The rapid changes in society today have caused many a leader in different environments to admit that they feel overwhelmed by, and inadequate to face the reality that this brings along. Our society is, according to many, in a transition, or as Roxburgh (2010) calls it, in an “in-between time”. This “in-between time” can be labelled as post-modern, post-colonial, post-democratic, or whatever language seems fitting; the fact of the matter is that studies are starting to show that leaders are struggling to lead in this changing landscape. This has also become particularly true in church leadership. This issue has been visited by many practical theologians of late. What has not been done yet was to visit this problem from an Old Testament perspective and to see if the Old Testament can contribute to this issue. In this study the Old Testament prophetic book of Ezekiel is taken as case study to see if it can shed any light on the matter. Ezekiel as prophet needs to speak to an audience that is also in rapidly changing circumstances. The lives of most Judeans changed with the first Babylonian exile of 597 BCE and got worse with the final exile in 586 BCE that also included the fall of Jerusalem. Suddenly the “known” became “unknown” and the familiar surroundings and lifestyle of Judea were substituted by the unfamiliar surroundings of Babylon and life as exiles. In these times people look to their prophets and their leaders to make sense of the reality and to offer some hope for the future. Ezekiel responds to this with communication. His communication criticises and energises. His communication seems vivid and metaphorically loaded and in the end stirs up imagination. This imagination gives clarity and hope for the future. What this study therefore attempts to do is to look for the process of this communication. It tries to find the different stages that Ezekiel goes through in his communication process. Out of these stages or steps it then builds a process of communication that is suggested as a possible Old Testament perspective on a modern-day problem. In this endeavour it proposes to build a bridge between practical issues of church life, leadership in the church and Biblical Studies. / Old Testament & Ancient Near Eastern Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Biblical Studies)

What would happen if, the systems we deal with everyday, and the situations we find ourselves in, could trigger us to give something to someone else? This work started by exploring the theme of  money systems and social structures and the ambition to find alternatives for our current economic system, which has failed in several ways. People all over the world are already coming up with alternatives that can supplement and stabilize our money-monoculture and that give new meaning to currency.This research investigates a particular alternative economic system called the gift economy, which has great potential to build meaningful relations and re-establish a sense of  community. Since the gift economy has been mainly researched by anthropologists and ethnographers in the last century, my focus is on implementing its principles in society today. Through literature review, case studies and a series of  design projects, this thesis articulates possible ways of  triggering a gift economy. With a special coin, a concept for a bar and by linking the local bakery to Konstfack, we may start to understand what giving really means, how it can benefit us, in what way it can build more meaningful relationships and how it can offer an alternative way of  thinking than what currently drives our economic system

Educational restructuring is an international phenomenon which emphasises a voucher system, upper secondary schools’ local decision-making and pupils’ choices in contrast to previous bureaucratic governing. For this reason upper secondary programmes and courses on offer, together with the pupils’ individual choices, have a direct impact on what could be called the upper-secondary education market. In terms of teaching subject matter, upper secondary education is, at the same time, broadened by means of introducing three-year programmes for all pupils as well as core subjects. The aim of this doctoral thesis is to develop a deeper understanding of how pupils’ actions of choice create different sorts of integration and differentiation processes within the restructured upper secondary education. In the light of Jürgen Habermas’ theory of communicative action combined with Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis, pupils’ actions of choice have been studied within four pedagogical practices: (i) choice of upper secon-dary school, (ii) choice of upper secondary programme, (iii) pupils’ initial time at an upper secondary school and how they cope with the specific culture within a programme as well as choice of courses and subjects, and (iv) pupils’ own sto-ries and points of view on how a core subject, namely Swedish, was taught. Some of the results demonstrate that pupils’ actions of choice can be voca-tion-oriented, career-oriented and consumption-oriented. It is argued that these different types of actions of choice are constituted within a market discourse. The market discourse demands that pupils are able to make suitable choices to achieve an individualistic qualification. From that point of view upper secondary education’s integration and differentiation processes aim at developing citizens' personal opportunities in order for them to benefit to their best ability from what society has to offer. Other results demonstrate that pupils’ group-oriented, inter-est-oriented and tradition-oriented actions of choice are built upon another type of discourse, which is about educating pupils towards active citizenship. It has an inter-subjective point of departure. Pupils are driven into the integration and dif-ferentiation process where they discuss and take a stand in favour of those educa-tional options, which are conceived as the most relevant in relation to a “self-determining ethical-cultural community”. The analysis of these two paramount discourses indicates that pupils' integration and differentiation processes are am-biguous.

Within the university system, student organizations have historically had multiple positive influences on the students who choose to participate in them. This study looked at a particular banner organization in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment at the University of Kentucky. Using the Social Change Model of Leadership Development theory as a backbone, a survey was created to evaluate the impact UK CAFE Ambassador Program has on its participants, as well as to identify avenues for improvement. This is a program that seeks to represent the college through recruitment and to develop student leaders through soft skill building. After surveying current and past ambassadors, there is overwhelming evidence that the UK CAFE Ambassador Program has positively impacted the students whether it was through skills building, networking, or college experience.

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An historiographical analysis of the present political debates regarding land reform in Scotland provides the point of departure for a case study of the Isle of Eigg and the 1997 purchase of the island by the Isle ofEigg Heritage Trust. The case study details the island community's historical development and researches the building pressures that culminated in two successive campaigns for community ownership in 1992 and 1996-7. Through interviews, focus groups, and 3 years of regular visits to the island a comprehensive social history of Eigg is consequently compiled and analysed, within which, particular attention is given to the role of island proprietors and their problematic relationships with the resident community. Using a highly participative methodology of research, the author took an active role in the facilitation and promotion of the islanders' ideas for community ownership. This is detailed together with the participative management plan that resulted from planning workshops and exhaustive interviews with island households. The process of community empowerment is traced through the workshops, the drafting of the management plan and the unique partnership that was eventually formed between the islanders, the Highland Council, and the Scottish Wildlife Trust. This is followed by an 'insider's view' of the Isle of Eigg Appeal, which had as much impact on the island as it did in the national media. The most successful public appeal in the Highlands and Islands to date is also examined from a marketing perspective, that explains how indeed, 64 islanders managed to raise £1.6 m in just 8 months without mains electricity nor Lottery backing. Finally, the central lessons of the community's success are used to highlight the importance of community development in any future policies of land reform in Scotland. The conclusion thereby emphasises the importance of integrated planning, community participation, and appropriate packages of support in establishing similar community trust models of ownership.

Thesis (DPhil (Sociology and Social Anthropology))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / Identity reflects and aims to control one’s experience. It is an act of consciousness which is neither essential nor immutable but a social construct open to change as circumstances, strategies and interactions fluctuate. It needs therefore to be situated historically and relationally, as identity is a matter of social context. This thesis sets out to investigate processes of identity formation in post-apartheid South Africa, i.e. a context marked by deep changes at both symbolic/material structural levels, in particular within the urban setup. On the basis of focus group discussions with residents of Cape Town, various, and at times contradictory, strategies of identification are explored. Residents’ discourses are analysed on the basis of two entry points, that of the context or the ‘scale’ within which discourse occurs (from the local, to the urban, the national and the continental) and that of the traditional categories of class, race and culture. The narratives that urban citizens draw upon to make sense of their lives and environment illuminate the emergence of new social boundaries among citizens which, though volatile and situational, reveal a changing picture of South Africa as a nation.

Thesis (DPhil (Drama))--Stellenbosch University, 2009. / The purpose of this study is to examine critically the phenomenon of participatory video and to situate within this the participatory video project that was initiated as part of this study in the informal settlement area of Kayamandi, South Africa. The overall objective of the dissertation is to consider the potential of participatory video within current-day South Africa towards enabling marginalised groups to represent themselves and achieve social change. As will be shown, the term ‘participatory video’ has been used broadly and applied to many different types of video products and processes. For the preliminary purposes of this dissertation, participatory video is defined as any video (or film) process dedicated to achieving change through which the subject(s) has been an integral part of the planning and/or production, as well as a primary end-user or target audience. The two key elements that distinguish participatory video are thus (1) understanding video (or film) as a tool for social change; and (2) understanding participation by the subject as integral to the video process. An historical analysis thus considers various filmmaking developments that fed into the emergence of participatory video. These include various film practices that used film as a tool for change -- from soviet agitprop through to the documentary movement of the 1930s, as well as various types of filmmaking in the 1960s that opened up questions of participation. The Fogo process, developed in the late 1960s, marked the start of participatory video and video advocacy and provided guiding principles for the Kayamandi project initiated as part of this dissertation. Practitioners of the Fogo process helped initiate participatory video practice in South Africa when they brought the process to South African anti-apartheid activists in the early 1970s. The Kayamandi Participatory Video Project draws on this background and context in its planned methodology and its implementation. Out of this, various theoretical issues arising from participatory video practice contextualise a reflection and an analysis of the Kayamandi project. Lastly, this study draws conclusions and recommendations on participatory video practice in South Africa.

Thesis (PhD (Philosophy))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Utopie is dood. Daar is geen meer hoop dat die toekoms radikaal anders of moreel meerwaardig kan wees gemeet teen die hede nie. Om utopiese alternatiewe tot ons huidige samelewingsrangskikking te verbeel is onrealisties, en selfs gevaarlik. Daarom lewer die utopiese verbeelding vandag slegs distopieë – as ons vandag 'n andersoortige samelewing verbeel kan ons slegs dink dat dit 'n nagmerrie moet wees. Die resultaat is politieke apatie en 'n gewilligheid om onsself te versoen met die status quo. As teenvoeter vir die bogenoemde politieke apatie vra ek in hierdie proefskrif of dit vandag nog moontlik is om utopies te dink. Om hierdie vraag te beantwoord ondersoek ek eers die sogenaamde "einde" of "dood" van utopie. Utopie is vandag dood omdat die metafisiese onderbou daaran verdag geraak het, en omdat 'n utopiese gees aktief onderdruk word via 'n verskeidenheid ideologiese strategieë. Ten spyte van hierdie probleme is 'n andersoortige en postmetafisiese utopisme wel vandag moontlik, en die kontoere van hierdie nuwe utopiese rasionaliteit word nagespoor in die werk van eietydse filosowe soos Richard Rorty, Gianni Vattimo, Fredric Jameson, Slavoj Žižek en Jacques Derrida. In hulle werk herleef 'n utopiese gees wat nie meer gebonde is aan ons metafisiese filosofiese erfenis nie. Hierdie gees manifesteer ook nie (slegs) in die vorm van sketse van ideale samelewings nie, maar eerder as hermeneutiese praktyke wat die koms van sosiale alteriteit fasiliteer. Hierdie utopiese gees, in voeling met 'n postmetafisiese intellektuele klimaat, bied ek aan as 'n noodsaaklike voorwaarde vir sosiale hoop. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Utopia is dead. There is no hope today that the future will be radically different from, or ethically superior to the present. To dream up utopian alternatives to our society is unrealistic, even dangerous. It is no surprise, then, that the existing utopian imagination produces only dystopias – if we think at all of a radically different society, we can only imagine something nightmarish. The result: a political apathy and a willingness to reconcile ourselves with the status quo. To counter the abovementioned political apathy, I ask in this dissertation if it is still possible to think in a utopian fashion. In order to answer this question I start off by examining the so-called "end" or "death" of utopia. Utopia is dead today because of its questionable metaphysical foundations, and because of an active ideological repression of any utopian impulse. In spite of these problems a new and postmetaphysical utopianism is possible. The contours of this new utopianism can be extrapolated from the work of contemporary philosophers like Richard Rorty, Gianni Vattimo, Fredric Jameson, Slavoj Žižek and Jacques Derrida. In their work a utopian spirit is revived – a spirit no longer constrained by our metaphysical philosophical heritage. This spirit is manifested, not (only) in sketches of ideal societies, but rather in hermeneutic practices that facilitate the arrival of social alterity. I present this utopian spirit, in touch with a postmetaphysical intellectual climate, as a necessary condition for social hope.

Daisaku Ikeda is the Buddhist leader of one of the most visible religious movements today, the Soka Gakkai International (SGI). In this thesis, the main research question concerns the peace philosophy of Ikeda and its contribution to peace theory. Daisaku Ikeda and the SGI have been the subject of several scholarly studies in the fields of religious history and sociology. The focus of this research is on the significance of Ikeda's contributions in the field of peace studies, where his work has not yet been the subject of systematic investigation. It is argued that the originality of Ikeda's philosophy of peace resides in two main elements. First, the starting point is consistently human life and its potential for peace and happiness, not the omnipresence of conflict. Second, he offers a coherent system linking the individual, dialogical and global levels, which can be represented as a triangle made of three conceptual frameworks, that of Humanistic Psychology (Human Revolution), Communicative Rationality (Dialogue) and Cosmopolitan Democracy (Global Civilization). It is also argued that while being inspired by Ikeda's Buddhist spirituality and his loyalty to his mentor Josei Toda, this secular humanist approach to peace offers an effective and original way for all people to participate in the construction of a better world, regardless of their religious or ideological affiliation, social background or cultural practices.