Understanding the policy-planning-implementation disjuncture: a case study of the Amathole District Municipality, Eastern Cape Province
- Authors: Mhlahlo, Andile
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Municipal services -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Political planning -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Local government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Amathole District Municipality (South Africa) -- Planning
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/168521 , vital:41591
- Description: The aim of this study is to investigate why well planned policies are not getting implemented as intended. The study was conducted in the offices of Amathole District Municipality (ADM) in the Eastern Cape Province, including the cooperative project in Alice as one of the projects that was coordinated by the ADM. Concerning the research design and methodology, a qualitative research design was used. The data collection process involved conducting unstructured interviews with the officers from the Amathole District Municipality office (the ADM officers / the municipality officers) and the members of cooperative projects (cooperatives/projects). Mainly, an ethnographic approach was used; it involved embracing participant observation in the ADM offices for approximately 6 months. As the researcher, I participated as one of the ADM’s officers in different activities, namely: attending meetings and one workshop, and accompanying the development officer while conducting an observation of various projects in Butterworth. The findings in the study disclose that the disjuncture between policy planning and implementation may be attributed to 4 factors, which are associated with the ADM office as the development agency for the Amathole region. These are: the incapability to respond to policy implementation complexities, failure to exploit policy implementation complexities as learning opportunities, the insufficient understanding of ‘process monitoring’ as a tool that could be integrated in projects management, as well as the execution of policy implementation in the absence of policy documents as a guide in implementation processes. Moreover, these factors are examined as being related to each other, and they will be discussed in detail in the course of the thesis.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Mhlahlo, Andile
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Municipal services -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Political planning -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Local government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Amathole District Municipality (South Africa) -- Planning
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/168521 , vital:41591
- Description: The aim of this study is to investigate why well planned policies are not getting implemented as intended. The study was conducted in the offices of Amathole District Municipality (ADM) in the Eastern Cape Province, including the cooperative project in Alice as one of the projects that was coordinated by the ADM. Concerning the research design and methodology, a qualitative research design was used. The data collection process involved conducting unstructured interviews with the officers from the Amathole District Municipality office (the ADM officers / the municipality officers) and the members of cooperative projects (cooperatives/projects). Mainly, an ethnographic approach was used; it involved embracing participant observation in the ADM offices for approximately 6 months. As the researcher, I participated as one of the ADM’s officers in different activities, namely: attending meetings and one workshop, and accompanying the development officer while conducting an observation of various projects in Butterworth. The findings in the study disclose that the disjuncture between policy planning and implementation may be attributed to 4 factors, which are associated with the ADM office as the development agency for the Amathole region. These are: the incapability to respond to policy implementation complexities, failure to exploit policy implementation complexities as learning opportunities, the insufficient understanding of ‘process monitoring’ as a tool that could be integrated in projects management, as well as the execution of policy implementation in the absence of policy documents as a guide in implementation processes. Moreover, these factors are examined as being related to each other, and they will be discussed in detail in the course of the thesis.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Understanding the policy-planning-implementation disjuncture: a case study of the Amathole District Municipality, Eastern Cape Province
- Authors: Mhlahlo, Andile
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Municipal services -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Political planning -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Local government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Amathole District Municipality (South Africa) -- Planning
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/4422 , vital:20668
- Description: The aim of this study is to investigate why well planned policies are not getting implemented as intended. The study was conducted in the offices of Amathole District Municipality (ADM) in the Eastern Cape Province, including the cooperative project in Alice as one of the projects that was coordinated by the ADM. Concerning the research design and methodology, a qualitative research design was used. The data collection process involved conducting unstructured interviews with the officers from the Amathole District Municipality office (the ADM officers / the municipality officers) and the members of cooperative projects (cooperatives/projects). Mainly, an ethnographic approach was used; it involved embracing participant observation in the ADM offices for approximately 6 months. As the researcher, I participated as one of the ADM’s officers in different activities, namely: attending meetings and one workshop, and accompanying the development officer while conducting an observation of various projects in Butterworth. The findings in the study disclose that the disjuncture between policy planning and implementation may be attributed to 4 factors, which are associated with the ADM office as the development agency for the Amathole region. These are: the incapability to respond to policy implementation complexities, failure to exploit policy implementation complexities as learning opportunities, the insufficient understanding of ‘process monitoring’ as a tool that could be integrated in projects management, as well as the execution of policy implementation in the absence of policy documents as a guide in implementation processes. Moreover, these factors are examined as being related to each other, and they will be discussed in detail in the course of the thesis.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Mhlahlo, Andile
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Municipal services -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Political planning -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Local government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Amathole District Municipality (South Africa) -- Planning
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/4422 , vital:20668
- Description: The aim of this study is to investigate why well planned policies are not getting implemented as intended. The study was conducted in the offices of Amathole District Municipality (ADM) in the Eastern Cape Province, including the cooperative project in Alice as one of the projects that was coordinated by the ADM. Concerning the research design and methodology, a qualitative research design was used. The data collection process involved conducting unstructured interviews with the officers from the Amathole District Municipality office (the ADM officers / the municipality officers) and the members of cooperative projects (cooperatives/projects). Mainly, an ethnographic approach was used; it involved embracing participant observation in the ADM offices for approximately 6 months. As the researcher, I participated as one of the ADM’s officers in different activities, namely: attending meetings and one workshop, and accompanying the development officer while conducting an observation of various projects in Butterworth. The findings in the study disclose that the disjuncture between policy planning and implementation may be attributed to 4 factors, which are associated with the ADM office as the development agency for the Amathole region. These are: the incapability to respond to policy implementation complexities, failure to exploit policy implementation complexities as learning opportunities, the insufficient understanding of ‘process monitoring’ as a tool that could be integrated in projects management, as well as the execution of policy implementation in the absence of policy documents as a guide in implementation processes. Moreover, these factors are examined as being related to each other, and they will be discussed in detail in the course of the thesis.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Re-imagining the nation
- Mngomezulu, Nosipho Sthabiso Thandiwe
- Authors: Mngomezulu, Nosipho Sthabiso Thandiwe
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Mauritius -- Truth and Justice Commission , Nationalism -- Mauritius , National characteristics, Mauritian , Social justice -- Mauritius , Youth -- Mauritius -- Social conditions , Youth -- Mauritius -- Attitudes , Mauritius -- Politics and government -- 1992- , Ethnicity -- Mauritius
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2124 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1019999
- Description: This thesis examines young people’s constructions of nationhood in Mauritius. In 2008, the Mauritian government instituted a Truth and Justice Commission (TJC), set up to investigate the consequences of slavery and indentured labour. Through the Truth and Justice Commission, the Mauritian government indicated its desire to achieve social justice and national unity. Drawing on developments in studies of national identification practices in the 21st Century, this thesis addresses the question of young Mauritian’s locally and globally informed identification practices and asks how their unofficial narratives of nationhood challenge, or divert, or relate to official state narratives of nationhood. The basis of the study emerges from data collected from 132 participants during fieldwork in multiple fieldsites from May to September 2010 as well as research on Mauritian youth on-line from 2011-2014. The advent of the TJC offers an ideal moment to evaluate the dynamics of post-colonial nation-building and nationhood in a selfstyled multi-cultural state. Nationhood, does not exist apriori to the constructions of narratives of the nation, thus the stories told about the nation, imagine the nation into being. By situating the Truth and Justice Commission and other official state narratives alongside young people’s narratives, I argue that contemporary narratives of nationhood in Mauritius represent an intergenerational struggle to define the meaning of the past in the present and consequently outline the future. Reflecting on the ideas and socio-economic and political processes that induce national consciousness, I argue that young people’s narratives of everyday lived experiences are vital for an interpretation of how nationhood is produced in everyday life. The cultural projects of young people – often rendered as liminal or marginal – offer a critical vantage point from where to read constructions of nationhood. Far from being growing pains or childish games, young people’s identity making practices are what Sherry B. Ortner has called “serious games.” This research suggests that official state government narratives of multicultural nationhood in Mauritius narrowly define national identification along communal loyalties, overlooking the dynamism of interculturality and transnationalism in daily practice on the island. Although communalism and rigid colonial interpretations of ethnicity attempt to police and limit the possibilities of alternative modes of being in Mauritius, young people’s identification practices question, challenge, and threaten to disrupt official discourses of ethnic identification in Mauritius Scholarly investigations of young peoples’ lived experiences of nationhood extend theoretical and methodological frames for the study of nationalized subjects and deepen the understanding of the construction of national consciousness. The construction of nationhood always involves narratives of some sort – scholarship on this area has usually focused on official state narratives from social theorists, state governments, and state elites. I argue for the importance of considering subjectivity and lived experience in conceptions of nationhood. In contemporary post-colonial societies, young people are the numerical majority, however, their voices are seldom represented in theories and narratives of nationhood. Whilst young people may appear in state policies (especially education) and official narratives about the future of the nation, their creative imagining and reimagining of narratives of selfhood is often ignored. I examine how young people increasingly are aware of their transnational connections, through participation in transnational youth cultures, and they are consequently increasingly multi-lingual and multicultural. Fixed notions of ethnic identification and discourses of trauma are not at the forefront of young people’s identification of selfhood, rather their ability to take advantage of their multiply situated identification processes allows them new means to evade and transform these narratives. Their identification of selfhood is characterised by a greater degree of dynamism than previous generations had access to, and thus they do not only identify themselves through officially sanctioned national forms of identification. Loyalty to nationhood is thus less predictable, and young people represent a potential threat to the continuation of older forms of nationhood. While official narratives of nationhood may manipulate ethnic and racial cleavages to secure old loyalties, not all young people are persuaded by these notions
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Mngomezulu, Nosipho Sthabiso Thandiwe
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Mauritius -- Truth and Justice Commission , Nationalism -- Mauritius , National characteristics, Mauritian , Social justice -- Mauritius , Youth -- Mauritius -- Social conditions , Youth -- Mauritius -- Attitudes , Mauritius -- Politics and government -- 1992- , Ethnicity -- Mauritius
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2124 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1019999
- Description: This thesis examines young people’s constructions of nationhood in Mauritius. In 2008, the Mauritian government instituted a Truth and Justice Commission (TJC), set up to investigate the consequences of slavery and indentured labour. Through the Truth and Justice Commission, the Mauritian government indicated its desire to achieve social justice and national unity. Drawing on developments in studies of national identification practices in the 21st Century, this thesis addresses the question of young Mauritian’s locally and globally informed identification practices and asks how their unofficial narratives of nationhood challenge, or divert, or relate to official state narratives of nationhood. The basis of the study emerges from data collected from 132 participants during fieldwork in multiple fieldsites from May to September 2010 as well as research on Mauritian youth on-line from 2011-2014. The advent of the TJC offers an ideal moment to evaluate the dynamics of post-colonial nation-building and nationhood in a selfstyled multi-cultural state. Nationhood, does not exist apriori to the constructions of narratives of the nation, thus the stories told about the nation, imagine the nation into being. By situating the Truth and Justice Commission and other official state narratives alongside young people’s narratives, I argue that contemporary narratives of nationhood in Mauritius represent an intergenerational struggle to define the meaning of the past in the present and consequently outline the future. Reflecting on the ideas and socio-economic and political processes that induce national consciousness, I argue that young people’s narratives of everyday lived experiences are vital for an interpretation of how nationhood is produced in everyday life. The cultural projects of young people – often rendered as liminal or marginal – offer a critical vantage point from where to read constructions of nationhood. Far from being growing pains or childish games, young people’s identity making practices are what Sherry B. Ortner has called “serious games.” This research suggests that official state government narratives of multicultural nationhood in Mauritius narrowly define national identification along communal loyalties, overlooking the dynamism of interculturality and transnationalism in daily practice on the island. Although communalism and rigid colonial interpretations of ethnicity attempt to police and limit the possibilities of alternative modes of being in Mauritius, young people’s identification practices question, challenge, and threaten to disrupt official discourses of ethnic identification in Mauritius Scholarly investigations of young peoples’ lived experiences of nationhood extend theoretical and methodological frames for the study of nationalized subjects and deepen the understanding of the construction of national consciousness. The construction of nationhood always involves narratives of some sort – scholarship on this area has usually focused on official state narratives from social theorists, state governments, and state elites. I argue for the importance of considering subjectivity and lived experience in conceptions of nationhood. In contemporary post-colonial societies, young people are the numerical majority, however, their voices are seldom represented in theories and narratives of nationhood. Whilst young people may appear in state policies (especially education) and official narratives about the future of the nation, their creative imagining and reimagining of narratives of selfhood is often ignored. I examine how young people increasingly are aware of their transnational connections, through participation in transnational youth cultures, and they are consequently increasingly multi-lingual and multicultural. Fixed notions of ethnic identification and discourses of trauma are not at the forefront of young people’s identification of selfhood, rather their ability to take advantage of their multiply situated identification processes allows them new means to evade and transform these narratives. Their identification of selfhood is characterised by a greater degree of dynamism than previous generations had access to, and thus they do not only identify themselves through officially sanctioned national forms of identification. Loyalty to nationhood is thus less predictable, and young people represent a potential threat to the continuation of older forms of nationhood. While official narratives of nationhood may manipulate ethnic and racial cleavages to secure old loyalties, not all young people are persuaded by these notions
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Change and continuity : perceptions about childhood diseases among the Tumbuka of Northern Malawi
- Munthali, Alister Chaundumuka
- Authors: Munthali, Alister Chaundumuka
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: Tumbuka (African people) Ethnology -- Malawi Diseases -- Causes and theories of causation Health behavior -- Malawi Health attitudes -- Malawi Children -- Diseases -- Malawi
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2114 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007718
- Description: The objectives of this study were to determine what the Tumbuka people of northern Malawi consider to be the most dangerous childhood diseases, to explore their perceptions about the aetiology, prevention and treatment of these diseases, and to determine how such perceptions have changed over the years. The study was done in Chisinde and surrounding villages in western Rumphi District, northern Malawi. Although a household questionnaire was used to collect some quantitative data, the major data collection methods comprised participant observation, in-depth interviews with mothers with children under five and old men and women, and key informant interviews with traditional healers, traditional birth attendants, village headmen, health surveillance assistants and clinical officers. Informants in this study mentioned chikhoso chamoto, diarrhoea, malaria, measles, and conjunctivitis as the most dangerous childhood diseases in the area. Old men and women added that in the past smallpox was also a dangerous disease that affected both children and adults. Apart from measles and smallpox, community-based health workers and those at the local health centre also mentioned the same list of diseases as the most dangerous diseases prevalent among under-five children. Though health workers and informants mentioned the same diseases, the informants' perspectives about the aetiology and prevention of these diseases and the way they sought treatment during childhood illness episodes, in some cases, differed significantly from those of biomedicine. For example, while health workers said that the signs and symptoms presented by a child suffering from "chikhoso chamoto" were those of either kwashiorkor or marasmus, both young and elderly informants said that a child could contract this illness through contact with a person who had been involved in sexual intercourse. Biomedically, diarrhoea is caused by the ingestion of pathogenic agents, which are transmitted through, among other factors, drinking contaminated water and eating contaminated foods. While young men and women subscribed to this biomedical view, at the same time, just like old men and women, they also believed that if a breastfeeding mother has sexual intercourse, sperms will contaminate her breast milk and, once a child feeds on this milk, he or she will develop diarrhoea. They, in addition, associated diarrhoea with the process of teething and other infections, such as malaria and measles. In malaria-endemic areas such as Malawi, the occurrence of convulsions, splenomegaly and anaemia in children under five may be biomedically attributed to malaria. However, most informants in this study perceived these conditions as separate disease entities caused by, among other factors, witchcraft and the infringement of Tumbuka taboos relating to food, sexual intercourse and funerals. Splenomegaly and convulsions were also perceived as hereditary diseases. Such Tumbuka perceptions about the aetiology of childhood diseases also influenced their ideas about prevention and the seeking of therapy during illness episodes. Apart from measles, other childhood vaccine-preventable diseases (i.e. tetanus, diphtheria, tuberculosis, pertussis and poliomyelitis) were not mentioned, presumably because they are no longer occurring on a significant scale, which is an indication of the success of vaccination programmes. This study reveals that there is no outright rejection of vaccination services in the study area. Some mothers, though, felt pressured to go for vaccination services as they believed that non-vaccinated children were refused biomedical treatment at the local health centres when they fell ill. While young women with children under five mentioned vaccination as a preventative measure against diseases such as measles, they also mentioned other indigenous forms of 'vaccination', which included the adherence to societal taboos, the wearing of amulets, the rubbing of protective medicines into incisions, isolation of children under five (e.g. a newly born child is kept in the house, amongst other things, to protect him or her against people who are ritually considered hot because of sexual intercourse) who are susceptible to disease or those posing a threat to cause disease in children under five. For example, since diarrhoea is perceived to be caused by, among other things, a child feeding on breast milk contaminated with sperms, informants said that there is a strong need for couples to observe postpartum sexual intercourse. A couple with newly delivered twins is isolated from the village because of the belief that children will swell if they came into contact with them. Local methods of disease prevention seem therefore to depend on what is perceived to be the cause of the illness and the decision to adopt specific preventive measures depends on, among other factors, the diagnosis of the cause and of who is vulnerable. The therapy-seeking process is a hierarchical movement within and between aetiologies; at the same time, it is not a random process, but an ordered process of choices in response to negative feedback, and subject to a number of factors, such as the aetiology of the disease, distance, social costs, cost of the therapeutic intervention, availability of medicines, etc. The movement between systems (i.e. from traditional medicine to biomedicine and vice-versa) during illness episodes depends on a number of factors, including previous experiences of significant others (i.e. those close to the patient), perceptions about the chances of getting healed, the decisions of the therapy management group, etc. For example, febrile illness in children under five may be treated using herbs or antipyretics bought from the local grocery shops. When the situation worsens (e.g. accompanied by convulsions), a herbalist will be consulted or the child may be taken to the local health centre. The local health centre refers such cases to the district hospital for treatment. Because of the rapidity with which the condition worsens, informants said that sometimes such children are believed to be bewitched, hence while biomedical treatment is sought, at the same time diviners are also consulted. The therapeutic strategies people resort to during illness episodes are appropriate rational decisions, based on prevailing circumstances, knowledge, resources and outcomes. Boundaries between the different therapeutic options are not rigid, as people move from one form of therapy to another and from one mode of classification to another. Lastly, perceptions about childhood diseases have changed over the years. Old men and women mostly attribute childhood illnesses to the infringement of taboos (e.g. on . sexual intercourse), witchcraft and other supernatural forces. While young men and women also subscribe to these perceptions, they have at the same time also appropriated the biomedical disease explanatory models. These biomedical models were learnt at school, acquired during health education sessions conducted by health workers in the communities as well as during under-five clinics, and health education programmes conducted on the national radio station. Younger people, more frequently than older people, thus move within and between aetiological models in the manner described above.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
- Authors: Munthali, Alister Chaundumuka
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: Tumbuka (African people) Ethnology -- Malawi Diseases -- Causes and theories of causation Health behavior -- Malawi Health attitudes -- Malawi Children -- Diseases -- Malawi
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2114 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007718
- Description: The objectives of this study were to determine what the Tumbuka people of northern Malawi consider to be the most dangerous childhood diseases, to explore their perceptions about the aetiology, prevention and treatment of these diseases, and to determine how such perceptions have changed over the years. The study was done in Chisinde and surrounding villages in western Rumphi District, northern Malawi. Although a household questionnaire was used to collect some quantitative data, the major data collection methods comprised participant observation, in-depth interviews with mothers with children under five and old men and women, and key informant interviews with traditional healers, traditional birth attendants, village headmen, health surveillance assistants and clinical officers. Informants in this study mentioned chikhoso chamoto, diarrhoea, malaria, measles, and conjunctivitis as the most dangerous childhood diseases in the area. Old men and women added that in the past smallpox was also a dangerous disease that affected both children and adults. Apart from measles and smallpox, community-based health workers and those at the local health centre also mentioned the same list of diseases as the most dangerous diseases prevalent among under-five children. Though health workers and informants mentioned the same diseases, the informants' perspectives about the aetiology and prevention of these diseases and the way they sought treatment during childhood illness episodes, in some cases, differed significantly from those of biomedicine. For example, while health workers said that the signs and symptoms presented by a child suffering from "chikhoso chamoto" were those of either kwashiorkor or marasmus, both young and elderly informants said that a child could contract this illness through contact with a person who had been involved in sexual intercourse. Biomedically, diarrhoea is caused by the ingestion of pathogenic agents, which are transmitted through, among other factors, drinking contaminated water and eating contaminated foods. While young men and women subscribed to this biomedical view, at the same time, just like old men and women, they also believed that if a breastfeeding mother has sexual intercourse, sperms will contaminate her breast milk and, once a child feeds on this milk, he or she will develop diarrhoea. They, in addition, associated diarrhoea with the process of teething and other infections, such as malaria and measles. In malaria-endemic areas such as Malawi, the occurrence of convulsions, splenomegaly and anaemia in children under five may be biomedically attributed to malaria. However, most informants in this study perceived these conditions as separate disease entities caused by, among other factors, witchcraft and the infringement of Tumbuka taboos relating to food, sexual intercourse and funerals. Splenomegaly and convulsions were also perceived as hereditary diseases. Such Tumbuka perceptions about the aetiology of childhood diseases also influenced their ideas about prevention and the seeking of therapy during illness episodes. Apart from measles, other childhood vaccine-preventable diseases (i.e. tetanus, diphtheria, tuberculosis, pertussis and poliomyelitis) were not mentioned, presumably because they are no longer occurring on a significant scale, which is an indication of the success of vaccination programmes. This study reveals that there is no outright rejection of vaccination services in the study area. Some mothers, though, felt pressured to go for vaccination services as they believed that non-vaccinated children were refused biomedical treatment at the local health centres when they fell ill. While young women with children under five mentioned vaccination as a preventative measure against diseases such as measles, they also mentioned other indigenous forms of 'vaccination', which included the adherence to societal taboos, the wearing of amulets, the rubbing of protective medicines into incisions, isolation of children under five (e.g. a newly born child is kept in the house, amongst other things, to protect him or her against people who are ritually considered hot because of sexual intercourse) who are susceptible to disease or those posing a threat to cause disease in children under five. For example, since diarrhoea is perceived to be caused by, among other things, a child feeding on breast milk contaminated with sperms, informants said that there is a strong need for couples to observe postpartum sexual intercourse. A couple with newly delivered twins is isolated from the village because of the belief that children will swell if they came into contact with them. Local methods of disease prevention seem therefore to depend on what is perceived to be the cause of the illness and the decision to adopt specific preventive measures depends on, among other factors, the diagnosis of the cause and of who is vulnerable. The therapy-seeking process is a hierarchical movement within and between aetiologies; at the same time, it is not a random process, but an ordered process of choices in response to negative feedback, and subject to a number of factors, such as the aetiology of the disease, distance, social costs, cost of the therapeutic intervention, availability of medicines, etc. The movement between systems (i.e. from traditional medicine to biomedicine and vice-versa) during illness episodes depends on a number of factors, including previous experiences of significant others (i.e. those close to the patient), perceptions about the chances of getting healed, the decisions of the therapy management group, etc. For example, febrile illness in children under five may be treated using herbs or antipyretics bought from the local grocery shops. When the situation worsens (e.g. accompanied by convulsions), a herbalist will be consulted or the child may be taken to the local health centre. The local health centre refers such cases to the district hospital for treatment. Because of the rapidity with which the condition worsens, informants said that sometimes such children are believed to be bewitched, hence while biomedical treatment is sought, at the same time diviners are also consulted. The therapeutic strategies people resort to during illness episodes are appropriate rational decisions, based on prevailing circumstances, knowledge, resources and outcomes. Boundaries between the different therapeutic options are not rigid, as people move from one form of therapy to another and from one mode of classification to another. Lastly, perceptions about childhood diseases have changed over the years. Old men and women mostly attribute childhood illnesses to the infringement of taboos (e.g. on . sexual intercourse), witchcraft and other supernatural forces. While young men and women also subscribe to these perceptions, they have at the same time also appropriated the biomedical disease explanatory models. These biomedical models were learnt at school, acquired during health education sessions conducted by health workers in the communities as well as during under-five clinics, and health education programmes conducted on the national radio station. Younger people, more frequently than older people, thus move within and between aetiological models in the manner described above.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
Big T’s and small T’s: an explorative study on trauma narratives in South Africa
- Authors: Naidoo, Rinisa
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Psychic trauma , Anthropology , Mental health South Africa , Apartheid South Africa Personal narratives , Culture Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/408641 , vital:70512
- Description: The 21st century has seen a dramatic increase in chronic non-infectious diseases, especially in the area of mental health. Medical anthropologists have seen a rise in the development of mental illnesses in both developed and developing nations. There is, however, little research conducted on trauma narratives that do not stem from political violence from an anthropological lens. South Africa has various understandings of trauma depending on the cultural context and it is crucial to examine these narratives as this provides vital information of the daily lived experiences of trauma survivors. Key themes draw on issues of trauma denialism, communicating distress, traumatic symptoms and the development of mental illnesses as a result of traumatic exposure. The data was analysed through Goffman’s (1959) Presentation of Self in Everyday Life illustrating various ways how survivors present themselves depending on the particular audience. This research employed both qualitative and quantitative research methods to gather a holistic understanding of trauma survivors. With the use of semi-structured interviews of Stressful Life Events Questionnaire coupled with observations of online support groups for trauma survivors, this research has provided rich ethnographic evidence of the impact that culture has on trauma narratives illustrating a clear normalcy of trauma present in South Africa. , Thesis (MSocSci) -- Faculty of Humanities, Anthropology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
- Authors: Naidoo, Rinisa
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Psychic trauma , Anthropology , Mental health South Africa , Apartheid South Africa Personal narratives , Culture Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/408641 , vital:70512
- Description: The 21st century has seen a dramatic increase in chronic non-infectious diseases, especially in the area of mental health. Medical anthropologists have seen a rise in the development of mental illnesses in both developed and developing nations. There is, however, little research conducted on trauma narratives that do not stem from political violence from an anthropological lens. South Africa has various understandings of trauma depending on the cultural context and it is crucial to examine these narratives as this provides vital information of the daily lived experiences of trauma survivors. Key themes draw on issues of trauma denialism, communicating distress, traumatic symptoms and the development of mental illnesses as a result of traumatic exposure. The data was analysed through Goffman’s (1959) Presentation of Self in Everyday Life illustrating various ways how survivors present themselves depending on the particular audience. This research employed both qualitative and quantitative research methods to gather a holistic understanding of trauma survivors. With the use of semi-structured interviews of Stressful Life Events Questionnaire coupled with observations of online support groups for trauma survivors, this research has provided rich ethnographic evidence of the impact that culture has on trauma narratives illustrating a clear normalcy of trauma present in South Africa. , Thesis (MSocSci) -- Faculty of Humanities, Anthropology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
Incorporating indigenous management in rock art sites in KwaZulu-Natal
- Authors: Ndlovu, Ndukuyakhe
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Rock paintings -- Drakenberg Mountains , Cave paintings -- Drakensberg Mountains , San (African people) -- Art , Art, Prehistoric -- Drakensberg Mountains , Art, Prehistoric -- South Africa , Heritage tourism -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2089 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002652 , Rock paintings -- Drakenberg Mountains , Cave paintings -- Drakensberg Mountains , San (African people) -- Art , Art, Prehistoric -- Drakensberg Mountains , Art, Prehistoric -- South Africa , Heritage tourism -- South Africa
- Description: The majestic mountains of the uKhahlamba Drakensberg, formed many millennia ago were home to the Bushmen[footnote 1] or San people. They lived at these mountains for thousands of years before they were colonised by the Bantu speakers and the Europeans. Academic writings for many years have perpetuated the thinking that Bushman people were largely extinct. The dominance of this view in the academic writings was encouraged by historical evidence that Europeans and Bantu speakers hunted and killed Bushmen over the last several centuries. Researchers argue that the extermination of the Bushmen was because they were less human in the eyes of the foreigners, due to cattle raiding. There is still some element of this thinking amongst today’s academics, although research in the last decade is questioning this thinking. The question of whether descendants do exist is relevant to issues of rights of access to ancestral sacred sites, in particular rock art sites. At present, access to rock art sites is granted on qualification as an authentic fee-paying tourist (or affordability) rather than on group rights to a cultural heritage resource (cultural rights). Based on this, I argue that access to rock art sites is based on qualification rather than by right. This is largely driven by an approach that emphasises the physical conservation and financial sustainability of a site, rather than its spiritual maintenance. It has become clear that the interests in rock art by tourists and Bushman descendants are distinct from each other. Tourists have an aesthetic significance for rock art while Bushmen descendants have a spiritual significance for the paintings. Beyond any doubt, the physically based and financially driven approach has brought new challenges to today’s Bushmen descendants, whom in reaffirming their identities now have a new challenge to overcome. Not only are the rock art sites physically threatened but also they have lost much of their spiritual powers. Their fate lies in the hands of heritage officers who must determine access rights to the painted shelters. Both the National Heritage Resources Act and the KwaZulu-Natal Heritage Act acknowledge living heritage. However, the existence of this heritage is judged against the physical approach to rock art management. If the practises of descendants are perceived to be a threat to the rock art, they will not be approved. The case of the Duma is a classic example. Prior to the ritual ceremony at Game Pass Shelter, Kamberg, they were informed of the minimum standards for opening a rock art site to public and rules of how people should behave while visiting painted shelters. While it was evident that there are problems with the two approaches, the spiritual and physical approach, discussed in the thesis, it is important that solutions are identified. I do not believe that one approach on its own will be good enough, for reasons discussed in the thesis. Instead, the two approaches should be implemented together to compliment each other by identifying common grounds. I provide strategies as to how I believe that such a common ground can be reached. In addition, I provide my own analytical thinking as to how these strategies can be achieved. There is no general consensus over which term is appropriate. Both terms are considered by some academics to be derogatory or pejorative (Chennels 2003). San means vagabond and was given to the Bushmen by Khoi-Khoi people, because they considered themselves of a better social class, as they had domesticated animals and were more sedentary than Bushmen. However, according to WIMSA (Thoma 2003) the word San is derived from the Hai||om language meaning “people who gather”. It is normally written Saan but it has been accepted to write San. In 1993 the San requested to be called San when referred to as an entire group. If one refers to individual people/groups they like to be called by their language and cultural name i.e. Khwe, !Kung, !Xun, Ju|’hoansi, ‡Khomani, N|u, |’Auni, Hai||om, etc In this thesis, Bushmen is a preferred term, because it is a better-known term among the people who are central to this study. It is used without any insulting connotations attached to the term.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Ndlovu, Ndukuyakhe
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Rock paintings -- Drakenberg Mountains , Cave paintings -- Drakensberg Mountains , San (African people) -- Art , Art, Prehistoric -- Drakensberg Mountains , Art, Prehistoric -- South Africa , Heritage tourism -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2089 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002652 , Rock paintings -- Drakenberg Mountains , Cave paintings -- Drakensberg Mountains , San (African people) -- Art , Art, Prehistoric -- Drakensberg Mountains , Art, Prehistoric -- South Africa , Heritage tourism -- South Africa
- Description: The majestic mountains of the uKhahlamba Drakensberg, formed many millennia ago were home to the Bushmen[footnote 1] or San people. They lived at these mountains for thousands of years before they were colonised by the Bantu speakers and the Europeans. Academic writings for many years have perpetuated the thinking that Bushman people were largely extinct. The dominance of this view in the academic writings was encouraged by historical evidence that Europeans and Bantu speakers hunted and killed Bushmen over the last several centuries. Researchers argue that the extermination of the Bushmen was because they were less human in the eyes of the foreigners, due to cattle raiding. There is still some element of this thinking amongst today’s academics, although research in the last decade is questioning this thinking. The question of whether descendants do exist is relevant to issues of rights of access to ancestral sacred sites, in particular rock art sites. At present, access to rock art sites is granted on qualification as an authentic fee-paying tourist (or affordability) rather than on group rights to a cultural heritage resource (cultural rights). Based on this, I argue that access to rock art sites is based on qualification rather than by right. This is largely driven by an approach that emphasises the physical conservation and financial sustainability of a site, rather than its spiritual maintenance. It has become clear that the interests in rock art by tourists and Bushman descendants are distinct from each other. Tourists have an aesthetic significance for rock art while Bushmen descendants have a spiritual significance for the paintings. Beyond any doubt, the physically based and financially driven approach has brought new challenges to today’s Bushmen descendants, whom in reaffirming their identities now have a new challenge to overcome. Not only are the rock art sites physically threatened but also they have lost much of their spiritual powers. Their fate lies in the hands of heritage officers who must determine access rights to the painted shelters. Both the National Heritage Resources Act and the KwaZulu-Natal Heritage Act acknowledge living heritage. However, the existence of this heritage is judged against the physical approach to rock art management. If the practises of descendants are perceived to be a threat to the rock art, they will not be approved. The case of the Duma is a classic example. Prior to the ritual ceremony at Game Pass Shelter, Kamberg, they were informed of the minimum standards for opening a rock art site to public and rules of how people should behave while visiting painted shelters. While it was evident that there are problems with the two approaches, the spiritual and physical approach, discussed in the thesis, it is important that solutions are identified. I do not believe that one approach on its own will be good enough, for reasons discussed in the thesis. Instead, the two approaches should be implemented together to compliment each other by identifying common grounds. I provide strategies as to how I believe that such a common ground can be reached. In addition, I provide my own analytical thinking as to how these strategies can be achieved. There is no general consensus over which term is appropriate. Both terms are considered by some academics to be derogatory or pejorative (Chennels 2003). San means vagabond and was given to the Bushmen by Khoi-Khoi people, because they considered themselves of a better social class, as they had domesticated animals and were more sedentary than Bushmen. However, according to WIMSA (Thoma 2003) the word San is derived from the Hai||om language meaning “people who gather”. It is normally written Saan but it has been accepted to write San. In 1993 the San requested to be called San when referred to as an entire group. If one refers to individual people/groups they like to be called by their language and cultural name i.e. Khwe, !Kung, !Xun, Ju|’hoansi, ‡Khomani, N|u, |’Auni, Hai||om, etc In this thesis, Bushmen is a preferred term, because it is a better-known term among the people who are central to this study. It is used without any insulting connotations attached to the term.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Essence of home: relevance of home and the assertion of place amongst Centane migrants, South Africa
- Authors: Njwambe, Avela Thandisiwe
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Rural-urban migration -- South Africa , Migrant labor -- South Africa , Immigrants -- South Africa -- Social conditions , Immigrants -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Immigrants -- South Africa -- Homelands , Homelands (South Africa) , Home -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/51866 , vital:26136
- Description: South Africa is currently experiencing ever-increasing rural-urban migration with many citizens from the former homeland areas migrating to cities to seek employment. Despite long-term residence in urban areas, many township dwellers do not consider these places to be home. Research into circular migration patterns reveal the lifelong relationships that migrants (amagoduka) have with their family home (ekhayeni). This study aimed to explore this relationship, looking in particular at the meanings imbued in the locality of home. In addition, the role of natural landscapes and social components in constructing meanings and attachments to ekhayeni for Xhosa-speaking migrants in Cape Town townships, who have family linkages to rural villages in the Transkei, was also explored. The study found that the landscape of home remains central to migrants’ cultural identity, belonging and well-being. Childhood experiences in nature, and cultural and recreational activities that continue to take rural inhabitants into these landscapes, remain key to this relationship. The rural area, as a geographical entity embodied with social and cultural/spiritual components continued to supply and satisfy many human needs for migrants, which were seen as crucial for psychological, mental and spiritual well-being.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Essence of home: relevance of home and the assertion of place amongst Centane migrants, South Africa
- Authors: Njwambe, Avela Thandisiwe
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Rural-urban migration -- South Africa , Migrant labor -- South Africa , Immigrants -- South Africa -- Social conditions , Immigrants -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Immigrants -- South Africa -- Homelands , Homelands (South Africa) , Home -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/51866 , vital:26136
- Description: South Africa is currently experiencing ever-increasing rural-urban migration with many citizens from the former homeland areas migrating to cities to seek employment. Despite long-term residence in urban areas, many township dwellers do not consider these places to be home. Research into circular migration patterns reveal the lifelong relationships that migrants (amagoduka) have with their family home (ekhayeni). This study aimed to explore this relationship, looking in particular at the meanings imbued in the locality of home. In addition, the role of natural landscapes and social components in constructing meanings and attachments to ekhayeni for Xhosa-speaking migrants in Cape Town townships, who have family linkages to rural villages in the Transkei, was also explored. The study found that the landscape of home remains central to migrants’ cultural identity, belonging and well-being. Childhood experiences in nature, and cultural and recreational activities that continue to take rural inhabitants into these landscapes, remain key to this relationship. The rural area, as a geographical entity embodied with social and cultural/spiritual components continued to supply and satisfy many human needs for migrants, which were seen as crucial for psychological, mental and spiritual well-being.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
An ethnomedical study of the role and impact of cannabidiol (CBD) treatment of women living with endometriosis and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)
- Authors: Norman, Paige Sarah
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Polycystic ovary syndrome Alternative treatment , Endometriosis Alternative treatment , Cannabidiol , Cannabis , Pain management , Traditional medicine , Feminist anthropology , Women's health services
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/408652 , vital:70513
- Description: Over the last few years, there has been a notable increase in popularity in the use of cannabidiol (CBD) as a form of alternative medicinal treatment for various illnesses. CBD, a by-product of the cannabis plant, is an isolate and does not contain the psychoactive agent, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Endometriosis and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) are chronic reproductive health sicknesses that are increasingly experienced by women. In the absence of cures, biomedical treatment for these diseases aim to manage symptoms, for example; heavy bleeding, heightened levels of pain, and insomnia. CBD offers an alternative to women who feel that biomedical interventions are no longer able to maintain their health and well-being. CBD positions itself as a natural remedy claiming to be safe and effective. This research study, mainly through qualitative data collection, focused on experiences of Zimbabwean and South African women living with endometriosis and/ or PCOS, who have turned to CBD to manage their symptoms. The importance of this study was to position itself within patients’ lived experiences. The research study found that CBD indeed has numerous benefits, including pain management, alleviating stress, and anxiety. Through the emergent themes from the data, it became clear that women are marginalised and treated unequally in the biomedical healthcare sphere. Feminist Anthropology and Structural Violence was applied to analyse the data collected to explore the patriarchal nature of the biomedical healthcare system and the experiences that women have, which has led them to turn to alternative treatments. , Thesis (MSocSci) -- Faculty of Humanities, Anthropology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
- Authors: Norman, Paige Sarah
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Polycystic ovary syndrome Alternative treatment , Endometriosis Alternative treatment , Cannabidiol , Cannabis , Pain management , Traditional medicine , Feminist anthropology , Women's health services
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/408652 , vital:70513
- Description: Over the last few years, there has been a notable increase in popularity in the use of cannabidiol (CBD) as a form of alternative medicinal treatment for various illnesses. CBD, a by-product of the cannabis plant, is an isolate and does not contain the psychoactive agent, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Endometriosis and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) are chronic reproductive health sicknesses that are increasingly experienced by women. In the absence of cures, biomedical treatment for these diseases aim to manage symptoms, for example; heavy bleeding, heightened levels of pain, and insomnia. CBD offers an alternative to women who feel that biomedical interventions are no longer able to maintain their health and well-being. CBD positions itself as a natural remedy claiming to be safe and effective. This research study, mainly through qualitative data collection, focused on experiences of Zimbabwean and South African women living with endometriosis and/ or PCOS, who have turned to CBD to manage their symptoms. The importance of this study was to position itself within patients’ lived experiences. The research study found that CBD indeed has numerous benefits, including pain management, alleviating stress, and anxiety. Through the emergent themes from the data, it became clear that women are marginalised and treated unequally in the biomedical healthcare sphere. Feminist Anthropology and Structural Violence was applied to analyse the data collected to explore the patriarchal nature of the biomedical healthcare system and the experiences that women have, which has led them to turn to alternative treatments. , Thesis (MSocSci) -- Faculty of Humanities, Anthropology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
"On se Débrouille": Congolese migrants' search for survival and success in Muizenberg, Cape Town
- Authors: Owen, Joy N
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Foreign workers, Congolese -- Social aspects -- South Africa -- Muizenberg Social capital (Sociology) Immigrants -- Social networks -- South Africa -- Muizenberg South Africa -- Emigration and immigration -- Social aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2094 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002657
- Description: Situated in a Congolese transnational 'community' in Muizenberg, a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa, the thesis focuses on the lives of three middle class Congolese male informants. Their contingent acquaintance with a South African white Christian man gave them access to valuable social capital; social capital that positioned them advantageously to date and eventually marry European white women and thereby further their culturally-defmed economic/material career goals. To demonstrate the socio-economic trajectory of the three, I compare their social positioning with other Congolese men and women resident in Muizenberg. I show how these men and women, like my three main informants, activate their Congolese 'habitus' to secure access to social networks and the social capital therein. The difference between these Congolese men and women and my three main informants, however, is their strategic use of contingency, and the instrumental capitalisation of their cultural capital through the creation of a client-patron relationship with a South African in order to further their life goals. The thesis reorientates the migration literature on African migration from a focus on the implications of migrant remittances to the home country, to a focus on individual migrants' agency in the host country and the cultural influence of the society of origin. While I acknowledge that my research participants are part of a transnational social field, the focus on one locality and the relatively longitudinal approach of the study grounds the analysis both in the day-to-day lives of these migrants and in their migrant careers in and beyond Muizenberg and South Africa. With this orientation, the thesis is able to reveal that some Congolese migrants are comfortable to create a holding place for themselves in South Africa, while others - ever aware of the Congolese ambition to travel overseas - migrate beyond South African borders. For these Congolese migrants, South Africa is then a transit space. Fundamentally, all of my research participants give expression to Mobutu's edict of on se debrouille (literally, 'one fends for oneself), but some are more able to achieve the ultimate aspiration of settling in the First World -lola.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Owen, Joy N
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Foreign workers, Congolese -- Social aspects -- South Africa -- Muizenberg Social capital (Sociology) Immigrants -- Social networks -- South Africa -- Muizenberg South Africa -- Emigration and immigration -- Social aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2094 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002657
- Description: Situated in a Congolese transnational 'community' in Muizenberg, a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa, the thesis focuses on the lives of three middle class Congolese male informants. Their contingent acquaintance with a South African white Christian man gave them access to valuable social capital; social capital that positioned them advantageously to date and eventually marry European white women and thereby further their culturally-defmed economic/material career goals. To demonstrate the socio-economic trajectory of the three, I compare their social positioning with other Congolese men and women resident in Muizenberg. I show how these men and women, like my three main informants, activate their Congolese 'habitus' to secure access to social networks and the social capital therein. The difference between these Congolese men and women and my three main informants, however, is their strategic use of contingency, and the instrumental capitalisation of their cultural capital through the creation of a client-patron relationship with a South African in order to further their life goals. The thesis reorientates the migration literature on African migration from a focus on the implications of migrant remittances to the home country, to a focus on individual migrants' agency in the host country and the cultural influence of the society of origin. While I acknowledge that my research participants are part of a transnational social field, the focus on one locality and the relatively longitudinal approach of the study grounds the analysis both in the day-to-day lives of these migrants and in their migrant careers in and beyond Muizenberg and South Africa. With this orientation, the thesis is able to reveal that some Congolese migrants are comfortable to create a holding place for themselves in South Africa, while others - ever aware of the Congolese ambition to travel overseas - migrate beyond South African borders. For these Congolese migrants, South Africa is then a transit space. Fundamentally, all of my research participants give expression to Mobutu's edict of on se debrouille (literally, 'one fends for oneself), but some are more able to achieve the ultimate aspiration of settling in the First World -lola.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Ngomso 'special school': contestations of morality and education in the Eastern Cape
- Authors: Pattenden, Oliver
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/65200 , vital:28704
- Description: Expected release date-May 2019
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Pattenden, Oliver
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/65200 , vital:28704
- Description: Expected release date-May 2019
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
The decision-making process in a rural community in Lesotho
- Authors: Perry, J G, 1942-
- Date: 1978
- Subjects: Decision making -- Lesotho Sotho (African people) -- Social life and customs Local government -- Lesotho Land tenure -- Lesotho Thatched roofs -- Lesotho Grasses -- Lesotho Law -- Lesotho Courts -- Lesotho Community power -- Lesotho Civic leaders -- Lesotho Community life -- Lesotho Lesotho -- Social conditions Lesotho -- Rural conditions Lesotho -- Politics and government
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2111 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007635
- Description: From Introduction: Lesotho is a small, mountainous country entirely surrounded by South Africa. The stark nature of its terrain and topography present harsh options to its inhabitants. Much of the country is mountainous, better suited to the keeping of stock than to agriculture. The lowlands, where the soils are more amenable to the plough, are scarred and cut by dongas. The soil is overworked and overcrowded and Lesotho does not grow enough to feed its people who depend on migrancy as a viable alternative to the limited resources of their own land. They stream from the country to seek wage employment in South Africa, for Lesotho has minimal industrial development and cannot provide jobs for her people. The civil service absorbs some of the educated elite, as does teaching, but the majority must sell their sweat in South Africa's service.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1978
- Authors: Perry, J G, 1942-
- Date: 1978
- Subjects: Decision making -- Lesotho Sotho (African people) -- Social life and customs Local government -- Lesotho Land tenure -- Lesotho Thatched roofs -- Lesotho Grasses -- Lesotho Law -- Lesotho Courts -- Lesotho Community power -- Lesotho Civic leaders -- Lesotho Community life -- Lesotho Lesotho -- Social conditions Lesotho -- Rural conditions Lesotho -- Politics and government
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2111 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007635
- Description: From Introduction: Lesotho is a small, mountainous country entirely surrounded by South Africa. The stark nature of its terrain and topography present harsh options to its inhabitants. Much of the country is mountainous, better suited to the keeping of stock than to agriculture. The lowlands, where the soils are more amenable to the plough, are scarred and cut by dongas. The soil is overworked and overcrowded and Lesotho does not grow enough to feed its people who depend on migrancy as a viable alternative to the limited resources of their own land. They stream from the country to seek wage employment in South Africa, for Lesotho has minimal industrial development and cannot provide jobs for her people. The civil service absorbs some of the educated elite, as does teaching, but the majority must sell their sweat in South Africa's service.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1978
“Ndingumfana osemncinci, kodwa ndizibonile izinto”
- Authors: Qambela, Gcobani
- Date: 2019
- Language: English , Xhosa
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/92236 , vital:30694
- Description: Expected release date-April 2021
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Qambela, Gcobani
- Date: 2019
- Language: English , Xhosa
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/92236 , vital:30694
- Description: Expected release date-April 2021
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2019
Dealing with distress: a medical anthropological analysis of the search for health in a rural Transkeian village
- Authors: Simon, Christian Michael
- Date: 1990
- Subjects: Medical care -- South Africa -- Transkei -- Jotelo , Poor -- Health and hygiene -- South Africa -- Transkei , Transkei (South Africa) -- Economic conditions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2082 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001599
- Description: This study aims to characterize and understand the search for health in a rural Transkeian community. It begins with the observation that the people of Jotelo have to negotiate considerable hardships in their daily lives. These hardships include the impact of malnutrition, undernourishment and a wide range of diseases like tuberculosis, typhoid and gastro-enteritis. To survive ill-health, people develop numerous practical strategies. Most significantly, they attempt to maximise availalble resources, like cash, their relations with others and local medical facilities. Hence the study attempts to characterize how and why patients select various kinds of therapy in their search for health. By focusing on patients' recourses to treatment, the study reveals that the search for health is as much a personal experience as it is a social and economic one. This idea is developed in an analysis of the links betw'een work, illness and social reproduction. The point which emerges from this discussion captures the central theme of the study: the search for health is a profoundly personal, social and economic experience. This notion is strengthened by an examination of the historical and contemporary nature of local health and health care. It is observed that health and health care is intimately linked to the local and wider political economy. This not only serves to contextualise the discussion on patients' actual experiences, but points to the fact that these experiences are part of wider processes. By depicting the search for health in this way, the study hopes to have illustrated what people do in times of illness and why. Yet it also claims to have gone beyond such a depiction. By abstracting from its findings, it aims to conclude that the search for health is not merely caused by various local and wider processes, to which it has referred. In other words, it hopes to avoid a deterministic view of patients' experiences in times of distress. Instead, it is argued that the search for health is ultimately an integral part of the local and wider economic and political environment
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1990
- Authors: Simon, Christian Michael
- Date: 1990
- Subjects: Medical care -- South Africa -- Transkei -- Jotelo , Poor -- Health and hygiene -- South Africa -- Transkei , Transkei (South Africa) -- Economic conditions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2082 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001599
- Description: This study aims to characterize and understand the search for health in a rural Transkeian community. It begins with the observation that the people of Jotelo have to negotiate considerable hardships in their daily lives. These hardships include the impact of malnutrition, undernourishment and a wide range of diseases like tuberculosis, typhoid and gastro-enteritis. To survive ill-health, people develop numerous practical strategies. Most significantly, they attempt to maximise availalble resources, like cash, their relations with others and local medical facilities. Hence the study attempts to characterize how and why patients select various kinds of therapy in their search for health. By focusing on patients' recourses to treatment, the study reveals that the search for health is as much a personal experience as it is a social and economic one. This idea is developed in an analysis of the links betw'een work, illness and social reproduction. The point which emerges from this discussion captures the central theme of the study: the search for health is a profoundly personal, social and economic experience. This notion is strengthened by an examination of the historical and contemporary nature of local health and health care. It is observed that health and health care is intimately linked to the local and wider political economy. This not only serves to contextualise the discussion on patients' actual experiences, but points to the fact that these experiences are part of wider processes. By depicting the search for health in this way, the study hopes to have illustrated what people do in times of illness and why. Yet it also claims to have gone beyond such a depiction. By abstracting from its findings, it aims to conclude that the search for health is not merely caused by various local and wider processes, to which it has referred. In other words, it hopes to avoid a deterministic view of patients' experiences in times of distress. Instead, it is argued that the search for health is ultimately an integral part of the local and wider economic and political environment
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1990
Examining the influence of non-governmental organizations upon the long term outcomes of the involuntary community resettlement processes: with special reference to the Kariba case, Zambia
- Authors: Sitambuli, Emma
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2125 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1021263
- Description: Researchers have clearly demonstrated that Development‐Induced Displacement and Resettlement (DIDR) usually risks impoverishing people and that annually, millions are displaced as a result. Although the impacts and consequences of resettlement are known, over the next couple of decades, development projects will continue to be needed to meet the different demands of growing economies and populations, of especially developing countries, making relocation sometimes unavoidable. Hence, over the years, many scholars have developed conceptual frameworks to understand and explain the impoverishment risks inherent in the resettlement phenomenon; and how those can be anticipated so as to be positively counteracted through strategic interactions and the implementation of development activities. Generally, the majority of those development activities to improve resettlement outcomes have often been planned, funded, and executed by the government, albeit with mixed levels of success, yet the possibilities of other development institutions such as Non‐Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have not been fully understood. However, a great deal of what is known about NGOs relates to their work in advocacy and activism to pressure governments to, for example, change relocation plans or raise awareness on the negative impacts of development projects on people and environment. Therefore, this thesis examines the influence of NGOs upon the on‐going outcomes of the involuntary community resettlement processes. The empirical basis is ethnographic research, which integrated several resettlement conceptual frameworks and theories about NGOs to collect and analyse data. Fieldwork was carried out in four villages of Simamba i.e. Malata, Kafwakuduli, Nangoba and Hamukonde. Simamba is one of the riverine Gwembe chiefdoms resettled following the construction of the Kariba dam on the Zambezi River bordering Zambia and Zimbabwe. The ethnographic research for this thesis was conducted from 2013 to 2015. In this thesis, I demonstrate that spatial factors influenced the resettlement trajectory using evidence from Simamba’s pre and post resettlement situation. I conclude by arguing that sustained contributions of the NGO type of development can positively influence the long‐term outcomes of involuntary community resettlement processes, and that problems that occurred were largely related to the management of the community development activities by the NGO under study. Therefore, this thesis is relevant to resettlement and development studies in general.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Sitambuli, Emma
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2125 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1021263
- Description: Researchers have clearly demonstrated that Development‐Induced Displacement and Resettlement (DIDR) usually risks impoverishing people and that annually, millions are displaced as a result. Although the impacts and consequences of resettlement are known, over the next couple of decades, development projects will continue to be needed to meet the different demands of growing economies and populations, of especially developing countries, making relocation sometimes unavoidable. Hence, over the years, many scholars have developed conceptual frameworks to understand and explain the impoverishment risks inherent in the resettlement phenomenon; and how those can be anticipated so as to be positively counteracted through strategic interactions and the implementation of development activities. Generally, the majority of those development activities to improve resettlement outcomes have often been planned, funded, and executed by the government, albeit with mixed levels of success, yet the possibilities of other development institutions such as Non‐Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have not been fully understood. However, a great deal of what is known about NGOs relates to their work in advocacy and activism to pressure governments to, for example, change relocation plans or raise awareness on the negative impacts of development projects on people and environment. Therefore, this thesis examines the influence of NGOs upon the on‐going outcomes of the involuntary community resettlement processes. The empirical basis is ethnographic research, which integrated several resettlement conceptual frameworks and theories about NGOs to collect and analyse data. Fieldwork was carried out in four villages of Simamba i.e. Malata, Kafwakuduli, Nangoba and Hamukonde. Simamba is one of the riverine Gwembe chiefdoms resettled following the construction of the Kariba dam on the Zambezi River bordering Zambia and Zimbabwe. The ethnographic research for this thesis was conducted from 2013 to 2015. In this thesis, I demonstrate that spatial factors influenced the resettlement trajectory using evidence from Simamba’s pre and post resettlement situation. I conclude by arguing that sustained contributions of the NGO type of development can positively influence the long‐term outcomes of involuntary community resettlement processes, and that problems that occurred were largely related to the management of the community development activities by the NGO under study. Therefore, this thesis is relevant to resettlement and development studies in general.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
A micro-ethnography: exploring relations between Somali and South African traders in Clarehill, Cape Town
- Authors: Solomon, Kelly Michelle
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Immigrants South Africa , Immigrants Social conditions , Xenophobia South Africa , Social capital (Sociology) South Africa , Somalis Migrations , Identity (Philosophical concept) , South Africa Race relations
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/61277 , vital:27999 , https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/61277
- Description: Xenophobia has become a dominant narrative in contemporary South Africa. In this thesis, I hone in on a micro, informal economic market that functions cohesively and convivially with both South African and Somali transmigrant traders in it. Religion is one of the key ways through which migrants are able to access social networks and social capital. Islam, the dominant practised religion in the market, thus forms a foundation for strong, emotionally supportive, caring relationships between Somali transmigrants and South Africans The relationships between South African traders and Somali transmigrants are mutually constitutive, as they lean on one another for stability during a time that is unstable for both groups. The closeness of their relationships is evident through the way in which they tease and joke with one another, and the many ways in which they offer intangible support to each other. This thesis illustrates that despite the dominant xenophobic narrative, a close social kinship is formed in the Roelof Street market between South Africans and Somali transmigrants.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Solomon, Kelly Michelle
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Immigrants South Africa , Immigrants Social conditions , Xenophobia South Africa , Social capital (Sociology) South Africa , Somalis Migrations , Identity (Philosophical concept) , South Africa Race relations
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/61277 , vital:27999 , https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/61277
- Description: Xenophobia has become a dominant narrative in contemporary South Africa. In this thesis, I hone in on a micro, informal economic market that functions cohesively and convivially with both South African and Somali transmigrant traders in it. Religion is one of the key ways through which migrants are able to access social networks and social capital. Islam, the dominant practised religion in the market, thus forms a foundation for strong, emotionally supportive, caring relationships between Somali transmigrants and South Africans The relationships between South African traders and Somali transmigrants are mutually constitutive, as they lean on one another for stability during a time that is unstable for both groups. The closeness of their relationships is evident through the way in which they tease and joke with one another, and the many ways in which they offer intangible support to each other. This thesis illustrates that despite the dominant xenophobic narrative, a close social kinship is formed in the Roelof Street market between South Africans and Somali transmigrants.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
The impact of policies on development-induced resettlement processes and outcomes: a Lesotho-India comparative study
- Tsietsi, Teboho Priscilla Mosuoe
- Authors: Tsietsi, Teboho Priscilla Mosuoe
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Forced migration -- Lesotho , Forced migration -- India , Dams -- Social aspects -- Lesotho , Dams -- Social aspects -- India , Irrigation projects -- Economic aspects -- Lesotho , Irrigation projects -- Economic aspects -- India , Land settlement -- Government policy -- Lesotho , Land settlement -- Government policy -- India
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/72307 , vital:30032
- Description: The practice of Development-Induced Displacement and Resettlement (DIDR), historically, has often led to negative consequences for those affected by development projects, including but not limited to, the construction of large dams. Although DIDR arises from the need to provide goods and services that characterise development, it often leaves those who are forced to give up their assets, resources, and long standing social networks in dire socio-economic conditions as a result of resettlement. In many such cases, the provision for losses suffered by those primarily affected is often insufficient, leading to further losses experienced as a result of the complete life change experienced by those affected by resettlement. Research has shown that the insufficiency of such provisions for losses is attributable to not only the value of the provision itself, but also the manner in which resettlement processes are implemented. While early on, researchers believed that the development of policies would have a significant, positive impact on the practice of resettlement and its outcomes, evidence would later show that the development of policies alone is not a panacea for all challenges associated with forced resettlement. Further research revealed that resettlement is characterised by inherent and active complexities which are often at play, and may impede effective implementation. Hence, while the development of policies is essential, both the development and implementation of policies must be undertaken in a manner that seeks to actively address the inherent complexities of resettlement. This thesis aims to explore the implementation of resettlement policies in two case studies, where in one case, resettlement was informed by national policy, and in the other, by policies developed by a parastatal tasked with the responsibility of executing resettlement. The study makes a comparative analysis between the two cases, and explores the factors at play in the implementation of resettlement policies – whether such factors serve to facilitate or impede effective implementation – as well as the nature of the outcomes on the ground. As an overarching goal, the research aims to provide a basis upon which a framework for the development of a national level policy of resettlement may be developed. In this regard, the thesis undertakes a comparison of the Indian resettlement case with the Lesotho case. The former, in addition to having developed a resettlement policy at the national level, has a long history of experience in forced resettlement and displacement, from which invaluable lessons have been learned. The latter, on the other hand, has no resettlement policy at the national level, although the country has also experienced forced resettlement dating back to nearly three decades ago. Although India and Lesotho have distinct social, cultural, economic and demographic characteristics, research has shown that the complexities of forced resettlement, and their outcomes on affected people, are largely applicable across the different contexts. Hence, certain dimensions and lessons can be transferable from the Indian case to the Lesotho case, and vice versa. However, for the purpose of this thesis, the focus is on providing a basis for national policy development in Lesotho, in light of Indian policies and practice. The empirical basis of the thesis is an ethnographic study undertaken in relation to the Chandil Dam resettlement case in Jharkhand, India and the Mohale Dam resettlement case in Maseru, Lesotho. The thesis engaged both qualitative and quantitative research methods, as well as four, complementary theoretical tools that analyse the effects of forced resettlement on affected people. The thesis reveals that the negative consequences of forced resettlement resulting from its inherent complexities continue to manifest with concerning effects on the lives of those affected. It shows that the implementation of policies is a complex process that requires collaborative effort from a wide range of stakeholders in a given context. National policies of resettlement are, thus, instrumental in this regard, as they can create an enabling environment for the facilitation of collaborative efforts towards sustainable livelihood re-establishment for those who involuntarily suffer losses to resettlement.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Tsietsi, Teboho Priscilla Mosuoe
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Forced migration -- Lesotho , Forced migration -- India , Dams -- Social aspects -- Lesotho , Dams -- Social aspects -- India , Irrigation projects -- Economic aspects -- Lesotho , Irrigation projects -- Economic aspects -- India , Land settlement -- Government policy -- Lesotho , Land settlement -- Government policy -- India
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/72307 , vital:30032
- Description: The practice of Development-Induced Displacement and Resettlement (DIDR), historically, has often led to negative consequences for those affected by development projects, including but not limited to, the construction of large dams. Although DIDR arises from the need to provide goods and services that characterise development, it often leaves those who are forced to give up their assets, resources, and long standing social networks in dire socio-economic conditions as a result of resettlement. In many such cases, the provision for losses suffered by those primarily affected is often insufficient, leading to further losses experienced as a result of the complete life change experienced by those affected by resettlement. Research has shown that the insufficiency of such provisions for losses is attributable to not only the value of the provision itself, but also the manner in which resettlement processes are implemented. While early on, researchers believed that the development of policies would have a significant, positive impact on the practice of resettlement and its outcomes, evidence would later show that the development of policies alone is not a panacea for all challenges associated with forced resettlement. Further research revealed that resettlement is characterised by inherent and active complexities which are often at play, and may impede effective implementation. Hence, while the development of policies is essential, both the development and implementation of policies must be undertaken in a manner that seeks to actively address the inherent complexities of resettlement. This thesis aims to explore the implementation of resettlement policies in two case studies, where in one case, resettlement was informed by national policy, and in the other, by policies developed by a parastatal tasked with the responsibility of executing resettlement. The study makes a comparative analysis between the two cases, and explores the factors at play in the implementation of resettlement policies – whether such factors serve to facilitate or impede effective implementation – as well as the nature of the outcomes on the ground. As an overarching goal, the research aims to provide a basis upon which a framework for the development of a national level policy of resettlement may be developed. In this regard, the thesis undertakes a comparison of the Indian resettlement case with the Lesotho case. The former, in addition to having developed a resettlement policy at the national level, has a long history of experience in forced resettlement and displacement, from which invaluable lessons have been learned. The latter, on the other hand, has no resettlement policy at the national level, although the country has also experienced forced resettlement dating back to nearly three decades ago. Although India and Lesotho have distinct social, cultural, economic and demographic characteristics, research has shown that the complexities of forced resettlement, and their outcomes on affected people, are largely applicable across the different contexts. Hence, certain dimensions and lessons can be transferable from the Indian case to the Lesotho case, and vice versa. However, for the purpose of this thesis, the focus is on providing a basis for national policy development in Lesotho, in light of Indian policies and practice. The empirical basis of the thesis is an ethnographic study undertaken in relation to the Chandil Dam resettlement case in Jharkhand, India and the Mohale Dam resettlement case in Maseru, Lesotho. The thesis engaged both qualitative and quantitative research methods, as well as four, complementary theoretical tools that analyse the effects of forced resettlement on affected people. The thesis reveals that the negative consequences of forced resettlement resulting from its inherent complexities continue to manifest with concerning effects on the lives of those affected. It shows that the implementation of policies is a complex process that requires collaborative effort from a wide range of stakeholders in a given context. National policies of resettlement are, thus, instrumental in this regard, as they can create an enabling environment for the facilitation of collaborative efforts towards sustainable livelihood re-establishment for those who involuntarily suffer losses to resettlement.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Plants, people, and place: complex, mutualistic, and co-evolving global patterns through time
- Authors: Van Wijk, Yvette Ethné
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Ethnobotany -- South Africa -- Western Cape , Khoisan (African people) -- Ethnobotany , Human-plant relationships -- South Africa -- Western Cape , Plants -- Classification -- South Africa -- Western Cape , Plant remains (Archaeology) -- South Africa -- Western Cape , Ethnoscience -- South Africa -- Western Cape , Regression analysis
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76575 , vital:30609
- Description: My thesis studies and analyses the suite of distinctive plant taxa which persist in small patches of vegetation growing in close association with archaeological habitation sites in the southern Cape, South Africa. The unexpected correlation and overlap between botanical taxa collected at 75 site complexes, and ethnobotanical data collected in collaboration with modern Khoi-San communities in the same area, is explored and interrogated. Although sparse, reports of the same suite of taxa recovered from archaeological excavations in the Cape provinces provides depth of time to the study, linking the past to the present. The three-way correlation of a suite of plants closely associated with humans and habitation sites through time, allows for triangulation of the data in order to validate and cross verify the results using more than one frame of reference. Both the plants and the knowledge about their uses have persisted in spite of historical attrition, and alienation of land and language, suffered by the Khoi-San over the past 300 years. Drawing on a large body of primary and secondary data, and using an interdisciplinary, abductive and pragmatic mixed methods approach, a pattern can be traced throughout Africa and globally. Regression analysis strongly indicates that the most ubiquitous taxa were selected for a purpose and are not randomly present in association with humans. Botanical, anthropological, and archaeological studies seldom focus on the inter-connectedness of people and plants at the sites they inhabited. Very little research into modern vegetation in close association with the sites has been undertaken, and vegetation mapping has not captured the occurrence of these site-specific small vegetation patches recorded during my surveys. The topographically, geologically, and vegetatively complex and varied southern Cape, and greater Cape area, is extremely rich in archaeological sites and history. This study suggests that the value of site-specific plant taxa to humans throughout the aeons of pre-agricultural history, persists into the present. Due to tolerance of a broad range of climatic and environmental variables, there is value in the study of these ancient and neglected useful plants in the face of climate change. That this vegetation is so closely associated with archaeological sites of cultural and historic importance confers an urgency to recognising the existence and significance of the distinctive and possibly anthropogenic vegetation surrounding the sites.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Van Wijk, Yvette Ethné
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Ethnobotany -- South Africa -- Western Cape , Khoisan (African people) -- Ethnobotany , Human-plant relationships -- South Africa -- Western Cape , Plants -- Classification -- South Africa -- Western Cape , Plant remains (Archaeology) -- South Africa -- Western Cape , Ethnoscience -- South Africa -- Western Cape , Regression analysis
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76575 , vital:30609
- Description: My thesis studies and analyses the suite of distinctive plant taxa which persist in small patches of vegetation growing in close association with archaeological habitation sites in the southern Cape, South Africa. The unexpected correlation and overlap between botanical taxa collected at 75 site complexes, and ethnobotanical data collected in collaboration with modern Khoi-San communities in the same area, is explored and interrogated. Although sparse, reports of the same suite of taxa recovered from archaeological excavations in the Cape provinces provides depth of time to the study, linking the past to the present. The three-way correlation of a suite of plants closely associated with humans and habitation sites through time, allows for triangulation of the data in order to validate and cross verify the results using more than one frame of reference. Both the plants and the knowledge about their uses have persisted in spite of historical attrition, and alienation of land and language, suffered by the Khoi-San over the past 300 years. Drawing on a large body of primary and secondary data, and using an interdisciplinary, abductive and pragmatic mixed methods approach, a pattern can be traced throughout Africa and globally. Regression analysis strongly indicates that the most ubiquitous taxa were selected for a purpose and are not randomly present in association with humans. Botanical, anthropological, and archaeological studies seldom focus on the inter-connectedness of people and plants at the sites they inhabited. Very little research into modern vegetation in close association with the sites has been undertaken, and vegetation mapping has not captured the occurrence of these site-specific small vegetation patches recorded during my surveys. The topographically, geologically, and vegetatively complex and varied southern Cape, and greater Cape area, is extremely rich in archaeological sites and history. This study suggests that the value of site-specific plant taxa to humans throughout the aeons of pre-agricultural history, persists into the present. Due to tolerance of a broad range of climatic and environmental variables, there is value in the study of these ancient and neglected useful plants in the face of climate change. That this vegetation is so closely associated with archaeological sites of cultural and historic importance confers an urgency to recognising the existence and significance of the distinctive and possibly anthropogenic vegetation surrounding the sites.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Borderline hospitality: homestays as a commercial hospitality development project in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape
- Von Lengeling, Volkher Heinrich Christoph
- Authors: Von Lengeling, Volkher Heinrich Christoph
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/706 , vital:19983
- Description: This study started as an anthropological investigation of commercial hospitality from the point of view of the hands-on host. The chosen case study for this investigation was the Kwam eMakana Government Initiated Poverty Alleviation Project which offered homestays in the townships of Grahamstown East since 2004. Homestays are the most intimate form of commercial hospitality, one step removed from non-commercial or social hospitality. Even at the homestay level there is a conceptual conflict between poverty and (Westernized) commercial hospitality, however, Kwam homes are more middle class than poor. Later the investigation revealed the deeper-seated form of poverty of the Kwam participants being (almost) illiterate. Kwam was a development project like many others, in which huge amounts of money were spent in the name of the project but very little of the benefits reached the intended beneficiaries. Thus, as fieldwork ensued, the emphasis of research migrated from an empirical study of homestay hospitality, to actively assist with the struggle of the Kwam hostesses to maintain the project and gain autonomy for themselves. This study was from the outset reflexive, as the host’s point of view could technically only be presented by auto-ethnography. Then the investigation shifted to a form of engaged anthropology far exceeding advocacy as it is usually understood. The presentation of this can be called radical reflexivity, while it is simultaneously an ethnographical account in the sense of anthropology ‘at home’. It also implied, besides ethical concerns, revisiting literary sensibilities, such as the use of a third person narrative for the reflexive account. To conceptualize the development process of both Kwam and the research interventions Bourdieu’s ‘totality of capital’ (in which the strands of economic, symbolic, cultural and social capitals intertwine) proved most useful. By assessing the various capitals the development of the project and the power struggles central to it can be understood. This study confirms that long-term anthropological investigation is best suited to the study of development projects, if not necessary for real development to be effected. Reflexivity and ethnography are complementary methods to reveal truths which under certain research circumstances may have been very difficult or even impossible to research.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Von Lengeling, Volkher Heinrich Christoph
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/706 , vital:19983
- Description: This study started as an anthropological investigation of commercial hospitality from the point of view of the hands-on host. The chosen case study for this investigation was the Kwam eMakana Government Initiated Poverty Alleviation Project which offered homestays in the townships of Grahamstown East since 2004. Homestays are the most intimate form of commercial hospitality, one step removed from non-commercial or social hospitality. Even at the homestay level there is a conceptual conflict between poverty and (Westernized) commercial hospitality, however, Kwam homes are more middle class than poor. Later the investigation revealed the deeper-seated form of poverty of the Kwam participants being (almost) illiterate. Kwam was a development project like many others, in which huge amounts of money were spent in the name of the project but very little of the benefits reached the intended beneficiaries. Thus, as fieldwork ensued, the emphasis of research migrated from an empirical study of homestay hospitality, to actively assist with the struggle of the Kwam hostesses to maintain the project and gain autonomy for themselves. This study was from the outset reflexive, as the host’s point of view could technically only be presented by auto-ethnography. Then the investigation shifted to a form of engaged anthropology far exceeding advocacy as it is usually understood. The presentation of this can be called radical reflexivity, while it is simultaneously an ethnographical account in the sense of anthropology ‘at home’. It also implied, besides ethical concerns, revisiting literary sensibilities, such as the use of a third person narrative for the reflexive account. To conceptualize the development process of both Kwam and the research interventions Bourdieu’s ‘totality of capital’ (in which the strands of economic, symbolic, cultural and social capitals intertwine) proved most useful. By assessing the various capitals the development of the project and the power struggles central to it can be understood. This study confirms that long-term anthropological investigation is best suited to the study of development projects, if not necessary for real development to be effected. Reflexivity and ethnography are complementary methods to reveal truths which under certain research circumstances may have been very difficult or even impossible to research.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
The nexilitas factor: host-guest relationships in small owner managed commercial accommodation facilities in contemporary South Africa
- Von Lengeling, Volkher Heinrich Christoph
- Authors: Von Lengeling, Volkher Heinrich Christoph
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Hospitality industry -- South Africa Interpersonal relations Social interaction Liminality Consumer behavior Home-based businesses -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2093 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002656
- Description: The commercialization of hospitality established arguably the oldest profession. Historically small commercial hospitality establishments, known as inns in the western world, were of ill repute. Perhaps connected to their reputation, this category of accommodation facility has been seriously neglected as an area of academic inquiry, particularly from the perspective of the host. While there has been a huge growth in the interdisciplinary field of tourism studies in recent decades, little attention has been paid to the role of the host in the host-guest relationship at whatever level of analysis. This thesis seeks to redress the balance. Hospitality is a basic form of social bonding. This type of bonding, where a hierarchy between strangers is implicit (as with hosts and guests), may be termed ‘nexilitas’; nexilitas is a form of social bonding in liminal circumstances. To that extent it is comparable to ‘communitas’ which describes social bonding between equals in certain liminal circumstances. The difference is that nexilitas is a form of bonding between individuals in a complex power relationship. The host controls the hospitality space, but custom also empowers the guest with certain expectations, especially in the commercial context. The thesis identifies the various forms of hospitality – traditional ‘true’ or ‘pure’ hospitality, social hospitality, cultural hospitality and commercial hospitality – and discusses these critically in their historical and cross-cultural contexts, with emphasis on the perspective of the host. The passage of hospitality is then traced through the three phases of preliminality, liminality and post-liminality and discussed along the themes anticipation, arrival and accommodation and finally departure of the guest. While the historical and ethnographic review is mainly based on written histories and the experiences of other anthropologists as guests as well as ethnographers, the passage of hospitality draws on the multi-sited auto-anthropological experiences of the author, both as host and as ethnographer of contemporary South African hosts in small owner-managed commercial hospitality establishments.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Von Lengeling, Volkher Heinrich Christoph
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Hospitality industry -- South Africa Interpersonal relations Social interaction Liminality Consumer behavior Home-based businesses -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2093 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002656
- Description: The commercialization of hospitality established arguably the oldest profession. Historically small commercial hospitality establishments, known as inns in the western world, were of ill repute. Perhaps connected to their reputation, this category of accommodation facility has been seriously neglected as an area of academic inquiry, particularly from the perspective of the host. While there has been a huge growth in the interdisciplinary field of tourism studies in recent decades, little attention has been paid to the role of the host in the host-guest relationship at whatever level of analysis. This thesis seeks to redress the balance. Hospitality is a basic form of social bonding. This type of bonding, where a hierarchy between strangers is implicit (as with hosts and guests), may be termed ‘nexilitas’; nexilitas is a form of social bonding in liminal circumstances. To that extent it is comparable to ‘communitas’ which describes social bonding between equals in certain liminal circumstances. The difference is that nexilitas is a form of bonding between individuals in a complex power relationship. The host controls the hospitality space, but custom also empowers the guest with certain expectations, especially in the commercial context. The thesis identifies the various forms of hospitality – traditional ‘true’ or ‘pure’ hospitality, social hospitality, cultural hospitality and commercial hospitality – and discusses these critically in their historical and cross-cultural contexts, with emphasis on the perspective of the host. The passage of hospitality is then traced through the three phases of preliminality, liminality and post-liminality and discussed along the themes anticipation, arrival and accommodation and finally departure of the guest. While the historical and ethnographic review is mainly based on written histories and the experiences of other anthropologists as guests as well as ethnographers, the passage of hospitality draws on the multi-sited auto-anthropological experiences of the author, both as host and as ethnographer of contemporary South African hosts in small owner-managed commercial hospitality establishments.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Occult forces -- lived identities: witchcraft, spirit possession and cosmology amongst the Mayeyi of Namibia's Caprivi Strip
- Authors: Von Maltitz, Emil Arthur
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Yeye (African people) , Yeye (African people) -- Namibia -- History , Occultism -- Namibia , Witchcraft -- Namibia , Spirit possession -- Namibia , Cosmology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2121 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013279
- Description: Around Africa there seems to be an increasing disillusion with 'development', seen under the rubric of teleological 'progress', which is touted by post-colonial governments as being the cure for Africa's ailments and woes. Numerous authors have pointed out that this local disillusion, and the attempt to manage the inequities that arise through development and modernity, can be seen to be understood and acted upon by local peoples through the idiom of witchcraft beliefs and fears (see Geschiere & Fisiy 2001; Geschiere 1997; Nyamnjoh 2001; Comaroff & Comaroff 1993; Ashforth 2005) and spirit possession nanatives (see Luig 1999; Gezon 1999), or more simply, occult beliefs and praxis (Moore & Sanders 2001). The majority of the Mayeyi of Namibia's Eastern Caprivi perceive that development is the only way their regiOn and people can survive and succeed in a modernising world. At ~he same time there is also a seeming reluctance to move towards perceiving witchcraft as a means of accumulation (contra Geschiere 1997). This notion of the 'witchcraft of wealth' is emerging, but for the most part witches are seen as the enemies of development, while spirit possession narratives speak to the desire for development and of the identity of the group vis-a-vis the rest of the world. The thesis presented argues that, although modernity orientated analyses enable occult belief to be used as a lens through which to 1..mderstand 'modernity's malcontents' (Comaroff & Comaroff 1993), they can only go so far in explaining the intricacies of witchcraft and spirit possession beliefs themselves. The dissertation argues that one should return to the analysis of the cosmological underpinnings of witchcraft belief and spirit possession, taken together as complementary phenomena, in seeking to understand the domain of the occult. By doing so the thesis argues that a more comprehensive anthropological understanding is obtained of occult belief and practice, the ways in which the domain of the occult is constituted and the ways in which it is a reflection or commentary on a changing world.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Von Maltitz, Emil Arthur
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Yeye (African people) , Yeye (African people) -- Namibia -- History , Occultism -- Namibia , Witchcraft -- Namibia , Spirit possession -- Namibia , Cosmology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2121 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013279
- Description: Around Africa there seems to be an increasing disillusion with 'development', seen under the rubric of teleological 'progress', which is touted by post-colonial governments as being the cure for Africa's ailments and woes. Numerous authors have pointed out that this local disillusion, and the attempt to manage the inequities that arise through development and modernity, can be seen to be understood and acted upon by local peoples through the idiom of witchcraft beliefs and fears (see Geschiere & Fisiy 2001; Geschiere 1997; Nyamnjoh 2001; Comaroff & Comaroff 1993; Ashforth 2005) and spirit possession nanatives (see Luig 1999; Gezon 1999), or more simply, occult beliefs and praxis (Moore & Sanders 2001). The majority of the Mayeyi of Namibia's Eastern Caprivi perceive that development is the only way their regiOn and people can survive and succeed in a modernising world. At ~he same time there is also a seeming reluctance to move towards perceiving witchcraft as a means of accumulation (contra Geschiere 1997). This notion of the 'witchcraft of wealth' is emerging, but for the most part witches are seen as the enemies of development, while spirit possession narratives speak to the desire for development and of the identity of the group vis-a-vis the rest of the world. The thesis presented argues that, although modernity orientated analyses enable occult belief to be used as a lens through which to 1..mderstand 'modernity's malcontents' (Comaroff & Comaroff 1993), they can only go so far in explaining the intricacies of witchcraft and spirit possession beliefs themselves. The dissertation argues that one should return to the analysis of the cosmological underpinnings of witchcraft belief and spirit possession, taken together as complementary phenomena, in seeking to understand the domain of the occult. By doing so the thesis argues that a more comprehensive anthropological understanding is obtained of occult belief and practice, the ways in which the domain of the occult is constituted and the ways in which it is a reflection or commentary on a changing world.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007