Book Review: Community of insecurity
- Authors: Magadla, Siphokazi
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/298606 , vital:57720 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02589001.2014.936174"
- Description: Laurie Nathan's Community of Insecurity is a thoughtful engagement with the ‘establishment, evolution and effectiveness of the regional security arrangements of the Southern African Development Community (SADC)’ (1). He argues that it is of ‘great significance and irony that many of the major disputes among member states have been around the orientation and strategies of peacemaking and regional security’. Nathan's empirical claims about the SADC security architecture are drawn from his ‘insider perspective’ due to his involvement in official efforts to design a common security regime in Southern Africa, which include his service as regional security advisor to the SADC Secretariat from 1992 to 1996, to the Foreign Minister of Mozambique Pascoal Mocumbi from 1994 to 1995, to the South African Minister of Defence Joe Modise and the Deputy Minister of Defence Ronnie Kasrils between 1994 and 1999 and to the Foreign Minister of Swaziland Albert Shabangu when he oversaw the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation in 1999–2000 (12–13). This ‘insider’ view has allowed him to make a compelling challenge to current theoretical debates about SADC's status as a security community, that is, a community with an affinity amongst member states that is ‘so strong that they enjoy dependable expectations of peaceful change and thus regard the prospect of war among them as inconceivable’(129). While other commentators see SADC as either a ‘nascent’, ‘embryonic’ or ‘emerging’ security community, Nathan argues forcefully that ‘this perspective is mistaken’ as SADC continues to be demonstrative of a what he describes as a ‘community of insecurity’.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
- Authors: Magadla, Siphokazi
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/298606 , vital:57720 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02589001.2014.936174"
- Description: Laurie Nathan's Community of Insecurity is a thoughtful engagement with the ‘establishment, evolution and effectiveness of the regional security arrangements of the Southern African Development Community (SADC)’ (1). He argues that it is of ‘great significance and irony that many of the major disputes among member states have been around the orientation and strategies of peacemaking and regional security’. Nathan's empirical claims about the SADC security architecture are drawn from his ‘insider perspective’ due to his involvement in official efforts to design a common security regime in Southern Africa, which include his service as regional security advisor to the SADC Secretariat from 1992 to 1996, to the Foreign Minister of Mozambique Pascoal Mocumbi from 1994 to 1995, to the South African Minister of Defence Joe Modise and the Deputy Minister of Defence Ronnie Kasrils between 1994 and 1999 and to the Foreign Minister of Swaziland Albert Shabangu when he oversaw the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation in 1999–2000 (12–13). This ‘insider’ view has allowed him to make a compelling challenge to current theoretical debates about SADC's status as a security community, that is, a community with an affinity amongst member states that is ‘so strong that they enjoy dependable expectations of peaceful change and thus regard the prospect of war among them as inconceivable’(129). While other commentators see SADC as either a ‘nascent’, ‘embryonic’ or ‘emerging’ security community, Nathan argues forcefully that ‘this perspective is mistaken’ as SADC continues to be demonstrative of a what he describes as a ‘community of insecurity’.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Critical realist versus mainstream interdisciplinarity
- Authors: Price, Leigh
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/391143 , vital:68624 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1179/1476743013Z.00000000019"
- Description: In this paper I argue for the superiority of a critical realist understanding of interdisciplinarity over a mainstream understanding of it. I begin by exploring the reasons for the failure of mainstream researchers to achieve interdisciplinarity. My main argument is that mainstream interdisciplinary researchers tend to hypostatize facts, fetishize constant conjunctions of events and apply to open systems an epistemology designed for closed systems. I also explain how mainstream interdisciplinarity supports oppression and gross inequality. I argue that mainstream interdisciplinarity is not true interdisciplinarity and refer to it accordingly as ‘condisciplinarity’. By way of example, I examine the condisciplinarity of the World Health Organization’s ecological model applied to the issue of men’s violence against women. Specifically, I argue that critical realist interdisciplinarity is preferable because it acknowledges inter alia the empirical, actual and real layers of reality, which allows it to develop depth-explanations of phenomena. In practice, this means that critical realist interdisciplinarity can potentially provide explanations that, compared to condisciplinarity, are broader (include more of the human and non-human context) and deeper (include for example individuals’ conscious and unconscious psychological motivations). In the World Health Organization’s example of the causes of men’s violence against women, condisciplinarity resulted in the absence of historical, global and unconscious aspects of the problem. It is also restricted the analysis to reductive, constant-conjunction based theories of the causes of the problem, specifically ‘risk factors’, thereby providing a relatively shallow explanation for the problem.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
- Authors: Price, Leigh
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/391143 , vital:68624 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1179/1476743013Z.00000000019"
- Description: In this paper I argue for the superiority of a critical realist understanding of interdisciplinarity over a mainstream understanding of it. I begin by exploring the reasons for the failure of mainstream researchers to achieve interdisciplinarity. My main argument is that mainstream interdisciplinary researchers tend to hypostatize facts, fetishize constant conjunctions of events and apply to open systems an epistemology designed for closed systems. I also explain how mainstream interdisciplinarity supports oppression and gross inequality. I argue that mainstream interdisciplinarity is not true interdisciplinarity and refer to it accordingly as ‘condisciplinarity’. By way of example, I examine the condisciplinarity of the World Health Organization’s ecological model applied to the issue of men’s violence against women. Specifically, I argue that critical realist interdisciplinarity is preferable because it acknowledges inter alia the empirical, actual and real layers of reality, which allows it to develop depth-explanations of phenomena. In practice, this means that critical realist interdisciplinarity can potentially provide explanations that, compared to condisciplinarity, are broader (include more of the human and non-human context) and deeper (include for example individuals’ conscious and unconscious psychological motivations). In the World Health Organization’s example of the causes of men’s violence against women, condisciplinarity resulted in the absence of historical, global and unconscious aspects of the problem. It is also restricted the analysis to reductive, constant-conjunction based theories of the causes of the problem, specifically ‘risk factors’, thereby providing a relatively shallow explanation for the problem.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Culture environment and hatchery of origin influence growth, condition and feeding organ morphology in the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas in South Africa
- Nel, A, Pitcher, G, Richoux, Nicole B, Jackson, S
- Authors: Nel, A , Pitcher, G , Richoux, Nicole B , Jackson, S
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/457215 , vital:75617 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.2989/1814232X.2014.982187"
- Description: South Africa lacks a commercial oyster hatchery. To inform the sourcing of seed for future hatchery establishments, we compared half-sib Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas cohorts from hatcheries in Namibia and Chile. We measured oyster growth, mortality, condition and feeding organ morphology in Algoa Bay (AB, Eastern Cape) and Saldanha Bay (SB, Western Cape), South Africa, from July 2011 to June 2012. Within SB, 14.3% of mean daily sea temperatures exceeded this species’ thermal optimum of 19 °C, compared to 50.5% in AB. Food abundance (mean daily chlorophyll a concentration) in SB (7.8 mg m–3) was double that in AB (3.9 mg m–3) where, presumably to increase particle clearance rates in a relatively phytoplankton-poor environment, oysters had larger gill:palp surface area ratios. Plankton fatty acid profiles (indicators of food quality) differed between locations. In AB, instantaneous growth rates differed between cohorts, and trends varied seasonally. Within both locations, condition index was usually higher in Chilean oysters, whereas shell density was higher in Namibian oysters. In AB only, Chilean seed suffered substantially higher summer mortalities than Namibian seed, suggesting that the latter are more suited to temperatures in AB. AB should also be assessed for culture of the indigenous oyster species that occur there.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
- Authors: Nel, A , Pitcher, G , Richoux, Nicole B , Jackson, S
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/457215 , vital:75617 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.2989/1814232X.2014.982187"
- Description: South Africa lacks a commercial oyster hatchery. To inform the sourcing of seed for future hatchery establishments, we compared half-sib Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas cohorts from hatcheries in Namibia and Chile. We measured oyster growth, mortality, condition and feeding organ morphology in Algoa Bay (AB, Eastern Cape) and Saldanha Bay (SB, Western Cape), South Africa, from July 2011 to June 2012. Within SB, 14.3% of mean daily sea temperatures exceeded this species’ thermal optimum of 19 °C, compared to 50.5% in AB. Food abundance (mean daily chlorophyll a concentration) in SB (7.8 mg m–3) was double that in AB (3.9 mg m–3) where, presumably to increase particle clearance rates in a relatively phytoplankton-poor environment, oysters had larger gill:palp surface area ratios. Plankton fatty acid profiles (indicators of food quality) differed between locations. In AB, instantaneous growth rates differed between cohorts, and trends varied seasonally. Within both locations, condition index was usually higher in Chilean oysters, whereas shell density was higher in Namibian oysters. In AB only, Chilean seed suffered substantially higher summer mortalities than Namibian seed, suggesting that the latter are more suited to temperatures in AB. AB should also be assessed for culture of the indigenous oyster species that occur there.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Effects of pyrene on the photophysical and two-photon absorption-based nonlinear optical properties of indium (III) phthalocyanines
- Sanusi, Kayode, Nyokong, Tebello
- Authors: Sanusi, Kayode , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/189957 , vital:44951 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00958972.2014.959509"
- Description: Photophysical and two-photon-dependent nonlinear absorption properties of two chloroindium(III) phthalocyanines bearing pyrene units have been investigated. The tetra- (3) and the tri- (4) pyrene-substituted phthalocyanines exhibit strong triplet absorption with high triplet yields ( ) of 0.79 and 0.83, respectively. The measured nonlinear optical data, such as the two photon absorption cross-sections, the third- and second-order nonlinearities were found to be comparable with those of literature, thus, making the compounds promising candidates for a broad range of nonlinear optical applications.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
- Authors: Sanusi, Kayode , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/189957 , vital:44951 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00958972.2014.959509"
- Description: Photophysical and two-photon-dependent nonlinear absorption properties of two chloroindium(III) phthalocyanines bearing pyrene units have been investigated. The tetra- (3) and the tri- (4) pyrene-substituted phthalocyanines exhibit strong triplet absorption with high triplet yields ( ) of 0.79 and 0.83, respectively. The measured nonlinear optical data, such as the two photon absorption cross-sections, the third- and second-order nonlinearities were found to be comparable with those of literature, thus, making the compounds promising candidates for a broad range of nonlinear optical applications.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
The ethical function of research and teaching
- Authors: Tabensky, Pedro
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/305738 , vital:58608 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-5812.2011.00813.x"
- Description: It is the epistemic as well as the ethical responsibility of academics to aim to approach their research and teaching with a proper understanding of the ultimate ethical purpose or telos of their defining activities and products,which is the practical aim of promoting human flourishing. Minimally, academics should aim at understanding, and a key component of understanding is to understand the ideal ethical purpose of what is being researched and taught. For instance, sadistic Nazi medical researchers and teachers—Mengeles of sorts—in addition to having reprehensible commitments,would be significantly ignorant about their own intellectual concerns by virtue of their abject (belief-expressing) commitments. I will show that insights drawn from extreme cases such as this one apply across disciplines and in less extreme cases.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
- Authors: Tabensky, Pedro
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/305738 , vital:58608 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-5812.2011.00813.x"
- Description: It is the epistemic as well as the ethical responsibility of academics to aim to approach their research and teaching with a proper understanding of the ultimate ethical purpose or telos of their defining activities and products,which is the practical aim of promoting human flourishing. Minimally, academics should aim at understanding, and a key component of understanding is to understand the ideal ethical purpose of what is being researched and taught. For instance, sadistic Nazi medical researchers and teachers—Mengeles of sorts—in addition to having reprehensible commitments,would be significantly ignorant about their own intellectual concerns by virtue of their abject (belief-expressing) commitments. I will show that insights drawn from extreme cases such as this one apply across disciplines and in less extreme cases.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
The impact of manufacturing variables on in vitro release of clobetasol 17-propionate from pilot scale cream formulations
- Fauzee, Ayesha F B, Khamanga, Sandile M, Walker, Roderick B
- Authors: Fauzee, Ayesha F B , Khamanga, Sandile M , Walker, Roderick B
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/183872 , vital:44077 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.3109/03639045.2013.842579"
- Description: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effect of different homogenization speeds and times, anchor speeds and cooling times on the viscosity and cumulative % clobetasol 17-propionate released per unit area at 72 h from pilot scale cream formulations. A 24 full factorial central composite design for four independent variables were investigated. Thirty pilot scale batches of cream formulations were manufactured using a Wintech® cream/ointment plant. The viscosity and in vitro release of CP were monitored and compared to an innovator product that is commercially available on the South African market, namely, Dermovate® cream. Contour and three-dimensional response surface plots were produced and the viscosity and cumulative % CP released per unit area at 72 h were found to be primarily dependent on the homogenization and anchor speeds. An increase in the homogenization and anchor speeds appeared to exhibit a synergistic effect on the resultant viscosity of the cream whereas an antagonistic effect was observed for the in vitro release of CP from the experimental cream formulations. The in vitro release profiles were best fitted to a Higuchi model and diffusion proved to be the dominant mechanism of drug release that was confirmed by use of the Korsmeyer–Peppas model. The research was further validated and confirmed by the high prognostic ability of response surface methodology (RSM) with a resultant mean percentage error of (±SD) 0.17 ± 0.093 suggesting that RSM may be an efficient tool for the development and optimization of topical formulations.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
- Authors: Fauzee, Ayesha F B , Khamanga, Sandile M , Walker, Roderick B
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/183872 , vital:44077 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.3109/03639045.2013.842579"
- Description: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effect of different homogenization speeds and times, anchor speeds and cooling times on the viscosity and cumulative % clobetasol 17-propionate released per unit area at 72 h from pilot scale cream formulations. A 24 full factorial central composite design for four independent variables were investigated. Thirty pilot scale batches of cream formulations were manufactured using a Wintech® cream/ointment plant. The viscosity and in vitro release of CP were monitored and compared to an innovator product that is commercially available on the South African market, namely, Dermovate® cream. Contour and three-dimensional response surface plots were produced and the viscosity and cumulative % CP released per unit area at 72 h were found to be primarily dependent on the homogenization and anchor speeds. An increase in the homogenization and anchor speeds appeared to exhibit a synergistic effect on the resultant viscosity of the cream whereas an antagonistic effect was observed for the in vitro release of CP from the experimental cream formulations. The in vitro release profiles were best fitted to a Higuchi model and diffusion proved to be the dominant mechanism of drug release that was confirmed by use of the Korsmeyer–Peppas model. The research was further validated and confirmed by the high prognostic ability of response surface methodology (RSM) with a resultant mean percentage error of (±SD) 0.17 ± 0.093 suggesting that RSM may be an efficient tool for the development and optimization of topical formulations.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Applying a student curriculum discourse in higher education teaching and learning
- Mndzebele, Samuel, McKenna, Sioux
- Authors: Mndzebele, Samuel , McKenna, Sioux
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/187417 , vital:44633 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/18146627.2013.786210"
- Description: Indications of poor quality in students’ written work necessitated the need for deeper investigations aimed at designing and applying appropriate teaching/learning and assessment innovations in the course curriculum. The project-exercise engaged a conceptual-explorative approach through: reviews/investigations; educational diagnosis; design/application of innovations and evaluation processes. In addition to other challenges, diagnosed problems included: students’ ignorance on key curriculum components; imbalance in teaching/learning and assessment tasks engaging all 3-learning domains; less intensiveness of the e-learning mode; and superficial formative feedback. Included a “Student-Curriculum-Discourse” self-tutorial guide, and tasks alignment of the teaching/learning and assessment. Learners’ performance can be improved through a curriculum-discourse self-tutorial exercise, complemented with: intellectual, social, experiential, and emotional structures. Both educators and learners share specific responsibilities in the teaching/learning environment. There is need to expand/probe the theoretical dimension within which the on-line distance education occurs.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Mndzebele, Samuel , McKenna, Sioux
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/187417 , vital:44633 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/18146627.2013.786210"
- Description: Indications of poor quality in students’ written work necessitated the need for deeper investigations aimed at designing and applying appropriate teaching/learning and assessment innovations in the course curriculum. The project-exercise engaged a conceptual-explorative approach through: reviews/investigations; educational diagnosis; design/application of innovations and evaluation processes. In addition to other challenges, diagnosed problems included: students’ ignorance on key curriculum components; imbalance in teaching/learning and assessment tasks engaging all 3-learning domains; less intensiveness of the e-learning mode; and superficial formative feedback. Included a “Student-Curriculum-Discourse” self-tutorial guide, and tasks alignment of the teaching/learning and assessment. Learners’ performance can be improved through a curriculum-discourse self-tutorial exercise, complemented with: intellectual, social, experiential, and emotional structures. Both educators and learners share specific responsibilities in the teaching/learning environment. There is need to expand/probe the theoretical dimension within which the on-line distance education occurs.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Exploring a systems approach to mainstreaming sustainability in universities: A case study of Rhodes University in South Africa
- Togo, Muchaiteyi, Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Authors: Togo, Muchaiteyi , Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/182857 , vital:43886 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2012.749974"
- Description: This paper explores the use of systems theory to inform the mainstreaming of sustainability in a university’s functions as it responds to sustainable development challenges in its local context. Offering a case study of Rhodes University, the paper shows how the use of systems models and concepts, underpinned by a critical realist ontology and an understanding of morphogenetic change processes, have the potential to enable universities to mobilise their operations to respond to local sustainability challenges. In this instance, the success of such an approach is shown to depend on commitments from the university community and the availability of enabling inputs, such as financial and human resources. The paper concludes with reflections and recommendations to inform further development of a newly emerging systems approach in sustainability mainstreaming at Rhodes University, and other institutions pursuing similar approaches and goals.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Togo, Muchaiteyi , Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/182857 , vital:43886 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2012.749974"
- Description: This paper explores the use of systems theory to inform the mainstreaming of sustainability in a university’s functions as it responds to sustainable development challenges in its local context. Offering a case study of Rhodes University, the paper shows how the use of systems models and concepts, underpinned by a critical realist ontology and an understanding of morphogenetic change processes, have the potential to enable universities to mobilise their operations to respond to local sustainability challenges. In this instance, the success of such an approach is shown to depend on commitments from the university community and the availability of enabling inputs, such as financial and human resources. The paper concludes with reflections and recommendations to inform further development of a newly emerging systems approach in sustainability mainstreaming at Rhodes University, and other institutions pursuing similar approaches and goals.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Impacts of a sub-lethal dose of glyphosate on water hyacinth nutrients and its indirect effects on Neochetina weevils
- Katembo, Naweji, Hill, Martin P, Byrne, Marcus J
- Authors: Katembo, Naweji , Hill, Martin P , Byrne, Marcus J
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/417726 , vital:71481 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09583157.2013.839982"
- Description: A sub-lethal dose of a herbicide under field conditions was applied to determine if it stimulates an increase in water hyacinth nutrients, thereby increasing feeding intensity by Neochetina spp. weevils used as biocontrol agents of the weed. Nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) were measured and compared between sprayed plants and control plants. At one site (Delta Park), N levels were lower in the sprayed plants compared to the control plants both in the leaves and the crown. At the second site (Farm Dam), leaf N was also lower in the sprayed plants than in the control plants, while no difference was found in crown N. Mean number of feeding scars per cm2 at Delta Park was significantly higher on the sprayed plants compared to the control plants, while no significant difference was found at Farm Dam. At Delta Park, there was no correlation, however, between the number of weevil feeding scars and leaf N or C:N ratio in sprayed plants. In conclusion, the sub-lethal dose of glyphosate did not directly result in an increase in weevil feeding intensity but it can be recommended in an integrated control system to retard water hyacinth growth while conserving the weevil population.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Katembo, Naweji , Hill, Martin P , Byrne, Marcus J
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/417726 , vital:71481 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09583157.2013.839982"
- Description: A sub-lethal dose of a herbicide under field conditions was applied to determine if it stimulates an increase in water hyacinth nutrients, thereby increasing feeding intensity by Neochetina spp. weevils used as biocontrol agents of the weed. Nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) were measured and compared between sprayed plants and control plants. At one site (Delta Park), N levels were lower in the sprayed plants compared to the control plants both in the leaves and the crown. At the second site (Farm Dam), leaf N was also lower in the sprayed plants than in the control plants, while no difference was found in crown N. Mean number of feeding scars per cm2 at Delta Park was significantly higher on the sprayed plants compared to the control plants, while no significant difference was found at Farm Dam. At Delta Park, there was no correlation, however, between the number of weevil feeding scars and leaf N or C:N ratio in sprayed plants. In conclusion, the sub-lethal dose of glyphosate did not directly result in an increase in weevil feeding intensity but it can be recommended in an integrated control system to retard water hyacinth growth while conserving the weevil population.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Persistence and virulence of promising entomopathogenic fungal isolates for use in citrus orchards in South Africa
- Coombes, Candice A, Hill, Martin P, Moore, Sean D, Dames, Joanna F, Fullard, T
- Authors: Coombes, Candice A , Hill, Martin P , Moore, Sean D , Dames, Joanna F , Fullard, T
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/416893 , vital:71394 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09583157.2013.819489"
- Description: Thaumatotibia leucotreta (Meyrick) (1912) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) is a key economic pest of citrus in South Africa. Although a variety of control options are available, none currently registered target the soil-dwelling life stages of the pest. Three fungal isolates, two Metarhizium anisopliae sensu lato Metschnikoff (Sorokin) isolates (G 11 3 L6 and FCM Ar 23 B3) and one Beauveria bassiana sensu lato Balsamo (Vuillemin) isolate (G Ar 17 B3) have been identified as showing the greatest potential against T. leucotreta soil-dwelling life stages. Since environmental persistence is an important factor in the success of entomopathogenic fungi against soil pests, the isolates, along with two commercial isolates (B. bassiana Eco-Bb® and M. anisopliae ICIPE 69), were subjected to a six-month field persistence trial. Every month after burial of the fungal isolates, inside net bags, in orchard soil, the number of colony forming units (CFUs) per gram of soil was measured and the viability of the conidia was assessed using bioassays. All isolates investigated were capable of persisting in the soil for the duration of the trial period and in addition, were capable of initiating infection in T. leucotreta late fifth instar larvae and subsequent pupae. However, with the exception of the commercial isolates which showed some correlation, no correlation was found between the number of CFUs recorded and percentage T. leucotreta mycosis. Persistence of entomopathogenic fungi in the field is affected by a series of factors, and although the effect of these factors was not measured, the data have provided preliminary evidence towards the persistence capability of these candidate biopesticides against T. leucotreta.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Coombes, Candice A , Hill, Martin P , Moore, Sean D , Dames, Joanna F , Fullard, T
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/416893 , vital:71394 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09583157.2013.819489"
- Description: Thaumatotibia leucotreta (Meyrick) (1912) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) is a key economic pest of citrus in South Africa. Although a variety of control options are available, none currently registered target the soil-dwelling life stages of the pest. Three fungal isolates, two Metarhizium anisopliae sensu lato Metschnikoff (Sorokin) isolates (G 11 3 L6 and FCM Ar 23 B3) and one Beauveria bassiana sensu lato Balsamo (Vuillemin) isolate (G Ar 17 B3) have been identified as showing the greatest potential against T. leucotreta soil-dwelling life stages. Since environmental persistence is an important factor in the success of entomopathogenic fungi against soil pests, the isolates, along with two commercial isolates (B. bassiana Eco-Bb® and M. anisopliae ICIPE 69), were subjected to a six-month field persistence trial. Every month after burial of the fungal isolates, inside net bags, in orchard soil, the number of colony forming units (CFUs) per gram of soil was measured and the viability of the conidia was assessed using bioassays. All isolates investigated were capable of persisting in the soil for the duration of the trial period and in addition, were capable of initiating infection in T. leucotreta late fifth instar larvae and subsequent pupae. However, with the exception of the commercial isolates which showed some correlation, no correlation was found between the number of CFUs recorded and percentage T. leucotreta mycosis. Persistence of entomopathogenic fungi in the field is affected by a series of factors, and although the effect of these factors was not measured, the data have provided preliminary evidence towards the persistence capability of these candidate biopesticides against T. leucotreta.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Seeing Fictions in Film
- Authors: Jones, Ward E
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/275711 , vital:55072 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00048402.2013.818044"
- Description: Although its subtitle refers to an ‘epistemology of movies’, the claim at the heart of George M. Wilson’s dense and penetrating book is a bit of sophisticated phenomenology concerning our experience of narrative fiction films [Chs 2–4]. This phenomenological claim he calls the ‘Imagined Seeing Thesis’. When we watch narrative fiction films, we imagine that we are seeing real motion picture shots of the fictional events being portrayed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Jones, Ward E
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/275711 , vital:55072 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00048402.2013.818044"
- Description: Although its subtitle refers to an ‘epistemology of movies’, the claim at the heart of George M. Wilson’s dense and penetrating book is a bit of sophisticated phenomenology concerning our experience of narrative fiction films [Chs 2–4]. This phenomenological claim he calls the ‘Imagined Seeing Thesis’. When we watch narrative fiction films, we imagine that we are seeing real motion picture shots of the fictional events being portrayed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
The Personal Is the International
- Authors: Magadla, Siphokazi
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/298674 , vital:57726 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2013.856568"
- Description: The article reflects on why I opted for Political Science as my career. It tells of a society where once black women could only imagine themselves either as maids, teachers or nurses—this was my mother's world. The narrative shows how a racialised and gendered history shapes both my hopes for a particular kind of international relations theory and practice, as it shapes my frustrations and anxieties about my own future in the discipline. I also locate my place in the discipline within broader global ‘disruptions’ that see previously marginalised actors moving to the centre of international life. I also attempt to demonstrate that international relations today is located in globalised peace but within localised extremes of poverty and privilege. I make the case that the challenge to International Relations (IR) theory today is to find a language, a new language, in which to articulate the contradictions of a globalised peace that exists within localised extremes of poverty and privilege.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Magadla, Siphokazi
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/298674 , vital:57726 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2013.856568"
- Description: The article reflects on why I opted for Political Science as my career. It tells of a society where once black women could only imagine themselves either as maids, teachers or nurses—this was my mother's world. The narrative shows how a racialised and gendered history shapes both my hopes for a particular kind of international relations theory and practice, as it shapes my frustrations and anxieties about my own future in the discipline. I also locate my place in the discipline within broader global ‘disruptions’ that see previously marginalised actors moving to the centre of international life. I also attempt to demonstrate that international relations today is located in globalised peace but within localised extremes of poverty and privilege. I make the case that the challenge to International Relations (IR) theory today is to find a language, a new language, in which to articulate the contradictions of a globalised peace that exists within localised extremes of poverty and privilege.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
A production function for cricket: the South African perspective
- Brock, Kelsey, Fraser, Gavin C G, Botha, Ferdi
- Authors: Brock, Kelsey , Fraser, Gavin C G , Botha, Ferdi
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/396007 , vital:69143 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC124240"
- Description: Production functions are common to any productive activity. Although it may not appear obvious, cricket is no different. Production functions in cricket provide a wide range of information, utilised to enhance efficiency and maximize match success. Given these benefits, this study involved the derivation of a production function for the South African SuperSport Series and an analysis of technical efficiency. An econometric analysis was conducted on data from the 2004-2011 cricket seasons and it was concluded that the most optimal strategy for South African teams involved a combination of attacking batting and defensive bowling. Furthermore, South African teams had a relatively low variable substitutability and a high degree of technical efficiency.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Brock, Kelsey , Fraser, Gavin C G , Botha, Ferdi
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/396007 , vital:69143 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC124240"
- Description: Production functions are common to any productive activity. Although it may not appear obvious, cricket is no different. Production functions in cricket provide a wide range of information, utilised to enhance efficiency and maximize match success. Given these benefits, this study involved the derivation of a production function for the South African SuperSport Series and an analysis of technical efficiency. An econometric analysis was conducted on data from the 2004-2011 cricket seasons and it was concluded that the most optimal strategy for South African teams involved a combination of attacking batting and defensive bowling. Furthermore, South African teams had a relatively low variable substitutability and a high degree of technical efficiency.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Electrospun polyacrylic acid polymer fibers functionalized with metallophthalocyanines for photosensitizing and gas sensing applications
- Zugle, Ruphino, Nyokong, Tebello
- Authors: Zugle, Ruphino , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/243543 , vital:51162 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10601325.2012.662006"
- Description: The photophysical and photochemical properties of tetraaminophthalocyanine complexes of lutetium and zinc covalently linked to polyacrylic acid were studied alongside those of unsubstituted zinc phthalocyanine within the same polymeric fiber matrix. All three phthalocyanines within the solid fiber matrices showed photoactivity by the generation of singlet oxygen as was observed in solution. The fluorescence behaviors of the composite fibers equally parallel those in solution. For the unsubstituted zinc phthalocyanine composite, the fiber showed fluorescence quenching on interaction with gaseous nitrogen dioxide similar to that in DMF and, thus could be a promising nanofabric material in developing optoelectronic devices that are responsive to the gas.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Zugle, Ruphino , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/243543 , vital:51162 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10601325.2012.662006"
- Description: The photophysical and photochemical properties of tetraaminophthalocyanine complexes of lutetium and zinc covalently linked to polyacrylic acid were studied alongside those of unsubstituted zinc phthalocyanine within the same polymeric fiber matrix. All three phthalocyanines within the solid fiber matrices showed photoactivity by the generation of singlet oxygen as was observed in solution. The fluorescence behaviors of the composite fibers equally parallel those in solution. For the unsubstituted zinc phthalocyanine composite, the fiber showed fluorescence quenching on interaction with gaseous nitrogen dioxide similar to that in DMF and, thus could be a promising nanofabric material in developing optoelectronic devices that are responsive to the gas.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Linking poverty, HIV/AIDS and climate change to human and ecosystem vulnerability in southern Africa: Consequences for livelihoods and sustainable ecosystem management
- Shackleton, Sheona E, Shackleton, Charlie M
- Authors: Shackleton, Sheona E , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/181081 , vital:43697 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13504509.2011.641039"
- Description: People in southern Africa are facing escalating levels of risk, uncertainty and consequently vulnerability as a result of multiple interacting stressors, including HIV/AIDS, poverty, food insecurity, weak governance, climate change and land degradation, to name but a few. Vulnerability or livelihood insecurity emerges when poor people as individuals or social units have to face harmful threats or shocks with inadequate capacity to respond effectively. In such situations, people often have no choice but to turn to their immediate environment for support. Evidence suggests that rising levels of human vulnerability are driving increased dependency on biodiversity and ecosystem services, which in turn, and along with other threats, is rendering ecosystems more vulnerable. This paper explores the dynamic and complex linkages and feedbacks between human vulnerability and ecosystem vulnerability, drawing on data from the southern African region. Human vulnerability is conceptualized as a threat to ecosystem health, as driven by the interplay between a number of current and emerging factors. We focus on poverty, HIV/AIDS and more intense climate extremes as examples of stressors on livelihoods and direct and indirect drivers of ecosystem change. We discuss how some of the responses to increased vulnerability may pose threats to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem management and sustainable development, whilst considering potential solutions that rely on a thorough understanding of coupled social–ecological systems and the interplay between multiple stressors and responses at different scales.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Shackleton, Sheona E , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/181081 , vital:43697 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13504509.2011.641039"
- Description: People in southern Africa are facing escalating levels of risk, uncertainty and consequently vulnerability as a result of multiple interacting stressors, including HIV/AIDS, poverty, food insecurity, weak governance, climate change and land degradation, to name but a few. Vulnerability or livelihood insecurity emerges when poor people as individuals or social units have to face harmful threats or shocks with inadequate capacity to respond effectively. In such situations, people often have no choice but to turn to their immediate environment for support. Evidence suggests that rising levels of human vulnerability are driving increased dependency on biodiversity and ecosystem services, which in turn, and along with other threats, is rendering ecosystems more vulnerable. This paper explores the dynamic and complex linkages and feedbacks between human vulnerability and ecosystem vulnerability, drawing on data from the southern African region. Human vulnerability is conceptualized as a threat to ecosystem health, as driven by the interplay between a number of current and emerging factors. We focus on poverty, HIV/AIDS and more intense climate extremes as examples of stressors on livelihoods and direct and indirect drivers of ecosystem change. We discuss how some of the responses to increased vulnerability may pose threats to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem management and sustainable development, whilst considering potential solutions that rely on a thorough understanding of coupled social–ecological systems and the interplay between multiple stressors and responses at different scales.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Part II Zef/poor white kitsch chique
- Authors: Krueger, Anton
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/225745 , vital:49255 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17533171.2012.715484"
- Description: Ninja, who fronts the freak hip-hop band Die Antwoord, might not be quite what Desmond Tutu had in mind when he described South Africans as the “Rainbow People of God,”24 a happy harmonious amalgamation of different races. In his introduction to their seminal comic track “Enter the Ninja,” Ninja presents himself, rather, as a mongrel gutter dog, both embracing and parodying a syncretic fusion of the many different cultures and races of South Africa, celebrating as well as subverting the rainbow nation discourse. As he said in an interview with News24: “South African culture is quite a fucking fruit salad … a fucking fucked rainbow nation. South Africa's totally fucked … but in a cool way.”25 The cool side of being “fucked” in this way is “Zef.” Zef denotes a particular style of vulgar humor (in the usual sense of the word “vulgar,” but also with a nod to its origin in the Latin vulgaris for “mob” or “commoners”), which has been emerging more and more in South Africa during the past decade. It involves a way of presenting a persona in a purposefully degrading way, exaggerating one's appearance and mannerisms as low class, ill bred, and boorish. I would like to consider the recent popularity of “Zef” and examine its connection specifically to popular Afrikaans folk rock culture, a lineage of white poverty, and the feeling of disgrace experienced by many white Afrikaners after the end of apartheid.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Krueger, Anton
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/225745 , vital:49255 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17533171.2012.715484"
- Description: Ninja, who fronts the freak hip-hop band Die Antwoord, might not be quite what Desmond Tutu had in mind when he described South Africans as the “Rainbow People of God,”24 a happy harmonious amalgamation of different races. In his introduction to their seminal comic track “Enter the Ninja,” Ninja presents himself, rather, as a mongrel gutter dog, both embracing and parodying a syncretic fusion of the many different cultures and races of South Africa, celebrating as well as subverting the rainbow nation discourse. As he said in an interview with News24: “South African culture is quite a fucking fruit salad … a fucking fucked rainbow nation. South Africa's totally fucked … but in a cool way.”25 The cool side of being “fucked” in this way is “Zef.” Zef denotes a particular style of vulgar humor (in the usual sense of the word “vulgar,” but also with a nod to its origin in the Latin vulgaris for “mob” or “commoners”), which has been emerging more and more in South Africa during the past decade. It involves a way of presenting a persona in a purposefully degrading way, exaggerating one's appearance and mannerisms as low class, ill bred, and boorish. I would like to consider the recent popularity of “Zef” and examine its connection specifically to popular Afrikaans folk rock culture, a lineage of white poverty, and the feeling of disgrace experienced by many white Afrikaners after the end of apartheid.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
PhDs by publications
- Niven, Penelope, Grant, Carolyn
- Authors: Niven, Penelope , Grant, Carolyn
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/281108 , vital:55693 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2012.640086"
- Description: PhDs by publications are a relatively new model for doctoral research, especially in the context of the Humanities or Education. This paper describes two writers’ experiences of conducting doctoral studies in this genre and in these faculties. Each discover alternative ways of employing a body of published research papers in development of an overarching thesis. The writers argue that whilst it can be a pragmatic choice for some, PhDs by publications are more likely to be highly complex meta-narratives and that an overview of past research is fraught with theoretical, conceptual and epistemological challenges in the quest for coherence. They claim that the nomenclature ‘PhDs by publications’ or ‘through publications’ is misleading: in the epistemological space of Humanities or Education studies, this mode of doctoral research is more accurately represented as a ‘PhD with or alongside publications’. They conclude that the particular affordance of the model is that it privileges accounts of the process of knowledge building and of descriptions of the gradual emergence of ‘doctoralness’ in the person of the researcher.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Niven, Penelope , Grant, Carolyn
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/281108 , vital:55693 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2012.640086"
- Description: PhDs by publications are a relatively new model for doctoral research, especially in the context of the Humanities or Education. This paper describes two writers’ experiences of conducting doctoral studies in this genre and in these faculties. Each discover alternative ways of employing a body of published research papers in development of an overarching thesis. The writers argue that whilst it can be a pragmatic choice for some, PhDs by publications are more likely to be highly complex meta-narratives and that an overview of past research is fraught with theoretical, conceptual and epistemological challenges in the quest for coherence. They claim that the nomenclature ‘PhDs by publications’ or ‘through publications’ is misleading: in the epistemological space of Humanities or Education studies, this mode of doctoral research is more accurately represented as a ‘PhD with or alongside publications’. They conclude that the particular affordance of the model is that it privileges accounts of the process of knowledge building and of descriptions of the gradual emergence of ‘doctoralness’ in the person of the researcher.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Students’ navigation of the uncharted territories of academic writing
- Bharuthram, Sharita, McKenna, Sioux
- Authors: Bharuthram, Sharita , McKenna, Sioux
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/187373 , vital:44626 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/18146627.2012.742651"
- Description: Many students enter tertiary education unfamiliar with the ‘norms and conventions’ of their disciplines. Research into academic literacies has shown that in order to succeed in their studies, students are expected to conform to these norms and conventions, which are often unrecognized or seen as ‘common sense’ by lecturers. Students have to develop their own ‘map’ of their programme’s expectations in order to make sense of the seemingly mysterious practices they are expected to take on. This study, undertaken at a University of Technology in South Africa, details students’ perceptions of their writing difficulties and their attempts to navigate their way through various writing tasks. The findings reveal that students experience a range of difficulties and that the students often feel unsupported in their travails with academic writing.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Bharuthram, Sharita , McKenna, Sioux
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/187373 , vital:44626 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/18146627.2012.742651"
- Description: Many students enter tertiary education unfamiliar with the ‘norms and conventions’ of their disciplines. Research into academic literacies has shown that in order to succeed in their studies, students are expected to conform to these norms and conventions, which are often unrecognized or seen as ‘common sense’ by lecturers. Students have to develop their own ‘map’ of their programme’s expectations in order to make sense of the seemingly mysterious practices they are expected to take on. This study, undertaken at a University of Technology in South Africa, details students’ perceptions of their writing difficulties and their attempts to navigate their way through various writing tasks. The findings reveal that students experience a range of difficulties and that the students often feel unsupported in their travails with academic writing.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
The art of dying
- Authors: Jones, Ward E
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/275722 , vital:55073 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/05568641.2012.743217"
- Description: In this paper, I explore what Jean Améry calls the ‘aesthetic view of death’. I address the following three questions. To what extent, and how, do we take an aesthetic view of death? Why do we take an aesthetic view of death? Third, for those whose deaths are impending and have some choice over how they die—most prominently the elderly and the terminally ill—what would it mean for them to take an aesthetic view of their own impending deaths, and, in particular, what would it mean for them to act in the light of such a view?
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Jones, Ward E
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/275722 , vital:55073 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/05568641.2012.743217"
- Description: In this paper, I explore what Jean Améry calls the ‘aesthetic view of death’. I address the following three questions. To what extent, and how, do we take an aesthetic view of death? Why do we take an aesthetic view of death? Third, for those whose deaths are impending and have some choice over how they die—most prominently the elderly and the terminally ill—what would it mean for them to take an aesthetic view of their own impending deaths, and, in particular, what would it mean for them to act in the light of such a view?
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
The implacable grandeur of the stranger
- Authors: Krueger, Anton
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/229430 , vital:49673 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10137548.2013.799798"
- Description: South Africa is a nation of strangers, an uneasy mishmash of heterogeneous economic groupings, cultures and languages, a nation of marginalised minorities awkwardly pasted together. Numerous attempts have been made by its government to define and bolster a sense of nationalism and to create a sense of cohesion; however, a shadow side of this appeal for national identity has been the rise in xenophobic violence precipitated by the steady influx of refugees into the country. The title of this article is drawn from Albert Camus’s introduction to his disarming novella of dislocation, L’Etranger (1942), and I would like to explore some of the philosophical implications of representing strangers in different ways. Drawing on works by Zygmunt Bauman, Georg Simmel and Julia Kristeva, I will consider ambivalences towards the stranger represented in Magnet Theatre’s production (2010) of Die Vreemdeling [The Stranger], and pose a few questions about our relationship with the unknown. Attempts to familiarise the constituents of various communities with aspects of each other’s strangeness is a project which has typified much South African theatre in the past; and yet this is an approach which stands in sharp contrast to the importance granted processes of defamiliarisation first proposed so succinctly by Victor Shklovsky in 1917. Instead of attempts to harness and explain the unfamiliarity of others in order to communicate diversity, a celebration of the grandeur of the stranger may provide a more enriching alternative.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Krueger, Anton
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/229430 , vital:49673 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10137548.2013.799798"
- Description: South Africa is a nation of strangers, an uneasy mishmash of heterogeneous economic groupings, cultures and languages, a nation of marginalised minorities awkwardly pasted together. Numerous attempts have been made by its government to define and bolster a sense of nationalism and to create a sense of cohesion; however, a shadow side of this appeal for national identity has been the rise in xenophobic violence precipitated by the steady influx of refugees into the country. The title of this article is drawn from Albert Camus’s introduction to his disarming novella of dislocation, L’Etranger (1942), and I would like to explore some of the philosophical implications of representing strangers in different ways. Drawing on works by Zygmunt Bauman, Georg Simmel and Julia Kristeva, I will consider ambivalences towards the stranger represented in Magnet Theatre’s production (2010) of Die Vreemdeling [The Stranger], and pose a few questions about our relationship with the unknown. Attempts to familiarise the constituents of various communities with aspects of each other’s strangeness is a project which has typified much South African theatre in the past; and yet this is an approach which stands in sharp contrast to the importance granted processes of defamiliarisation first proposed so succinctly by Victor Shklovsky in 1917. Instead of attempts to harness and explain the unfamiliarity of others in order to communicate diversity, a celebration of the grandeur of the stranger may provide a more enriching alternative.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012