"From the inside": how to attribute emotions to others
- Authors: Mitova, Velislava Atanasova
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: Emotions (Philosophy) , Theory (Philosophy)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2741 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007661 , Emotions (Philosophy) , Theory (Philosophy)
- Description: I argue that a specific version of Theory theory is necessary and sufficient for attributions and predictions of others' emotions. Theory theory is the view that we attribute and predict others' mental states on the basis of a (tacit) body of generalisations about mental states, their situational input, and behavioural output. Theory's antagonist, Simulation theory, is the view that we ascribe mental states to others by simulating - or running ' off-line ' - their doxastic, emotional, and contextual situations. My argument for Theory's necessity and sufficiency develops in three stages: First, I show that some version of Theory is necessary for predictions of all mental states on the basis of the ascriber's knowledge of the subject's other mental states. The linchpin of the arguments here consists of considerations from relevant similarity between the ascriber's and the subject's mental states. Simulation cannot provide criteria for such similarity, and so, I argue, predictions must advert to Theory. Second, I develop a sui generis model of emotions, according to which (i) emoticns' necessary objects and typical causes are concern-based construals; and (ii) emotions qua attitudes are (a) complex states embedded in a narrative structure, (b) characterised in terms of their object, their expressive behaviour, and their phenomenology. Third, I show that, considering the nature of the objects of emotions, some Theory is necessary for emotion-predictions and -attributions. Moreover, I develop a version of Theory, based on my analysis of emotions and narrative structures, and argue that this version of Theory is both necessary and sufficient for emotion-predictions and -attributions.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
A comparative normative survey of the isokinetic neck strength of senior elite South African rugby players and schoolboy rugby forwards
- Authors: Olivier, Pierre Emile
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: Rugby football -- South Africa -- Physiological aspects , Neck -- Muscles , Muscle strength , Rugby football players -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:11026 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/308 , Rugby football -- South Africa -- Physiological aspects , Neck -- Muscles , Muscle strength , Rugby football players -- South Africa
- Description: The aim of this study was to generate useful isokinetic normative data for various cervical musculature strength, range of motion and ratio variables based on different positional categories in a sample of senior elite South African rugby players. Normative data was generated for the following variables: peak torque, power generated at 0.2 of a second, active and passive range of motion, the ratio of peak torque flexion to peak torque extension (PTF/PTE), the ratio of peak torque lateral flexion left to peak torque lateral flexion right (PTL/PTR), the ratios of peak torque to body weight (PT/BW) and the ratios of peak torque to lean body mass (PT/LBM). Furthermore, the data gathered from the senior elite players was compared to similar data obtained from a sample of schoolboy rugby forwards to detect statistically significant differences (p < .05). A normative survey design was used in which 189 subjects from eight provincial unions participated in a one off evaluation session. The evaluation session comprised of various anthropometrical measurements and an isokinetic cervical musculature assessment. The normative data, displayed in Stanine tables, was generated for four positional categories: the front row (# 1-3), the second row (# 4-5), the back row (# 6-8) and the backline (# 9 -15). The second row positional category performed the best on the peak flexion torque variable (44.04 Nm). The front row positional category achieved the largest average peak extension torque (65.6 Nm). The second row positional category achieved the largest average peak lateral flexion right torque (69.42 Nm). A similar result was observed with the measurement of peak lateral flexion left torque, with the second row positional category achieving the largest average peak lateral flexion left torque (66.31 Nm). The backline positional category achieved the lowest averages on all the abovementioned peak torque variables. The front row positional category performed the best on the flexion power generated at 0.2 of a second variable (160.92 W). The front row positional category again achieved the largest extension power generated at 0.2 of a second average (237.02 W). The second row positional category achieved the largest lateral flexion right power generated at 0.2 of a second average (269.81 W). Similar results were observed with the measurement of lateral flexion left power generated at 0.2 of a second. The second row positional category achieved the largest lateral flexion left power generated at 0.2 of a second average (259.62 W). Again the backline players achieved the smallest power generated at 0.2 of a second averages for all the above-mentioned power variables. The measurement of passive (PROMFE) and active (AROMFE) range of motion for flexion to extension revealed that the second row had the largest average PROMFE (125.44°). The measurement of AROMFE revealed a similar result. The second row again had the largest average AROMFE (108.45°). The measurement of passive (PROMLF) and active (PROMFE) range of motion for lateral flexion left to right revealed smaller and different results to those found for PROMFE and AROMFE. For the variable of PROMLF the backline players had the largest average PROMLF (119.44°). Conversely, the second row had the largest average AROMLF (106.96°). The calculation of the various ratios revealed great variation between the positional categories. This can be attributed to the functional requirements the players have to adhere to, to be successful in their position. Various other statistical calculations were performed to draw the average force distance graphs for the positional categories for the peak torque variables. Furthermore the force distance graphs were assessed to determine the players’ ability to maintain 80% of peak torque. All the senior elite positional categories proved to be significantly (p < .05) older and heavier than the schoolboy forwards. The senior elite forward positional categories were also significantly (p < .05) taller than the schoolboy forward. There however proved to be no significant difference (p > .05) in stature between the backline and schoolboy forwards. All the positional categories proved to have significantly thicker (p < .05) necks, but significantly shorter (p < .05) cervical spines than the schoolboy forwards. The forward positional categories demonstrated to be significantly stronger (p < .05), on all peak torque measures, than the schoolboy forwards. The same was observed between the backline and schoolboy forwards, however no statistically significant difference (p > .05) was observed between the respective sample groups for the measure of peak lateral flexion left torque. For all the measures of power generated at 0.2 of a second, the senior forward positional categories proved to be significantly more powerful (p < .05) than the schoolboy forwards. The senior backline, although significantly more powerful (p < .05) in the flexion movement pattern, proved to be significantly less powerful (p < .05) than the schoolboy forwards in the lateral flexion right movement pattern. No statistically significant differences (p < .05) were found to exist between the senior backline and schoolboy forwards for the extension and lateral flexion left power generated at 0.2 of a second variables. All positional categories proved to have significantly smaller (p < .05) active and passive ranges of motion compared to the schoolboy forwards. Conversely, the senior elite players had significantly larger (p < .05) ratios (PTF/PTE, PTL/PTR, PT/BW and PT/LBM) than the schoolboy forwards. Literature has identified schoolboy rugby as having a much higher incidence of cervical spinal injuries than senior rugby. It can thus be inferred from the above information that the variables of peak torque and power generated at 0.2 of a second play a important role in safeguarding a player from injury on the field of play. Furthermore, calculated ratios show that senior players, especially the forwards, have undergone adaptive changes in cervical musculature strength to meet the requirements of the position they play in, thereby safeguarding themselves from cervical spinal injury. Proper cervical musculature conditioning has been cited in the literature as being an effective but neglected method of preventing cervical spinal injuries. The generation of normative data, concerning cervical musculature performance, can thus be used to prevent the occurrence of cervical injuries and re-injury of the cervical spine by providing a standard of musculature strength for safe participation in rugby, and possibly other collision type sports, and a quantified guide for successful patient rehabilitation respectively.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
A critical analysis of the coverage of Uganda's 2000 referendum by The New Vision and The Monitor newspapers
- Authors: Wakabi, Wairagala
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: National Resistance Movement (Uganda) , New Vision (Uganda) , Monitor (Uganda) , Democracy -- Uganda , Political participation -- Uganda , Mass media -- Political aspects -- Uganda , Press and politics -- Uganda , Freedom of the press -- Uganda , Uganda -- Politics and government -- 1979-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3492 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002947 , National Resistance Movement (Uganda) , New Vision (Uganda) , Monitor (Uganda) , Democracy -- Uganda , Political participation -- Uganda , Mass media -- Political aspects -- Uganda , Press and politics -- Uganda , Freedom of the press -- Uganda , Uganda -- Politics and government -- 1979-
- Description: On July 29 2000, Uganda held a referendum to decide whether to continue with the ruling Noparty Movement system or to revert to the Multi-party platform. This research entails a qualitative content analysis of the role the media played in driving debate and understanding of the referendum and its role in the country’s democratisation process. The research is informed by Jurgen Habermas’s public sphere paradigm as well as the sociological theory of news production. The research covers Uganda’s two English dailies – The New Vision and The Monitor, examining whether they provided a public sphere accessible to all citizens and devoid of ideological hegemony. It concludes that the newspapers were incapable of providing such a sphere because of the structural nature of Ugandan society and the papers’ own capitalistic backgrounds and ownership interests. The research concludes that such English language newspapers published in a country with a low literacy rate and low income levels, can only provide a public sphere to elite and privileged sections of society. A case is then made that multiple public spheres would be better suited to represent the views of diverse interest groups.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
A situation analysis of sex education and communication and the implications thereof for HIV/AIDS prevention work
- Authors: Mankayi, Andiswa
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: Sex instruction , Safe sex in AIDS prevention , AIDS (Disease) -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , AIDS (Disease) -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Prevention
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3147 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007447 , Sex instruction , Safe sex in AIDS prevention , AIDS (Disease) -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , AIDS (Disease) -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Prevention
- Description: This study explores the history of sex communication and education over a period of fifty years (1950 to the present), in a deep rural area of the Eastern Cape. It describes patterns of sex communication between peers, between siblings, between children and parents and between young people and other non-familial agencies within communities. Communication trends are traced from the period before contraception was introduced, through to the introduction of female birth control methods into the HIV/AIDS era where the focus has been on attempting to introduce condoms. Twelve semi-structured interviews and two four-person focus groups were conducted to gather information on how the participants acquired information about sexuality and their responses to the same. The findings of the present study suggest that the widespread use of injectable contraceptives has had a marked effect on the sexual culture of the community under investigation. It has led to the collapse of the regulatory practices which were previously in place. This in turn has significantly affected the sexual communication and negotiation context. Furthermore, it has had a determining influence on male involvement in sexual reproductive health matters and has created a poor context for the adoption of condoms as a prophylactic. There were no major changes in the sexual communication context within families and within communities in that education has always been limited to instructions to avoid pregnancy. Of note was a culture of collusion between adults and children surrounding sexuality, which absolved the parties involved in addressing sexuality. These factors are understood have mediated response to HIV/AIDS prevention efforts, and need to be taken into consideration in the development of sex communication and education programmes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
An analysis of digital photojournalistic practices: a study of the Sowetan's photographic department
- Authors: Allan, Christopher
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: Sowetan (Johannesburg, South Africa) , Photojournalism -- South Africa , Photography -- Digital techniques , Photojournalists -- South Africa , Photojournalism -- South Africa -- Moral and ethical aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3496 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003071 , Sowetan (Johannesburg, South Africa) , Photojournalism -- South Africa , Photography -- Digital techniques , Photojournalists -- South Africa , Photojournalism -- South Africa -- Moral and ethical aspects
- Description: Photojournalism in South Africa is in the process of undergoing a shift from an analogue past to a fully digital future. This shift to digital has already been completed by many of the newspapers in the United States of America and Europe, and the new technology is seen to have made fundamental differences in the way that journalists do their job. This thesis attempts to explore the differences brought about, as well as the problems experienced by the photographic department at the Sowetan newspaper as a result of the shift to digital. How the development of technology has affected the photojournalist throughout is focused upon in a brief history of photojournalism and examples of how technology has shaped different aspects of journalism in both a positive and negative manner is considered. Exactly what digital photography is, how it has been integrated into American Photographic departments and the changes that the new technology has prompted are also explained. The manipulation of images in the past as well as the relative ease of digital manipulation are covered and concerns are raised about the future implications of digital manipulation. By conductlng participant observation and holding interviews, research data was compiled which allowed conclusions to be drawn about the impact that the shift to digital had had on the Sowetan photographic department. Intentional and unintentional consequences were expected and revealed in the research. The job of the photojournalist and photographic editor was found to have changed but perhaps not as dramatically as expected. Third world factors such as crime, poverty and lack of education were discovered to have resulted in problems that differed noticeably from those experienced by American and European photographic departments. Some expected difficulties were not experienced at all, while other major obstacles, specifically the repairs that must constantly be made to the digital cameras, continue to hamper the operations of the new digital department. Some understanding of the problems that might be encountered by future photojournalism departments that are considering making the shift to digital are arrived at, in the hope that they may be foreseen and overcome.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
An assessment of selected non-water benefits of the Working for Water Programme in the Eastern and Southern Cape
- Authors: Du Plessis, Lily Lozelle
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: Water resources development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Cost effectiveness , Water resources development -- South Africa -- Southern Cape -- Cost effectiveness , Water conservation projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Cost effectiveness , Water conservation projects -- South Africa -- Southern Cape -- Cost effectiveness , Land use -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Land use -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Southern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:10991 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/340 , Water resources development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Cost effectiveness , Water resources development -- South Africa -- Southern Cape -- Cost effectiveness , Water conservation projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Cost effectiveness , Water conservation projects -- South Africa -- Southern Cape -- Cost effectiveness , Land use -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Land use -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Southern Cape
- Description: 1.1 Background to, and motivation for, the study: The Working for Water programme (WfW) is a public works programme designed to clear South Africa of water-consuming invasive alien tree and plants, and to replace them with low water consuming indigenous species. This would prevent a loss of more than 4000 million cubic metres water per annum from the hydrological cycle (DWAF, 1998). The economic viability of the programme has been established in the Western Cape and Kwazulu-Natal (van Wilgen, Little, Chapman, Görgens, Willems and Marais, 1997; Gilham and Haynes, 2001), but questioned in the Eastern and Southern Cape (Hosking, du Preez, Campbell, Wooldridge and du Plessis, 2002). Hosking et al. (2002) investigated the economic case for the programme by performing a Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA), based on increased water yield and livestock potential, on six selected sites in the Eastern and Southern Cape, viz. Albany, Kat River, Pot River, Tsitsikamma, Kouga and Port Elizabeth Driftsands.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
An exploration into the reasons for the resignation of ex-employees from the University of Port Elizabeth against international indicators in employee retention
- Authors: Anderson, Amber Cristal
- Date: 2003
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:11000 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/289
- Description: South African organisations have not been left untouched by the impact of globalisation on their business practices. In a bid to maintain and improve on their competitive advantage, they have had to embark on initiatives to secure a place in the global economy. Entwined herein is the challenge to embrace a whole new definition of equality and develop their human capital as described in various legislative interventions of the South African Government. This study reflects the outcomes of an exploratory study into the reasons for the resignation of ex-employees from the University of Port Elizabeth, against international indicators in employee retention. The research was based on the premise that an effective and efficient transformation strategy should originate from a tangible understanding of all the socio-behavioural and influencing aspects of employee retention. The results suggest the development of an employee-retention strategy which could facilitate the realisation of the Employment Equity Plan. The objectives of the study were: to provide critical insight into why employees are resigning from the University of Port Elizabeth (UPE), to determine the social and developmental expectations of ex-UPE employees while in a transforming organisation, to identify and analyse ex-employees’ perceptions of the implementation of UPE’s Employment Equity Plan, to analyse ex-employees’ perceptions of existing retention practices at UPE, to provide recommendations towards an employee-retention strategy for UPE. The study is exploratory and descriptive in nature, and is quantitatively analysed with limited qualitative inferences. The population consisted of ex-UPE employees who had left the service of the university, from 01 January 2000 to 31 October 2002, by resignation. The period coincided with the implementation phase of the UPE Employment Equity Plan. For the purpose of this study, N=69. Twenty-eight ex-employees were untraceable, therefore n=41. Thirty ex-employees took part in the survey, thus making the sample return 73%. Eight of the respondents were dispersed across three continents other than Africa. The survey instrument, administered as an e-mailed and mailed questionnaire, was selected as the most suitable quantitative research method, because respondents were globally dispersed. Content analysis was selected as the most appropriate technique to produce findings in the qualitative aspect of the research. Where appropriate, descriptive statistics (univariate and bivariate analyses) were applied to describe the variables, the results of which were exhibited as tabular or graphical displays. Inferential statistical analyses (Pearson Chi-square and M-L Chisquare tests) were also conducted.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
An exploration of adolescent risk-taking behaviour : a case study analysis
- Authors: Dietrich, Valerie
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: Teenagers -- South Africa -- Conduct of life , Risk-taking (psychology) in adolescence
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:10989 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/312 , Teenagers -- South Africa -- Conduct of life , Risk-taking (psychology) in adolescence
- Description: Do adolescents of colour really engage in risk-taking behaviours as often generalised by the public? Are they in fact the alcohol, drugs, sex, and violence generation? This study attempts to investigate the conditions influencing the choices adolescents make prior to their engaging in risk-taking behaviours. In the social sciences, concerns over adolescents’ recklessly irresponsible behaviours have deep roots. In 1904 G. Stanley Hall depicted adolescence as misbehaving because of the storms and stresses of the transition from childhood to adulthood. Subsequently, social scientists produced substantial evidence that the storminess of adolescence is largely an over generalisation, which has not been empirically substantiated. In corroboration of this interpretation, this study also indicates that not all adolescents engage in risk-taking behaviour, and those risky individuals do not necessarily engage in all spheres of risk-taking. The majority of the target group only experimented with certain risk behaviours by engaging in them on one occasion only. The specific high school was selected because the researcher knew the learners, as she was an educator there at the time. She was thus reasonably aware of the frequency, the nature and the severity of the risk-taking behaviours of the target group. In general, the most important findings of the study signified a moderate level of participation in risk-taking activities. However, in certain spheres such as cigarette smoking, alcohol usage and sexual intercourse, an extreme participation level was reported. Certain factors such as gender, age, socio-economic conditions, parental (one or both) absence, and the respondents’ attitude towards the specific behaviour, were discovered to have played an influential role in the target group taking risks. Based on the reasons advanced for engaging in risk-taking behaviour, the researcher concluded that the following theories were applicable in explaining the behaviour of the respondents. These theories are the social learning theory, symbolic interactionist theory, social identity, the theory of reasoned action, and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The researcher trusts that this study will assist the reader to understand the complex contributing circumstances that the target group has to contend with in making decisions.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
An investigation of the relative importance of the media in influencing the voting behaviour of Evelyn Hone College students in Lusaka during the December, 2001 presidential elections in Zambia
- Authors: Jere, Caesar
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: Voting -- Zambia Mass media -- Political aspects -- Zambia Presidents -- Zambia -- Election -- 2001
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3516 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007803
- Description: This study explores the relative importance of the media in influencing the electoral choices of a small group of Zambians, namely Evelyn Hone College students in Lusaka who participated in the December 2001 elections in Zambia. The study investigates the interplay of mediation between the lived cultural experiences of the sample of students and the impact of media messages. Students at Evelyn Hone College come from different ethnic groupings, social classes, religions and regions. They are exposed to both the state and the privately owned media, which represent a range of political viewpoints. The outcome of the December 2001 elections in Zambia gave the impression that people in urban areas in Zambia were less likely to vote on ethnic lines because they had easy access to different media, ranging from print to electronic, which provided them with diverse information about the political scene, and probably shaped their electoral choices. Conversely, their counterparts in the rural areas appeared to vote along ethnic lines, seemingly because of lack of exposure to the media. It was also assumed that most people in rural areas were not as modernized as their urban counterparts who were more exposed to enlightened sources of information such as professional groups and other elite social institutions which helped them to shape their political opinions than most rural people. The study attempts to establish to what extent the media impacted on the selected sample of urban students in the choice of their presidential candidates in the December 2001 elections in Zambia. The study further investigates to what extent other factors such as ethnic inclinations and other social predispositions influenced them in their choice of the candidates. The interviewees for this study were randomly drawn from a population of Evelyn Hone College students that voted in the December 2001 presidential elections in Zambia. The sample consisted of 30 randomly selected students who were purposely stratified in three focus groups of ten each. Each stratum represented the approximate ethnic equivalence of one of the presidential candidates who contested the December 2001 elections.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
An object relational psychoanalysis of selected Tennessee Williams play texts
- Authors: Tosio, Paul
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: Williams, Tennessee, 1911-1983 Williams, Tennessee, 1911-1983 -- Knowledge -- Psychology Object relations (Psychoanalysis) Psychoanalysis Drama -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2150 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002382
- Description: Tennessee Williams is a playwright of great psychological depth. This thesis probes some of the complexities of his work through the use of Object Relational Psychoanalysis, specifically employing the theories of Melanie Klein, W.R.D. Fairbairn and Donald Winnicott. The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof and The Night of The Iguana are analysed from this theoretical stance. All of these plays display great perceptiveness into the human condition, accurately portraying many psychological relational themes. Certain Object Relational themes become very apparent in these analyses. These themes include, Dependency (especially in The Glass Menagerie), Reparation (particularly in A Streetcar Named Desire), Falsehood (notably in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Idealisation (evident in The Night of The Iguana), Honest Empathetic Relations (apparent in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and The Night of The Iguana) as well as Guilt, Object Loss, Sexual Guilt, and Obligation (recurring throughout these plays). It is advanced that Williams’ plays posses an honest and insightful understanding of human relations and, as such, are of contemporary value. This Thesis is not only an academic study, but also has practical applications for dramatists. With an increased understanding of the intrinsic tensions and motivations within such plays, offered by such psychoanalytic strategy, performance and staging of such work may be enhanced valuably.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
Apollo, Dionysus, dialectical reason and critical cinema
- Authors: Konik, Adrian
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: Motion pictures and language , Philosophy in motion pictures , Dionysus (Greek deity) in literature , Apollo (Greek deity) in literature
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:10990 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/295 , Motion pictures and language , Philosophy in motion pictures , Dionysus (Greek deity) in literature , Apollo (Greek deity) in literature
- Description: The contemporary era is dominated by an Apollonian visual language, i.e. the visual language of mainstream cinema and the mass media, and this study concerns the role that critical cinema, as Dionysian subverter, plays under such conditions. I argue that critical cinema should not be viewed as something completely ‘new’ but rather as a new, or at least the latest, manifestation of an older subversive ‘Dionysian’ voice that has made its presence felt since the dawn of the hegemony of an Apollonian disposition in Homeric epic. (I maintain that the history of western culture can be understood in terms of the persistent tension between Apollonian and Dionysian dispositions, and I use the distinction Derrida makes in Différance, between restricted and general economies, to distinguish between them, respectively.) I begin by considering the Dionysian echoes within Homer’s Iliad and then consider the way in which they became a ‘roar’ in the tragedies of Aeschylus. After Aeschylus a predominantly Apollonian voice asserted itself once again (to various degrees) through the work of Sophocles and Euripides. This was in keeping with the trend towards a more (Apollonian) restricted economy that is reflected in the writings of Homer’s literary successors, and which reached a crucial stage in Plato’s valorisation of ‘dialectics’, or what I term ‘dialecticis m’, which saw the birth of ‘dialectical language’. Through Plato dialecticism, or dialectical language, became instantiated as the ‘language’ of western philosophy and this predisposed western culture to develop along predominantly Apollonian lines. This continued from Plato, through the Middle Ages, until in the 17th century this Apollonian trend became manifest in the concept of the stable, integral, autonomous and self -transparent Cartesian ego, which is inextricably linked to dialectical language that promises certainty of ‘truth’ and maintains the possibility of representing the world in its entirety (as a system). In the contemporary ‘age of a world picture’, the hegemonic (Apollonian) visual language of mainstream cinema and the mass media propagates and perpetuates the belief in the possibility of representing the world in its entirety through the image, and insofar as it caters to audiences’ needs for stability and certainty (of ‘truth’) through providing such ‘complete’ representations, shapes their subjectivity along the lines of the Cartesian ego. According to Baudrillard, in contemporary society and culture the hyperreal realm of visual language has become far more significant for individuals than their immediate, empirical experiences, and that, as a result, they are far less predisposed to discussion and reflection and far more prone to passive ‘watching’. Also, Adorno maintains that it is impossible to have a form of critical cinema because of the way in which features inherent to cinema predispose it towards being an ideological apparatus. However, if both Baudrillard and Adorno are correct then the future appears increasingly bleak as it involves nothing other than the continuation and propagation of the hegemony of the visual language of mainstream cinema and the mass media, with no possibility for critical resistance. I argue instead that critical cinema is possible because the move towards a more restricted economy, motivated by an Apollonian disposition, did not develop from Homer to the contemporary era without meeting Dionysian resistance. I trace the presence of a subversive Dionysian voice through Homer’s Iliad, through Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound, and through Plato’s Dialogues, where it echoes in the sentiments of some of Plato’s interlocutors, such as Callicles. In addition, I maintain that a ‘Dionysian’ voice resonates through both Nietzsche’s and Heidegger’s respective criticisms of ‘dialectical language’ and the ‘validity’ of the Cartesian ego. I argue that critical cinema, particularly Aronofsky’s postmodern critical cinema, parallels their similar epistemological and ontological perspectives in the way in which it engages with the (Apollonian) visual language of mainstream cinema and the mass media, and thereby, potentially, facilitates a more porous and protean subjectivity.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
Aspekte van die prosa van André P Brink met spesifieke verwysing na Sandkastele (1995)
- Authors: Vermeulen, Liezel
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: Brink, André P (André Philippus), 1935-2015 -- Sandkastele Brink, André P (André Philippus), 1935-2015
- Language: Afrikaans
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3605 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003809
- Description: Hierdie studie ondersoek aspekte van die prosa-oeuvre van die Suid-Afrikaanse outeur André P. Brink, met spesifieke verwysing na sy eerste post-apartheid roman Sandkastele (1995). Hierdie teks se feministiese hersiening van en alternatief tot die manlikgedomineerde en -gedokumenteerde amptelike geskiedenis van Suider-Afrika staan sentraal in die postmodernistiese, postkoloniale fase waarin die Brink prosa-oeuvre die verlede heroorweeg. Die pre-koloniale en koloniale verlede van die landstreek word herkaart deur die vertelling van stories van vroue van die verlede in 'n unieke vertelsituasie wat 'n her-verbeelde, tekstuele vrouegeskiedenis registreer. Die konsep "reimagination" wat ontwikkel in Brink se kritiese en literêr-teoretiese werke vanaf die publikasie van die essay "Imagining the real" in Mapmakers (1983) en Elleke Boehmer se konseptualisering van die tekstuele gevolge van dekolonisasie (1995) word ontgin. Spore van die magiese realisme, die postkolonialisme, die poststrukturalistiese postmodernisme en leeswyses en denkrigtings wat in die feminisme en genderstudies aandag geniet, word in Sandkastele se vertelling, narratiewe figure en ruimte ondersoek. Hierdie leesstrategie akkommodeer die Brink-oeuvre se voortdurende heroorweging en ontdekking van nuwe tekstuele moontlikhede, 'n proses wat gekenmerk word deur 'n reeks tematiese of konseptuele ontwikkelinge en die uit-en deurwerk van belangstellings van vorige Brinktekste. ABSTRACT: This study investigates aspects of the prose oeuvre of the South African author André P. Brink, with specific reference to his first post-apartheid novel Imaginings of Sand (1995). The feminist revisioning of the text as an alternative to the male-dominated and -documented official history of Southern Africa is central to the postmodernist, postcolonial phase of the Brink oeuvre in which the past is reconsidered. The pre-colonial and colonial past of the country is remapped through the stories of women of the past in a narrative construction which registers a re-imagined textual women's history. The concept "reimagination" which develops in Brink's critical and literary theoretical works from the publication of the essay "Imagining the real" in Mapmakers (1983) and Elleke Boehmer's conceptualisation of the textual effects of decolonisation (1995) is utilised. Traces of the magical realism, postcolonialism, poststructuralist postmodernism and approaches which are explored in feminism and gender studies are explored in Sandkastele's narrative construction, characters and space. This reading strategy accommodates the Brink oeuvre's continual re-evaluation and uncovering of new textual possibilities, a process that is characterised by a series of thematic or conceptual developments and the deployment of themes from previous Brink prose texts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
Exploring differences between organisational cultures in a company undergoing change
- Authors: Bowa, Mabvuto
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: Organizational change -- Africa , Corporate culture -- Africa , Management -- Africa , Organizational behavior -- Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3126 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006287 , Organizational change -- Africa , Corporate culture -- Africa , Management -- Africa , Organizational behavior -- Africa
- Description: Change is a common phenomena in business organisations today. The turbulent environment is exerting a significant influence on organisations to make continuous changes in their internal environment in an attempt to improve performance and achieve competitiveness in the marketplace. The human factors which confront organisations undergoing change have not been thoroughly investigated in Sub-Saharan Africa. The present study aimed at investigating human issues affecting the performance ofan organisation located in an Afiican country. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Twenty interviews were conducted with employees randomly selected from all the levels of the company, namely attendant, operator, supervisory, middle and top management. Five focus groups were carried out with employees from different employee categories. Both sets of data were analysed using grounded theory. The findings showed that there were several problems in the company including insecurity, lack of opportunities for employee development, autocratic management style, lack of participation in decision making, substandard performance, ineffective human resources systems and lack of adaptation to technology. It was suggested that the problems resulted from the clash between organisational cultures in the company. At one level, there was a clash between the local workers' socialist organisational culture and the expatriates' capitalistic organisational culture. At a more deeper level, the clash appeared to be between the local employees' collectivistic sociocultural values and the expatriates' individualistic value system. These findings have significant implications for managing change in organisations with diverse cultures.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
Grade six and seven learners' perceptions of the HIV/AIDS life skills education programme
- Authors: Julies, Zainuneesa
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: AIDS (Disease) -- Study and teaching (Primary) -- South Africa -- Evaluation , AIDS (Disease) -- South Africa -- Prevention
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:10988 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/315 , AIDS (Disease) -- Study and teaching (Primary) -- South Africa -- Evaluation , AIDS (Disease) -- South Africa -- Prevention
- Description: At present there is no cure or vaccine for Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) therefore prevention programmes are seen as the only means of reducing the spread of the disease. HIV/AIDS education programmes in schools have been identified as the most effective intervention because billions of children can be reached worldwide and because schools are the one social institution with which most children come into contact. Young people in particular have been identified as the age group most in need of a preventative programme. The aim of this study is to explore the perceptions of grade six and seven learners with regard to the Life Skills programme focusing on HIV/AIDS education in the Port Elizabeth region. In order to fulfill the above aim a qualitative study was undertaken within an exploratory descriptive approach. A non-probability, convenient sample of six schools were selected. Focus groups, utilising an unstructured interview, were used to gather qualitative data about the perceptions of grade six and seven learners. The focus groups consisted of 10-12 participants. The data was thematically analysed using Tesch’s approach. The major findings of the present study included the following: 1. Learners’ perceptions of completing the questionnaire were generally positive in nature. Negative perceptions related to practical issues such as the length of the questionnaire and the time of administration. 2. Learner’s perceptions of the programme were generally positive. 3. Learners’ felt more comfortable discussing HIV/AIDS with parents and teachers. xi 4. Learners’ appeared to be well informed about high-risk behaviour related to HIV/AIDS and existing myths. 5. Contact with HIV+ people is non-existent. However, learner’s felt that the programme had fostered positive attitudes towards HIV+ people. 6. Learner’s felt that schools had an important role to play in sharing information about HIV/AIDS. These findings seem to indicate positive outcomes for the programme as a whole, in that is was successful in terms of conveying information regarding HIV/AIDS; it led to positive changes in attitudes, especially towards HIV+ people; and it confirmed the school as the best setting for implementing HIV/AIDS Life Skills programmes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
Holding on or letting go?: the resolution of grief in relation to two Xhosa rituals in South Africa
- Authors: Van Heerden, Gary Paul
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: South Africa -- Social life and customs , Death -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Mourning customs -- South Africa , Bereavement -- Psychological aspects , Bereavement -- South Africa -- Cross-cultural studies , Death -- South Africa -- Cross-cultural studies , Xhosa (African people) -- Rites and ceremonies , Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs , Animal sacrifice -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3253 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016055
- Description: The dominant emphasis in Western models of bereavement is on the breaking of bonds with the deceased in order for healing to occur. Failure to let go often leads to a diagnosis of 'pathological grief'. This paper challenges the assumption that death invariably means that the bonds with the deceased have to be severed. Situating Western models of bereavement in a modernist context not only challenges the 'truth' claims of these models, but also facilitates a deconstruction of the elements that contribute to the emphasis on letting go. In contrast to these theories, two Xhosa rituals (umkhapho and umbuyiso) that seek to sustain the bond with the deceased person will be examined. Such rituals demonstrate that it is possible to both maintain the bond and for the bereaved person to move on with their lives. Despite different contexts, it will be argued that these Xhosa bereavement rituals have a contribution to make to Western models of bereavement and some implications for therapy will be explored.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
In defence of moral objectivity
- Authors: McKaiser, Eusebius
- Date: 2003 , 2013-05-23
- Subjects: Ethics , Objectivity
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2740 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007599 , Ethics , Objectivity
- Description: This thesis examines the problem of moral objectivity, which is constituted by the ontological, epistemological and motivational challenges. It gradually develops an account of moral objectivity that has the dual function of dealing with the enemies of moral objectivity as well as giving a positive account of what moral objectivity is. It establishes these aims by arguing for the following theses. The first set of arguments show that relativist theories of ethics provide us with no forceful grounds for being sceptical about moral objectivity. The second set of arguments deepens the response to those who are sceptical about moral objectivity. It does so by showing in greater detail how rationality plays a substantive role in our practical deliberation, our notion of agency as well as our reactive attitudes. These arguments provide further reasons why we should have faith in the possibility of developing an adequate account of moral objectivity. The last set of arguments provides the positive account of moral objectivity. This positive account ends with the discussion of a paradigmatic moral fact that gives full expression (to the features of moral objectivity that have been articulated and defended.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
Intelligent design and biology
- Authors: Ramsden, Sean
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: Hume, David, 1711-1776 , Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882 , Paley, William, 1743-1805 , Dembski, William A., 1960- , Behe, Michael J., 1952- , Evolution (Biology) , Probabilities , Naturalism , Intelligent design (Teleology)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2739 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007561 , Hume, David, 1711-1776 , Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882 , Paley, William, 1743-1805 , Dembski, William A., 1960- , Behe, Michael J., 1952- , Evolution (Biology) , Probabilities , Naturalism , Intelligent design (Teleology)
- Description: The thesis is that contrary to the received popular wisdom, the combination of David Hume's sceptical enquiry and Charles Darwin's provision of an alternative theoretical framework to the then current paradigm of natural theology did not succeed in defeating the design argument. I argue that William Paley's work best represented the status quo in the philosophy of biology circa 1800 and that with the logical mechanisms provided us by William Dembski in his seminal work on probability, there is a strong argument for thr work of Michael Behe to stand in a similar position today to that of Paley two centuries ago. The argument runs as follows: In Sections 1 and 2 of Chapter 1 I introduce the issues. In Section 3 I argue that William Paley's exposition of the design argument was archetypical of the natural theology school and that given Hume's already published criticism of the argument, Paley for one did not feel the design argument to be done for. I further argue in Section 4 that Hume in fact did no such thing and that neither did he see himself as having done so, but that the design argument was weak rather than fallacious. In Section 5 I outline the demise of natural theology as the dominant school of thought in the philosophy of biology, ascribing this to the rise of Darwinism and subsequently neo-Darwinism. I argue that design arguments were again not defeated but went into abeyance with the rise of a new paradigm associated with Darwinism, namely methodological naturalism. In Chapter 2 I advance the project by a discussion of William Dembski's formulation of design inferences, demonstrating their value in both everyday and technical usage. This is stated in Section 1. In Sections 2 and 3 I discuss Dembski's treatment of probability, whilst in Section 4 I examine Dembski's tying of different levels of probability to different mechanisms of explanation used in explicating the world. Section 5 is my analysis of the logic of the formal statement of the design argument according to Dembski. In Section 6 I encapsulate objections to Dembski. I conclude the chapter (with Section 7) by claiming that Dembski forwards a coherent model of design inferences that can be used in demonstrating that there is little difference between the way that Paley came to his conclusions two centuries ago and how modem philosophers of biology (such as I take Michael Behe to be, albeit that by profession he is a scientist) come to theirs when offering design explanations. Inference to the best explanation is demonstrated as lying at the crux of design arguments. In Chapter 3 I draw together the work of Michael Behe and Paley, showing through the mechanism of Dembski's work that they are closely related in many respects and that neither position is to be lightly dismissed. Section 1 introduces this. In Section 2 I introduce Behe's concept of irreducible complexity in the light of (functional) explanation. Section 3 is a detailed analysis of irreducible complexity. Section 4 raises and covers objections to Behe with the general theme being that (neo-) Darwinians beg the question against him. In Section 4 I apply the Dembskian mechanic directly to Behe's work. I argue that Behe does not quite meet the Dembskian criteria he needs to in order for his argument to stand as anything other than defeasible. However, in Section 5 I conclude by arguing that this is exactly what we are to expect from Behe's and similar theories, even within competing paradigms, in the philosophy of biology, given that inference to the best explanation is the logical lever therein at work. , KMBT_363 , Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
Jane Austen re-visited a feminist evaluation of the longevity and relevance of the Austen Oeuvre
- Authors: Kollmann, Elizabeth
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: Austen, Jane, 1775-1817 -- Criticism and interpretation , Feminist literary criticism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:10994 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/299 , Austen, Jane, 1775-1817 -- Criticism and interpretation , Feminist literary criticism
- Description: Although many might consider Jane Austen to be outdated and clichéd, her work retains an undying appeal. During the last decade the English-speaking world has experienced an Austen renaissance as it has been treated to a number of film and television adaptations of her work, including Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Mansfield Park and Sense and Sensibility. Film critics such as Bill De Lapp (1996) and Sherry Dean (1996) have commented on the phenomenal response these productions received and have been amazed by Austen’s ability to compete with current movie scripts. The reasons for viewers and readers enjoying and identifying with Austen’s fiction are numerous. Readers of varying persuasions have different agendas and hence different views and interpretations of Austen. This thesis follows a gynocritical approach and applies a feminist point of view when reading and discussing Austen. Austen’s novels - Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, and Persuasion – are re-read and reevaluated from a feminist perspective in order to call attention to Austen’s awareness of women’s second-class position in her society. Women’s experiences in Austen’s time are compared to women’s experiences in society today in order to illustrate, in some way, the tremendous progress the feminist movement has made. In addition, by examining what Austen reveals about the material reality of women in her time, it is possible to explore the legacy that modern women have inherited. Literary critics such as André Brink (1998), Claudia Johnson (1988), and Gilbert and Gubar (1979) believe Austen to create feminist awareness in her novels. There are critics, however, who do not view Austen as necessarily feminist in her writing. Nancy Armstrong writes in Desire and Domestic Fiction (1987) that Austen’s objective is not a critique of the Abstract iv old order but rather a redefinition of wealth and status. In Culture and Imperialism (1993) Edward Said implicates Austen in the rationale for imperial expansion, while Barbara Seeber argues in “The Schooling of Marianne Dashwood” (1999) that Austen’s texts should be understood as dialogic. Others, such as Patricia Beer (1974), believe Austen’s fiction primarily to be about marriage since all her novels end with matrimony. My own reading of Austen takes into consideration her social milieu and patriarchal inheritance. It argues that Austen writes within the framework of patriarchy (for example by marrying off her heroines) possibly because she is aware that in order to survive as a woman (writer) in a male-favouring world and in a publishing world dominated by men, her critique needs to be covert. If read from a feminist perspective, Austen’s fiction draws our attention to issues such as women’s (lack of) education, the effects of not being given access to knowledge, marriage as a patriarchal institution of entrapment, and women’s identity. Her fiction reveals the effects of educating women for a life of domesticity, and illustrates that such an education is biased, leaving women powerless and without any means of self-protection in a male-dominated world. Although contemporary women in the Western world mostly enjoy equal education opportunities to men, they suffer the consequences of a legacy which denied them access to a proper education. Feminist writers such as Flis Henwood (2000) show that contemporary women believe certain areas of expertise belong to men exclusively. Others such as Linda Nochlin (1994) reveal that because women did not have access to higher education for so many years, they failed to produce great women artists like Chaucer or Cézanne. Austen’s fiction also exposes the economic and social system (of which education constitutes a major part) for enforcing marriage and for enfeebling women. In addition, it illustrates some of the realities and pitfalls of marriage. While Austen only subtly refers to Abstract v women’s disempowerment within marriage, contemporary feminist scholars such as Germaine Greer (1999) and Arnot, Araújo, Deliyanni, and Ivinson (2000) explicitly warn women that marriage is a patriarchal institution of entrapment and that it often leaves women feeling unfulfilled. The issue of marriage as a patriarchal institution has been thought important and has been addressed by feminists because it contributes to women’s powerlessness. Feminist scholars today find it imperative to expose all forms of power in order to eradicate women’s subordination. bell hooks comments in Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center (2000) on the importance of revealing unfair power relations in order to eliminate oppression of any kind. Austen does not necessarily express the wish to eradicate forms of power or oppression in her novels. Yet, if we read her work from a feminist point of view, we are made aware of the social construction of power. From her fiction we can infer that male power is enshrined in the very structure of society, and this makes us aware of women’s lack of power in her time. Austen’s novels, however, are not merely novels of powerlessness but of empowerment. By creating rounded women characters and by giving them the power to judge, to refuse and to write, Austen challenges the stereotyped view of woman as either overpowering monster or weak and fragile angel. In addition, her novels seem to question women’s inherited identity and to suggest that qualities such as emotionality and mothering are not natural aspects of being a woman. Because she suggests ways in which women might empower themselves, albeit within patriarchal parameters, one could argue that she contributes, in a small way, to the transformation of existing power relations and to the eradication of women’s servile position in society.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
Locating the institution of traditional leadership within the institutional framework of South Africa's new democracy
- Authors: Mashele, Hlukanisa Prince
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: Tribal government -- South Africa , Political leadership -- South Africa , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2858 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007512 , Tribal government -- South Africa , Political leadership -- South Africa , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994-
- Description: This study looks into the role of the institution of traditional leadership in post-apartheid South Africa. It seeks to critically engage the debate on how to locate the institution within the new politico-constitutional framework. This is done with the main objective of proposing an altemative to the current state of affairs vis-à-vis traditional leadership and governance in South Africa. In order to clear the ground, the study first deals with the important question of democracy in relation to the institution of traditional leadership. In this regard, the study unearthed that the institution of traditional leadership is fundamentally undemocratic in character, as it is largely based on heredity and devoid of principles of democracy such as equality, accountability, etc. In order to put matters into perspective the study also delves into the history of the institution of traditional leadership with the aim of getting to the role that traditional leaders played in various epochs of South Africa's political development. This investigation reveals that the denting of the integrity of the institution of traditional leadership began with the advent of colonialism and worsened by successive apartheid regimes. It is at these stages of development that the institution was subordinated to a higher authority that sought to use the institution as an instrument of domination and oppression of the black majority. Considering this role, it would seem that the place that the space that the institution occupies in the post-apartheid South African governance framework is a compromise. The institution plays an advisory role at all levels of government - with their houses in both national and provincial legislatures, whilst traditional leaders sit as ex-officio members on local councils. However, traditional leaders fiercely contest this position as, in their view, this limits their powers. The main argument of this study is that for traditional leaders to be given an advisory role in the current and future governance framework of the country is a step in the right direction, as that serves to insulate the institution from active politics. For that reason, the study recommends that the institution of traditional leadership should occupy a cultural space in society - meaning that it should be responsible for the preservation of African customs and culture. This, therefore, means that the institution is better-placed to advise government on cultural and customary aspects of development. Whilst playing this role, the institution of traditional leadership should also -be brought into line with democratic ways of governance.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
Media and parliament in the Third Republic: a study of newspaper coverage of parliament by the Times of Zambia and the Post from January to November 2001
- Authors: Djokotoe-Gliguie, Edem K
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: Newspapers -- Zambia Mass media -- Political aspects -- Zambia Zambia -- Politics and government
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3515 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007796
- Description: The press is credited with playing a central role in the consolidation of democracy by informing citizens, engaging them in the process of public decision making and governance and stimulating wide and inclusive debate on public matters. In emergent democracies like Zambia, the extent of the media's role as a public sphere, not to mention its impact, is not known. The study set out to investigate the extent of the press' public sphere role, particularly how Zambian newspapers report Parliament and how such coverage informs public opinion. It found that though the press covers Parliament, the nature of coverage does not empower newspaper readers with the kind of context, background and interpretation they would otherwise need to engage in public discourses on matters that affect them from an informed perspective. In the main, the role of the press in informing citizens is not fully realised, not only because uninformative character of coverage, but partly because of low literacy levels and the limited reach of local newspapers. It was against this background that the study recommended ways in which the Zambian press could re-focus its approach to parliamentary news coverage to make it more informational and more inclined towards playing a public sphere role, at least to the newspaper-reading public. Making parliamentary coverage an integrated newsroom function was the main recommendation. It provided the basis for suggesting a practical editorial option for the coverage of the legislature that accommodates the integration of context, background and interpretation into parliamentary news.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003