandings and information gathered throughout the research conducted to develop a suitable design response that generated a significant educational community hub inclusive of a Learning Resource Centre. It will strengthen not only the connection between the various users (races, religions, genders or ages) but also the current segregated and isolated schools within New Brighton’s community. The intention was to bridge not only street and building together but also school and community as a cohesive environment that works together to create a unique experience, exclusive to that area impacted by the context and community in which it sits. Ideas of public space, the in-between and Montessori’s schooling together with the notions of place-making is what ultimately influenced many of the design decisions and the authors theoretical stance. Looking at streets as more than just movement routes or thoroughfares from point A to point B, we can see them as places within a space, where one can experience the world that moves around them. Ultimately the design developed as a response to the identified issues and challenges and created a facility that not only meets the need of the under-resourced secondary schools in New Brighton but also contributes to the development of the public realm of those schools.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Henderson, Lauren
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: School buildings -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- Designs and plans , Elementary school buildings -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- Design and construction School buildings -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth Architecture -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- 21st century
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MArch
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/42705 , vital:36683
- Description: Streets and sidewalks should be seen as public spaces within themselves (Flositz, 2010,iii) this thought triggered an interest in public spaces and what they offer the users and community in which they are placed. This research will examine not only the impacts of the colonialist regime’s planning on Port Elizabeth, but more specifically the segregation and planning of public spaces affecting New Brighton, a predominantly “Black” suburb along the periphery of the city that came to be as a result of forced removals from the city centre (Pettman, 1913: 298). The main argument being carried through this treatise is the significant role that public spaces play in the lives of the urban poor (Dewar & Uytenbogaardt, 1995: 10) especially looking at South Africa and the impact apartheid had on public spaces. It looks at the potential and the ability of the design of public architecture to develop community spaces for all that contributes to a sense of place and pride for the community of New Brighton, Port Elizabeth. This treatise uses the understandings and information gathered throughout the research conducted to develop a suitable design response that generated a significant educational community hub inclusive of a Learning Resource Centre. It will strengthen not only the connection between the various users (races, religions, genders or ages) but also the current segregated and isolated schools within New Brighton’s community. The intention was to bridge not only street and building together but also school and community as a cohesive environment that works together to create a unique experience, exclusive to that area impacted by the context and community in which it sits. Ideas of public space, the in-between and Montessori’s schooling together with the notions of place-making is what ultimately influenced many of the design decisions and the authors theoretical stance. Looking at streets as more than just movement routes or thoroughfares from point A to point B, we can see them as places within a space, where one can experience the world that moves around them. Ultimately the design developed as a response to the identified issues and challenges and created a facility that not only meets the need of the under-resourced secondary schools in New Brighton but also contributes to the development of the public realm of those schools.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019