Initial investigations into dynamics of mesozooplankton community structure in Algoa Bay, South Africa
- Authors: Dali, Luzuko O'Brian
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Zooplankton -- Research -- Indian Ocean -- South Africa , Phytoplankton -- Research -- Indian Ocean -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5715 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005401 , Zooplankton -- Research -- Indian Ocean -- South Africa , Phytoplankton -- Research -- Indian Ocean -- South Africa
- Description: As part of a long-term monitoring programme initiated by the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) Elwandle Node, the spatio-temporal dynamics of mesozooplankton (200–2000 μm) community structure in Algoa Bay, on the Eastern Cape coastline of southern Africa, was investigated in summer and winter of 2008. Physical-chemical and biological variables were measured at selected sites in the eastern and western sectors of the Bay. During summer, nutrient rich waters upwelling into the eastern sector of the Bay contributed to significant spatial variation in selected physical-chemical variables. During winter, virtually no significant spatial patterns in the physical-chemical variables were observed (P>0.05 in all cases). For the majority of physical-chemical variables, no significant seasonal patterns in values were detected (P>0.05 in all cases). Notable exceptions were water column stability and water temperatures which were highest during summer, and seston, turbidity and ammonium concentrations which attained the highest values in winter. The striking seasonal pattern observed in the water column stability, coupled with the upwelling event, coincided with a strong seasonal pattern in the total surface and integrated chlorophyll-a concentrations within the Bay. During summer, the total surface phytoplankton biomass ranged from 1.87–3.11 μg.L⁻¹ and the integrated biomass values between 44.6 and 89.1 mg chl-a m⁻². In winter, surface chl-a concentrations ranged from 0.49 to 0.55 μg.L⁻¹ and integrated biomass from 13.5 to 13.8 mg chl-a m⁻². During both seasons, the large microphytoplankton (>20 μm) fraction contributed the most (>80%) to the total phytoplankton biomass suggesting that phytoplankton growth is not nutrient limited within the Bay. The total mesozooplankton abundance and biomass values during summer varied between 10088.92 and 28283.21 ind.m⁻³ and between 76.59 and 161.94 mg.m⁻³, respectively. During winter, total abundance and biomass of mesozooplankton within the Bay were significantly lower, ranging from 2392.49 to 11145.29 ind.m⁻³, and from 34.49 to 42.49 mg.m⁻³, respectively (P<0.05). During both seasons, cosmopolitan copepod species 200–500μm in size dominated the total mesozooplankton counts, numerically and in biomass. Hierarchical cluster analyses identified distinct zooplankton groupings within the Bay during both the summer (three groupings) and winter (four groupings) surveys. The different groupings identified during the two seasons were not associated with any specific geographic region or hydrological feature. Nonetheless, a distinct seasonal pattern in the mesozooplankton community was evident, largely reflecting the increased abundance of mesozooplankton during the summer survey. Canonical Correspondence Analyses (CCA) indicated that the zooplankton community structure within Algoa Bay reflected a complex interaction between physical-chemical (e.g. temperature, water column stability, turbidity, and nitrate, dissolved oxygen and nitrite concentrations) and biological factors (e.g. microphytoplankton and picophytoplankton concentrations). These data provide baseline information towards long-term monitoring programs that will be conducted in Algoa Bay, as part of the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON), in the near future.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Dali, Luzuko O'Brian
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Zooplankton -- Research -- Indian Ocean -- South Africa , Phytoplankton -- Research -- Indian Ocean -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5715 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005401 , Zooplankton -- Research -- Indian Ocean -- South Africa , Phytoplankton -- Research -- Indian Ocean -- South Africa
- Description: As part of a long-term monitoring programme initiated by the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) Elwandle Node, the spatio-temporal dynamics of mesozooplankton (200–2000 μm) community structure in Algoa Bay, on the Eastern Cape coastline of southern Africa, was investigated in summer and winter of 2008. Physical-chemical and biological variables were measured at selected sites in the eastern and western sectors of the Bay. During summer, nutrient rich waters upwelling into the eastern sector of the Bay contributed to significant spatial variation in selected physical-chemical variables. During winter, virtually no significant spatial patterns in the physical-chemical variables were observed (P>0.05 in all cases). For the majority of physical-chemical variables, no significant seasonal patterns in values were detected (P>0.05 in all cases). Notable exceptions were water column stability and water temperatures which were highest during summer, and seston, turbidity and ammonium concentrations which attained the highest values in winter. The striking seasonal pattern observed in the water column stability, coupled with the upwelling event, coincided with a strong seasonal pattern in the total surface and integrated chlorophyll-a concentrations within the Bay. During summer, the total surface phytoplankton biomass ranged from 1.87–3.11 μg.L⁻¹ and the integrated biomass values between 44.6 and 89.1 mg chl-a m⁻². In winter, surface chl-a concentrations ranged from 0.49 to 0.55 μg.L⁻¹ and integrated biomass from 13.5 to 13.8 mg chl-a m⁻². During both seasons, the large microphytoplankton (>20 μm) fraction contributed the most (>80%) to the total phytoplankton biomass suggesting that phytoplankton growth is not nutrient limited within the Bay. The total mesozooplankton abundance and biomass values during summer varied between 10088.92 and 28283.21 ind.m⁻³ and between 76.59 and 161.94 mg.m⁻³, respectively. During winter, total abundance and biomass of mesozooplankton within the Bay were significantly lower, ranging from 2392.49 to 11145.29 ind.m⁻³, and from 34.49 to 42.49 mg.m⁻³, respectively (P<0.05). During both seasons, cosmopolitan copepod species 200–500μm in size dominated the total mesozooplankton counts, numerically and in biomass. Hierarchical cluster analyses identified distinct zooplankton groupings within the Bay during both the summer (three groupings) and winter (four groupings) surveys. The different groupings identified during the two seasons were not associated with any specific geographic region or hydrological feature. Nonetheless, a distinct seasonal pattern in the mesozooplankton community was evident, largely reflecting the increased abundance of mesozooplankton during the summer survey. Canonical Correspondence Analyses (CCA) indicated that the zooplankton community structure within Algoa Bay reflected a complex interaction between physical-chemical (e.g. temperature, water column stability, turbidity, and nitrate, dissolved oxygen and nitrite concentrations) and biological factors (e.g. microphytoplankton and picophytoplankton concentrations). These data provide baseline information towards long-term monitoring programs that will be conducted in Algoa Bay, as part of the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON), in the near future.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Effects of colours, shapes and icons on performance and familiarity
- Authors: Dambuza, Inga Yola
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Industrial hygiene -- Research -- South Africa , Industrial safety -- Research -- South Africa , Industrial hygiene -- Standards -- South Africa , Human engineering -- Research -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5117 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005195 , Industrial hygiene -- Research -- South Africa , Industrial safety -- Research -- South Africa , Industrial hygiene -- Standards -- South Africa , Human engineering -- Research -- South Africa
- Description: Occupational injuries and illnesses remain to be a heavy burden on workers and employees in industrial developing and industrially developed societies, and health and safety in workplaces continues to be an important issue for ergonomists. Steps are being taken to stimulate health and safety agendas and to discover ways in which health and safety in industries can be improved. The main responsibility of employers is to provide employees with information, instructions and training that they required to carry out their work tasks in a healthy, practical and safe manner. The role of education as a countermeasure to occupational injury and illness is being re-examined by health and safety practitioners and safety training is being considered as a vital part of accident prevention strategies. Effective training programmes should guarantee that workers possess the skills they require to complete their tasks in a safe and healthy manner. Very little is known about the type and quality of training workers undergo and how that training affects the safety outcomes of companies. There has been an attempt over the past 20 years to increase the research on safety communications and a great deal of this research has been focused on safety warnings; with the greatest attention been placed on the components of safety signs, such as colours, size, shapes and icons. The effects of these components on comprehension with relation to age and education have not received the same amount of attention. The impact of familiarity on safety warnings with respect to age and education has also received very little attention; despite the knowledge that familiarity has been shown to increase the noticing of warnings and the comprehension of safety information. Despite the increase in the research on safety communication, the literature and research in South Africa is scarce. Studies present in South Africa do not encompass the comprehension of safety signs or the ability of individuals with different age and education levels to learn the information included in the signs. Due to the multi-linguistic nature of South Africa and the fact that South Africa is an Industrially Developing Country (IDC) with high levels of illiteracy, issues such as the comprehension of safety information must be addressed. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to investigate the effects of safety sign attributes on learning and familiarity, in subjects that differed in age and education levels. These effects were investigated through measuring the reaction and response times of the different subject groups, as well as the number of components in the safety signs that were recalled correctly. The combined results of these responses were used as a measure for familiarity. A set of signs was designed for the study by the researcher using three different colours, three different shapes, three different icons and text. Certain variables were omitted from some signs to create the test pool and the eight conditions that were tested in a laboratory setting. Each condition contained different components of the designed signs and 60 subjects were used to test these conditions. The subjects were placed in groups according to their age and level of education. Subjects were required to learn a set of 64 signs, either “With Occlusion” or “Without Occlusion”, and asked to recall the meanings of the components in the signs. Reaction time, response time and error rate were measured from the responses. The results showed that the conditions resulted in different reaction times, response times and error rates for all subjects. The signs containing a combination of shapes and text resulted in the best performance. Age and education were found to have a significant effect on various performance criteria as did the method in which the signs were displayed (Occlusion and No Occlusion). The increased repetitions and sessions elicited lower reaction times, response times and error rates. The conclusions drawn from this study suggest that different attributes be considered carefully when subjects are expected to learn and recall information in safety signs. The results also highlighted the need to increase the exposure of individuals to safety signs in order to increase familiarity and ultimately improve the recall and comprehension of the attributes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Dambuza, Inga Yola
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Industrial hygiene -- Research -- South Africa , Industrial safety -- Research -- South Africa , Industrial hygiene -- Standards -- South Africa , Human engineering -- Research -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5117 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005195 , Industrial hygiene -- Research -- South Africa , Industrial safety -- Research -- South Africa , Industrial hygiene -- Standards -- South Africa , Human engineering -- Research -- South Africa
- Description: Occupational injuries and illnesses remain to be a heavy burden on workers and employees in industrial developing and industrially developed societies, and health and safety in workplaces continues to be an important issue for ergonomists. Steps are being taken to stimulate health and safety agendas and to discover ways in which health and safety in industries can be improved. The main responsibility of employers is to provide employees with information, instructions and training that they required to carry out their work tasks in a healthy, practical and safe manner. The role of education as a countermeasure to occupational injury and illness is being re-examined by health and safety practitioners and safety training is being considered as a vital part of accident prevention strategies. Effective training programmes should guarantee that workers possess the skills they require to complete their tasks in a safe and healthy manner. Very little is known about the type and quality of training workers undergo and how that training affects the safety outcomes of companies. There has been an attempt over the past 20 years to increase the research on safety communications and a great deal of this research has been focused on safety warnings; with the greatest attention been placed on the components of safety signs, such as colours, size, shapes and icons. The effects of these components on comprehension with relation to age and education have not received the same amount of attention. The impact of familiarity on safety warnings with respect to age and education has also received very little attention; despite the knowledge that familiarity has been shown to increase the noticing of warnings and the comprehension of safety information. Despite the increase in the research on safety communication, the literature and research in South Africa is scarce. Studies present in South Africa do not encompass the comprehension of safety signs or the ability of individuals with different age and education levels to learn the information included in the signs. Due to the multi-linguistic nature of South Africa and the fact that South Africa is an Industrially Developing Country (IDC) with high levels of illiteracy, issues such as the comprehension of safety information must be addressed. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to investigate the effects of safety sign attributes on learning and familiarity, in subjects that differed in age and education levels. These effects were investigated through measuring the reaction and response times of the different subject groups, as well as the number of components in the safety signs that were recalled correctly. The combined results of these responses were used as a measure for familiarity. A set of signs was designed for the study by the researcher using three different colours, three different shapes, three different icons and text. Certain variables were omitted from some signs to create the test pool and the eight conditions that were tested in a laboratory setting. Each condition contained different components of the designed signs and 60 subjects were used to test these conditions. The subjects were placed in groups according to their age and level of education. Subjects were required to learn a set of 64 signs, either “With Occlusion” or “Without Occlusion”, and asked to recall the meanings of the components in the signs. Reaction time, response time and error rate were measured from the responses. The results showed that the conditions resulted in different reaction times, response times and error rates for all subjects. The signs containing a combination of shapes and text resulted in the best performance. Age and education were found to have a significant effect on various performance criteria as did the method in which the signs were displayed (Occlusion and No Occlusion). The increased repetitions and sessions elicited lower reaction times, response times and error rates. The conclusions drawn from this study suggest that different attributes be considered carefully when subjects are expected to learn and recall information in safety signs. The results also highlighted the need to increase the exposure of individuals to safety signs in order to increase familiarity and ultimately improve the recall and comprehension of the attributes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Energy versus angular momentum in black hole binaries
- Damour, T, Nagar, A, Pollney, D, Reisswig, C
- Authors: Damour, T , Nagar, A , Pollney, D , Reisswig, C
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6792 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006946
- Description: Using accurate numerical-relativity simulations of (nonspinning) black-hole binaries with mass ratios 1∶1, 2∶1, and 3∶1, we compute the gauge-invariant relation between the (reduced) binding energy E and the (reduced) angular momentum j of the system. We show that the relation E(j) is an accurate diagnostic of the dynamics of a black-hole binary in a highly relativistic regime. By comparing the numerical-relativity ENR(j) curve with the predictions of several analytic approximation schemes, we find that, while the canonically defined, nonresummed post-Newtonian–expanded EPN(j) relation exhibits large and growing deviations from ENR(j), the prediction of the effective one body formalism, based purely on known analytical results (without any calibration to numerical relativity), agrees strikingly well with the numerical-relativity results.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Damour, T , Nagar, A , Pollney, D , Reisswig, C
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6792 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006946
- Description: Using accurate numerical-relativity simulations of (nonspinning) black-hole binaries with mass ratios 1∶1, 2∶1, and 3∶1, we compute the gauge-invariant relation between the (reduced) binding energy E and the (reduced) angular momentum j of the system. We show that the relation E(j) is an accurate diagnostic of the dynamics of a black-hole binary in a highly relativistic regime. By comparing the numerical-relativity ENR(j) curve with the predictions of several analytic approximation schemes, we find that, while the canonically defined, nonresummed post-Newtonian–expanded EPN(j) relation exhibits large and growing deviations from ENR(j), the prediction of the effective one body formalism, based purely on known analytical results (without any calibration to numerical relativity), agrees strikingly well with the numerical-relativity results.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
An evaluation of integrated development planning in Joe Gqabi District Municipality in the Province of the Eastern Cape
- Authors: Danyela, Mawethu Sidwell
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Economic development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Evaluation , Economic development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Management , Economic development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Planning , Strategic planning -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Management
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPA
- Identifier: vital:8173 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1626 , Economic development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Evaluation , Economic development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Management , Economic development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Planning , Strategic planning -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Management
- Description: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Integrated Development Plan of Joe Gqabi District Municipality. The research instruments used in the study included the interview schedule and the questionnaire for both focus group and individual research participants. Research participants included the Community Development Workers (CDW's), Municipal officials, organised community structures, community representatives, ward councillors and ward committees, and interviews with representative groups. The research has revealed that there was non-involvement of the private sector and other social partners in the planning of the municipal programmes. There was also no practical integrated planning among the Local, Provincial and National spheres of government, as well as, a lack of alignment between the Integrated Development Plan, budget and Service Delivery and Implementation Plan. In conclusion, the IDP process needed to be as inclusive as possible to cater for the needs of all the communities and speed up service delivery.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Danyela, Mawethu Sidwell
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Economic development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Evaluation , Economic development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Management , Economic development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Planning , Strategic planning -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Management
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPA
- Identifier: vital:8173 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1626 , Economic development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Evaluation , Economic development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Management , Economic development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Planning , Strategic planning -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Management
- Description: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Integrated Development Plan of Joe Gqabi District Municipality. The research instruments used in the study included the interview schedule and the questionnaire for both focus group and individual research participants. Research participants included the Community Development Workers (CDW's), Municipal officials, organised community structures, community representatives, ward councillors and ward committees, and interviews with representative groups. The research has revealed that there was non-involvement of the private sector and other social partners in the planning of the municipal programmes. There was also no practical integrated planning among the Local, Provincial and National spheres of government, as well as, a lack of alignment between the Integrated Development Plan, budget and Service Delivery and Implementation Plan. In conclusion, the IDP process needed to be as inclusive as possible to cater for the needs of all the communities and speed up service delivery.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Quality issues related to apparel mechandising in South Africa
- Authors: Das, Sweta
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Fashion merchandising -- South Africa , Quality of products -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:10447 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1585 , Fashion merchandising -- South Africa , Quality of products -- South Africa
- Description: The objectives of this study are to develop an understanding of the quality related issues and gaps relevant to apparel merchandising within the South African context, with a specific focus on Fabric Objective Measurement, a relatively new technology and one which could fruitfully be applied in South Africa, but which appears to have been largely neglected to date. Fabric Objective Measurement (FOM) represents a new generation of instrumentally measured parameters which provide a more complete picture of fabric quality, tailorability and clothing performance. The two main FOM systems, FAST and Kawabata, are discussed under FOM in terms of their applications, control charts and their worldwide utilisation. A literature review has been done on the global clothing sector as well as South African clothing industry. The research involved a questionnaire survey of, and interviews with major clothing and retail companies in South Africa with a specific focus on the gap in the South African clothing industry in terms of FOM and other quality related issues. The data and information so captured are presented graphically, statistically analyzed and interpreted, to arrive at the main conclusions and recommendations. Trubok, Newcastle, the only company in South Africa utilizing FOM, was visited in order to obtain hands on experience with the FAST system as operated in a mill. Two different fabrics were tested and the control charts obtained were interpreted. According to the analysis of the questionnaires and interviews, various conclusions could be drawn. When benchmarking a product, quality emerged as the first criterion, 100 percent retailers and manufacturers agreed to this. Most respondents stated that their fabric and garment testing is mostly done in-house while other respondents stated that their fabric and garment testing is mostly done by their respective suppliers. The most commonly used outside laboratories are SGS and ITS. Merchandising and quality complement each other and with proper quality assessment the merchandising workflow becomes smooth, easy and timely delivery of products. All of the respondents (100 percent) supported this fact. Retailers and manufacturers agreed that quality and merchandising are related to each other and hence helping those in achieving product benchmarking (statistically significant at 95 percent confidence level). Retailers and manufacturers conduct fabric and garment tests on a regular/routine basis and mostly use knitted and woven fabrics in garment making. In addition to the above, the worldwide manufacturers and suppliers of the FAST and Kawabata systems were approached to obtain data and information about the number of such systems sold worldwide and their fields of application. This information was considered important in promoting FOM in South Africa. Only one manufacturer is presently using FAST for quality control purposes. Of the manufacturers and retailers covered, most of them were either unfamiliar or totally unaware of FOM and its application. This indicates that there is considerable scope for introducing this highly advanced technology into the textile and clothing manufacturing and retail pipeline in South Africa. Most of the manufacturers and retailers (50 percent) intend to introduce certain new tests in future. The tests that they are planning to introduce in future may include FAST, which is fairly simple, reliable and productive, as well as enhancing the quality of the garment. If used, FOM can improve the quality and competitiveness on the international level which is currently lacking in the South African clothing sector.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Das, Sweta
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Fashion merchandising -- South Africa , Quality of products -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:10447 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1585 , Fashion merchandising -- South Africa , Quality of products -- South Africa
- Description: The objectives of this study are to develop an understanding of the quality related issues and gaps relevant to apparel merchandising within the South African context, with a specific focus on Fabric Objective Measurement, a relatively new technology and one which could fruitfully be applied in South Africa, but which appears to have been largely neglected to date. Fabric Objective Measurement (FOM) represents a new generation of instrumentally measured parameters which provide a more complete picture of fabric quality, tailorability and clothing performance. The two main FOM systems, FAST and Kawabata, are discussed under FOM in terms of their applications, control charts and their worldwide utilisation. A literature review has been done on the global clothing sector as well as South African clothing industry. The research involved a questionnaire survey of, and interviews with major clothing and retail companies in South Africa with a specific focus on the gap in the South African clothing industry in terms of FOM and other quality related issues. The data and information so captured are presented graphically, statistically analyzed and interpreted, to arrive at the main conclusions and recommendations. Trubok, Newcastle, the only company in South Africa utilizing FOM, was visited in order to obtain hands on experience with the FAST system as operated in a mill. Two different fabrics were tested and the control charts obtained were interpreted. According to the analysis of the questionnaires and interviews, various conclusions could be drawn. When benchmarking a product, quality emerged as the first criterion, 100 percent retailers and manufacturers agreed to this. Most respondents stated that their fabric and garment testing is mostly done in-house while other respondents stated that their fabric and garment testing is mostly done by their respective suppliers. The most commonly used outside laboratories are SGS and ITS. Merchandising and quality complement each other and with proper quality assessment the merchandising workflow becomes smooth, easy and timely delivery of products. All of the respondents (100 percent) supported this fact. Retailers and manufacturers agreed that quality and merchandising are related to each other and hence helping those in achieving product benchmarking (statistically significant at 95 percent confidence level). Retailers and manufacturers conduct fabric and garment tests on a regular/routine basis and mostly use knitted and woven fabrics in garment making. In addition to the above, the worldwide manufacturers and suppliers of the FAST and Kawabata systems were approached to obtain data and information about the number of such systems sold worldwide and their fields of application. This information was considered important in promoting FOM in South Africa. Only one manufacturer is presently using FAST for quality control purposes. Of the manufacturers and retailers covered, most of them were either unfamiliar or totally unaware of FOM and its application. This indicates that there is considerable scope for introducing this highly advanced technology into the textile and clothing manufacturing and retail pipeline in South Africa. Most of the manufacturers and retailers (50 percent) intend to introduce certain new tests in future. The tests that they are planning to introduce in future may include FAST, which is fairly simple, reliable and productive, as well as enhancing the quality of the garment. If used, FOM can improve the quality and competitiveness on the international level which is currently lacking in the South African clothing sector.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
A “place in which to cry”: the place for race and a home for shame in Zoë Wicomb's Playing in the Light
- Authors: Dass, Minesh
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142588 , vital:38093 , DOI: 10.1080/1013929X.2011.602910
- Description: In Zoë Wicomb's Playing in the Light, the main character's troubled sense of identity (brought about by her parents' shameful decision to ‘play white’) is viscerally symbolised by her discomfort in her own and others' homes. In her Cape Town apartment she has nightmares about other houses. Her visits to her family home, where her elderly father lives alone, are similarly burdened by presences and memories she finds unwelcoming. And, her extended vacation to the UK, once she has discovered her family's secret, is a choice of “a place in which to cry” (Wicomb 2006: 191).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Dass, Minesh
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142588 , vital:38093 , DOI: 10.1080/1013929X.2011.602910
- Description: In Zoë Wicomb's Playing in the Light, the main character's troubled sense of identity (brought about by her parents' shameful decision to ‘play white’) is viscerally symbolised by her discomfort in her own and others' homes. In her Cape Town apartment she has nightmares about other houses. Her visits to her family home, where her elderly father lives alone, are similarly burdened by presences and memories she finds unwelcoming. And, her extended vacation to the UK, once she has discovered her family's secret, is a choice of “a place in which to cry” (Wicomb 2006: 191).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
'Amanuensis' and 'Steatopygia': the complexity of 'Telling the Tale 'in Zoë Wicomb's David's Story
- Authors: Dass, Minesh
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142599 , vital:38094 , http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/eia.v38i2.3
- Description: Two words, 'amanuensis' and 'steatopygia,' each burdened with its own history, appear in Zoë Wicomb's David's Story with a frequency that commands further consideration. This study shows that these two words are in fact narratives which reveal the tension, inherent in all historical narratives, between that which is denotative or factual and that which is connotative or fictional. Similarly, the words also form the shifting horizon from which we may see history as a narrative of the past that is always also a narrative of the present. The link between these words will ultimately show the complex, compromised role of the narrator and, perhaps, of all historians.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Dass, Minesh
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142599 , vital:38094 , http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/eia.v38i2.3
- Description: Two words, 'amanuensis' and 'steatopygia,' each burdened with its own history, appear in Zoë Wicomb's David's Story with a frequency that commands further consideration. This study shows that these two words are in fact narratives which reveal the tension, inherent in all historical narratives, between that which is denotative or factual and that which is connotative or fictional. Similarly, the words also form the shifting horizon from which we may see history as a narrative of the past that is always also a narrative of the present. The link between these words will ultimately show the complex, compromised role of the narrator and, perhaps, of all historians.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Improved tree species discrimination at leaf level with hyperspectral data combining binary classifiers
- Authors: Dastile, Xolani Collen
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Mathematical statistics , Analysis of variance , Nearest neighbor analysis (Statistics) , Trees--Classification
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5567 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002807 , Mathematical statistics , Analysis of variance , Nearest neighbor analysis (Statistics) , Trees--Classification
- Description: The purpose of the present thesis is to show that hyperspectral data can be used for discrimination between different tree species. The data set used in this study contains the hyperspectral measurements of leaves of seven savannah tree species. The data is high-dimensional and shows large within-class variability combined with small between-class variability which makes discrimination between the classes challenging. We employ two classification methods: G-nearest neighbour and feed-forward neural networks. For both methods, direct 7-class prediction results in high misclassification rates. However, binary classification works better. We constructed binary classifiers for all possible binary classification problems and combine them with Error Correcting Output Codes. We show especially that the use of 1-nearest neighbour binary classifiers results in no improvement compared to a direct 1-nearest neighbour 7-class predictor. In contrast to this negative result, the use of neural networks binary classifiers improves accuracy by 10% compared to a direct neural networks 7-class predictor, and error rates become acceptable. This can be further improved by choosing only suitable binary classifiers for combination.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Dastile, Xolani Collen
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Mathematical statistics , Analysis of variance , Nearest neighbor analysis (Statistics) , Trees--Classification
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5567 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002807 , Mathematical statistics , Analysis of variance , Nearest neighbor analysis (Statistics) , Trees--Classification
- Description: The purpose of the present thesis is to show that hyperspectral data can be used for discrimination between different tree species. The data set used in this study contains the hyperspectral measurements of leaves of seven savannah tree species. The data is high-dimensional and shows large within-class variability combined with small between-class variability which makes discrimination between the classes challenging. We employ two classification methods: G-nearest neighbour and feed-forward neural networks. For both methods, direct 7-class prediction results in high misclassification rates. However, binary classification works better. We constructed binary classifiers for all possible binary classification problems and combine them with Error Correcting Output Codes. We show especially that the use of 1-nearest neighbour binary classifiers results in no improvement compared to a direct 1-nearest neighbour 7-class predictor. In contrast to this negative result, the use of neural networks binary classifiers improves accuracy by 10% compared to a direct neural networks 7-class predictor, and error rates become acceptable. This can be further improved by choosing only suitable binary classifiers for combination.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Use and users of municipal commonage around three small towns in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Davenport, Nicholas A, Shackleton, Charlie M, Gambiza, James
- Authors: Davenport, Nicholas A , Shackleton, Charlie M , Gambiza, James
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/181116 , vital:43700 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.11.003"
- Description: Municipal commonages surround many small towns throughout South Africa, and are an integral component of the national land reform programme. But little is known about their extent, use or value, and most appear to have limited or no management or investment. This paper reports on a survey of randomly selected households in three small towns in the Eastern Cape to ascertain the extent and purpose of use of municipal commonages. Between 27% and 70% of urban households used commonage depending on site. Key resources used were fuelwood, medicinal plants, and grazing of livestock. Typically, commonage using households were poorer and less educated than other urban residents, although the profile of users is unique for each town. Given the extensive use of commonage resources, and their contribution to the livelihoods of the poor, local municipalities need to develop and implement sound management strategies that account for all users of commonages, rather than the oft encountered focus on livestock owners and production.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Davenport, Nicholas A , Shackleton, Charlie M , Gambiza, James
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/181116 , vital:43700 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.11.003"
- Description: Municipal commonages surround many small towns throughout South Africa, and are an integral component of the national land reform programme. But little is known about their extent, use or value, and most appear to have limited or no management or investment. This paper reports on a survey of randomly selected households in three small towns in the Eastern Cape to ascertain the extent and purpose of use of municipal commonages. Between 27% and 70% of urban households used commonage depending on site. Key resources used were fuelwood, medicinal plants, and grazing of livestock. Typically, commonage using households were poorer and less educated than other urban residents, although the profile of users is unique for each town. Given the extensive use of commonage resources, and their contribution to the livelihoods of the poor, local municipalities need to develop and implement sound management strategies that account for all users of commonages, rather than the oft encountered focus on livestock owners and production.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
'Carrying the fire' : Cormac McCarthy's moral philosophy
- Authors: Davies, Christopher
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: McCarthy, Cormac, 1933- -- Criticism and interpretation American fiction -- 20th century -- Moral and ethical aspects American fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2217 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002260
- Description: In this thesis, I argue that the question of ethics, despite claims to the contrary, is a central concern in Cormac McCarthy’s fiction. My principal contention, in this regard, is that an approach that is not reliant on conventional systems of meaning is needed if one is to engage effectively with the moral value of this writer’s oeuvre. In devising such an approach, I draw heavily on the ‘immoralist’ writings of Friedrich Nietzsche. The first chapter of the study contends that good and evil, terms central to conventional morality, do not occupy easily definable positions in McCarthy’s work. In the second chapter, the emphasis falls on the way in which language and myth’s mediation of reality informs choice. The final chapter focuses on the post-apocalyptic setting of The Road, in which normative systems of value are completely absent. It argues that, despite this absence, McCarthy presents a compassionate ethic that is able to find purchase in the harsh world depicted in the novel. Finally, then, this study argues that McCarthy’s latest novel, The Road, requires a reconsideration of the critical claim that his work is nihilistic and that it negates moral value.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Davies, Christopher
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: McCarthy, Cormac, 1933- -- Criticism and interpretation American fiction -- 20th century -- Moral and ethical aspects American fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2217 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002260
- Description: In this thesis, I argue that the question of ethics, despite claims to the contrary, is a central concern in Cormac McCarthy’s fiction. My principal contention, in this regard, is that an approach that is not reliant on conventional systems of meaning is needed if one is to engage effectively with the moral value of this writer’s oeuvre. In devising such an approach, I draw heavily on the ‘immoralist’ writings of Friedrich Nietzsche. The first chapter of the study contends that good and evil, terms central to conventional morality, do not occupy easily definable positions in McCarthy’s work. In the second chapter, the emphasis falls on the way in which language and myth’s mediation of reality informs choice. The final chapter focuses on the post-apocalyptic setting of The Road, in which normative systems of value are completely absent. It argues that, despite this absence, McCarthy presents a compassionate ethic that is able to find purchase in the harsh world depicted in the novel. Finally, then, this study argues that McCarthy’s latest novel, The Road, requires a reconsideration of the critical claim that his work is nihilistic and that it negates moral value.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Repulsive-attractive models for the impact of two predators on prey species varying in anti-predator response
- Authors: Ddumba, Hassan
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Predation (Biology) -- Mathematical models , Wildlife management -- Mathematical models , Pattern formation (Biology) , Predatory animals -- Ecology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:10506 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1010995 , Predation (Biology) -- Mathematical models , Wildlife management -- Mathematical models , Pattern formation (Biology) , Predatory animals -- Ecology
- Description: This study considers the dynamical interaction of two predatory carnivores (Lions (Panthera leo) and Spotted Hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta)) and three of their common prey (Buffalo (Syncerus caffer), Warthog (Phacochoerus africanus) and Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros)). The dependence on spatial structure of species’ interaction stimulated the author to formulate reaction-diffusion models to explain the dynamics of predator-prey relationships in ecology. These models were used to predict and explain the effect of threshold populations, predator additional food and prey refuge on the general species’ dynamics. Vital parameters that model additional food to predators, prey refuge and population thresholds were given due attention in the analyses. The stability of a predator-prey model for an ecosystem faced with a prey out-flux which is analogous to and modelled as an Allee effect was investigated. The results highlight the bounds for the conversion efficiency of prey biomass to predator biomass (fertility gain) for which stability of the three species ecosystem model can be attained. Global stability analysis results showed that the prey (warthog) population density should exceed the sum of its carrying capacity and threshold value minus its equilibrium value i.e., W >(Kw + $) −W . This result shows that the warthog’s equilibrium population density is bounded above by population thresholds, i.e., W < (Kw+$). Besides showing the occurrence under parameter space of the so-called paradox of enrichment, early indicators of chaos can also be deduced. In addition, numerical results revealed stable oscillatory behaviour and stable spirals of the species as predator fertility rate, mortality rate and prey threshold were varied. The stabilising effect of prey refuge due to variations in predator fertility and proportion of prey in the refuge was studied. Formulation and analysis of a robust mathematical model for two predators having an overlapping dietary niche were also done. The Beddington-DeAngelis functional and numerical responses which are relevant in addressing the Principle of Competitive Exclusion as species interact were incorporated in the model. The stabilizing effect of additional food in relation to the relative diffusivity D, and wave number k, was investigated. Stability, dissipativity, permanence, persistence and periodicity of the model were studied using the routine and limit cycle perturbation methods. The periodic solutions (b 1 and b 3), which influence the dispersal rate (') of the interacting species, have been shown to be controlled by the wave number. For stability, and in order to overcome predator natural mortality, the nutritional value of predator additional food has been shown to be of high quality that can enhance predator fertility gain. The threshold relationships between various ecosystem parameters and the carrying capacity of the game park for the prey species were also deduced to ensure ecosystem persistence. Besides revealing irregular periodic travelling wave behaviour due to predator interference, numerical results also show oscillatory temporal dynamics resulting from additional food supplements combined with high predation rates.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Ddumba, Hassan
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Predation (Biology) -- Mathematical models , Wildlife management -- Mathematical models , Pattern formation (Biology) , Predatory animals -- Ecology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:10506 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1010995 , Predation (Biology) -- Mathematical models , Wildlife management -- Mathematical models , Pattern formation (Biology) , Predatory animals -- Ecology
- Description: This study considers the dynamical interaction of two predatory carnivores (Lions (Panthera leo) and Spotted Hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta)) and three of their common prey (Buffalo (Syncerus caffer), Warthog (Phacochoerus africanus) and Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros)). The dependence on spatial structure of species’ interaction stimulated the author to formulate reaction-diffusion models to explain the dynamics of predator-prey relationships in ecology. These models were used to predict and explain the effect of threshold populations, predator additional food and prey refuge on the general species’ dynamics. Vital parameters that model additional food to predators, prey refuge and population thresholds were given due attention in the analyses. The stability of a predator-prey model for an ecosystem faced with a prey out-flux which is analogous to and modelled as an Allee effect was investigated. The results highlight the bounds for the conversion efficiency of prey biomass to predator biomass (fertility gain) for which stability of the three species ecosystem model can be attained. Global stability analysis results showed that the prey (warthog) population density should exceed the sum of its carrying capacity and threshold value minus its equilibrium value i.e., W >(Kw + $) −W . This result shows that the warthog’s equilibrium population density is bounded above by population thresholds, i.e., W < (Kw+$). Besides showing the occurrence under parameter space of the so-called paradox of enrichment, early indicators of chaos can also be deduced. In addition, numerical results revealed stable oscillatory behaviour and stable spirals of the species as predator fertility rate, mortality rate and prey threshold were varied. The stabilising effect of prey refuge due to variations in predator fertility and proportion of prey in the refuge was studied. Formulation and analysis of a robust mathematical model for two predators having an overlapping dietary niche were also done. The Beddington-DeAngelis functional and numerical responses which are relevant in addressing the Principle of Competitive Exclusion as species interact were incorporated in the model. The stabilizing effect of additional food in relation to the relative diffusivity D, and wave number k, was investigated. Stability, dissipativity, permanence, persistence and periodicity of the model were studied using the routine and limit cycle perturbation methods. The periodic solutions (b 1 and b 3), which influence the dispersal rate (') of the interacting species, have been shown to be controlled by the wave number. For stability, and in order to overcome predator natural mortality, the nutritional value of predator additional food has been shown to be of high quality that can enhance predator fertility gain. The threshold relationships between various ecosystem parameters and the carrying capacity of the game park for the prey species were also deduced to ensure ecosystem persistence. Besides revealing irregular periodic travelling wave behaviour due to predator interference, numerical results also show oscillatory temporal dynamics resulting from additional food supplements combined with high predation rates.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Queer transgressions : the choreographing of a male homosexual presence with reference to selected choreographers
- Authors: De Boer, Kyle Dylan
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Queer theory , Gender identity in dance , Homosexuality in dance , Homosexuality and dance , Male homosexuality , Dance -- South Africa , Choreographers -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2161 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1009442
- Description: Queer Transgressions: The choreographing of a male homosexual presence with reference to selected choreographers explores queer identity and in particular representations of a male homosexual presence in dance. Within the methodological framework of dance studies and queer theory I explore the ―self fashioning‖ of my male homosexual presence in dance. This is achieved by critically deconstructing my choreographic process when making choreography. Therefore this thesis is informed by both academic research and my self-reflexive experience of choreography and dance performance. The deconstruction of my autobiography and choreographic process is discussed with reference to both international and South African queer choreographers. This means that by accounting for my own experiences and approaches toward representing a male homosexual presence in dance, I explore the history and engagements of other queer choreographers also creating such representations. I therefore examine the works of selected choreographers and chart the development of the representation of a male homosexual presence in dance. By exploring the choreographic process of other queer choreographers I identify choreographic tactics that queer choreographers are using when making work. From this point of departure I shift the focus away from international queer choreographers and provide insight into the choreographic processes of South African queer choreographers. By accounting for the works and choreographic processes of South African choreographers, I provide a context in which my choreographic explorations on the subject matter can take place. This choreographic exploration manifests itself through a self-reflexive/autobiographic account on the research and practice of my choreographic process. During my choreographic exploration I set the challenge to both engage with and explore further, established ―queering tactics. This is done with the intention to reveal and create representations of a male homosexual presence in dance.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: De Boer, Kyle Dylan
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Queer theory , Gender identity in dance , Homosexuality in dance , Homosexuality and dance , Male homosexuality , Dance -- South Africa , Choreographers -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2161 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1009442
- Description: Queer Transgressions: The choreographing of a male homosexual presence with reference to selected choreographers explores queer identity and in particular representations of a male homosexual presence in dance. Within the methodological framework of dance studies and queer theory I explore the ―self fashioning‖ of my male homosexual presence in dance. This is achieved by critically deconstructing my choreographic process when making choreography. Therefore this thesis is informed by both academic research and my self-reflexive experience of choreography and dance performance. The deconstruction of my autobiography and choreographic process is discussed with reference to both international and South African queer choreographers. This means that by accounting for my own experiences and approaches toward representing a male homosexual presence in dance, I explore the history and engagements of other queer choreographers also creating such representations. I therefore examine the works of selected choreographers and chart the development of the representation of a male homosexual presence in dance. By exploring the choreographic process of other queer choreographers I identify choreographic tactics that queer choreographers are using when making work. From this point of departure I shift the focus away from international queer choreographers and provide insight into the choreographic processes of South African queer choreographers. By accounting for the works and choreographic processes of South African choreographers, I provide a context in which my choreographic explorations on the subject matter can take place. This choreographic exploration manifests itself through a self-reflexive/autobiographic account on the research and practice of my choreographic process. During my choreographic exploration I set the challenge to both engage with and explore further, established ―queering tactics. This is done with the intention to reveal and create representations of a male homosexual presence in dance.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Perversity on paper taboo, abjection and literature: Iain Banks' The wasp factory, Ian McEwan's The cement garden, and Irvine Welsh's Marabou stork nightmares
- Authors: De Coning, Alexis
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Banks, Iain, 1954-, The wasp factory Banks, Iain, 1954-, Criticism and interpretation McEwan, Ian -- The cement garden McEwan, Ian -- Criticism and interpretation Welsh, Irvine -- Marabou stork nightmares Welsh, Irvine -- Criticism and interpretation English literature -- 20th century -- History and criticism Taboo in literature Abjection in literature Kristeva, Julia, 1941-, Criticism and interpretation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2205 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002247
- Description: This thesis explores the notion of perversity in literature, specifically with regard to representations of taboo and abjection in Iain Banks‟ The Wasp Factory, Ian McEwan‟s The Cement Garden, and Irvine Welsh‟s Marabou Stork Nightmares. Julia Kristeva‟s Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection, as well as her notion of revolt, constitute the central theoretical framework for my analysis. However, I also draw upon the concepts of monstrosity, grotesqueness and the uncanny in order to explicate the affect of abject fiction on the reader. I posit, then, that to engage with literary works that confront one with perversity, abjection and taboo entails exposing oneself to an ambiguous or liminal space in which culturally established values are both disrupted and affirmed. The subversive and revolutionary potential of the aforementioned novels is discussed with reference to the notion of the perverted Bildungsroman since, in their respective transgressions of taboos, the narrators of these novels disrupt social order, and their narratives end on a note of indeterminacy or the absolute finality of death, rather than self-actualisation. Moreover, in exposing the binaries of sex and gender as arbitrary and fluctuating, these narrators‟ perverse sexual and gender performativities gesture towards alternative modes of being (beyond social sanction), and invoke Kristeva‟s notion of individual revolt as a „condition necessary for the life of the mind and society‟.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: De Coning, Alexis
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Banks, Iain, 1954-, The wasp factory Banks, Iain, 1954-, Criticism and interpretation McEwan, Ian -- The cement garden McEwan, Ian -- Criticism and interpretation Welsh, Irvine -- Marabou stork nightmares Welsh, Irvine -- Criticism and interpretation English literature -- 20th century -- History and criticism Taboo in literature Abjection in literature Kristeva, Julia, 1941-, Criticism and interpretation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2205 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002247
- Description: This thesis explores the notion of perversity in literature, specifically with regard to representations of taboo and abjection in Iain Banks‟ The Wasp Factory, Ian McEwan‟s The Cement Garden, and Irvine Welsh‟s Marabou Stork Nightmares. Julia Kristeva‟s Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection, as well as her notion of revolt, constitute the central theoretical framework for my analysis. However, I also draw upon the concepts of monstrosity, grotesqueness and the uncanny in order to explicate the affect of abject fiction on the reader. I posit, then, that to engage with literary works that confront one with perversity, abjection and taboo entails exposing oneself to an ambiguous or liminal space in which culturally established values are both disrupted and affirmed. The subversive and revolutionary potential of the aforementioned novels is discussed with reference to the notion of the perverted Bildungsroman since, in their respective transgressions of taboos, the narrators of these novels disrupt social order, and their narratives end on a note of indeterminacy or the absolute finality of death, rather than self-actualisation. Moreover, in exposing the binaries of sex and gender as arbitrary and fluctuating, these narrators‟ perverse sexual and gender performativities gesture towards alternative modes of being (beyond social sanction), and invoke Kristeva‟s notion of individual revolt as a „condition necessary for the life of the mind and society‟.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Remains to be said: The "um" in art and other disfluencies
- Authors: de Jager, Maureen
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147369 , vital:38630 , https://0-hdl.handle.net.wam.seals.ac.za/10520/EJC45815
- Description: Taking as my starting point an artwork of "fillers" - a 2010 sound piece by Fine Art student Romie Sciscio foregrounding the disfluent speech of various visiting academics to the Department of Fine Art, Rhodes University - I propose that speech disfluencies such as "um", "kind of" and "I suppose" should not simply be derided as white noise or verbal graffiti. Rather, filled pauses - understood both literally and metaphorically - may be seen to function critically, precisely because they are located neither inside nor outside the "message" of speech. They hover between presence and absence, seemingly content-less and yet dimly portentous: they do and do not matter to meaning. As such, they require (or provoke and demand) a different kind of listening - the acoustic equivalent of reading between the lines.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: de Jager, Maureen
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147369 , vital:38630 , https://0-hdl.handle.net.wam.seals.ac.za/10520/EJC45815
- Description: Taking as my starting point an artwork of "fillers" - a 2010 sound piece by Fine Art student Romie Sciscio foregrounding the disfluent speech of various visiting academics to the Department of Fine Art, Rhodes University - I propose that speech disfluencies such as "um", "kind of" and "I suppose" should not simply be derided as white noise or verbal graffiti. Rather, filled pauses - understood both literally and metaphorically - may be seen to function critically, precisely because they are located neither inside nor outside the "message" of speech. They hover between presence and absence, seemingly content-less and yet dimly portentous: they do and do not matter to meaning. As such, they require (or provoke and demand) a different kind of listening - the acoustic equivalent of reading between the lines.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Cross-cultural differences: the experiences, challenges and strengths for partners in committed interacial relationships
- De Vries, Tielke Anna Eveline
- Authors: De Vries, Tielke Anna Eveline
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Interacial marriage -- Cross-cultural studies , Interethnic marriage -- Cross-cultural studies , Couples
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:9995 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1008193 , Interacial marriage -- Cross-cultural studies , Interethnic marriage -- Cross-cultural studies , Couples
- Description: The topic of interpersonal relationships and the factors that enhance the longevity and strength of these have been well documented. Whilst there has been a steady increase in the occurrence of interracial relationships, it has not been matched by an increase in studies on the phenomenon and indeed very little empirical attention has been given to these relationships. Leslie and Letiecq (2004) highlight that the existing research on the phenomenon focuses primarily on the reasons individuals select partners outside of their own racial group. As interracial marriages are reportedly more vulnerable to divorce than marriages among same-race individuals, it seems important to examine the dynamics and quality of interracial relationships (Leslie & Letiecq, 2004). The goal of the study was therefore to explore the cross-cultural differences that inform the experiences, challenges, and strengths for partners in committed interracial relationships. In this qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual study, the author has explored and described the specific cross-cultural differences that the couple has encountered in their relationship and the impact that these differences have had on the quality of their relationship. Furthermore the study aimed to explore and describe the strengths the couple has drawn from these cross-cultural differences to enhance the quality of their relationship. A combination of purposive and snowball sampling techniques has been utilised to identify interracial couples who have been in a committed monogamous relationship of at least one year. The sample consisted of eleven individuals. Semi-structured individual interviews were utilised as the data collection tool, and Tesch‟s model of data analysis (in Creswell, 1998) has been employed. This model of data analysis consists of eight steps that have been used to analyse the data. Five themes emerged from the study: (1) cultural difference factors, (2) negative factors that influence the couple‟s coping with cultural differences, (3) positive factors that influence the couple‟s coping with cultural differences, (4) factors relating to cultural differences that strengthen the relationship and (5) recommendations to other interracial couples. The findings of the study make a meaningful contribution to couple counselling interventions for interracial couples, and also add to the body of knowledge on this sparsely researched topic.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: De Vries, Tielke Anna Eveline
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Interacial marriage -- Cross-cultural studies , Interethnic marriage -- Cross-cultural studies , Couples
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:9995 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1008193 , Interacial marriage -- Cross-cultural studies , Interethnic marriage -- Cross-cultural studies , Couples
- Description: The topic of interpersonal relationships and the factors that enhance the longevity and strength of these have been well documented. Whilst there has been a steady increase in the occurrence of interracial relationships, it has not been matched by an increase in studies on the phenomenon and indeed very little empirical attention has been given to these relationships. Leslie and Letiecq (2004) highlight that the existing research on the phenomenon focuses primarily on the reasons individuals select partners outside of their own racial group. As interracial marriages are reportedly more vulnerable to divorce than marriages among same-race individuals, it seems important to examine the dynamics and quality of interracial relationships (Leslie & Letiecq, 2004). The goal of the study was therefore to explore the cross-cultural differences that inform the experiences, challenges, and strengths for partners in committed interracial relationships. In this qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual study, the author has explored and described the specific cross-cultural differences that the couple has encountered in their relationship and the impact that these differences have had on the quality of their relationship. Furthermore the study aimed to explore and describe the strengths the couple has drawn from these cross-cultural differences to enhance the quality of their relationship. A combination of purposive and snowball sampling techniques has been utilised to identify interracial couples who have been in a committed monogamous relationship of at least one year. The sample consisted of eleven individuals. Semi-structured individual interviews were utilised as the data collection tool, and Tesch‟s model of data analysis (in Creswell, 1998) has been employed. This model of data analysis consists of eight steps that have been used to analyse the data. Five themes emerged from the study: (1) cultural difference factors, (2) negative factors that influence the couple‟s coping with cultural differences, (3) positive factors that influence the couple‟s coping with cultural differences, (4) factors relating to cultural differences that strengthen the relationship and (5) recommendations to other interracial couples. The findings of the study make a meaningful contribution to couple counselling interventions for interracial couples, and also add to the body of knowledge on this sparsely researched topic.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Fiction en tant qu histoire: une etude de l evolution des roles de la femme dans le vingtieme siecle dans le roman La Poussiere des Corons par Marie-Paul Armand
- Authors: De Wet, Michelle
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Historical fiction , Women -- Social conditions -- 20th century , Women and war
- Language: French
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:8452 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1008392 , Historical fiction , Women -- Social conditions -- 20th century , Women and war
- Description: Georges Duby and Michelle Perrot’s work, Histoire des femmes en Occident, Antoine Prost and Gérard Vincent’s work A History of Private Life as well as Chantal Antier’s work Les Femmes dans la Grande Guerre and Carol Mann’s work Femmes dans la Guerre, show that women have been largely ignored in the annals written about the twentieth century. This period was one marked by two World Wars, which had an enormous impact on women, especially in terms of their roles in society. These events resulted in women moving from the home to the world of work. These writers acknowledge that women in the twentieth century were mostly excluded from history. In contrast to others who have written about this time, these writers consider women and their roles in society and how these roles have changed as a consequence of the historical events of the time. Marie-Paul Armand was a popular writer of French fiction. At first glance her novels seem to be enjoyable historical, romantic fiction for readers who enjoy sentimental love stories. However on closer examination one can see that she rigorously researched the period in which her novels are set. These novels reconstitute the reality of women’s lives during the twentieth century. In her first award-winning novel La poussière des corons, Armand depicted the life of her main character, Madeleine, through the various stages of a woman’s life from her birth at the turn of the century, early childhood, adolescence during the First World War until old age in the 1960s. This novel mirrors the life of a woman in working class French mining society from the beginning of the twentieth century until the fifties and sixties when Western women underwent an unprecedented metamorphosis of their role. These novels would appeal to a wider readership than works by Historians with the same subject matter.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: De Wet, Michelle
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Historical fiction , Women -- Social conditions -- 20th century , Women and war
- Language: French
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:8452 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1008392 , Historical fiction , Women -- Social conditions -- 20th century , Women and war
- Description: Georges Duby and Michelle Perrot’s work, Histoire des femmes en Occident, Antoine Prost and Gérard Vincent’s work A History of Private Life as well as Chantal Antier’s work Les Femmes dans la Grande Guerre and Carol Mann’s work Femmes dans la Guerre, show that women have been largely ignored in the annals written about the twentieth century. This period was one marked by two World Wars, which had an enormous impact on women, especially in terms of their roles in society. These events resulted in women moving from the home to the world of work. These writers acknowledge that women in the twentieth century were mostly excluded from history. In contrast to others who have written about this time, these writers consider women and their roles in society and how these roles have changed as a consequence of the historical events of the time. Marie-Paul Armand was a popular writer of French fiction. At first glance her novels seem to be enjoyable historical, romantic fiction for readers who enjoy sentimental love stories. However on closer examination one can see that she rigorously researched the period in which her novels are set. These novels reconstitute the reality of women’s lives during the twentieth century. In her first award-winning novel La poussière des corons, Armand depicted the life of her main character, Madeleine, through the various stages of a woman’s life from her birth at the turn of the century, early childhood, adolescence during the First World War until old age in the 1960s. This novel mirrors the life of a woman in working class French mining society from the beginning of the twentieth century until the fifties and sixties when Western women underwent an unprecedented metamorphosis of their role. These novels would appeal to a wider readership than works by Historians with the same subject matter.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Professional nurses' knowledge regarding weaning the critically ill patient from the mechanical ventilation
- Authors: Demingo, Xavier Preston
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Artificial respiration , Respiratory therapy , Critical care medicine , Respirators (Medical equipment) , Artificial respiration -- Nursing
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCur
- Identifier: vital:10026 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1323 , Artificial respiration , Respiratory therapy , Critical care medicine , Respirators (Medical equipment) , Artificial respiration -- Nursing
- Description: Mechanical ventilation (MV) is one of the most frequently used treatment modalities in the intensive care unit (ICU) (Burns, 2005:14). Up to 90% of critically ill patients in ICUs globally are connected to a mechanical ventilator. Although mechanical ventilation is a lifesaving intervention, it is expensive and is associated with diverse complications (Mclean, Jensen, Schroeder, Gibney & Skjodt, 2006: 299). Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) accounts for 25% of all infections in ICU, with global crude mortality figures estimated at 20-70% (Craven, 2006:251). Minimising the time that a patient is connected to a mechanical ventilator to the absolute minimum can have considerable benefits in terms of decreased mortality and morbidity, as well as a decreased length of ICU stay and lower hospital costs. Critically ill patients therefore need to be weaned from the mechanical ventilator as soon as their condition that warranted the need for mechanical ventilation is stabilized. The process of weaning the critically ill patient from mechanical ventilation constitutes a significant proportion of total ventilator time. As professional nurses attend to the mechanically ventilated patient 24 hours a day, they have a vital role to play in the collaborative management of the patient requiring weaning from mechanical ventilation. The objectives of this study were to explore and describe the professional nurses’ knowledge regarding weaning the critically ill patient from mechanical ventilation. Based on the results, recommendations in the form of a protocol were made in order to improve the professional nurses’ knowledge and enhance the care of the mechanically ventilated patient. A quantitative design, which was exploratory, descriptive and contextual in nature, was utilised for the study. The data collection instrument of choice was a self-administered questionnaire. Convenience, non-probability sampling was the sampling method chosen for the purpose of this study. Collected data were analysed with the assistance of a statistician using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results were displayed in the form of graphs and tables. The results obtained in the study, combined with data from the literature review, were used to develop recommendations to enhance vi professional nurses’ knowledge regarding weaning the critically ill patient from mechanical ventilation. The recommendations were presented in the form of a protocol based on the available evidence. Ethical principles as they relate to conducting research were adhered to throughout the study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Demingo, Xavier Preston
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Artificial respiration , Respiratory therapy , Critical care medicine , Respirators (Medical equipment) , Artificial respiration -- Nursing
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCur
- Identifier: vital:10026 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1323 , Artificial respiration , Respiratory therapy , Critical care medicine , Respirators (Medical equipment) , Artificial respiration -- Nursing
- Description: Mechanical ventilation (MV) is one of the most frequently used treatment modalities in the intensive care unit (ICU) (Burns, 2005:14). Up to 90% of critically ill patients in ICUs globally are connected to a mechanical ventilator. Although mechanical ventilation is a lifesaving intervention, it is expensive and is associated with diverse complications (Mclean, Jensen, Schroeder, Gibney & Skjodt, 2006: 299). Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) accounts for 25% of all infections in ICU, with global crude mortality figures estimated at 20-70% (Craven, 2006:251). Minimising the time that a patient is connected to a mechanical ventilator to the absolute minimum can have considerable benefits in terms of decreased mortality and morbidity, as well as a decreased length of ICU stay and lower hospital costs. Critically ill patients therefore need to be weaned from the mechanical ventilator as soon as their condition that warranted the need for mechanical ventilation is stabilized. The process of weaning the critically ill patient from mechanical ventilation constitutes a significant proportion of total ventilator time. As professional nurses attend to the mechanically ventilated patient 24 hours a day, they have a vital role to play in the collaborative management of the patient requiring weaning from mechanical ventilation. The objectives of this study were to explore and describe the professional nurses’ knowledge regarding weaning the critically ill patient from mechanical ventilation. Based on the results, recommendations in the form of a protocol were made in order to improve the professional nurses’ knowledge and enhance the care of the mechanically ventilated patient. A quantitative design, which was exploratory, descriptive and contextual in nature, was utilised for the study. The data collection instrument of choice was a self-administered questionnaire. Convenience, non-probability sampling was the sampling method chosen for the purpose of this study. Collected data were analysed with the assistance of a statistician using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results were displayed in the form of graphs and tables. The results obtained in the study, combined with data from the literature review, were used to develop recommendations to enhance vi professional nurses’ knowledge regarding weaning the critically ill patient from mechanical ventilation. The recommendations were presented in the form of a protocol based on the available evidence. Ethical principles as they relate to conducting research were adhered to throughout the study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Towards monitoring that makes sense : action research design of a planning, learning and accountability system for a sustainable agriculture programme in Eastern Indonesia
- Authors: Deprez, Stefan Gert Marie
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Agricultural development projects -- Indonesia Agricultural administration -- Monitoring -- Indonesia Action research -- Case studies Action research in education
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1801 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003686
- Description: This study is an account of an action research process to develop a planning, learning and accountability (PLA) system for the sustainable agriculture chain development programme of VECO (Vredeseilanden Country Office) Indonesia. Many monitoring and evaluation (M&E) processes in development programmes are largely carried out to provide information for funding agencies, to meet external accountability requirements and for symbolic protection. This study generates insights into an integrated, learning-oriented monitoring practice which fosters reflective practice, provides feedback to programme stakeholders about performance, progress and results achieved, facilitates improved accountability, and generates information and knowledge useful for the programme stakeholders to take decisions for improved action. It is argued that M&E systems have the potential, if developed well, to serve as a framework or ‘carrier’ for organisational and institutional learning – an essential requirement to respond to the complex nature of development processes. Outcome mapping is presented as a possible approach to be used as the basis for such a M&E system. This study was underpinned by a socially critical orientation to development (programmes) and by an action research method to guide the PLA system design process. The design process was organized around seven steps - which in themselves were a result of the action research process – including specific steps to ensure a learning-oriented M&E system. Based on the agreed purposes and intended uses of the monitoring and learning process, the resulting PLA system is focused around the organizational spaces and rhythms of VECO Indonesia which are central to sharing, debate, learning and decision-making. In this way, the PLA system becomes integral to the thinking and doing of the organization. It is built on the premise that monitoring does not end with gathering data; it also needs to include a process of understanding and deciding how data can best be used and analysed to strengthen concerted action and facilitate decision-making. It highlights the importance of sense-making – interpreting information to make it usable for action. Furthermore, it incorporates an approach to assess and consciously plan for the creation of the necessary organisational conditions to implement and maintain a learning-oriented M&E system. The study is completed by critical reflection on the relevance of VECO’s new PLA system for planning, learning and accountability, combined with the use of a future scenario technique to generate recommendations and identify critical future directions. Further exploration of ‘intelligent’ information-seeking methods and processes is called for; and a practice which moves beyond intra-organisational monitoring – focusing on VECO’s own monitoring needs – towards a monitoring process that facilitates change based on the viewpoints of, and in collaboration with local actors, i.e., institutional monitoring and learning, is recommended. VECO is encouraged to continue developing a mindset and practice whereby the programme team and partners have the ability to leave the safe zone of pre-determined outcomes and actions, and to make sense of the world as they engage in action.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Deprez, Stefan Gert Marie
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Agricultural development projects -- Indonesia Agricultural administration -- Monitoring -- Indonesia Action research -- Case studies Action research in education
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1801 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003686
- Description: This study is an account of an action research process to develop a planning, learning and accountability (PLA) system for the sustainable agriculture chain development programme of VECO (Vredeseilanden Country Office) Indonesia. Many monitoring and evaluation (M&E) processes in development programmes are largely carried out to provide information for funding agencies, to meet external accountability requirements and for symbolic protection. This study generates insights into an integrated, learning-oriented monitoring practice which fosters reflective practice, provides feedback to programme stakeholders about performance, progress and results achieved, facilitates improved accountability, and generates information and knowledge useful for the programme stakeholders to take decisions for improved action. It is argued that M&E systems have the potential, if developed well, to serve as a framework or ‘carrier’ for organisational and institutional learning – an essential requirement to respond to the complex nature of development processes. Outcome mapping is presented as a possible approach to be used as the basis for such a M&E system. This study was underpinned by a socially critical orientation to development (programmes) and by an action research method to guide the PLA system design process. The design process was organized around seven steps - which in themselves were a result of the action research process – including specific steps to ensure a learning-oriented M&E system. Based on the agreed purposes and intended uses of the monitoring and learning process, the resulting PLA system is focused around the organizational spaces and rhythms of VECO Indonesia which are central to sharing, debate, learning and decision-making. In this way, the PLA system becomes integral to the thinking and doing of the organization. It is built on the premise that monitoring does not end with gathering data; it also needs to include a process of understanding and deciding how data can best be used and analysed to strengthen concerted action and facilitate decision-making. It highlights the importance of sense-making – interpreting information to make it usable for action. Furthermore, it incorporates an approach to assess and consciously plan for the creation of the necessary organisational conditions to implement and maintain a learning-oriented M&E system. The study is completed by critical reflection on the relevance of VECO’s new PLA system for planning, learning and accountability, combined with the use of a future scenario technique to generate recommendations and identify critical future directions. Further exploration of ‘intelligent’ information-seeking methods and processes is called for; and a practice which moves beyond intra-organisational monitoring – focusing on VECO’s own monitoring needs – towards a monitoring process that facilitates change based on the viewpoints of, and in collaboration with local actors, i.e., institutional monitoring and learning, is recommended. VECO is encouraged to continue developing a mindset and practice whereby the programme team and partners have the ability to leave the safe zone of pre-determined outcomes and actions, and to make sense of the world as they engage in action.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Core self-evaluations, racial evaluation and learning amongst Zulu students at the university of Zululand
- Authors: Dodd Nicole Marguerite
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Zulu (African people) -- Ethnic identity , Self-evaluation , Ethnicity
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: vital:9879 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1008398 , Zulu (African people) -- Ethnic identity , Self-evaluation , Ethnicity
- Description: Core Self-Evaluations [CSE] are a person’s estimation of his/her own worth and ability (Judge & Scott 2009). This in turn, is related to Racial Evaluation which is a person’s internal evaluation of his/her racial identity (Diller, 2010). The Employment Equity Act (55 of 1998) makes provision for the employment of equity candidates who can acquire skills in a reasonable amount of time. This requires individuals to be able to learn and then achieve in outcomes-based assessment. Core Self-Evaluations and Racial Evaluation can have an impact on how individuals perceive themselves, and how they perform in education, training and development (Hanley & Noblit, 2009). This study explored the relationship between Core Self-Evaluation, Racial Evaluation, Learning and Outcomes-Based Assessment using an experimental design. The Core Self-Evaluation scores in this study (n=230) were consistent with levels found internationally (Broucek, 2005). There was positive Racial Evaluation, with a relationship existing between Racial Evaluation and Core Self-Evaluations. This means that part of a person’s identity as an individual is related to Racial Evaluation, with that Racial Evaluation being positive amongst young Zulu students at the University of Zululand. There was a statistically significant, but small correlation between Learning and Core Self- Evaluation and a relationship was also found between CSE and Outcomes-Based Assessment results. When Core Self-Evaluation is higher, Learning tends to be more likely. The same pattern does not hold for Outcomes-Based Assessment results. Among Zulu students, lower CSE is linked to improved Outcomes-Based Assessment results. Racial Evaluation has a small relationship with CSE. However, efforts to remedy apartheid may be directed towards socio-economic development and need not focus on boosting Racial Evaluation when it comes to young Zulu adults.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Dodd Nicole Marguerite
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Zulu (African people) -- Ethnic identity , Self-evaluation , Ethnicity
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: vital:9879 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1008398 , Zulu (African people) -- Ethnic identity , Self-evaluation , Ethnicity
- Description: Core Self-Evaluations [CSE] are a person’s estimation of his/her own worth and ability (Judge & Scott 2009). This in turn, is related to Racial Evaluation which is a person’s internal evaluation of his/her racial identity (Diller, 2010). The Employment Equity Act (55 of 1998) makes provision for the employment of equity candidates who can acquire skills in a reasonable amount of time. This requires individuals to be able to learn and then achieve in outcomes-based assessment. Core Self-Evaluations and Racial Evaluation can have an impact on how individuals perceive themselves, and how they perform in education, training and development (Hanley & Noblit, 2009). This study explored the relationship between Core Self-Evaluation, Racial Evaluation, Learning and Outcomes-Based Assessment using an experimental design. The Core Self-Evaluation scores in this study (n=230) were consistent with levels found internationally (Broucek, 2005). There was positive Racial Evaluation, with a relationship existing between Racial Evaluation and Core Self-Evaluations. This means that part of a person’s identity as an individual is related to Racial Evaluation, with that Racial Evaluation being positive amongst young Zulu students at the University of Zululand. There was a statistically significant, but small correlation between Learning and Core Self- Evaluation and a relationship was also found between CSE and Outcomes-Based Assessment results. When Core Self-Evaluation is higher, Learning tends to be more likely. The same pattern does not hold for Outcomes-Based Assessment results. Among Zulu students, lower CSE is linked to improved Outcomes-Based Assessment results. Racial Evaluation has a small relationship with CSE. However, efforts to remedy apartheid may be directed towards socio-economic development and need not focus on boosting Racial Evaluation when it comes to young Zulu adults.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Lumberjacks and hoodrats: negotiating subject positions of lesbian representation in two South African television programmes
- Authors: Donaldson, Natalie
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Lesbianism on television -- Research -- South Africa , Lesbians -- Research -- South Africa , Gay rights -- Research -- South Africa , Television actors and actresses -- Research -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:2964 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002473 , Lesbianism on television -- Research -- South Africa , Lesbians -- Research -- South Africa , Gay rights -- Research -- South Africa , Television actors and actresses -- Research -- South Africa
- Description: With the inclusion of sexual orientation in the Equality clause of the post-Apartheid constitution which demands equal rights and protection for all individuals regardless of sexual orientation, South Africa has been praised as one of the most liberal countries in the world. Because of this legal equality, gay and lesbian experiences have become a lot more visible in every day South African lives. This includes visibility in South African television programmes and film. Today, a number of South African produced television programmes have included at least one lesbian character in their storyline and many LGBTIQ activist organisations have deemed this increased visibility as a positive step for LGBTIQ rights. However, discriminatory discourses such as same-sex sexualities as 'un-African ' and unnatural, which often result in brutal hate crimes against LGBTIQ individuals (such as corrective rape), contribute to the social and cultural intolerance of same-sex sexualities. South African research into the lives of lesbian women has often related lesbian experience to that of gay men or has focused on lesbian women as victims of corrective rape and oppressive practices at the hands of the dominant heteronormative culture. This research was a discursive reception study, using three focus group discussions with self-identified lesbian audiences (black and white). The study explored how this audience received (interpreted/talked about) the available fictional representations of 'black' lesbian women and 'white' lesbian women in three clips from two South African television programmes, Society and The Mating Game. Using Wetherell's (1998) critical discursive psychology approach, this research focused on examining the 1) Subject positions made available in/by these representations; 2) Interpretive repertoires used by the audience in appropriating and/or negotiating and/or reSisting these subject positions; and 3) Ideological dilemmas experienced by participants in this negotiation process. The predominant subject positions made available in these representations were differentiated according to binary racial categories of white lesbian women and black lesbian women. For example, participants positioned white lesbian women as "lumberjacks" and "tomboys" while black lesbian women were positioned as "township lesbians" and "hood rats". In working with these subject positions, participants drew on interpretative repertoires of othering and otherness as well as interpretative repertoires of survival. In negotiating with these subject positions and others found in the discussions, ideological dilemmas often arose when participants found themselves having to draw on interpretative repertoires which extend from a heteronormative discourse. These kinds of interpretative repertoires included religion, nature, and compromise which contradicted and created a troubled position when used in relation to the participants' lesbian sexualities. Therefore, when the ideological dilemma and troubled position became apparent, participants had to work to repair the troubled position by justifying their use of these heteronormative interpretative repertoires.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Donaldson, Natalie
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Lesbianism on television -- Research -- South Africa , Lesbians -- Research -- South Africa , Gay rights -- Research -- South Africa , Television actors and actresses -- Research -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:2964 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002473 , Lesbianism on television -- Research -- South Africa , Lesbians -- Research -- South Africa , Gay rights -- Research -- South Africa , Television actors and actresses -- Research -- South Africa
- Description: With the inclusion of sexual orientation in the Equality clause of the post-Apartheid constitution which demands equal rights and protection for all individuals regardless of sexual orientation, South Africa has been praised as one of the most liberal countries in the world. Because of this legal equality, gay and lesbian experiences have become a lot more visible in every day South African lives. This includes visibility in South African television programmes and film. Today, a number of South African produced television programmes have included at least one lesbian character in their storyline and many LGBTIQ activist organisations have deemed this increased visibility as a positive step for LGBTIQ rights. However, discriminatory discourses such as same-sex sexualities as 'un-African ' and unnatural, which often result in brutal hate crimes against LGBTIQ individuals (such as corrective rape), contribute to the social and cultural intolerance of same-sex sexualities. South African research into the lives of lesbian women has often related lesbian experience to that of gay men or has focused on lesbian women as victims of corrective rape and oppressive practices at the hands of the dominant heteronormative culture. This research was a discursive reception study, using three focus group discussions with self-identified lesbian audiences (black and white). The study explored how this audience received (interpreted/talked about) the available fictional representations of 'black' lesbian women and 'white' lesbian women in three clips from two South African television programmes, Society and The Mating Game. Using Wetherell's (1998) critical discursive psychology approach, this research focused on examining the 1) Subject positions made available in/by these representations; 2) Interpretive repertoires used by the audience in appropriating and/or negotiating and/or reSisting these subject positions; and 3) Ideological dilemmas experienced by participants in this negotiation process. The predominant subject positions made available in these representations were differentiated according to binary racial categories of white lesbian women and black lesbian women. For example, participants positioned white lesbian women as "lumberjacks" and "tomboys" while black lesbian women were positioned as "township lesbians" and "hood rats". In working with these subject positions, participants drew on interpretative repertoires of othering and otherness as well as interpretative repertoires of survival. In negotiating with these subject positions and others found in the discussions, ideological dilemmas often arose when participants found themselves having to draw on interpretative repertoires which extend from a heteronormative discourse. These kinds of interpretative repertoires included religion, nature, and compromise which contradicted and created a troubled position when used in relation to the participants' lesbian sexualities. Therefore, when the ideological dilemma and troubled position became apparent, participants had to work to repair the troubled position by justifying their use of these heteronormative interpretative repertoires.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011