Can Jamaica put music first?: a comment
- Authors: Stanley Niaah, Sonjah
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145941 , vital:38480 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1080/00086495.2018.1480319
- Description: Many development programmes fail because they don’t account for cultural contexts. In a context where cultural and creative industries represent 10% of the GNP in economies such as Brazil, China, India, and Indonesia, there is no doubt that culture is vital for their sustainable development.
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- Date Issued: 2018
Confronting the Colonial Library: teaching Political Studies amidst calls for a decolonised curriculum
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142191 , vital:38057 , DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2018.1418204
- Description: This paper engages with Mudimbe's concept of the ‘colonial library’ with the aim of using this engagement to contribute to current debates about decolonising South African university curricula. The term ‘colonial library’ refers to the body of texts and epistemological order which construct Africa as a symbol of otherness and inferiority. Mudimbe shows that even the most determined attempts to resist the colonial library draw on this same epistemological order. This presents a profound challenge for attempts to decolonise university curricula as it suggests that the colonial library's reach extends into attempts to dismantle it. In response to this challenge, I discuss ways in which we can oppose epistemological ethnocentrism and argue that we need to be open to the possibility of the emancipatory reappropriation of aspects of the colonial library. The paper concludes by relating the foregoing discussion to the South African political studies classroom.
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- Date Issued: 2018
From universal to local: perspectives on cultural landscape heritage in South Africa
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Vetter, Susan M , Wiersum, K Freerk
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141150 , vital:37948 , https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2017.1362573
- Description: The concept of cultural landscapes relates to the multifaceted links between people, place and identity. From a professional perspective, the concept refers to a category of designated conservation areas with specific biocultural heritage values. From a local perspective, it may refer to a landscape that is associated with the provision of a culturally-specific sense of identity and belonging. We explore these two perspectives through a comparative analysis of three cultural landscapes in South Africa, the ‘expert’ designated Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape and the Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape, and the local associative landscape of emaXhoseni, which is not formally recognised. We propose that a biocultural diversity perspective of heritage not only recognises the inextricable relationship between nature and culture, but it also gives prominence to the beliefs, values and practices of local people, and to strengthening their agency to safeguard their heritage in ways and forms that are relevant to them.
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- Date Issued: 2018
Invaded habitat incompatibility affects the suitability of the potential biological control agent Listronotus sordidus for Sagittaria platyphylla in South Africa
- Authors: Martin, Grant D , Coetzee, Julie A , Lloyd, Melissa , Nombewu, Sinoxolo E , Ndlovu, Mpilonhle S , Kwong, Raelene M
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/103926 , vital:32323 , https://doi.org/10.1080/09583157.2018.1460314
- Description: Sagittaria platyphylla (Engelmann) J.G. Smith (Alismataceae) was first recorded in South Africa in 2008 and is considered to be an emerging weed with naturalised populations occurring throughout the country. A biological control programme was initiated in Australia and surveys conducted between 2010 and 2012 yielded potential agents, including the crown feeding weevil, Listronotus sordidus Gyllenhal (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). The potential of L. sordidus as a candidate biological control agent against S. platyphylla in South Africa was examined. Although adult feeding was recorded on a number of plant species, oviposition and larval development indicated a narrow host range restricted to the Alismataceae. In South Africa, S. platyphylla populations are primarily found in inundated systems. However, laboratory studies showed that L. sordidus did not oviposit on inundated plants, potentially nullifying the impact of the insect on South African populations. It is suggested that even though L. sordidus is a damaging, specific agent, its limited impact on inundated plant populations in South Africa does not justify the inherent risk associated with the release of a biological control agent.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2018
Culture, language and productivity in the workplace within the BRICS Nations:
- Authors: Kaschula, Russell H , Mostert, André M , Wolff, H Ekkehard
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/174624 , vital:42495 , https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.25159/2663-6697/5009
- Description: The changing economic environment globally carries challenges and opportunities for business. Cross-cultural environments and financial integration call for greater understanding of the workplace. The authors assess the usage and status of language and culture in workplaces within the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) countries through a light touch survey to assist in framing further and deeper research activities. The objective is to develop a suitable research framework regarding the place of language and culture in the workplace in multilingual and multicultural contexts. The authors argue for the inclusion of a cultural dimension linked to multilingual strategies in the workplace. The inextricable link between language and culture is explored in this article.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Health literacy test for limited literacy populations (HELT-LL): validation in South Africa
- Authors: Marimwe, Chipiwa , Dowse, Roslind
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/156652 , vital:40035 , https://doi.org/10.1080/2331205X.2019.1650417
- Description: The majority of health literacy measures emanate from high-income countries and are inappropriate for use in limited literacy individuals who are usually excluded from participation in health literacy studies. There is currently no appropriate health literacy measure for the educationally diverse South African population. This study, which reports the validation of the Health Literacy Test for Limited Literacy individuals (HELT-LL), was conducted in primary health-care clinics with 210 isiXhosa-speaking patients with a maximum of 12 years of schooling. The HELT-LL has varied cognitive demands, assesses functional literacy skills as well as local burden of disease knowledge, and also includes self-reported questions.
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- Date Issued: 2019
Molecular phylogeny of Chondrocyclus (Gastropoda: Cyclophoridae), a widespread genus of sedentary, restricted-range snails:
- Authors: Cole, Mary L , Raheem, Dinarzarde C , Villet, Martin H
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140761 , vital:37916 , DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2018.09.018
- Description: The genus Chondrocyclus Ancey, 1898 contains the majority of southern African members of the Cyclophoridae, a large family of operculate land snails. We present the first molecular phylogeny of the genus based on two mitochondrial genes (16S and CO1) and complement this with an appraisal of morphological characters relating to the shell and soft parts. Worn shells on which some descriptions and records of different species were based appear to be indistinguishable morphologically, creating taxonomic confusion. We show that Chondrocyclus s.l. underwent two major radiations, one Afromontane and the other largely coastal.
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- Date Issued: 2019
Pigs vs people: the use of pigs as analogues for humans in forensic entomology and taphonomy research
- Authors: Matuszewski, Szymon , Hall, Martin J R , Moreau, Gaétan , Schoenly, Kenneth G , Tarone, Aaron M , Villet, Martin H
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140557 , vital:37898 , DOI: 10.1007/s00414-019-02074-5
- Description: Most studies of decomposition in forensic entomology and taphonomy have used non-human cadavers. Following the recommendation of using domestic pig cadavers as analogues for humans in forensic entomology in the 1980s, pigs became the most frequently used model cadavers in forensic sciences. They have shaped our understanding of how large vertebrate cadavers decompose in, for example, various environments, seasons and after various ante- or postmortem cadaver modifications. They have also been used to demonstrate the feasibility of several new or well-established forensic techniques. The advent of outdoor human taphonomy facilities enabled experimental comparisons of decomposition between pig and human cadavers. Recent comparisons challenged the pig-as-analogue claim in entomology and taphonomy research. In this review, we discuss in a broad methodological context the advantages and disadvantages of pig and human cadavers for forensic research and rebut the critique of pigs as analogues for humans. We conclude that experiments using human cadaver analogues (i.e. pig carcasses) are easier to replicate and more practical for controlling confounding factors than studies based solely on humans and, therefore, are likely to remain our primary epistemic source of forensic knowledge for the immediate future. We supplement these considerations with new guidelines for model cadaver choice in forensic science research.
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- Date Issued: 2019
Nutrient patchiness, phytoplankton surge-uptake, and turbulent history: a theoretical approach and its experimental validation
- Authors: Schapira, Mathilde , Seuront, Laurent
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/149774 , vital:38883 , https://doi.org/10.3390/fluids5020080
- Description: Despite ample evidence of micro- and small-scale (i.e., millimeter- to meter-scale) phytoplankton and zooplankton patchiness in the ocean, direct observations of nutrient distributions and the ecological importance of this phenomenon are still relatively scarce. In this context, we first describe a simple procedure to continuously sample nutrients in surface waters, and subsequently provide evidence of the existence of microscale distribution of ammonium in the ocean. We further show that ammonium is never homogeneously distributed, even under very high conditions of turbulence. Instead, turbulence intensity appears to control nutrient patchiness, with a more homogeneous or a more heterogeneous distribution observed under high and low turbulence intensities, respectively, under the same concentration in nutrient. Based on a modelling procedure taking into account the stochastic properties of intermittent nutrient distributions and observations carried out on natural phytoplankton communities, we introduce and verify the hypothesis that under nutrient limitation, the “turbulent history” of phytoplankton cells, i.e., the turbulent conditions they experienced in their natural environments, conditions their efficiency to uptake ephemeral inorganic nitrogen patches of different concentrations.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Probing the structural dynamics of the Plasmodium falciparum tunneling-fold enzyme 6-pyruvoyl tetrahydropterin synthase to reveal allosteric drug targeting sites:
- Authors: Khairallah, Afrah , Ross, Caroline J , Tastan Bishop, Özlem
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/163057 , vital:41008 , https://doi.org/10.3389/fmolb.2020.575196
- Description: The de novo folate synthesis pathway is a well-established drug target in the treatment of many infectious diseases. Antimalarial antifolate drugs have proven to be effective against malaria, however, rapid drug resistance has emerged on the two primary targeted enzymes: dihydrofolate reductase and dihydroptoreate synthase. The need to identify alternative antifolate drugs and novel metabolic targets is of imminent importance. The 6-pyruvol tetrahydropterin synthase (PTPS) enzyme belongs to the tunneling fold protein superfamily which is characterized by a distinct central tunnel/cavity. The enzyme catalyzes the second reaction step of the parasite’s de novo folate synthesis pathway and is responsible for the conversion of 7,8-dihydroneopterin to 6-pyruvoyl-tetrahydropterin. In this study, we examine the structural dynamics of Plasmodium falciparum PTPS using the anisotropic network model, to elucidate the collective motions that drive the function of the enzyme and identify potential sites for allosteric modulation of its binding properties.
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- Date Issued: 2020
Protected and un-protected urban wetlands have similar aquatic macroinvertebrate communities: a case study from the Cape Flats Sand Fynbos region of southern Africa
- Authors: Blanckenberg, Michelle , Mlambo, Musa C , Parker, Denham , Motitsoe, Samuel N
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/149288 , vital:38822 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1371/journal.pone.0233889
- Description: Rapid urbanisation has led to major landscape alterations, affecting aquatic ecosystems’ hydrological and biogeochemical cycles, and biodiversity. Thus, habitat alteration is considered a major driver of aquatic biodiversity loss and related aquatic ecosystem goods and services. This study aimed to investigate and compare aquatic macroinvertebrate richness, diversity and community structure between urban temporary wetlands, located within protected and un-protected areas. The latter were found within an open public space or park with no protection or conservation status, whereas the former were inaccessible to the public and had formal protected, conservation status.
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- Date Issued: 2020
The alternative theory of state-minded protest texts in the music of democratic Nigeria:
- Authors: Osiebe, Garhe
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/160423 , vital:40444 , DOI: 10.1080/21681392.2020.1810085
- Description: This paper centres on an alternative discourse of popular music culture in re-democratized Nigeria. Whereas much work has been done on state-minded protest music in Nigeria, studies have been reticent in appreciating the works of Fela's son, Femi; particularly within a framework of re-democratized Nigeria's equivalent of Fela's works which constituted a major alternative voice through military-ruled Nigeria. The paper is an attempt to make up this lacuna along the lines of Chris Atton’s 2006 alternative media theory. The analysis of the alternative media theory is complemented by an analysis of the texts of selected state-minded protest works from two crossover popular musicians – Blackface and Mr Raw – of re-democratized Nigeria, both of whose state-minded protest works have hitherto been unexplored by the academe.
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- Date Issued: 2020
Determinants of Job Satisfaction Among Academics at A Selected Institution of Higher Learning in The Eastern Cape Province of South Africa
- Authors: Mefi, Nteboheng Patricia , Asoba, Samson Nambei
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: Education (Higher) Education (Higher) Computer File , Job Satisfaction Job Satisfaction Computer File
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/7443 , vital:53976 , https://www.abacademies.org/articles/determinants-of-job-satisfaction-among-academics-at-a-selected-institution-of-higher-learning-in-the-eastern-cape-province-of-sout-13195.html
- Description: Many studies have considered job satisfaction and its antecedents in the profit making sector. These studies have provided a number of factors that influence job satisfaction including autonomy, compensation, growth opportunities, leadership styles, task variety and so on. There are numerous factors that have been discovered to positively influence job satisfaction. Interest in job satisfaction arises from the fact that productivity and other favourable organisational outcomes such as service delivery and quality of outputs have been found to associate with job satisfaction. This study followed a quantitative approach based on a Likert questionnaire to collect data on the antecedents of employee job satisfaction within a Higher Education Institution (HEI) in South Africa. It was established that antecedents of job satisfaction in the HEI resembled closely those established in the literature. It is recommended that HEI should consider factors such as remuneration, task variety, work autonomy, good workplace relations and leadership styles to foster employee motivation. Keywords: Job Satisfaction, Higher Education Institutions, Human Capital, Productivity
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- Date Issued: 2021
The emergence of isiZulu in Skeem Saam (2011) sociolinguistics: factors and the politics of the ‘loss of ethnolinguistic pluralism’at the SABC 1
- Authors: Aiseng, Kealeboga
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/455285 , vital:75418 , https://doi.org/10.1080/13504630.2022.2063115
- Description: This study aims to investigate how an ecological understanding of pol-yglossia is used in the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) television channel, SABC 1 to maintain and create ethnolinguis-tic dominance. Key arguments this study will make are: (1) polyglossia is a language ideology masquerading as ethnolinguistic pluralism, (2) there is a loss of ethnolinguistic pluralism in SABC 1 because of the polyglot culture and its transmissions, (3) isiZulu is emerging as a lan-guage and cultural flare of the channel. This paper concluded that isi-Zulu’s presence is rising in a soap initially meant to be a Sepedi show. And this has negative consequences for language equality in the SABC.
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- Date Issued: 2022
Black Twitter and Digital Counterpublics in South Africa
- Authors: Aiseng, Kealeboga
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/455188 , vital:75411 , https://doi.org/10.11114/smc.v12i2.6540
- Description: The growth of technology has made the Internet an essential tool in so-ciety. Scholars have argued that the Internet supports a more delibera-tive democracy. However, scholars have also raised concerns about the role of the Internet in political matters. While scholars agree that the Internet has facilitated broader public discussion, in many regards, its ‘virtual public sphere’still mirrors existing social structures. Twitter has become a common social media platform for many South Africans. This has led to a virtual community of Twitter users engaged in real-time dis-courses primarily related to Black South Africans. Black Twitter in South Africa is used for social, political, and economic motivations. This study argues for the practice of Black Twitter as a digital counterpublic in South Africa. The aim is to spotlight how black people in South Africa have used Black Twitter as a digital counterpublic for the marginalized groups within South Africa. The research will investigate the potential challenges and opportunities associated with Black Twitter functioning as a digital counterpublic. Utilizing digital ethnography, the study gath-ered a dataset of tweets from Black Twitter in 2022, focusing on those addressing social, political, and economic issues. More than 700,000 tweets were identified under these specific thematic hashtags.
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- Date Issued: 2024