Colonial policies and the failure of Somali secessionism in the Northern frontier district of Kenya colony, c.1890-1968
- Authors: Abdullahi, Abdirashid
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: Somalis -- Kenya -- History , Kenya -- History -- 1963- , Kenya -- Politics and government , Decolonization -- Kenya -- History -- 20th century , Kenya -- History -- To 1963
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2532 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002384 , Somalis -- Kenya -- History , Kenya -- History -- 1963- , Kenya -- Politics and government , Decolonization -- Kenya -- History -- 20th century , Kenya -- History -- To 1963
- Description: This thesis examines the events that took plac,e. in the Northern Frontier District I North Eastern Province of Kenya hetween the late nineteenth century and 1968. After 1900 the imposition of colonial policies impacted on the socio-economic and political structures of the Somali people. This thesis also examines the nature of Somali resistance l\P- to the late 1920s when Somali society was finally pacified. It further examines colonial policies such as the creation of the Somali-Galla line in 1919, the separation of the J uhaland region from the Kenya Colony in 1926 and the Special District Ordinance of 1934. Between 1946 and 1948 the British Government through its Foreign Minister, Ernest Bevin, attempted to unify Somali territories in the Horn of Africa and this raised Somali hopes of uni fication. The Bevin Plan collapsed because of the opposition of the United States, the Soviet Union, the French and Ethiopian leaders. Similar hopes of NFD Somali unification were raised hetween 1958 and 1963 because of the unification of the former British Somali land and Italian Somaliland. Due to the imminent end of British colonial rule in Kenya, the NFD Somali leaders demanded secession from Kenya to join up with the nascent Somali republic. But the NFDSomali hopes of unification with the Somali Repuhlic were dashed by 1964 because of the same opposition provided by the United States, the French and the Ethiopians. The British Government were all along half-hearted towards Somali unification attempts even though the field administrators adopted a pro-Somali attitude to the issue. In the early 1960s, however, the NFD Somali leaders were faced with the additional opposition of the new KANU government in Kenya. In 1964 the failure of the NFD Somalis to secede from Kenya led to the guerrilla war, what the Kenyan government called the 'shifta movement', that engulfed the North Eastern Region until 1968 when the Arusha Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Kenyan and the Somali Governments. The signing of the Arusha Memorandum of Understanding by the Kenyan and Somali Governments did not satisfy· the NFD Somalis hopes of joining the Somali Republic. The main conclusion of this thesis is that the N FD Somalis, except for few collahorators, did at no time, whether in the colonial or post-colonial eras, accept heing in Kenya. By the late 1960s the prospects of NFD Somalis unifying with the Somali Republic were, in view of the forces arrayed against the Somali secessionist movement, slim; and they have remained slim since then.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1998
- Authors: Abdullahi, Abdirashid
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: Somalis -- Kenya -- History , Kenya -- History -- 1963- , Kenya -- Politics and government , Decolonization -- Kenya -- History -- 20th century , Kenya -- History -- To 1963
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2532 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002384 , Somalis -- Kenya -- History , Kenya -- History -- 1963- , Kenya -- Politics and government , Decolonization -- Kenya -- History -- 20th century , Kenya -- History -- To 1963
- Description: This thesis examines the events that took plac,e. in the Northern Frontier District I North Eastern Province of Kenya hetween the late nineteenth century and 1968. After 1900 the imposition of colonial policies impacted on the socio-economic and political structures of the Somali people. This thesis also examines the nature of Somali resistance l\P- to the late 1920s when Somali society was finally pacified. It further examines colonial policies such as the creation of the Somali-Galla line in 1919, the separation of the J uhaland region from the Kenya Colony in 1926 and the Special District Ordinance of 1934. Between 1946 and 1948 the British Government through its Foreign Minister, Ernest Bevin, attempted to unify Somali territories in the Horn of Africa and this raised Somali hopes of uni fication. The Bevin Plan collapsed because of the opposition of the United States, the Soviet Union, the French and Ethiopian leaders. Similar hopes of NFD Somali unification were raised hetween 1958 and 1963 because of the unification of the former British Somali land and Italian Somaliland. Due to the imminent end of British colonial rule in Kenya, the NFD Somali leaders demanded secession from Kenya to join up with the nascent Somali republic. But the NFDSomali hopes of unification with the Somali Repuhlic were dashed by 1964 because of the same opposition provided by the United States, the French and the Ethiopians. The British Government were all along half-hearted towards Somali unification attempts even though the field administrators adopted a pro-Somali attitude to the issue. In the early 1960s, however, the NFD Somali leaders were faced with the additional opposition of the new KANU government in Kenya. In 1964 the failure of the NFD Somalis to secede from Kenya led to the guerrilla war, what the Kenyan government called the 'shifta movement', that engulfed the North Eastern Region until 1968 when the Arusha Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Kenyan and the Somali Governments. The signing of the Arusha Memorandum of Understanding by the Kenyan and Somali Governments did not satisfy· the NFD Somalis hopes of joining the Somali Republic. The main conclusion of this thesis is that the N FD Somalis, except for few collahorators, did at no time, whether in the colonial or post-colonial eras, accept heing in Kenya. By the late 1960s the prospects of NFD Somalis unifying with the Somali Republic were, in view of the forces arrayed against the Somali secessionist movement, slim; and they have remained slim since then.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1998
An analytical study of narrative techniques in Giono's Regain
- Authors: Abel, Hermione
- Date: 1986
- Subjects: French fiction , Novels , Criticism , Symbolism , Regain , Giono, Jean, 1895-1970 -- Criticism and interpretation
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3561 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002008
- Description: The dominant theme in Regain is that of death leading to rebirth. This dissertation attempts to explore Giono's narrative techniques within this context. No single chapter will be devoted to a specific technique; instead, the various devices used by the author are discussed as they emerge from the structure of the chapters. Justifying the field of study as defined in the "Introduction", the following three chapters outline the passage of life from death to eventual rebirth. With acknowledgement to Frank Kermode, who writes: "A concord of past, present and future three dreams which, as Augustine said, cross in our minds, as in the present of things past, the present of things present, and the present of things future" ¹, the first three chapters bear his terminology for their headings. Chapter One, "The Present of Things Past", deals with Mameche's loss of her husband and son. Chapter Two, "The Present of Things Present", focuses upon Mameche' s realization of Gaubert's departure, and the decision that she must do something to save the dying village of Aubignane. Chapter Three, "The Present of Things Future", sees Mameche setting out in search of a wife for Panturle, and succeeding. This brings to an end Part One of the novel. Interwoven throughout the chapters are paradigms from Greek mythology, rich in universal symbolism, and the author's belief in man's ability to fuse himself with his surroundings. The conclusion summarizes the findings of this study, attempting to show how an analysis of Giono's narrative technique provides an insight into such a novel as Regain. ¹The Sense of an Ending (London: Oxford University Press, 1966), rpt., 1970, p. 50.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1986
- Authors: Abel, Hermione
- Date: 1986
- Subjects: French fiction , Novels , Criticism , Symbolism , Regain , Giono, Jean, 1895-1970 -- Criticism and interpretation
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3561 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002008
- Description: The dominant theme in Regain is that of death leading to rebirth. This dissertation attempts to explore Giono's narrative techniques within this context. No single chapter will be devoted to a specific technique; instead, the various devices used by the author are discussed as they emerge from the structure of the chapters. Justifying the field of study as defined in the "Introduction", the following three chapters outline the passage of life from death to eventual rebirth. With acknowledgement to Frank Kermode, who writes: "A concord of past, present and future three dreams which, as Augustine said, cross in our minds, as in the present of things past, the present of things present, and the present of things future" ¹, the first three chapters bear his terminology for their headings. Chapter One, "The Present of Things Past", deals with Mameche's loss of her husband and son. Chapter Two, "The Present of Things Present", focuses upon Mameche' s realization of Gaubert's departure, and the decision that she must do something to save the dying village of Aubignane. Chapter Three, "The Present of Things Future", sees Mameche setting out in search of a wife for Panturle, and succeeding. This brings to an end Part One of the novel. Interwoven throughout the chapters are paradigms from Greek mythology, rich in universal symbolism, and the author's belief in man's ability to fuse himself with his surroundings. The conclusion summarizes the findings of this study, attempting to show how an analysis of Giono's narrative technique provides an insight into such a novel as Regain. ¹The Sense of an Ending (London: Oxford University Press, 1966), rpt., 1970, p. 50.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1986
Understanding of biological teleology from a naturalistic perspective
- Authors: Abrahams, Sanaa
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Teleology , Biology -- Philosophy , Evolution (Biology) -- Philosophy
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140534 , vital:37896
- Description: To the extent that teleological thinking is metaphysically suspect, many theorists attempt to shift the stigma of functional explanations by reducing function ascriptions, and aim thus to de-legitimise an appeal to teleological causal relations in an analysis of function. The point is to dispel the mystery which envelops the application of function concepts by reformulating biological functional explanations so as to dispense with teleology. My project is to interrogate the success with which teleological explanations have thus been eliminated in the biological sciences, and, over the course of this thesis, I conclude that a kind of teleological causation nevertheless remains the most adequate explanatory ground of natural products. My proposal is that functional explanations are causal explanations for the presence and maintenance of self-reproducing systems. I contend that, insofar as the attribution of function presupposes the valuation of a function-bearing system as a causal necessity for its constituent parts, functional explanation references distinct and irreducible holistic properties. Using Kantian metaphysics to frame the discussion, this thesis aims first to explore critically the subject of functional characterisations of biological phenomena, and second, the metaphysical basis of modern science. Its chief contributions to the philosophical function debate reside in proposing novel arguments in justification of what I consider is an improved formulation of an attempted definition of biological function, in which teleological causal powers are explicitly recognised and accommodated in functional explanation. Moreover, this thesis attempts a naturalistic reconstruction of the metaphysical entailments of the real causality of a whole
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Abrahams, Sanaa
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Teleology , Biology -- Philosophy , Evolution (Biology) -- Philosophy
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140534 , vital:37896
- Description: To the extent that teleological thinking is metaphysically suspect, many theorists attempt to shift the stigma of functional explanations by reducing function ascriptions, and aim thus to de-legitimise an appeal to teleological causal relations in an analysis of function. The point is to dispel the mystery which envelops the application of function concepts by reformulating biological functional explanations so as to dispense with teleology. My project is to interrogate the success with which teleological explanations have thus been eliminated in the biological sciences, and, over the course of this thesis, I conclude that a kind of teleological causation nevertheless remains the most adequate explanatory ground of natural products. My proposal is that functional explanations are causal explanations for the presence and maintenance of self-reproducing systems. I contend that, insofar as the attribution of function presupposes the valuation of a function-bearing system as a causal necessity for its constituent parts, functional explanation references distinct and irreducible holistic properties. Using Kantian metaphysics to frame the discussion, this thesis aims first to explore critically the subject of functional characterisations of biological phenomena, and second, the metaphysical basis of modern science. Its chief contributions to the philosophical function debate reside in proposing novel arguments in justification of what I consider is an improved formulation of an attempted definition of biological function, in which teleological causal powers are explicitly recognised and accommodated in functional explanation. Moreover, this thesis attempts a naturalistic reconstruction of the metaphysical entailments of the real causality of a whole
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
The phenomenolgoical experience of posttraumatic growth in the context of a traumatic bereavement
- Authors: Acheson, Kerry
- Date: 2009 , 2013-07-15
- Subjects: Post-traumatic stress disorder -- Case studies Bereavement -- Psychological aspects Death -- Psychological aspects Phenomenological psychology Grief
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3102 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004456
- Description: The present study involves an exploration of the phenomenological expenence of posttraumatic growth in the context of a traumatic bereavement. An idiographic case study of a student who had witnessed her mother's death twelve years previously was conducted. Semi-structured interviews elicited data which was analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IP A). Posttraumatic growth was found to have developed with regards to self-perception, relationships, and also in a broader spiritual and existential domain. The findings of this study shed light on the extant posttraumatic growth literature. In particular, findings were discussed in relation to the posttraumatic growth model as proposed by Calhoun and Tedeschi (2006). As posttraumatic growth is a relatively young concept, further research is needed in order to understand the meaning of reported growth more fully. While posttraumatic growth has been investigated in the context of bereavement, future research should distinguish more clearly between growth following traumatic and non-traumatic bereavement. Posttraumatic growth has received minimal empirical attention in South Africa, and therefore exploration of this area is suggested in the future. , KMBT_363 , Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Acheson, Kerry
- Date: 2009 , 2013-07-15
- Subjects: Post-traumatic stress disorder -- Case studies Bereavement -- Psychological aspects Death -- Psychological aspects Phenomenological psychology Grief
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3102 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004456
- Description: The present study involves an exploration of the phenomenological expenence of posttraumatic growth in the context of a traumatic bereavement. An idiographic case study of a student who had witnessed her mother's death twelve years previously was conducted. Semi-structured interviews elicited data which was analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IP A). Posttraumatic growth was found to have developed with regards to self-perception, relationships, and also in a broader spiritual and existential domain. The findings of this study shed light on the extant posttraumatic growth literature. In particular, findings were discussed in relation to the posttraumatic growth model as proposed by Calhoun and Tedeschi (2006). As posttraumatic growth is a relatively young concept, further research is needed in order to understand the meaning of reported growth more fully. While posttraumatic growth has been investigated in the context of bereavement, future research should distinguish more clearly between growth following traumatic and non-traumatic bereavement. Posttraumatic growth has received minimal empirical attention in South Africa, and therefore exploration of this area is suggested in the future. , KMBT_363 , Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
Writing the aerial dancing body a preliminary choreological investigation of the aesthetics and kinetics of the aerial dancing body
- Authors: Acker, Shaun Albert
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Dance -- 19th century Dance -- 20th century Dance -- 21st century Aerialists Movement, Aesthetics of Feminine beauty (Aesthetics) Movement notation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2129 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002361
- Description: This mini-thesis investigates some of the nineteenth century socio-cultural ideals that have structured a connection between virtuosic aerial skill and bodily aesthetics. It views the emergence of a style of aerial kineticism that is structured from the gender ideologies of the period. It investigates the continual recurrence of this nineteenth century style amongst contemporary aerial dance works and outlines the possible frictions between this Victorian style of kineticism and contemporary aerial explorations. From this observation, a possible catalyst may be observed with which to relocate and inspire a study of aerial kinetics sans the nineteenth century aesthetic component. This kinesiological catalyst may be viewed in conjunction with the theories of ground-based kinetic theorist, Rudolph Laban’s choreutic study of the body in space. Thus, it may be possible to suggest and introduce a possible practical dance scholarship for aerial dance. This mini-thesis includes an introductory choreological investigation that draws on and integrates the disciplines of kinesiology; choreutic theory; existing aerial kinetic technique; musicology; and the physical sciences.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
- Authors: Acker, Shaun Albert
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Dance -- 19th century Dance -- 20th century Dance -- 21st century Aerialists Movement, Aesthetics of Feminine beauty (Aesthetics) Movement notation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2129 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002361
- Description: This mini-thesis investigates some of the nineteenth century socio-cultural ideals that have structured a connection between virtuosic aerial skill and bodily aesthetics. It views the emergence of a style of aerial kineticism that is structured from the gender ideologies of the period. It investigates the continual recurrence of this nineteenth century style amongst contemporary aerial dance works and outlines the possible frictions between this Victorian style of kineticism and contemporary aerial explorations. From this observation, a possible catalyst may be observed with which to relocate and inspire a study of aerial kinetics sans the nineteenth century aesthetic component. This kinesiological catalyst may be viewed in conjunction with the theories of ground-based kinetic theorist, Rudolph Laban’s choreutic study of the body in space. Thus, it may be possible to suggest and introduce a possible practical dance scholarship for aerial dance. This mini-thesis includes an introductory choreological investigation that draws on and integrates the disciplines of kinesiology; choreutic theory; existing aerial kinetic technique; musicology; and the physical sciences.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
A study of the heroine in certain Victorian novels
- Authors: Addecott, Grahame John
- Date: 1959
- Subjects: English fiction -- 19th century -- History and criticism , Heroines in literature
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2319 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013374
- Description: During the reign of Queen Victoria was seen the gradual emergence of the emancipated woman. The idea that women were innocent beings who must be kept from real knowledge of the world died hard, however, and to the end of the era there were many who repudiated the very concept of emancipation whether in literature or life. Coupled with the chivalrous, idealistic concept of womanhood was Victorian respectability, and it is not surprising that in the earlier Victorian novels we see clearly the idealistic concept of women and the effects of the cult of respectability. To illustrate my theme, of the gradual change in the concept of the novel which naturally kept pace, more or less, with the progress the emancipation of women was making, I have chosen one novel from each of seven great Victorian novelists whose works span the whale era. The only exception I have made is with Charlotte Bronte. In her case the heroines of two of her novels are discussed mainly because she is the first Victorian novelist to sound a note of protest against the then conventional concept of the heroine.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1959
- Authors: Addecott, Grahame John
- Date: 1959
- Subjects: English fiction -- 19th century -- History and criticism , Heroines in literature
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2319 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013374
- Description: During the reign of Queen Victoria was seen the gradual emergence of the emancipated woman. The idea that women were innocent beings who must be kept from real knowledge of the world died hard, however, and to the end of the era there were many who repudiated the very concept of emancipation whether in literature or life. Coupled with the chivalrous, idealistic concept of womanhood was Victorian respectability, and it is not surprising that in the earlier Victorian novels we see clearly the idealistic concept of women and the effects of the cult of respectability. To illustrate my theme, of the gradual change in the concept of the novel which naturally kept pace, more or less, with the progress the emancipation of women was making, I have chosen one novel from each of seven great Victorian novelists whose works span the whale era. The only exception I have made is with Charlotte Bronte. In her case the heroines of two of her novels are discussed mainly because she is the first Victorian novelist to sound a note of protest against the then conventional concept of the heroine.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1959
Censorship of the press in South Africa during the Angolan War: a case study of news manipulation and suppression
- Authors: Addison, Graeme
- Date: 1982
- Subjects: Mass media -- Censorship -- South Africa Censorship -- South Africa Mass media -- Censorship -- South Africa Government and the press -- South Africa Freedom of the press -- South Africa Angola -- History -- Civil War, 1975-2002 Angola -- History -- South African Invasion, 1975-1976
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3495 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003058
- Description: During the Angolan War of 1975-6, whilst South African troops were actively engaged on the side of the Unita/FNLA alliance, news media in South Africa were prohibited from disclosing information about the country's role in the war. Under Section 118 of the Defence Amendment Act of 1967, no information about SA troop movements or plans could be published without the permission of the Minister of Defence or his nominees. This case study shows how the Government used the Defence Act to censor certain news while releasing other news which suited its political outlook and objectives. The study documents the history of the Defence Act and of the military-press liaison machinery which grew out of it. The introduction defines propaganda as a technique of ideological control designed to supplement the control of society by means of repression. The study sets in context the Government's propaganda strategy before, during and after the Angolan War, arguing that the structures of white domination, including the newspaper industry, are being drawn into the Government's scheme of total co-ordination to fight a total war.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1982
- Authors: Addison, Graeme
- Date: 1982
- Subjects: Mass media -- Censorship -- South Africa Censorship -- South Africa Mass media -- Censorship -- South Africa Government and the press -- South Africa Freedom of the press -- South Africa Angola -- History -- Civil War, 1975-2002 Angola -- History -- South African Invasion, 1975-1976
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3495 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003058
- Description: During the Angolan War of 1975-6, whilst South African troops were actively engaged on the side of the Unita/FNLA alliance, news media in South Africa were prohibited from disclosing information about the country's role in the war. Under Section 118 of the Defence Amendment Act of 1967, no information about SA troop movements or plans could be published without the permission of the Minister of Defence or his nominees. This case study shows how the Government used the Defence Act to censor certain news while releasing other news which suited its political outlook and objectives. The study documents the history of the Defence Act and of the military-press liaison machinery which grew out of it. The introduction defines propaganda as a technique of ideological control designed to supplement the control of society by means of repression. The study sets in context the Government's propaganda strategy before, during and after the Angolan War, arguing that the structures of white domination, including the newspaper industry, are being drawn into the Government's scheme of total co-ordination to fight a total war.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1982
Exploring socialities on Black Twitter: an ethnographic study of everyday concerns of South African users in 2018 and 2019
- Authors: Adebayo, Binwe
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Twitter (Firm) , Social media South Africa , Social media and society South Africa , Black people and mass media South Africa , Language and the Internet South Africa , Mass media and culture South Africa , Race in mass media , Ethnicity in mass media , Mass media and minorities South Africa , Mass media Social aspects South Africa , Sex differences in mass media , Social media Political aspects South Africa , South Africa Social conditions , Finance In mass media , Intersectionality (Sociology) South Africa , Black Twitter
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140575 , vital:37900
- Description: In this thesis, I examine the phenomenon of Black Twitter, as it exists in South Africa. Drawing on its socio-cultural and linguistic elements, I analyse the kinds of socialities which are constituted on the platform. In the study, I do this by focusing on the key issues which drive the space by evaluating the key everyday concerns as expressed by its users. As such, the overarching lens focuses on three elements: Firstly, the idea of socialities and the way in which they manifest in online spaces; a focus on the everyday as an important site for social inquiry; and lastly the issue of ‘blackness’, in terms of the way it is used and understood in the South African Black Twitter context. Historically, the Black Twitter space has been linked almost exclusively to its broad base of African American users, who are significant both in terms of their numbers, and their impact on online social culture. However, in this study I engage with the ways in which Black Twitter has been adopted, co-opted and used by young South Africans. As a bona fide ‘member’ of South African Black Twitter, my approach to the study was cyberethnographic. Drawing on my access to the space, my knowledge of many of its members and dynamics, I engaged in participant observation as my primary methodology. My discussion focuses on three areas of everyday concerns, namely: gender and sexuality; race and politics; finances and the economy. These three areas emerge both as prominent sites of discussion, but also give the best insight into the ways in which young South Africans are grappling with these issues. My analysis focuses on how everyday concerns are handled on the platform, and I focus on the deployment of solidarity, formal language, platform-based language and the invocation of blackness. I argue in my conclusion that while the structure of the broad Black Twitter space reflects a leaning towards a digital public sphere, that the process and construction of Black Twitter’s ideas and content are approached via an incomplete, fluid convivial approach.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Adebayo, Binwe
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Twitter (Firm) , Social media South Africa , Social media and society South Africa , Black people and mass media South Africa , Language and the Internet South Africa , Mass media and culture South Africa , Race in mass media , Ethnicity in mass media , Mass media and minorities South Africa , Mass media Social aspects South Africa , Sex differences in mass media , Social media Political aspects South Africa , South Africa Social conditions , Finance In mass media , Intersectionality (Sociology) South Africa , Black Twitter
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140575 , vital:37900
- Description: In this thesis, I examine the phenomenon of Black Twitter, as it exists in South Africa. Drawing on its socio-cultural and linguistic elements, I analyse the kinds of socialities which are constituted on the platform. In the study, I do this by focusing on the key issues which drive the space by evaluating the key everyday concerns as expressed by its users. As such, the overarching lens focuses on three elements: Firstly, the idea of socialities and the way in which they manifest in online spaces; a focus on the everyday as an important site for social inquiry; and lastly the issue of ‘blackness’, in terms of the way it is used and understood in the South African Black Twitter context. Historically, the Black Twitter space has been linked almost exclusively to its broad base of African American users, who are significant both in terms of their numbers, and their impact on online social culture. However, in this study I engage with the ways in which Black Twitter has been adopted, co-opted and used by young South Africans. As a bona fide ‘member’ of South African Black Twitter, my approach to the study was cyberethnographic. Drawing on my access to the space, my knowledge of many of its members and dynamics, I engaged in participant observation as my primary methodology. My discussion focuses on three areas of everyday concerns, namely: gender and sexuality; race and politics; finances and the economy. These three areas emerge both as prominent sites of discussion, but also give the best insight into the ways in which young South Africans are grappling with these issues. My analysis focuses on how everyday concerns are handled on the platform, and I focus on the deployment of solidarity, formal language, platform-based language and the invocation of blackness. I argue in my conclusion that while the structure of the broad Black Twitter space reflects a leaning towards a digital public sphere, that the process and construction of Black Twitter’s ideas and content are approached via an incomplete, fluid convivial approach.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
The garden as a metaphor for paradise
- Authors: Adlard, Michelle Catherine
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Paradise in art , Garden of paradise , Gardens -- Design -- Early works to 1800
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2391 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002187 , Paradise in art , Garden of paradise , Gardens -- Design -- Early works to 1800
- Description: In this half thesis the use of the garden as a metaphor for paradise has been explored. The English word “ paradise“ was derived from the Greek word “ paradeisos” which in turn was derived from the Old Avestana “ pairi-daeza,” meaning an enclosure. In Ancient Persia the concept applied to an enclosed garden in the modern sense of the word. For this reason the thesis begins with an examination of the development of the garden in this desert region. A more-or-less continuous chain of development in both the physical and allegorical nature of the garden is traced through history from these Ancient Persian beginnings to the height of Mughal architecture (epitomised by the Taj Mahal), by way of the Muslim expansion through Central Asia and Europe. While the core elements of garden design were set in Ancient Persian times, and recur throughout the period studied, the impact of Islam on the local Persian culture brought about a new development of allegorical meaning associated with the garden. This allegorical development reached its apex, too, in the Taj Mahal in which, it is argued, the metaphorical representation of paradise in the garden tomb was made astonishingly explicit. The research for this mini thesis was gathered from secondary sources, including many published books and academic papers, photographic and diagrammatic evidence of extant ancient gardens, and reproductions of carpet designs.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
- Authors: Adlard, Michelle Catherine
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Paradise in art , Garden of paradise , Gardens -- Design -- Early works to 1800
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2391 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002187 , Paradise in art , Garden of paradise , Gardens -- Design -- Early works to 1800
- Description: In this half thesis the use of the garden as a metaphor for paradise has been explored. The English word “ paradise“ was derived from the Greek word “ paradeisos” which in turn was derived from the Old Avestana “ pairi-daeza,” meaning an enclosure. In Ancient Persia the concept applied to an enclosed garden in the modern sense of the word. For this reason the thesis begins with an examination of the development of the garden in this desert region. A more-or-less continuous chain of development in both the physical and allegorical nature of the garden is traced through history from these Ancient Persian beginnings to the height of Mughal architecture (epitomised by the Taj Mahal), by way of the Muslim expansion through Central Asia and Europe. While the core elements of garden design were set in Ancient Persian times, and recur throughout the period studied, the impact of Islam on the local Persian culture brought about a new development of allegorical meaning associated with the garden. This allegorical development reached its apex, too, in the Taj Mahal in which, it is argued, the metaphorical representation of paradise in the garden tomb was made astonishingly explicit. The research for this mini thesis was gathered from secondary sources, including many published books and academic papers, photographic and diagrammatic evidence of extant ancient gardens, and reproductions of carpet designs.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
An investigation into the structure and process of forgiveness following gross human rights violations
- Authors: Adonis, Cyril Kenneth
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Human rights , Forgiveness -- South Africa , South Africa. Truth and Reconciliation Commission , Amnesty -- South Africa , Reconciliation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2921 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002430 , Human rights , Forgiveness -- South Africa , South Africa. Truth and Reconciliation Commission , Amnesty -- South Africa , Reconciliation
- Description: This study focuses on the structure and process of forgiveness as experienced by individuals, from the East London and surrounding areas, who either suffered gross human rights violations or who are related to someone who suffered gross human rights violations during the Apartheid era. Those who participated in the study testified at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and expressed forgiveness towards the perpetrators of the violations. The aims of the study were to reveal: the participants' structure cif forgiveness, i.e. how they define forgiveness; the process of forgiveness, i.e. the changes that took place from the time of the violation up until the participants forgave the perpetrators: and, the relation. if any. between the participants' structure and process of forgiveness. It is argued that mainstream Psychology has neglected to study forgiveness because the subject matter is incompatible with the natural scientific method. For this reason, the study was approached from a hermeneutical paradigm. This was motivated by its ability to explicate the meaning and content of phenomena. Unstructured qualitative interviews were conducted with the participants. Data was analyzed using a multi-layered process of progressively deeper interpretation, employing a reading guide technique. Results indicated that authentic forgiveness is an unconditional commitment on the part of victims and survivors to relate positively towards the perpetrators. The relationship should include non-bitterness, non-vengeance, unconditional love and respect for their human rights. Another significant dimension of the structure of forgiveness is the fact that the desire for the truth is not abandoned although forgiveness has taken place. Forgiveness also does not take away the effects of the violation. This means that one does not forget although forgiveness has been granted. Results further indicate that the forgiveness process is highly complex, individualized and not instantaneous. The individuals have to deal with various intrapersonal conflicts and anxieties as a result of the violation, before forgiveness is explored as an option, and before they can finally forgive. Significant interrelations between the structure and process of forgiveness were also identified.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1999
- Authors: Adonis, Cyril Kenneth
- Date: 1999
- Subjects: Human rights , Forgiveness -- South Africa , South Africa. Truth and Reconciliation Commission , Amnesty -- South Africa , Reconciliation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2921 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002430 , Human rights , Forgiveness -- South Africa , South Africa. Truth and Reconciliation Commission , Amnesty -- South Africa , Reconciliation
- Description: This study focuses on the structure and process of forgiveness as experienced by individuals, from the East London and surrounding areas, who either suffered gross human rights violations or who are related to someone who suffered gross human rights violations during the Apartheid era. Those who participated in the study testified at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and expressed forgiveness towards the perpetrators of the violations. The aims of the study were to reveal: the participants' structure cif forgiveness, i.e. how they define forgiveness; the process of forgiveness, i.e. the changes that took place from the time of the violation up until the participants forgave the perpetrators: and, the relation. if any. between the participants' structure and process of forgiveness. It is argued that mainstream Psychology has neglected to study forgiveness because the subject matter is incompatible with the natural scientific method. For this reason, the study was approached from a hermeneutical paradigm. This was motivated by its ability to explicate the meaning and content of phenomena. Unstructured qualitative interviews were conducted with the participants. Data was analyzed using a multi-layered process of progressively deeper interpretation, employing a reading guide technique. Results indicated that authentic forgiveness is an unconditional commitment on the part of victims and survivors to relate positively towards the perpetrators. The relationship should include non-bitterness, non-vengeance, unconditional love and respect for their human rights. Another significant dimension of the structure of forgiveness is the fact that the desire for the truth is not abandoned although forgiveness has taken place. Forgiveness also does not take away the effects of the violation. This means that one does not forget although forgiveness has been granted. Results further indicate that the forgiveness process is highly complex, individualized and not instantaneous. The individuals have to deal with various intrapersonal conflicts and anxieties as a result of the violation, before forgiveness is explored as an option, and before they can finally forgive. Significant interrelations between the structure and process of forgiveness were also identified.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1999
An exploration of the effect of market-driven journalism on The Monitor newspaper's editorial content
- Authors: Agaba, Grace Rwomushana
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Monitor (Uganda) , Journalism -- Political aspects -- Uganda , Journalism, Commercial -- Uganda , Mass media and public opinion -- Uganda , Mass media -- Political aspects -- Uganda , Freedom of the press -- Uganda , Press and politics -- Uganda , Journalism -- Social aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3416 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002869 , Monitor (Uganda) , Journalism -- Political aspects -- Uganda , Journalism, Commercial -- Uganda , Mass media and public opinion -- Uganda , Mass media -- Political aspects -- Uganda , Freedom of the press -- Uganda , Press and politics -- Uganda , Journalism -- Social aspects
- Description: The media today are under pressure from various fronts including governments, businesses as well as cultural interests. In the developed world, this pressure that led to the emergence of a new form of journalism that puts the demands of the market at the forefront. This commercial oriented journalism gives priority to articles that attract mass audiences like entertainment while it downplays information that promotes debates that is necessary for citizens to be able to have a voice on the issues that affect them. And since participation and discussion are cornerstones of a democratic process, market-driven journalism undermines democracy because it narrows down the forum for debate. As a result, active citizens are turned into passive observers in society. Although several studies about this phenomenon have been done in the western world, the same is happening in Africa because the media face similar challenges as in the West; challenges of globalisation and media conglomeration facilitated by the rapid advancing technology. This study, which is informed by political economy and market-driven journalism theories, notes that the media in Uganda are also faced with these challenges. The study is focused on Uganda’s only independent newspaper, The Monitor. The findings indicate that market-driven journalism is taking root at the expense of journalism that promotes citizenship and debate such as political reporting and opinions. For example, there has been an increase of entertainment, sports and supplement articles in The Monitor as compared to declining political reporting and opinions. More so, investigative reporting has dwindled over the years at the expense of increasing use of press releases. This is because entertainment and sports articles can attract big audiences that the newspaper needs to sell to advertisers. Advertisers are important because they provide financial support to the newspaper. However, in a country where democracy is in its formative stages, public information is necessary not only for citizens to make informed decisions but also to spur economic as well as social development.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Agaba, Grace Rwomushana
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Monitor (Uganda) , Journalism -- Political aspects -- Uganda , Journalism, Commercial -- Uganda , Mass media and public opinion -- Uganda , Mass media -- Political aspects -- Uganda , Freedom of the press -- Uganda , Press and politics -- Uganda , Journalism -- Social aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3416 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002869 , Monitor (Uganda) , Journalism -- Political aspects -- Uganda , Journalism, Commercial -- Uganda , Mass media and public opinion -- Uganda , Mass media -- Political aspects -- Uganda , Freedom of the press -- Uganda , Press and politics -- Uganda , Journalism -- Social aspects
- Description: The media today are under pressure from various fronts including governments, businesses as well as cultural interests. In the developed world, this pressure that led to the emergence of a new form of journalism that puts the demands of the market at the forefront. This commercial oriented journalism gives priority to articles that attract mass audiences like entertainment while it downplays information that promotes debates that is necessary for citizens to be able to have a voice on the issues that affect them. And since participation and discussion are cornerstones of a democratic process, market-driven journalism undermines democracy because it narrows down the forum for debate. As a result, active citizens are turned into passive observers in society. Although several studies about this phenomenon have been done in the western world, the same is happening in Africa because the media face similar challenges as in the West; challenges of globalisation and media conglomeration facilitated by the rapid advancing technology. This study, which is informed by political economy and market-driven journalism theories, notes that the media in Uganda are also faced with these challenges. The study is focused on Uganda’s only independent newspaper, The Monitor. The findings indicate that market-driven journalism is taking root at the expense of journalism that promotes citizenship and debate such as political reporting and opinions. For example, there has been an increase of entertainment, sports and supplement articles in The Monitor as compared to declining political reporting and opinions. More so, investigative reporting has dwindled over the years at the expense of increasing use of press releases. This is because entertainment and sports articles can attract big audiences that the newspaper needs to sell to advertisers. Advertisers are important because they provide financial support to the newspaper. However, in a country where democracy is in its formative stages, public information is necessary not only for citizens to make informed decisions but also to spur economic as well as social development.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Managing natural resources in a rural settlement in Peddie district
- Authors: Ainslie, Andrew
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: Conservation of natural resources -- South Africa -- Management , Natural resources -- South Africa -- Peddie District -- Management , Peddie (South Africa) -- Social conditions , Peddie (South Africa) -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2110 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007462 , Conservation of natural resources -- South Africa -- Management , Natural resources -- South Africa -- Peddie District -- Management , Peddie (South Africa) -- Social conditions , Peddie (South Africa) -- History
- Description: This thesis is an account of the challenges people in Tyefu Location, Peddie District, and specifically in Gwabeni village, face in their attempts to manage their common pool natural resources. Taking my analytical cue from the literature which deals with the institutional dimensions of resource management in common property systems, I look at the impact of both outside influences and local dynamics on resource managing institutions at village level. I show how particular historical circumstances, including state interventions, led to the enclosure of Tyefu Location, and to the rapid increase in the population that had to be accommodated here. This placed enormous pressure on the natural resources of the area, and contributed to the emasculation of the local institutions responsible for overseeing resource management. The residents of the location adopted whatever strategies they could to ameliorate the depletion of natural resources in their villages. One 'traditional' strategy they have sought to emulate is to move their imizi (homesteads) away from areas where local resources has been exhausted. Given the finite area of land available to them, this strategy was only ever likely to be successful in the short-term. I analyse social, economic and institutional factors at village level that appear to act as disincentives to collective resource management activities. These factors include the social structure of the imizi and the socio-economic heterogeneity that exists between imizi in Gwabeni village. The varying degrees of household economic marginality that follow from this, together with the differential ownership of livestock and other possessions that decrease people's reliance on locally available natural resources, mean that the transaction costs that people would incur by contributing to collective resource management activities, differ widely. A primary cause of people's failure to engage in resource management at village level stems from the dispersion of the members of their imizi. This factor robs the village of decision makers and undermines the capacity of those left behind to make and implement resource management decisions. It results in the various members of imizi in the village having different orientations that dissipate the energy needed for collective action. It also fuels existing struggles, and creates new ones, over the meanings and uses of the term 'community'. I conclude by arguing that, in Tyefu Location, the management of natural resources is extremely difficult to co-ordinate, because such management is highly contested, undermined by differentiation among resource users, and subject to the attentions of weak village institutions that do not share a clear set of resource management objectives. , KMBT_363
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1998
- Authors: Ainslie, Andrew
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: Conservation of natural resources -- South Africa -- Management , Natural resources -- South Africa -- Peddie District -- Management , Peddie (South Africa) -- Social conditions , Peddie (South Africa) -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2110 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007462 , Conservation of natural resources -- South Africa -- Management , Natural resources -- South Africa -- Peddie District -- Management , Peddie (South Africa) -- Social conditions , Peddie (South Africa) -- History
- Description: This thesis is an account of the challenges people in Tyefu Location, Peddie District, and specifically in Gwabeni village, face in their attempts to manage their common pool natural resources. Taking my analytical cue from the literature which deals with the institutional dimensions of resource management in common property systems, I look at the impact of both outside influences and local dynamics on resource managing institutions at village level. I show how particular historical circumstances, including state interventions, led to the enclosure of Tyefu Location, and to the rapid increase in the population that had to be accommodated here. This placed enormous pressure on the natural resources of the area, and contributed to the emasculation of the local institutions responsible for overseeing resource management. The residents of the location adopted whatever strategies they could to ameliorate the depletion of natural resources in their villages. One 'traditional' strategy they have sought to emulate is to move their imizi (homesteads) away from areas where local resources has been exhausted. Given the finite area of land available to them, this strategy was only ever likely to be successful in the short-term. I analyse social, economic and institutional factors at village level that appear to act as disincentives to collective resource management activities. These factors include the social structure of the imizi and the socio-economic heterogeneity that exists between imizi in Gwabeni village. The varying degrees of household economic marginality that follow from this, together with the differential ownership of livestock and other possessions that decrease people's reliance on locally available natural resources, mean that the transaction costs that people would incur by contributing to collective resource management activities, differ widely. A primary cause of people's failure to engage in resource management at village level stems from the dispersion of the members of their imizi. This factor robs the village of decision makers and undermines the capacity of those left behind to make and implement resource management decisions. It results in the various members of imizi in the village having different orientations that dissipate the energy needed for collective action. It also fuels existing struggles, and creates new ones, over the meanings and uses of the term 'community'. I conclude by arguing that, in Tyefu Location, the management of natural resources is extremely difficult to co-ordinate, because such management is highly contested, undermined by differentiation among resource users, and subject to the attentions of weak village institutions that do not share a clear set of resource management objectives. , KMBT_363
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1998
300 grams
- Authors: Ainslie, Michelle
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: South African fiction (English) -- 21st century
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140597 , vital:37903
- Description: This document consists of two (2) parts:Part A: Thesis (Creative Work)Part B: Portfolio.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Ainslie, Michelle
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: South African fiction (English) -- 21st century
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140597 , vital:37903
- Description: This document consists of two (2) parts:Part A: Thesis (Creative Work)Part B: Portfolio.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Digital media marketing and the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages in Africa: A reception analysis of the multi-channel marketing of Coca-Cola among young Africans from the University of Lagos, Nigeria and Rhodes University, South Africa
- Authors: Akingbade, Olutobi Elijah
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Carbonated beverages -- Health aspects -- South Africa , Carbonated beverages -- Marketing -- South Africa , Soft drinks -- Health aspects -- South Africa , Soft drinks -- Marketing -- South Africa , Carbonated beverages -- Health aspects -- Nigeria , Carbonated beverages -- Marketing -- Nigeria , Digital media -- Marketing -- Africa , Soft drinks -- Health aspects -- Nigeria , Soft drinks -- Marketing -- Nigeria , Digital media -- Marketing -- Nigeria , Obesity -- Africa , Nutritionally induced diseases -- Africa , Coca-Cola Company -- Marketing , Rhodes University -- Students -- Attitudes , University of Lagos -- Students -- Attitudes
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/163125 , vital:41012
- Description: This study investigates and examines how Coca-Cola’s marketing communications, especially the newer forms of digital, social and mobile media marketing messages/campaigns, are received, understood and made sense of by two sets of purposefully selected young urban African students in Nigeria and South Africa. Embedded within a qualitative research design and underpinned by an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach, this study was conducted against the backdrop of the recent surge in the consumption of Sugar Sweetened Beverages (SSBs) which has been directly implicated in the rise of obesity and a variety of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Africa. The thesis explores the role of multinational SSBs in this surge, as African countries have become key focus areas for multinational food and beverage companies seeking growth and profits, as home markets decline partly due to better health communications and, in some cases, the implementation of so-called ‘sugar taxes’ and the attendant negative publicity around these taxes. The focus on young Africans from Nigeria and South Africa was motivated by the similar rapid urbanisations in both countries, often accompanied by changes in diet and greater consumption of fast foods and SSBS, and by South Africa’s ranking as the country with the highest prevalence of overweight persons and obesity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Similar rises in national average weights are now also starting to be seen in Nigeria, as are surges of diet-related disease incidence and prevalence. The study is informed by Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) but also draws on other theories and some key concepts from marketing studies, health science and psychology. Methodologically, the study draws on in-person observations, focus group interviews and semi-structured individual in-depth interviews, to explore how Coca-Cola has created a deep and evocative historical ‘brandscape’ and how it has become a multicultural resource in both South Africa and Nigeria. Through an investigation into the lived experiences of study participants with regards to both their earliest and more recent engagements with Coca-Cola, as a brand and as a product, the study delineates the influence of older generations of Coke enthusiasts and consumers within participants’ households and newer spaces of interaction with Coke via interactive, highly personalised social media-centric campaigns. This study explores how the ubiquitous nature of Coca-Cola’s aesthetics and signage are engaged with – often in very ‘sub-conscious’ ways – by these students and how more recent social media campaigns evoke this multigenerational history. Unpacking study participants’ self-understandings of Coke and their often ‘sub-conscious’ engagements with the SSB, this study explicates the underpinning ideological grounding and how this is sustained over time to become an hegemonic code that does not only confine participants’ engagements with SSBs to Coke but also confines their reception of, and engagements with, Coke’s media marketing messages/campaigns to those that resonate with the multigenerational history evoked by the SSB. It is within this contextual background that this study brings to the fore participants ‘cognitive dissonance’ and scepticism and often rank disbelief of the health risks posed by their high levels of Coke consumption. The study concludes that attempts to raise awareness about the dangers inherent in excessive consumption of SSBs in Africa need to be reviewed and rethought. There is a need for long-term, consistent and much more proactive health journalism, alongside public health campaigns in both official and indigenous languages, to dispel the powerful myths created by SSB marketing and explain how SSBs are implicated in the rise of diet-related NCDs in Nigeria and South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Akingbade, Olutobi Elijah
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Carbonated beverages -- Health aspects -- South Africa , Carbonated beverages -- Marketing -- South Africa , Soft drinks -- Health aspects -- South Africa , Soft drinks -- Marketing -- South Africa , Carbonated beverages -- Health aspects -- Nigeria , Carbonated beverages -- Marketing -- Nigeria , Digital media -- Marketing -- Africa , Soft drinks -- Health aspects -- Nigeria , Soft drinks -- Marketing -- Nigeria , Digital media -- Marketing -- Nigeria , Obesity -- Africa , Nutritionally induced diseases -- Africa , Coca-Cola Company -- Marketing , Rhodes University -- Students -- Attitudes , University of Lagos -- Students -- Attitudes
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/163125 , vital:41012
- Description: This study investigates and examines how Coca-Cola’s marketing communications, especially the newer forms of digital, social and mobile media marketing messages/campaigns, are received, understood and made sense of by two sets of purposefully selected young urban African students in Nigeria and South Africa. Embedded within a qualitative research design and underpinned by an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach, this study was conducted against the backdrop of the recent surge in the consumption of Sugar Sweetened Beverages (SSBs) which has been directly implicated in the rise of obesity and a variety of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Africa. The thesis explores the role of multinational SSBs in this surge, as African countries have become key focus areas for multinational food and beverage companies seeking growth and profits, as home markets decline partly due to better health communications and, in some cases, the implementation of so-called ‘sugar taxes’ and the attendant negative publicity around these taxes. The focus on young Africans from Nigeria and South Africa was motivated by the similar rapid urbanisations in both countries, often accompanied by changes in diet and greater consumption of fast foods and SSBS, and by South Africa’s ranking as the country with the highest prevalence of overweight persons and obesity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Similar rises in national average weights are now also starting to be seen in Nigeria, as are surges of diet-related disease incidence and prevalence. The study is informed by Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) but also draws on other theories and some key concepts from marketing studies, health science and psychology. Methodologically, the study draws on in-person observations, focus group interviews and semi-structured individual in-depth interviews, to explore how Coca-Cola has created a deep and evocative historical ‘brandscape’ and how it has become a multicultural resource in both South Africa and Nigeria. Through an investigation into the lived experiences of study participants with regards to both their earliest and more recent engagements with Coca-Cola, as a brand and as a product, the study delineates the influence of older generations of Coke enthusiasts and consumers within participants’ households and newer spaces of interaction with Coke via interactive, highly personalised social media-centric campaigns. This study explores how the ubiquitous nature of Coca-Cola’s aesthetics and signage are engaged with – often in very ‘sub-conscious’ ways – by these students and how more recent social media campaigns evoke this multigenerational history. Unpacking study participants’ self-understandings of Coke and their often ‘sub-conscious’ engagements with the SSB, this study explicates the underpinning ideological grounding and how this is sustained over time to become an hegemonic code that does not only confine participants’ engagements with SSBs to Coke but also confines their reception of, and engagements with, Coke’s media marketing messages/campaigns to those that resonate with the multigenerational history evoked by the SSB. It is within this contextual background that this study brings to the fore participants ‘cognitive dissonance’ and scepticism and often rank disbelief of the health risks posed by their high levels of Coke consumption. The study concludes that attempts to raise awareness about the dangers inherent in excessive consumption of SSBs in Africa need to be reviewed and rethought. There is a need for long-term, consistent and much more proactive health journalism, alongside public health campaigns in both official and indigenous languages, to dispel the powerful myths created by SSB marketing and explain how SSBs are implicated in the rise of diet-related NCDs in Nigeria and South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Negotiating the line between information and panic: a case study of vanguard’s coverage of the ebola outbreak in Nigeria
- Authors: Akingbade, Olutobi Elijah
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Digital media -- Marketing , Marketing -- Technological innovations , Internet marketing , Carbonated beverages -- Marketing , Coca Cola (Trademark) -- Marketing , Social media -- Economic aspects , Soft drink industry -- Internet marketing , Health behavior in adolescence , Advertising -- Carbonated beverages , Obesity in adolescence , Drinking behavior
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/5903 , vital:20986
- Description: This study titled ‘Negotiating the line between information and panic: A case study of Vanguard’s coverage of the Ebola Outbreak in Nigeria’ investigates and evaluates Vanguard’s coverage of the 2014 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in Nigeria. This study was conducted to understand how Vanguard negotiated the line between the dissemination of actual EVD information and the possibility of creating panic and fear during the coverage of the outbreak. Using qualitative content analysis and interview embedded within a qualitative research design, the study was carried out against the backdrop of relevant literature that asserts that the mass media is an important carrier, prime mover and producer of tensions, anxieties, fears and panics while the print media specifically is argued to have as part of its history the business of irrational fear mongering and the creation of panic about social problems. Vanguard, rated as one of the ten largest newspapers in Nigeria, was purposively selected for this study. Vanguard did substantial reporting and dissemination of the 2014 EVD outbreak and it was possible to draw on the availability and accessibility of the electronic archives of the EVD articles. Using the theory of moral panic, the normative theories of the media and theories about essential constituents of journalism culture as a theoretical framework, the study reveals that Vanguard’s coverage of the 2014 EVD outbreak was challenging and more demanding compared to coverage of previous outbreaks of viral diseases in Nigeria by the print medium. The study shows that lack of sufficient understanding of the science that underlies EVD, the initial exclusion of the media from the national response to contain the outbreak, and the lack of sufficient proactive measures by government and the print medium were powerful factors in how the epidemic was reported. The study also shows an interesting dimension in Vanguard’s early and latter coverage of the EVD outbreak while it lasted in Nigeria. This dimension reveals a high number of EVD articles with the propensity to inspire fear and panic in the early days of the coverage compared to EVD articles with the propensity to douse fear and panic in the early and latter days of the outbreak. The study shows that while the challenges encountered stem from Ebola’s mode of transmission, lack of scientific and medically proven cure and early coverage amidst uncertainties, the inherent tensions and anxieties that characterised the outbreak coupled with Vanguard’s fire brigade approach led to the relatively high number of EVD articles with the propensity to inspire fear and panic. The study recommends the mass media’s inclusion in national responses to epidemics and ongoing training for health journalists to update their knowledge base about emerging and infectious diseases. The study also recommends for further study a reception analysis to enhance the socio-cultural understanding of how the EVD articles were received.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Akingbade, Olutobi Elijah
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Digital media -- Marketing , Marketing -- Technological innovations , Internet marketing , Carbonated beverages -- Marketing , Coca Cola (Trademark) -- Marketing , Social media -- Economic aspects , Soft drink industry -- Internet marketing , Health behavior in adolescence , Advertising -- Carbonated beverages , Obesity in adolescence , Drinking behavior
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/5903 , vital:20986
- Description: This study titled ‘Negotiating the line between information and panic: A case study of Vanguard’s coverage of the Ebola Outbreak in Nigeria’ investigates and evaluates Vanguard’s coverage of the 2014 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in Nigeria. This study was conducted to understand how Vanguard negotiated the line between the dissemination of actual EVD information and the possibility of creating panic and fear during the coverage of the outbreak. Using qualitative content analysis and interview embedded within a qualitative research design, the study was carried out against the backdrop of relevant literature that asserts that the mass media is an important carrier, prime mover and producer of tensions, anxieties, fears and panics while the print media specifically is argued to have as part of its history the business of irrational fear mongering and the creation of panic about social problems. Vanguard, rated as one of the ten largest newspapers in Nigeria, was purposively selected for this study. Vanguard did substantial reporting and dissemination of the 2014 EVD outbreak and it was possible to draw on the availability and accessibility of the electronic archives of the EVD articles. Using the theory of moral panic, the normative theories of the media and theories about essential constituents of journalism culture as a theoretical framework, the study reveals that Vanguard’s coverage of the 2014 EVD outbreak was challenging and more demanding compared to coverage of previous outbreaks of viral diseases in Nigeria by the print medium. The study shows that lack of sufficient understanding of the science that underlies EVD, the initial exclusion of the media from the national response to contain the outbreak, and the lack of sufficient proactive measures by government and the print medium were powerful factors in how the epidemic was reported. The study also shows an interesting dimension in Vanguard’s early and latter coverage of the EVD outbreak while it lasted in Nigeria. This dimension reveals a high number of EVD articles with the propensity to inspire fear and panic in the early days of the coverage compared to EVD articles with the propensity to douse fear and panic in the early and latter days of the outbreak. The study shows that while the challenges encountered stem from Ebola’s mode of transmission, lack of scientific and medically proven cure and early coverage amidst uncertainties, the inherent tensions and anxieties that characterised the outbreak coupled with Vanguard’s fire brigade approach led to the relatively high number of EVD articles with the propensity to inspire fear and panic. The study recommends the mass media’s inclusion in national responses to epidemics and ongoing training for health journalists to update their knowledge base about emerging and infectious diseases. The study also recommends for further study a reception analysis to enhance the socio-cultural understanding of how the EVD articles were received.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Psychological resilience: the role of unconscious and conscious coping strategies in the mediation of stress in high risk occupational contexts
- Authors: Alexander, Debra Geraldine
- Date: 2002
- Subjects: Hazardous occupations , Teachers -- South Africa -- Job stress , Police -- South Africa -- Job stress , Emergency medical personnel -- South Africa -- Job stress , Stress (Psychology)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3092 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003059 , Hazardous occupations , Teachers -- South Africa -- Job stress , Police -- South Africa -- Job stress , Emergency medical personnel -- South Africa -- Job stress , Stress (Psychology)
- Description: This study investigates the role of unconscious and conscious coping strategies in the mediation of stress in high risk occupational contexts. The Social Readjustment Rating Scale, the Multidimensional Coping Inventory and the Defense Style Questionnaires were completed by 194 police, ambulance and teaching personnel. A sample of 37 teachers served as a non high risk occupation control group. Descriptive statistics, regression analysis, analysis of variance, analysis of difference and principal component analysis were performed on the data. Results indicated minimal significant between group differences. Within group variances were yielded. A minor relationship between levels of stress and usage of positive and negative mechanisms was observed. The significance of these findings is discussed and recommendations made for further study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2002
- Authors: Alexander, Debra Geraldine
- Date: 2002
- Subjects: Hazardous occupations , Teachers -- South Africa -- Job stress , Police -- South Africa -- Job stress , Emergency medical personnel -- South Africa -- Job stress , Stress (Psychology)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3092 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003059 , Hazardous occupations , Teachers -- South Africa -- Job stress , Police -- South Africa -- Job stress , Emergency medical personnel -- South Africa -- Job stress , Stress (Psychology)
- Description: This study investigates the role of unconscious and conscious coping strategies in the mediation of stress in high risk occupational contexts. The Social Readjustment Rating Scale, the Multidimensional Coping Inventory and the Defense Style Questionnaires were completed by 194 police, ambulance and teaching personnel. A sample of 37 teachers served as a non high risk occupation control group. Descriptive statistics, regression analysis, analysis of variance, analysis of difference and principal component analysis were performed on the data. Results indicated minimal significant between group differences. Within group variances were yielded. A minor relationship between levels of stress and usage of positive and negative mechanisms was observed. The significance of these findings is discussed and recommendations made for further study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2002
Stories from forest, river and mountain : exploring children's cultural environmental narratives and their role in the transmission of cultural connection to and protection of biodiversity
- Authors: Alexander, Jamie Kim
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Children and the environment -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Conservation of natural resources -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Citizen participation , Environmental education -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Human ecology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Oral tradition -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Social learning -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Traditional ecological knowledge -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:6061 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1015267
- Description: Preservationist conservation created a legacy of national parks and protected areas that were surrounded by local people dispossessed of their land and denied the rights to use the resources they had previously relied upon. Although conservation is now shifting towards a more participatory approach, research gaps still exist in determining the meaning of 'the environment' and the role of local means of conservation in rural communities in South Africa. This study focused on children's cultural environmental narratives from two rural villages in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Children from grades 4, 7 and 10 were involved in the study, and adult family members, local experts and village elders were included in the study to allow for comparison between children's and adult's narratives and to realise what Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) was being passed on. This thesis considers children's use of the environment for play and their sense of place as key methods in ascertaining children's environmental narratives and perceptions. At both field sites, local experts and community elders possessed a wealth of cultural environmental narratives, but these narratives were not necessarily being passed on. Changing household structures and other socio-economic factors influence cultural environmental practices, which in turn have an impact on the cultural environmental narratives being passed down. In many cases, parents' safety fears strongly impacted upon children's access to the environment, resulting in gendered environmental knowledge. The study compared differing vegetation types and degrees of environmental access. The differing environments produced similar cultural environmental narratives, leading to new understandings in community environment relationships. Children living near the state administered forest had significantly less environmental knowledge, bringing about questions of sustainable bio-cultural diversity in the future. The recognition of cultural environmental values is especially important in the rural areas of South Africa, where unemployment and increased poverty levels have led to greater dependence on natural resources for social, economic and cultural purposes. It is proposed that local cultural environmental narratives and landscape perceptions be included into community conservation and environmental education policies and programmes to provide local solutions to the problem of biodiversity conservation in local contexts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Alexander, Jamie Kim
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Children and the environment -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Conservation of natural resources -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Citizen participation , Environmental education -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Human ecology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Oral tradition -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Social learning -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Traditional ecological knowledge -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:6061 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1015267
- Description: Preservationist conservation created a legacy of national parks and protected areas that were surrounded by local people dispossessed of their land and denied the rights to use the resources they had previously relied upon. Although conservation is now shifting towards a more participatory approach, research gaps still exist in determining the meaning of 'the environment' and the role of local means of conservation in rural communities in South Africa. This study focused on children's cultural environmental narratives from two rural villages in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Children from grades 4, 7 and 10 were involved in the study, and adult family members, local experts and village elders were included in the study to allow for comparison between children's and adult's narratives and to realise what Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) was being passed on. This thesis considers children's use of the environment for play and their sense of place as key methods in ascertaining children's environmental narratives and perceptions. At both field sites, local experts and community elders possessed a wealth of cultural environmental narratives, but these narratives were not necessarily being passed on. Changing household structures and other socio-economic factors influence cultural environmental practices, which in turn have an impact on the cultural environmental narratives being passed down. In many cases, parents' safety fears strongly impacted upon children's access to the environment, resulting in gendered environmental knowledge. The study compared differing vegetation types and degrees of environmental access. The differing environments produced similar cultural environmental narratives, leading to new understandings in community environment relationships. Children living near the state administered forest had significantly less environmental knowledge, bringing about questions of sustainable bio-cultural diversity in the future. The recognition of cultural environmental values is especially important in the rural areas of South Africa, where unemployment and increased poverty levels have led to greater dependence on natural resources for social, economic and cultural purposes. It is proposed that local cultural environmental narratives and landscape perceptions be included into community conservation and environmental education policies and programmes to provide local solutions to the problem of biodiversity conservation in local contexts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Stirring the hornet's nest: women's citizenship and childcare in post-apartheid South Africa
- Authors: Alfers, Laura Corrigall
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Women's rights -- South Africa , Citizenship -- South Africa , Women -- Political activity , Feminist theory -- Political aspects , Child care -- South Africa , Sex discrimination against women
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2757 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002967 , Women's rights -- South Africa , Citizenship -- South Africa , Women -- Political activity , Feminist theory -- Political aspects , Child care -- South Africa , Sex discrimination against women
- Description: It is a widely acknowledged fact that women’s access to the full rights of citizenship in the liberal state is restricted because of their unequal responsibility for childcare. The South African state, however, despite its theoretical commitment to gender equality, has failed substantially to engage with the issue of childcare and women’s citizenship. This is problematic because in failing to envisage a role for itself in supporting women with their responsibility for childcare, the state has not only neglected its Constitutional commitments to gender equality, but it has also failed to realise the benefits that could potentially accrue to children if women’s access to economic citizenship is not hampered by childcare. Recognising this problem, this thesis attempts to engender some debate as to how the South African state could feasibly correct this failure. In doing so, it uses feminist political theory as a basis and takes a critical view of the two childcare policies that have dominated the debate over women’s citizenship and childcare in Western liberal democracies – socialised care and the neofamilialist model. In concluding it attempts to provide an idea of what feasible, state-based childcare policies could look like in present-day South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Alfers, Laura Corrigall
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Women's rights -- South Africa , Citizenship -- South Africa , Women -- Political activity , Feminist theory -- Political aspects , Child care -- South Africa , Sex discrimination against women
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2757 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002967 , Women's rights -- South Africa , Citizenship -- South Africa , Women -- Political activity , Feminist theory -- Political aspects , Child care -- South Africa , Sex discrimination against women
- Description: It is a widely acknowledged fact that women’s access to the full rights of citizenship in the liberal state is restricted because of their unequal responsibility for childcare. The South African state, however, despite its theoretical commitment to gender equality, has failed substantially to engage with the issue of childcare and women’s citizenship. This is problematic because in failing to envisage a role for itself in supporting women with their responsibility for childcare, the state has not only neglected its Constitutional commitments to gender equality, but it has also failed to realise the benefits that could potentially accrue to children if women’s access to economic citizenship is not hampered by childcare. Recognising this problem, this thesis attempts to engender some debate as to how the South African state could feasibly correct this failure. In doing so, it uses feminist political theory as a basis and takes a critical view of the two childcare policies that have dominated the debate over women’s citizenship and childcare in Western liberal democracies – socialised care and the neofamilialist model. In concluding it attempts to provide an idea of what feasible, state-based childcare policies could look like in present-day South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
An analysis of digital photojournalistic practices: a study of the Sowetan's photographic department
- Authors: Allan, Christopher
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: Sowetan (Johannesburg, South Africa) , Photojournalism -- South Africa , Photography -- Digital techniques , Photojournalists -- South Africa , Photojournalism -- South Africa -- Moral and ethical aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3496 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003071 , Sowetan (Johannesburg, South Africa) , Photojournalism -- South Africa , Photography -- Digital techniques , Photojournalists -- South Africa , Photojournalism -- South Africa -- Moral and ethical aspects
- Description: Photojournalism in South Africa is in the process of undergoing a shift from an analogue past to a fully digital future. This shift to digital has already been completed by many of the newspapers in the United States of America and Europe, and the new technology is seen to have made fundamental differences in the way that journalists do their job. This thesis attempts to explore the differences brought about, as well as the problems experienced by the photographic department at the Sowetan newspaper as a result of the shift to digital. How the development of technology has affected the photojournalist throughout is focused upon in a brief history of photojournalism and examples of how technology has shaped different aspects of journalism in both a positive and negative manner is considered. Exactly what digital photography is, how it has been integrated into American Photographic departments and the changes that the new technology has prompted are also explained. The manipulation of images in the past as well as the relative ease of digital manipulation are covered and concerns are raised about the future implications of digital manipulation. By conductlng participant observation and holding interviews, research data was compiled which allowed conclusions to be drawn about the impact that the shift to digital had had on the Sowetan photographic department. Intentional and unintentional consequences were expected and revealed in the research. The job of the photojournalist and photographic editor was found to have changed but perhaps not as dramatically as expected. Third world factors such as crime, poverty and lack of education were discovered to have resulted in problems that differed noticeably from those experienced by American and European photographic departments. Some expected difficulties were not experienced at all, while other major obstacles, specifically the repairs that must constantly be made to the digital cameras, continue to hamper the operations of the new digital department. Some understanding of the problems that might be encountered by future photojournalism departments that are considering making the shift to digital are arrived at, in the hope that they may be foreseen and overcome.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
An analysis of digital photojournalistic practices: a study of the Sowetan's photographic department
- Authors: Allan, Christopher
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: Sowetan (Johannesburg, South Africa) , Photojournalism -- South Africa , Photography -- Digital techniques , Photojournalists -- South Africa , Photojournalism -- South Africa -- Moral and ethical aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3496 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003071 , Sowetan (Johannesburg, South Africa) , Photojournalism -- South Africa , Photography -- Digital techniques , Photojournalists -- South Africa , Photojournalism -- South Africa -- Moral and ethical aspects
- Description: Photojournalism in South Africa is in the process of undergoing a shift from an analogue past to a fully digital future. This shift to digital has already been completed by many of the newspapers in the United States of America and Europe, and the new technology is seen to have made fundamental differences in the way that journalists do their job. This thesis attempts to explore the differences brought about, as well as the problems experienced by the photographic department at the Sowetan newspaper as a result of the shift to digital. How the development of technology has affected the photojournalist throughout is focused upon in a brief history of photojournalism and examples of how technology has shaped different aspects of journalism in both a positive and negative manner is considered. Exactly what digital photography is, how it has been integrated into American Photographic departments and the changes that the new technology has prompted are also explained. The manipulation of images in the past as well as the relative ease of digital manipulation are covered and concerns are raised about the future implications of digital manipulation. By conductlng participant observation and holding interviews, research data was compiled which allowed conclusions to be drawn about the impact that the shift to digital had had on the Sowetan photographic department. Intentional and unintentional consequences were expected and revealed in the research. The job of the photojournalist and photographic editor was found to have changed but perhaps not as dramatically as expected. Third world factors such as crime, poverty and lack of education were discovered to have resulted in problems that differed noticeably from those experienced by American and European photographic departments. Some expected difficulties were not experienced at all, while other major obstacles, specifically the repairs that must constantly be made to the digital cameras, continue to hamper the operations of the new digital department. Some understanding of the problems that might be encountered by future photojournalism departments that are considering making the shift to digital are arrived at, in the hope that they may be foreseen and overcome.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
Exploring problematic experiences : an IPA study of 'Internet Addiction'
- Authors: Allie, Naaheeda
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Internet addiction , Compulsive behavior , Security (Psychology)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3256 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016395
- Description: In the past two decades, a considerable amount of research has been carried out on the phenomenon of excessive Internet use, variously termed Internet addiction, Internet dependency and problematic Internet use. Despite this, there is still little agreement as to what constitutes this phenomenon, whether it should be considered a clinical disorder or not and what leads to this excessive or maladaptive use. The terminology used in this study is that of Problematic Internet Use (PIU). Several theoretical models have been proposed in the understanding of PIU including personality models, operant conditioning models, social cognitive and cognitive behavioural models (Davis, 2001; LaRose, lin & Eastin, 2003; Young, 1999). A proposed gap in the literature is the lack of studies exploring participant experiences of problematic Internet use. It is for this reason that this study aimed at exploring the experiences of a small sample of individuals with self-identified problematic Internet use. The implications of this phenomenological data for the above-mentioned theoretical models were then reviewed. This study used an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach in exploring these aims. A sample of four participants was selected through purposive sampling techniques. Four major themes emerged from the analysis namely: Escapism, Social Insecurity and Validation, Perfectionism and Control. These experiences of participants were also explored in terms of the conceptual models reviewed in order to compare how closely they related to participant experiences. A strong inter-relationship was found between the four themes mentioned above. The Internet appeared to provide a sense of control and validation to these individuals while simultaneously rendering them unable to maintain control of their Internet usage in relation to this. This sense of control was experienced through an escape from negative emotions, offline obligations and at times a dissatisfactory position in reality. Of the four models reviewed, the Social Cognitive model proposed by LaRose et al. (2003) appeared to offer the most relevant understanding of PIU to participant experiences. The presence of maladaptive cognitions also appeared to feature strongly as an underlying factor in participants' PIU, as theorised by cognitive behavioural models (Davis, 2001; Young, 1999) Finally recommendations are made for further more detailed exploration of PIU using interpretative, experiential methods.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Allie, Naaheeda
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Internet addiction , Compulsive behavior , Security (Psychology)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3256 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016395
- Description: In the past two decades, a considerable amount of research has been carried out on the phenomenon of excessive Internet use, variously termed Internet addiction, Internet dependency and problematic Internet use. Despite this, there is still little agreement as to what constitutes this phenomenon, whether it should be considered a clinical disorder or not and what leads to this excessive or maladaptive use. The terminology used in this study is that of Problematic Internet Use (PIU). Several theoretical models have been proposed in the understanding of PIU including personality models, operant conditioning models, social cognitive and cognitive behavioural models (Davis, 2001; LaRose, lin & Eastin, 2003; Young, 1999). A proposed gap in the literature is the lack of studies exploring participant experiences of problematic Internet use. It is for this reason that this study aimed at exploring the experiences of a small sample of individuals with self-identified problematic Internet use. The implications of this phenomenological data for the above-mentioned theoretical models were then reviewed. This study used an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach in exploring these aims. A sample of four participants was selected through purposive sampling techniques. Four major themes emerged from the analysis namely: Escapism, Social Insecurity and Validation, Perfectionism and Control. These experiences of participants were also explored in terms of the conceptual models reviewed in order to compare how closely they related to participant experiences. A strong inter-relationship was found between the four themes mentioned above. The Internet appeared to provide a sense of control and validation to these individuals while simultaneously rendering them unable to maintain control of their Internet usage in relation to this. This sense of control was experienced through an escape from negative emotions, offline obligations and at times a dissatisfactory position in reality. Of the four models reviewed, the Social Cognitive model proposed by LaRose et al. (2003) appeared to offer the most relevant understanding of PIU to participant experiences. The presence of maladaptive cognitions also appeared to feature strongly as an underlying factor in participants' PIU, as theorised by cognitive behavioural models (Davis, 2001; Young, 1999) Finally recommendations are made for further more detailed exploration of PIU using interpretative, experiential methods.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015