Indian family businesses in Durban
- Authors: Jithoo, Sabita
- Date: 1983
- Subjects: East Indians -- South Africa East Indians -- South Africa -- Economic conditions East Indians -- South Africa -- Social life and customs Family-owned business enterprises -- South Africa.
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2108 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007227
- Description: From introduction: This is a study of Indian family businesses in the central business district of Durban, a sea port on the coast of Natal, in South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1983
- Authors: Jithoo, Sabita
- Date: 1983
- Subjects: East Indians -- South Africa East Indians -- South Africa -- Economic conditions East Indians -- South Africa -- Social life and customs Family-owned business enterprises -- South Africa.
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2108 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007227
- Description: From introduction: This is a study of Indian family businesses in the central business district of Durban, a sea port on the coast of Natal, in South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1983
Labour migration, marriage and family life in a Ciskei village
- Authors: Manona, Cecil Wele
- Date: 1981
- Subjects: Migrant labor -- Social aspects -- South Africa -- Ciskei
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2107 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006884
- Description: From introduction: The aim of this thesis is to describe and analyse the effects of labour migration on marriage and family life. The field material is from Burnshill, a village situated in the Keiskammahoek district in the Ciskei. Keiskammahoek is bounded on the East by the districts of King William's Town and Stutterheim, on the West and South by Middledrift and on the North by Cathcart. The inhabitants of Burnshill are overwhelmingly Xhosa and Mfengu (the main ethnic groups in the Ciskei) but also include a small proportion of people whose clans are of Mpondo and Thembu origin. This village has undergone extensive change. As we shall show later, it was settled de novo by the Mfengu and the Xhosa during the second half of the past century. This is one of the reasons why it lacks the homogeneity and continuity of cultural tradition which are predominant features of long-established communities.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1981
- Authors: Manona, Cecil Wele
- Date: 1981
- Subjects: Migrant labor -- Social aspects -- South Africa -- Ciskei
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2107 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006884
- Description: From introduction: The aim of this thesis is to describe and analyse the effects of labour migration on marriage and family life. The field material is from Burnshill, a village situated in the Keiskammahoek district in the Ciskei. Keiskammahoek is bounded on the East by the districts of King William's Town and Stutterheim, on the West and South by Middledrift and on the North by Cathcart. The inhabitants of Burnshill are overwhelmingly Xhosa and Mfengu (the main ethnic groups in the Ciskei) but also include a small proportion of people whose clans are of Mpondo and Thembu origin. This village has undergone extensive change. As we shall show later, it was settled de novo by the Mfengu and the Xhosa during the second half of the past century. This is one of the reasons why it lacks the homogeneity and continuity of cultural tradition which are predominant features of long-established communities.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1981
Interaction and transaction : a study of conciliar behaviour in a Black South African township
- Authors: De Jongh, Michael
- Date: 1980
- Subjects: Social interaction -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Black people -- South Africa -- Politics and government , Local government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2118 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1009437
- Description: The recent history of Africa is one of rapid chance. This process is still continuing and even accelerating. The peoples of Africa are being drawn from a subsistence way of life to a money economy and, more often than not, from a rural to an urban environment. South Africa is no exception to this pattern. In fact, as the most developed country on the continent it is in the front-line of this transformation. Various facets of this problem have held the attention of anthropologists world-wide. Southern Africa specifically has produced some of the earliest urban studies (Hellman, 1948), as well as some of the classical contributions to the field (Mitchell, 1956, 1960, 1966, 1969, 1970; Epstein, 1958; Mayer, 1961, "(1971), 1962; Pauw, 1963). Complex as the urban problems are, anthropologists have obviously not been alone in this field. Workers from many disciplines have been and still are required to contribute to the understanding of the process or urbanization as well as the urban process. Partly for this reason no attempt has been made in the present study to illuminate all the varied facets of the urban field. In general, the focus has been on the urban process and more specifically, on part of a local-level political system. Thus only a limited problem has been selected for analysis.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1980
- Authors: De Jongh, Michael
- Date: 1980
- Subjects: Social interaction -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Black people -- South Africa -- Politics and government , Local government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2118 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1009437
- Description: The recent history of Africa is one of rapid chance. This process is still continuing and even accelerating. The peoples of Africa are being drawn from a subsistence way of life to a money economy and, more often than not, from a rural to an urban environment. South Africa is no exception to this pattern. In fact, as the most developed country on the continent it is in the front-line of this transformation. Various facets of this problem have held the attention of anthropologists world-wide. Southern Africa specifically has produced some of the earliest urban studies (Hellman, 1948), as well as some of the classical contributions to the field (Mitchell, 1956, 1960, 1966, 1969, 1970; Epstein, 1958; Mayer, 1961, "(1971), 1962; Pauw, 1963). Complex as the urban problems are, anthropologists have obviously not been alone in this field. Workers from many disciplines have been and still are required to contribute to the understanding of the process or urbanization as well as the urban process. Partly for this reason no attempt has been made in the present study to illuminate all the varied facets of the urban field. In general, the focus has been on the urban process and more specifically, on part of a local-level political system. Thus only a limited problem has been selected for analysis.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1980
Interaction and transaction: a study of conciliar behaviour in a Black South African township
- Authors: De Jongh, Michael
- Date: 1979
- Subjects: Social interaction , Conciliary behaviour , Black people , Townships , Port Elizabeth , Eastern Cape (South Africa) , Government , Local government
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2086 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001603
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1979
- Authors: De Jongh, Michael
- Date: 1979
- Subjects: Social interaction , Conciliary behaviour , Black people , Townships , Port Elizabeth , Eastern Cape (South Africa) , Government , Local government
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2086 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001603
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1979
The rituals of labour migration among the Gcaleka
- Authors: McAllister, Patrick Alister
- Date: 1979
- Subjects: Gcaleka (African people) -- Rites and ceremonies , Gcaleka (African people) -- Employment
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2081 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001598 , Gcaleka (African people) -- Rites and ceremonies , Gcaleka (African people) -- Employment
- Description: The Xhosa people of the south-eastern part of South Africa have been involved in migratory labour for three generations and more. This study is concerned with the experience of migrant labour among the Gcaleka, who form part of the Xhosa cluster, and who reside in the Willowvale district of the Transkei. It is primarily an attempt to examine and understand the ways in which conservative ("red") Gcaleka society has adapted to the institution of large scale, oscillating labour migration, by looking at the "meaning" of migrant labour to the people involved, and in terms of the relationship between rural social structure and going out to work in town or mine. Much of this meaning and of the relationship between structure and migration is evident in certain ritual and symbolic actions which are associated with a labour migrant's departure from and return to the community. The bulk of the study, therefore, is taken up with a description and analysis of these "rituals of labour migration". An attempt has been made also to relate the rituals of labour migration to the structural principles of society and to underlying moral and religious beliefs and values, and also to the wider Southern African socio-political framework of which the Gcaleka are part. During fieldwork constant reference was made by informants to (ukwakh' umzi) the importance of "building the homestead" and the role of migrant labour in this. The procedure followed here, therefore, after having dealt with basic "background" material and having given an indication of the economic dependence of Gcaleka on migrant labour, is to take the individual homestead as a central reference point. Certain important aspects of social and religious life (kinship, ward section organization, economic relationships and the ancestor cult) are discussed from the point of view of the homestead and the relationships between homesteads in order to outline basic social organizational principles and to identify the socio-economic importance and cultural meaning of migratory labour to conservative Gcaleka. This leads into a discussion of Gcaleka morality in an attempt to demonstrate that the two basic organizational pr inc iples, patrilineali ty and neighbourhood, and their interrelationship, have a counterpart in moral thought. This discussion involves also some tentative ideas regarding the nature of the relationship between morality and religion in this society. All this, it is hoped, provides a basis for the description and analysis of the rituals of labour migration, which follow and which express, inter alia, the importance of the homestead, the organizational importance of kinship and neighbourhood, and certain basic moral precepts. Particular attention is paid to the most elaborate and spectacular of these rituals, the umsindleko beer drink. A separate section is devoted to an attempted analysis of the rituals in terms of Van Gennep's well known schema of rites de passage. Here the absent migrant is viewed as being one who has been separated from society and who has entered a liminal state, to be incorporated back into society once he returns from work. The extent to which liminality is accompanied by the experience of what Victor Turner calls "communitas" is also considered. The general conclusion is that the rituals of labour migration serve as a cultural device to rigidly separate the world of work from the morally superior home reality, to reinforce acceptance of the culturally determined role of migratory labour and migrant labourers and to relate the migratory experience to rural social structure in such a way that the threat of migrant labour is overcome and the rural structure strengthened. To answer the question of why this standpoint towards labour migration has been adopted, it is necessary to outline the position of the Gcaleka within the political economy of Southern Africa, and it is argued that the maintenance of conservatism and the interpretation of migrant labour in terms of the rural structure is largely a response to this position
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1979
- Authors: McAllister, Patrick Alister
- Date: 1979
- Subjects: Gcaleka (African people) -- Rites and ceremonies , Gcaleka (African people) -- Employment
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2081 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001598 , Gcaleka (African people) -- Rites and ceremonies , Gcaleka (African people) -- Employment
- Description: The Xhosa people of the south-eastern part of South Africa have been involved in migratory labour for three generations and more. This study is concerned with the experience of migrant labour among the Gcaleka, who form part of the Xhosa cluster, and who reside in the Willowvale district of the Transkei. It is primarily an attempt to examine and understand the ways in which conservative ("red") Gcaleka society has adapted to the institution of large scale, oscillating labour migration, by looking at the "meaning" of migrant labour to the people involved, and in terms of the relationship between rural social structure and going out to work in town or mine. Much of this meaning and of the relationship between structure and migration is evident in certain ritual and symbolic actions which are associated with a labour migrant's departure from and return to the community. The bulk of the study, therefore, is taken up with a description and analysis of these "rituals of labour migration". An attempt has been made also to relate the rituals of labour migration to the structural principles of society and to underlying moral and religious beliefs and values, and also to the wider Southern African socio-political framework of which the Gcaleka are part. During fieldwork constant reference was made by informants to (ukwakh' umzi) the importance of "building the homestead" and the role of migrant labour in this. The procedure followed here, therefore, after having dealt with basic "background" material and having given an indication of the economic dependence of Gcaleka on migrant labour, is to take the individual homestead as a central reference point. Certain important aspects of social and religious life (kinship, ward section organization, economic relationships and the ancestor cult) are discussed from the point of view of the homestead and the relationships between homesteads in order to outline basic social organizational principles and to identify the socio-economic importance and cultural meaning of migratory labour to conservative Gcaleka. This leads into a discussion of Gcaleka morality in an attempt to demonstrate that the two basic organizational pr inc iples, patrilineali ty and neighbourhood, and their interrelationship, have a counterpart in moral thought. This discussion involves also some tentative ideas regarding the nature of the relationship between morality and religion in this society. All this, it is hoped, provides a basis for the description and analysis of the rituals of labour migration, which follow and which express, inter alia, the importance of the homestead, the organizational importance of kinship and neighbourhood, and certain basic moral precepts. Particular attention is paid to the most elaborate and spectacular of these rituals, the umsindleko beer drink. A separate section is devoted to an attempted analysis of the rituals in terms of Van Gennep's well known schema of rites de passage. Here the absent migrant is viewed as being one who has been separated from society and who has entered a liminal state, to be incorporated back into society once he returns from work. The extent to which liminality is accompanied by the experience of what Victor Turner calls "communitas" is also considered. The general conclusion is that the rituals of labour migration serve as a cultural device to rigidly separate the world of work from the morally superior home reality, to reinforce acceptance of the culturally determined role of migratory labour and migrant labourers and to relate the migratory experience to rural social structure in such a way that the threat of migrant labour is overcome and the rural structure strengthened. To answer the question of why this standpoint towards labour migration has been adopted, it is necessary to outline the position of the Gcaleka within the political economy of Southern Africa, and it is argued that the maintenance of conservatism and the interpretation of migrant labour in terms of the rural structure is largely a response to this position
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1979
Transcending the culture of poverty in a Black South African township
- Authors: Wilsworth, Mercia Joan
- Date: 1979
- Subjects: Black people , South Africa , Grahamstown , Economic conditions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2085 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001602
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1979
- Authors: Wilsworth, Mercia Joan
- Date: 1979
- Subjects: Black people , South Africa , Grahamstown , Economic conditions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2085 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001602
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1979
The decision-making process in a rural community in Lesotho
- Authors: Perry, J G, 1942-
- Date: 1978
- Subjects: Decision making -- Lesotho Sotho (African people) -- Social life and customs Local government -- Lesotho Land tenure -- Lesotho Thatched roofs -- Lesotho Grasses -- Lesotho Law -- Lesotho Courts -- Lesotho Community power -- Lesotho Civic leaders -- Lesotho Community life -- Lesotho Lesotho -- Social conditions Lesotho -- Rural conditions Lesotho -- Politics and government
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2111 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007635
- Description: From Introduction: Lesotho is a small, mountainous country entirely surrounded by South Africa. The stark nature of its terrain and topography present harsh options to its inhabitants. Much of the country is mountainous, better suited to the keeping of stock than to agriculture. The lowlands, where the soils are more amenable to the plough, are scarred and cut by dongas. The soil is overworked and overcrowded and Lesotho does not grow enough to feed its people who depend on migrancy as a viable alternative to the limited resources of their own land. They stream from the country to seek wage employment in South Africa, for Lesotho has minimal industrial development and cannot provide jobs for her people. The civil service absorbs some of the educated elite, as does teaching, but the majority must sell their sweat in South Africa's service.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1978
- Authors: Perry, J G, 1942-
- Date: 1978
- Subjects: Decision making -- Lesotho Sotho (African people) -- Social life and customs Local government -- Lesotho Land tenure -- Lesotho Thatched roofs -- Lesotho Grasses -- Lesotho Law -- Lesotho Courts -- Lesotho Community power -- Lesotho Civic leaders -- Lesotho Community life -- Lesotho Lesotho -- Social conditions Lesotho -- Rural conditions Lesotho -- Politics and government
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2111 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007635
- Description: From Introduction: Lesotho is a small, mountainous country entirely surrounded by South Africa. The stark nature of its terrain and topography present harsh options to its inhabitants. Much of the country is mountainous, better suited to the keeping of stock than to agriculture. The lowlands, where the soils are more amenable to the plough, are scarred and cut by dongas. The soil is overworked and overcrowded and Lesotho does not grow enough to feed its people who depend on migrancy as a viable alternative to the limited resources of their own land. They stream from the country to seek wage employment in South Africa, for Lesotho has minimal industrial development and cannot provide jobs for her people. The civil service absorbs some of the educated elite, as does teaching, but the majority must sell their sweat in South Africa's service.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1978
Agnation, alternative structures, and the individual in Chopi society
- Authors: Webster, D J
- Date: 1976
- Subjects: Chopi (African people) , Ethnology -- Mozambique
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2122 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013288
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1976
- Authors: Webster, D J
- Date: 1976
- Subjects: Chopi (African people) , Ethnology -- Mozambique
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2122 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013288
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1976
The religious system of the Ndlambe of East London district
- Authors: Bigalke, Erich Heinrich
- Date: 1970
- Subjects: Xhosa (African people) -- Religion
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2113 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007648
- Description: From conclusion: This study has had a twofold objective, to present ethnographic data on a people who belong to the Xhosa tribal cluster and more specifically, to throw light on aspects of the ancestor cult among the Xhosa. In particular an attempt has been made to explore the nature of the interrelation between the social structure and the ancestor cult. Attention has been focussed on the lineage as an institution, on the rituals devoted to the ancestors and on the means of explaining misfortune. Though the Ndlambe, in common with other groups of indigenous people in the Eastern Cape, have been experiencing developments brought about by social change during the better part of two centuries, the recent implementation of the Betterment Scheme has resulted in drastic demographic changes. The former settlement pattern of scattered homesteads has given way before village formation. Beyond the fact that it has resulted in the closer proximity of homesteads, with the opportunities for cooperation and conflict that this situation implies, nothing is known of the direct organizational influence of this development. More…
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1970
- Authors: Bigalke, Erich Heinrich
- Date: 1970
- Subjects: Xhosa (African people) -- Religion
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2113 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007648
- Description: From conclusion: This study has had a twofold objective, to present ethnographic data on a people who belong to the Xhosa tribal cluster and more specifically, to throw light on aspects of the ancestor cult among the Xhosa. In particular an attempt has been made to explore the nature of the interrelation between the social structure and the ancestor cult. Attention has been focussed on the lineage as an institution, on the rituals devoted to the ancestors and on the means of explaining misfortune. Though the Ndlambe, in common with other groups of indigenous people in the Eastern Cape, have been experiencing developments brought about by social change during the better part of two centuries, the recent implementation of the Betterment Scheme has resulted in drastic demographic changes. The former settlement pattern of scattered homesteads has given way before village formation. Beyond the fact that it has resulted in the closer proximity of homesteads, with the opportunities for cooperation and conflict that this situation implies, nothing is known of the direct organizational influence of this development. More…
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1970
Studies in Gusii kinship
- Authors: Mayer, Iona
- Date: 1966
- Subjects: Gusii (African people) -- Kinship
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2119 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012846
- Description: This thesis has two aims. In Part I the aim is to present some unpublished field material on Gusii kinship, particularly on domestic relations between the generations and the sexes. In Part II the aim is to clarify a theoretical model of 'relation by kinship', and of ' kinship categories" and 'classificntion', based on an examination of the ways in which Gusii use kinship terms. Intro., p. 1.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1966
- Authors: Mayer, Iona
- Date: 1966
- Subjects: Gusii (African people) -- Kinship
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2119 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012846
- Description: This thesis has two aims. In Part I the aim is to present some unpublished field material on Gusii kinship, particularly on domestic relations between the generations and the sexes. In Part II the aim is to clarify a theoretical model of 'relation by kinship', and of ' kinship categories" and 'classificntion', based on an examination of the ways in which Gusii use kinship terms. Intro., p. 1.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1966