Colonial tales, alter-narratives and the enduring value of anthropology
- Authors: Boswell, Rose
- Subjects: Anthrology , Oral tradition , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/20989 , vital:29425
- Description: Stories and story-telling are fundamental to human beings. What stories do we choose to tell, hear and relate? From childhood through to adulthood, stories and story-telling provide social content, example, advice, therapy, continuity, connection and entertainment. Story-telling is also a space for hidden resistance, embodiment and the invocation of rank. Accompanied by song and dance, those intangible heritages which must remain dynamic to endure, stories facilitate an aural and oral community that engenders its own understanding of time, place and identity. In anthropology, the study of humanity in all its complexities, there is the collection, collation and retelling of stories for audiences who would otherwise not understand or seek to essentialise those deemed ‗other‘. In this inaugural lecture I focus on the value of stories gathered from anthropological field research in the southwest Indian Ocean Islands. The stories (often constitutive of a multiply-situated self), shed light on the finer details of gendered, ethnic and raced existence in the island communities. They also offer deep insight into the nature and possible ‗evolutions‘ of contemporary societies. Finally, I suggest that alter-narratives, those stories rarely told, provide access not only to multiple worlds, they are part of an aural epistemology which might lead to alternative ways of connecting with others and thereby conceptualising and articulating identity in our contemporary global society.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Boswell, Rose
- Subjects: Anthrology , Oral tradition , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/20989 , vital:29425
- Description: Stories and story-telling are fundamental to human beings. What stories do we choose to tell, hear and relate? From childhood through to adulthood, stories and story-telling provide social content, example, advice, therapy, continuity, connection and entertainment. Story-telling is also a space for hidden resistance, embodiment and the invocation of rank. Accompanied by song and dance, those intangible heritages which must remain dynamic to endure, stories facilitate an aural and oral community that engenders its own understanding of time, place and identity. In anthropology, the study of humanity in all its complexities, there is the collection, collation and retelling of stories for audiences who would otherwise not understand or seek to essentialise those deemed ‗other‘. In this inaugural lecture I focus on the value of stories gathered from anthropological field research in the southwest Indian Ocean Islands. The stories (often constitutive of a multiply-situated self), shed light on the finer details of gendered, ethnic and raced existence in the island communities. They also offer deep insight into the nature and possible ‗evolutions‘ of contemporary societies. Finally, I suggest that alter-narratives, those stories rarely told, provide access not only to multiple worlds, they are part of an aural epistemology which might lead to alternative ways of connecting with others and thereby conceptualising and articulating identity in our contemporary global society.
- Full Text:
Philosophy as laughter
- Authors: Hurst, Andrea
- Subjects: Laughter -- Philosophy , Philosophy -- Study and teaching , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/37103 , vital:34106
- Description: Contextualising my current philosophical preoccupations within the framework of my understanding of my task as a philosopher, I engage with the proposition that philosophers have a double task: firstly learning (and teaching) how to think, and relatedly, unexpectedly, learning/teaching how to laugh.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Hurst, Andrea
- Subjects: Laughter -- Philosophy , Philosophy -- Study and teaching , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/37103 , vital:34106
- Description: Contextualising my current philosophical preoccupations within the framework of my understanding of my task as a philosopher, I engage with the proposition that philosophers have a double task: firstly learning (and teaching) how to think, and relatedly, unexpectedly, learning/teaching how to laugh.
- Full Text:
Discourse, cinema and desubjectification: from Foucault to Deleuze and beyond.
- Authors: Konik, Adrian
- Subjects: Philosophy , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , article , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/31594 , vital:31617
- Description: To be clear, this was not philosophy as a discipline, which like all canonical edifices can come across as weighty, dusty and extremely boring; especially when it rather arrogantly assumes the position of arbiter of truth, and tries to determine what everybody else can or cannot think, or what they should or should not say. Rather, what I encountered again in that Honors-level philosophy module was something that I had glimpsed during my undergraduate studies, but which I had yet to fully appreciate, namely an approach to thinking that was also an approach to life, on the part of certain people who, in their time, had to a large extent philosophized privately as they carried out their many other duties, or philosophized outside of the academy, or remained on the margins of academic philosophy – men like Marcus Aurelius, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Benedictus Spinoza.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Konik, Adrian
- Subjects: Philosophy , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , article , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/31594 , vital:31617
- Description: To be clear, this was not philosophy as a discipline, which like all canonical edifices can come across as weighty, dusty and extremely boring; especially when it rather arrogantly assumes the position of arbiter of truth, and tries to determine what everybody else can or cannot think, or what they should or should not say. Rather, what I encountered again in that Honors-level philosophy module was something that I had glimpsed during my undergraduate studies, but which I had yet to fully appreciate, namely an approach to thinking that was also an approach to life, on the part of certain people who, in their time, had to a large extent philosophized privately as they carried out their many other duties, or philosophized outside of the academy, or remained on the margins of academic philosophy – men like Marcus Aurelius, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Benedictus Spinoza.
- Full Text:
Training course design for youth in correctional institutions in Cape Town
- Authors: Le Grange, Paul Vincent
- Date: 2001-01
- Subjects: Juvenile delinquents-Rehabilitation--South Africa--Cape Town , Conflict management--Study and teaching--South Africa--Cape Town , Diversion program
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/54993 , vital:48737
- Description: Thesis (M.Phil) -- Faculty of Arts, History and Political Studies, 2001 , Conflict resolution skills are essential skills to help to transform the lives of young people whose lives have been uprooted by a predominant culture of violence pervading their communities. May die or are seriously injured daily as territorial wars are waged in correctional institutions. Most of the youths come from violent communities and either experience or are exposed to excessive violence daily. They witness patterns of conflict resolutions that they eventually practice themselves many seldom encounter situations in which alternative approaches to conflict resolution are demostrated.Those who are aware of alternatives have not able to develop the necessary tools to personally implement those altenatives. Bosasa, as a relatively new secure care institution, faces not only an enormous task of avoiding the difficulties that so many correctional institutions have experienced, but also an opportunity denied to other institutions, introducing the life skills education programmes, was an important step towards achieving this goal.The situation is further compounded by the courts and is very uncertain.many of the cases for which these young people have been arrested,however usually take months before sentencing is passed.This creates an ideal opportunity for sustained life skills education intervention and helps the careworker to better understand these youth.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001-01
- Authors: Le Grange, Paul Vincent
- Date: 2001-01
- Subjects: Juvenile delinquents-Rehabilitation--South Africa--Cape Town , Conflict management--Study and teaching--South Africa--Cape Town , Diversion program
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/54993 , vital:48737
- Description: Thesis (M.Phil) -- Faculty of Arts, History and Political Studies, 2001 , Conflict resolution skills are essential skills to help to transform the lives of young people whose lives have been uprooted by a predominant culture of violence pervading their communities. May die or are seriously injured daily as territorial wars are waged in correctional institutions. Most of the youths come from violent communities and either experience or are exposed to excessive violence daily. They witness patterns of conflict resolutions that they eventually practice themselves many seldom encounter situations in which alternative approaches to conflict resolution are demostrated.Those who are aware of alternatives have not able to develop the necessary tools to personally implement those altenatives. Bosasa, as a relatively new secure care institution, faces not only an enormous task of avoiding the difficulties that so many correctional institutions have experienced, but also an opportunity denied to other institutions, introducing the life skills education programmes, was an important step towards achieving this goal.The situation is further compounded by the courts and is very uncertain.many of the cases for which these young people have been arrested,however usually take months before sentencing is passed.This creates an ideal opportunity for sustained life skills education intervention and helps the careworker to better understand these youth.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001-01
Factors influencing rentention of academic staff at South African higher education institutions
- Authors: Maphiri, Thabiso
- Date: 2020-04
- Subjects: Grahamstown (South Africa) , Eastern Cape (South Africa) , South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/54739 , vital:47653
- Description: The study investigated the factors influencing retention of academic staff at South African Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The Job Embeddedness theory and Herzberg’s theory on retention were used to explore the retention of employees with special focus on the challenges and strategies of enhancing retention. The study adopted desktop research to explore the retention of academic staff in HEIs. This study discussed the challenges and factors influencing staff retention in universities and Technical and Vocational Education and Training colleges (TVETs) in South Africa. The findings of the study revealed that the challenges that impede staff retention include a lack of capacity; massification of tertiary education; transformation of higher education; redressing historical imbalances; staff turnover; a lack of mentoring and coaching; and the impossibility to satisfy everyone’s needs. The study identified strategies that can be adopted to enhance staff retention that focus on remuneration and compensation; professional development; workplace climate; appointments and promotions; institutional governance; institutional infrastructure and adaptation to change. Factors that contribute to effective staff retention were also identified as organisational culture; the rewards system; mentoring and development programmes; retention tracking, recruitment; selection; the life cycle of an employee; onboarding; performance management systems, career management, bureaucratic organisational structures; and effective support from Deans and Vice-Chancellors. Lastly, the study recommended the following on how HEIs can retain their academic staff: career advancement opportunities to boost morale and loyalty of the staff; mentoring and coaching provided to the junior staff by the senior staff; job satisfaction through the provision of remuneration and rewarding performance; and implementing sound performance management and appraisal systems. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Governmental and Social Sciences, 2020
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020-04
- Authors: Maphiri, Thabiso
- Date: 2020-04
- Subjects: Grahamstown (South Africa) , Eastern Cape (South Africa) , South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/54739 , vital:47653
- Description: The study investigated the factors influencing retention of academic staff at South African Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The Job Embeddedness theory and Herzberg’s theory on retention were used to explore the retention of employees with special focus on the challenges and strategies of enhancing retention. The study adopted desktop research to explore the retention of academic staff in HEIs. This study discussed the challenges and factors influencing staff retention in universities and Technical and Vocational Education and Training colleges (TVETs) in South Africa. The findings of the study revealed that the challenges that impede staff retention include a lack of capacity; massification of tertiary education; transformation of higher education; redressing historical imbalances; staff turnover; a lack of mentoring and coaching; and the impossibility to satisfy everyone’s needs. The study identified strategies that can be adopted to enhance staff retention that focus on remuneration and compensation; professional development; workplace climate; appointments and promotions; institutional governance; institutional infrastructure and adaptation to change. Factors that contribute to effective staff retention were also identified as organisational culture; the rewards system; mentoring and development programmes; retention tracking, recruitment; selection; the life cycle of an employee; onboarding; performance management systems, career management, bureaucratic organisational structures; and effective support from Deans and Vice-Chancellors. Lastly, the study recommended the following on how HEIs can retain their academic staff: career advancement opportunities to boost morale and loyalty of the staff; mentoring and coaching provided to the junior staff by the senior staff; job satisfaction through the provision of remuneration and rewarding performance; and implementing sound performance management and appraisal systems. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Governmental and Social Sciences, 2020
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020-04
Democratization of state institutions and processes: a critical ingredient for good governance
- Authors: Masango, Sebenzile
- Subjects: Democracy -- South Africa , South Africa -- Politics and government , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/20341 , vital:29265
- Description: In itself ‘democratization’ is a wide field of study which can be subdivided into various subfields. The content of this lecture is mainly derived from the key focus areas of the research I have conducted. My research mainly contributes to the building and strengthening of democracy and good governance.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Masango, Sebenzile
- Subjects: Democracy -- South Africa , South Africa -- Politics and government , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/20341 , vital:29265
- Description: In itself ‘democratization’ is a wide field of study which can be subdivided into various subfields. The content of this lecture is mainly derived from the key focus areas of the research I have conducted. My research mainly contributes to the building and strengthening of democracy and good governance.
- Full Text:
The role of the national development plan in reducing unemployment
- Authors: Mase, Akhona
- Date: 2020-04
- Subjects: Port Elizabeth (South Africa) , Eastern Cape (South Africa) , South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/54755 , vital:47657
- Description: South Africa has one of the most disturbing joblessness rates in the world, especially among young people and black women. In 2018 the country’s narrow unemployment rate was at 26.7%, while by broader definition was anticipated to be at 35.1% (www.statssa.gov.za, 2018). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the role of the National Development Plan (NDP) in reducing unemployment in South Africa. The NDP was selected because it is the latest employment growth strategy the country has adopted. The National Development Plan targets economic growth, as the main factor for generating employment. To achieve the goal of this study, the researcher adopted the qualitative research methodology. Secondary data was gathered, analysed and interpreted to establish facts about the issue of high unemployment in South Africa and to determine if the National Development Plan is achieving its goal of reducing unemployment. This research established that the high unemployment rate in South Africa continues to be a major challenge, despite the introduction of the National Development Plan. The Plan projected that the rate of unemployment in South Africa will decline from 25% in 2013 to 14% by 2020. However, the unemployment rate in the country has increased from 25% in 2013 to 27% in 2018. In addition, this study established that unemployment in South Africa is structural, and it is caused by these four factors: Firstly, poor education, secondly, skills mismatch, the third factor which contributed immensely to unemployment in the country was the forceful removal of black people from places close to economic activities. This happened during the apartheid era. The fourth and last factor that led to increase in unemployment in South Africa was the 2008/2009 global recession. Structural unemployment is the type of unemployment that persists even when the economy is on the rise, as it is not caused by slow growth in the economy but by factors such as skill mismatch or complete unavailability of skills required in the economy. Therefore, targeting economic growth as a key mechanism for job creation will not yield any positive outcomes for South Africa. The study made a number of recommendations that the government can employ to adequately tackle unemployment in South Africa. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Governmental and Social Sciences, 2020
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020-04
- Authors: Mase, Akhona
- Date: 2020-04
- Subjects: Port Elizabeth (South Africa) , Eastern Cape (South Africa) , South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/54755 , vital:47657
- Description: South Africa has one of the most disturbing joblessness rates in the world, especially among young people and black women. In 2018 the country’s narrow unemployment rate was at 26.7%, while by broader definition was anticipated to be at 35.1% (www.statssa.gov.za, 2018). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the role of the National Development Plan (NDP) in reducing unemployment in South Africa. The NDP was selected because it is the latest employment growth strategy the country has adopted. The National Development Plan targets economic growth, as the main factor for generating employment. To achieve the goal of this study, the researcher adopted the qualitative research methodology. Secondary data was gathered, analysed and interpreted to establish facts about the issue of high unemployment in South Africa and to determine if the National Development Plan is achieving its goal of reducing unemployment. This research established that the high unemployment rate in South Africa continues to be a major challenge, despite the introduction of the National Development Plan. The Plan projected that the rate of unemployment in South Africa will decline from 25% in 2013 to 14% by 2020. However, the unemployment rate in the country has increased from 25% in 2013 to 27% in 2018. In addition, this study established that unemployment in South Africa is structural, and it is caused by these four factors: Firstly, poor education, secondly, skills mismatch, the third factor which contributed immensely to unemployment in the country was the forceful removal of black people from places close to economic activities. This happened during the apartheid era. The fourth and last factor that led to increase in unemployment in South Africa was the 2008/2009 global recession. Structural unemployment is the type of unemployment that persists even when the economy is on the rise, as it is not caused by slow growth in the economy but by factors such as skill mismatch or complete unavailability of skills required in the economy. Therefore, targeting economic growth as a key mechanism for job creation will not yield any positive outcomes for South Africa. The study made a number of recommendations that the government can employ to adequately tackle unemployment in South Africa. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Governmental and Social Sciences, 2020
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020-04
The perceptions of employees and employer on the ever increasing use of technology: the case of the acoustex in Port Elizabeth
- Authors: Matamela, Wanga
- Date: 2020-04
- Subjects: Port Elizabeth (South Africa) , Eastern Cape (South Africa) , South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/54783 , vital:47664
- Description: It is evident that many companies and organization are currently using high powered technology to be at par with the trends throughout the globe. This research focuses on the perception of workers and management on the Fourth Industrial Revolution at Acoustex in Port Elizabeth. The research objectives of this study is firstly, to investigate the perceptions of workers and management at Acoustex in Port Elizabeth. Secondly, to contribute within economic and industrial anthropology with reference to Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape and raise awareness. Thirdly, to propose recommendations that can be used by industries and the government to save jobs. The research methodology employed in this study include among others, individual interviews using an interview guide containing questions that is relevant to the study. To supplement the above, secondary sources ranging from relevant scholarly journals and books were consulted. Ethical compliance was adhered to by the researcher in terms of applying for permission to conduct interviews and it was granted. The concept unemployment was used as a conceptual framework to understand the impact of Fourth Industrial Revolution at Acoustex in particular and workplace in general. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Governmental and Social Sciences, 2020
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020-04
- Authors: Matamela, Wanga
- Date: 2020-04
- Subjects: Port Elizabeth (South Africa) , Eastern Cape (South Africa) , South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/54783 , vital:47664
- Description: It is evident that many companies and organization are currently using high powered technology to be at par with the trends throughout the globe. This research focuses on the perception of workers and management on the Fourth Industrial Revolution at Acoustex in Port Elizabeth. The research objectives of this study is firstly, to investigate the perceptions of workers and management at Acoustex in Port Elizabeth. Secondly, to contribute within economic and industrial anthropology with reference to Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape and raise awareness. Thirdly, to propose recommendations that can be used by industries and the government to save jobs. The research methodology employed in this study include among others, individual interviews using an interview guide containing questions that is relevant to the study. To supplement the above, secondary sources ranging from relevant scholarly journals and books were consulted. Ethical compliance was adhered to by the researcher in terms of applying for permission to conduct interviews and it was granted. The concept unemployment was used as a conceptual framework to understand the impact of Fourth Industrial Revolution at Acoustex in particular and workplace in general. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Governmental and Social Sciences, 2020
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020-04
An investigation of the challenges experienced in South Sudan (2004-2011): a military component perspective
- Authors: Mbaakanyi, Christopher
- Date: 2020-04
- Subjects: Port Elizabeth (South Africa) , Eastern Cape (South Africa) , South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/54794 , vital:47692
- Description: This study deals with the conceptual analysis of the challenges experienced by military peacekeepers in the United Nations (UN) operations. The research focused on the problems that military personnel encountered during the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) between 2005 and 2011. Many findings summarised from the respondents and through documents reviewed elucidated various challenges peacekeepers in UN missions experience. This study’s specific objectives were to assess the necessary preparations that made military peacekeepers operationally ready for the UNMIS Peace Support Operations (PSO); to determine whether there was any pre-deployment training conducted for military peacekeepers during the UNMIS; to investigate whether there were command and control issues in the mission; and finally, to examine whether military peacekeepers were acquainted with the fundamental UN principles and core values. The study used the purposive sampling technique to identify relevant subjects best suited to provide informed feedback through interviews and a questionnaire. Most of the respondents were from Botswana and Malawi, with additional valuable subjects from the different countries who participated in the UNMIS as staff officers, formed units, and observers. The level of operational readiness of individual military personnel was found inconsistent among participants from different countries due to the varying level of attention given to pre-deployment training and planning. Some individuals did not know about the UN core values, principles and critical resolution documents such as the Status of Mission Agreement (SOMA), Status of Force Agreement (SOFA), Rules of Engagement (ROE), and the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that were critical towards operationalising the UNMIS mandate to achieve the operational objectives. The concepts of command and control and reporting procedure continue to cause severe rifts between uniformed personnel and their civilian counterparts. Some of the areas that require further study include the challenges in command and control, vagueness in the rules of engagement, lack of clarity of the chain of leadership in the field area, lack of interoperability of equipment, the necessary operational readiness training, and the development of joint doctrine. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Governmental and Social Sciences, 2020
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020-04
- Authors: Mbaakanyi, Christopher
- Date: 2020-04
- Subjects: Port Elizabeth (South Africa) , Eastern Cape (South Africa) , South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/54794 , vital:47692
- Description: This study deals with the conceptual analysis of the challenges experienced by military peacekeepers in the United Nations (UN) operations. The research focused on the problems that military personnel encountered during the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) between 2005 and 2011. Many findings summarised from the respondents and through documents reviewed elucidated various challenges peacekeepers in UN missions experience. This study’s specific objectives were to assess the necessary preparations that made military peacekeepers operationally ready for the UNMIS Peace Support Operations (PSO); to determine whether there was any pre-deployment training conducted for military peacekeepers during the UNMIS; to investigate whether there were command and control issues in the mission; and finally, to examine whether military peacekeepers were acquainted with the fundamental UN principles and core values. The study used the purposive sampling technique to identify relevant subjects best suited to provide informed feedback through interviews and a questionnaire. Most of the respondents were from Botswana and Malawi, with additional valuable subjects from the different countries who participated in the UNMIS as staff officers, formed units, and observers. The level of operational readiness of individual military personnel was found inconsistent among participants from different countries due to the varying level of attention given to pre-deployment training and planning. Some individuals did not know about the UN core values, principles and critical resolution documents such as the Status of Mission Agreement (SOMA), Status of Force Agreement (SOFA), Rules of Engagement (ROE), and the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that were critical towards operationalising the UNMIS mandate to achieve the operational objectives. The concepts of command and control and reporting procedure continue to cause severe rifts between uniformed personnel and their civilian counterparts. Some of the areas that require further study include the challenges in command and control, vagueness in the rules of engagement, lack of clarity of the chain of leadership in the field area, lack of interoperability of equipment, the necessary operational readiness training, and the development of joint doctrine. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Governmental and Social Sciences, 2020
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020-04
Exploring the spiritual meaning of water among Amaxhosa: The study of spiritual practices in Isinuka
- Authors: Menye, Nomtha
- Date: 2022-04
- Subjects: Healing waters -- Eastern Cape , Xhosa (African people) --Religion -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/55811 , vital:53885
- Description: This study explores the spiritual relationship of water and uluntu lwase (people of) Port St. Johns, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Particularly the people that reside or regularly visit Isinuka sacred springs. This is done through an analysis and observations of the ritual practises performed at Isinuka sacred springs in Port St. Johns. This spring has provided sacred water used for healing, cleansing, and drinking for decades. Therefore, in this research we use the sacred water as an analysis point to understand the genesis of the ecological relationship of indigenous people and the environment. More so, this study uses the sacred water of the spring as an access point into indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) that have been passed on and maintained throughout history by the African elders. µRitual archives¶ have proved to carry indigenous knowledge systems on the history and philosophies of native regions and countries. Therefore, folktales, rituals, idioms and songs are didactic, and were intended to teach and sustain Isintu sakwa Xhosa (customs). This study uses observations ritual practises and face to face interviews to uncover the importance of nature and indigenous understanding of the environment from AmaXhosa residing in this area. The study was conducted in Port St. Johns in the rural parts of the Eastern Cape. Port St. Johns is a region of residing amaMpondo, which is an isiXhosa dialect. Therefore, amaMpondo and AmaXhosa are used in the study interchangeably. The researcher spent weeks visiting the spring daily and conducting qualitative semi-structured interviews. Observations and partaking in rituals were also used as a methodological approach to understand and capture the full experience of the sacred spring. The study uses the concept of as a medium to examine the relationship of water to spiritual ritual practises. The study literature shows a huge disjuncture between the literature written about the spring and the sociological meaning of the spring to the people that visit the spring. The results showed that the healing properties in the spring were caused by elements such as sulphur(s) and not the only the ritual practises that are performed at the spring. The study shows that, it is in the ritual practises that native Africans show their knowledge of the historical cosmological relationship between people and the environment. This is indicated in their use of sacred sites such as caves, rivers and ocean water to communicate with their ancestors. This study hopes to contribute towards a richer understanding of spirituality, ritual and archival work, for a holistic policymaking when dealing with water policies through an inclusive African indigenous perspective. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Sociology and anthropology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-04
Exploring the spiritual meaning of water among Amaxhosa: The study of spiritual practices in Isinuka
- Authors: Menye, Nomtha
- Date: 2022-04
- Subjects: Healing waters -- Eastern Cape , Xhosa (African people) --Religion -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/55811 , vital:53885
- Description: This study explores the spiritual relationship of water and uluntu lwase (people of) Port St. Johns, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Particularly the people that reside or regularly visit Isinuka sacred springs. This is done through an analysis and observations of the ritual practises performed at Isinuka sacred springs in Port St. Johns. This spring has provided sacred water used for healing, cleansing, and drinking for decades. Therefore, in this research we use the sacred water as an analysis point to understand the genesis of the ecological relationship of indigenous people and the environment. More so, this study uses the sacred water of the spring as an access point into indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) that have been passed on and maintained throughout history by the African elders. µRitual archives¶ have proved to carry indigenous knowledge systems on the history and philosophies of native regions and countries. Therefore, folktales, rituals, idioms and songs are didactic, and were intended to teach and sustain Isintu sakwa Xhosa (customs). This study uses observations ritual practises and face to face interviews to uncover the importance of nature and indigenous understanding of the environment from AmaXhosa residing in this area. The study was conducted in Port St. Johns in the rural parts of the Eastern Cape. Port St. Johns is a region of residing amaMpondo, which is an isiXhosa dialect. Therefore, amaMpondo and AmaXhosa are used in the study interchangeably. The researcher spent weeks visiting the spring daily and conducting qualitative semi-structured interviews. Observations and partaking in rituals were also used as a methodological approach to understand and capture the full experience of the sacred spring. The study uses the concept of as a medium to examine the relationship of water to spiritual ritual practises. The study literature shows a huge disjuncture between the literature written about the spring and the sociological meaning of the spring to the people that visit the spring. The results showed that the healing properties in the spring were caused by elements such as sulphur(s) and not the only the ritual practises that are performed at the spring. The study shows that, it is in the ritual practises that native Africans show their knowledge of the historical cosmological relationship between people and the environment. This is indicated in their use of sacred sites such as caves, rivers and ocean water to communicate with their ancestors. This study hopes to contribute towards a richer understanding of spirituality, ritual and archival work, for a holistic policymaking when dealing with water policies through an inclusive African indigenous perspective. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Sociology and anthropology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-04
Social cohesion: is it possible in a diverse society?
- Authors: Pauw, H C
- Subjects: Social interaction -- South Africa , South Africa -- Social conditions , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/21914 , vital:29801
- Description: The Faculty of Arts has been requested to drive one of the NMMU research themes, namely "Social cohesion". Being a memeber of the Faculty of Arts and from the School of Governance and Social Sciences I have decided to provide some input regarding this theme. South Africa experienced violent xenophobic attacks on non-South African Africans during May 2008. In a report in The Times (17 June 2008) under the title Mandela calls for 'Social cohesion', former president Nelson Mandela urged the youth of South Africa to work for social cohesion in the country. "The struggle for democracy has never been a matter pursued by one race, class, religious community or gender among South Africans. As future leaders of this country, your challenge is to foster a nation in which all people, irrespective of race, colour, sex, religion or creed, can ascertain a social cohesion fully," (http://www.TheTimes-Mandela calls for 'social cohesion'.htm). My perspective regarding humans is, to paraphrase the late Clyde Kluckhohn, that: Every human is like all other humans, some other humans and no other human.
- Full Text: false
- Authors: Pauw, H C
- Subjects: Social interaction -- South Africa , South Africa -- Social conditions , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/21914 , vital:29801
- Description: The Faculty of Arts has been requested to drive one of the NMMU research themes, namely "Social cohesion". Being a memeber of the Faculty of Arts and from the School of Governance and Social Sciences I have decided to provide some input regarding this theme. South Africa experienced violent xenophobic attacks on non-South African Africans during May 2008. In a report in The Times (17 June 2008) under the title Mandela calls for 'Social cohesion', former president Nelson Mandela urged the youth of South Africa to work for social cohesion in the country. "The struggle for democracy has never been a matter pursued by one race, class, religious community or gender among South Africans. As future leaders of this country, your challenge is to foster a nation in which all people, irrespective of race, colour, sex, religion or creed, can ascertain a social cohesion fully," (http://www.TheTimes-Mandela calls for 'social cohesion'.htm). My perspective regarding humans is, to paraphrase the late Clyde Kluckhohn, that: Every human is like all other humans, some other humans and no other human.
- Full Text: false
SEK Mqhayi in the 21st Century: Mzantsi youth ideologies within the African renaissance paradigm for sustainable economic and political development
- Authors: Saule, Ncedile
- Subjects: Pan-Africanism , Mqhayi, S E K , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/21011 , vital:29427
- Description: I am advancing a celebratory synopsis of Mqhayi, uMzima, uBhomoyi kaCedume at a time when the South African contemporary society is attempting to restructure itself in order to regain lost values before it can successfully and rationally embrace values of other people. In my presentation, I have mindfully taken cognisance of the plight of the so called lost generation, especially among our youth, those who have become strangers in their own land – no language, only misguided and distorted cultural values, no self, distorted history - this of course because of indoctrinations of some psycho-socio-histori-cultural and political imperatives. Strangely enough these are some of the issues that SEK Mqhayi warns us about in his creative works and has made efforts for us to see, but unfortunately no one listened or saw anything. Now that we “have the truth but denied the truth and now that we have the light, but we sit in darkness, Shivering, benighted in the bright noon-day sun,” and now that we are all blind, I think, this evening is the right time to see.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Saule, Ncedile
- Subjects: Pan-Africanism , Mqhayi, S E K , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/21011 , vital:29427
- Description: I am advancing a celebratory synopsis of Mqhayi, uMzima, uBhomoyi kaCedume at a time when the South African contemporary society is attempting to restructure itself in order to regain lost values before it can successfully and rationally embrace values of other people. In my presentation, I have mindfully taken cognisance of the plight of the so called lost generation, especially among our youth, those who have become strangers in their own land – no language, only misguided and distorted cultural values, no self, distorted history - this of course because of indoctrinations of some psycho-socio-histori-cultural and political imperatives. Strangely enough these are some of the issues that SEK Mqhayi warns us about in his creative works and has made efforts for us to see, but unfortunately no one listened or saw anything. Now that we “have the truth but denied the truth and now that we have the light, but we sit in darkness, Shivering, benighted in the bright noon-day sun,” and now that we are all blind, I think, this evening is the right time to see.
- Full Text:
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