Motivation: C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and other risk factors such as cortisol and obesity in the diagnosis of cardiovascular dysfunction (CVD) in African and Caucasian women has become increasingly imperative when one considers the escalation of hypertension among these groups. Recent studies have explored some aspects of these risk factors and the roles that they play within hypertension and possible future risk for cardiovascular disease. Hs-CRP has been associated with the increased prevalence of hypertension and obesity. Cortisol per se has also been linked with the development of both hypertension and the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal cortex (HPA) response. Nevertheless, the exact mechanism remains rather uncertain due to conflicting outcomes of research within different ethnic groups. Several recent investigations have, however, linked hypocortisolism with both urbanisation and a subsequent increased likelihood of hypertension within African women as they have presented increased vascular blood pressure responses. Conversely, Caucasian women have displayed an increased central cardiac reactivity. The lack of data regarding the relationship between the above-mentioned parameters within both African and Caucasian women serves as the motivation for conducting this study. Objective: To investigate hs-CRP, cortisol and hypertension as contributors to the increased likelihood of cardiovascular dysfunction in both African and Caucasian women within South Africa. hs-CRP use this through whole document please Methodology: The manuscript presented in Chapter 2 has been compiled using data obtained from the POWIRS (Profiles of Obese Women with Insulin Resistance Syndrome) study. Apparently healthy African (N=102) and Caucasian (N=115) women, matched for age and body mass index, were recruited from the North-West Province of South Africa for participation within this study. Subjects were divided into normotensive (NT) and hypertensive (HT) groups according to the mean resting cardiovascular values that were taken using a Finometer device. High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and cortisol blood serum values were determined by immunochemistry and ELISA analyses. Significant differences within each ethnic group and between each of the groups (NT and HT) were determined by analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), for anthropometric, cardiovascular, hs-CRP and cortisol variables, while adjusting for cardiovascular covariates (age, smoking and alcohol consumption). Partial correlations analyses were used to examine the relationship between hs-CRP, cortisol, anthropometric and cardiovascular parameters adjusting for cardiovascular covariates. Logistic regression analyses was used within each ethnic group to determine the relationship between anthropometric, cardiovascular, hs-CRP and cortisol as independent variables and hypertension as dependent variable. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the North-West University and all subjects gave informed consent in writing. For a more detailed description of the subjects, study design and analytical procedures please refer to the Materials and Methods section within Chapter 2 of this dissertation. Results and Conclusion: Both ethnic groups presented higher hs-CRP and lower cortisol levels compared to normal values. Lower waist circumference (WC) and cortisol as well as higher blood pressure (BP) and vascular values were evident in Africans compared to Caucasians. Both HT ethnic groups were older and more visceral obese compared to their NT counterparts. HT Caucasians indicated higher central adrenergic responses whilst HT Africans showed vascular adrenergicresponses. Only NT Africans had lower cortisol values than NT Caucasians but the Africans (NT and HT) responded with higher diastolic blood pressure responses compared to their Caucasian counterparts. Moreover, hs-CRP within African women significantly correlated with all BP and obesity variables whilst hs-CRP only associated with stroke volume (SV) and compliance (Cw) within HT Caucasian women. Cortisol in both ethnic groups was strongly associated with vascular BP responses. Only BP contributed to the higher prevalence of HT in both ethnic groups. In conclusion, these results suggest the possible diverse roles of HPA axis dysregulation associated with higher inflammatory responses. This happens in conjunction with cardiac and vascular responses within more obese Caucasian and especially African women, respectively. / MSc (Physiology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009

Cultural intelligence (referred to as CQ) has gained increasing attention from research. This is because of the modern-day relevance to globalisation, international management and work diversification. Demographical shifts towards a more diverse South African population contribute to various challenges for successful cross-cultural interactions for young Afrikaans-speaking South Africans. Selective perception, social categorisation, stereotyping, attribution and diversity among South Africa‟s different cultures (race, gender, language, vocabulary, content, accent and appearances) are barriers that must be overcome. The study was a quantitative study. A cross-sectional survey was used to collect the data and to achieve the research objectives. Convenience and quota sampling methods were used to include a sample of young South Africans from a higher education institution (N=252). The participants were young South African students, white, Afrikaans speaking and between the ages of 18 and 22. Questionnaires were distributed, and the participants completed the questionnaire during class and were given 2 hours to complete the questionnaires. The statistical analysis was carried out with the IBM SPSS statistics and the Mplus 7.11 programme. Product-moment correlation coefficients were used to specify the relationships between the variables and multiple regressions to determine which dimensions of personality and identity predicted CQ. The general objective of this research is to determine the relationship between Identity, Personality and Cultural Intelligence among young South Africans. The Erickson Psychosocial Stage Inventory (EPSI) and the Multi-Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM) was used to measure personal, ethnic and religious identity. The SAPI-questionnaire was used to measure the constructs, conscientiousness, extraversion, openness, soft-heartedness, relationship-harmony, intellect, integrity and facilitating. Furthermore, the Four Factor Model of Cultural Intelligence Scale was applied to measure the dimensions of CQ, namely, meta-cognitive CQ, cognitive CQ, motivational CQ and behavioural CQ. This study indicated a positive relationship between cognitive CQ and the other three components of CQ. Conscientiousness, emotional stability, extroversion, facilitating, intellect and openness related positively to meta-cognitive CQ. Facilitating, intellect and openness were found to be positively related with motivational CQ. Furthermore, conscientiousness, emotional stability, extroversion, intellect, relationship harmony and soft-heartedness related positively with behavioural CQ. Religious identity has a negative effect on cognitive CQ. Furthermore, intellect, facilitating and ethnic identity predicted meta-cognitive CQ. Soft-heartedness, facilitating, extroversion and religious identity had a positive effect on motivational CQ, influencing young Afrikaans speaking South Africans interest and drive in adapting to cultural differences. Furthermore, soft-heartedness and conscientiousness had a positive effect on behavioural CQ. Recommendations were made for future research and for practise. / MCom (Industrial Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

History / M.A. (History)

Thesis (MA (Political Science. International Studies))--Stellenbosch University, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In the context of the present conflict in Darfur, and in the years preceding it, the distinction between so-called African and Arab tribes has come to the forefront, and the tribal identity of individuals has increased in significance. These distinctions were never as clear cut and definite as they are today. The ‘Arab’ and ‘African’ distinction that was always more of a passive characteristic in the past has now become the reason for standing on different sides of the political divide. What then are the main factors which contributed to this new violent distinction between Arab and African? How is it possible for people and communities who have a positive history of cooperation and tolerance to suddenly plunge into a situation of such cruelty and hate towards one another. The thesis uses the New War framework to look at the current situation in Darfur. The most definitive version of this new framework is presented by scholars such as Mary Kaldor (2006), Martin van Creveld (1991) and Helfried Münkler (2005). The thesis then shows how the war in Darfur, exactly in line with the new war argument, has political goals with the political mobilization occurring on the basis of identity. Kaldor (2006) argues that the political goals in the new wars are about the claim to power based on seemingly traditional identities, such as Arab or African. Defining identity politics as “movements which mobilize around ethnic, racial or religious identity for the purpose of claiming state power” (Kaldor, 2006: 80), it becomes apparent that Darfur has become subject to this these kind of new war politics. The study therefore questions the popular argument that ethnic conflict arises out of an “ancient hatred” or “tribal warfare”. Chapters three and four illustrates how this new distinction between Arab and African should rather be seen as the cumulative effects of marginalization, competing economic interests and, more recently, from the political polarization which has engulfed the region. Most of the factors leading to the current Arab/African antagonism were traced to contemporary phenomena. The study also looks at factors such as loss of physical coercion on behalf of the state, loss of popular legitimacy and effective leadership, underdevelopment, poverty, inequality, and privatization of force. The study then concludes that politics of identity should more often be seen as a result of individuals, groups or politician reacting to the effects of these conditions then as the result of ethnic hatred. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In die konteks van die huidige konflik in Darfur, en die jare wat dit voorafgaan, het die verskille tussen sogenaamde ‘Afrikaan’ en ‘Arabier’ stamme na vore gekom. So ook het die stamverband van individue kenmerkend toegeneem. Hierdie onderskeid was nooit so noukeurig afgebaken en bepalend soos wat dit vandag is nie. Die ‘Afrikaan’ en ‘Arabier’ onderskeid wat in die verlede meer van ’n passiewe kenmerk was, het ontaard in die rede waarom beide kante hulself vandag in ’n politieke skeiding bevind. Wat dan is die hoof faktore wat bydra tot hierdie nuwe gewelddadige onderskeid tussen ‘Afrikane’ en ‘Arabiere’? Hoe is dit moontlik vir mense en gemeenskappe met ’n positiewe geskiedenis van samewerking en verdraagsaamheid om skielik ’n toestand van soveel onmenslikheid en haat teenoor mekaar te ervaar? Die tesis maak gebruik van die Nuwe oorlog denkrigting in ’n poging om die huidige oorlog in Darfur te beskryf. Die mees bepalende weergawe van hierdie denkrigting word voorsien deur akademici soos Mary Kaldor (2006), Martin Creveld (1991) en Helfried Münkler (2005). Die tesis fokus op hoe die oorlog in Darfur (in lyn met die Nuwe Oorlog denkrigting) politieke doelwitte aan die dag lê, met die gepaardgaande politieke mobilisering wat geskied op grond van identiteit. Kaldor (2006) argumenteer dat die politieke doelwitte in die nuwe oorloë berus op die aanspraak tot mag op grond van skynbare tradisionele identiteite of stamwese, soos ‘Afrikaan’ en ‘Arabier’. As ’n mens identiteitspolitiek definieër as ’n beweging wat mobiliseer rondom etnisiteit, ras of geloof, met die doel om aanspraak te maak op staatsmag, dan blyk dit of die konflik in Darfur wel onderhewig is aan hierdie nuwe vorm van Nuwe Oorlog politiek. Die studie bevraagteken dus ook die gewilde aanname dat etniese oorloë ontstaan uit ‘stamoorloë’ of ‘antieke vyandskap’. Hoofstuk drie en vier verduidelik hoekom hierdie nuwe onderskeiding tussen ‘Afrikaan’ en ‘Arabier’ eerder beskou moet word as die kumulatiewe effek van marginalisasie, kompeterende ekonomiese belange en die politieke polarisasie wat die streek in twee skeur. Meeste van die faktore wat gelei het tot die etniese polarisasie van die streek word hier beskou as kontemporêre verskynsels. Die studie kyk ook na faktore soos: die verlies van populêre legitimiteit en effektiewe leierskap, onderontwikkeling, armoede, ongelykheid en die privatisering van mag. Die studie sluit af met die gedagte dat identiteitspolitiek in Darfur beskou moet word as die uitkoms van individue, groepe of politieke leiers wat reageer op die bogenoemde omstandighede, eerder as die resultaat van ‘antieke vyandskap’ of aggresiewe ‘stamoorloë’.

Thesis (PhD (Public Management and Planning))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Unless Africans and their leaders make a concerted effort to rid themselves of the harmful legacy of colonial spirituality by adopting new motives for living, entering into new relationships with themselves on the plane of beneficial values, Africa will not be able to escape the social, environmental, political and economic afflictions that currently beset her. The colonial forces that burst into Africa with violence from minds bent on foreign conquest were primarily driven by an ethos of covetousness that has come to characterize the existing international order. Stealing, not only of natural resources has continued side by side with the denuding of the very souls of people – as has happened so successfully in Africa – of their humanity. There is evidence that human existence has been beleaguered and governed by an unviable microphysical framework (mindset and spirituality). In the midst of what appears to be a bewilderingly dynamic, turbulent and complex world, this spirituality looms large, gaining a stronghold resulting in disconnectedness among self-worshipping humans and their environment. We now live in a world governed by a distructive innate iniquity that produces overwhelming inequity among humans and unprecedented damage in the natural environment that sustains us. This study draws from and connects the evidence provided by ancient history with current macro-physical endeavours to demonstrate that this micro-physicality still holds sway, albeit under various manifestations. Having been in a state of war with itself and its living environment, humanity has reached what observers have acknowledged as a crossroads. In the violence that has engulfed all humans since time immemorial, as evidenced in the co-existence of poverty and affluence, pandemics driven by a wide variety of illnesses, huge disparities in wealth within and between national economies, energy and environmental depletion and degradation that have earned us the unprecedented crisis of global warming, this crossroads has made itself very present. A particular kind of mentality and spirituality has taken us to this point. It is a spirituality that is obviously devoid and incapable of producing beauty of harmony and communion among us irrespective of our diversity, whether in race, culture, knowledge discipline or geographic space. The macro-physical condition we are experiencing cannot be viewed in isolation from the spirituality that produced it. We are now in an unsustainable world that must have been the fruit of an unsustainable spirituality. The answers to our global dilemma must fundamentally be sought not in any new technologies that emanate from the same mindset, but in a renewed mind and in a different pattern of spirituality. This study probes the dominant world mindest that directed the globally pervasive Western civilization and reviews some major historical and cultural trends that, it argues, have brought humanity to the zenith of its “world-hunt”-culture. This is a “world- hunt” of self-mutilation that manifested itself in Europe, the near-east, Asia and Africa over more than four millennia ago. The deforestation, land degradation, oppression of the poor, hunger, hatred that drives terrorist attacks, climate changes that drive natural disasters and the loss of species, are all the unmistakable bitter fruit of such a culture. It is a culture characterized and propelled by the absence of what this study coins as “aesthetic relational values”. This dominant mindset has strewn all over our globe various rule-based governance institutions characterized by an ethos of central control, manipulating people’s lives for self-centred gain. Though many of these institutions come in various garbs of apparent benevolence, faith-based, trade-based, knowledge/science-based and political governance bodies, all are adherents of the same worldview that is firmly grounded in a merciless and destructive pantheistic, and nature-worship belief system traceable to ancient Egypt. Many of these institutions, today, publicly claim to be proponents of sustainable development, the eradication of poverty and peace among the nations of the world, yet they are still clinging, esoterically, to a cosmological perspective of nature-worship that glorifies self-worship and disregards the well-being of others. The study contrasts this dominant spirituality with the Afrocentric one based on a knowledge system that propounds a belief in a compassionate and merciful Creator-God who is the source of all nature, including the human family, as illustrated in the daily lives of amaMbo peoples whose geographic origins are traced to ancient Ethiopia. As the former continues to make a nonentity of the Creator-God, Africans, realizing the spiritual bankruptcy of a self-glorification ethic that has polarised the people and ravaged their continent through rule-based institutions, are returning, in large numbers, to this knowledge system of their ancient fathers on which their social institutions of shared and consensus-based decision-making and governance, from the basic social unit as the family, to national political relations, were founded. In several encounters these patterns of spiritualities have produced unsavoury outcomes. In the Cape’s more-than-a-century long, bitter and protracted encounter between a branch of amaMbo called amaXhosa, that began with the seventeenth century arrival of the Western “world-hunt” culture through the Calvinist Dutch East India Company traders, Africa and the entire world have been provided, simultaneously, with indisputable evidence of the destructiveness of self-indulgent living on the one hand and the efficacy, on the other, of a relational aesthetic as a viable alternative out of the humanitarian and environmental crises that confront our globe. Views and principles regarding the harmonious living of life on earth have been advocated by many a great leader since antiquity. They have been vindicated in the lives of ancient Israelite patriarchs such as Abraham and Moses, who led his kinsmen out of the Egyptian bondage that lasted over four centuries; in the life of Tolstoy, who chose to be excommunicated from a society that regarded these principles with disdain; to that of Gandhi, on whom Tolstoy was a tremendous influence, and effectively applied them to unshackle a whole nation from British subjugation; and Dostoevsky, Tolstoy’s compatriot, who first referred to these as “aesthetic views”. These relational principles were embedded in the lifestyle of ancient Israel, lived and advocated later by the Jewish Rabbi called Jesus, whose very own people chose to shamefully murder Him rather that accept His teachings. These principles were taught, practised and handed down to His followers to influence humanity as never before. In their ancient setting these principles clashed with those of the pagan lifestyle of Egypt, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome, which culturally shaped the Western civilization that pervades our globe. The results were centuries of enslavements, dispossessions and persecutions. In the course of history pagan beliefs crept in and mingled with orthodox Jewish rites and worship, producing an adulterated Christianity and a plethora of what are known today as nature-based religions, which still uphold and advocate the individual gods to whom honour and worship is due rather than the Creator in the Hebrew and Afrocentric cosmologies. This study traces the effect of the absence of these relational values on the quality of the life of nations and their leaders. A remarkable trend and pattern characterized by self-mutilative living emerged among all such nations and people. Their efficacy and mutual beneficence, on the other hand, was unmistakable in societies such as that of amaXhosa, in their pre-colonial state in the Eastern Cape region of South Africa. As all of nature “groans” under the human self-mutilation caused by the impoverished spirituality in aesthetic relational values, this study argues that salvation lies in ibuyambo, the recalling of these under-appreciated relational values, and in ensuring the re-education of ourselves and our future leaders in them. The focus of the study is what these values are, the effect of their absence, how different they are to what are known as “social capital”, how they have been manifested and preserved in ancient African institutions such as the weekly memorial day of rest – the Sabbath in the creation narrative – in the lives of some individuals and people on our planet, particularly Africans and amaMbo, and the benefits they derived from respecting them. A vital observation in this study is that social systems that are driven by the motive of individual, corporate or national self-exaltation are invariably rooted in strife and discention. The conclusion is drawn that these under-appreciated relational values, aesthetic relational values, are not only a vital ingredient to the quest for and in all known facets of sustainability in development efforts, they hold the key to unlock the door to the mystery of “harmony” that has proven so elusive to individuals, families, communities, societies, nations and their governance systems. The study concludes, with Dostoevsky, that aesthetic relational values contain “a guarantee of tranquility” for all humanity and the natural environment that sustains them. The restoration, not only by all of Africa, of the lost spirituality of aesthetic relational values cherished by their ancient forebears, is key to the renewal of our world. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: under-appreciated relational values, and in ensuring the re-education of ourselves and our future leaders in them. The focus of the study is what these values are, the effect of their absence, how different they are to what are known as “social capital”, how they have been manifested and preserved in ancient African institutions such as the weekly memorial day of rest – the Sabbath in the creation narrative – in the lives of some individuals and people on our planet, particularly Africans and amaMbo, and the benefits they derived from respecting them. A vital observation in this study is that social systems that are driven by the motive of individual, corporate or national self-exaltation are invariably rooted in strife and discention. The conclusion is drawn that these under-appreciated relational values, aesthetic relational values, are not only a vital ingredient to the quest for and in all known facets of sustainability in development efforts, they hold the key to unlock the door to the mystery of “harmony” that has proven so elusive to individuals, families, communities, societies, nations and their governance systems. The study concludes, with Dostoevsky, that aesthetic relational values contain “a guarantee of tranquility” for all humanity and the natural environment that sustains them. The restoration, not only by all of Africa, of the lost spirituality of aesthetic relational values cherished by their ancient forebears, is key to the renewal of our world. op ons globale dilemma moet fundamenteel nie in enige nuwe tegnologieë gesoek word wat uit hierdie selfde geestesingesteldheid voortvloei nie, maar in ’n hernude sienswyse en in ’n ander spiritualiteitspatroon. Hierdie studie ondersoek die dominante wêreldingesteldheid wat die globaal omvattende Westerse beskawing gerig het en hersien ’n aantal belangrike historiese en kulturele neigings wat, volgens die argument, die mensdom tot by die toppunt van sy “wêreld-jag”-kultuur gebring het. Dit is ’n “wêreld-jag” van selfverminking wat sigself meer as vier millennia gelede in Europa, die Nabye Ooste, Asië en Afrika gemanifesteer het. Die ontbossing, grondagteruitgang, onderdrukking van die armes, hongersnood, haat wat terroriste-aanvalle aangedryf het en klimaatsveranderings, wat natuurrampe en die verlies van spesies laat toeneem het, is almal die onmiskenbare bitter vrugte van so ’n kultuur. Dit is ’n kultuur wat gekenmerk en voortgestu is deur die afwesigheid van wat hierdie studie “estetiese relasionele waardes” noem. Hierdie dominante ingesteldheid het verskeie reëlgebaseerde regeringsinstellings wat gekenmerk word deur ’n etos van sentrale beheer en die manipulering van mense se lewens vir selfgesentreerde gewin oor ons hele wêreld versprei. Hoewel baie van hierdie instellings in verskeie gewade van skynbare welwillendheid - geloofgebaseerde, handelsgebaseerde, kennis/wetenskapgebaseerde en politieke bestuursliggame - voordoen, is almal aanhangers van dieselfde wêreldbeskouing wat stewig in ’n genadelose en destruktiewe panteïstiese en natuuraanbidding-geloofstelsel gevestig is wat na antieke Egipte terugvoerbaar is. Baie van hierdie instellings maak vandag in die openbaar daarop aanspraak om voorstanders van volhoubare ontwikkeling, die uitwissing van armoede en vrede onder die nasies van die wêreld te wees, terwyl hulle nog, esoteries, vasklou aan ’n kosmologiese perspektief van natuuraanbidding wat selfverheerliking aanprys en die welsyn van ander verontagsaam. Die studie kontrasteer hierdie dominante spiritualiteit met die Afrosentriese siening wat op ’n kennissisteem gebaseer is, wat ’n geloof in ’n barmhartige en genadige Skeppergod voorstel wat die bron van alle natuur, met inbegrip van die menseras, is, soos blyk uit die daaglikse lewens van amaMbo-mense wie se geografiese oorsprong na antieke Ethiopië teruggevoer kan word. Terwyl die eersvdermelde steeds die niebestaan van die Skeppergod voorstaan, keer Afrikane – met die besef van die spirituele bankrotskap van ’n selfverheerlikende etiek wat mense gepolariseer het en hulle kontinent deur reëlgebaseerde instellings verniel het - in groot getalle terug na hierdie kennissisteem van hul voorvaders waarop hul sosiale instellings van gedeelde en konsensusgebaseerde besluitneming en regering, vanaf die basiese sosiale eenheid as die familie tot by nasionale politieke verhoudings¸ gevestig is. Hierdie patrone van spiritualiteite het in verskeie gevalle tot onaangename uitkomste gelei. In die Kaap se meer as ’n eeu lange, bittere en langdurige botsing tussen ’n tak van amaMbo bekend as amaXhosa, wat met die 17de-eeuse aankoms van die Westerse “wêreld-jag”-kultuur deur die Calvinistiese Nederlandse Oos-Indiese Kompanjie-handelaars begin het, is Afrika en die hele wêreld terselfdertyd voorsien van onbetwisbare bewys van die vernielsug van gemaksugtige lewe aan die een kant en, aan die ander kant, die doeltreffendheid van relasionele estetika as ’n lewensvatbare alternatief uit die humanitêre en omgewingskrisisse wat ons wêreld in die gesig staar. Sienswyses en beginsels omtrent ’n harmonieuse lewenswyse op aarde is al sedert die vroegste tyd deur vele groot leiers bepleit. Dit is gehandhaaf in die lewens van antieke Israelitiese patriage soos Abraham en Moses, wat sy stamverwante uit die Egiptiese slawerny van meer as vier eeue gelei het; in die lewe van Tolstoi, wat verkies het om verban te word uit ’n gemeenskap wat hierdie beginsels met minagting bejeën het; in dié van Gandhi, op wie Tolstoi ’n geweldige invloed gehad het, wat hierdie beginsels effektief toegepas het om ’n hele nasie van Britse onderwerping te bevry; en Dostojewski, Tolstoi se landgenoot, wat die eerste keer daarna as “estetiese sienswyses” verwys het. Hierdie relasionele beginsels is vasgelê in die lewenstyl van antieke Israel, en later uitgeleef en verkondig deur die Joodse Rabbi genaamd Jesus, wie se eie mense verkies het om Hom skandelik te vermoor eerder as om sy leringe te aanvaar. Hierdie beginsels is onderrig, beoefen en aan Sy volgelinge oorgedra om die mensdom te beïnvloed soos nog nooit tevore nie. Hierdie beginsels het in hulle antieke opset gebots met dié van die heidense lewenstyl van Egipte, Babilon, Medo-Persië, Griekeland en Rome, wat die Westerse beskawing wat oor die wêreld versprei is kultureel gevorm het. Die resultate was eeue van slawerny, onteienings en vervolgings. Met verloop van die geskiedenis het heidense gelowe ingesypel en met die Joodse rites en aanbidding vermeng, wat gelei het tot ’n verknoeide Christendom en ’n oorvloed van wat vandag as natuurgebaseerde gelowe bekend staan, wat steeds die individuele gode aanhang en verkondig aan wie eer en aanbidding toekom, eerder as die Skepper in die Hebreeuse en Afrosentriese kosmologieë. Hierdie studie belig die afwesigheid van hierdie relasionele waardes in die gehalte van die lewe van nasies en hulle leiers. ’n Merkwaardige verloop en patroon wat gekenmerk word deur ’n selfverminkende lewenswyse het by al hierdie nasies en mense te voorskyn getree. Hulle doeltreffendheid en wedersydse liefdadigheid is, aan die ander kant, onmiskenbaar in gemeenskappe soos dié van die amaXhosa, in hul voorkoloniale staat in die Oos-Kaapse streek van Suid-Afrika. Terwyl die hele natuur “kreun” onder die menslike selfverminking wat deur die verarmde spiritualiteit in estetiese relasionele waardes veroorsaak word, argumenteer hierdie studie dat die redding lê in ibuyambo, die herroeping van hierdie onderwaardeerde relasionele waardes, en deur seker te maak dat ons onsself en ons toekomstige leiers daarin heropvoed. Die studie konsentreer op wat hierdie waardes is, die uitwerking van die afwesigheid daarvan, hoe dit verskil van wat as “sosiale kapitaal” bekend staan, hoe dit in antieke Afrika-instellings soos die weeklikse gedenkdag van rus – die Sabbat in die skeppingsverhaal - gemanifesteer en bewaar is in die lewens van party individue en mense op ons planeet, veral Afrikane en amaMbo, en die voordele wat hulle trek uit die nakoming daarvan. ’n Belangrike waarneming in hierdie studie is dat sosiale stelsels wat deur die motief van individuele, korporatiewe of nasionale selfverheffing aangedryf word, sonder uitsondering aan onenigheid en verdeeldheid gekoppel is. Die gevolgtrekking word gemaak dat hierdie onderwaardeerde relasionele waardes, estetiese relasionele waardes, nie slegs ’n noodsaaklike onderdeel in die soeke na en in alle bekende fasette van volhoubaarheid in ontwikkelingspogings is nie, maar dat hulle die sleutel is tot die ontsluiting van die misterie van “harmonie” wat so ontwykend vir individue, families, gemeenskappe, samelewings, nasies en hul regeringstelsels geblyk het. Die studie kom, saam met Dostojewski, tot die gevolgtrekking dat estetiese relasionele waardes ’n “waarborg van kalmte” bevat vir die hele mensdom en die natuurlike omgewing wat ons onderhou. Die herstel deur meer as net die hele Afrika van die verlore spiritualiteit van estetiese relasionele waardes wat deur hulle antieke voorgeslagte gekoester is, is die sleutel tot die vernuwing van ons wêreld.

This thesis describes studies on the analysis of arsenic (As) in human biological samples, mainly urine but also hair and fingernails using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GF-AAS). The relationship between ethnicity and arsenic metabolism was investigated for the first time for a population in the United Kingdom. This investigation has been carried out through comparative analysis of arsenic in human urine, hair and fingernails in volunteers from three different ethnic groups (Whites, Asians and Somali Black-Africans) who are only exposed to background levels of arsenic. Results obtained with 63 volunteers showed ethnic differences in urinary arsenic excretion as well as differences in arsenic levels in fingernail samples. The averages of total arsenic levels for the Somali Black-Africans (urine 7.2 µg/g creatinine; fingernails 723 µg/kg) are significantly (P< 0.05) different from both the Asians (urine 20.6 µg/g creatinine; fingernails 153.9 µg/kg) and Whites (urine 24.5 µg/g creatinine; fingernails 177.0 µg/kg). The Somali group also shows a higher percentage (50%) of dimethylarsinate (DMA) and a lower percentage (48%) of arsenobetaine (AB), compared to Asians (16% DMA and 83% AB) and Whites (22% DMA and 77% AB). The effect of fasting on urinary arsenic species distribution was also investigated by monitoring urine samples from 29 Ramadan fasting volunteers, with each volunteer providing a sample at the beginning (RF1) and at the end (RF2) of an approximately 12 hours fast. The results obtained showed the frequency of MA detection for RF2 was 12 and 2-fold higher than for the non-fasting and RF1 groups, respectively. This suggests fasting may alter the pattern of arsenic metabolism and excretion. However, there was no significant difference (P> 0.05) in the average of total level of arsenic for RF1 (18.3 µg/g creatinine) and RF2 (17.7 µg/g creatinine). A relationship between excretion of arsenic and selenium in individuals exposed to background levels of arsenic and selenium was investigated through analysis of urine samples from 93 volunteers from Leicester, UK. A positive correlation between arsenic and selenium was found and the As:Se ratio was 0.7 ± 0.4. The intra-individual variation of As:Se ratio does not alter significantly over time, as determined by monitoring urine samples from a volunteer over a period of one year. Furthermore, within a single day, with urine samples collected at the beginning and after a 12-hour fast, the As:Se ratio was found to be similar (0.7 ± 0.5). These findings suggest a close relationship between these two metalloids, the biological significance of which needs to be explored in the future.

In 1796, the first time the British occupied the Cape, a former Dutch colony in 1806 then definitely. British colonial policy in South Africa was initially influenced by the former practice of the Dutch East India Company. Problems inherited from the past involving government, law and the institution of slavery. Very thorny questions were slave trade and land ownership. In 1807 a law was adopted to ban the import of slaves in the colonies of the British Empire. In 1809 was issued collection of laws by Lord Calendon called Calendon code. In 1811 Governor John Cradock established circulation courts. In 1820 arrived in the Cape Colony of British settlers in 4000 to increase proportion of the white population of British origin. In 1828 was issued Ordinance 50, in 1833 Britain abolished slavery law with effect from 1838. These government actions led to disputes with the Boer population, which peaked in 1836, leaving Boers in the so-called Great Trek, which had a significant impact on indigenous communities strains disrupted at the time mfecane and led to the establishment of the independent Boer republics. Key words: Africans - Boers - Cape of Good Hope - colonial policy - emancipation - Great Britain - Great Trek - South Africa - slavery

Nesta tese, procuro compreender a dinâmica e a inserção dos africanos ocidentais, conhecidos como pretos (ou negros) minas, no mercado de trabalho urbano do Rio de Janeiro. Para tal, a Praça do Mercado, também conhecida como Mercado da Candelária, constitui-se em locus privilegiado de análise. Situado à beira da Baía da Guanabara desde a década de 1830 (e ali permanecendo até 1908), esse grande centro de abastecimento de gêneros de primeira necessidade reunia trabalhadores de diversas procedências, incluindo muitos escravos e libertos da Costa da Mina. Fosse nas quitandas a seu redor ou nas bancas de aves, verduras, legumes, cereais ou peixes de seu interior, a pesquisa mostra que, por lá, eles permaneceram longos períodos. Em meio a muitos comerciantes portugueses e brasileiros, os minas formavam um grupo longevo e coeso. E, ao deixaram seus lugares, por falecimento ou desistência dos negócios, eram logo substituídos por parceiros e cônjuges da mesma procedência. Partindo de um conjunto amplo de fontes (que inclui a documentação municipal sobre o mercado, registros de alforria e casamento, inventários, testamentos e ainda processos de divórcio), mostro como os laços de nação, pacientemente atados no Rio de Janeiro, foram essenciais para alimentar tal dinâmica. Nesse sentido, examino como o parentesco étnico, constituído deste lado do Atlântico, foi fundamental para o desenvolvimento das atividades e a organização dos minas, tanto no Mercado da Candelária, quanto em outros mercados (especialmente o da liberdade e o matrimonial), e ainda nos espaços de moradia e devoção ocupados por eles. / This thesis seeks to understand the dynamics and presence of West Africans, also referred to as Mina blacks, on the urban work market of Rio de Janeiro. Hence, the Praça do Mercado (literally, Market Square), also known as the Mercado da Candelária (Candelária Market), constitutes the ideal site for this analysis. Located on the harbourside of Rio de Janeiro since the 1830s (and remaining active until 1908), this major centre for negotiating staple goods gathered workers of several origins, including many slaves and freed blacks from the Mina Coast of Africa. Whether in the stalls selling fowl, vegetables, fruit, cereals or fish, the research reveals that they remained there for a long period. In the midst of many Portuguese and Brazilian tradesmen, the Mina blacks represented a long-lasting and cohesive group. And when they vacated their appointed spaces in the market, whether through death or change of livelihood, they were immediately replaced by partners or spouses having the same origins. The research based on broad set of sources (including the city records for the market, manumission and marriage registers, wills, probate proceeding inventories and even divorce proceeding inventories), has revealed how nation bonds patiently wrought in Rio de Janeiro were vital to foment this dynamic. In this sense, it can be perceived that this ethnic kinship formed in the New World was fundamental for the development and organisation of the Mina, both in the Mercado da Candelária and in other markets (such as those of manumission and marriage), as well as in the aspects of housing and specific worship that they developed.

Submitted by William Justo Figueiro (williamjf) on 2015-07-21T22:53:22Z No. of bitstreams: 1 65c.pdf: 622449 bytes, checksum: 20ae11b2c0d29b4d8015140ea571cbb7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-21T22:53:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 65c.pdf: 622449 bytes, checksum: 20ae11b2c0d29b4d8015140ea571cbb7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-05-25 / Nenhuma / Partindo do pressuposto de que todo negro é um ser arquiteto, a presente pesquisa busca evidenciar a possibilidade de identidades negras individuais - múltiplas noções de negritudes. A situação cromática e a conduta arquitetônica do indivíduo o leva a um olhar diferenciado e contemporâneo de identidade negra, onde a existência identitária individual negra não refuta a coletiva. Com acepções teóricas próprias e fundamentadas em autores como Guimarães (2003), Honneth (2003), Nogueira (1985), Simmel (1977), entre outros, dissertamos sobre a existência real e intensa da Ideologia de Africanidade e as múltiplas noções de negritudes, levando em consideração a atuação do preconceito de marca. A incursão empírica desenvolvida, de forma qualitativa, realizada em duas cidades mato-grossenses, utilizou como modalidade de pesquisa a observação participante, combinada a outras técnicas de pesquisa. A trajetória teórica e empírica possibilitou-nos obter resultados favoráveis sobre a existência das múltiplas noções de negritudes, que não simplifica a existência do negro ser arquiteto. / Assuming that all black is a human architect, this research seeks to demonstrate the possibility of individual black identities - multiple notions of blackness. The situation in color and architectural behavior of the individual to take it a different view, contemporary black identity, which gives individual identity, does not refute the black collective. With own meanings theoretical and based on authors such as Guimarães (2003), Honneth (2003), Nogueira (1985), Simmel (1977), among others, spoke about the real existence of intense and Ideology of African and multiple notions of blackness, taking into account the performance brand of prejudice. The incursion of thumb developed in a qualitative way, held in two cities in Mato Grosso, used as a form of participant observation research, combined with other research techniques. The theoretical and empirical trajectory allowed us to obtain favorable results on the existence of different definitions of blackness, which does not simplify the existence of black a human architect.

As France expanded its empire in North Africa, French artists, writers and explorers traveled to Algeria in order to gain artistic inspiration and greater understanding of the culture, geography and inhabitants of the new colony. This dissertation places music within the context of French colonial culture, identifying the interconnections between government policies and cultural production during France's occupation of Algeria. A central theme is the examination of colonial difference and a phenomenon that may be characterized as colonial textuality in music. Drawing from Homi Bhabha, I define colonial textuality as a space where signifiers of value, judgment and power are encountered, negotiated and embedded within colonial discourse. Three composers--Ernest Reyer (1823-1909), Francisco Salvador Daniel (1831-1871) and Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)--are presented as case studies to understand the complexities and tensions that arose out of the colonial moment and to examine how each figure negotiated his own compositional style, musical career and artistic identity vis-à-vis colonial Algeria. The dissertation is organized chronologically by examining the lives and compositions of three composers living in Algeria during three key periods of French political history, the July Monarchy, Second Empire, and Third Republic. Chapters draw on archival research, reception studies, travel journals, government reports, cultural and political history, and musical analysis to explore the ways in which music, broadly defined, addressed social issues of identity, nation, race, and ethnicity. Topics include how violent tactics and events during the 1840s infiltrated the early musical compositions of Reyer and how music may be considered an act of violence; Salvador Daniel's opportunistic musical career in Algeria from 1853-1865; Salvador Daniel's Album de chansons arabes, mauresques et kabyles as a reflection of French politics and travel writing; Algerian tourism and Saint-Saëns's Africa fantasy and Suite algérienne; and unisonance, soundscape and the typography of what I call Saint-Saëns's "colonial marches." In conclusion, I discuss a 2008 recording of Salvador Daniel's Algerian song transcriptions by the soprano Amel Brahim-Djelloul and the Ensemble Amedyez, thus illustrating that musical encounters with colonialism are continually reunderstood and readapted in the twenty-first century.