An analysis of the experience of the acute phase of traumatic spinal cord injury in a South African spinal unit
- Authors: Gaitelband, Philip Joseph
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Spinal cord -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychological aspects , Spinal cord -- Wounds and injuries -- Patients -- Rehabilitation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2978 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002487 , Spinal cord -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychological aspects , Spinal cord -- Wounds and injuries -- Patients -- Rehabilitation
- Description: This study aims to explore, and to a certain extent to clarify, what it means psychologically to experience Traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) in a South African spinal unit. The target time chosen for analysis is the acute medical period. The study presents a review of the literature on psychological adjustment to TSCI and then proceeds to introduce and extensively articulate the hermeneutic approach and methodology. Subsequently, an interpretive research strategy is presented for the purpose of studying the acute phase of TSCI. The data for the study was obtained by means of three dialogical interviews which were tape recorded, transcribed and analyzed with~n a cyclical framework consisting of three interdependent levels. The interpretive procedure is modeled upon the 'reading guide' developed by Brown, Tappan, Gilligan, Miller and Argyris (1989). The analysis follows a course from the individual psychological descriptions of the experience to the generation of a general, nomothetic narrative account of the acute phase. The findings are then discussed in relation to the existing literature and evaluated on the basis of the goals of the study. The study highlights the value of some of the 'stage' ways of thinking about SCI adjustment, while simultaneously stressing the need for placing adjustment within a more personalized, and individually meaningful context. Significant differences between the psycho-physical experiences of patients in the categories of complete and -incomplete SCI were found, which suggests that a sharper distinction be made in the literature between these two groups, in order to account for the marked variations in their experiences.-- The study also contains a number of shortcomings, such as a lack of understanding about certain historical and contextual factors which may have mediated the experiences of the trauma for the individuals concerned. These shortcomings and some suggestions fro their resolution are then discussed. The study concludes with an evaluation of the research strategy and methodology and also offers some suggestions for future research.
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- Date Issued: 1996
An examination of dreams and visions in the novels of Virginia Woolf
- Authors: Dale-Jones, Barbara
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Woolf, Virginia, 1882-1941 Criticism and interpretation Dreams in literature Visions in literature
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2223 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002266
- Description: This thesis explores the importance of the visionary experience in five novels by Virginia Woolf. In her fiction, Woolf portrays the phenomenal world as constantly changing and she uses the cycles of nature and the passing of time as a terrifying backdrop against which the mutability and transience of human life are set. Faced with the inevitability of change and the fact of mortality, the individual seeks moments of permanence. These stand in opposition to flux and lead to the experience of a visionary intensity. Woolf's presentation of time as a qualitative phenomenon and her stress on the importance of memory as a function which allows for the intermingling of past and present make possible the narrative rendering of moments which contradict perpetual change and the rigours of sequential time. Moments of stillness 'occur in the midst of and in spite of process and allow for individual contact with an experience that defies the relentless progression of time. Necessary for this experience is not only memory but also the imagination, a faculty which has the power to perceive patterns of harmony in the midst of the chaos that characterises the phenomenal realm. Fundamental to Woolf's writing, however, is the acknowledgement that visions are fleeting, as are the glimpses of meaning that emerge from them. Therefore, while several of her novels describe the artistic effort to create a structured order as a defense against change, Woolf uses the artist's struggle as a metaphor for the difficulties attached to describing the enigma that is life. None of her artist figures is able to formulate a construction that either sums up life or provides a permanence of vision. This study presents a chronological examination of the novels in order to demonstrate that the changing forms of Woolf's fiction trace the evolution of a style that accurately portrays both the workings of the human mind and the insubstantial and fragmentary nature of life. The chronology also reveals that her novels develop in terms of their presentations of the visionary experience. Woolf's final novel incorporates into its central vision the paradoxical fact of the permanence of time's progression and acknowledges that, beyond the individually mutable life, is a continuum that links pre-history to the future. This notion, which is explored in part in the earlier novels, but developed completely in Between the Acts, suggests that consolation can be found in the greater cycles of existence despite the fact of individual mortality.
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- Date Issued: 1996
An examination of the application of a geographical information system to rural development planning in Shixini Location, Transkei
- Authors: Whisken, Jarrell Braden
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Rural development projects -- South Africa -- Transkei -- Shixini -- Planning , Shixini rural development project , Geographic information systems
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:4830 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005505 , Rural development projects -- South Africa -- Transkei -- Shixini -- Planning , Shixini rural development project , Geographic information systems
- Description: Digital geographical information systems (GIS) are tools for handling spatial data. Initially developed in First World countries, the technology is fast being taken up as a tool for handling spatial information by many Third World countries. GIS has been used for any number of applications involving spatial data, one of its primary uses has been in various planning fields where the advantages offered to planners by the technology have been highlighted by a number of publications and studies. GIS has been actively used as an urban planning tool in South Africa since the mid-1980s, (Vosloo 1987) however its use as a tool for rural planning has not developed to the same extent. As early as 1986 reference was made to the possible advantages offered by GIS to rural planning in South Africa (Fincham 1986). Despite this early recognition, the use of GIS in the rural planning sphere remains negligible. This study examines the. possible reasons for this by attempting to answer the question, "is GIS appropriate to rural planning in South Africa?" A number of approaches to rural planning are practised in South Africa. This study examines the appropriateness of applying GIS to one of these approaches, rural community development planning. Components of the study included i) an examination of the issues affecting the use of GIS in the rural development field, achieved through the use of a literature and questionnaire survey and ii) a case study examining the feasibility of incorporating GIS as a tool to the Shixini Development Project, Transkei. The study does not examine the intricacies of rural development theory, but it does acknowledge the fact that the approach employed by an organisation to rural development will have important implications concerning the use of a GIS in a project. The approach adopted to a project affects amongst others the administrative structure, the planning process, the flow of spatial data and its use, and consequently the possible role of GIS. The Shixini Rural Development Project was classified as a community development project, and as a result the study concentrates on this approach to rural development. This may limit the study to a particular planning process, however most rural case studies will have certain aims and factors which are unique to its situation. In order to place the results of the Shixini case study in a wider context the results of the study are linked to the questionnaire and literature survey. From this basis the usefulness of GIS in the rural development sphere was examined. Available literature on GIS indicates that the majority of problems associated with GIS rarely reside with the technology itself but rather with its supporting mechanisms. The study identified and concentrated on these support mechanisms, both at the project level and what is referred to in the study as the operating environment in South Africa. The results of the study revealed that a number of problems exist with regard to the attitude with which GIS is regarded in development organisations. It was found that these attitudes are legitimately based on a number of problems associated with incorporating the technology into project based organisations. It was concluded that GIS was appropriate to rural community planning, but is presently limited to certain aspects of the planning process and possibly to certain applications.
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- Date Issued: 1996
An investigation into the relationship between adolescent parasuicide, depressive illness and associated risk factors
- Authors: Read, Gary Frank Hoyland
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Youth -- Suicidal behavior , Depression in adolescence
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3116 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004615 , Youth -- Suicidal behavior , Depression in adolescence
- Description: This study aimed at investigating the relationship between adolescent parasuicide, depressive illness and associated risk factors. Reports worldwide indicate that suicidal behaviour in this age group has risen 150% over the past 20 years, whilst the rate for suicide in adults and the elderly has remained the same (Deykin et al, 1985; Neiger & Hopkins, 1988; Sudak, Ford & Rushforth, 1984a). In South Africa statistics confirm similar trends with regard to attempted and completed suicide. Statistics reveal that a high local incidence of adolescent suicide attempters are seen at psychiatric units. One pilot study recorded 187 adolescent suicide attempters during a three month period. This study was based on the hypothesis that the incidence of depressive illness in adolescent suicide attempters is higher than is generally accepted and that this condition often goes unrecognised and is misdiagnosed because it manifests differently with acting out behaviour and "masked" symptomatology. A random sample of suicide attempters between the ages of 13 - 25 who presented at C23 (psychiatric emergencies) Groote Schuur Hospital following a suicide attempt were assessed. 100 subjects were seen over a period of three months. The research procedure comprised a comprehensive assessment incorporating a semi-structured interview, self-report and objective rating scales for depression as well as instruments designed to assess the general health of each subject and their level of suicide intent. The depressive inventories used have been validated for use in this age group and were designed to elicit the associated features of adolescent depression. If warranted, a clinical diagnoses was given based on DSM 1V criteria. This diagnosis was substantiated by information from the research instruments which formed part of the assessment process. A high incidence of clinical disorders was diagnosed in the sample (86%). Depressive illness was found to be a significant risk factor for suicidal behaviour with 68% of the subjects suffering from an affective disorder and 21% reporting depressive symptoms. This study shows that the correlation between parasuicide and depressive illness is high enough to suggest that all suicidal behaviour in this age group should be taken seriously as parasuicide in itself is often a reliable indicator of an underlying depressive condition. Additional risk factors for adolescent parasuicide identified in this study correlated well with the findings of similar research studies. Psychiatric co-morbidity, especially substance use (42%) and cluster B personality factors (54%), were high and served to increase an individual's vulnerability to suicide risk. Psychosocial factors such as sexual abuse (28%) and physical abuse (37%) were also identified as high risk factors for adolescent suicidal behaviour. Individuals at risk for depression and suicidal behaviour typically came from broken homes which were disrupted and unsupportive. Family members were frequently abusing alcohol and 67% of the subjects reported the presence of psychiatric illness in the family. The preferred method of suicide attempt was an overdose (90%). These attempts were generally unplanned and impulsive with no disclosure prior to the event. Intent was usually high at the time of the act. It is only through identifying the risk factors specific to the developmental concerns of this age group and acknowledging the role of depressive illness in adolescent suicidal behaviour that effective preventative measures can be devised.
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- Date Issued: 1996
Asleep in a glass coffin: fairy tales as illuminating attitudes to women in the novels of Charles Dickens
- Authors: Daly, Robyn Anne
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870 -- Criticism and interpretation Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870 -- Folklore Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870 -- Characters Women Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870 -- Symbolism Fairy tales -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2227 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002270
- Description: The field of research of this thesis covers three main areas: the novels of Charles Dickens; fairy tales and storytelling; and notions of women as reflected in feminist literary theory. A reading of selected novels by Dickens provides the primary source. That he copiously drew on fairy tales has been explored in such notable works as Harry Stone's, but the thesis concentrates on Dickens 's propensity in his creation of female protagonists to give them a voice which is vivified through fairy tale. The analysis of fairy story through narrative theory and feminist literary theory functions as the basis of an exploration of the role female narrative voices play in a reading of the novels which reveals a more sympathetic vision of the feminine than has been observed hitherto. The context of this study is Victorian attitudes to women and that modem criticism has not sufficiently acknowledged Dickens's insight into of the condition of women; much of this is discovered through an examination of his use of fairy tale wherein the woman is bearer of imaginative and emotional capacities magically bestowed. The research aims to counter the view of Dickens's novels as being sexist, through the iIluminatory characteristics of fairy tale. Dickens activates his women characters by means of their often being tellers of tales replete with fairy tale imagery, and their tales are almost always seminal to the novelist's moral purpose.
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- Date Issued: 1996
Boyzie Cekwana the South African dancing body in transition
- Authors: Pienaar, Samantha
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Cekwana, Ntsikelelo , Dance -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2144 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002376 , Cekwana, Ntsikelelo , Dance -- South Africa
- Description: Boyzie Cekwana is one of many black male dancers and choreographers that is currently receiving widespread support and recognition for his contribution to the field of contemporary dance in South Africa. Why certain images of the dancing body - as presented by this individual dance practitioner - are currently being promoted as artistically more viable than others by dance critics and the media is the central concern of this thesis. An analysis of the dancing body in contemporary South Africa must take into account the current post-apartheid condition, a condition of transformation and reconstruction that allows people greater freedom to select the country's leaders, popularize its heroes and heroines, market and capitalize on images and icons of a New South Africa. By opting to look specifically at a black male dancer, social appreciations of the body in terms of ethnicity and gender can be challenged. This latter area of research - the role of gender in the production, presentation and appreciation of the dancing body - is largely unchallenged in South Africa. Yet, if South African's want to truly rid themselves of the shackles of hegemonic rule, gender-construction is an area of social experience that needs intensive confrontation. Chapter one will suggest some of the obstacles that might limit the South African dance researcher seeking an indepth analysis of the black dancing body, taking into consideration the country's history of elitist and autonomous rule. Attention will be drawn to multidisciplinary sites of information that might assist the researcher in such an excavation. The context of the research, however, is less interested in historical descriptions of the dancing body than with current motivating factors behind the preferential promotion of certain images over others in contemporary dance. Personal interviews and observations will therefore also provide crucial resource material. In chapter two, a case study of Boyzie Cekwana will be made looking at his personal background and the way in which it may have informed his contemporary experiences as a black male dancer and choreographer. The underlying belief of such a case-study approach is that "it carries implications about the extents to which the resulting analysis is applicable to other similar cases" ¹. This individual analysis includes information gathered from persona1 interviews with Cekwana; the author's own observations and experiences of Cekwana' s work at the Vita FNB Dance Umbrella, the Grahamstown National Arts Festival, and the Durban Playhouse Theatre; and analyses of articles on Cekwana by journalists, and performance reviews by dance and theatre critics such as Adrienne Sichel (The Star Tonight!), Tommy Ballantyne (The Natal Sunday Tribune) and David Coleman (The Mercury). Further examinations in chapter three and four will assess to what degree Cekwana re-presents culture-specific images of gender-modelling in his own performing body and the bodies of his multi-racial and multi-gendered dancers in selected dances. To prevent placing sole responsibility at Cekwana' s feet for the representation of the dancing body to a society in transformation, the role of dance critics and mass mediators in this process of artistic communication will also be dealt with. It is hoped that the ensuing discussion will suggest the possible effects that present frameworks of aesthetic appreciation may hold for choreographers and dancers in the country's future cultural development; this involves confronting a still controversial issue in South Africa the relationship between dance and politics, choreographer and social responsibility. The thesis will round-off very briefly with suggestions to dance practitioners and educators in South Africa of alternative ways of perceiving and appreciating the dancing body based on gender, and· not just racial, constructions; this is especially invaluable in the light of current efforts to include dance as a core-curriculum subject in all schools.
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- Date Issued: 1996
Cognition and multiple sclerosis: a neuropsychological and MRI study
- Authors: Thornton, Helena Barbara
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Multiple sclerosis -- Magnetic resonance imaging , Cognitive neuroscience
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3144 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007290 , Multiple sclerosis -- Magnetic resonance imaging , Cognitive neuroscience
- Description: Ten people with multiple sclerosis (MS) who felt they had cognitive difficulties because of their MS were investigated. This study had multiple aims. Firstly, to explore the subjective experience of cognitive deficits. Secondly, to assess whether or not there was objective evidence of cognitive difficulties on neuropsychological testing, and whether this was commensurate with a pattern of subcortical dementia. Thirdly, to determine whether their magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans replicated the patterns of atrophy frequently reported in MS patients with cognitive difficulties. And finally, to investigate the psychological well-being of the subjects. In depth neuropsychiatric interviews, psychiatric and psychological inventories, a comprehensive neuropsychological battery, and MRI investigations were done. The mean Full Scale Intelligence Quotient (FSIQ) fell within the superior range, at the 89th percentile. On tests of general intelligence, mental state examinations, there was little or no indication of cognitive deterioration. However, on sophisticated neuropsychological testing, there was convincing evidence of cognitive problems. Magnetic resonance imaging lesions were atypical of the reported research on cognitively compromised MS patients.
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- Date Issued: 1996
Defining governance in Uganda in a changing world order, 1962-94
- Authors: Kintu-Nyago, Crispin
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Uganda -- Politics and government , Uganda -- Economic conditions , World politics , International relations
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2788 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002998 , Uganda -- Politics and government , Uganda -- Economic conditions , World politics , International relations
- Description: This study argues that much of early post colonial Uganda's political developments, had its roots in the colonial patterns of governance. It was, however, the imperative of Uganda's early post colonial rulers to have formulated and maintained conditions for legitimate and orderly governance. Largely, this required a coherent political class with a mass based and mobilising political movement, that moreover had a political programme that catered for the interests of its support base. Indeed, their opting to negate these very prerequisite conditions, contributed greatly to Uganda's subsequent political disorder, and it's further marginalisation in the International Political Economy. This study suggests that since the impact of colonialism in Uganda, its governance policies have closely been linked to the broader dictates of the International Political Economy. A reality that the policy makers in post colonial Uganda should have realised, and in the process attempted to advantageously adapt to the Ugandan situation. Their was a qualitative improvement in Uganda's governance from 1986. This study illustrates that this was a result of the emerging into power of a political class, whose policies deliberately and strenuously attempted to fulfil the above mentioned criteria. Their is need to link Uganda's foreign and governance policies. Consequently a conscious and deliberate effort has to made by its policy makers, to ensure that the two are amicably adapted to each other, so as to derive the best possible benefits. For instance what Uganda needs in the existing New World Order are development, domestic and foreign investments and export markets for its produce. All of which can only be obtained if political order through a legitimate political system and government exists. With a leadership, that moreover, deliberately attracts foreign investments and creates the enabling conditions for competitive economic production. The onus is upon Ugandans to ensure that they institutionalise conditions for their appropriate governance and foreign policies. For this thesis argues that the International Political Economy is dynamic, and Uganda was never predestined to be at its margins.
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- Date Issued: 1996
Drama in South African secondary schools meeting the challenges of educational change
- Authors: Carklin, Michael Larry
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Drama in education -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2133 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002365 , Drama in education -- South Africa
- Description: South Africa is undergoing fundamental transformation at all levels of government and civil society, requiring a firm commitment to redressing the legacy of apartheid and to the development of South Africa's people. Part of this commitment is to undertake research which complements transformation processes, investigating the most appropriate ways to meet the challenges posed by such change. This study examines the potential of drama in the secondary school to meet key educational challenges, motivating strongly for the inclusion of drama as part of the formal curriculum in all schools. Social transformation has been greatly influenced by policy such as the Reconstruction & Development Programme (RDP) and subsequent Government White Papers which identify the need to develop South Africa's human resources as crucial. It is in this light, arid in the context of great disparity that exists across the education spectrum, that learning experiences of high quality must be provided in schools. It is argued that drama, as an lift form and an educational medium, is able to provide such qualitatively sound learning experiences because it is essentially learner-centered, experiential and holistic, offering unique ways of knowing, understanding and gaining insights. However, the classroom drama experience needs careful conceptualisation itself, particularly in view of the fact that life experiences of pupils are characteriseg by multiplicity and diversity within a new era of social and cultural mixing, as well as increased global interaction through, for example, the mass media and the internet. This study thus argues from a post-structuralist perspective, which embraces notions of multiplicity, proposing a reconceptualisation of the classroom drama experience that challenges the oppositional or binary perspectives that have previously characterised the way we think about drama and education. Example~ include art versus utilitarianism; process versus product; drama versus theatre. Investigating the classroom drama experierice in the light of developments in postmodern theatre, this study proposes that classroom drama should be seen as a form of theatre itself and suggests the term theatricalisaction to describe this classroom-theatre process which is based on action, reflection, experience and creative expression. It becomes a theatre of activity or an activating theatre. In this light classroom drama is considered in a specifically South Mrican context. In particular, this study examines the ways in which the following contexts impact upon the drama experience: the education system, the place of the arts within that system, and cultural and linguistic diversity in the classroom. Drawing on policy documentation, conference proceedings and studies that have been carried out in multiculturalism and multilingualism, the specific educational challenges facing South Africans are identified. In further exploring the potential of drama to meeting these challenges, this study documents the results of surveys conducted with drama teachers and with ~students who have studied drama as one of their formal subjects, highlighting in particular their perceptions, perspectives and experiences regarding the aims and value of drama education. Finally, in light of the information gained from teachers and learners, and of the concepts and contexts investigated, this thesis considers the ways in which the drama experience can contribute to meeting three primary educational challenges: the building of a culture of learning; the development and empowerment of pupils; and the embracing of cultural and linguistic diversity. This study concludes that drama is able to contribute significantly to educational change because of the teaching and learning processes it offers as an art form, and in particular, a theatre form. It is such a participatory, democratic classroom-theatre which provides a teaching and learning approach that should be at the core of transformation.
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- Date Issued: 1996
Equality, resources and primary goods: Ronald Dworkin and John Rawls on the currency of egalitarianism
- Authors: May, Simon James Peter
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Rawls, John, 1921-2002 , Dworkin, R M , Law -- Philosophy , Law -- Political apsects , Equality , Justice , Jurisprudence
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2714 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002844 , Rawls, John, 1921-2002 , Dworkin, R M , Law -- Philosophy , Law -- Political apsects , Equality , Justice , Jurisprudence
- Description: In this thesis I compare the work of Ronald Dworkin and John Rawls within the context of the 'equality of what?' debate. I argue that the Rawlsian paradigm offers a much more flexible defence of a resourcist approach to egalitarianism than Dworkin's theoI)' of' equality of resources'. I argue that Dworkin's fundamental distinction between persons and circumstances is flawed because it involves commitment to a view of the person which belongs in the realm of' comprehensive moral doctrines', rather than in the realm of a political theory of justice. I also argue that an alternative distinction between choice and luck, expressed in the 'luck-neutralising aim' of egalitarianism, is inappropriate since it too involves transgressing political constraints on theories of justice. Rawls's utilisation of primary goods in his theory of justice is supported by considerations derived from the work of Thomas Scanlon. The schematic picture of relative urgency which Scanlon advances provides the rationale for the use of primary goods, and also allows us to discriminate . between compensation for handicaps and compensation for expensive tastes. Scanlon's schematic picture also frees the utilisation of primary goods from criticisms raised by Amartya Sen. Lastly, I discuss arguments advanced by Susan Hurley which enable an interpretation of Rawls's original position device which is independent of the luck-neutralising aim. Her arguments are extended as a criticism of Dworkin's hypothetical insurance market.
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- Date Issued: 1996
L'image du peuple dans Le premier homme d'Albert Camus
- Authors: Heynderickx, Nathalie Marcel Madeleine
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Camus, Albert, 1913-1960. Premier homme
- Language: French
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3577 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002150 , Camus, Albert, 1913-1960. Premier homme
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- Date Issued: 1996
National liberation movement in the international political arena: a case study of the African National Congress at the United Nations (1960 to February 1990)
- Authors: Mopp, Adrian Carl
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: United Nations -- South Africa , African National Congress -- History , Economic sanctions -- South Africa , Boycotts -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2808 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003018 , United Nations -- South Africa , African National Congress -- History , Economic sanctions -- South Africa , Boycotts -- South Africa
- Description: The African National Congress (ANC) was the leading opponent of the South African Government's Apartheid policies. It was engaged in an Anti-Apartheid struggle and as part thereof called for South Africa's diplomatic isolation. In the course of its struggle, the ANC sought international support. Given the stature of the United Nations (UN) as the foremost international organisation, the ANC campaigned at the UN for South Africa's diplomatic isolation. This thesis focuses on the activities of African National Co~gress at the United Nations. It firstly outlines a brief history of the ANC and the UN and examines the relationship which developed between the two organisations. It then focuses on the activities of the ANC at the UN which were aimed at isolating South Africa diplomatically from the international community. Finally a brief assessment of the extent of South Africa's diplomatic isolation is provided.
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- Date Issued: 1996
Psychiatric problems in the primary health care context: a study in the Border-Kei area
- Authors: Cook, Jacqueline
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Primary health care -- South Africa , Mental health services -- South Africa , Black people -- Mental health -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2954 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002463 , Primary health care -- South Africa , Mental health services -- South Africa , Black people -- Mental health -- South Africa
- Description: A clinic survey was undertaken to investigate the nature of psychiatric problems experienced by the primary health care (PHC) patient population in the Bisho-King William's Town area of the Eastern Cape Region. The study took as its point of departure research findings which attest to the high rate of psychiatric distress amongst this population group in different parts of the world and ohservations regarding the form of presentation in terms of physical complaints. Hypotheses posited relationships between psychiatric problems experienced by patients attending PHC clinics in the study area and four types of variables, namely; somatic complaints, socio-demographic characteristics, patterns of health service utilisation and patient satisfaction with health services. Using a quasi-experimental descriptive approach, a two-stage screening procedure sorted the patient sample into three groups on the basis of the degree of psychiatric symptomatology experienced. The triangulation of the results of between-groups analyses with case materials recorded during psychiatric interviewing provided for an ethnographic account of the cultural experience of distress in the study area. The screening process used standard instruments, the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ) in the first stage and the Present State Examination (PSE) in the second stage. A pilot study was conducted prior to the fieldwork for the main study. Using the SRQ, thirteen psychiatric paticnts and 31 general PHC patients were sampled for the pilot study and 148 PHC patients were sampled for the main study. Using the PSE, 11 and 57 PSE interviews were conducted in the pilot and main studies respectively. Between-groups analyses used chi-square and F-statistics to investigate possible associations with identified patient correlates (P<0.5). These were socio-demographic, utilisation and satisfaction variables, measured by a separate face-valid self-response instrument compiled for the purposes of this study. Psychiatric symptomatology was found to be statistically significantly related to age, marital status and educational level. Further, patients experiencing more psychiatric symptomatology reported significantly more illnesses requiring treatment, longer consultation periods and a greater number of sick bed days. No statistically significant relationships were found between psychiatric symptomatology and number of children, number of failures at school, amount of treatment utilised, number of consultations, or patient satisfaction with services. Descriptive analyses of symptom and syndrome profiles found certain somatic complaints to be particularly prevalent amongst the patient sample. These include headaches and various tension pains, decreased energy levels and digestive problems. Qualitative analysis of interview data found that many somatic and psychiatric problems experienced constitute culturally defined and meaningful experiences, especially 'umbilini' (or nerves), 'ufufunyana' (a possession state), and accusations of witchcraft. Interpretation of complaints from the local traditional healing perspective, revealed a more complex mode of communication between patients and the health delivery system than may be accounted for in terms of a simple biomedical model. The interpretive analysis in the study showed that some forms of presentation incorporating somatic symptoms, such as 'nerves' may he viewed as help seeking behaviour of the socially unempowered. Implications of the results are discussed in relation to the need for improved identification and management of psychiatric distress at PHC level facilitated by a better developed referral network and closer interaction between biomedical and anthropological perspectives.
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- Date Issued: 1996
Technologies of the self in the writings of William S Burroughs
- Authors: Williams, Michael John
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Burroughs, William S., 1914- -- Criticism and interpretation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2225 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002268 , Burroughs, William S., 1914- -- Criticism and interpretation
- Description: William Burroughs's profane life has been an affront to conventional morality, and his transgressive works have strained against the thematic and formal boundaries of literature. Although he has remained a problematic figure, he is gradually gaining recognition as a literary innovator. This thesis argues that his writings may be understood as technologies of the self, that is, the texts are tools that the writer Oses to transform himself. The Introduction outlines the problems that his writings pose for criticism; provides an overview of critical responses to his work; and demonstrates the appropriateness of Michel Foucault's theory of the technologies of the self as an approach to his texts. Furthermore, it makes a comparison between Burroughs's concerns and similar concerns evident in Foucault. The most prominent of these is a fear of control, and a desire to escape from control. It is argued that this similarity arises from the writers' shared experience of homosexuality in the twentieth century. This experience provokes them to undertake a·work of homographesis, in which they attempt to undermine the construction of identity in text, whilst simultaneously reinscribing identity in problematized autobiographical writing. Chapter One provides a corrective to the critical neglect of Burroughs's homosexuality and focuses on his sexual problematic as a key factor in the development of his literary style. It argues that the writer has an abject imagination that was precipitated by three principal traumatic experiences: his homosexuality, his addiction to opiates, and the accidental shooting of his wife. The chapter examines the way that the writer develops his unique literary style, the routine, in an attempt to express his psychic disintegration. The routine becomes the basic building block of Naked Lunch, serving both as a cathartic release of psychic anguish and as an attempt to subvert repressive social and linguistic structures. The metaphor of the anal aesthetic is introduced to describe the intersection of linguistic, psychic and political strategies in the texts. Chapter Two addresses the period,subsequent to Naked Lunch, in which Burroughs experimented extensively with the cut-up technique to develop a form of aleatory collage. The chapter argues that the writer hoped that the technique would enable him to transform himself and to~discover a new way of thinking, but suggests that its extreme nature both isolated him from his audience and intensified his psychic abjection. Chapter Three follows on from this to argue that the writer responds to the limitations of the cut-up in The Wild Boys by returning to a more intelligible form of writing. This return corresponds with an attempt to inscribe homosexual themes into his work directly. However, the combination of a homosexual agenda and the writer's defence against the identity loss of abjection leads him to assert a radical masculine identity that causes him to perceive women as the chief perpetrators of control. As a result, he rejects women from his mythological system. Chapter Four suggests that in Cities of the Red Night and The Place of Dead Roads the writer moves away from the radical queer agenda of The Wild Boys in the hope of discovering a form of ethics that avoids the traps of universalized humanism and the harsh "othering" of the queer agenda. The chapter draws a parallel between Burroughs's individualized ethics and Foucault's idea of an ethics grounded in aesthetic self-fashioning. Chapter Five examines The Western Lands, in which the writer confronts death in order to discover the nature of individual value in a normalized culture. Like Foucault, Burroughs believes that the most important task in a limited existence is the dandyistic creation of the self.
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- Date Issued: 1996
The alternative press in Namibia, 1960-1990
- Authors: Heuva, William Edward
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Press -- Namibia , Press and politics -- Namibia , Namibia -- Newspapers
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3434 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002888 , Press -- Namibia , Press and politics -- Namibia , Namibia -- Newspapers
- Description: The study seeks to document the development of the alternative press in Namibia from 1960 to 1990. It traces the reasons for its emergence and outlines the stated aims and objectives in order to illustrate its attempts to nurture a culture - of colonial resistance. It is argued that structural factors such as funding, distribution, advertisements and ownership enabled the alternative press to operate outside the South African apartheid hegemony. The study explains how the intellectuals used the alternative press in their attempts to mobilise and organise colonised Namibians for social change. They did this by formulating and disseminating ideologically constructed discourses (messages) which challenged the colonial discourse. These messages were produced and directed towards a specific audience, the masses to whom the intellectuals were organically linked. Their primary news definers were also drawn from the ranks of these masses. It is further argued that the alternative press came to represent the colonised masses by voicing their needs and aspirations which were marginalised by the mainstream colonial media. Finally, a relatively detailed analysis of the content, the language used and the'messages carried by the alternative press has been made to demonstrate its political agenda, which was to empower the masses to achieve their objective - the attainment of political independence. These issues are analyzed against a background of theoretical frameworks which seek to explain how subordinated groups and classes in a state of domination sought to establish alternative channels of communication in the creation of a counter hegemonic order.
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- Date Issued: 1996
The Bender Gestalt Test: an investigation into problems concerning administration and scoring and its application to low-educated adults
- Authors: Dyall, Kate
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Bender-Gestalt Test , Psychological tests , Brain-damaged children -- Psychological testing
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2968 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002477 , Bender-Gestalt Test , Psychological tests , Brain-damaged children -- Psychological testing
- Description: The study investigates .the use of the Bender Gestalt Test (BGT) amongst low-educated adults. Three versions of the BGT are used in this study; the original 'copy' version as well as the 'immediate' and 'delayed'recall versions. This is done so as to expand the ability of the BGT to identify neurological impairment and to differentiate between this and functional impairment. A literature review explores the problems of standardization in the administration, scoring and application of all three versions of the test Suggestions are made to correct the problems identified and a novel system of scoring the recall versions are proposed, which allows for the comparison of results of the three versions of the test and which is based on Lacks's (1984) and Weiss's (1970) systems. Administration procedures were also developed to suit the context of the study. The copy, immediate and delayed versions of the BGT were administered to a group of 184 low-educated adults. Statistical analyses revealed significant education effects for the sample tested with regards to both test scores and performance time. The finding of an education effect for performance time is discussed at length, as some literature regards excessive time as a neurological indicator. An anomaly for the group with no education was found to exist, with the scores of these subjects not Significantly different from those with 4-6 years of education. Possible reasons for this were explored. In addition, the findings of this research revealed a plateau effect with those having less than 6 years of education scoring substantially lower than those with 7 years and more. The scores of adults with 7 and more years of education level out with no significant differences between educational levels. This appears to suggest that education effects rather than the developmental maturity level proposed by Koppitz, are involved. In addition, the scores of low-educated adults on the expanded Bender Gestalt Test were significantly lower than those of children with similar educational levels, in other studies. These findings and possible explanations are discussed. The study concludes by suggesting new research areas and emphasizing the urgent need for separate normative data on the expanded BGT for low-educated adults, and the establishment of appropriate 'cut-off' points.
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- Date Issued: 1996
The implications of the IMF programme in Zambia: lessons for South Africa in the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP)
- Authors: Motsilili, Phoka
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: International Monetary Fund , Reconstruction and Development Programme (South Africa) , Social service -- South Africa , Economic assistance -- South Africa , Zambia -- Economic conditions -- 1964-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2811 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003021 , International Monetary Fund , Reconstruction and Development Programme (South Africa) , Social service -- South Africa , Economic assistance -- South Africa , Zambia -- Economic conditions -- 1964-
- Description: This study attempts to present a comparative analysis of the implication of the IMF in Zambia and South Africa in its Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). In examining the IMF programme, the study focuses on the Fund's understanding of such economies and its prescriptions for development. It is argued that IMF's familiar orthodoxy will have disastrous consequences for South Africa's poor, disadvantaged and rural communities. Finally, the IMF's market-oriented policy prescriptions are likely to erode democracy and have devastating effects to people-centred development programmes such as the RDP.
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- Date Issued: 1996
The interface between Western mental health care and indigenous healing in South Africa: Xhosa psychiatric nurses' views on traditional healers
- Authors: Kahn, Marc Simon
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Mental health services -- Research -- South Africa , Traditional medicine -- South Africa , Black people -- Mental health -- South Africa , Mental health -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2999 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002508 , Mental health services -- Research -- South Africa , Traditional medicine -- South Africa , Black people -- Mental health -- South Africa , Mental health -- South Africa
- Description: Xhosa psychiatric nurses stand unique at the interface between Western mental health care and indigenous healing in South Africa. They stem from a cultural history that is embedded within traditional health care discourses and yet are trained and work within a Western psychiatric model. In embodying the intersection between these two paradigms, they are faced with the challenge of making sense of such an amalgamation. These nurses' views are thus valuable in reflecting this intersection and illustrating many of the central concerns that surround it. This study explicates the views of these nurses toward traditional healers and their potential role in mental health care in South Africa. In addition, it illuminates some of the cultural dynamics at work amongst these subjects as they struggle to make sense of their unique cultural position. Using a questionnaire-based methodology, the views of Xhosa psychiatric nurses in a psychiatric hospital in the Eastern Cape, toward traditional healers and their role in mental-health care, were examined. The findings reveal that the vast majority of these nurses believe in traditional cosmology, involve themselves in traditional ritual practices and regularly visit traditional healers as patients. In suggesting ways in which indigenous healing and Western mental health care can work together, 75% of the nurses were in favour of a general referral system between the hospital and traditional healers, most (77%) agreed that certain patients would be better off being treated by both the hospital and traditional healers than they would if they were only being treated by the hospital alone, and 85% of the subjects agreed that patients who are already seeing traditional healers should check if psychiatric medication might help them. These findings indicate that these nurses operate across two healing systems which are at this point not conceptually compatible. This results in deep cultural tension for the nurses. In being entangled in the dialectical tension created in this context, the nurses manage the incongruencies in three general ways: a) Most, in one form or another, incorporate beliefs from both systems into an integrative model, b) some assimilate their cultural belief system into the Western mental health paradigm, throwing off their beliefs in traditional healing, and c) others remain ambivalent in the dialectic between traditional and Western health care discourses. Although this may suggest that these nurses reside within a cultural milieu that is somewhat unhealthy, at another level, in managing and containing the incompatibility between the two systems, these nurses ensure a space for on-going and healthy critique of the underlying assumptions involved in this health care malaise.
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- Date Issued: 1996
The political significance of the liberal media coverage of District Six from 1949 to 1970
- Authors: Marquard, Andrew Keith
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Mass media -- Political aspects , District Six (Cape Town, South Africa) , District Six (Cape Town, South Africa), In The Press
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2802 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003012 , Mass media -- Political aspects , District Six (Cape Town, South Africa) , District Six (Cape Town, South Africa), In The Press
- Description: The political significance of the media coverage of District Six is approached in the following way: the issue is approached theoretically by posing the question of the general political significance of news as a communicative form. This question is resolved by an examination of the complicated relationship between the tradition of political thought and the development of modem political forms, specifically the issue of the importance of communication in modern political forms. This is explored by considering the problem of the political outlined by Heller. Arendt reconceptua1izes the problem in terms of political judgement, which is discussed in relation to postmodernism and Wittgenstein's philosophy of language, to establish a new conceptualization of political judgement based on Arendt's view of narrative and Benjamin's writing on history. This conceptualization is used to formulated a notion of the general political significance of news, which is a form of political judgement related to a specific political culture. On this basis the media material is analysed in terms of two processes: the representation of District Six in the liberal media, and the representation of the political process surrounding its racial zoning and demolition. It is concluded that the media coverage of Distract Six during this period is characterized by a political culture termed the politics of the ordinary based on a reification of 'Europe' as part of a ' colonial attitude', and the idealization of specific urban forms, with a special relationship to urban planning. Thus the political significance of the media coverage resides in the perpetuation of this political culture, representative of the politics of the white English-speaking middle class, in terms of which an authentic urban politics is not conceivable. Additional conclusions are also drawn concerning the relationship between this political culture and the politics of Apartheid.
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- Date Issued: 1996
The reintegration of Walvis Bay and its Penguin/Off-shore Island into Namibia
- Authors: Kodisang, J M
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Penguin Islands , Walvis Bay (Namibia) -- International status , Namibia -- Politics and government , South Africa -- Foreign relations -- Namibia , Namibia -- Foreign relations -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2790 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003000 , Penguin Islands , Walvis Bay (Namibia) -- International status , Namibia -- Politics and government , South Africa -- Foreign relations -- Namibia , Namibia -- Foreign relations -- South Africa
- Description: The thesis focuses upon the final reintegration of Walvis Bay and its twelve Penguin/Off-Shore Islands into Namibia. As Namibia's only deep water port, it escaped reintegration in 1989 when the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 435 (1978) was implemented. Hence the study argues that the exclusion of Walvis Bay from the Settlement Plan falls outside the parameters of various UNSC and UN General Assembly Resolutions, viz 385 and 432 of 1976 respectively. Such an arrangement has to be looked at as Pretoria's non-compliance with the above resolutions. South Africa got away with such an arrangement with the blessing of the Western Contact Group of Nations, i.e the United States; Britain; (former West) Germany; France and Canada. The argument advances further to capture the sudden emergence of Walvis Bay as a dispute between the National Party regime and the African National Congress (ANC) in particular. The dispute came about when the National Party submitted a controversial constitutional proposal during South Africa's transition to democracy at Kempton Park. They were proposing Walvis Bay to constitute part of the new Western Cape province in the postapartheid South Africa. Namibia's diplomacy paid off when the return of Walvis Bay was agreed upon as it became entangled in the constitutional talks for South Africa's transition to democracy at Kempton Park in 1993-1994.
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- Date Issued: 1996