The amaXhosa ukuthwala marriage custom in fact and fiction: a contemporary critique
- Authors: Kaschula, Russell H , Huisamen, Tim , Mostert, André M , Nosilela, Bulelwa
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68344 , vital:29241 , https://doi.org/10.1080/02572117.2013.871454
- Description: publisher version , Ukuthwala is traditionally a marriage custom within the amaXhosa culture in South Africa which permits a ‘legal abduction’ of a bride-to-be. Similar customs of ‘bridal abduction’ exist, most notably in Kyrgyzstan, where it is known as ala kachuu. Research into these customs necessitates a more innovative approach to explore the impact of this social phenomenon. In this article the authors mobilise a fictional narrative to offer a backdrop for a comparative assessment of the impact of bridal ‘legal abduction’ and assess its contemporary status and role within a multicultural society which celebrates the rights of the individual while recognising the value and importance of maintaining cultural identity and traditions. Cultural dissonance has always been characteristic of modern and post-modern societies as they strive for a workable shared ethos. However, when customs such as ‘legal abduction’ (Mtuze, 1993:50) continue under the veil of cultural rights, the wider social sensibilities and perspectives can be at odds with the maintenance of such activities where these activities contradict the rights of the individual as enshrined for example in what can be seen as a liberal South African Constitution.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2013
Traditions and new niches: An overview of environmental education curriculum and learning research
- Authors: Lotz-Sisitka, Heila , Fien, John , Ketlhoilwe, Mphemelang
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/437323 , vital:73370 , ISBN 9780203813331 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203813331-26/traditions-new-niches-heila-lotz-sisitka-john-fien-mphemelang-ketlhoilwe
- Description: In this chapter we consider the traditions of environmental ed-ucation curriculum and learning research, their relationship to wider education research traditions, and point to new niches for curriculum and learning research, as opened up (in part) 1 through the contributions in this section of the IRHEE. The chapter points to the fact that environmental education re-search seems to primarily be seeking to fulfill a “cultural inno-vation role” in the wider education research landscape, carving out niches and spaces that speak to educational innova-tion/transformation and change. This may in part be due to its “youthfulness” within the more established and traditional edu-cation research landscape and trajectory, but also to its trans-formative intent. Environmental education researchers such as Stevenson (2007) continue to lament the “marginal” or “perma-nently peripheral” status of environmental education and envi-ronmental education research, noting that it is almost impossi-ble to situate effectively within modernist educational para-digms oriented mostly toward reproduction of existing cultures and practices, traditions which continue to characterize formal education institutional settings.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Where angels fear to tread: online peer-assessment in a large first-year class
- Authors: Mostert, Markus , Snowball, Jeanette D
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68845 , vital:29330 , https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2012.683770
- Description: Publisher version , In the context of widening participation, large classes and increased diversity, assessment of student learning is becoming increasingly problematic in that providing formative feedback aimed at developing student writing proves to be particularly laborious. Although the potential value of peer assessment has been well documented in the literature, the associated administrative burden, also in relation to managing anonymity and intellectual ownership, makes this option less attractive, particularly in large classes. A potential solution involves the use of information and communication technologies to automate the logistics associated with peer assessment in a time-efficient way. However, uptake of such systems in the higher education community is limited, and research in this area is only beginning. This case study reports on the use of the Moodle Workshop module for formative peer assessment of students’ individual work in a first-year introductory macro-economics class of over 800 students. Data were collected through an end-of-course evaluation survey of students. The study found that using the feature-rich Workshop module not only addressed many of the practical challenges associated with paper-based peer assessments, but also provided a range of additional options for enhancing validity and reliability of peer assessments that would not be possible with paper-based systems.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2013
Religious Poetry as a Vehicle for Social Control in Africa: The Case of Bakossi Incantatory Poetry
- Authors: Enongene Mirabeau Sone
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: Journal Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/2624 , vital:42301
- Description: Religious poetry is generally considered the fruit of a people’s long reflection on their relationship with their gods, with the ancestors, and with the partly seen and unseen universe. It is used to celebrate events in the life of the individual and the community, to express fellowship, and as a powerful means of communication. Thus, religious poetry is an integral element of a people’s heritage. In this paper, I intend to present some forms of religious poetry, which are found among the Bakossi people of Cameroon, in order to show how magically-oriented formulaic expressions are used in order to maintain adherence to the normative order of society. The point I intend to make is that the incantatory form of religious poetry, was, and still is, used among the Bakossi people of Cameroon, as well as in other parts of rural Africa in terms of individual and communal education.
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Born-frees and worn trees: home grown medicinal plants and poverty
- Authors: Husselman, Madeleen , Cocks, Michelle L
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141464 , vital:37974 , ISBN 9781136886072 , DOI: 10.4324/9780203839645-19
- Description: Despite the widespread use of modern medicines, the parallel role of traditional medicine remains popular in both rural and urban areas and among both wealthy and poor African communities in South Africa. A substantial body of literature exists which documents some of the salient characteristics of the trade and use of traditional medicines (Ngubane 1977; Cocks and Wiersum 2002; Cocks and Møller 2002; Cocks and Dold 2006). Mander (1998) estimated that 27 million people used indigenous medicine in South Africa in a decade. The use and trade of plants for medicine is no longer confined to traditional healers but has entered both the informal and formal sectors of the South African economy (Dauskardt 1990, 1991; Cocks and Dold 2000), resulting in an increase in the number of herbal gatherers and traders (Dold and Cocks 2002). The largely informal trade in traditional medicines forms part of multi-million rand ‘hidden economy’ in southern Africa, and it is now bigger than at any time in the past. It is certainly one of the most complex resource management issues facing conservation agencies, healthcare professionals and resource users in South Africa today (Cunningham 1997). Research points towards a trend of increasing harvesting pressures on traditional supply areas linked to a growing shortage in supply of popular medicinal plant species (Williams et al. 1997, 2000; Mander 1998; Dold and Cocks 2002).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
Climate injustice: How should education respond?
- Authors: Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/437268 , vital:73364 , ISBN 9780203866399 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203866399-11/climate-injustice-education-respond-heila-lotz-sisitka
- Description: The Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Cli-mate Change (IPCC 2007) identifi es Africa as one of the continents of the world most vulnerable to climate change. Africa’s vulnerability to climate change is aggravated by the interaction of multiple stresses such as poverty, poor governance, and weak institutions, limited access to capi-tal (including technology), ecosystem degradation, confl ict and disasters (UNEP 2006), and a generally poor quality of education (UNESCO 2004). The climate injustices and exacerbating circumstances experienced by poor and weak states today lie in the long-term historical emergence of a modern (and increasingly global) world order framed by a hegemonic Westphalian state system. This state system privileges exclusive, undi-vided sovereignty over a bounded territory (Fraser 2008), and is known more popularly as the ‘nation state’ system.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
Sex work from a feminist perspective: a visit to the Jordan case
- Authors: Krüger, Rósaan
- Date: 2004
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68877 , vital:29335 , https://doi.org/10.1080/19962126.2004.11864812
- Description: Publisher version , Introduction: Contributors to the prostitution/sex work debate, whether they condone, support or oppose criminalisation, legalisation or decriminalisation of prostitution, often rely on ‘facts’ to support their arguments. A common fact is that the majority of prostitutes/sex workers in the world and in South Africa are women. Thus, when I refer to prostitutes/sex workers, I refer to women working as prostitutes in the commercial sex industry. Furthermore, the fact that the majority of sex workers are women justifies considering prostitution from a feminist perspective – women’s voices on the subject should be heard. In this note I shall use the terms ‘prostitution’ and ‘sex work’ to refer to the exchange of sexual services for money. The former, more conventional term has a negative connotation, while the term ‘sex work’ denotes a movement away from casting a moral judgment towards recognition that sex work is just another job. References will be made to the associated activities of brothel-keeping and pimping, but the focus of this note is mainly on the provision of sexual services by the prostitute/ sex worker herself. Jordan v S is a Constitutional Court judgment in which the constitutional validity of the criminalisation of prostitution and its related activities were challenged. In order to analyse this judgment from a feminist perspective, I shall first briefly set out the current legal position on prostitution. Thereafter, I shall give an overview of Western feminist perspectives on prostitution and then link this perspective with African feminism. The last part of the note will be an analysis of the Jordan judgment in light of the feminist perspectives identified before.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2004