Exploring the influence of spirituality on students' well-being
- Authors: Magula, Nokuzola Princess
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Sprituality , Well-being , Students , Christians , Rhodes University , College students -- Religious life -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Christian college students -- Religious life -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Universities and colleges -- Religion -- Research , Well-being -- Religious aspects , Spirituality -- Research
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2918 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002083
- Description: This study was aimed at exploring the impact of spirituality on the well-being of students at Rhodes University in South Africa. The study was conducted within a qualitative research paradigm deploying an interpretive phenomenological analysis strategy for data analysis. The study involved a sample of four female Honours students who were all active Christians. The selected students were interviewed to elicit their experiences of spirituality and how this related to their everyday lives. The study used semi-structured interviews in order to get as much information as possible from the small sample of research participants. Data generated in this study was processed, presented and interpreted inductively and hermeneutically in order to identify emerging superordinate themes. This study found that spirituality was experienced as having a positive impact on well-being by all the four students. The study revealed that belief and faith in God amongst the students resulted in enhanced and positive experiences of hope, optimism and compassion which provided the students with a deeper sense of meaning of life and a source of direction in difficult times. The study further showed that participants experienced spirituality as a regulatory mechanism shaping their lifestyles and behaviours. Participants viewed their spirituality and religiosity as a source of social support helping them to cope with distressful situations. The findings of this study are consistent with the findings of previous studies done in the field of psychology and spirituality. The fact that this study has shown that spirituality and religion has a positive impact on student’s well-being may mean that University administrators and psychologists may find the study interesting and valuable
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- Date Issued: 2013
The changing face of Rhodes University: exploring aspects of visuality, sexuality and protest between the apartheid and postapartheid periods
- Authors: Stein, Jonathan Harry
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Rhodes University , Apartheid South Africa , Post-apartheid era South Africa , College students Attitudes , Student movements South Africa , Decolonization South Africa , Aesthetics Political aspects South Africa , Sex Political aspects South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60530 , vital:27790
- Description: This thesis seeks to provide an historical overview of changing trends within specific spheres of the institutional and student culture of Rhodes University between the apartheid and post-apartheid periods. In particular, this thesis seeks to examine changes and developments within the visual and aesthetic culture of the university, and within the sphere of sexual norms and relations within the Rhodes student community. The historical dimensions of these two spheres of the university’s culture will be explored in light of the #RhodesMustFall protest of 2015 and the #RUReferenceList protest of 2016, which drew attention to a perceived lack of institutional transformation related to these two areas.
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- Date Issued: 2018
Institutional culture and internationalisation: a study of Black African academics’ experiences at Rhodes University
- Authors: Wambua, Lloyd M
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Corporate culture -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Universities and colleges -- South Africa -- Makhanda -- Sociological aspects , Discrimination in higher education -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Rhodes University , College teachers, Black -- South Africa -- Makhanda -- Social conditions , College teachers, Foreign -- South Africa -- Makhanda -- Social conditions , Globalization -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Educational change -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Sex discrimination in higher education -- South Africa -- Makhanda , South Africa -- Race relations , Intersectionality (Sociology) , Pan-Africanism , Belonging (Social psychology) , Alienation (Social psychology)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146607 , vital:38541
- Description: This research sets out to examine institutional culture and internationalisation in higher education in contemporary South Africa, by analysing the experiences of black foreign academics at Rhodes University. Much has been written on the adaptation processes of foreign students in South African universities (Ayliff and Wang, 2006; Dzansi and Monnapula-Mapesela, 2012; Mudhovozi, 2011). There is also a host of literature on the black South African experience of adaptation and (non) belonging at historically white universities (HWU) (Akoojee and Nkomo, 2007; Cornell and Kessi, 2017; Soudien, 2008). Comparatively less is written on whether there are any unique pressures regarding institutional culture that black foreign African academics face at historically white institutions such as Rhodes University. The black experience may be misrepresented as a homogenous one by much of the literature on higher education transformation (Batsai, 2019). But there are a host of factors that could change your experience of being ‘black’, such as your class, and gender and quite recently there has been a push to further examine the effect that one’s nationality has on their experience of being ‘black’ in the academy (Batsai, 2019). Institutional culture refers to the “behaviours and values that make up the unique psychological and social environment of a certain institution” (Toma et al., 2005). Internationalisation of higher education in the context of Africa, particularly South Africa refers to “the intentional or unintentional process to integrate intercultural, international and global dimensions in higher education” (Draft Policy Framework for the Internationalisation of Higher Education in South Africa, 2017). In analysing the experiences of international African academics, this research is trying to give a voice to an often-overlooked group of individuals. This research is also meant to portray the black experience in South African higher education as an experience that is not homogenous but reliant on a host of unique identity factors such as gender, class and also their nationality.
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- Date Issued: 2020
‘This sea of darkness, craziness and opportunity’: students experiences of depression and social identities at a South African university
- Authors: Craig, Ashleigh
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Depression, Mental -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Depression in adolescence -- South Africa -- Makhanda , College students -- Mental health -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Group identity -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Phenomenological psychology , Education, Higher -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Rhodes University
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/118632 , vital:34655
- Description: This study explores how the interaction between depression and social identities is experienced by South African university students. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight students at Rhodes University who have had depressive experiences and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The following five superordinate themes emerged out of the data: 1) the self looking in, 2) the self looking out, 3) the misunderstood self, 4) the student self and 5) the loss of self. Findings showed that students’ depression is significantly influenced by their social identities, which are experienced as multi-faceted and ever-changing within the university context. The related therapeutic implications are also discussed.
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- Date Issued: 2020
“When the rainbow is enuf”: black postgraduate women’s experiences and perceptions of higher education and institutional culture – a case study of Rhodes University
- Authors: Gamedze, Ayanda
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Rhodes University , College students, Black -- South Afrca , Women college students, Black -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147215 , vital:38605
- Description: This thesis sets out to investigate the perceptions which Black postgraduate students hold of the present-day toward Historically White Universities (hereafter referred to as HWUs) in South Africa as unique sites from which to investigate institutional culture and the legacy of educational marginalisation. Black women are of particular focus because of the interlocking nature of social inequalities that uniquely influence their comparable experience in the academy. Rhodes University, a top-ranked traditional university provides the institutional site for this investigation into HWUs. This thesis seeks to further explore the suggestion that desegregation of South Africa's institutions of higher learning have meant access, but not always acceptance. The paper explores what Black women students perceive to be Rhodes University's institutional culture and its impact on their lived realities. Subsequently, these women have learned who they are, and what place they occupy in South Africa today, through navigating a space not necessarily accommodating to Blackness and difference. There exists a plethora of literature on the issues which Black women scholars systematically encounter daily in the academy, in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. Nonetheless, there needs to be a further inquiry on the question of belonging of Black womanhood in HWU post the student-led movements of the past few years that have renewed the challenge to South Africa's colonial past, its neoliberal present, and its scourge of gender-based violence. This paper captures an ongoing conversation around the role of Black women in addressing transformation in HWU. As a Black woman in an HWU, I found myself wondering whether there are certain experiences students like me have in common – realities with nuances we call to identify with to some extent. I collected data from six Black women with whom I conducted interviews, and used it to compile this report and its analysis. I believe that the social significance of this study speaks to the importance of hearing the stories of subaltern groups that are positioned in spaces of privilege, yet continue to be defined by the disadvantage of their gender, race, and various other factors.
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- Date Issued: 2020