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An investigation of the significance of learned helplessness on membership participation in co-operative movements

  • Authors: Norman, Paul Deon
  • Date: 1991
  • Subjects: Learned helplessness , Psychology , Black people -- South Africa , Attributional Style Questionnaire , Partician Index , Co-operatives , Helplessness (Psychology) , Black people -- Psychology
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2895 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002059
  • Description: In this study the psychological phenomenon of learned helplessness is investigated to determine its significance as a characteristic of members of progressive co-operatives within the South African context. Most of the members of these co-operatives are black South Africans. It is argued that because of the country's racial policy, many of the members have become accustomed to a passive response to events in their lives and this gives rise to their failure to utilise the freedom and opportunities of the co-operative structure. The researcher hypothesises that this passive response could be explained in terms of a high level of learned helplessness among co-operative members. Two hypotheses are investigated in this study: Hypothesis 1: Passive co-operative members will have higher levels of learned helplessness than active members. Hypothesis 2:The level of learned helplessness decreases as the length of co-operative members involvement increases. Data collection for this study was carried out by combining a personal interview and a standardised questionnaire (the Attributional Style Questionnaire). To distinguish between the passive and active members, a Participation Index was constructed. The ASQ was translated into Xhosa, adapted for the sample and two translators were employed to conduct the interviews in Xhosa. The sample consisted of 50 black South Africans, many with limited education and was drawn from six co-operatives in the Eastern Cape. No significant differences were found between the active and passive groups in terms of their levels of learned helplessness. Furthermore, the length of involvement in the co-operative had no effect on the level of learned helplessness. No support was found therefore for Hypothesis l and 2. A significant difference, however, was found between active and passive members and the number of months of involvement. This suggests that the length of involvement has an effect on how active members will be in the co-operative. The results of this study indicate that generally the sample does not suffer from learned helplessness. It is argued that Hypothesis 2 is not supported due to confounding variables. The study raises many doubts as to the reliability of the ASQ and the Participation Index used in the study.
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  • Date Issued: 1991

Feministiese vertelstrategieë in 'n metafiksionele teks van Jeanne Goosen

  • Authors: Mackenzie, Leonore
  • Date: 1991
  • Subjects: Goosen, Jeanne Afrikaans fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism Feminism and literature
  • Language: Afrikaans
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:3576 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002100
  • Description: Die roman Ons is nie almal so nie (1990) deur Jeanne Goosen word aangebied in 'n realistiese (oftewel tradisionele) vertelvorm. Feministiese vakkundigheid verwys na die narratiewe tipe as patriargaal of fallosentries. As sodanig, is daar 'n ingrypende verskil tussen die vertelwyse van hierdie teks en die van die outeur se vroeere tekste. Hierdie verskuiwing dien as stimulus vir 'n evaluasie van bogenoemde teks binne 'n raamwerk van die feministiese literere teorie en kritiek. Genoemde verskuiwing beteken ook 'n behoefte na 'n ondersoek van die feministiese literatuur en vakkunde in verhouding tot die heersende manlike "stem" van tradisionele redevoering. Dit word beklemtoon dat elkeen van die feministiese teoretiese standpunte die onvoorwaardelike politieke doelstellings van alle feministiese tekste aan die lig bring. Daar word onder andere te kenne gegee dat patriargale mag nie net op persoonlike vlak voorkom nie, maar ook op die vlak van instellings en sosiale gebruike. Patriargale beheer is dus nie 'n onveranderliknatuurlike gegewe nie; dit is vatbaar vir teoretiese analise en praktiese wysiging. Vanwee die feministiese literere teoriee se preokkupasie met patriargale mag, word hierdie teoriee dikwels gekritiseer as synde onbetrokke by strydvrae ten opsigte van rassisme en klasseverdeling. Dit word erken dat die feministiese literere kritiek die geskil met betrekking tot seksisme moet transendeer; dat die toekoms van die feministiese literere teoriee gelee is in 'n deurdringende gesprekvoering met materialisme. Dit is die uitdruklike doelstelling van die marxisties-feministiese kritiese standpunt om rekening te hou, nie net met vraagpunte ten opsigte van taal en "gender" nie, maar ook van klas en ras. Goosen se teks is besonder ontvanklik vir 'n ondersoek van hierdie verwante probleme. * * * The novel Ons is nie almal so nie (1990) by Jeanne Goosen is presented in a realistic (or traditional) narrative form. In feminist terms this narrative form is referred to as patriarchal or phallocentric. As such, the text differs radically from the narrative mode in which the author's previous texts are presented. This shift invites an assessment of the text within a framework of feminist theory and criticism. Moreover, it indicates the need for an investigation into the relationship of feminist literature and scholarship to the dominant male voice of traditional discourse. It is stressed that each of the feminist theoretical positions reveals the unreservedly political purpose of all feminist writing. It is further suggested that patriarchal power exists in institutions and social practices, not merely in individual intentions. Patriarchal power is therefore not a part of immutable nature, but open to effective theoretical analyses and practical change. Due to their preoccupation with patriarchal power, feminist literary theories are often criticised as being blind to issues of race and/or class. It is recognised that feminist literary theory must transcend the issue of sexism; that its future lies in a far more articulated dialogue with materialism. The express purpose of the marxist-feminist critical position is to take into account questions not only of language and gender, but also of class and race. Goosen's text is particularly receptive to an exploration of these interrelated problems.
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  • Date Issued: 1991

A cross cultural investigation of gender : gender sterotypes of English and Xhosa undergraduate students

  • Authors: Robinson, Kathryn Ann
  • Date: 1990
  • Subjects: Sex role -- South Africa -- Cross-cultural studies , Stereotypes (Social psychology) -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2901 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002065
  • Description: This study begins with the assertion that gender-role stereotypes exist in society, and that these influence the way the members of society perceive themselves and others. These stereotypes consist of sex-typed personality traits, attitudes, interests and behaviours, and they vary to a greater or lesser extent according to the culture that they originate in. Just as ordinary members of society are influenced by these stereotypes, so too are researchers, although this is not something that is often readily admitted. A great deal of research has been undertaken on gender-roles in past years, but researchers have tended to re-use existing conceptualisations of gender without examining whether they are in fact salient for the culture or generation under study. This study begins with the premise that (in South Africa as much as anywhere) before truly accurate assessment of the distributions of gender roles in a culture can be initiated, the culturally specific content of its gender-roles must be discovered. This firstly involves the description of the culture's gender-role stereotypes. Such explication would hopefully also help researchers to avoid making biased interpretations as a result of the stereotypes. Secondly, the relationship between stereotypes and self-perceptions must be established to see if scales based on the former are valid for use on the latter. This study's aim was to begin to investigate these two areas in English and Xhosa students. 94 white English speaking, and 48 black Xhosa speaking undergraduate students responded to an open ended, and a Likert-type questionnaire on various traits, attitudes and behaviours, by rating each for the "typical" male and female as well as themselves. Descriptions of stereotypes and self-ratings were obtained from performing within culture t-tests, comparing ratings of typical males and females, and male and female self ratings. Data from the open ended questionnaires was used to fill out these descriptions, which were then compared across sexes and across cultures. Gender stereotyping proved to be salient in both cultures, and gender stereotypes of the two cultures shared some similarities but also had menaingful differences. In both cultures, stereotypes and self-descriptions paralleled one another in some areas, but also differed significantly. It was concluded that the same gender-role scale would not be equally valid for use in the two cuItures, and that scales based on stereotypes would not be altogether valid for assessing self-perceptions. Various issues and implications arising from the results are discussed critically, including the proposal for a redefinition of the terms "stereotype" and "culture" to suit South African society.
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  • Date Issued: 1990

An empirical phenomenological investigations of the experience of being unemployed : a critical study in the South African context

  • Authors: Jaffray, Timothy William
  • Date: 1990
  • Subjects: Unemployment -- Psychological aspects , Unemployment -- South Africa -- Psychological aspects
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2904 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002068
  • Description: Unemploynent is a problem that confronts many western countries. The aim of this dissertation is to understand, on the basis of a phenomenological investigation, what it means to be an unemployed, white, South African citizen. These meanings are then seen and discussed against the background of the problems associated with the ideological structure within the country. How the latter relates to white employment and psychological life is also explored. The results demonstrate the negative impact unemploynent has upon the psychological functioning of the individual. The results further show the despair such individuals face, having been 'denied' an accepted role within society.
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  • Date Issued: 1990

An examination of the achievement of the Jesuit Order in South Africa, 1879-1934

  • Authors: Ryan, Judy Anne
  • Date: 1990
  • Subjects: Jesuits -- South Africa -- History Jesuits -- South Africa -- History
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2522 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001851
  • Description: The Society of Jesus, founded in 1540 by St Ignatius of Loyola, dispatched the first group of five priests and three brothers to the Cape in 1875. Their destination was St Aidan's College (1875-1973) in Grahamstown which they would staff. Two of the priests went to Graaff-Reinet where the Society established a mission house and noviciate (1875-1889). On 1 July 1878 the Zambesi Mission was founded with Henry Depelchin as its appointed leader. The Mission was placed under the direct control of the Jesuit General. St Aidan's became the headquarters of the Zambesi Mission and it was hoped that trainees for the Mission would emerge from the College. The first group of missionaries bound for the Zambesi regions left Grahamstown in 1879. Negotiations followed with the Ndebele chiefdom in Bulawayo and stations were established at Tati, Empandeni and Pandamatenga. Unsuccessful probes into Barotseland and Gazaland followed and a decade later the mission to Zambesia was abandoned and the Jesuits returned to the south where there had been further expansion of the Order's activities. Dunbrody (1882-1934), situated on the Sundays River, had been set up as a base for the Zambesi Mission, as an educational centre for Blacks and as a farm. Keilands (1886-1908) was an attempt to establish a missionary base for the extension of activities into the Transkei. Vleischfontein (1884-1894) in the Western Transvaal, was developed as a staging post between Zambesia and the Cape. In 1924 the Order attempted to develop parish work in Claremont, but initially nowhere else. By 1890 the Jesuits were ready to return to Matabeleland and in the post colonial years a string of stations were founded. Partly to conserve its manpower for the Zambesi enterprise and for financial and economic reasons, Graaff-Reinet was abandoned in 1889, followed by Vleischfontein, Keilands, the parish at Claremont, and Dunbrody. By 1934, the terminal point of the thesis, the only Jesuit presence in South Africa was at St Aidan's which was saved from closure by Papal intervention.
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  • Date Issued: 1990

Religious experience and schizophrenia in modern man : an experiential theoretical study

  • Authors: Borchardt, Frederick Francois
  • Date: 1990
  • Subjects: Schizophrenia -- Religious aspects , Experience (Religion) -- Psychological aspects
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2897 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002061
  • Description: In this study the psychological structures of two categories of religious and schizophrenic experience were examined from a phenomenological- existential perspective. Existing theories describe schizophrenia as an unfree, rigid experience with limited possibilities for selfhood. Some theorists believe, however, that some forms of schizophrenia can be seen as potential growth experiences which could facilitate existential renewal. These forms of schizophrenia are mystical, mythical or spiritual in nature. Religious experiences are, according to the literature, essentially renewal experiences facilitating existential growth and transformation through a particular system of thought and devotional relationship shared by a group of people. The Duquesne phenomenological- psychological method was used to analyse seven case studies, four of which involved schizophrenic experiences and three which involved religious conversion experiences. The general psychological structure which emerged through this analysis showed both schizophrenia and religious experience to have specific implications for the personal, social, material and mystical dimensions of being. The description of a specific psychological structure of experience which could optimally facilitate existential growth and transformation was attained by examining psychological structures where the subject's experience culminated in existential growth and transformation (such as religious experience and certain schizophrenIc experiences). As both these categories of experience displayed a strong mystical component, a psychological structure of experience which facilitates a transformative mystical experience was described. It can be concluded that an experience involving a mystical dimension could be transformative if the general psychological structure of the person displays (a) an openness towards reality as it presents itself (b) an experience of oneself as having a measure of existential freedom (c) a certain sense of security in one's own selfhood and (d) a social world which could understand, support and reflect inner experiences.
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  • Date Issued: 1990

The Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC) : part of a whole or a cover?

  • Authors: Lubbe, Ingrid Lisa
  • Date: 1990
  • Subjects: Southern African Development Coordination Conference
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2753 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002000
  • Description: The object of this analysis of the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC) was to examine the interaction between the states which comprise the organisation in terms of regional and international factors which either facilitated or constrained the pursuit of the organisation's economic goals. To this end a theoretical orientation which would place the organisation in context of regional and international political and economic interaction was necessary. International regime theory was used to place the organisation in an international context, and at the same time provided a theoretical dimension which could be used to analyse empirical evidence on the SADCC organisation's functioning. The application of regime theory clearly highlighted the fact that SADCC's economic goals are constrained by the degree to which all of the SADCC states are integrated on the economic level with western market economy and furthermore , by the fact that these links are reinforced for seven of the nine SADCC states by their economic dependence on South Africa. The above conclusion showed that in terms of the perpetuation of the SADCC organisation as an economic regime, according to the regime theory outlined in Chapter One, the goals of SADCC did not create a firm basis for economic cooperation in the long term. The future of the SADCC organisation in it's present form will depend on how long the racial policies of South Africa continue, for the analysis makes clear that the organisation has much more political than economic coherency. The use of a regime framework showed that in terms of the SADCC states individual economic positions, the historical and structural links between South Africa, the majority of the SADCC states and the West will continue indefinitely due to the strength of the structural economic links between the Southern African region and the western market economy. Thus the analysis proves, within the parameters of international regime theory, the lack of economic coherency within the SADCC organisation's goals, and the strength of the economic ties between the Southern African region and the West.
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  • Date Issued: 1990

"Us" and "them": disagreement over the meanings of terms, ambiguity, contestability and strategy in the Zimbabwean House of Assembly

  • Authors: Hasler, Arthur Richard Patrick
  • Date: 1989
  • Subjects: Politicians -- Zimbabwe -- Language , Zimbabwe -- Politics and government -- 1980- |xLanguage
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2083 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001600
  • Description: This is a study of how certain value loaded political terms are used in Zimbabwean Parliamentary debate. Before 1980 it is argued that aspects of lexical choice and an individual's sociopolitical position were extremely closely related, especially in the case of "white Rhodesians". There was also a marked lack of ambiguity in the use of value loaded terms at this time. In contemporary Zimbabwean House of Assembly, however, terms which became popularized when the new government came to power in 1980 are used with considerable ambiguity and contestability in order to further specific strategies. Though correlations between the choice of lexical units and individuals' positions in the social structure have been identified as "sociolinguistic variables" (Downes 1984, 75), it is argued that an analysis of this type of correlation should lead us to an analysis of how these lexical units or "terms" are used by individual speakers in a micro-political process. I hypothesize that the ambiguity and contestability which encompass certain key terms used in the Zimbabwean House contribute to their being used as strategies to achieve individual or party goals. I show that the terms are manipulated by individuals in various contexts, and that the normative connotations of terms, that is what the terms "ought" to mean, is not consistent with the ways in which they are used. This, in turn, has an effect on how people think the terms should be used. This process of language change exposes the interface between language usage and social life. Though not reducible to a single "correct" interpretation, it does provide rich material for the analysis of culture.
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  • Date Issued: 1989

'n Marxisties-feministiese ondersoek van Wilma Stockenström se roman, Die kremetartekspedisie

  • Authors: Gardner, Judy Hilary
  • Date: 1989
  • Subjects: Stockenström, Wilma -- Criticism and interpretation , Stockenström, Wilma. Kremetartekspedisie
  • Language: Afrikaans
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:3568 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002091
  • Description: Chapter is an exploration of the meanings which may underly the title of this novel. I have tried initially to establish what kind of "expedition" is undertaken, and have come to the conclusion that "expedition" has a multidimensional meaning, that it implies a search, an expedition into different things: an expedition to the city of rose-quartz; the slave woman's expeditions from the baobab tree and back; an inner expedition to gain self-knowledge; an expedition into womanhood; an expedition into the history of Africa, into religion, into language. The second part of the chapter examines the nature of "baobab", since this tree, like the "Tree of Life", is regarded as one growing upside-down. It is this upside-down nature of the tree which led me to believe that many existing stereotypes and myths are turned upside-down in the novel: about slaves, about woman, language, the Afrikaans literary tradition, the "traditional" structure of the novel, culture transcending nature, the slave woman's language. In chapter 2 I have examined only one of these expeditions, viz. the slave woman's inner expeditions consisting of her experiences as a slave and her journeys of reminiscence. These journeys at the same time embrace all the other expeditions. Her inner expeditions are signified by a number of codes, which fulfil literally the function of processes of knowledge, of self- knowledge, as well as of systems in which meaning is contained. By undertaking this inner expedition, the woman gains greater clarity of vision concerning her own existence and the existence of man/woman in general. Chapter 3 deals mainly with the concept of possession/ownership, which results in two diametrically opposed groups: the owner class and the owned class. The peculiar institution of slavery has given rise to these two irreconcilable groups, and therefore a brief history of slavery is included in this chapter. The slave woman is initially one of the owned class, but through indoctrination, she too aspires to become a member of the owner class. In the second half of the chapter, then, the woman is discussed as owner. Her position becomes a reflection of the position of her owners, to illustrate the peculiarity of the capitalist system in which there will always be the rulers and the subjects, the oppressor and the oppressed, the owner and the owned.
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  • Date Issued: 1989

A metabletic study of the male/female process in psychology

  • Authors: O'Brien, Keith Stanley Edward Michael
  • Date: 1989
  • Subjects: Psychology -- Philosophy , Sex difference (Psychology) , Psychotherapy
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2908 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002073
  • Description: The motivation to explore the subject matter of this thesis arises from two interlinked processes: (1) the experience of the power and pervasiveness of a "basic split" experienced in therapy in the unity of the individual, (2) the tendency in the unitary discipline psychology for theorists to adopt views which are polar opposites. In trying to understand these phenomena one has to explore the basic paradox of being which has fascinated thinkers and mystics down through the ages, the paradox of the One and the many, and thus the phenomenon of change. This paradox is explored in mythology, in the "philosophia perennis" and as encountered in high-energy sub-atomic physics. Out of this emerges the awareness of Being as One but as embodying a dynamic polar process, the first of whose manifestations is the male and the female process (or Yin/Yang in Chinese). The male/female process is defined and explored and it is shown that the female process has been progressively ignored and largely repressed in the West. I demonstrate this process in a metabletic (hermeneutical phenomenological) study of Greek sacred architecture. Metabletics as defined by its originator, J.H. van den Berg, is "the theory of change" or a psychology of history. It is thus a particularly suitable method of analysing the cultural-historical process of the repression of the female process in Western society. The emergence of the male process as predominant in the West is explored hermeneutically through the emergence of the individual and the suppression of the old unity centred in the Mother Goddess, and the receding of the Father God to the heavens. The choice by the great Greek philosophers of the male process is particularly important because of their emphasis on the Logico-Mathematical Sequential (L.M.S.) mode of knowing and perception at the expense of the female process, Intuitive-Creative Holistic (I.C.H.) mode.The dominance of the male process in the West is traced from the aboriginal female-process state through neolithic village culture to the rise of the first cities. Processes studied are the rise of kingship, war, private property and the splitting of labour. The roots of anomie and alienation are described. The emergence of god as powerful ruler and lawgiver is shown. The splitting of the male/female process leads to the splitting of the individual from him/herself, from others, from the world and from the divine. This is traced in the mystery religions, in religious dualism, in the rise of the Judaeo-Christian tradition and Gnosticism. The split and its effects are demonstrated in Western science and psychology. The necessity and possibility of integration in science and in psychology is demonstrated through the integration of our process of knowing and perceiving which is used as a model for the integration of psychology. The effects of the male/female split on the individual in Western society are shown. The split in our society leads to anomie and alienation, which produce "socioses". These affect the child born into the society and lead to a "Parent/Child" split. The possibility of healing the split in the individual, between people, between humankind and the world and in re-establishing our unity in the One is illustrated. The unity of the One is experienced through the dynamic polar interaction of the male/female process.
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  • Date Issued: 1989

An "unobtrusive art" : Elizabeth Gaskell's use of place in Ruth, North and South, and Wives and Daughters

  • Authors: Eve, Vivian Jeanette
  • Date: 1989
  • Subjects: Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn, 1810-1865 , Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn, 1810-1865 -- Criticism and interpretation
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2173 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001824
  • Description: The purpose of this study is to show how Elizabeth Gaskell creates a sense of place and why place is important in her novels. Gaskell's life and works indicate an interest in place and an ability to recreate it, but, although most critics mention her descriptive powers, few examine how a sense of place is achieved. Indeed, setting as a tool of analysis has received critical attention only fairly recently. Here the term 'place' has been chosen because it embraces the social, physical, and personal aspects of setting as well as the objects with which spaces are furnished, and for the purpose of discussing its significance a model of the novel has been devised which shows the interrelationships of character, action, setting, language, and ideas, as well as the influence of context (Introduction). Gaskell creates a sense of place in many unobtrusive ways, but particularly important are point of view, windows as vantage points, the connection of place with memory, and similarities in perception between scenes in the novels and fashions in painting (Chapter One). An analysis of Ruth illustrates the interrelationship of character and place. Ruth's journey mirrors her spiritual development, and character is often revealed through response to environment or the displacement of emotions onto it, while place is also used to signify innocence and to emphasize the plea for understanding of the unmarried mother and her child (Chapter Two). Places in North and South represent important aspects of newly industrialized Britain, and are significant to the novel's vision of a coherent society; an examination of how apparently irreconcilable communities are shown to be mutually dependent underlines the importance of place to the novel's ideas (Chapter Three). Wives and Daughters has a complicated plot based on a number of parallel, interlocking stories each centred on a home in the neighbourhood of Hollingford. How event, story, and plot are connected to these places shows their relationship with action (Chapter Four). Thus is an appreciation of Gaskell's literary achievement enhanced, and place shown to be a significant element in her novels.
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  • Date Issued: 1989

An existential-phenomenological explication of being-a-black student at a predominantly white university, with special reference to Rhodes University

  • Authors: Harilall, Rehena Ranir
  • Date: 1989
  • Subjects: Racism , South Africa , Black university students , College , Racism -- South Africa -- Psychological aspects , College students, Black , College students, Black -- South Africa -- Psychology
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2903 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002067
  • Description: This study attempts to explore, theoretically and empirically, the experience of being black in a predominantly white university. It is more specifically concerned with perceived interaction between members of different cultural and ethnic groups, namely, between black and white. Using the existential-phenomenological method the experience of seven subjects, both male and female, were explicated. This explication revealed that black students become aware of their "difference" during interaction with members of the dominant white group. The black students perceive the behaviour of the white-dominant group to be racist and this creates a great deal of latent hostility, anger, and resentment. It is suggested that a programme be developed to diffuse the conflict situation during intergroup interaction at university.
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  • Date Issued: 1989

Arguments for other minds

  • Authors: Dowling, Dolina Sylvia
  • Date: 1989
  • Subjects: Mind and body -- Philosophy
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2702 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001977
  • Description: If I am aware of my own mental states by introspection (a) How can I know that other people have minds? and (b) How can I know what their mental states are? These are two of the questions with which I will be concerned in this dissertation. I discuss five different attempts to deal with them. (i) The claim that we can know that other people have minds by an argument from analogy. I show a number of serious flaws in Russell's and other versions of this argument. (ii) Malcolm's thesis that the criteria by which we apply mental terms to others are just different from the criteria one applies in one's own case. I argue that Halcolm's accounts of both first- and third-person criteria are not adequate. (iii) I consider Strawson claim that 'persons' is a primitive concept and that behavioural criteria are "logically adequate" for determining the correctness of statements about the mental states of others. I argue that both of his key concepts are underanalysed. (iv) A quite different attempt to answer our questions (a) and (b) is given by the empirical realist who argues that knowledge claims about other minds are best understood as hypotheses in a wider psycho-physical theory. I show that the major fault in Putnam's version of empirical realism is that he overlooks the subjective character of (iii) our mental states. (v) Finally I consider the claim, due to Nagel, that a conception of mental states is possible which incorporates both subjective and objective aspects of the phenonemon. I speculate that with a great deal of development this approach might hold the answer to our questions.
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  • Date Issued: 1989

Die begrip verganklikheid as komplekse kode in enkele werke van Hennie Aucamp

  • Authors: Garbers, Marius Wolhuter
  • Date: 1989
  • Subjects: Aucamp, Hennie -- Criticism and interpretation
  • Language: Afrikaans
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:3567 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002090
  • Description: Mortality has always been a popular theme in literature. By means of a semiological and narratological approach, it has been endeavoured in this study to prove that transience comprises a complex code constituted by a whole series of codes. In each of the chosen volumes one specific short story is analysed and all the codes related to transience are defined and described. Then these codes are discussed within the context of the volume as a whole. The following codes have been identified and analysed: death and death related codes, decay, distress, frustration, emptiness, loneliness observe, look and see, reproduction, the code of ageing, youth/ageing, lost love, time. The following texts of Aucamp have been used as the object of study: Die Hartseerwals, Spitsuur and 'n Bruidsbed vir Tant Nonnie. The reason these texts were selected, is twofold: They represent the early works of the author. The continuity is essential for making meaningful deductions. The final conclusions are: Man's bond with an environment which is characterised by continual change, influences his existence and makes his life a tentative experience. Transience involves more than merely ageing, obsolescence and death. Transience is a complex experience, related to the physical and mental in man. Besides ageing, sexuality contributes to man's downfall. Loneliness, isolation and frustration determine his actions and stress his experience of transience. The result is a painful experience of life.
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  • Date Issued: 1989

Health and politics : appraisal and evaluation of the provision of health and mental health services for Blacks in South Africa

  • Authors: O'Donoghue, Sean B
  • Date: 1989
  • Subjects: Black people -- Mental health -- South Africa , Mental health services -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2909 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002074
  • Description: The aim of this study has been to examine, in the light of recent events in the field of Health Care in South Africa, the remarks and claims made by the World Health Organization, and the American Psychiatric Association between 1976 and 1978 on Health Care services, as provided for Blacks, by the South African government. In two reports, these organizations instituted the earliest, and arguably most significant claims against South Africa's system of Health Care. This study sketches firstly the political genesis and social context of the WHO, and APA examinations. Secondly, this study evaluates responses made by the South African State to the critical climate inspired by the above mentioned reports, through a close analysis of recent events associated with the politics, and provision of Health Care Facilities - particularly with regard to Black South Africans. This analysis suggests that the governments' earlier tentative policy of privatisation (which was soundly condemned by WHO and the APA) has been even more enthusiastically pursued - in contradiction to it's avowed policies of Commu ity Health Care, and to the continuing detriment of those South African communities who are in most need of adequate Health Care services. The study concludes that the criticisms raised by the WHO and APA had the effect of inspiring positive reforms in South Africa's health services, but in no way thwarted the governments', at first only tentative plans, to increasingly privatise it's psychiatric and other medical institutions.
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  • Date Issued: 1989

The empty-nest stage of life : a comparative study of women and men facing transition

  • Authors: Kaplan, Ernest
  • Date: 1989
  • Subjects: Empty nesters , Parent and child , Sex role -- Psychological aspect , Men -- Sexual behavior , Women -- Sexual behavior
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2899 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002063
  • Description: This thesis encompasses a study of the empty-nest stage of life. For the purposes of this study, the above-mentioned stage was defined as that period in the family when the youngest child matriculates. Thirty-five empty-nest couples were interviewed during 1984, in the city of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The mean age of the subjects was 49.5, and the standard deviation was 4.9. The couples were asked about their attitudes towards the empty-nest, using a structured questionnaire, the Family Attitude Survey (FAS). This survey consisted of nine-point attitude statements, which focused on theoretical issues pertinent to this stage, viz. children are on-time or off-time with regard to major life events, impact of children leaving home on the parents, degree of parental involvement with children, parent-child relationships, ageing, sexuality, menopause, work-career, and attitudes towards the past, future and death. The general purpose of the present study was to determine the extent to which the empty-nest stage of life constitutes a negative crisis period, or a positive period of stability and growth for the empty-nest parents. Overall, it was concluded that the empirical evidence depicting the empty- nest stage of life as a positive period of stability and growth rather than a negative crisis period, is persuasive for some of the empty-nest parents in the present study, in view of the empirical findings regarding certain of the above-mentioned theoretical issues examined in the present thesis. Notwithstanding this, it was deemed essential to qualify the above conclusion, given the fact that the same and other respondents experienced difficulty with the following issues, viz. children being off-time with regard to major life events, the departure of children from the home, overinvolvement with children, problematic relationships with them, perceptions of themselves as failures as parents, inability to accept their own ageing, problems with changing sexuality, diminishing enjoyment in their occupations, and lack of prospects for future career advancement, negative preoccupation with the past and future, anxiety about death, and an impoverished marital relationship. It was also demonstrated empirically that wives experience particular psychological problems at this time, viz., firstly, they are more adversely affected by their children's departure from the home than their husbands, secondly, they undergo a rehearsal for widowhood more frequently than them, and thirdly, a minority of them are unable to come to terms with the menopause. Finally, the finding that the majority of wives experienced relief with the onset of the menopause when viewed from the perspectives of general emotional impact, children, and the spousal relationship, conflicts with existing theories in this area. However, it is supported by and large by the majority of empirical studies.
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  • Date Issued: 1989

The history of Pirie Mission and amaHleke chiefdom

  • Authors: Vazi, Clifford Mlandeli
  • Date: 1989
  • Subjects: Presbyterian Church -- Missions -- South Africa , Pirie Mission , Ross, John , Xhosa (African people) -- History
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2528 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001857
  • Description: This thesis deals with the history of the amaHleke people and Pirie Mission, which have become so closely associated that they cannot be separated. It covers the period from the time of Chief Hleke to 1967, the year in which the amaHleke cheiftainship was resuscitated. The first chapter relates the origin of the amaHleke, from the time of Hleke himself (17th century) to Jwarha (about 1820). It explains the relationship between the different branches of the Hleke royal line, and it covers the Hleke settlement at the Mgqakhwebe river. The second chapter deals with the establishment of Pirie Mission by the Presbyterian missionaries John and Bryce Ross. It discusses the various aspects of the mission operation, and explains why and how the amaHleke opposed it. But the situation changed as a result of the 1850-3 Frontier War. Whereas the other Xhosa were expelled from their lands, the Hleke connection with Pirie Mission enabled them to stay on. The Hleke were therefore united with the mission, whether they liked it or not. The remainder of the chapter describes the educational and cultural changes which the mission imposed on them. The third chapter covers economic change at Pirie. Like other mission stations, it was converted from communal to individual land tenure. This was opposed by Chief Jwarha as a blow to his authority, but it did not result in the growth of a peasant class. The chapter concludes with the implementation of betterment in 1963. The fourth chapter explains what happened to the mission after the death of Bryce Ross. The Ross missionaries had frustrated black aspirations in teh church. This was especially frustrating to Burnet and Ntsikana Gaba, the great-grandsons of the prophet Ntsikana. Burnet broke away under the banner of the "Wee Free" branch of the Church of Scotland. This church also could not accommodate Burnet's aspirations. The remainder of the chapter deals with educational developments, with an emphasis on the introduction of Bantu Education. The last chapter deals with the political history of Pirie after the death of Chief Jwarha. The Cape government tried to replace chieftainship by a headman and a Village Management Board. But the Board did not function satisfactorily, and it was scrapped in 1921. Pirie continued to be administered by headmen. Applications for the revival of chieftainship were turned down, partly because there was no agreement on Jwarha's heir. However, this was finally resolved in 1967 with the appointment of Chief Pani Busoshe.
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  • Date Issued: 1989

The life and times of Kama Chungwa, 1798-1875

  • Authors: Yekela, Drusilla Siziwe
  • Date: 1989
  • Subjects: Kama, William, 1798-1875 , Shaw, William, 1798-1872 , Methodist Church of Southern Africa -- Missions , Gqunukhwebe (African people) -- History , Wesleyville mission , Gqunukhwebe (African people) -- Kings and rulers , South Africa -- History -- Frontier Wars, 1811-1878 , South Africa -- History -- Xhosa Cattle-Killing, 1856-1857 , Converts -- South Africa , Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) -- Politics and government
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2520 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001849
  • Description: Few students of History understand the derivation and/or origin of the Gqunukhwebe oath "Ndifung' uChungw' efel' ennyameni: I swear by Chungwa who is lying dead at Mnyameni (Alexandria)." A desire to eludicate this point and other related facts inspired me to undertake a close examination of the history of the Gqunukhwebe people, selecting as my main theme the life-work of Chief Kama. In the first chapter I am discussing the creation of the Gqunukhwebe Chiefdom under Khwane by the Xhosa King, Tshiwo. The central theme here is the Black-White confrontation of the 17th - 18th centuries on the Cape Eastern Frontier. As a result of the collision the Gqunukhwebe people were forced to make a home on the banks of the Thwecu River along the east coast. It was here that Kama reached early manhood. The second chapter describes the establishment of Wesleyville Missionary Station by William Shaw in 1823, the first Methodist Missionary Institution in all Xhosaland. In chapter three the discussion centers on the significance of Kama's conversion. An unforeseen outcome of his public profession of the Christian faith was that it not only stigmatized the latter religion as a force destructive of the old order in Xhosa society, but it also reshaped Kama's political image for the good of his religious life. He not only fled from the neighbourhood of his relations and sojourned in a strange land, but also reinforced the Colonial forces in the contemporary frontier struggles. His integrity, self-sacrifice and pro-Colonial inclination eventually won him Middledrift. Chapter four opens with Kama's settling in Middledrift. The theme here is two-pronged. It presents the 'Cattle-Killing' delusion as a source of new trials for the 'priest-chief', and at the same time exposes the Colonial Government's efforts to gain ascendancy above the Xhosa chiefs. Kama's land was the first testing ground in this respect, and the Chief was initially agreeable to the scheme. Chapter five alludes to instances of Chief Kama's unco-operative attitude as signs that his compromising spirit had its limits. An atmosphere of disregard towards Kama pervades the period. But the adversities that threatened to dominate his later life did not by any means shake his Christian principles and convictions. The traces of his good works may to this day be seen in Middledrift, the traditional home of the Kamas.
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  • Date Issued: 1989

An analysis of the structural use of music, song and dance in certain novels by West African writers in relation to concepts of time

  • Authors: Baxter, Marion
  • Date: 1988
  • Subjects: Music and literature
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2174 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001825
  • Description: The topic of this thesis is time in the West African novel in English and French, and the key approach is that West African time is readily grasped through a study of West African music. Though Western time is not exclusively or only linear, mechanical and exploitative, and African time not exclusively cyclic, synchronic and experiential, yet there is a characteristically African view of time and preferred modes of its employment in West African fiction. The novelists considered here wrote in European languages, yet each was a member of a specific cultural group and concerned to portray the aesthetics of his inheritance, an important aspect of which is the predominance of repetitive formulae, both in music and in oral literature. The Introduction offers an historical survey of some of the main notions of time that have been manifest in the West, and compares them with notions of African time. Chapter One examines the structural use of rhythm and repetition in the novels of Camara Laye. Chapter Two discusses the griot and other traditions of oral literature in the novels of Ayi Kwei Armah and Yambo Ouologuem, novels which are concerned with the griot 's continuing role in the creation and dissemination of historical perspective. Chapter Three analyses Chinua Achebe 's portrayal of the values of pre-colonial life in Igbo society where the role of music is to limit behaviour through the structures of ritual which thus create static/cyclic time. Chapter Four describes the syncretic art-form, 'highlife', as used by novelists such as Wole Soyinka, which, because it is transitory and always changing, underscores the ironies of modern city life. The thesis concludes that the authors discussed above are aware that music, because it is predominantly social in Africa, is a powerful medium for achieving a healing synthesis between the traditional past when communalistic values were binding, and the urban-orientated present with its insistence on individuation and material enrichment.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 1988

An existential-phenomenological exploration of interracial love relationships in South Africa

  • Authors: Ross, Christopher James
  • Date: 1988
  • Subjects: Interpersonal relations -- South Africa , South Africa -- Race relations
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2900 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002064
  • Description: The aim of the study was to explicate the experience of interracial love relationships between Blacks and Whites in South Africa. As a point of departure, a basic question was established which would elicit the actual experience of this phenomenon. The researcher conducted twelve interviews and chose the six psychologically richest accounts. The researcher then analysed in detail (using the phenomenological method) the resulting protocols comprising the interviews. The researcher then explicated the experience and discovered that interracial love was a historical process of going through a relationship over time. The subjects experienced a particular historical background in the face of which they felt unfulfilled which brought about the potential to search for authenticity in a particular way. The subjects were placed in a situation where interracial love became a possibility. The subjects saw the other as human and fell in love. A new horizon emerged and a learning experience, about themselves and the world, occurred. The element of conflict was always present which was exacerbated by the South African Apartheid system. Subjects experienced fulfillment and disappointment depending on whether or not their historical demand was met. This structure of the experience was dialogued with the writings of existential-phenomenological philosophers and psychologists and also with that of previous research in the context of discussing particular areas of psychological significance such as historical background and Apartheid, racism, alienation, motives for interracial love, love and the universality of human nature and interracial love as a learning experience.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 1988
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