An investigation into the structure and process of forgiveness following gross human rights violations
- Authors: Adonis, Cyril Kenneth
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Human rights , Forgiveness -- South Africa , South Africa. Truth and Reconciliation Commission , Amnesty -- South Africa , Reconciliation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2921 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002430 , Human rights , Forgiveness -- South Africa , South Africa. Truth and Reconciliation Commission , Amnesty -- South Africa , Reconciliation
- Description: This study focuses on the structure and process of forgiveness as experienced by individuals, from the East London and surrounding areas, who either suffered gross human rights violations or who are related to someone who suffered gross human rights violations during the Apartheid era. Those who participated in the study testified at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and expressed forgiveness towards the perpetrators of the violations. The aims of the study were to reveal: the participants' structure cif forgiveness, i.e. how they define forgiveness; the process of forgiveness, i.e. the changes that took place from the time of the violation up until the participants forgave the perpetrators: and, the relation. if any. between the participants' structure and process of forgiveness. It is argued that mainstream Psychology has neglected to study forgiveness because the subject matter is incompatible with the natural scientific method. For this reason, the study was approached from a hermeneutical paradigm. This was motivated by its ability to explicate the meaning and content of phenomena. Unstructured qualitative interviews were conducted with the participants. Data was analyzed using a multi-layered process of progressively deeper interpretation, employing a reading guide technique. Results indicated that authentic forgiveness is an unconditional commitment on the part of victims and survivors to relate positively towards the perpetrators. The relationship should include non-bitterness, non-vengeance, unconditional love and respect for their human rights. Another significant dimension of the structure of forgiveness is the fact that the desire for the truth is not abandoned although forgiveness has taken place. Forgiveness also does not take away the effects of the violation. This means that one does not forget although forgiveness has been granted. Results further indicate that the forgiveness process is highly complex, individualized and not instantaneous. The individuals have to deal with various intrapersonal conflicts and anxieties as a result of the violation, before forgiveness is explored as an option, and before they can finally forgive. Significant interrelations between the structure and process of forgiveness were also identified.
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- Date Issued: 1999
Cumulative mild head injury in rugby: cognitive test profiles of professional rugby and cricket players
- Authors: Ancer, Ruth Lauren
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Head -- Wounds and injuries , Rugby football injuries , Cricket injuries , Cognitive therapy , Neuropsychological tests
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2925 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002434 , Head -- Wounds and injuries , Rugby football injuries , Cricket injuries , Cognitive therapy , Neuropsychological tests
- Description: This study investigates the effects of cumulative concussive and subconcussive mild head injury on the cognitive functioning of professional rugby players. A comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests was administered to 26 professional rugby players and a noncontact sport control group of 21 professional cricket players. The test performances of the rugby players were compared to those of the cricket players. Within the rugby group, forward and backline players were compared. An analysis of mean score differences between the rugby and cricket group failed to support the presence of brain damage effects in the rugby group. However, there was significantly increased variability of scores for the rugby players compared with the cricket players on tests particularly sensitive to cognitive deficit associated with mild head injury. This invalidates the null indications of average effects, indicating that a notable proportion of rugby players’ performances were falling off relative to the rest of the rugby players on tests vulnerable to the cognitive effects of diffuse brain damage. Mean score comparisons within the rugby group indicated that it was the subgroup of forward players, in particular, whose test performances revealed deficits suggestive of cerebral damage. Specifically, deficits were found in working memory, visuoperceptual tracking, verbal memory and visual memory, a pattern of deficits commensurate with cumulative mild head injury. The theoretical perspectives of Satz’s (1997) Brain Reserve Capacity Theory and Jordan’s (1997) ‘Shuttle’ model of variability are drawn upon in order to elucidate research findings and suggestions for future research are provided.
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- Date Issued: 1999
The importance of personal and collective resources in coping with stressors related to industrial action at the Coldstream sawmill
- Authors: Besseling, Elizabeth Anne
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Stress (Psychology) , Stress (Physiology) , Industrial relations -- South Africa -- Case studies , Coldstream (South africa)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2932 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002441 , Stress (Psychology) , Stress (Physiology) , Industrial relations -- South Africa -- Case studies , Coldstream (South africa)
- Description: The main purpose of the study is to investigate whether the stress response moderators served as effective variables in reducing the stress of the strike. For instance, if individuals differ in' their ability to actualise resources, does someone with a high SOC utilise friendships or supportive relationships more than someone with a low SOC? Does someone who has a high score for religious practice become less depressed when faced with a significant stressor than someone less involved in church activities?
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- Date Issued: 1999
A comparison of the views of South African and American photojournalists to the digital manipulation of news photographs
- Authors: Cass, Taryn May
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Photojournalists , Photojournalism , Digital media -- Management , Photography -- Digital techniques , Digital media , Photojournalism -- Moral and ethical aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3420 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002873 , Photojournalists , Photojournalism , Digital media -- Management , Photography -- Digital techniques , Digital media , Photojournalism -- Moral and ethical aspects
- Description: Digital technology has now become pervasive at most publications in South Africa and in America. Pictures are routinely digitised by publications for ease of handling in the layout process, and this makes it relatively easy to alter or manipulate the pictures using computer software programmes. This thesis attempts to gauge the views of South African photojournalists about the digital manipulation of news photographs, and compare these to the views of American photojournalists. It is based on the hypothesis that South African and American photojournalists have different views of what is acceptable manipulation of news photographs, and that their reasons for this will also be different. This thesis also suggests that the manipulation of news photographs is ethically problematic and can damage the credibility of both the photojournalist and the publication in which the photographs appear. The study involves a comparison of the results from a questionnaire given to South African photojournalists and a similar questionnaire given to American photojournalists. The questionnaires were then supplemented by interviews with six South African photojournalists. The thesis then draws conclusions from the responses to the questionnaires and interviews. These conclusions partially support the initial hypothesis, in that there are some differences between the views of South African and American photojournalists, but, on the whole, these are remarkably similar. Photojournalists do seem to find the manipulation of news photographs to be ethically problematic, but they may find the manipulation of other kinds of images (eg fashion or soft news) to be acceptable. South African photographers also find the manipulation of images by other means (eg different lenses or darkroom techniques) to be more acceptable than Americans do. Although the underlying reasons for these views may differ, maintaining the credibility of the photographer and the publication does seem to be the major issue for avoiding digital manipulation. South African photographers seemed to think that if the photographer had done his or her job well, there would be no need for manipulation, and both groups (but especially the Americans) felt that manipulation could often be equated to lying to the reader, and that this might damage their reputation, and that of their publications.
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- Date Issued: 1999
"Making the News": a case study of East Cape News (ECN)
- Authors: Davidow, Audrey Beth
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Reporters and reporting Reporters and reporting -- South Africa Attribution of news News agencies -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3424 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002877
- Description: To fully comprehend the complex process of news making, we must first understand that the events we read about everyday in the newspaper are not merely a reflection of the world in which we live. News does not just happen. Rather, it is a socially constructed product in which events are “made to mean” (Hall, 1978). Thus, the news plays a fundamental role in shaping our interpretations of reality - our perceptions of the world as we know it. Informed by a structuralist approach to news making, this research provides a detailed ethnographic study of the determinants that shape and produce news in the South African print media. I provide examples of the influence various factors, operating at all levels, exert within the news making process. The research focuses on the news production process at East Cape News Pty. Ltd. (ECN) a small news agency operating in the peripheral news region of South Africa’s Eastern Cape. It considers the journalistic routines and interests of the ECN reporters; how these reporters select events and turn them into news, how they interpret their significance and how they formulate them as news stories. The research also considers the second stage of selection ECN news must pass before it is read by the public - the “gates” of external newspapers. In this section, the study is primarily concerned with which ECN news stories succeed past the gates of national newspapers as these are the newpapers that play an influential role in shaping national perceptions of the marginalised Eastern Cape region. A province burdened with devastating rural poverty, unstable government, and little economic growth, the Eastern Cape warrants little coverage from the national, Johannesburg-based news market. As a result, little news of the Eastern Cape is published nationally, further perpetuating the region’s perceived insignificance on a national level. This point also demonstrates the fact that news both shapes, and is shaped by, our ideologies. News, therefore is ideological (Fishman, 1977). My findings reinforce many of the observations of other media researchers informed by a structuralist approach in the field of news making. However, some elements of news making emerge which appear to be unique in terms of other studies of news making. These elements are primarily a result of ECN’s informal organisational structures which allow the journalists a greater level of autonomy than a larger more bureaucratic organisation might. Thus, in addition to considering the structures that shape the news, I also discuss the role of human agency in making the news.
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- Date Issued: 1999
Postconcussive sequelae in contact sport : rugby versus non-contact sport controls
- Authors: Dickinson, Arlene
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychology Brain -- Concussion -- Complications Sports injuries
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2381 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008455
- Description: The effects of repeated mild concussive head injury on professional rugby players were examined. Data were collected for rugby players (n=26) and cricket player controls (n=21) using a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery comprising five modalities (Verbal Memory, Visual Memory, Verbal Fluency, Visuoperceptual Tracking and Hand Motor Dexterity) and a self-report Postconcussive Symptomology Questionnaire. Group statistical comparisons of the percentage of individuals with deficit were carried out for (i) rugby versus cricket; (ii) rugby forwards versus rugby backs; and (iii) rugby forwards versus cricket. Rugby players performed significantly poorer than controls on SA W AIS Digit Symbol Substitution subtest and on the Trail Making Test. On Digits Forward and Digit Symbol Incidental Recall, the results approached significance with the rugby players showing a tendency toward impairment on these tests. Rugby players exhibited impairment in areas of visuoperceptual tracking, speed of information processing and attention, and there are tendencies of impairment in verbal and/or visual memory. Results obtained on the self-report questionnaire strongly reinforced cognitive test results and a significant proportion of rugby players reported difficulties with sustained attention, memory and lowered frustration tolerance as well as symptoms of anxiety and depression. It was consistently noted that players in the more full contact positions (rugby forwards) were most susceptible to impairment, confirming that these players, who are exposed to repeated mild head injuries, are at greater risk of exhibiting postconcussive sequelae.
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- Date Issued: 1999
Claywork within the holographic paradigm: a transpersonal perspective on art therapy
- Authors: Diers, Belinda Gail
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Art therapy , Transpersonal psychology , Art and holography
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2962 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002471 , Art therapy , Transpersonal psychology , Art and holography
- Description: This thesis is grounded in the theoretical discourses of art therapy and transpersonal psychology. The focus is on a single session of claywork, where a sculpture was made and discussed, leading to an understanding of some of the sculptor's central psychological issues. The overall aim of the research was to examine different hermeneutic perspectives on art therapy with clay sculpture in terms of how well they open up and do justice to the experience of the sculptor and the nature of the overall process. Within this there are two particular goals: Firstly, to examine the extent to which the holographic paradigm in comparison to other perspectives, allows a deeper access to, and deeper understanding of, transpersonal themes and processes; and secondly, to examine the extent to which processes within claywork can be understood as ritual activities. The research was a phenomenological-hermeneutic case study. The session was reduced to a narrative synopsis, and then a hermeneutically grounded thematic analysis was carried out using the theory of Transpersonal Feminism (Knight, 1997) and Schema-Focused Cognitive Therapy (young, 1990, 1994). The principal conclusions reached were that the holographic paradigm does add to our understanding of the experiences (personal and transpersonal) of the claywork, often beyond the scope of other art therapy perspectives. The image of the shaman is used as a metaphor for understanding the process of healing described within the holographic paradigm. Within the healing process, ritual plays an important role in the meaningful therapeutic activity of art therapy. The claywork expresses that the transpersonal struggle with archetypal forces within the collective unconscious is reflected on a personal level through individual conflicts and dilemmas within the personal unconscious. Indeed, these difficulties are viewed on both levels as 'stepping stones' on the path of spiritual development described by Engler (1984) and Welwood (1986).
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- Date Issued: 1999
Organisational culture in a South African non-governmental organisation: the challenge of a changing environment
- Authors: Dollar, Disa G
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Psychology, Industrial -- South Africa , Non-governmental organizations -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3248 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1015510
- Description: Using Schein's (1992) notion of organisational culture, this study explored the position of a South African nongovernmental organisation (NGO) in the changing environment of post-apartheid South Africa. The study pursued three central goals: to describe the organisational culture of a South African NGO; to examine the tensions that have emerged owing to the changing nature of the organisational culture; and to analyze the organisational culture in relation to the changing NGO environment. The basic assumptions of the organisation regarding networking, the relationship with the government, funders and funding, leadership, human resource development, and service delivery, were collected. A single case study design was employed, with a sample of eight participants (representing the four different sections of the NGO) being drawn. Data were collected through documentary analysis, a focus group, and eight individual interviews using the critical incident technique. Analysis was performed using various qualitative data analysis techniques. The researcher found that participants considered networking, a cooperative relationship with the government, a proactive approach to obtaining funding, effective leadership and human resource development, and a good reputation for service delivery, to be essential for NGO survival. NGO basic assumptions are undergoing a transformation process, and tensions exist between long-standing and emerging assumptions. It was found that the transformation of assumptions is enabling the NGO to adapt to the challenges of the changing environment.
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- Date Issued: 1999
Glimpsing the balance between earth and sky: a meeting ground for postmodernism and Christianity in four selected novels by Jeanette Winterson and John Irving
- Authors: Edwards, Ross Stephen
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Postmodernism -- Religious aspects Winterson, Jeanette, 1959- Irving, John, 1942- Postmodernism (Literature)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2186 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002228
- Description: The phrase “glimpsing the balance between earth and sky” in the thesis title is taken from Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. In this novel, the central character Jeanette believes she has glimpsed the possibility that human relationships can find their mirror in the relationship with God, as she understands the divine Other. This glimpse has set her wandering, trying to find such a balance. This examination of four selected novels by Jeanette Winterson and John Irving shows that for Irving, “glimpsing the balance” means in part, giving voice to a strongly “Christian” view of humankind and human nature but in an age where the prevailing intellectual worldview is strongly sceptical of any Grand Narrative. The “voice” expressed in Irving’s work has to be situated, like Winterson’s, as one among many possibilities. Irving’s voice is itself masked as different, other/Other, freakish, in the narrative worlds he creates. Through his use of grotesque comedy as a vehicle for deeper philosophical concerns, Irving asks us: What after all in the postmodern world is the main show? This thesis argues that if Winterson and Irving are testing or re-presenting a Christian worldview in a postmodern context, than they are asking whether Christianity is capable of assimilating and rising above the worst circumstances the world, writer, and life can throw at it. In Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Winterson tells a story of “forbidden love”, posed as a direct challenge to the prevailing way of knowing in her character’s community. In Gut Symmetries, she expands this challenge by employing the insights of quantum physics to make sense of the complexities raised by a triangular love relationship. Irving offers the story of Owen in A Prayer for Owen Meany as the kind of story which might possibly make a believer out of him; in short, that he would have to be a witness to some kind of miracle, something utterly inexplicable. In A Son of the Circus Irving narrates the quest for identity undertaken by an Indian doctor who is in every way a Displaced Person – the condition, he implies, of anyone who purports to find their piece of the truth. The theoretical concerns of the postmodern project are examined through Lawrence Cahoone’s argument that postmodern writing offers criticism of: presence, origin, unity and transcendence through an analytical strategy of constitutive otherness. In each of their texts, Irving and Winterson are seen to use these four critical elements and to offer a postmodern strategy of re-presenting meaning through “constitutive otherness”. Both writers also employ a strategy of historiographic metafiction (as defined by Linda Hutcheon) as a means of constructing and re-presenting their narrated stories. Postmodern paradox is compatible with what could be called a Christian plan for living, if the latter is in turn given an appropriate 1990s interpretation. The selected novels by Winterson and Irving are offered as contemporary evidence for this view. This thesis argues that the connection between postmodernism and other worldviews, particularly Christianity, is found in both projects’ process of making meanings through encounters with an other/Other.
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- Date Issued: 1999
Dreamwork and imaginal healing: the incorporation of artwork in a systematized method of group dreamwork
- Authors: Euvrard, Gwenda Joan
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Dreams -- Therapeutic use , Art therapy , Jungian psychology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2972 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002481 , Dreams -- Therapeutic use , Art therapy , Jungian psychology
- Description: This exploratory study investigated the expansion of an established systematized group dreamwork method (Shuttleworth-Jordan, 1995) to incorporate artwork. The rationale for the addition of artwork was situated firstly, in a poetic Jungian understanding of the image as a holistic "place" of gnosis or transformative healing and, secondly, in an argument that in order to carry the gnostic potential of the image into the lived world, a dreamwork method should involve all four styles of consciousness (thinking, intuition, sensation and feeling). It was considered that the verbal interpretive Shuttleworth-Jordan method would be enhanced by the incorporation of a visual artwork process in order more fully to open the potential of the method for incorporating the nonverbal intuitive, sensation and feeling styles of consciousness. In order to compare the established method (dreamwork Without Art) and the proposed method (dreamwork With Art), two dreamwork workshops were conducted in which all participants experienced all four conditions of the study: Dream Presenter Without Art, Dream Presenter With Art, Group Member Without Art, Group Member With Art. Two levels of assessment were utilized: a quantitative analysis (involving rating scales completed after each dreamwork session), supported by a qualitative analysis (involving written questionnaires completed at the end of the workshops and follow-up interviews conducted a week after completion of the workshops). The results suggested that the incorporation of artwork in the Shuttleworth-Jordan (1995) group dreamwork method enhanced the established method in that a consistent trend of increased involvement in the dreamwork process and increased dreamwork effectiveness was reflected, while no deleterious effects were noted which might detract from the effectiveness of the existing model which had been established in previous research studies. Finally, a refined step-by-step group dreamwork method incorporating artwork was proposed, which included qualitative feedback from the present study.
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- Date Issued: 1999
An investigation into cultural differences in the conceptualization of and attributions about cognitive decline in the elderly
- Authors: Fair, David Alan
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Dementia , Older people , Dementia Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2974 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002483 , Dementia , Older people , Dementia Case studies
- Description: There is little data regarding the prevalence of dementia in South Africa. Estimating such prevalence is problematic as the most commonly used cognitive screening tests are inappropriate for use in non-western populations. For this reason researchers have explored the use of informant questionnaires where relatives provide information on cognitive functioning over the last year. In the South African context Lenger, de Villiers & Louw (1996) conducted a dementia case-ascertainment study in a Xhosa-speaking community near Cape Town using a well-known informant questionnaire, the DECO, and concurrent clinical assessment. Reflecting on the discrepancies between DECO scores and clinical diagnosis, the researchers conducted interviews to explore beliefs and expectations regarding the elderly and cognitive decline. The aims of the current research were to gather comparative data from Bothasig, an English-speaking community, in order to explore areas of commonality and difference in perceptions and attributions regarding cognitive decline in the elderly. The study found that a significant percentage of informants from both Bothasig and Langa consider forgetfulness to be normal in old age. Different discourses around illness in the elderly were identified incorporating a range of medicalised and folk attributions. The discussion showed that informant perceptions within the Langa community may increase the likelihood that observational data provided in informant questionnaires may be confounded by cultural perceptions regarding the elderly. In addition, certain items on the DECO were found to be unsuitable for use across groups and modifications were proposed. The data was analyzed using both quantitative methods and phenomenological discourse analysis. The discussion concluded with metatheoretical reflections on the tension between etic and emic perspectives in cross-cultural research.
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- Date Issued: 1999
Burned, banished or burnished a pilot study of a school reintegration programme
- Authors: Horwitz, Ula Nadine
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Learning disabled children , Burns and scalds in children , Learning disabled children -- Education -- Curricula , Learning disabled children -- Psychological aspects , Learning disabled children -- Physiological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2995 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002504 , Learning disabled children , Burns and scalds in children , Learning disabled children -- Education -- Curricula , Learning disabled children -- Psychological aspects , Learning disabled children -- Physiological aspects
- Description: It is the aim of this research to create a manual and programme for the reintegration of burn-injured primary-school learners in order to assist in their re-socialisation, and to act as a buffer against depression, conduct disorders, and academic lag. Additional aims of the programme included being resource-efficient, flexible, and compatible with Outcomes-Based Education (aBE) principles evidenced in Curriculum 2005. The final aim of the research involved designing the programme in order for teachers to be able to facilitate it. The manual and programme were evaluated through an embedded case study, encompassing a mildly disfigured burn-injured learner, his family, and his school environment by way of his class and teacher. The programme was found to be efficient in its use of resources, congruent with aBE principles, and engaging of the learners and teacher. Participation in the intervention seemed to afford the burn-injured learner with a buffer against depression, but did not prevent academic lag. Minimal teasing was encountered after the programme was implemented, which is contrary to the expected outcomes based on the literature available. Teacher facilitation was not achieved, however, numerous benefits were derived from the intervention for the majority of the participants.
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- Date Issued: 1999
A logos of difference: the Kantian roots of Derrida's deconstructive thinking
- Authors: Hurst, Andrea Margaret
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Derrida, Jacques -- Philosophy , Deconstruction , Philosophy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:11003 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1015554
- Description: This study concerns a contemporary articulation of the age-old limit/possibility (truth/scepticism) contest in Western metaphysics. Traditional `either/or' logic advises that scepticism is a necessary consequence of the assailability of truth; hence the concerted effort in the history of philosophy to preserve the possibility of truth against any flicker of uncertainty. Here, it is argued that contemporary thinking sees the possibility of `absolute' truth lose its ground. However, a concomitant shift to a `logos of difference' averts the consequence of scepticism. Thus, the justification for this study could be articulated in terms of the imperative, if a cardinal moment in contemporary thought is to be sustained, to understand this shift in logos, work through its implications and learn to live with its effects. In this respect, an attempt is made throughout to situate and interpret Derrida's `deconstructive thinking' as exemplar. Derrida's thinking finds roots (not without signs of insurrection) in Kant's `Copernican revolution,' construed as the first shift towards the contemporary logos in question. Here, Kant refuted the postulate of an independent `world' by demonstrating that `reality' was the result of a cognitive order imposed on what `exists' by the rational subject. Knowledge, therefore, depended not on matching statements with pre-existing `things,' but on knowing the `rules' that determined how an object had to be if it was to be known at all. Kant maintained that certain, objective knowledge was possible, due to the completeness and universality of the forms of intuition and the categories of the understanding. Kant's `Copernican revolution' provided the opening for a second shift inaugurated by the so- called `linguistic turn.' Here, thinkers contested what Kant took for granted; namely that `constitutive interpretations' (cognitions/concepts) formed a `reality' independently of language. The basic premise underpinning the `linguistic turn,' therefore, is that language (signification) and `reality' are inseparable. Henceforth, the possibility of final, enduring `constitutive interpretations' whose `truth,' in principle, is discoverable, depends on whether or not the language which mediates human rationality can form a complete and universal system. This question resurrects the very limit/possibility debate (in the form of a structuralism/postmodernism stand-off) that Kant thought he had resolved in mediating between rationalist and empiricist extremes. In contemporary terms, philosophers who, bound by either/or logic, wish to avoid the sceptical trap of `anything goes' postmodernism, must assume that language (signification) can form a complete and universal system. However, in his deconstructive readings of Husserl, Saussure and `structuralism,' Derrida demonstrates the untenability of this assumption. At the same time, he shows that the sceptical `alternative' may be avoided by recognising the limitations of `either/or' logic. Again, Derrida's thinking may be traced to Kant's; this time to his analysis of the `first antinomy.' In accordance with Kant's analysis here of what is ultimately the logic of `complex systems' (Cilliers), Derrida offers a `logos of difference,' which skirts the strictures of structuralism while avoiding the trap of postmodern scepticism by accommodating both moments of limit and possibility in an indissoluble interplay.
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- Date Issued: 1999
Women's understandings and experiences of empowerment in an organisation: a qualitative feminist approach
- Authors: Jamieson, Sally Anne
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Employee empowerment , Women -- Employment -- Social aspects , Feminism , Psychology, Industrial
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2997 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002506 , Employee empowerment , Women -- Employment -- Social aspects , Feminism , Psychology, Industrial
- Description: This study explores women's understandings and experiences of empowerment so that they could empower themselves by using their own knowledge to see through factors that serve to disempower them. At a time when empowerment and its future is under intense discussion in South Africa, it seems wise to move away from quantitative studies which do not facilitate the development of comprehensive theory in industrial psychology. This study provides a qualitative feminist analysis of women's understandings and experiences of empowerment in an organisation. Written protocols, interviews and a workshop were used as data collection tools and seven women from one organisation participated in the study. The research revealed that women understand and experience empowerment in a number of ways. These understandings and experiences are affected by various factors: organisational factors; personal characteristics and abilities; their relationship with others at work and at home; and societal factors such as double standards for men and women and role expectations. The breadth and scope of the results imply that any attempt to empower women should include relational, motivational and feminist perspectives on power and empowerment. In addition, the results indicate that providing a space in which the women could explore the network of disempowering practices in their lives, was empowering for the women. Through the process of the research, the participants' understandings of empowerment evolved from viewing empowerment as something that is predominantly external (for example, influenced by others and organisational factors) to something that is internal (for example, influenced by motivational factors). This study cautions against seeing empowerment as something that is solely internal because by doing so women are placing the responsibility of empowerment upon themselves thus setting themselves up for failure. However, through the process of seeing empowerment as internal, the women were able to move towards a feminist understanding of empowerment in which not only is empowerment external ("out there") or internal ("within") but includes acknowledging one's own responsibility in empowerment as well as external societal factors that serve to hamper women.
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- Date Issued: 1999
The impact of water as a security issue on the Middle East peace process: 1991-1996
- Authors: Kaniaru, Wanjiku
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Middle East -- Politics and government -- 1979- , Arab-Israeli conflict, 1993- -- Peace , Water-supply -- Political aspects -- Middle East , Natural resources -- International cooperation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2785 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002995 , Middle East -- Politics and government -- 1979- , Arab-Israeli conflict, 1993- -- Peace , Water-supply -- Political aspects -- Middle East , Natural resources -- International cooperation
- Description: In recent years, there has been increasing realisation that resource based conflicts constitute one of the most salient threats to the survival of mankind, namely, water. In particular, the fundamental link between water and security can no longer be ignored given the indispensable role of water in the sustenance of human life as well as crucial sectors of agriculture and industry. Since the flow of water does not respect political boundaries, co-operation in the utilisation of dwindling supplies remains the most sustainable option for the future in an era of ecological interdependence. This thesis endeavours to investigate the impact of water as a security issue on the Middle East peace process. This is done within the theoretical framework that is provided by the schools of complex interdependence and new security studies. With the demise of the cold war, and the emergence of an expanded security agenda, water is an important non-military threat especially in the Middle East region. However, even with an expanded security agenda, the case of the Middle East suggests that it remains difficult to discard the hierarchy of security issues advocated by the Realists. The ongoing debate between the schools of complex interdependence and Realism is instructive in determining whether co-operation over water issues, considered "low" politics, is attainable in the absence of resolving "high" politics concerns of territory and security. Given its profound security implications for the Middle East region, water has been accorded a central role in both the bilateral and multilateral peace negotiations. In the context of water scarcity, and rising demographic patterns, the role of water as a facilitator of regional co-operation remains critical. However, for multilateral co-operation over water resources to become a tangible reality, it is the contention of this thesis that both "low" politics issues of water and "high" polities concerns of territory as well as security must be addressed simultaneously.
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- Date Issued: 1999
A case study of feedback strategies in The Open Learning Systems Trust (OLSET) Radio Learning Programmes
- Authors: Kenyon, Jennifer Berry
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers , Educational broadcasting , Radio in education -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2352 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002634 , English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers , Educational broadcasting , Radio in education -- South Africa
- Description: The following is a case study of three Foundation Phase teachers' classroom practice while using the Open Learning Systems Education Trust (OLSET) Radio Learning Programmes, "English In Action" Level Two materials with their Grade Two learners. This case study describes and analyses the feedback strategies of the three teachers. The radio learning programmes have been developed to provide teachers with an effective interactive set of materials to assist their learners in the acquisition of English. These audio materials also provide teachers with opportunities to be creative and responsive to their learners' specific needs. The feedback strategies described in this study are the teachers' use of their learners' mother tongue, correction oflearner error, and use of praise and encouragement during the three Teacher-Led Activity (TLA) segments of the radio programmes. These TLAs give teachers approximately 12 minutes per lesson during which they are called on to manage the materials according to their learners' specific needs. The TLAs are specifically designed to give learners the opportunity to use and respond to English in particular contexts. This study examines three teachers' feedback to their learners in order to find out what kind of feedback has been made. An attempt has also been made to analyse the nature of the feedback. It was found, from the description and analysis of the teachers' feedback, that when teachers used their learners' mother tongue this was more often used to translate words or phrases which were part of the radio narrator's instructions to the learners and these translations were then repeated in English. Teachers corrected very few learner errors. The most common form of correction was to model the correct form and have the learners repeat this. In spite of claiming that correction of errors was important and all three teachers said they did correct their learners' errors, there was very little evidence of this practice in the sample described in this study. The use of praise and encouragement was a strategy that all three teachers claimed they practised but almost no instances of the use of praise were described. The three teachers used only the word "good" to praise any of their learners' efforts and, in fact, all three used this only twice in each of the three lessons described in this study. In terms of language learning a number of factors have been compared. Some of these include teachers' repetition oflearners' answers and their correction oflearner responses by modelling. They were also observed allowing a variety of learner response as well as ensuring a number of individual learners were able to respond. These factors appear to have enhanced the language learning in the classrooms. However, it was also observed that the teachers needed more support in order to develop more explicit strategies to use their learners' mother tongue, to praise learners and to correct learner error purposefully in their classroom practice. There is a need for guidance to be given teachers in the development and use of open-ended questions and strategies which could encourage the development of higher order language skills in their learners. These findings will influence OLSET's teacher development curriculum. It is envisaged that strategies and activities designed to provide teachers with opportunities to reflect on their own practice with regard to the feedback they provide will be incorporated into the workshops and teacher support systems provided by OLSET's teacher development team.
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- Date Issued: 1999
Exploring new terrain - tackling a tri-media approach to the 1999 election: an analysis of online coverage of elections by media organisations in their respective countries and recommendations for multi-platform publishing within the South African Broadcasting Corporation to cover the national election
- Authors: Naidoo, Kameshnee
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: South African Broadcasting Corporation , Elections , Journalism -- Political aspects -- South Africa , Mass media -- Political aspects -- South Africa , Internet , Electronic news gathering , Television broadcasting of news -- Political aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3473 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002928 , South African Broadcasting Corporation , Elections , Journalism -- Political aspects -- South Africa , Mass media -- Political aspects -- South Africa , Internet , Electronic news gathering , Television broadcasting of news -- Political aspects
- Description: This study attempts to analyse the way foreign media organisations have used the Internet to inform, educate and mobilise citizens for participation in their national election. These foreign experiences provide a framework with which to analyse the implications for the SABC as a public broadcaster of the next elections in South Africa. The research was informed by theories of media and democracy. One of the most powerful features of the new technology is its technical ability to facilitate an interactive flow of information. This research examines the concept of cyberdemocracy and the implications for the SABC, especially as it is planning on launching an online election strategy. The democratic roles of journalism and the implications for the SABC are also discussed. As a public service broadcaster, the SABC is bound to educate, inform, and mobilise voters for participation, build community and national identity and scrutinise the poll in the interests of transparency, accountability and fair play. International journalists are advocating a new type of journalism, called public or civic journalism, which combines these roles. This research draws primarily on qualitative research methods, using a case study methodology. It draws upon direct observation and interview methodology in the fieldwork. However, it also uses some quantitative methods in the analysis of the websites and the SABC research.Finally, the research analyses the situation at the SABC and provides recommendations for the election website within this context.
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- Date Issued: 1999
Re-creating home: British colonialism, culture and the Zuurveld environment in the nineteenth century
- Authors: Payne, Jill
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Imperialism -- Social aspects , Imperialism -- Environmental aspects -- South Africa , Imperialism -- Environmental aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2552 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002404 , Imperialism -- Social aspects , Imperialism -- Environmental aspects -- South Africa , Imperialism -- Environmental aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: This thesis centres on the environmental impact of British colonialism in the Zuurveld during the nineteenth century. Within this context, it addresses the extent to which human-engineered environmental change is dictated by cultural mindset. Consideration of the links between culture and landscape transformation illuminates a little-considered aspect of the colonial experience in the Zuurveld. The British worldview at the turn of the eighteenth century is examined, with special reference to attitudes towards the environment. The changes which occurred in this attitude while the colonists adjusted to a foreign environment are traced. Precolonial societies manipulated the environment to a certain extent, but it was the British colonists who were to have the most profound effect on the ecosystem. The colonists impacted on the Zuurveld in a variety of ways. Much of the environmental change they induced resulted from their attempts to construct a familiar world from the alien landscape surrounding them. Attempts to "re-create home" in the Zuurveld were closely linked to the desire to exert control over what was to the colonists an "untamed wilderness." To this end land was cleared and new land use methods put into practice. Wildlife species threatening productivity were eliminated or forced through loss of habitat to retreat to the peripheries of the settlement. Exotic flora and fauna took the place of indigenes. The introduction of a capitalist economy meant that greater demands were made on the carrying capacity of the land. Conservation legislation introduced to limit increasing environmental degradation and protect commercial productivity simultaneously limited African access to the environment. Control of the land was closely linked to control of Africans: their labour was needed to facilitate the subjugation of the environment. Only through an appreciation of the British colonial mentality can changes to the Zuurveld environment during the nineteenth century be fully understood. Consequently, this study indicates that cultural mindset can play a pivotal role in shaping the environment.
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- Date Issued: 1999
The haunted bedroom: female sexual identity in Gothic literature, 1790-1820
- Authors: Rae, Angela Lynn
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Wollstonecraft, Mary, 1759-1797 -- Criticism and interpretation , Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851 -- Criticism and interpretation , Gothic literature , Women and literature , Feminism and literature , Radcliffe, Ann Ward, 1764-1823 Criticism and interpretation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2251 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002294 , Wollstonecraft, Mary, 1759-1797 -- Criticism and interpretation , Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851 -- Criticism and interpretation , Gothic literature , Women and literature , Feminism and literature , Radcliffe, Ann Ward, 1764-1823 Criticism and interpretation
- Description: This thesis explores the relationship between the Female Gothic novel of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century and the social context of women at that time. In the examination of the primary works of Ann Radcliffe, Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley, this study investigates how these female writers work within the Gothic genre to explore issues related to the role of women in their society, in particular those concerned with sexual identity. It is contended that the Gothic genre provides these authors with the ideal vehicle through which to critique the patriarchal definition of the female, a definition which confines and marginalizes women, denying the female any sexual autonomy. The Introduction defines the scope of the thesis by delineating the differences between the Female Gothic and the Male Gothic. Arguing that the Female Gothic shuns the voyeuristic victimisation of women which characterizes much of the Male Gothic, it is contended that the Female Gothic is defined by its interest in, and exploration of, issues which concern the status of women in a patriarchy. It is asserted that it is this concern with female gender roles that connects the overtly radical work of Mary Wollstonecraft with the oblique critique evident in her contemporary, Ann Radcliffe’s, novels. It is these concerns too, which haunt Mary Shelley’s texts, published two decades later. Chapter One outlines the status of women in the patriarchal society of the late eighteenth century, a period marked by political and social upheaval. This period saw the increasing division of men and women into the “separate spheres” of the public and domestic worlds, and the consequent birth of the ideal of “Angel in the House” which became entrenched in the nineteenth century. The chapter examines how women writers were influenced by this social context and what effect it had on the presentation of female characters in their work, in particular in terms of their depiction of motherhood. Working from the premise that, in order to fully understand the portrayal of female sexuality in the texts, the depiction of the male must be examined, Chapter Two analyses the male characters in terms of their relationship to the heroines and/or the concept of the “feminine”. Although the male characters differ from text to text and author to author, it is argued that in their portrayal of “heroes and villains” the authors were providing a critique of the patriarchal system. While some of the texts depict male characters that challenge traditional stereotypes concerning masculinity, others outline the disastrous and sometimes fatal consequences for both men and women of the rigid gender divisions which disallow the male access to the emotional realm restricted by social prescriptions to the private, domestic world of the female. It is contended that, as such, all of the texts assert the necessity for male and female, masculine and feminine to be united on equal terms. Chapter Three interprets the heroine’s journey through sublime landscapes and mysterious buildings as a journey from childhood innocence to sexual maturity, illustrating the intrinsic link that exists between the settings of Gothic novels and female sexuality. The chapter first examines the authors’ use of the Burkean concept of the sublime and contends that the texts offer a significant revision of the concept. In contrast to Burke’s overtly masculinist definition of the sublime, the texts assert that the female can and does have access to it, and that this access can be used to overcome patriarchal oppression. Secondly, an analysis of the image of the castle and related structures reveals that they can symbolise both the patriarchy and the feminine body. Contending that the heroine’s experiences within these structures enable her to move from innocence to experience, it is asserted that the knowledge that she gains, during her journeys, of herself and of society allows her to assert her independence as a sexually adult woman.
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- Date Issued: 1999
Tackling mild head injury in rugby: a comparison of the cognitive profiles of professional rugby and cricket players
- Authors: Reid, Iain Robert
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Complications , Rugby football injuries , Neuropsychological tests , Cricket -- Accidents
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3043 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002552 , Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Complications , Rugby football injuries , Neuropsychological tests , Cricket -- Accidents
- Description: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of cumulative mild head injury on the cognitive functioning of professional rugby players. A comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests was administered to 26 professional rugby players and to a comparison group of 21 professional cricket players. The group test results of the rugby, cricket, rugby forwards and rugby backline players were each compared with established normative data. Generally, the comparison of the rugby and cricket mean scores relative to the normative data did not reveal significant differences on tests known to be sensitive to the effects of mild head injury. However, the comparison of variability for each of the rugby and cricket playing groups relative to variability for the normative data, revealed a pattern of increased variability among the rugby players. This implies a bimodal distribution in which a significant number of rugby players were performing poorly across these tests whereas a significant proportion were not. This variability effect was accounted for by further mean score comparisons which revealed that, as a group, it was the forward players whose performances were disproportionately poor on tests sensitive to the effects of mild head injury. The implications of these results are developed theoretically within the context of brain reserve capacity theory and suggestions for future research are provided.
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- Date Issued: 1999