"Muscled Presence": Douglas Livingstone's poem "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Snake"
- Authors: Everitt, M , Wylie, D
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:2262 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004642
- Description: Douglas Livingstone's poem "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Snake" is an artwork which addresses precisely these questions, seeking a manner of portraying the snake which is neither grossly appropriative nor wholly detached, neither ethically empty nor preachy. In its multi-angled structure, Livingstone attempts aesthetically "to establish and embellish ... a contact zone with the nonhuman animals who share our world with us, but accepting also that there exist considerable venues on either side of this contact zone that are, on the one hand, only human, and on the other hand, only nonhuman". Even in his more formally scientific work, Livingstone argues for the inevitability of such limits to knowledge, and for the value of the imagination in addressing them.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Everitt, M , Wylie, D
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:2262 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004642
- Description: Douglas Livingstone's poem "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Snake" is an artwork which addresses precisely these questions, seeking a manner of portraying the snake which is neither grossly appropriative nor wholly detached, neither ethically empty nor preachy. In its multi-angled structure, Livingstone attempts aesthetically "to establish and embellish ... a contact zone with the nonhuman animals who share our world with us, but accepting also that there exist considerable venues on either side of this contact zone that are, on the one hand, only human, and on the other hand, only nonhuman". Even in his more formally scientific work, Livingstone argues for the inevitability of such limits to knowledge, and for the value of the imagination in addressing them.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
A Crown on the Move: stylistic integration of the Luba-Lunda complex in Lunda-Kazembe performance
- Authors: Simbao, Ruth K
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147524 , vital:38646 , https://doi.org/10.1162/afar.2006.39.3.26
- Description: Carried on a scarlet and zebra-hide litter above the heads of a throbbing crowd, Mwata Kazembe XIX gloriously stretches out his arms as if to embrace a world that is his own (Fig. 1). As he parts the sea of well-wishers, splashes of red burst into view and the talking drum beats out its decree. Basking in a charged clamor where the senses blur in clouds of dust, Mwata gracefully sways from side to side, jangling the beads and cowries on the back of his akatasa crown. It is on this day that the Lunda-Kazembe Crown moves.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Simbao, Ruth K
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147524 , vital:38646 , https://doi.org/10.1162/afar.2006.39.3.26
- Description: Carried on a scarlet and zebra-hide litter above the heads of a throbbing crowd, Mwata Kazembe XIX gloriously stretches out his arms as if to embrace a world that is his own (Fig. 1). As he parts the sea of well-wishers, splashes of red burst into view and the talking drum beats out its decree. Basking in a charged clamor where the senses blur in clouds of dust, Mwata gracefully sways from side to side, jangling the beads and cowries on the back of his akatasa crown. It is on this day that the Lunda-Kazembe Crown moves.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
An investigation into the time-saving benefits of using a computerised taxation program
- Forster, Rory, Stack, Elizabeth M
- Authors: Forster, Rory , Stack, Elizabeth M
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6065 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004610
- Description: Software programs designed to calculate the tax liability of individuals and other types of tax entity are being designed and used with increasing frequency. Research done in the United States of America appears to indicate that these programs do not achieve any saving in time and, in fact, may take longer to use than to complete a tax return by hand. As the South African revenue collection system appears to be moving closer to a self-assessment system, where the calculation of tax owing will be the responsibility of the taxpayer, the research essay sets out to determine whether there is a saving in time when calculating a tax liability using a tax software program, instead of calculating it by hand. In addition, the research aims to determine how much time, on average, is saved or lost, using such a program, and whether there is any correlation between the time taken to perform a calculation by hand and that using the software program. It does so by comparing the average estimated time it would take to complete tax calculations for individuals by hand with the average time taken to complete the same tax calculations using a tax software program. The average time taken to do the calculations by hand is based on the time allocation given for questions by the authors of a published question bank for university students. The time taken using software is determined by using a stop-watch to time each question being processed. The results, subject to assumptions made in carrying out the research, show that there is a substantial saving in time using the software program. Based on the data, however, the results indicate a weak correlation between the estimated time taken to do a calculation by hand and the estimated time using the software program. Possible reasons for the weak correlation are discussed. A recommendation is also made for the standardization and certification of existing tax calculation software.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Forster, Rory , Stack, Elizabeth M
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6065 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004610
- Description: Software programs designed to calculate the tax liability of individuals and other types of tax entity are being designed and used with increasing frequency. Research done in the United States of America appears to indicate that these programs do not achieve any saving in time and, in fact, may take longer to use than to complete a tax return by hand. As the South African revenue collection system appears to be moving closer to a self-assessment system, where the calculation of tax owing will be the responsibility of the taxpayer, the research essay sets out to determine whether there is a saving in time when calculating a tax liability using a tax software program, instead of calculating it by hand. In addition, the research aims to determine how much time, on average, is saved or lost, using such a program, and whether there is any correlation between the time taken to perform a calculation by hand and that using the software program. It does so by comparing the average estimated time it would take to complete tax calculations for individuals by hand with the average time taken to complete the same tax calculations using a tax software program. The average time taken to do the calculations by hand is based on the time allocation given for questions by the authors of a published question bank for university students. The time taken using software is determined by using a stop-watch to time each question being processed. The results, subject to assumptions made in carrying out the research, show that there is a substantial saving in time using the software program. Based on the data, however, the results indicate a weak correlation between the estimated time taken to do a calculation by hand and the estimated time using the software program. Possible reasons for the weak correlation are discussed. A recommendation is also made for the standardization and certification of existing tax calculation software.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Can formal language planning link to grassroots cultural initiatives?: an informal investigation
- Authors: Wright, Laurence
- Date: 2002
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7041 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007381
- Description: Formal language planning is inevitably a top-down, highly technical process. Success for such planning would seem to depend on engaging productively with existing or readily developed social motivation within the society. This article reports on an informal investigation into how ordinary language practitioners and cultural workers in South Africa view the possibilities of contributing to the country’s emerging language dispensation, what they regard as their most useful possible contributions, and what they expect from the language planners and ‘government’ in support of South Africa’s Language Policy and Plan.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2002
- Authors: Wright, Laurence
- Date: 2002
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7041 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007381
- Description: Formal language planning is inevitably a top-down, highly technical process. Success for such planning would seem to depend on engaging productively with existing or readily developed social motivation within the society. This article reports on an informal investigation into how ordinary language practitioners and cultural workers in South Africa view the possibilities of contributing to the country’s emerging language dispensation, what they regard as their most useful possible contributions, and what they expect from the language planners and ‘government’ in support of South Africa’s Language Policy and Plan.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2002
Challenges for South African anthropology in the 3rd Millennium
- Authors: Palmer, Robin C G
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Text
- Identifier: vital:6111 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008105
- Description: Towards the end of one’s career, there’s a powerful inclination to look backwards instead of forwards. You become more interested in histories, biographies and obituaries; you reflect on your own life and career. It’s not inevitable, and it can be resisted. Marshall McLuhan was well into his 50s – an obscure Canadian Eng Lit academic – when he had his vision of the nature and future of the media and anticipated a ‘global village’ that the Internet has turned into a reality since his death in 1980 (McLuhan and Powers 1989) – but more on that in due course. Cui Bono? At first I gave into the tendency to look back. Initially, for this lecture, I thought to analyse my own career in South Africa in terms of who benefited most from it: South African anthropology and my students … or me. I would call the lecture ‘Cui Bono?’ But then I realised, with Latin tags on the way out, younger colleagues and students in the audience might think I was referring to a traditional Australian greeting (Coo-ee) and an Irish philanthropist pop singer (Bono). The title would be totally mystifying to many until I explained that it meant ‘to whom the good’ – in other words, who benefits? But there were other objections to this project besides the title. Even the most postmodern of reflexive anthropologists would balk at making such a self-assessment – it was not for me to judge. Anyway, I already knew the answer: My career in South Africa has not been impeded by political harassments, imprisonment or conscription. I did make some small negligible contributions to the ‘struggle’ through writing or drawing, and I did some community service, on campus or off in the same way. At a critical stage I assisted with the process that eventually produced a national staff association, now called NTESU. The only price I have paid for these distractions from serious publishing at a critical stage of my career was deservedly slow promotion. I continue to contribute to the community mainly through membership of the older of Grahamstown’s two very active Rotary clubs. It’s all I have time for, but nothing to boast about. In sum, I’ve enjoyed what my long-term colleague and Grahamstown’s Citizen of the Year (another Rotary initiative) Michael Whisson likes to call ‘sheltered employment’ – his typically ironic way of reminding us of how privileged we academics are, doing what we enjoy, in pleasant surroundings, among intelligent colleagues and the cream of our youth, with plenty of flexi-time and opportunities for subsidized travel. And now I have benefited again by being promoted to full professor without sufficiently earning my keep through subsidies on academic outputs. Whatever I might have given back through teaching and administration the net is in my favour, and I am grateful beyond words.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Palmer, Robin C G
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Text
- Identifier: vital:6111 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008105
- Description: Towards the end of one’s career, there’s a powerful inclination to look backwards instead of forwards. You become more interested in histories, biographies and obituaries; you reflect on your own life and career. It’s not inevitable, and it can be resisted. Marshall McLuhan was well into his 50s – an obscure Canadian Eng Lit academic – when he had his vision of the nature and future of the media and anticipated a ‘global village’ that the Internet has turned into a reality since his death in 1980 (McLuhan and Powers 1989) – but more on that in due course. Cui Bono? At first I gave into the tendency to look back. Initially, for this lecture, I thought to analyse my own career in South Africa in terms of who benefited most from it: South African anthropology and my students … or me. I would call the lecture ‘Cui Bono?’ But then I realised, with Latin tags on the way out, younger colleagues and students in the audience might think I was referring to a traditional Australian greeting (Coo-ee) and an Irish philanthropist pop singer (Bono). The title would be totally mystifying to many until I explained that it meant ‘to whom the good’ – in other words, who benefits? But there were other objections to this project besides the title. Even the most postmodern of reflexive anthropologists would balk at making such a self-assessment – it was not for me to judge. Anyway, I already knew the answer: My career in South Africa has not been impeded by political harassments, imprisonment or conscription. I did make some small negligible contributions to the ‘struggle’ through writing or drawing, and I did some community service, on campus or off in the same way. At a critical stage I assisted with the process that eventually produced a national staff association, now called NTESU. The only price I have paid for these distractions from serious publishing at a critical stage of my career was deservedly slow promotion. I continue to contribute to the community mainly through membership of the older of Grahamstown’s two very active Rotary clubs. It’s all I have time for, but nothing to boast about. In sum, I’ve enjoyed what my long-term colleague and Grahamstown’s Citizen of the Year (another Rotary initiative) Michael Whisson likes to call ‘sheltered employment’ – his typically ironic way of reminding us of how privileged we academics are, doing what we enjoy, in pleasant surroundings, among intelligent colleagues and the cream of our youth, with plenty of flexi-time and opportunities for subsidized travel. And now I have benefited again by being promoted to full professor without sufficiently earning my keep through subsidies on academic outputs. Whatever I might have given back through teaching and administration the net is in my favour, and I am grateful beyond words.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
Changing energy profiles and consumption patterns following electrification in five rural villages, South Africa
- Madubansi, Mainza, Shackleton, Charlie M
- Authors: Madubansi, Mainza , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6640 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006866
- Description: Following the democratic transition in South Africa in the early 1990s the government has implemented a widespread electrification programme, as well as introduced a free basic electricity allowance as a means of poverty alleviation. Yet there are limited longitudinal studies on the impacts of the introduction of electricity on the patterns of household energy use, and even more so in the neglected rural sector. This study reports on the patterns of household energy use in five rural settlements in 1991 and again in 2002. Results indicate a changing pattern of energy use for lighting and powering entertainment appliances, more specifically from dry-cell batteries and paraffin to electricity. Yet for thermal needs, most notably cooking, fuelwood has remained the most widespread fuel, and the amount used per month has not changed, despite increasing scarcity of wood in the local environment. There has been an increase in the proportion of households purchasing fuelwood as opposed to collecting their own. Overall, the mean total number of fuel types used per household has increased, indicating that electricity is simply viewed as an additional energy, rather than an alternative. Yet, electricity accounted for approximately 60% of expenditure on energy sources in 2002, despite the government's policy of a free basic allowance of 5–6 kWh per month. This has implications for energy supply costing, as well as the poverty alleviation dimensions of the whole programme.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Madubansi, Mainza , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6640 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006866
- Description: Following the democratic transition in South Africa in the early 1990s the government has implemented a widespread electrification programme, as well as introduced a free basic electricity allowance as a means of poverty alleviation. Yet there are limited longitudinal studies on the impacts of the introduction of electricity on the patterns of household energy use, and even more so in the neglected rural sector. This study reports on the patterns of household energy use in five rural settlements in 1991 and again in 2002. Results indicate a changing pattern of energy use for lighting and powering entertainment appliances, more specifically from dry-cell batteries and paraffin to electricity. Yet for thermal needs, most notably cooking, fuelwood has remained the most widespread fuel, and the amount used per month has not changed, despite increasing scarcity of wood in the local environment. There has been an increase in the proportion of households purchasing fuelwood as opposed to collecting their own. Overall, the mean total number of fuel types used per household has increased, indicating that electricity is simply viewed as an additional energy, rather than an alternative. Yet, electricity accounted for approximately 60% of expenditure on energy sources in 2002, despite the government's policy of a free basic allowance of 5–6 kWh per month. This has implications for energy supply costing, as well as the poverty alleviation dimensions of the whole programme.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Cultivating a scholarly community of practice
- Lotz-Sisitka, Heila, Ellery, Karen, Olvitt, Lausanne L, Schudel, Ingrid J, O'Donoghue, Rob
- Authors: Lotz-Sisitka, Heila , Ellery, Karen , Olvitt, Lausanne L , Schudel, Ingrid J , O'Donoghue, Rob
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/69777 , vital:29579 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC15102
- Description: In the field of Environment and Sustainability Education we are seeking ways of developing our teaching and supervision practices to enable social changes in a rapidly transforming field of practice where global issues of truth, judgement, justice and sustainability define our engagements with the public good. This article explores the process of cultivating a scholarly community of practice as a model of supervision that not only engages scholars in an intellectual community oriented towards socio-ecological transformation, but also extends and enhances dialogue with individuals on the technical and theoretical aspects of their postgraduate studies.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2010
- Authors: Lotz-Sisitka, Heila , Ellery, Karen , Olvitt, Lausanne L , Schudel, Ingrid J , O'Donoghue, Rob
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/69777 , vital:29579 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC15102
- Description: In the field of Environment and Sustainability Education we are seeking ways of developing our teaching and supervision practices to enable social changes in a rapidly transforming field of practice where global issues of truth, judgement, justice and sustainability define our engagements with the public good. This article explores the process of cultivating a scholarly community of practice as a model of supervision that not only engages scholars in an intellectual community oriented towards socio-ecological transformation, but also extends and enhances dialogue with individuals on the technical and theoretical aspects of their postgraduate studies.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2010
Deep wounds... left... in hearts and minds: South African public history
- Authors: Wells, Julia C
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/69742 , vital:29574 , http://dx.doi.org/10.5130/phrj.v24i0.5781
- Description: Public history practise in South Africa holds out much promise of further things to come. It can close the gulf between history and heritage. This chapter argues that the role of the public historian should not be conflated with the dynamics of the heritage sector, but suggests how trained academics can indeed put their skills to work in a society that is passionately interested in understanding itself and how its pasts created the present. The student movement sharply raised the image of universities in crisis, requiring a whole new, relevant curriculum and rethinking the ways that universities relate to their publics. Public historians can work towards creating invented spaces for co-production of knowledge, moving beyond the traditional oral history interview. The divide between academia and communities is huge and needs to be constantly tackled, providing access to the secluded information of the professional world. I suggest that due to their privileged place in society, many historians have been unable or unwilling to engage with the recovery agenda – the massive need for affirmation of African identity, capacity and culture. A handful of dedicated public historians do not fit this mould and have been exemplary in rolling up their sleeves and boldly engaging with the messy complications of dealing with non-academic communities to produce new forms of historical knowledge, based on inclusiveness.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Wells, Julia C
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/69742 , vital:29574 , http://dx.doi.org/10.5130/phrj.v24i0.5781
- Description: Public history practise in South Africa holds out much promise of further things to come. It can close the gulf between history and heritage. This chapter argues that the role of the public historian should not be conflated with the dynamics of the heritage sector, but suggests how trained academics can indeed put their skills to work in a society that is passionately interested in understanding itself and how its pasts created the present. The student movement sharply raised the image of universities in crisis, requiring a whole new, relevant curriculum and rethinking the ways that universities relate to their publics. Public historians can work towards creating invented spaces for co-production of knowledge, moving beyond the traditional oral history interview. The divide between academia and communities is huge and needs to be constantly tackled, providing access to the secluded information of the professional world. I suggest that due to their privileged place in society, many historians have been unable or unwilling to engage with the recovery agenda – the massive need for affirmation of African identity, capacity and culture. A handful of dedicated public historians do not fit this mould and have been exemplary in rolling up their sleeves and boldly engaging with the messy complications of dealing with non-academic communities to produce new forms of historical knowledge, based on inclusiveness.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Disjunctions in the Diptera (Insecta) fauna of the Mediterranean Province and southern Africa and a discussion of biogeographical considerations : ecological overview article
- Kirk-Spriggs, A H, McGregor, Gillian K
- Authors: Kirk-Spriggs, A H , McGregor, Gillian K
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:6880 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011636
- Description: This paper explores disjunctions in the Diptera fauna of the Mediterranean Province and southern Africa, drawing from eight families of Diptera, the more ancient Psychodidae and Vermileonidae, and the more recent Acroceridae, Asilidae, Bombyliidae, Dolichopodidae, Pipunculidae and Sciomyzidae. Information from recent published revisions is geo-referenced and plotted onto maps using GIS software. These distribution patterns are interpreted and probable means and routes of dispersal between the two regions are discussed. The concept of an Afrotropical sub-Saharan boundary is outlined and it is argued that although the vast, arid and virtually abiotic Sahara acts as a barrier to dispersal today, relict floral and faunal populations of Mediterranean provincial origin still occur on the Hoggar and Tibesti Mountains of the central Sahara, indicating that the aridification of the Sahara is a very recent event. The presence of extensive palaeolakes formerly covering ca 10% of the present-day Sahara is regarded as evidence in support of this hypothesis. These lakes and their associated catchments, situated in basins between the central Saharan mountains, could clearly have acted as a humid route of dispersal as recently as 4000 BP, when these lakes began to recede, and this route is here regarded as a "central high Africa corridor"; a filter-bridge between the Mediterranean Province and southern Africa. Examples of Mediterranean provincial species of Ephydridae and the muscid genus Lispe Latreille, 1796, occurring as far south as the AÏr Massif in northern Niger are cited as examples of relict montane Diptera of Mediterranean provincial origin in the southern Hoggar Mountains; these groups being associated with the margins of standing water. Balinsky's (1962) concept of an "arid corridor" is also re-examined, using examples from the larger, less mobile Diptera, and it is concluded that such a pattern may not be the result of aridity, but represent an "eastern high Africa corridor", broadly corresponding to the "African Supers well". Other perceived distribution pathways between the Holarctic and Afrotropical Regions are mapped. Anemochore dispersal is considered, and the extent of the Afrotropical Region is discussed. Mediterranean tectonic evolution on both a globe of constant size and on a smaller Jurassic globe is also considered. It is concluded that if all the transitional zones between the zoogeographical regions are to be given more-or-less equivalent treatment, we must avoid setting boundaries based on earlier faunal distributions. For this reason the current boundary between the Palaearctic and Afrotropical Regions, arbitrary as it is, should be retained, despite evidence suggesting recent continuity between sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, corresponding broadly to the African and Arabian lithospheric plates.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Kirk-Spriggs, A H , McGregor, Gillian K
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:6880 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011636
- Description: This paper explores disjunctions in the Diptera fauna of the Mediterranean Province and southern Africa, drawing from eight families of Diptera, the more ancient Psychodidae and Vermileonidae, and the more recent Acroceridae, Asilidae, Bombyliidae, Dolichopodidae, Pipunculidae and Sciomyzidae. Information from recent published revisions is geo-referenced and plotted onto maps using GIS software. These distribution patterns are interpreted and probable means and routes of dispersal between the two regions are discussed. The concept of an Afrotropical sub-Saharan boundary is outlined and it is argued that although the vast, arid and virtually abiotic Sahara acts as a barrier to dispersal today, relict floral and faunal populations of Mediterranean provincial origin still occur on the Hoggar and Tibesti Mountains of the central Sahara, indicating that the aridification of the Sahara is a very recent event. The presence of extensive palaeolakes formerly covering ca 10% of the present-day Sahara is regarded as evidence in support of this hypothesis. These lakes and their associated catchments, situated in basins between the central Saharan mountains, could clearly have acted as a humid route of dispersal as recently as 4000 BP, when these lakes began to recede, and this route is here regarded as a "central high Africa corridor"; a filter-bridge between the Mediterranean Province and southern Africa. Examples of Mediterranean provincial species of Ephydridae and the muscid genus Lispe Latreille, 1796, occurring as far south as the AÏr Massif in northern Niger are cited as examples of relict montane Diptera of Mediterranean provincial origin in the southern Hoggar Mountains; these groups being associated with the margins of standing water. Balinsky's (1962) concept of an "arid corridor" is also re-examined, using examples from the larger, less mobile Diptera, and it is concluded that such a pattern may not be the result of aridity, but represent an "eastern high Africa corridor", broadly corresponding to the "African Supers well". Other perceived distribution pathways between the Holarctic and Afrotropical Regions are mapped. Anemochore dispersal is considered, and the extent of the Afrotropical Region is discussed. Mediterranean tectonic evolution on both a globe of constant size and on a smaller Jurassic globe is also considered. It is concluded that if all the transitional zones between the zoogeographical regions are to be given more-or-less equivalent treatment, we must avoid setting boundaries based on earlier faunal distributions. For this reason the current boundary between the Palaearctic and Afrotropical Regions, arbitrary as it is, should be retained, despite evidence suggesting recent continuity between sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, corresponding broadly to the African and Arabian lithospheric plates.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
Environmental ethics, protection and valuation
- Authors: Du Preez, M
- Subjects: Environmental ethics , Environmental protection , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/21022 , vital:29428
- Description: This lecture addresses the environmental ethics, protection and valuation of natural assets. The aim of the lecture is threefold: first, to present a bio-ethical argument for the extension of our moral reference class to include all conscious and non-conscious natural assets; second, to discuss the moral significance of a broader moral reference class in terms of Aldo Leopold’s ‘Land Ethic’; third, to discuss the valuation of natural assets from a system’s perspective with specific reference to the estimation of non-use values. In what follows, Section I discusses environmental protection from a bioethical point of view, Section II discusses the moral significance of a broader moral reference class in terms of Aldo Leopold’s ‘Land Ethic’, Section III describes the concept of valuing natural assets with specific reference to the concept of non-use value and its measurement, and finally, Section IV concludes the lecture.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Du Preez, M
- Subjects: Environmental ethics , Environmental protection , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/21022 , vital:29428
- Description: This lecture addresses the environmental ethics, protection and valuation of natural assets. The aim of the lecture is threefold: first, to present a bio-ethical argument for the extension of our moral reference class to include all conscious and non-conscious natural assets; second, to discuss the moral significance of a broader moral reference class in terms of Aldo Leopold’s ‘Land Ethic’; third, to discuss the valuation of natural assets from a system’s perspective with specific reference to the estimation of non-use values. In what follows, Section I discusses environmental protection from a bioethical point of view, Section II discusses the moral significance of a broader moral reference class in terms of Aldo Leopold’s ‘Land Ethic’, Section III describes the concept of valuing natural assets with specific reference to the concept of non-use value and its measurement, and finally, Section IV concludes the lecture.
- Full Text:
Epistemological access as an open question in education
- Authors: Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:21219 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7123 , http://joe.ukzn.ac.za/Libraries/No_46_June_2009/Epistemological_access_as_an_open_question_in_education.sflb.ashx
- Description: In his book Learning to Teach in South Africa Morrow (2007)1 argues that teacher education’s ultimate aim is to enable epistemological access2 to knowledge in the modern world, and that there is a need to find new ways of thinking about teaching in South Africa if we are to meet the challenge of enabling all learners to gain such epistemological access. Morrow relates problems of epistemological access to the dominance of an empiricist epistemology in education, and he also comments on how this is obscured by the ideologies of Outcomes Based Education and learner-centred education (with attendant constructivist, relativist assumptions about knowledge). These problems, he argues, have come to shape curriculum thinking, and hence teaching practice, creating a muddled epistemological context in which teaching practices are taking place. He argues for a realist focus but he does not elaborate on what such a realist focus might mean for enabling epistemological access or for associated teaching practice or for teacher education. He does, however, propose that systematic learning is a necessary way forward.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:21219 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7123 , http://joe.ukzn.ac.za/Libraries/No_46_June_2009/Epistemological_access_as_an_open_question_in_education.sflb.ashx
- Description: In his book Learning to Teach in South Africa Morrow (2007)1 argues that teacher education’s ultimate aim is to enable epistemological access2 to knowledge in the modern world, and that there is a need to find new ways of thinking about teaching in South Africa if we are to meet the challenge of enabling all learners to gain such epistemological access. Morrow relates problems of epistemological access to the dominance of an empiricist epistemology in education, and he also comments on how this is obscured by the ideologies of Outcomes Based Education and learner-centred education (with attendant constructivist, relativist assumptions about knowledge). These problems, he argues, have come to shape curriculum thinking, and hence teaching practice, creating a muddled epistemological context in which teaching practices are taking place. He argues for a realist focus but he does not elaborate on what such a realist focus might mean for enabling epistemological access or for associated teaching practice or for teacher education. He does, however, propose that systematic learning is a necessary way forward.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
Eva's men : gender and power in the establishment of the Cape of Good Hope, 1652–74
- Authors: Wells, Julia C
- Date: 1998
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6148 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006811 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0021853798007300
- Description: This article offers a fresh interpretation of the life of Krotoa/Eva, the famous Khoena interpreter of Jan Van Riebeeck, whose gender gave her a unique position in relation to both Dutch and Khoena society. It appears that her own people sent her to work for the Dutch as a young girl, both to serve as a token of goodwill, to gain prestige as the protegee of the household of a powerful leader and to become familiar with Dutch ways. The Dutch received her comfortably as a servant, child minder and companion for Van Riebeeck's young nieces. When Eva learned Dutch expertly, she quickly became their most trusted interpreter. The evidence also hints at an especially close and sensitive, possibly sexual, relationship between her and Van Riebeeck. When military conflicts left Eva identified as a Dutch collaborator, she contacted her sister's husband, chief Oedasoa. Her direct mediation enabled the Dutch to open up a profitable new trading enterprise with Oedasoa, who in turn used Eva as his personal agent within the Dutch community. Her unique position attracted the attention of a bright young employee of the Company, Pieter Van Meerhoff, who became her lover soon after his arrival at the Cape in 1659. Pieter became actively involved in northern expeditions of exploration and prided himself on his sensitivity and capacity to get on well with various Khoena chiefs. Eva continued as an interpreter, intermediary with Oedasoa and the couple had two children together. Eva and Pieter married only after Van Riebeeck left the Cape. Their decision to conform to the norms of Dutch society disappointed Oedasoa who had offered them enough livestock to establish an independent lifestyle but brought both much higher levels of respect from the Dutch, including significant promotions for Pieter. When Pieter was killed in 1666, heading up a trading mission to Mauritius, Eva's life sharply deteriorated. She died in 1674, accused of having become a drunken pest and prostitute. Eva's story exemplifies how an African woman in an early colonial encounter could manipulate a variety of gender roles. Seen as a safe intermediary by both Africans and Europeans, she built herself a unique career and formed a durable liaison with a spirited young man. However, as the nature of contact between the races deteriorated, her role as intermediary diminished in importance. Ultimately, without Pieter, she could not sustain her pivotal place in Dutch society, dying a miserable death. Her life reflects the rapidly changing nature of early colonial contacts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1998
- Authors: Wells, Julia C
- Date: 1998
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6148 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006811 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0021853798007300
- Description: This article offers a fresh interpretation of the life of Krotoa/Eva, the famous Khoena interpreter of Jan Van Riebeeck, whose gender gave her a unique position in relation to both Dutch and Khoena society. It appears that her own people sent her to work for the Dutch as a young girl, both to serve as a token of goodwill, to gain prestige as the protegee of the household of a powerful leader and to become familiar with Dutch ways. The Dutch received her comfortably as a servant, child minder and companion for Van Riebeeck's young nieces. When Eva learned Dutch expertly, she quickly became their most trusted interpreter. The evidence also hints at an especially close and sensitive, possibly sexual, relationship between her and Van Riebeeck. When military conflicts left Eva identified as a Dutch collaborator, she contacted her sister's husband, chief Oedasoa. Her direct mediation enabled the Dutch to open up a profitable new trading enterprise with Oedasoa, who in turn used Eva as his personal agent within the Dutch community. Her unique position attracted the attention of a bright young employee of the Company, Pieter Van Meerhoff, who became her lover soon after his arrival at the Cape in 1659. Pieter became actively involved in northern expeditions of exploration and prided himself on his sensitivity and capacity to get on well with various Khoena chiefs. Eva continued as an interpreter, intermediary with Oedasoa and the couple had two children together. Eva and Pieter married only after Van Riebeeck left the Cape. Their decision to conform to the norms of Dutch society disappointed Oedasoa who had offered them enough livestock to establish an independent lifestyle but brought both much higher levels of respect from the Dutch, including significant promotions for Pieter. When Pieter was killed in 1666, heading up a trading mission to Mauritius, Eva's life sharply deteriorated. She died in 1674, accused of having become a drunken pest and prostitute. Eva's story exemplifies how an African woman in an early colonial encounter could manipulate a variety of gender roles. Seen as a safe intermediary by both Africans and Europeans, she built herself a unique career and formed a durable liaison with a spirited young man. However, as the nature of contact between the races deteriorated, her role as intermediary diminished in importance. Ultimately, without Pieter, she could not sustain her pivotal place in Dutch society, dying a miserable death. Her life reflects the rapidly changing nature of early colonial contacts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1998
Farm labour in the Eastern Cape, 1950-1973:
- Authors: Antrobus, Geoffrey G
- Date: 1976
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142850 , vital:38123 , http://opensaldru.uct.ac.za/bitstream/handle/11090/465/1976_antrobus_sflcp20.pdf?sequence=1
- Description: The purpose of this paper is to, survey the farm labour conditions in the Eastern Cape over approximately two decades and to note some of the conditions of service and the attitudes of employers, and the changes which have occurred in employment and wages paid. The main source for the latter period, and in particular 1973, is a farm labour survey conducted in conjunction with E.A. Thomson in the Eastern Cape. The survey relied entirely on the willingness of members of farm study groups and Farmers' Associations as well as interested individuals for its completion. Of the approximately 1020 pre-coded questionnaires which were posted to farmers throughout the Eastern Cape in June 1973, 303 were returned of which 299 were suitable for analysis.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1976
- Authors: Antrobus, Geoffrey G
- Date: 1976
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142850 , vital:38123 , http://opensaldru.uct.ac.za/bitstream/handle/11090/465/1976_antrobus_sflcp20.pdf?sequence=1
- Description: The purpose of this paper is to, survey the farm labour conditions in the Eastern Cape over approximately two decades and to note some of the conditions of service and the attitudes of employers, and the changes which have occurred in employment and wages paid. The main source for the latter period, and in particular 1973, is a farm labour survey conducted in conjunction with E.A. Thomson in the Eastern Cape. The survey relied entirely on the willingness of members of farm study groups and Farmers' Associations as well as interested individuals for its completion. Of the approximately 1020 pre-coded questionnaires which were posted to farmers throughout the Eastern Cape in June 1973, 303 were returned of which 299 were suitable for analysis.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1976
Feminist health psychology and abortion : towards a politics of transversal relations of commonality
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: Text
- Identifier: vital:6303 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1015959
- Description: In 1992 Speckhard and Rue argued in the Journal of Social Issues for the recognition of a diagnostic category, post-abortion syndrome (PAS). This term was first used in 1981 by Vincent Rue in testimony to the American Congress, but was only formalised in a published paper a decade later. Speckhard and Rue (1992) posit that abortion is a psychosocial stressor that may cause mild distress through to severe trauma, creating the need for a continuum of categories, these being post-abortion distress, post-abortion syndrome and post-abortion psychosis. PAS, which is the main focus of their paper, and which has taken root in some professional language as well as lay anti-abortion discourse, is described as a type of post-traumatic stress disorder.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Feminist health psychology and abortion : towards a politics of transversal relations of commonality
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: Text
- Identifier: vital:6303 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1015959
- Description: In 1992 Speckhard and Rue argued in the Journal of Social Issues for the recognition of a diagnostic category, post-abortion syndrome (PAS). This term was first used in 1981 by Vincent Rue in testimony to the American Congress, but was only formalised in a published paper a decade later. Speckhard and Rue (1992) posit that abortion is a psychosocial stressor that may cause mild distress through to severe trauma, creating the need for a continuum of categories, these being post-abortion distress, post-abortion syndrome and post-abortion psychosis. PAS, which is the main focus of their paper, and which has taken root in some professional language as well as lay anti-abortion discourse, is described as a type of post-traumatic stress disorder.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
From the grave to the cradle : the possibility of post-mortem gamete retrieval and reproduction in South Africa
- Authors: Kruuse, Helen
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:24533 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/36254 , http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19962126.2012.11865059
- Description: The development of reproductive technologies in the last century, such as effective contraceptive methods, artificial insemination, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, amongst others, has fundamentally reshaped traditional concepts of reproduction parenthood and has raised practical and ethical concerns. This article describes one such development, namely, post-mortem gamete retrieval (PMGR) for the purposes of posthumous reproduction. In exploring the particular concerns arising from this technology, I argue that South Africa lacks a coherent, considered approach to the issue. In considering models adopted in overseas jurisdictions, and the various bases for the legalisation of such a procedure, I adopt an interest theory of rights to argue for restricted access to such a technology in suitable circumstances.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Kruuse, Helen
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:24533 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/36254 , http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19962126.2012.11865059
- Description: The development of reproductive technologies in the last century, such as effective contraceptive methods, artificial insemination, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, amongst others, has fundamentally reshaped traditional concepts of reproduction parenthood and has raised practical and ethical concerns. This article describes one such development, namely, post-mortem gamete retrieval (PMGR) for the purposes of posthumous reproduction. In exploring the particular concerns arising from this technology, I argue that South Africa lacks a coherent, considered approach to the issue. In considering models adopted in overseas jurisdictions, and the various bases for the legalisation of such a procedure, I adopt an interest theory of rights to argue for restricted access to such a technology in suitable circumstances.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
In search of optimal stocking regimes in semi-arid grazing lands : one size does not fit all
- Campbell, Bruce M, Gordon, Iain J, Luckert, Martin K, Petheram, Lisa, Vetter, Susan M
- Authors: Campbell, Bruce M , Gordon, Iain J , Luckert, Martin K , Petheram, Lisa , Vetter, Susan M
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6507 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005934
- Description: We discuss the search for optimal stocking regimes in semi-arid grazing lands. We argue that ‘one size does not fit all’ and that different stocking regimes are appropriate under different conditions. This paper is an attempt to move beyond polarization of the current debate towards a more integrative and flexible approach to grazing management. We propose five different conditions as major influences on grazing regimes: environmental variability and predictability; degradation and thresholds; property right regimes; discount rates; and market stability and prices. We suggest a lack of connection between the micro-economics literature and natural science and social-anthropological literature. It is timely to achieve greater integration around some key questions and hypotheses, and recognize that policy prescriptions at national or even regional levels are likely to have limited value due to context specificity.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Campbell, Bruce M , Gordon, Iain J , Luckert, Martin K , Petheram, Lisa , Vetter, Susan M
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6507 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005934
- Description: We discuss the search for optimal stocking regimes in semi-arid grazing lands. We argue that ‘one size does not fit all’ and that different stocking regimes are appropriate under different conditions. This paper is an attempt to move beyond polarization of the current debate towards a more integrative and flexible approach to grazing management. We propose five different conditions as major influences on grazing regimes: environmental variability and predictability; degradation and thresholds; property right regimes; discount rates; and market stability and prices. We suggest a lack of connection between the micro-economics literature and natural science and social-anthropological literature. It is timely to achieve greater integration around some key questions and hypotheses, and recognize that policy prescriptions at national or even regional levels are likely to have limited value due to context specificity.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Indicators of sustainable fishing for South African sardine Sardinops sagax and anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus
- Fairweather, T P, Van der Lingen, C D, Booth, Anthony J, Drapeau, L, Van Der Westhuizen, J J
- Authors: Fairweather, T P , Van der Lingen, C D , Booth, Anthony J , Drapeau, L , Van Der Westhuizen, J J
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/124778 , vital:35691 , https://doi.10.2989/18142320609504215
- Description: Six indicators were investigated for South African sardine Sardinops sagax and anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus: mean length of catch, length-at-50% maturity, total mortality, exploitation rate, ratio of bycatch, and centre of gravity of commercial catches. Sardine length-at-50% maturity is the most promising as a descriptive indicator because it is positively correlated with population size for an extensive time period (1953–2005). The remaining indicators were limited by shorter data-series (1984–2005). However, mean length of catch, ratio of bycatch and exploitation rate were found to be useful when considered in conjunction with other indicators. The centre of gravity of commercial sardine catches has shown a significant eastward shift from the West Coast, whereas that of anchovy has remained off that coast. Ratio of bycatch indicates that school composition is a reliable descriptive indicator of relative abundance in the two species. Fewer indicators for anchovy were useful, which is attributed to this species’ flexible life-history pattern.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
- Authors: Fairweather, T P , Van der Lingen, C D , Booth, Anthony J , Drapeau, L , Van Der Westhuizen, J J
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/124778 , vital:35691 , https://doi.10.2989/18142320609504215
- Description: Six indicators were investigated for South African sardine Sardinops sagax and anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus: mean length of catch, length-at-50% maturity, total mortality, exploitation rate, ratio of bycatch, and centre of gravity of commercial catches. Sardine length-at-50% maturity is the most promising as a descriptive indicator because it is positively correlated with population size for an extensive time period (1953–2005). The remaining indicators were limited by shorter data-series (1984–2005). However, mean length of catch, ratio of bycatch and exploitation rate were found to be useful when considered in conjunction with other indicators. The centre of gravity of commercial sardine catches has shown a significant eastward shift from the West Coast, whereas that of anchovy has remained off that coast. Ratio of bycatch indicates that school composition is a reliable descriptive indicator of relative abundance in the two species. Fewer indicators for anchovy were useful, which is attributed to this species’ flexible life-history pattern.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
Intellectualisation of isiXhosa literature: the case of Jeff Opland
- Authors: Kaschula, Russell H
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67030 , vital:29022 , https://doi.org/10.17159/2309-9070/tvl.v.54i2.413
- Description: publisher version , The origins of the intellectualisation of written isiXhosa literature are often attributed to the missionaries John Ross and John Bennie. They set up a printing press in the Tyhume Valley which later became known as Lovedale Press. They introduced written isiXhosa in 1823 and for this they are acknowledged as the first to write and publish in isiXhosa. This article attempts to trace this intellectualisation process of isiXhosa literature, concentrating on a critique and assessment of the life-long work of Professor Jeff Opland, who has contributed enormously to the present understanding of both oral and written isiXhosa literature. It is argued in this article that his corpus of books and academic articles require some contextualisation within the broader debate of the continued intellectualisation of isiXhosa language and literature. Reference is also made to the Opland isiXhosa literature archive and its contribution to the further intellectualisation of isiXhosa literature. It is suggested in this article that Opland is one of the greatest contributors to academic debates concerning isiXhosa literature and history. Izibongo or oral poems written by, and about Jeff Opland are analysed to further enhance the context of his contribution.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Kaschula, Russell H
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67030 , vital:29022 , https://doi.org/10.17159/2309-9070/tvl.v.54i2.413
- Description: publisher version , The origins of the intellectualisation of written isiXhosa literature are often attributed to the missionaries John Ross and John Bennie. They set up a printing press in the Tyhume Valley which later became known as Lovedale Press. They introduced written isiXhosa in 1823 and for this they are acknowledged as the first to write and publish in isiXhosa. This article attempts to trace this intellectualisation process of isiXhosa literature, concentrating on a critique and assessment of the life-long work of Professor Jeff Opland, who has contributed enormously to the present understanding of both oral and written isiXhosa literature. It is argued in this article that his corpus of books and academic articles require some contextualisation within the broader debate of the continued intellectualisation of isiXhosa language and literature. Reference is also made to the Opland isiXhosa literature archive and its contribution to the further intellectualisation of isiXhosa literature. It is suggested in this article that Opland is one of the greatest contributors to academic debates concerning isiXhosa literature and history. Izibongo or oral poems written by, and about Jeff Opland are analysed to further enhance the context of his contribution.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017