In this research project the research participants and I embarked on a journey through the "desert" of unemployment. I was introduced to the research participants at Jacob's Well, a ministry for people "between jobs" The effects of unemployment on a male's identity were explored, as well as the pastoral response of caregivers to people "between jobs". A phenomenological study was undertaken in which interviews with the participants formed the basis of the research. The structured section of the interviews was guided by the research questions, but the largest part of the interviews was about the participants' personal journeys "between jobs." The role of a ministry like Jacob's Well, catering for people "between jobs", was highlighted and recommendations for practical theology and pastoral praxis were made. / Practical Theolgy / M.Th. (Practical Theology with specialiisation in Pastoral Therapy)

In this study an ecosystematic approach to sports coaching is forwarded. This approach is illustrated using the analogy of an ecology of ideas. Ideas informing the life span of a coach within an elite team are explored. The researcher engaged four subjects in conversations the life span of a coach in an elite team. these conversations are viewed as co-constructions of realities. The coach abides within a team for a limited time. he or she enters an existing ecology of ideas, which can contribute to, or detract from, the efficacy of the coach in a team. This ecology of ideas evolves as aold meanings shift and new meanings emerge. These menings are explored in this disertation. An awareness of the ecology of ideas within a team can inform the coach to perturb the ecology of ideas in a direction that is mutually qualified as successful / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical psychology)

A sociological approach is used to analyze incidences of extreme opportunism in financial markets. Through an analysis of arguably the most widely publicized "rogue" trader events in recent history, a determination is made of the validity of explaining these events as aberrations, attributable to the actions of "rogues". The primary focus is the role of structural factors underlying these incidences of extreme opportunism in financial markets. A diverse range of documentary and other sources is used to avoid any form of bias as far as possible. It was found that structural factors act as countervailing forces to inhibit such behavior or as motivators and facilitators acting as catalysts for extreme opportunism. The balance between these factors largely determines the level of opportunistic behavior in a particular environment. Extreme opportunism is therefore not an aberration or "rogue" occurrence but a manageable phenomenon intrinsic to the social structural context within which it occurs. By conceptualizing these factors as countervailing forces one is forced to view structural factors, like compensation structures and formal and informal restraints, relative to one another and no longer in isolation. This realization translates into the conclusion that restraints and oversight systems for example, should be designed relative to the relevant motivators and facilitators in its area of application. In an environment where traders of highly geared financial products are motivated with multimillion USD incentive packages, a low budget oversight system and inexperienced regulatory staff, is clearly not the appropriate tools to control and manage extreme opportunism. / Criminology and Security Science / D.Phil. (Sociology)

This exploration involves the influence of a system of patriarchy on both women and men in an inclusive way within business context. The work attempts to move away from dualisms that stereotypically define gender according to patriarchy. The challenge of this work is to find ways of describing women and men that is less defined by gender and more about our similarities as human beings. It has been suggested in the research that the business environment is still a male dominated environment. It is therefore the intention of this work to encourage ways of defining ourselves that one person does not hold benefit one over another in an abusive way. As the system of patriarchy has been endorsed by the church, the research considers how the pastoral therapist may be relevant to the business environment. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th - Specialising in Pastoral Therapy

Tills research project arose from an awareness that many Christian women experience female sexual desire and the expression of sexual pleasure within a religious context to be a forbidden subject and that they are consequently isolated in silence. The social construction of sexuality within the history of Christianity was briefly explored to see which discourses underpin current constructions of White Christian female sexuality. Tills feminist, participatory action research project challenged the silence on women's sexuality by inviting three women to narrate their personal stories of sexuality. With the help of narrative therapeutic practices, some of the dominant social and religious discourses that constitute White Christian female sexuality were challenged and explored. This research project aimed at the co-construction of narratives of sexuality that will hopefully be life-giving to Christian women's experiences with sexuality. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M.Th. (Specialization in Pastoral Therapy))

The genre affiliation is a postmodern study: Virtual Reality (VR) becomes a comprehensive concept, in the face of modernism's illusion, when rhetoric validates all discourses. All is VR. The study is in three sections with an overall introduction and conclusion: the first section introduces VR in its postmodern setting, the second section establishes the postmodern timeless/spaceless paradigm of HyperReality in which all Hermeneutics are being done from, the last section draws the paradigm into the Creatio Ex Nihilio discourse of the Scriptures. The proposed theological model is an intratextual theological model, however when YAHWEH precedes language then all discourses become intratextually part of the Biblical discourse. Human creativity is a metaphorical journey; the Fall was the outset of two languages, one in the presence of YAHWEH, while the other one void of this presence led to a nihilistic abstract constellation. Sin in VR is the unbiblical appropriation of this constellation. / Thesis (M.Th.)

This insider research journey explores the meaning-making processes of female spousal caregivers in anticipatory mourning and the knowledges which they have gained in retrospect. The research traces the social constructions of meaning and how they influence the process of meaning-making. A phenomenological study was undertaken in which unstructured interviews were conducted with five bereaved participants, highlighting the unique way in which each woman made meaning of loss in anticipatory mourning. The main phenomenological themes to emerge from their meaning-making were: a) the significance of time; b) challenges and gifts; c) witnessing the decline; d) paradoxes; e) the significance of the spousal relationship; and f) spirituality. The therapeutic effect of telling the life story is explored in this study and the need for contextual pastoral care that is specific to the state of anticipatory mourning is highlighted. Finally, possibilities for co-constructive pastoral care are raised in the light of the research findings. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. ( Practical Theology, with Specialisation in Pastoral Therapy)

In this study I apply social constructionism as propounded by Vivian Burr (1998) to show that although J. K. Rowling uses stereotypes in the Harry Potter series as a reflection of how gender is constructed across a wide range of societal institutions in contemporary Britain, she created complex characters who on an individual level subvert social constructs and thereby offers her readers alternatives to culturally defined concepts of gender. I explore the all-pervasive social phenomenon of gender and examine how it is constructed in present-day Britain and reflected in the series (bearing in mind that the first book was published in 1997 and the last one in 2007). My analysis of female and male characters in the books, and their interpersonal relationships, shows that Rowling's often tricky portrayal of femininities and masculinities gives us an honest view of teenagers’ lives and contemporary gender relations in an ever-changing, complex world. / English Studies / M. A. (English)

The present research study is a deconstructive collaborative project situated within a postmodern paradigm. The research is premised on a notion that disability has been constructed by societies to reflect their values and norms. Despite various ancient and contemporary worldviews stabilising this normative paradigm, disability has remained a shifting and fleeting concept. For the most part, it has cast the disabled identity in more negative and alienating ways than positive. The Christian cultural context of Lesotho within which the study is situated has not done any better in terms of portraying people with disabilities. Instead, it has inherited the legacy of the ancient Mediterranean world and further re-read it in the light of the demands of contemporary society on the disabled identity. For instance, people with disabilities are still constructed as „sinners‟, „monsters‟, „add-ons‟, and pathological burdens who cannot by themselves survive the challenges of the contemporary world. Using the ideas of Foucault and Derrida, the study examines ways in which such a notion of disability is not only linguistically unstable but also founded on the binary opposites. The participatory nature of the study brings the important voices of people with disabilities to further destabilise the notion of disability and to deconstruct the dominant disability story. The immersion of this study within the participatory ethics and consciousness of Kotzé and Heshusius respectively, has led to an ambitious proposing of the participatory model of disability. The latter has leanings towards metaphors of the church as communion founded on and nurtured by the theologies of embrace, interdependence, healing and botho. It also resonates with the metaphor of the church as expounded in I Corinthians 12. As members of the body of Christ, no member can suffer without the rest of the body feeling the same. If one member of the body is disabled all the body is disabled. Alienating and marginalising others has no place in such a metaphor of church as communion, since by its own definition, all belong to and participate within it. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D. Th. (Practical Theology with specialisation in Pastoral Therapy)

This study is an exploration of the representation of masculinity in film, with particular focus on the way in which the leading male characters in a purposive sample of action genre and romantic comedy genre films represent masculinity. It is posited that masculinity is a construct, the meaning of which is dependent on the social context of the individual. Film being a social artefact could then possibly influence individuals understanding of the construct. Therefore an exploration of the kind of masculinity, the variations thereof across genres, and masculine characteristics of masculinity prevalent in each genre, is a first step in understanding possible influences of the definition of masculinity. In order to accomplish this exploration, a combination of methods is used to analyse these fictional characters according to a set of codes and „real‟ world norms. The real world norms are based on seven theoretically derived norms of masculinity developed from previous research on masculinity conducted by Levant, Hirsch, Celentano, Cozza, Hill, MacEachern, Marty and Schnedekerl (1992). The results of the findings from this study indicate that the way in which male characters are created for each genre are different, with male lead characters from the action genre having more characteristics that align with the „real‟ world norms of masculinity (Levant et al 1992). Alternatively, the male lead characters from the romantic comedy genre, have fewer characteristics that align with the seven theoretically derived norms of masculinity. The masculinity represented in the romantic comedy genre is more emotionally available and expressive, less aggressive, more compromising and reliant on others; while in the action genre masculinity is more independent, stoic, aggressive and more physically adventurous. The male lead characters in the romantic comedy genre are more about the emotional aspects of masculinity while the male lead characters in the action genre are more about the physical aspects of masculinity. / Communication Science / M.A. (Communication)