Science teachers' transformative and continuous professional development : a journey towards capacity-building and reflexive practice
- Authors: Ngcoza, Kenneth Mlungisi
- Date: 2013-07-16
- Subjects: Curriculum change -- South Africa Science -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Science teachers -- In-service training -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Educational change -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Education -- South Africa -- Grahamstown
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1953 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008258
- Description: This study was conducted in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape, South Mrica. Triggered by the demands of South Mrican post-apartheid curriculum transformation, the study focused on establishing a sustainable science teachers' trans formative and continuous professional development (TTCPD) network with the view to improving their practice. It is premised on the assumption that teachers are capable of taking responsibility for their own professional development. It is a case study carried over a period offour years with a group of eight teachers. Rooted in the socially critical-emancipatory orientation in conjunction with the participatory action research approach, and located in the qualitative and interpretive research paradigms, it focuses on doing research in democratic and egalitarian ways through working with teachers rather than on them. Such a stance supposes a collaborative partnership and a dialogic relationship viewed as being both reciprocal and mutually enriching for the teachers who were seen as co-learners and co-researchers in this study. Two main goals of the study may be identified. For the first goal, the actors in this study established a sustainable and participative approach to professional development. This was explored through the formation of a TTCPD network which was informed by the actor-network theory framework. Our focus was on co-construction of scientific knowledge utilising the development and adaptation of learning and teaching support materials (LTSMs) as a catalyst to drive the process. The second goal was to examine how the TTCPD network enhanced the teachers' subject-content knowledge, pedagogical-content knowledge as well as individual and collaborative reflections. The research process evolved into three mam phases: The initial phase involved adapting and modifying LTSMs which were initially used in conjunction with microscale science kits and pilot tested with a group of Grade 10 students. This led to the second phase of the research project, which was aimed at gaining insights into the science teachers' capabilities in developing teaching and learning units of work. ii \ The second phase focused on the development of a collaborative orientation to the development of LTSMs and culminated in the formation of sub-networks responsible for certain tasks within the broader network. AB common ground, we focused on developing teaching and learning units of work on the following science topics: electrostatics, electricity, and electrochemistry, to illuminate and foster integration within science. The third phase was concerned with gaining insights into the science teachers' practice in their classrooms. This phase focused on putting theory into practice through the collaborative implementation of teaching and learning units of work. Feedback on the lessons was discussed during our workshops as an attempt to further enhance collaborative reflections. Data was generated usmg workshop discussions with reflective notes; active interviews; focus group discussions; co-teaching, participant observation and videotaped lessons with reflective notes; and a research journal. A variety of data generation techniques were employed to enhance validity and quality of the research. Techniques for validation and trustworthiness of data included triangulation; member checks orface validity; prolonged engagement; catalytic validity and peer validation. The study exposed the underlying historical, ideological and epistemological contradictions of the teachers' past educational backgrounds. It emerged that the ways in which they were taught were at times an inhibitor to innovativeness, perpetuating transmissive approaches to teaching and learning. Lack of professional development and support, and the tensions between policy formulation and implementation exacerbated this. Reflections from the teachers' experiences further revealed that, for teachers to be effective agents of change in the reform process, empowerment opportunities are vital. AB a result, exposure to the TTCPD network was useful in capacitating the teachers with the development of LTSMs, which led to the enhancement of their pedagogical, and science content knowledge conceptual development as well as collaborative reflections.The main findings of this study is that, science teachers' transformative and continuous professional development based on participative approaches and mutual collegial support are indispensable, and that teachers' socio-cultural contexts and experiences should be taken into consideration during this process. Teachers should be regarded as central in the process, and mutual respect and dialogical relationships are pivotal. A further recommendation of this study is that capacity-building is critical for quality teaching and learning, and there is a need to move beyond the rhetoric of complacency to pro-activism, supporting ongoing development of teachers in professional transformative networks. , KMBT_363 , Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in
- Full Text:
- Authors: Ngcoza, Kenneth Mlungisi
- Date: 2013-07-16
- Subjects: Curriculum change -- South Africa Science -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Science teachers -- In-service training -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Educational change -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Education -- South Africa -- Grahamstown
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1953 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008258
- Description: This study was conducted in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape, South Mrica. Triggered by the demands of South Mrican post-apartheid curriculum transformation, the study focused on establishing a sustainable science teachers' trans formative and continuous professional development (TTCPD) network with the view to improving their practice. It is premised on the assumption that teachers are capable of taking responsibility for their own professional development. It is a case study carried over a period offour years with a group of eight teachers. Rooted in the socially critical-emancipatory orientation in conjunction with the participatory action research approach, and located in the qualitative and interpretive research paradigms, it focuses on doing research in democratic and egalitarian ways through working with teachers rather than on them. Such a stance supposes a collaborative partnership and a dialogic relationship viewed as being both reciprocal and mutually enriching for the teachers who were seen as co-learners and co-researchers in this study. Two main goals of the study may be identified. For the first goal, the actors in this study established a sustainable and participative approach to professional development. This was explored through the formation of a TTCPD network which was informed by the actor-network theory framework. Our focus was on co-construction of scientific knowledge utilising the development and adaptation of learning and teaching support materials (LTSMs) as a catalyst to drive the process. The second goal was to examine how the TTCPD network enhanced the teachers' subject-content knowledge, pedagogical-content knowledge as well as individual and collaborative reflections. The research process evolved into three mam phases: The initial phase involved adapting and modifying LTSMs which were initially used in conjunction with microscale science kits and pilot tested with a group of Grade 10 students. This led to the second phase of the research project, which was aimed at gaining insights into the science teachers' capabilities in developing teaching and learning units of work. ii \ The second phase focused on the development of a collaborative orientation to the development of LTSMs and culminated in the formation of sub-networks responsible for certain tasks within the broader network. AB common ground, we focused on developing teaching and learning units of work on the following science topics: electrostatics, electricity, and electrochemistry, to illuminate and foster integration within science. The third phase was concerned with gaining insights into the science teachers' practice in their classrooms. This phase focused on putting theory into practice through the collaborative implementation of teaching and learning units of work. Feedback on the lessons was discussed during our workshops as an attempt to further enhance collaborative reflections. Data was generated usmg workshop discussions with reflective notes; active interviews; focus group discussions; co-teaching, participant observation and videotaped lessons with reflective notes; and a research journal. A variety of data generation techniques were employed to enhance validity and quality of the research. Techniques for validation and trustworthiness of data included triangulation; member checks orface validity; prolonged engagement; catalytic validity and peer validation. The study exposed the underlying historical, ideological and epistemological contradictions of the teachers' past educational backgrounds. It emerged that the ways in which they were taught were at times an inhibitor to innovativeness, perpetuating transmissive approaches to teaching and learning. Lack of professional development and support, and the tensions between policy formulation and implementation exacerbated this. Reflections from the teachers' experiences further revealed that, for teachers to be effective agents of change in the reform process, empowerment opportunities are vital. AB a result, exposure to the TTCPD network was useful in capacitating the teachers with the development of LTSMs, which led to the enhancement of their pedagogical, and science content knowledge conceptual development as well as collaborative reflections.The main findings of this study is that, science teachers' transformative and continuous professional development based on participative approaches and mutual collegial support are indispensable, and that teachers' socio-cultural contexts and experiences should be taken into consideration during this process. Teachers should be regarded as central in the process, and mutual respect and dialogical relationships are pivotal. A further recommendation of this study is that capacity-building is critical for quality teaching and learning, and there is a need to move beyond the rhetoric of complacency to pro-activism, supporting ongoing development of teachers in professional transformative networks. , KMBT_363 , Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in
- Full Text:
“As soon as the four sides are all equal, then the angles must be 90° each”: children's misconceptions in geometry
- Atebe, Humphrey U, Schäfer, Marc
- Authors: Atebe, Humphrey U , Schäfer, Marc
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140983 , vital:37934 , DOI: 10.1080/10288457.2008.10740634
- Description: This study describes Nigerian and South African students' conceptual understanding in high school geometry based on the van Hiele model of geometric thinking levels. The study further highlights students' misconceptions in school geometry. Concepts of triangles and quadrilaterals were investigated among 36 mathematics learners drawn from grades 10 through 12 who participated in this study. The tasks included identifying and naming shapes, sorting of shapes, stating the properties of shapes, defining of shapes and establishing class inclusions of shapes. The results indicated that many Nigerian and South African high school learners in Grade 10, 11 and 12 hold a number of misconceptions about geometric concepts of triangles and quadrilaterals.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Atebe, Humphrey U , Schäfer, Marc
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140983 , vital:37934 , DOI: 10.1080/10288457.2008.10740634
- Description: This study describes Nigerian and South African students' conceptual understanding in high school geometry based on the van Hiele model of geometric thinking levels. The study further highlights students' misconceptions in school geometry. Concepts of triangles and quadrilaterals were investigated among 36 mathematics learners drawn from grades 10 through 12 who participated in this study. The tasks included identifying and naming shapes, sorting of shapes, stating the properties of shapes, defining of shapes and establishing class inclusions of shapes. The results indicated that many Nigerian and South African high school learners in Grade 10, 11 and 12 hold a number of misconceptions about geometric concepts of triangles and quadrilaterals.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
'Rich man poor man': inter-household and community factors influencing the use of wild plant resources amongst rural households in South Africa
- Cocks, Michelle L, Bangay, Lindsey, Shackleton, Charlie M, Wiersum, K Freerk
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Bangay, Lindsey , Shackleton, Charlie M , Wiersum, K Freerk
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141211 , vital:37953 , DOI: 10.3843/SusDev.15.3:3
- Description: Biodiversity is recognised as an integral part of people's daily livelihoods. This study therefore aims to understand the use of NTFPs at an intricate level by determining what role these resources fulfil in six rural villages and 1011 households' livelihoods. It examines how the use of NTFPs are influenced by intra-household variables, such as wealth and gender, and inter-community variables, such as accessibility to the natural resource. The results reveal that approximately 4453 kg of wild material is used annually per household, of which 1598 kg is used for cultural purposes. The influence of vegetation type and differences between villages are statistically more significant than inter-household variables. At an inter-household level, an increase in the financial status of households did not result in a decrease in the use of natural resources, nor in the quantity of material used.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Bangay, Lindsey , Shackleton, Charlie M , Wiersum, K Freerk
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141211 , vital:37953 , DOI: 10.3843/SusDev.15.3:3
- Description: Biodiversity is recognised as an integral part of people's daily livelihoods. This study therefore aims to understand the use of NTFPs at an intricate level by determining what role these resources fulfil in six rural villages and 1011 households' livelihoods. It examines how the use of NTFPs are influenced by intra-household variables, such as wealth and gender, and inter-community variables, such as accessibility to the natural resource. The results reveal that approximately 4453 kg of wild material is used annually per household, of which 1598 kg is used for cultural purposes. The influence of vegetation type and differences between villages are statistically more significant than inter-household variables. At an inter-household level, an increase in the financial status of households did not result in a decrease in the use of natural resources, nor in the quantity of material used.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
Does reservoir trophic status influence the feeding and growth of the sharptooth catfish, Clarias gariepinus (Teleostei: Clariidae)?
- Potts, Warren M, Hecht, Thomas, Andrew, Timothy G
- Authors: Potts, Warren M , Hecht, Thomas , Andrew, Timothy G
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/124309 , vital:35591 , https://doi.org/10.2989/A JAS.2008.33.2.6.503
- Description: The diet and growth of sharptooth catfish, Clarias gariepinus, in an oligotrophic system (Kat River Reservoir, Eastern Cape, South Africa) were compared to those in a eutrophic system (Laing Reservoir, Eastern Cape) to determine if the trophic status of a waterbody had an effect on the growth rate of the species. In order of importance, the diet of catfish in Kat River Reservoir consisted of fish, insects, zooplankton, plant material and other items, while the diet of catfish in Laing Reservoir consisted of fish, plant material, zooplankton, other vertebrates and insects. The diets of catfish in the two reservoirs had a similarity index of 68.1% and there was no significant difference in their nutritional value. Fish prey was the most important dietary component in both reservoirs. Temperature regime and zooplankton and zoobenthos density were similar in both systems. However, fish prey density was significantly higher in the eutrophic Laing Reservoir and catfish grew significantly faster in that system. The slower growth rate in Kat River Reservoir was attributed to the higher energy costs associated with the capture of fish prey, which was less abundant than in Laing Reservoir. Trophic status therefore had an indirect effect on catfish growth by influencing the availability of fish prey.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
- Authors: Potts, Warren M , Hecht, Thomas , Andrew, Timothy G
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/124309 , vital:35591 , https://doi.org/10.2989/A JAS.2008.33.2.6.503
- Description: The diet and growth of sharptooth catfish, Clarias gariepinus, in an oligotrophic system (Kat River Reservoir, Eastern Cape, South Africa) were compared to those in a eutrophic system (Laing Reservoir, Eastern Cape) to determine if the trophic status of a waterbody had an effect on the growth rate of the species. In order of importance, the diet of catfish in Kat River Reservoir consisted of fish, insects, zooplankton, plant material and other items, while the diet of catfish in Laing Reservoir consisted of fish, plant material, zooplankton, other vertebrates and insects. The diets of catfish in the two reservoirs had a similarity index of 68.1% and there was no significant difference in their nutritional value. Fish prey was the most important dietary component in both reservoirs. Temperature regime and zooplankton and zoobenthos density were similar in both systems. However, fish prey density was significantly higher in the eutrophic Laing Reservoir and catfish grew significantly faster in that system. The slower growth rate in Kat River Reservoir was attributed to the higher energy costs associated with the capture of fish prey, which was less abundant than in Laing Reservoir. Trophic status therefore had an indirect effect on catfish growth by influencing the availability of fish prey.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
Estuarine use by spotted grunter Pomadasys commersonnii in a South African estuary, as determined by acoustic telemetry
- Childs, Amber-Robyn, Cowley, Paul D, Næsje, T F, Booth, Anthony J, Potts, Warren M, Thorstad, Eva B, Økland, F
- Authors: Childs, Amber-Robyn , Cowley, Paul D , Næsje, T F , Booth, Anthony J , Potts, Warren M , Thorstad, Eva B , Økland, F
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/124428 , vital:35612 , https://doi.org/10.2989/A JMS.2008.30.1.12.462
- Description: Estuaries are important in the life history and the maintenance of the diversity of coastal fish species because of their function as nursery areas for juveniles as well as feeding grounds for adults (Cyrus 1991). The dependence of many fish species on estuaries is well documented (e.g. Wallace et al. 1984, Lenanton and Potter 1987, Blaber et al. 1989, Whitfield 1990, Hoss and Thayer 1993). Spotted grunter Pomadasys commersonnii (Haemulidae) (Lacepède 1801) is an estuarine-dependent species which spawns in the KwaZulu-Natal inshore coastal waters, between August and December (Wallace 1975b, Wallace and van der Elst 1975, Harris and Cyrus 1997, 1999). The eggs and larvae are transported southwards by the Agulhas Current, and juveniles between 20 mm and 50 mm TL recruit into the KwaZulu-Natal and south-eastern Cape estuaries (Wallace and van der Elst 1975, Whitfield 1990). Juvenile spotted grunter make use of the abundant food resources in estuaries, where they grow rapidly and remain for a period of 1–3 years (Wallace and Schleyer 1979, Day et al. 1981). Upon attaining sexual maturity (at between 300 mm and 400 mm TL), they return to the marine environment (Wallace 1975b). Some adults, however, return to estuaries to feed and to regain condition after spawning (Wallace 1975b, Whitfield 1994). The return of post-spawning fish coincides with increased catches by fishers in estuaries between July and January. These events are known as ‘grunter runs’ (Wallace 1975a, Marais and Baird 1980, Marais 1988, Pradervand and Baird 2002). It is suggested that adults spend up to several months in estuaries, before moving back to sea where they undergo gonadal development and ultimately spawn (Wallace 1975b, Wallace and van der Elst 1975). It is believed that adult fish also enter estuaries in a prespawning state to gain condition en route to their spawning grounds in KwaZulu-Natal (Webb 2002).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
- Authors: Childs, Amber-Robyn , Cowley, Paul D , Næsje, T F , Booth, Anthony J , Potts, Warren M , Thorstad, Eva B , Økland, F
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/124428 , vital:35612 , https://doi.org/10.2989/A JMS.2008.30.1.12.462
- Description: Estuaries are important in the life history and the maintenance of the diversity of coastal fish species because of their function as nursery areas for juveniles as well as feeding grounds for adults (Cyrus 1991). The dependence of many fish species on estuaries is well documented (e.g. Wallace et al. 1984, Lenanton and Potter 1987, Blaber et al. 1989, Whitfield 1990, Hoss and Thayer 1993). Spotted grunter Pomadasys commersonnii (Haemulidae) (Lacepède 1801) is an estuarine-dependent species which spawns in the KwaZulu-Natal inshore coastal waters, between August and December (Wallace 1975b, Wallace and van der Elst 1975, Harris and Cyrus 1997, 1999). The eggs and larvae are transported southwards by the Agulhas Current, and juveniles between 20 mm and 50 mm TL recruit into the KwaZulu-Natal and south-eastern Cape estuaries (Wallace and van der Elst 1975, Whitfield 1990). Juvenile spotted grunter make use of the abundant food resources in estuaries, where they grow rapidly and remain for a period of 1–3 years (Wallace and Schleyer 1979, Day et al. 1981). Upon attaining sexual maturity (at between 300 mm and 400 mm TL), they return to the marine environment (Wallace 1975b). Some adults, however, return to estuaries to feed and to regain condition after spawning (Wallace 1975b, Whitfield 1994). The return of post-spawning fish coincides with increased catches by fishers in estuaries between July and January. These events are known as ‘grunter runs’ (Wallace 1975a, Marais and Baird 1980, Marais 1988, Pradervand and Baird 2002). It is suggested that adults spend up to several months in estuaries, before moving back to sea where they undergo gonadal development and ultimately spawn (Wallace 1975b, Wallace and van der Elst 1975). It is believed that adult fish also enter estuaries in a prespawning state to gain condition en route to their spawning grounds in KwaZulu-Natal (Webb 2002).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
Institutions and economic research: a case of location externalities on agricultural resource allocation in the Kat River basin, South Africa
- Mbatha, Cyril N, Antrobus, Geoffrey G
- Authors: Mbatha, Cyril N , Antrobus, Geoffrey G
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142991 , vital:38183 , DOI: 10.1080/03031853.2013.798069
- Description: The Physical Externality Model is used to illustrate the potential limitations of blindly adopting formal models for economic investigation and explanation in varied geographical contexts. As argued by institutional economists for the last hundred years the practice limits the value and relevance of most general economic inquiry. This model postulates that the geographical location of farmers along a given watercourse, in which water is diverted individually, leads to structural inefficiencies that negatively affect the whole farming community. These effects are felt more severely at downstream sites and lead to a status quo where upstream farmers possess relative economic and political advantages over their counterparts elsewhere. In the study of the Kat River basin these predictions appear to be true only in as far as they relate to legal and political allocations and use of water resources.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
- Authors: Mbatha, Cyril N , Antrobus, Geoffrey G
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142991 , vital:38183 , DOI: 10.1080/03031853.2013.798069
- Description: The Physical Externality Model is used to illustrate the potential limitations of blindly adopting formal models for economic investigation and explanation in varied geographical contexts. As argued by institutional economists for the last hundred years the practice limits the value and relevance of most general economic inquiry. This model postulates that the geographical location of farmers along a given watercourse, in which water is diverted individually, leads to structural inefficiencies that negatively affect the whole farming community. These effects are felt more severely at downstream sites and lead to a status quo where upstream farmers possess relative economic and political advantages over their counterparts elsewhere. In the study of the Kat River basin these predictions appear to be true only in as far as they relate to legal and political allocations and use of water resources.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
Establishment of translocated populations of smallmouth yellowfish, Labeobarbus aeneus (Pisces: Cyprinidae), in lentic and lotic habitats in the Great Fish River system, South Africa
- Weyl, Olaf L F, Stadtlander, Timo, Booth, Anthony J
- Authors: Weyl, Olaf L F , Stadtlander, Timo , Booth, Anthony J
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/124418 , vital:35607 , https://doi.org/10.3377/004.044.0109
- Description: As a result of numerous introductions and translocations of fishes, South Africa has recently been identified as a fish invasion hotspot (Leprieur et al. 2008). In freshwater ecosystems invasion by alien species is considered a leading mechanism driving environmental change (Clavero & Garcia- Berthou 2005; Garcia-Berthou et al. 2005). In South Africa, documented effects of fish invasions include the extirpation of indigenous fishes through predation (Cambray 2003), changes in invertebrate community structure (Lowe et al. 2008) and hybridization (Canonico et al. 2005). As a result, the management of alien species is a high national priority (National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act 2004). Such management requires an understanding of the biology, ecology and establishment success of fishes outside their native range.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Weyl, Olaf L F , Stadtlander, Timo , Booth, Anthony J
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/124418 , vital:35607 , https://doi.org/10.3377/004.044.0109
- Description: As a result of numerous introductions and translocations of fishes, South Africa has recently been identified as a fish invasion hotspot (Leprieur et al. 2008). In freshwater ecosystems invasion by alien species is considered a leading mechanism driving environmental change (Clavero & Garcia- Berthou 2005; Garcia-Berthou et al. 2005). In South Africa, documented effects of fish invasions include the extirpation of indigenous fishes through predation (Cambray 2003), changes in invertebrate community structure (Lowe et al. 2008) and hybridization (Canonico et al. 2005). As a result, the management of alien species is a high national priority (National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act 2004). Such management requires an understanding of the biology, ecology and establishment success of fishes outside their native range.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
First steps in the development of a water temperature model framework for refining the ecological Reserve in South African rivers
- Rivers-Moore, N A, Hughes, Denis A, Mantel, Sukhmani K, Hill, Trevor R
- Authors: Rivers-Moore, N A , Hughes, Denis A , Mantel, Sukhmani K , Hill, Trevor R
- Date: 2008-10-05
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:7092 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012425
- Description: Ecological Reserve determination for rivers in South Africa presently does not include a water temperature component, in spite of its importance in determining species distribution patterns. To achieve this requires an understanding of how lotic thermographs from South African rivers differ from northern hemisphere rivers, to avoid mismanaging rivers based on incorrect regional assumptions. Hourly water temperatures from 20 sites in four river systems, representing a range of latitudes, altitudes and stream orders, were assessed using a range of metrics. These data were analysed using principal component analyses and multiple linear regressions to understand what variables a water temperature model for use in ecoregions within South Africa should include. While temperature data are generally lacking in low- and higher-order South African rivers, data suggest that South African rivers are warmer than northern hemisphere rivers. Water temperatures could be grouped into cool, warm and intermediate types. Based on temperature time series analyses, this paper argues that a suitable water-temperature model for use in ecological Reserve determinations should be dynamic, include flow and air temperature variables, and be adaptive through a heat exchange coefficient term. The inclusion of water temperature in the determination and management of river ecological Reserves would allow for more holistic application of the National Water Act's ecological management provisions. Water temperature guidelines added to the ecological Reserve could be integrated into heuristic aquatic monitoring programmes within priority areas identified in regional conservation plans.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008-10-05
- Authors: Rivers-Moore, N A , Hughes, Denis A , Mantel, Sukhmani K , Hill, Trevor R
- Date: 2008-10-05
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:7092 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012425
- Description: Ecological Reserve determination for rivers in South Africa presently does not include a water temperature component, in spite of its importance in determining species distribution patterns. To achieve this requires an understanding of how lotic thermographs from South African rivers differ from northern hemisphere rivers, to avoid mismanaging rivers based on incorrect regional assumptions. Hourly water temperatures from 20 sites in four river systems, representing a range of latitudes, altitudes and stream orders, were assessed using a range of metrics. These data were analysed using principal component analyses and multiple linear regressions to understand what variables a water temperature model for use in ecoregions within South Africa should include. While temperature data are generally lacking in low- and higher-order South African rivers, data suggest that South African rivers are warmer than northern hemisphere rivers. Water temperatures could be grouped into cool, warm and intermediate types. Based on temperature time series analyses, this paper argues that a suitable water-temperature model for use in ecological Reserve determinations should be dynamic, include flow and air temperature variables, and be adaptive through a heat exchange coefficient term. The inclusion of water temperature in the determination and management of river ecological Reserves would allow for more holistic application of the National Water Act's ecological management provisions. Water temperature guidelines added to the ecological Reserve could be integrated into heuristic aquatic monitoring programmes within priority areas identified in regional conservation plans.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008-10-05
Nathaniel Merriman's lecture: "On the study of Shakspeare".
- Authors: Wright, Laurence
- Date: 2008-09-23
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7034 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007368
- Description: Nathaniel Merriman’s lectures on Shakespeare were published in 1857 and 1858. The first, “On the Study of Shakspeare,” was delivered in the Court House, Grahamstown on the 2nd September 1857 to an audience of more than four hundred and fifty people. The second, “Shakspeare, as Bearing on English History,” was given in the same venue two months later, on Friday, 6 November 1857, and was also well attended. The lectures were published under the auspices of the Committee of “The General Institute,” which sponsored the lectures, and printed at the Anglo-African Office in the High Street. The two lectures and their context are little known in Shakespeare studies because the original pamphlets are rare. The first lecture appears in Mendelssohn’s South African Bibliography (1910), while the second is picked up only in the 1979 revision of that work. Copies of “On the Study of Shakspeare” are held by the Mendelssohn Library in the Library of Parliament, Cape Town; by The South African Library, Cape Town; and in the Oppenheimer Collection, Johannesburg. Copies of “Shakspeare, as Bearing on English History” are held by the Mendelssohn Library; by the University of the Witwatersrand Library, Johannesburg; and by the Kimberley Public Library. The purpose of preparing annotated editions of these lectures is to make them more accessible to scholars and draw them further into the mainstream of international discussion on colonial Shakespeare.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Wright, Laurence
- Date: 2008-09-23
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7034 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007368
- Description: Nathaniel Merriman’s lectures on Shakespeare were published in 1857 and 1858. The first, “On the Study of Shakspeare,” was delivered in the Court House, Grahamstown on the 2nd September 1857 to an audience of more than four hundred and fifty people. The second, “Shakspeare, as Bearing on English History,” was given in the same venue two months later, on Friday, 6 November 1857, and was also well attended. The lectures were published under the auspices of the Committee of “The General Institute,” which sponsored the lectures, and printed at the Anglo-African Office in the High Street. The two lectures and their context are little known in Shakespeare studies because the original pamphlets are rare. The first lecture appears in Mendelssohn’s South African Bibliography (1910), while the second is picked up only in the 1979 revision of that work. Copies of “On the Study of Shakspeare” are held by the Mendelssohn Library in the Library of Parliament, Cape Town; by The South African Library, Cape Town; and in the Oppenheimer Collection, Johannesburg. Copies of “Shakspeare, as Bearing on English History” are held by the Mendelssohn Library; by the University of the Witwatersrand Library, Johannesburg; and by the Kimberley Public Library. The purpose of preparing annotated editions of these lectures is to make them more accessible to scholars and draw them further into the mainstream of international discussion on colonial Shakespeare.
- Full Text:
Metal bioaccumulation and precious metal refinery wastewater treatment by phoma glomerata
- Authors: Moore, Bronwyn Ann
- Date: 2008-03-18
- Subjects: Metals -- Bioaccumulation , Water purification -- South Africa , Metal ions , Water -- Purification -- Biological treatment -- South Africa , Water quality management -- South Africa , Factory and trade waste -- Purification -- South Africa , Metals -- Refining , Hyperaccumulator plants
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4097 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1009441 , Metals -- Bioaccumulation , Water purification -- South Africa , Metal ions , Water -- Purification -- Biological treatment -- South Africa , Water quality management -- South Africa , Factory and trade waste -- Purification -- South Africa , Metals -- Refining , Hyperaccumulator plants
- Description: The biosorption of copper, nickel, gold and platinum from single metal aqueous solutions by the nickel hyperaccumulator Berkheya coddii plant biomass was investigated. Potentiometric titrations of the biomass and determination of optimal sorption pH for each metal showed that nickel ions were released from the biomass into solution. The presence of free nickel ions interfered with the uptake of the other three metals and further biosorption investigations were discontinued. Three fungal isolates found colonising metal solutions were cultured and screened for their ability to remove 50 mg.l⁻¹ of copper, nickel, gold and platinum from solution and to survive and grow in precious metal refinery wastewaters. One isolate was selected for further studies based on its superior metal uptake capabilities (35 and 39 mg.l⁻¹ of gold and platinum, respectively) and was identified as Phoma glomerata. Copper, nickel, gold and platinum uptake studies revealed that nickel and gold were the most toxic metal ions, however, toxicity was dependent on pH. At pH 6 more biomass growth was achieved than at lower pH values and metal uptake increased by 51 and 17 % for copper and nickel, respectively. In addition, the production of extracellular polymeric substances played a role in base metal interaction. Precious metals were observed to be preferentially removed from solution, complete removal of gold and platinum was observed at all initial pH values, 89 % of copper was bioaccumulated at an initial metal concentration of 55 mg.l⁻¹ (pH 6) and only 23 % of nickel was removed from solution under the same conditions. Metal bioaccumulation was confirmed through transmission electron microscopy and micro particle induced X-ray emission. The effect of P. glomerata immobilised in a packed bed reactor on precious metal refinery wastewaters was investigated. It was found that the fungal isolate was not able to remove the high salt and chemical oxygen demand concentrations found in the wastewaters, however due to its ability to survive and grow in undiluted wastewater and remove metal ions from solution it may be utilised as a metal detoxification step in the treatment process train. , PDFCreator Version 0.9.0 , AFPL Ghostscript 8.53
- Full Text:
- Authors: Moore, Bronwyn Ann
- Date: 2008-03-18
- Subjects: Metals -- Bioaccumulation , Water purification -- South Africa , Metal ions , Water -- Purification -- Biological treatment -- South Africa , Water quality management -- South Africa , Factory and trade waste -- Purification -- South Africa , Metals -- Refining , Hyperaccumulator plants
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4097 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1009441 , Metals -- Bioaccumulation , Water purification -- South Africa , Metal ions , Water -- Purification -- Biological treatment -- South Africa , Water quality management -- South Africa , Factory and trade waste -- Purification -- South Africa , Metals -- Refining , Hyperaccumulator plants
- Description: The biosorption of copper, nickel, gold and platinum from single metal aqueous solutions by the nickel hyperaccumulator Berkheya coddii plant biomass was investigated. Potentiometric titrations of the biomass and determination of optimal sorption pH for each metal showed that nickel ions were released from the biomass into solution. The presence of free nickel ions interfered with the uptake of the other three metals and further biosorption investigations were discontinued. Three fungal isolates found colonising metal solutions were cultured and screened for their ability to remove 50 mg.l⁻¹ of copper, nickel, gold and platinum from solution and to survive and grow in precious metal refinery wastewaters. One isolate was selected for further studies based on its superior metal uptake capabilities (35 and 39 mg.l⁻¹ of gold and platinum, respectively) and was identified as Phoma glomerata. Copper, nickel, gold and platinum uptake studies revealed that nickel and gold were the most toxic metal ions, however, toxicity was dependent on pH. At pH 6 more biomass growth was achieved than at lower pH values and metal uptake increased by 51 and 17 % for copper and nickel, respectively. In addition, the production of extracellular polymeric substances played a role in base metal interaction. Precious metals were observed to be preferentially removed from solution, complete removal of gold and platinum was observed at all initial pH values, 89 % of copper was bioaccumulated at an initial metal concentration of 55 mg.l⁻¹ (pH 6) and only 23 % of nickel was removed from solution under the same conditions. Metal bioaccumulation was confirmed through transmission electron microscopy and micro particle induced X-ray emission. The effect of P. glomerata immobilised in a packed bed reactor on precious metal refinery wastewaters was investigated. It was found that the fungal isolate was not able to remove the high salt and chemical oxygen demand concentrations found in the wastewaters, however due to its ability to survive and grow in undiluted wastewater and remove metal ions from solution it may be utilised as a metal detoxification step in the treatment process train. , PDFCreator Version 0.9.0 , AFPL Ghostscript 8.53
- Full Text:
"A complex and delicate web" : a comparative study of selected speculative novels by Margaret Atwood, Ursula K. Le Guin, Doris Lessing and Marge Piercy
- Authors: Glover, Jayne Ashleigh
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Atwood, Margaret Eleanor, 1939- -- Criticism and interpretation Le Guin, Ursula K., 1929- -- Criticism and interpretation Lessing, Doris May, 1919- -- Criticism and interpretation Piercy, Marge Piercy, Marge -- Criticism and interpretation Utopias in literature Dystopias in literature Science fiction, English -- History and criticism Fantasy fiction -- History and criticism Fantasy literature -- History and criticism Women authors -- 20th Century Women authors -- 21st Century English fiction -- 20th Century English fiction -- 21st Century
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2199 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002241
- Description: This thesis examines selected speculative novels by Margaret Atwood, Ursula K. Le Guin, Doris Lessing and Marge Piercy. It argues that a specifiable ecological ethic can be traced in their work – an ethic which is explored by them through the tensions between utopian and dystopian discourses. The first part of the thesis begins by theorising the concept of an ecological ethic of respect for the Other through current ecological philosophies, such as those developed by Val Plumwood. Thereafter, it contextualises the novels within the broader field of science fiction, and speculative fiction in particular, arguing that the shift from a critical utopian to a critical dystopian style evinces their changing treatment of this ecological ethic within their work. The remainder of the thesis is divided into two parts, each providing close readings of chosen novels in the light of this argument. Part Two provides a reading of Le Guin’s early Hainish novels, The Left Hand of Darkness, The Word for World is Forest and The Dispossessed, followed by an examination of Piercy’s Woman on the Edge of Time, Lessing’s The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five, and Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. The third, and final, part of the thesis consists of individual chapters analysing the later speculative novels of each author. Piercy’s He, She and It, Le Guin’s The Telling, and Atwood’s Oryx and Crake are all scrutinised, as are Lessing’s two recent ‘Ifrik’ novels. This thesis shows, then, that speculative fiction is able to realise through fiction many of the ideals of ecological thinkers. Furthermore, the increasing dystopianism of these novels reflects the greater urgency with which the problem of Othering needs to be addressed in the light of the present global ecological crisis.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Glover, Jayne Ashleigh
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Atwood, Margaret Eleanor, 1939- -- Criticism and interpretation Le Guin, Ursula K., 1929- -- Criticism and interpretation Lessing, Doris May, 1919- -- Criticism and interpretation Piercy, Marge Piercy, Marge -- Criticism and interpretation Utopias in literature Dystopias in literature Science fiction, English -- History and criticism Fantasy fiction -- History and criticism Fantasy literature -- History and criticism Women authors -- 20th Century Women authors -- 21st Century English fiction -- 20th Century English fiction -- 21st Century
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2199 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002241
- Description: This thesis examines selected speculative novels by Margaret Atwood, Ursula K. Le Guin, Doris Lessing and Marge Piercy. It argues that a specifiable ecological ethic can be traced in their work – an ethic which is explored by them through the tensions between utopian and dystopian discourses. The first part of the thesis begins by theorising the concept of an ecological ethic of respect for the Other through current ecological philosophies, such as those developed by Val Plumwood. Thereafter, it contextualises the novels within the broader field of science fiction, and speculative fiction in particular, arguing that the shift from a critical utopian to a critical dystopian style evinces their changing treatment of this ecological ethic within their work. The remainder of the thesis is divided into two parts, each providing close readings of chosen novels in the light of this argument. Part Two provides a reading of Le Guin’s early Hainish novels, The Left Hand of Darkness, The Word for World is Forest and The Dispossessed, followed by an examination of Piercy’s Woman on the Edge of Time, Lessing’s The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five, and Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. The third, and final, part of the thesis consists of individual chapters analysing the later speculative novels of each author. Piercy’s He, She and It, Le Guin’s The Telling, and Atwood’s Oryx and Crake are all scrutinised, as are Lessing’s two recent ‘Ifrik’ novels. This thesis shows, then, that speculative fiction is able to realise through fiction many of the ideals of ecological thinkers. Furthermore, the increasing dystopianism of these novels reflects the greater urgency with which the problem of Othering needs to be addressed in the light of the present global ecological crisis.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
"Form fading among fading forms" death, language and madness in the novels of Samuel Beckett
- Authors: Springer, Michael Leicester
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Beckett, Samuel, 1906-1989 -- Criticism and interpretation English fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism Death in literature Mental illness in literature
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2198 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002240
- Description: The primary thesis of this dissertation is that the development of narrative strategy and technique through the course of Samuel Beckett’s fictional oeuvre enacts a parody of the Cartesian method of doubt, in which the search for first principles, instead of providing grounds for certainty, is a hopeless, grotesque quest for a self which eludes any and every assertion. My chief concerns are thus, firstly, to explicate and elucidate the nature of such narrative strategies and techniques, and how these can be said to parody epistemological procedure; and secondly, to interrogate the implications of this parody for the epistemological and interpretative endeavour of which the human sciences are comprised. These two issues are explored by way of an examination of Beckett’s earliest novel, Murphy, and the narrative impasse that arises from the contradiction between this work’s largely realist form and quasi-postmodern content. I thereafter argue that the later fiction, most particularly the Trilogy, achieves formal and stylistic solutions to the aesthetic and epistemological challenges raised by the earlier work. Beckett’s fictional oeuvre, I contend, can best be construed as an attempt to attain that which exceeds and escapes narrative in and through narrative, namely madness or death. The achievement of either would entail the obliteration of the possibility of narrating at all, and the novels, engaging in a self-deconstructing endeavour, thus occupy a profoundly paradoxical position. Any attempt to interpret a body of work of this nature can only respond in an analogous manner, by trying to make meaning of the subversion of meaning, and deconstructing the assumptions that inform its procedures. This dissertation argues that it is precisely in the way in which it necessitates such selfreflexive discursive analysis that the import of Samuel Beckett’s fiction lies, and extrapolates the significance of this for an understanding of discourse, literary criticism, and epistemological procedure.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Springer, Michael Leicester
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Beckett, Samuel, 1906-1989 -- Criticism and interpretation English fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism Death in literature Mental illness in literature
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2198 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002240
- Description: The primary thesis of this dissertation is that the development of narrative strategy and technique through the course of Samuel Beckett’s fictional oeuvre enacts a parody of the Cartesian method of doubt, in which the search for first principles, instead of providing grounds for certainty, is a hopeless, grotesque quest for a self which eludes any and every assertion. My chief concerns are thus, firstly, to explicate and elucidate the nature of such narrative strategies and techniques, and how these can be said to parody epistemological procedure; and secondly, to interrogate the implications of this parody for the epistemological and interpretative endeavour of which the human sciences are comprised. These two issues are explored by way of an examination of Beckett’s earliest novel, Murphy, and the narrative impasse that arises from the contradiction between this work’s largely realist form and quasi-postmodern content. I thereafter argue that the later fiction, most particularly the Trilogy, achieves formal and stylistic solutions to the aesthetic and epistemological challenges raised by the earlier work. Beckett’s fictional oeuvre, I contend, can best be construed as an attempt to attain that which exceeds and escapes narrative in and through narrative, namely madness or death. The achievement of either would entail the obliteration of the possibility of narrating at all, and the novels, engaging in a self-deconstructing endeavour, thus occupy a profoundly paradoxical position. Any attempt to interpret a body of work of this nature can only respond in an analogous manner, by trying to make meaning of the subversion of meaning, and deconstructing the assumptions that inform its procedures. This dissertation argues that it is precisely in the way in which it necessitates such selfreflexive discursive analysis that the import of Samuel Beckett’s fiction lies, and extrapolates the significance of this for an understanding of discourse, literary criticism, and epistemological procedure.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
"Something rotten in this age of hope": Wesley Deintje directs The HamletMachine (Rhodes University Theatre, 28 September 2007)
- Authors: Wright, Laurence
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7048 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007390
- Description: Heiner Müller’s most famous play (Die Hamletmaschine, 1977) has evolved into something of a familiar war-horse for student theatre. The United States in particular has taken to the work; indeed, it was meant in part for them: “Heil Coca-cola!” says the script. For today’s South African ears this has become, very aptly, “Hail the Rainbow Nation!” What young director can resist it? Only eight pages in extent, the sparse yet densely referential text offers unfettered scope for interpretation and contextualization. Sure, the original offered Muller’s despairing take on the collapse of western civilisation, typified in the East German predicament where intellectuals felt trapped between the total failure of ‘actually existing socialism’ – that ideological mirage – in the German Democratic Republic, and the horrors of emergent bandit capitalism presaging an uncomfortable future. But the spaces in the text are so capacious that almost any claim to climactic despair can be entertained: idiot consumerism, gender oppression and aggression, political treachery and malfeasance, fascism, existential angst, intellectual cowardice, the postmodern condition, the rejection of hope.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Wright, Laurence
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7048 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007390
- Description: Heiner Müller’s most famous play (Die Hamletmaschine, 1977) has evolved into something of a familiar war-horse for student theatre. The United States in particular has taken to the work; indeed, it was meant in part for them: “Heil Coca-cola!” says the script. For today’s South African ears this has become, very aptly, “Hail the Rainbow Nation!” What young director can resist it? Only eight pages in extent, the sparse yet densely referential text offers unfettered scope for interpretation and contextualization. Sure, the original offered Muller’s despairing take on the collapse of western civilisation, typified in the East German predicament where intellectuals felt trapped between the total failure of ‘actually existing socialism’ – that ideological mirage – in the German Democratic Republic, and the horrors of emergent bandit capitalism presaging an uncomfortable future. But the spaces in the text are so capacious that almost any claim to climactic despair can be entertained: idiot consumerism, gender oppression and aggression, political treachery and malfeasance, fascism, existential angst, intellectual cowardice, the postmodern condition, the rejection of hope.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
"The struggle of memory against forgetting" contemporary fictions and rewriting of histories
- Authors: Patchay, Sheenadevi
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Morrison, Toni. Beloved Dangarembga, Tsitsi. Nevous conditions Høeg, Peter, 1957- Frøken Smillas fornemmelse for sne Nahai, Gina Barkhordar. Moonlight on the avenue of faith Roy, Arundhati. God of small things Fiction -- History and criticism History in literature Contemporary, The, in literature Postcolonialism in literature Psychic trauma in literature
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2210 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002253
- Description: This thesis argues that a prominent concern among contemporary writers of fiction is the recuperation of lost or occluded histories. Increasingly, contemporary writers, especially postcolonial writers, are using the medium of fiction to explore those areas of political and cultural history that have been written over or unwritten by the dominant narrative of “official” History. The act of excavating these past histories is simultaneously both traumatic and liberating – which is not to suggest that liberation itself is without pain and trauma. The retelling of traumatic pasts can lead, as is portrayed in The God of Small Things (1997), to further trauma and pain. Postcolonial writers (and much of the world today can be construed as postcolonial in one way or another) are seeking to bring to the fore stories of the past which break down the rigid binaries upon which colonialism built its various empires, literal and ideological. Such writing has in a sense been enabled by the collapse, in postcolonial and postmodernist discourse, of the Grand Narrative of History, and its fragmentation into a plurality of competing discourses and histories. The associated collapse of the boundary between history and fiction is recognized in the useful generic marker “historiographic metafiction,” coined by Linda Hutcheon. The texts examined in this study are all variants of this emerging contemporary genre. What they also have in common is a concern with the consequences of exile or diaspora. This study thus explores some of the representations of how the exilic experience impinges on the development of identity in the postcolonial world. The identities of “displaced” people must undergo constant change in order to adjust to the new spaces into which they move, both literal and metaphorical, and yet critical to this adjustment is the cultural continuity provided by psychologically satisfying stories about the past. The study shows that what the chosen texts share at bottom is their mutual need to retell the lost pasts of their characters, the trauma that such retelling evokes and the new histories to which they give birth. These texts generate new histories which subvert, enrich, and pre-empt formal closure for the narratives of history which determine the identities of nations.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Patchay, Sheenadevi
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Morrison, Toni. Beloved Dangarembga, Tsitsi. Nevous conditions Høeg, Peter, 1957- Frøken Smillas fornemmelse for sne Nahai, Gina Barkhordar. Moonlight on the avenue of faith Roy, Arundhati. God of small things Fiction -- History and criticism History in literature Contemporary, The, in literature Postcolonialism in literature Psychic trauma in literature
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2210 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002253
- Description: This thesis argues that a prominent concern among contemporary writers of fiction is the recuperation of lost or occluded histories. Increasingly, contemporary writers, especially postcolonial writers, are using the medium of fiction to explore those areas of political and cultural history that have been written over or unwritten by the dominant narrative of “official” History. The act of excavating these past histories is simultaneously both traumatic and liberating – which is not to suggest that liberation itself is without pain and trauma. The retelling of traumatic pasts can lead, as is portrayed in The God of Small Things (1997), to further trauma and pain. Postcolonial writers (and much of the world today can be construed as postcolonial in one way or another) are seeking to bring to the fore stories of the past which break down the rigid binaries upon which colonialism built its various empires, literal and ideological. Such writing has in a sense been enabled by the collapse, in postcolonial and postmodernist discourse, of the Grand Narrative of History, and its fragmentation into a plurality of competing discourses and histories. The associated collapse of the boundary between history and fiction is recognized in the useful generic marker “historiographic metafiction,” coined by Linda Hutcheon. The texts examined in this study are all variants of this emerging contemporary genre. What they also have in common is a concern with the consequences of exile or diaspora. This study thus explores some of the representations of how the exilic experience impinges on the development of identity in the postcolonial world. The identities of “displaced” people must undergo constant change in order to adjust to the new spaces into which they move, both literal and metaphorical, and yet critical to this adjustment is the cultural continuity provided by psychologically satisfying stories about the past. The study shows that what the chosen texts share at bottom is their mutual need to retell the lost pasts of their characters, the trauma that such retelling evokes and the new histories to which they give birth. These texts generate new histories which subvert, enrich, and pre-empt formal closure for the narratives of history which determine the identities of nations.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
'The Most Amazing Show': performative interactions with postelection South African society and culture
- Authors: Scholtz, Brink
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Performing arts , Drama -- Study and teaching , Recreational activities
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/57527 , vital:26963
- Description: This research investigates contemporary South African performance within the context of prominent social and cultural change following the political transition from an apartheid state to democracy. Specifically, it looks at the relationship between a popular comic variety show The Most Amazing Show (TMAS), and aspects of contemporary South African society and culture, particularly relating to prominent efforts to affect post-election transformation of South African society and culture through the construction of a South African 'rainbow nation'. By analysing TMAS in terms of broader historical, performative and discursive contexts, it engages a relational reading of the performance. The study argues that TMAS both challenges and participates in the manner in which rainbow nation discourse constructs South African society and culture. Firstly, it considers the performance's construction of hybrid South African identities, including white Afrikaans, white English and white masculine identities. It argues that these reconstructions undermine the tendency within rainbow nation discourse to construct cultural hybridity in terms of stereotypically distinct identities. Secondly, it considers TMAS' construction of collective experience and social integration, which subverts the often glamorised and superficial representations of social healing and integration that are constructed within rainbow nation discourse. The analysis makes prominent reference to the notion of 'liminality' in order to describe the manner in which TMAS constructs significance within the tension that it establishes between oppositional, and often contradictory, positions. Furthermore, it attempts to establish a link between this notion of liminality and notions of theatrical syncretism that are prominent in contemporary South African theatre scholarship, and emphasise processes of signification that are constantly shifting and unstable.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Scholtz, Brink
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Performing arts , Drama -- Study and teaching , Recreational activities
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/57527 , vital:26963
- Description: This research investigates contemporary South African performance within the context of prominent social and cultural change following the political transition from an apartheid state to democracy. Specifically, it looks at the relationship between a popular comic variety show The Most Amazing Show (TMAS), and aspects of contemporary South African society and culture, particularly relating to prominent efforts to affect post-election transformation of South African society and culture through the construction of a South African 'rainbow nation'. By analysing TMAS in terms of broader historical, performative and discursive contexts, it engages a relational reading of the performance. The study argues that TMAS both challenges and participates in the manner in which rainbow nation discourse constructs South African society and culture. Firstly, it considers the performance's construction of hybrid South African identities, including white Afrikaans, white English and white masculine identities. It argues that these reconstructions undermine the tendency within rainbow nation discourse to construct cultural hybridity in terms of stereotypically distinct identities. Secondly, it considers TMAS' construction of collective experience and social integration, which subverts the often glamorised and superficial representations of social healing and integration that are constructed within rainbow nation discourse. The analysis makes prominent reference to the notion of 'liminality' in order to describe the manner in which TMAS constructs significance within the tension that it establishes between oppositional, and often contradictory, positions. Furthermore, it attempts to establish a link between this notion of liminality and notions of theatrical syncretism that are prominent in contemporary South African theatre scholarship, and emphasise processes of signification that are constantly shifting and unstable.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
40 000 years of climatic change in the Eastern Cape
- Authors: Lewis, Colin A
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6711 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006748
- Description: This article outlines the major climatic conditions that have occurred in the Eastern Cape over the last 40 000 years. They have been dated using radiocarbon analyses. Changes that are older than 40 000 years are beyond the range of radiocarbon dating and are not discussed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Lewis, Colin A
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6711 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006748
- Description: This article outlines the major climatic conditions that have occurred in the Eastern Cape over the last 40 000 years. They have been dated using radiocarbon analyses. Changes that are older than 40 000 years are beyond the range of radiocarbon dating and are not discussed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
A Bernsteinian analysis of the integration of natural resource management in the curriculum of a rural disadvantaged school
- Authors: Nsubuga, Yvonne
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/386415 , vital:68139 , xlink:href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajee/article/view/122771"
- Description: Knowledge integration is one of the key principles that underpin curriculum reform in post-apartheid South Africa. One form of teacher support that has been adopted in South Africa is to provide schools throughout the country with samples of pedagogic texts such as curriculum documents and examination exemplars to act as guidelines to teachers as they implement this new curriculum requirement. In the isolated and under-resourced rural schools of South Africa, these texts are the main form of curriculum guidance to teachers. Hence the knowledge integration principles and messages conveyed within these texts are of crucial importance. One contributory factor to the lack of information on knowledge integration at rural underresourced schools is the lack of simple and effective research tools by which to analyse and compare the extent of knowledge integration within pedagogic texts and classroom practices. This article reports on a Bernstein informed analysis that was carried out on three different Grade 10 Life Sciences pedagogic texts in order to assess the extent to which they integrate natural resource management (NRM). The study involved the construction of two indicator frameworks as the research tools with which the analysis was conducted. Results from the analysis showed that although the official Grade 10 Life Sciences pedagogic texts contained very high levels of NRM integration, this was not the case for the Grade 10 Life Sciences text that was produced at the school level. The study provides useful insight into curriculum recontextualisation at a rural under-resourced school through the lens of NRM integration within the Grade 10 Life Sciences pedagogic texts. Such insight has the potential to contribute to better curriculum design and implementation strategies to service schools. This will hopefully help to narrow the gap that currently exists between the official and enacted curricula.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Nsubuga, Yvonne
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/386415 , vital:68139 , xlink:href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajee/article/view/122771"
- Description: Knowledge integration is one of the key principles that underpin curriculum reform in post-apartheid South Africa. One form of teacher support that has been adopted in South Africa is to provide schools throughout the country with samples of pedagogic texts such as curriculum documents and examination exemplars to act as guidelines to teachers as they implement this new curriculum requirement. In the isolated and under-resourced rural schools of South Africa, these texts are the main form of curriculum guidance to teachers. Hence the knowledge integration principles and messages conveyed within these texts are of crucial importance. One contributory factor to the lack of information on knowledge integration at rural underresourced schools is the lack of simple and effective research tools by which to analyse and compare the extent of knowledge integration within pedagogic texts and classroom practices. This article reports on a Bernstein informed analysis that was carried out on three different Grade 10 Life Sciences pedagogic texts in order to assess the extent to which they integrate natural resource management (NRM). The study involved the construction of two indicator frameworks as the research tools with which the analysis was conducted. Results from the analysis showed that although the official Grade 10 Life Sciences pedagogic texts contained very high levels of NRM integration, this was not the case for the Grade 10 Life Sciences text that was produced at the school level. The study provides useful insight into curriculum recontextualisation at a rural under-resourced school through the lens of NRM integration within the Grade 10 Life Sciences pedagogic texts. Such insight has the potential to contribute to better curriculum design and implementation strategies to service schools. This will hopefully help to narrow the gap that currently exists between the official and enacted curricula.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
A Biblical theology of ministry to refugees for Baptist Churches in South Africa
- Authors: Stemmett, David John
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Baptists -- South Africa , Church and social problems -- South Africa , Church work with refugees
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Th
- Identifier: vital:11799 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/131 , Baptists -- South Africa , Church and social problems -- South Africa , Church work with refugees
- Description: The issue of refugees in South Africa has come under the spotlight recently, particularly in the light of the xenophobic violence that swept the country in 2008. As a Baptist pastor, working in a congregation which has a vital ministry towards refugees, the writer became aware that only a handful of Baptist congregations in the Western Cape had a similar concern for refugees and asylum seekers. These observations raised the question of ministry to refugees on the part of Baptist churches in SA. As Baptist churches adhere to the principle of the supremacy of Scripture, the motivation for churches to minister to refugees should to be based upon biblical theology. This dissertation seeks to provide such a biblical theology of ministry to refugees that can in turn provide a basis from which local congregation can develop such ministry. To provide the context of refugees in SA, this study begins by outlining the phenomenon of refugees in the context of SA, as well as the conditions experienced by refugees. This dissertation further seeks to delineate a number of Baptist principles that relate to the issue of Baptist churches and ministry to refugees. It also seeks to look at the role that various Baptist agencies such as the Baptist Union of Southern Africa (BUSA) and the Western Province Baptist Association have to play in ministry to refugees. The study then goes on to discuss biblical material from both the Old and New The issue of refugees in South Africa has come under the spotlight recently, particularly in the light of the xenophobic violence that swept the country in 2008. As a Baptist pastor, working in a congregation which has a vital ministry towards refugees, the writer became aware that only a handful of Baptist congregations in the Western Cape had a similar concern for refugees and asylum seekers. These observations raised the question of ministry to refugees on the part of Baptist churches in SA. As Baptist churches adhere to the principle of the supremacy of Scripture, the motivation for churches to minister to refugees should to be based upon biblical theology. This dissertation seeks to provide such a biblical theology of ministry to refugees that can in turn provide a basis from which local congregation can develop such ministry. To provide the context of refugees in SA, this study begins by outlining the phenomenon of refugees in the context of SA, as well as the conditions experienced by refugees. This dissertation further seeks to delineate a number of Baptist principles that relate to the issue of Baptist churches and ministry to refugees. It also seeks to look at the role that various Baptist agencies such as the Baptist Union of Southern Africa (BUSA) and the Western Province Baptist Association have to play in ministry to refugees. The study then goes on to discuss biblical material from both the Old and New Testaments pertaining to refugees. The dissertation then seeks to develop a theology of ministry to refugees based upon the biblical material that can be used to motivate local Baptist congregations to minister to refugees. In the final section the theology of ministry to refugees is used to evaluate current models of ministry directed towards refugees.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Stemmett, David John
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Baptists -- South Africa , Church and social problems -- South Africa , Church work with refugees
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Th
- Identifier: vital:11799 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/131 , Baptists -- South Africa , Church and social problems -- South Africa , Church work with refugees
- Description: The issue of refugees in South Africa has come under the spotlight recently, particularly in the light of the xenophobic violence that swept the country in 2008. As a Baptist pastor, working in a congregation which has a vital ministry towards refugees, the writer became aware that only a handful of Baptist congregations in the Western Cape had a similar concern for refugees and asylum seekers. These observations raised the question of ministry to refugees on the part of Baptist churches in SA. As Baptist churches adhere to the principle of the supremacy of Scripture, the motivation for churches to minister to refugees should to be based upon biblical theology. This dissertation seeks to provide such a biblical theology of ministry to refugees that can in turn provide a basis from which local congregation can develop such ministry. To provide the context of refugees in SA, this study begins by outlining the phenomenon of refugees in the context of SA, as well as the conditions experienced by refugees. This dissertation further seeks to delineate a number of Baptist principles that relate to the issue of Baptist churches and ministry to refugees. It also seeks to look at the role that various Baptist agencies such as the Baptist Union of Southern Africa (BUSA) and the Western Province Baptist Association have to play in ministry to refugees. The study then goes on to discuss biblical material from both the Old and New The issue of refugees in South Africa has come under the spotlight recently, particularly in the light of the xenophobic violence that swept the country in 2008. As a Baptist pastor, working in a congregation which has a vital ministry towards refugees, the writer became aware that only a handful of Baptist congregations in the Western Cape had a similar concern for refugees and asylum seekers. These observations raised the question of ministry to refugees on the part of Baptist churches in SA. As Baptist churches adhere to the principle of the supremacy of Scripture, the motivation for churches to minister to refugees should to be based upon biblical theology. This dissertation seeks to provide such a biblical theology of ministry to refugees that can in turn provide a basis from which local congregation can develop such ministry. To provide the context of refugees in SA, this study begins by outlining the phenomenon of refugees in the context of SA, as well as the conditions experienced by refugees. This dissertation further seeks to delineate a number of Baptist principles that relate to the issue of Baptist churches and ministry to refugees. It also seeks to look at the role that various Baptist agencies such as the Baptist Union of Southern Africa (BUSA) and the Western Province Baptist Association have to play in ministry to refugees. The study then goes on to discuss biblical material from both the Old and New Testaments pertaining to refugees. The dissertation then seeks to develop a theology of ministry to refugees based upon the biblical material that can be used to motivate local Baptist congregations to minister to refugees. In the final section the theology of ministry to refugees is used to evaluate current models of ministry directed towards refugees.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
A bioinorganic study of some cobalt(II) Schiff base complexes of variously substituted hydroxybenzaldimines
- Authors: Shaibu, Rafiu Olarewaju
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Cobalt Schiff bases Artemia Spectrum analysis Ligands -- Analysis Bioinorganic chemistry Antineoplastic agents Cancer -- Chemotherapy Ligands -- Toxicity
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:4394 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006009
- Description: Syntheses of Schiff bases were carried out by reacting salicylaldyhde, ortho-vanillin, para-vanillin or vanillin with aniline, 1-aminonaphthalene, 4- and 3-aminopyridine, and also with 2- and 3-aminomethylpyridine. The various Schiff bases obtained from the condensation reaction were reacted with CoCl₂.6H₂0, triethylamine stripped CoCl₂.6H₂0 or Co(CH₃COO)₂ to form cobalt(Il) complexes of ratio 2:1. The complexes obtained from cobalt chloride designated as the "A series" are of the general formulae ML₂X₂.nH₂0 , (L = Schiff base, X = chlorine) while those obtained from cobalt acetate or triethylamine stripped cobalt chloride denoted as "B" and C" are of the general formulae ML₂. nH₂0. The few complexes that do not follow the general formulae highlighted above are: IA [M(HL)₃.Cl₂], (L = N-phenylsalicylaldimine), 4A = (MLCl₂), (L = N-phenylvanaldiminato), 7 A and 21 A (ML₂), (L = N-naphthyl-o-vanaldiminato, and N-methy-2-pyridylsalicylaldiminato respectively), 8A = MLCI, (L = N-naphthylvanaldiminato), 12A = M₂L₃Cl₂, (L = N-4-pyridylvanaldiminato), 15A (MLCI), (L = N-3-pyridyl-o-vanaldiminato). The ligands and their complexes were characterized using elemental analyses and cobalt analysis using ICP, FT-IR spectroscopy (mid and far-IR), NIR-UV/vis (diffuse reflectance), UV/vis in an aprotic and a protic solvents, while mass spectrometry, ¹HNMR and ¹³CNMR, was used to further characterized the ligands. The tautomeric nature of the Schiff bases were determined by examining the behaviour of Schiff bases and their complexes in a protic (e.g. MeOH) and non-protic (e.g. DMF) polar solvents. The effects of solvents on the electronic behaviour of the compounds were also examined. Using CDCl₃, the NMR technique was further used to confirm the structures of the Schiff bases. The tentative geometry of the complexes was determined using the spectra information obtained from the far infrared and the diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. With few exceptions, most of the "A" series are tetrahedral or distorted tetrahedral, while the "B + C" are octahedral or pseudooctahedral. A small number of complexes are assigned square-planar geometry owing to the characteristic spectral behaviour shown. In order to determine their biological activity, two biological assay methods (antimicrobial testing and brine shrimp lethality assay) were used. Using disc method, the bacteriostatic and fungicidal activities of the various Schiff bases and their respective complexes to Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa as well as Aspergillus niger, were measured and the average inhibition zones are tabulated and analysed. Both the Schiff bases and their complexes showed varying bacteriostatic and fungicidal activity against the bacteria and fungus tested. The inhibition activity is concentration dependent and potential antibiotic and fungicides are identified. To determine the toxicity of the ligands and their corresponding cobalt(II) complexes, brine shrimp lethality assay was used. The LD₅₀ of the tested compounds were calculated and the results obtained were tabulated for comparison.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Shaibu, Rafiu Olarewaju
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Cobalt Schiff bases Artemia Spectrum analysis Ligands -- Analysis Bioinorganic chemistry Antineoplastic agents Cancer -- Chemotherapy Ligands -- Toxicity
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:4394 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006009
- Description: Syntheses of Schiff bases were carried out by reacting salicylaldyhde, ortho-vanillin, para-vanillin or vanillin with aniline, 1-aminonaphthalene, 4- and 3-aminopyridine, and also with 2- and 3-aminomethylpyridine. The various Schiff bases obtained from the condensation reaction were reacted with CoCl₂.6H₂0, triethylamine stripped CoCl₂.6H₂0 or Co(CH₃COO)₂ to form cobalt(Il) complexes of ratio 2:1. The complexes obtained from cobalt chloride designated as the "A series" are of the general formulae ML₂X₂.nH₂0 , (L = Schiff base, X = chlorine) while those obtained from cobalt acetate or triethylamine stripped cobalt chloride denoted as "B" and C" are of the general formulae ML₂. nH₂0. The few complexes that do not follow the general formulae highlighted above are: IA [M(HL)₃.Cl₂], (L = N-phenylsalicylaldimine), 4A = (MLCl₂), (L = N-phenylvanaldiminato), 7 A and 21 A (ML₂), (L = N-naphthyl-o-vanaldiminato, and N-methy-2-pyridylsalicylaldiminato respectively), 8A = MLCI, (L = N-naphthylvanaldiminato), 12A = M₂L₃Cl₂, (L = N-4-pyridylvanaldiminato), 15A (MLCI), (L = N-3-pyridyl-o-vanaldiminato). The ligands and their complexes were characterized using elemental analyses and cobalt analysis using ICP, FT-IR spectroscopy (mid and far-IR), NIR-UV/vis (diffuse reflectance), UV/vis in an aprotic and a protic solvents, while mass spectrometry, ¹HNMR and ¹³CNMR, was used to further characterized the ligands. The tautomeric nature of the Schiff bases were determined by examining the behaviour of Schiff bases and their complexes in a protic (e.g. MeOH) and non-protic (e.g. DMF) polar solvents. The effects of solvents on the electronic behaviour of the compounds were also examined. Using CDCl₃, the NMR technique was further used to confirm the structures of the Schiff bases. The tentative geometry of the complexes was determined using the spectra information obtained from the far infrared and the diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. With few exceptions, most of the "A" series are tetrahedral or distorted tetrahedral, while the "B + C" are octahedral or pseudooctahedral. A small number of complexes are assigned square-planar geometry owing to the characteristic spectral behaviour shown. In order to determine their biological activity, two biological assay methods (antimicrobial testing and brine shrimp lethality assay) were used. Using disc method, the bacteriostatic and fungicidal activities of the various Schiff bases and their respective complexes to Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa as well as Aspergillus niger, were measured and the average inhibition zones are tabulated and analysed. Both the Schiff bases and their complexes showed varying bacteriostatic and fungicidal activity against the bacteria and fungus tested. The inhibition activity is concentration dependent and potential antibiotic and fungicides are identified. To determine the toxicity of the ligands and their corresponding cobalt(II) complexes, brine shrimp lethality assay was used. The LD₅₀ of the tested compounds were calculated and the results obtained were tabulated for comparison.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
A book history study of Michael Radford's filmic production William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice
- Green, Bryony Rose Humphries
- Authors: Green, Bryony Rose Humphries
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Film adaptations Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Merchant of Venice Merchant of Venice (Motion picture: 2004) English drama -- Film and video adaptations Film adaptations -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2197 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002239
- Description: Falling within the ambit of the Department of English Literature but with interdisciplinary scope and method, the research undertaken in this thesis examines Michael Radford’s 2004 film production William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice using the Book History approach to textual study. Previously applied almost exclusively to the study of books, Book History examines the text in terms of both its medium and its content, bringing together bibliographical, literary and historical approaches to the study of books within one theoretical paradigm. My research extends this interdisciplinary approach into the filmic medium by using a modified version of Robert Darnton’s “communication circuit” to examine the process of transmission of this Shakespearean film adaptation from creation to reception. The research is not intended as a complete Book History study and even less as a comprehensive investigation of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. Rather, it uses a Shakespearean case study to bring together the two previously discrete fields of Book History and filmic investigation. Drawing on film studies, literary concepts, cultural and media studies, modern management theory as well as reception theories and with the use of both quantitative and qualitative data, I show Book History to be an eminently useful and constructive approach to the study of film.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Green, Bryony Rose Humphries
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Film adaptations Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Merchant of Venice Merchant of Venice (Motion picture: 2004) English drama -- Film and video adaptations Film adaptations -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2197 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002239
- Description: Falling within the ambit of the Department of English Literature but with interdisciplinary scope and method, the research undertaken in this thesis examines Michael Radford’s 2004 film production William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice using the Book History approach to textual study. Previously applied almost exclusively to the study of books, Book History examines the text in terms of both its medium and its content, bringing together bibliographical, literary and historical approaches to the study of books within one theoretical paradigm. My research extends this interdisciplinary approach into the filmic medium by using a modified version of Robert Darnton’s “communication circuit” to examine the process of transmission of this Shakespearean film adaptation from creation to reception. The research is not intended as a complete Book History study and even less as a comprehensive investigation of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. Rather, it uses a Shakespearean case study to bring together the two previously discrete fields of Book History and filmic investigation. Drawing on film studies, literary concepts, cultural and media studies, modern management theory as well as reception theories and with the use of both quantitative and qualitative data, I show Book History to be an eminently useful and constructive approach to the study of film.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008