Nine stories
- Authors: Dukas, Graham
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: South African fiction (English) -- 21st century
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147124 , vital:38595
- Description: Creative work portfolio.
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- Date Issued: 2020
Recontextualisation of biodiversity knowledge in the Senior Phase Natural Sciences curriculum
- Authors: Mmekwa, Makwena
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Science -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa , Biodiversity -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa , Environmental protection -- South Africa , Biodiversity Conservation -- South Africa , Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (Program) , South African National Biodiversity Institute. Life: the state of South Africa's biodiversity
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/92694 , vital:30723
- Description: This study explored the nature of biodiversity knowledge in the Senior Phase Natural Sciences curriculum in relation to international and national scientific documents. Significant biodiversity key features were identified from a review of these documents. These concepts were then explored in terms of how they had been presented and recontextualised in the Senior Phase Natural Sciences CAPS policy document and a selection of three commonly used textbooks for this subject in South Africa. Using Bernstein’s (1990) framework of the Pedagogic Device, the study traces how biodiversity knowledge was de-located from the scientific Field of Production (FOP) and relocated into the Official Recontextualisation Field (ORF) and Pedagogical Recontextualisation Field (PRF). In exploring the continuity, changes and discontinuities in the biodiversity content, as it has been recontextualised, the study utilised Bernstein’s concepts of selective appropriation and ideological transformation. The study is a qualitative case study that drew on document analysis and structured interviews to generate data. Data analysis for this study consisted of two phases. Phase One involved an analysis of biodiversity knowledge in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA, 2005) and Life: The State of South Africa’s Biodiversity (SANBI, 2013) which represented the FOP. This was in order to explore the nature of biodiversity knowledge in those documents. This knowledge was then compared to the Senior Phase Natural Sciences curriculum which represented the ORF and selection of textbooks representing the PRF. Phase Two sought to investigate the role players in the recontextualising fields and what roles did they play in the recontextualisation of biodiversity knowledge. This phase entailed an analysis of interviews. The findings showed that both the international document and the national document presented biodiversity knowledge in terms of their fundamental value to humans. In addition, these documents illustrated human-environmental interactions. They presented procedural knowledge that allow us to understand ecosystems and their services to human well-being. The documents also described how ecosystem services are in decline in many places around the world. The documents presented knowledge of threats to biodiversity such as habitat loss, invasive species, pollution, and overharvesting. They also included knowledge of conservation and sustainability which focused on preventing ongoing degradation and restoration and reversal of degradation of ecosystems. In comparing the ORF and the PRF this study showed that the CAPS policy document appears to present concepts foundational to understanding biodiversity rather than discussing biodiversity itself. The textbooks contextualise these foundational concepts and broaden them mostly through pictorial illustrations, as case studies and contextual examples. A recommendation from the research is that the official recontextualisation process should review opportunities to draw on international and national documents that present concepts and contemporary cases of biodiversity content knowledge to ensure that the complexities around biodiversity are presented in the curriculum. This study may contribute to the development and review of the Natural Sciences curriculum and environmental education in South Africa. The study also suggests areas of biodiversity knowledge that might be included as curriculum content in the future. It further suggests that curriculum developers consider including new environmental knowledge which deals with local, national and global needs and expectations.
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- Date Issued: 2019
An investigation of the informal market value chain for prickly pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) in Nelson Mandela Bay, Eastern Cape
- Authors: Ntsonge, Sinazo
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Opuntia ficus-indica -- South Africa -- Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality , Alien plants -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality , Women heads of households -- South Africa -- Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality , Poor -- South Africa -- Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality , Informal sector (Economics) -- South Africa -- Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality , Sustainable Livelihoods Framework
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62894 , vital:28308
- Description: The use of alien plant species as part of the livelihood resources of poor people raises conflicts with national legislation, which views these plants as threats to native plant biodiversity. However, there is also increasing body of literature on the contribution that some of these plants make to the livelihoods of poor people. The level of significance of some alien plant species to livelihoods is mostly highlighted in the case of female market participants who are in a position of household headship. Since most African cultures dictate the role of females as solely being that of homemaker while males are assigned the role household headship and breadwinner, women often find themselves having to shoulder the household responsibilities when the household head is no longer there. This was the case in the Nelson Mandela Bay informal prickly pear market that this study sought to investigate. Even though there were also male participants in the prickly pear market, the majority of participants in the market were female who also mentioned they were the sole breadwinner for their households. This study investigated the economic contribution that the prickly pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) informal market makes to the livelihoods of people living in the Nelson Mandela Bay. The significance of the market’s contribution to their livelihoods was examined through using the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework. The study revealed that although the prickly pear income was largely supplementary due to it being available for only three months of the year, the income was a safety net resource for the market participants who had limited access to other sources of income. The results also highlighted the reasons people were engaging in the informal prickly pear market. The main reason that was mentioned was unemployment. Through a livelihoods analysis using the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework, it was revealed that the other factors that were contributing to their unemployment were low levels of education, low levels of marketable skills, and old age. The study revealed through calculations of the estimated economic value of each market activity the potential of the prickly pear to be used as a poverty fighting tool. Although the results of this study only highlight the economic value of the prickly pear to people in a small area compared to the rest of the province and the country, the informal market’s significance still presents a strong case for the establishment of an agroprocessing industry, which would support the production of value-added products. Since the largest populations of the prickly pear in Uitenhage are currently under effective control by the cochineal species, promotion of its economic value instead of eradicating it without considering its value to the livelihoods of the people in the market could also ensure that its populations are kept under control. Job creation in the agroprocessing industry would not only improve the livelihoods of those involved in the market, but would also feed into the national economy instead of taking from it via the costs incurred during clearing.
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- Date Issued: 2018
Macroinvertebrate and diatom assemblage responses to pollution, with emphasis on salinity, in the Kat River, Eastern Cape South Africa
- Authors: Mgaba, Ntombekhaya
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Water -- Pollution -- South Africa -- Kat River , Stream salinity -- South Africa -- Kat River , Sewage disposal plants -- South Africa , Environmental monitoring -- South Africa -- Kat River , Water quality -- South Africa -- Kat River , South African Scoring System version 5 (SASS5) , Macroinvertebrate Response Assessment Index (MIRAI)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63279 , vital:28389
- Description: Salinity has been implicated as one of the major contributors to deteriorating water quality of freshwater ecosystems around the globe. In South Africa, anthropogenic activities such as mining, agriculture, industry and wastewater treatment works (WWTWs) are the major sources of increasing salinity levels of freshwater resources. The main focus of this study was to assess the impact of salinity on water quality of the Kat River using macroinvertebrates and diatoms as bioindicators. Biomonitoring using macroinvertebrates and diatom communities and concurrent sampling of water physicochemical variables were conducted bi-monthly from December 2015 to November 2016.This period covered summer and winter, and the study was conducted at five selected sites (Sites 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) along the length of the Kat River. For macroinvertebrates biomonitoring, the South African Scoring System version 5 (SASS5) and Macroinvertebrate Response Assessment Index (MIRAI) were applied to collect and analyse data, while the Taylor et al (2006) protocol for collecting and analysing diatom assemblages was modified and used for diatom collection and analysis. Water physicochemical variables, including hydrogen ion concentration (pH), electrical conductivity (EC), dissolved oxygen (DO), temperature, turbidity and stream flow were determined in situ using appropriate multiprobe meter and/or techniques. Nutrients (NO3-N, NO2-N, NH4-N and PO4-P) were analysed in the laboratory using appropriate analytical methods. All data were subjected to appropriate statistical analyses and statistical decisions were made at an alpha value of 0.05. Particularly, multivariate analyses of both macroinvertebrates and diatoms assemblages were conducted using canonical correspondence analysis and Bray-Curtis similarity analysis, while indicator species analysis was used to determine which species is/are more significant with respect to biomonitoring in the Kat River. Biotic diversity indices were also measured and used to discriminate between least and most impacted sites. The Kat River water quality was found to have experienced a varying degree of modification compared to Generic Resources Water Quality Objectives limits. Change in DO, stream flow, EC, nutrients and turbidity exerted the greatest influenced on the macroinvertebrates assemblage structure, with organisms at Sites 4 and 5 (downstream sites) showing more significant negative impact compared to organisms at Sites 1, 2 and 3 (upstream sites). Analysis of the diatom biomonitoring showed more negative impact at Sites 2, 4 and 5 compared to Sites 1 and 3. Fort Beaufort Wastewater Treatment Works and small-scale farming activities, as well as leaking of pipes carrying sewage, were found to be the likely major sources of anthropogenic activities responsible for the observed increased salinity and other pollutants in the Kat River. Overall, this study found macroinvertebrates (identified up to the family level) as good for biomonitoring to assess or predict water quality of the Kat River, while diatoms were found to be most suitable for biomonitoring to assess salinity in the Kat River.
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- Date Issued: 2018
Producing journalism about climate change for news and agricultural radio: a case study of Malawi's public broadcaster
- Authors: Kapiri, Francis
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Public radio -- Malawi , Climatic changes in mass media , Climatic changes in mass media -- Case studies -- Malawi , Radio in agriculture -- Malawi , Malawi Broadcasting Corporation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/6375 , vital:21100
- Description: This study investigates how radio journalists at the Malawian public broadcaster (MBC) experience the task of producing content that can help their audiences to engage with the local relevance of climate change. This study establishes terms of reference for this research by mapping out international histories of public engagement with the concept of climate change in the domains of science, politics and the media. It describes how contestations around climate change have evolved within these spheres and concludes that such contestation is shaped by relations of power that inform the international economic domain. The study then examines scholarly evaluations of journalism about climate change, concluding that such evaluation is grounded in distinct normative understandings of the social purpose of such journalism. It is argued that research about Malawian journalists’ experience of reporting on climate change should draw on knowledge of the role that norms play within this local environment. With this goal in mind, the study reviews tools for the analysis of the normative foundations of journalism within specific socio-historic contexts. It demonstrates the relevance of these tools for the identification of norms and their influence on journalism about climate change in the Malawian context. The empirical component of the study draws on this framework by means of a case study of the experiences of journalists working at the MBC. It examines how these journalists experience the task of producing content that enables their audiences to engage with the local relevance of climate change. It compares such experience as articulated by journalists working for agricultural and news programming. It is concluded that the participants have access to credible knowledge about climate change and its relevance to the Malawian context. Based on such knowledge, they articulate a shared understanding of climate change and its relevance to the Malawian context. However, the study identifies differences in the way that the two groups make sense of the practice of producing journalism about climate change that is of relevance to their audience. In particular, the agricultural journalists incorporate a more inclusive and diverse set of norms into their conceptualisation of such practice. At the same time, the two groups nevertheless respond similarly when commenting on institutional factors at MBC that constrain or enable them to produce journalism about climate change that is guided by such norms. They place emphasis on the need for MBC to provide opportunities for journalists to have access to training, facilitated by organisations that have expertise in climate change journalism. It is concluded that the participants recognise that, despite the entrenched culture of authoritarianism at MBC, such workshops can contribute fundamentally to the shaping of journalistic practice within this broadcaster.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Exploring job search and the causes of endogenous unemployment: evidence from Duncan Village, South Africa
- Authors: Duff, Patrick Alexander
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Unemployment , Unemployment -- Social aspects -- South Africa -- East London -- Duncan Village , Job hunting -- South Africa -- East London -- Duncan Village , Labor market -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: vital:1026
- Description: Despite high rates of unemployment in South Africa, there is little consensus about its origins and solutions to the problem. Job search (how and when people search for work)is one aspect of the unemployment problem. Job search is shown to be a complex process strongly linked to the endogenous structure of the labour market. The flaws in traditional methods (theoretical and measurement) highlight this. Using data from a tailor-made survey in Duncan Village (a peri-urban area in Buffalo City, South Africa) the research examines factors that influence the effectiveness of job search. The results show that mode of search (how people look for work) is used as a signal by employers. Degrees of success are stratified amongst searchers using either ‘word of mouth’, place-to-place or formal modes of search. The thesis provides a method-test to reveal a complex body of evidence that has yet to be fully explored by practitioners in this field.
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- Date Issued: 2009
How green is our future? Thor Chemicals: a case study in South African environmental policy
- Authors: Flint, Adrian
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: Environmental ethics , Environmental policy -- South Africa , Environmental policy -- South Africa -- Case studies , Environmental degradation -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2776 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002986 , Environmental ethics , Environmental policy -- South Africa , Environmental policy -- South Africa -- Case studies , Environmental degradation -- South Africa
- Description: This study focuses on South African Environmefltal policy; in particular its policies regarding hazardous waste. These policies are addressed within the framework of a case study which serves as basis to critically evaluate government environmental policies both past and present. The thesis examines South African environmental policy against the backdrop of competing schools of thought regarding the relationship between growth and development on the one hand and long term environmental security on the other. Development strategies such as Sustainable Development and the government's Growth, Employment and Redistribution as well as philosophies such as Deep Ecology will be discussed. The thesis argues that Non-Governmental Organisations are the holders of a real environmental ethic and thus their role in preventing environmental degradation is of critical importance. Furthermore, it is imperative that this ethic be disseminated across society if South Africa is to successfully pursue sound environmental policies. This argument is pursued by way of a case study, Thor Chemicals: a company responsible for the running of the largest mercury recovery facility in the world. This plant, which operated in Cato Ridge, KwaZulu-Natal, has been the source of much controversy since it was found that many of its employees and ex-employees were suffering from severe mercury poisoning resulting in two fatalities. The company was also involved in the importation of hazardous wastes as well as the pollution of the surrounding environment. Thor is currently the subject of inquiry by the government-appointed Davis Commission. It is pointed out that ill the past South Africa held no real environmental ethic and environmental degradation ensued as a result. The presented thesis argues that, despite assurances to the contrary, the present government is also without a true environmental ethic that will be effective in preventing future degradation.
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- Date Issued: 1998