D.Ed. / This study focuses on the problem of the lack of a culture of learning in schools of the former Department of Education and Training (DET). It is common knowledge that the culture of learning in many schools leaves much to be desired. The schools are characterised by early school dropout, an anti academic attitude, low morale among pupils and teachers, loss of time on a large scale and poor results. The purpose of this study is to analyse, describe and classify the nature of the culture of learning in schools of the former DET in parts of Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the Free State. This purpose was realised by undertaking a theoretical investigation in the first place and secondly an empirical investigation into various aspects of the culture of learning. In the theoretical investigation, which served as basis for the empirical investigation, an attempt was made to obtain clarity about the meaning of the concept 'a culture of learning'. A concept analysis indicated that 'a culture of learning' points to the disposition towards learning and the atmosphere of diligence_ or industry that develops in a school as a result of a combination of the personal characteristics of pupils, certain elements in the family, elements in the school and elements in the community. The empirical investigation consisted of visits to fourteen schools in parts of Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the Free State. Qualitative and quantitative methods were combined during the empirical investigation. During the quantitative investigation objective observation techniques were used, namely two questionnaires - one for teachers and one for pupils. During the qualitative investigation participating data collection techniques were used, namely semi-structured interviews with pupils, teachers, principals and DET officials. By combining these two procedures a clearer overall representation could be obtained of the nature of the culture of learning in schools and the validity of the eventual conclusions could be promoted by the process of triangulation. A few deductions concerning the personal characteristics of pupils, elements of the family and elements of the school are hereby presented: Prominent features of pupils that are a result of the qualitative and quantitative data and that have an inhibiting influence on the culture of learning, include: irregular school attendance and a lack of punctuality ; an inadequate language code and a limited capacity of expression ; inadequate study methods ; an inferior knowledge base or frame of reference ; the absence of a work ethic ; the presence of a passive or unconcerned attitude towards learning a lack of motivation and discipline. The investigation proved that the family structure forms the foundation on which the culture of learning at school must build. As a result of various. problems the families of a large number of pupils are not able to support the pupil in preparing for the demands of the school. These problems include: the disintegration of families ; the lack of involvement of parents ; illiteracy of parents ; inadequate facilities in the home. 3 • Prominent features of schools with a negative influence on the culture of learning that continue the vicious cycle of poor performance and failure, include: disorder and lack of discipline the ineffective functioning of the principal ; an inadequate culture of teaching/instruction ; wasting of time on a large scale ; over occupation and inadequate facilities. Many of the problems that have a negative influence on the culture of learning in schools of the former DET, are deeply embedded in the South African community. It must therefore, be accepted that the solution to the problem regarding the culture of learning in South Africa will require time, intensive attention and a change of attitude in all parties concerned, in order to be solved.

This thesis reports on an investigation of the schemata of trainee teachers from a range of different ethnic and language groups in KwaZulu-Natal who had been educated in racially segregated school systems. Informed by the insight that schemata are the products of life experience and that they constrain linguistic choices (see Tannen 1979), it was hypothesised at the outset that different ethnic groups have some different assumptions of what constitutes appropriate classroom behaviour and that this schematic knowledge is reflected in the surface linguistic forms used by teachers and pupils in classroom discourse. These differences in schemata could have unfortunate consequences for pupils of a different ethnic group from their teacher, and, in particular, those pupils from historically disempowered groups. Data was collected using an eclectic mix of quantitative and qualitative methods. Firstly, students responded to a questionnaire which elicited responses concerning pupil and teacher roles. This was followed by interviews with selected student teachers during which they were asked to comment on those statements in the questionnaire which exhibited the greatest differences between respondents who attended schools administered by racially different educational authorities. Finally, a story recall experiment was conducted. Respondents/subjects were all trainee teachers at a multi-racial college of education. The analyses of the findings of the quantitative questionnaire revealed significant differences between subjects from different education systems. The interview data, however, revealed that the differences were less marked than the findings of the questionnaire suggested. The analyses of the recall experiment suggested that while some differences between the subjects who had attended schools administered by racially segregated authorities do exist, these are not as great as initially hypothesised. Teachers need to be made aware of the problems inherent in cross-cultural encounters, and this awareness should be extended to pupils. This awareness, together with goodwill, should ensure that pupils having different schemata from their teacher and/or other pupils in the classroom will not be disadvantaged. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, 1997.

This thesis offers an account of children's lived experiences in Rwanda (1930s-2016) in four key domains: kinship, education, economic transitions, and marriage. Based on historical and ethnographic fieldwork in rural and urban Rwanda from 2012 to 2014, this work explores how three generations of young people have experienced and navigated childhood and coming of age at the interface of 'traditional' and 'modern' institutional systems. Rather than focusing narrowly on 'crisis' childhoods, individual agency, or exogenous forces, as studies of young Africans and social change tend to, this work examines young people's 'everyday' actions - intentional and unintentional, individual and collective, compliant and non-compliant - and locates them within their broader historical, relational, and institutional environment. By focusing on the intensely reproductive period of childhood and coming of age, on Rwanda's unexceptional majority rather than its exceptionally vulnerable minority, and on children's everyday actions rather than the strategic actions of elites, this thesis shows us how children shape the institutions of childhood and marriage and, in so doing, influence how society is reproduced and changed. Theoretically, this thesis explains how children and their institutional environment are mutually constituting: it examines how and why young people experience rapid change and structural violence differently and it traces how they reproduce and change these structural conditions as they engage with institutional mechanisms in (un)intended ways. The research reveals that children in central Rwanda navigate constraints and opportunities by drawing on established kinship relationships and institutions while also opportunistically engaging with modern institutions and their actors. However, in this context of 'institutional multiplicity', traditional and modern institutional systems each need Rwanda's young majority to reproduce their institutions over others', and as intended, to achieve their power-distributional goals. This makes children's actions particularly consequential and demands that we redefine what political action - and political actors - look like.

The recent history of the Turkana of northern Kenya has rarely been explored in detail, a fact that corresponds with, and to a large extent facilitates, their regular portrayal in the popular press as passive, unchanging and therefore vulnerable in the face of ongoing and ensuing socio-economic transformations. Such visions of the Turkana and the region in which they live have, via their manifestation in the policies and practices of development-orientated interventions, actively inhibited (although never fully arrested) the fulfilment of various local desires and aspirations over the years. In addressing these topics, this thesis provides some hitherto largely unexplored and unrecognised historical context to the many socio-economic and political issues surrounding Turkana's ongoing development. It discusses interdisciplinary research which combined archaeological and ethnographic techniques and was undertaken amongst communities engaged in the most prominent livelihoods that have historically underlain the Turkana pastoral economy: fishing (akichem), cultivation (akitare), herding (akiyok) and raiding (aremor). In doing so, it draws attention to some of the ways in which these communities have actively and dynamically negotiated broad economic, environmental and political transformations over the last century and beyond, thereby providing a picture of social change and long-term continuity that might serve as a means for a more critical assessment of regional development over the coming years. By weaving together a series of historical narratives that emerge from a consideration of the changing production, use and exchange of material culture, the thesis builds an understanding of Turkana's history that diverges from more standard, implicitly accepted notions of recent change in such regions of the world that envisage globalisation purely as a process of convergence or homogenisation. Its central argument, which it demonstrates using various examples, is that seemingly disruptive transformations in daily practices, social institutions, livelihoods and systems of livelihood interaction can be envisaged as articulations of longer-term continuities, emerging from a set of durable yet open-ended dispositions within Turkana society and culture. Moreover, rather than being built on a stable, passive repertoire of cultural knowledge, the thesis shows that this capacity for change is established upon a dynamic generative process where value systems and institutions are reconfigured to the same extent as daily practices and skills, as knowledge is continually reconstituted and recast in relation to the shifting constraints and possibilities of daily life. It thus characterises this process as a form of resilience that is deeply rooted in and determinant of the Turkana pastoral economy.

Many students when they arrive at university do not possess the “cultural capital” (Bourdieu 1977) which is favoured by the institution. The purpose of the English Language for Academic Purposes (ELAP) course and the drafting-responding process is to help students to begin to acquire the “cultural capital” required to succeed at university. The research reported on in this thesis examined the drafting-responding process as it is used to develop students’ writing in the ELAP course at Rhodes University. The process involved students submitting drafts of their essays on which they received constructive and formative feedback from their ELAP tutor. This feedback was then used to revise their essays before a final version was submitted for assessment. The research took the form of a case study with an essentially interpretive orientation. I examined the drafts (with the tutor’s comments) and final versions of seven students’ ELAP essays. Additional data was obtained by interviewing the students and the tutor. Underpinning my beliefs regarding the role of writing in learning as well as my orientation to research is an understanding of knowledge and learning as being socially constructed. All writing is embedded in and dependent on, not only the immediate social circumstances, but also the broader social and cultural context. In analysing and discussing the data in this research I used Halliday’s (1985) definition of context, in which he draws a broad distinction between the immediate context of situation and the broader context of culture The research findings showed that the drafting-responding process can help students with the process of developing the academic literacy they need in order to write essays within specific situational contexts, in this case, the context of the ELAP course. In addition, at a broader level, it can help students to begin the process of being initiated into the culture of the university as a whole.

In anthropological studies place is often taken for granted, “just” the locale where other interesting, more significant things happen (De Jongh 2006:79). I argue that rather than a mere backdrop to activities, the landscape of Orania is significant and that physical place is essential for the construction of an Orania identity. I ethnographically examine whether the physical setting of Orania can be seen as a prime signifying system through which a particular other interesting, more significant things happen (De Jongh 2006:79). I argue that rather than a mere backdrop to activities, the landscape of Orania is significant and that physical place is essential for the construction of an Orania identity. I ethnographically examine whether the physical setting of Orania can be seen as a prime signifying system through which a particular Afrikaner ethnic identity, as well as a set of socio-cultural values is communicated. Occupying the physical land is a form of collective identity that helps create ethnic identities (Tilley 2006:11-13). Orania is an authentic place-bound expression of this quest for identity and Oranians define their identity through their model of space and of their land. The physical boundaries are expanded when support groups outside of the settlement become an integral part of the activities in the community, and socio-political boundaries are tested by an inand outflux of community members and the constant presence of South African and international press, and visitors. iv Landscape does not merely comprise the land, but also includes the lived experiences and attitudes of the inhabitants. Landscape as text, “a medium to be read for the ideas, practices and contexts constituting the culture which created it” (Ley 1985:419) proves to be a legitimate and constructive way to make sense of the landscape. As with texts, the landscape as text is subject to multiple readings. The focus on textual landscape offers an expanded perspective on space and place, and in this case texts also amplify the Oranian space exponentially. Different types of landscapes - culturescapes, landscape as text and textual landscapes - are building blocks in the construction of an Orania identity. Finally, I would emphasise that Orania, and by extension this study, is not just an academic concept, but a product of the lived experiences and opinions of people who are closely connected to land of their own.. / Anthropology and Archaeology / M.A. (Anthropology)

Text in Afrikaans / Die verskillende pre-koloniale samelewings in suidelike-Afrika bet in die laat 18de en vroee 19de eeue reeds 'n herkenbaar moderne vorm begin aanneem, toe hulle identiteit deur koloniale intervensie 'gevries' is. Die verhouding wat met verloop van tyd tussen hierdie samelewings en die indringende koloniste ontwikkel het, is grotendeels gebaseer op persepsies en houdinge wat reeds sedert die 17de, 18de en veral die 19de eeu weens die kontak 'n definitiewe vorm begin aanneem het. Hierdie kan as 'n proses van historiese voorstelling ("historical imaging") beskryf word. In die proefskrif word die agtergrond van hierdie pre-koloniale samelewings geskets en die historiese ontstaan van een samelewing word as tersaaklike voorbeeld bespreek. Die verhoudinge wat plaaslik as gevolg van die proses van koloniale intervensie ontstaan bet, gee met verloop van tyd aanleiding tot die beleid van af sander like ontwikkeling, waarvan die toepassing oar 'n periode van nagenoeg 50 jaar in 'n groat mate bygedra het om die identiteit van hierdie besondere samelewing op 'n besonderse wyse te vorm. Om hierdie beleid van afsonderlike ontwikkeling suksesvol toe te pas, was daar vanaf die regering van die <lag vier mikpunte waaraan voldoen moes word. Dit is deur middel van wetgewing, oorreding en manipulering bewerkstellig. Die eerste mikpunt het die ontwikkeling van 'n afsonderlike politieke bestel vir die swartmense behels, sodat hulle op 'selfstandige' wyse beheer oar die 'state' wat vir hulle geskep sou word, kon uitoefen. Die tweede mikpunt was die daarstelling van 'n eie grondgebied waarbinne die iii mense saamgevoeg kon word en wat as basis sou dien vir die fisiese skeiding tussen swartmense en blankes. Die politieke mag wat vir hulle geskep is, sou net binne die grense van hierdie eie grondgebied uitgeleef kon word. Om die beleid suksesvol tot volvoering te kon bring, moes daar ook 'n strategie vir ekonomiese oorlewing gei'mplimenteer word. Die derde mikpunt was die ekonomiese self standigmaking van elk van die gebiede. Aangesien die grondgebied wat aan hierdie mense afgestaan is totaal onvoldoende was, moes daar verskillende strategiee ontwikkel word vir hul voortbestaan - enersyds deur die regering en andersyds deur die inwoners. Laastens sou al die mense binne 'n grondgebied tot 'n homogene eenheid saamgesnoer moes word. Daar is gevolglik gepoog om 'n eie identiteit vir die inwoners van elk van die gebiede te skep. Die strategie het grootliks op 'n etniese grondslag berus en was van sodanige aard dat dit die verskille tussen die groepe beklemtoon het. Die proses van die konstruksie van identiteit is aan die lig gebring deur navorsing wat onder die Hananwa, 'n Noord-Sotho-sprekende groep mense woonagtig in die weste van Noordelike Provinsie, gedoen is. Hierdie 'konstruksieproses' was egter nie eensydig nie en die Hananwa het, soos wat dit hulle gepas het, aktief daaraan deelgeneem. Die navorsingsproses het die toepassing van 'n multi-dissiplinere benadering behels, wat hoof saaklik van antropologiese, maar ook argeologiese en historiese metodologie gebruik gemaak het. / The various pre-colonial societies of southern Africa emerged in a recognizable modern form during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when they were 'frozen' in their identities by colonial intervention. The relationships that developed with time between these societies and the colonial powers, were largely based upon perceptions and attitudes that developed since the 17th, 18th and especially the 19th centuries as a result of this contact. This latter process has been described as a process of historical imaging. In this thesis, the background to these pre-colonial societies is given and the historical development of one such society is discussed as a relevant example. The relationships that resulted locally because of this process of colonial intervention eventually gave rise to a policy of separate development, the implementation of which over a period of close to 50 years largely contributed to the creation of the identity of this particular society. As prerequisite for this policy to be successful, four aims that had to be successfully implemented were identified by the government of the day. This was done by means of legislation, persuasion and manipulation. The first aim was the development of a separate political system for black people, by which they could 'independently' govern themselves in the 'states' that were to be created for them. Secondly, for this political mechanism to work, it was necessary to establish a separate area or 'state', where the black people could live and govern themselves. The political power created for them could only be used within the v boundaries of these states. Furthermore, these states would also serve to separate whites and black people from each other. Thirdly, for this policy to work, it was necessary to develop a strategy for the economic survival of the people in these states. As the areas set aside for them were totally inadequate, a number of strategies were developed for their economic survival - on the one hand by the authorities and on the other hand by the inhabitants of these areas themselves. The last aim was to unite all the inhabitants within each of these states into one group. It was therefore tried to establish an identity or image for all the inhabitants of each of these areas. This strategy was largely based on ethnic principles, with particular emphasis on the differences between the various groups. This process of the construction of identity is discussed with reference to a specific society, known as the Hananwa, a Northern-Sotho-speaking people living in the west of the Northern Province. Amongst the Hananwa, this 'construction process' was not one-sided and they took an active part in it as it suited their particular need at a specific time. The research strategy was based on a multi-disciplinary approach that employed mainly anthropological methods, but also included archaeological and historical methodology. / Anthropology and Archaeology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Anthropology)

D.Litt. et Phil. (Anthropology) / This thesis investigated how public spheres are spatialised in public space. The public sphere is commonly understood as the public deliberation between people to establish their common interests and the bearing this has on state authority. While it is acknowledged that public space is essential for public sphere development, this link between public space and the public sphere has not been extensively researched. There is also a lack of literature examining people’s experiences of public space in the global south, especially anthropological studies that focus on people’s experiences of and in urban parks. This thesis seek to answer how public spheres are spatialised in an urban park, Joubert Park, in Johannesburg, by asking what the context of the creation for the park is, what rules of access and use exist, and how the management model adopted by the City of Johannesburg and the managing agent, City Parks, affect what happens in the park. South Africa had, and still has, very specific patterns of spatial development and use, shaped through its colonial history, and apartheid. Post-apartheid South Africa holds the possibility of changing the way that space is used, and regulated, from being exclusionary based on race to being inclusionary. Joubert Park is situated in the inner city of Johannesburg, and is the oldest park in the city. At its establishment in 1891 it was situated in a relatively well-off area of Johannesburg. In the 1930s single houses in the area were replaced with art-deco apartment buildings, and served as a first receiving point for European and migrants from other parts of South African. The 1990s ushered in an era of white flight and decline within the inner-city, affecting the buildings around the park. Today the surrounding area is generally seen as decayed and is the focus of inner-city regeneration efforts aiming to build an “African World Class” city. The park is well used by a variety of urban dwellers and is considered by City Parks as a flagship within the city. It has an art gallery, various non-governmental organisations and is patronised by a variety of users, traders, chess-players and photographers. This thesis utilised standard ethnographic practices. Fieldwork consisted of ‘hanging out’ and participating within the park, formal interviews, directed questioning, and archival research. Data analysis proceeded from a combination of framework analysis, arising from theory, and grounded, from within the data. Findings were that although park users say that the park is freely available for all to use, it is in fact constrained by identity markers such as race, class, gender, sexuality and nationality. These factors articulate to produce certain experiences of the park. At the same time that people are excluded from the park, people also exclude themselves. These mechanisms of exclusions broadly reflect South African society, which has been described as socially conservative despite a liberal constitution that was implemented in 1996. The City of Johannesburg has rules and regulations that aim to exclude certain users, mostly poor and homeless people, from the park. Park users resist these rules but their small acts of resistance do not change how the rules are applied. At the same time as enforcing rules, both written and unwritten, on park users, the City ignored its own responsibilities as laid out in by-laws concerning the park. The City’s ideal users are different from actual park users and this causes contestations around space use. Lastly, findings were that there were wisps of public sphere activity taking place within the park, but that this is not sustained in any meaningful manner. Outside the park there are many more recognisable and sustained public sphere activities through protest marches. Park users do not participate in these protest marches despite the fact that the marches are similar to their own concerns. This thesis argues that more loosely regulated public space is necessary for public spheres to develop. This thesis addresses literature in urban anthropology, public space, and public sphere. It contributed to urban anthropology by showing how a small urban park can reveal patterns in the city as well as applying a unified framework developed by Setha Low. It contributed to public space literature by contributing to knowledge of public spaces in the global South. Lastly, it contributed to public sphere literature by showing that the type of regulations in public spaces can inhibit the formation of effective public spheres. Key words: Joubert Park, public space, public sphere, Johannesburg, urban anthropology

The thesis is concerned with the rural-urban interface. It questions and argues against the validity of what used to be called the rural-urban divide, and presents the rural-urban interface as a single social field. The research makes use of Daggafontein informal settlement in Gauteng, providing a general socio-economic overview of this settlement by discussing the ways in which people in this settlement make a living. Most of the people come from rural areas and the patterns of their association within the settlement reveal that they associate themselves with people from their own rural homes of origin. Movement between Daggafontein and rural areas show some level of commitment to home areas. Perceptions of the urban-rural interface by people of Daggafontein informal settlement show that these two areas are not necessarily separate from each other, but are part of the same continuum as socio-economic relations continue to straddle the rural and the urban. As people, perceptions and values move in both directions along the rural-urban interface, the classification of the informal settlement becomes highly ambiguous, because it contains both rural and urban elements.

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Paarl, in the Western Cape, has been identified as one of the 15 national sites where antiretroviral treatment (ARVs) would be made available to people living with HIV/AIDS. Paarl Hospice initiated a support group for people to deal with this disease in 2003. Since February 2004 Paarl Hospice has been recruiting people from the surrounding informal settlements for ARVs. By means of participant observation I explored how HIV/AIDS-related disclosure experiences unfolded in places, spaces and events associated with the support group in the context of factors enabling and preventing people from accessing Hospice House. I did this by considering the insights drawn from an anthropological approach. I found the meanings of disclosure in the majority of studies to be limited and restricted. Available studies approached disclosure in a top-down fashion by regarding the definition of disclosure as the announcement of HIV-positivity at the time of diagnosis only. These studies have not considered social differences relating to disclosure neither did they focus on the actual process of disclosure. By means of a constructivist approach to grounded theory I seek to broaden the definition of disclosure to account for the range of ways in which disclosure practices take place. I found that disclosure could not be separated from the situational context in which it occurs and that it can only be understood in relation to the circumstances and relationships in which it takes place. In this study, disclosure was an ongoing process, situated somewhere between active, public announcement of an HIV-status and complete secrecy and somewhere between voluntary and involuntary revealing of the disease. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Paarl in die Wes-Kaap is geïdentifiseer as een van die 15 nasionale areas waar antiretrovirale medikasie beskikbaar gestel sou word aan mense wat leef met MIV/VIGS. Paarl Hospice het gedurende 2003 ʼn ondersteuningsgroep geїnisieer om aan MIV/VIGS aandag te gee. Sedert Februarie 2004 is Paarl Hospice in die proses om mense te werf uit die omliggende informele behuisingsgebiede vir antiretrovirale behandeling. Met behulp van antropologiese insigte en deelnemende waarneming kon ek nagaan hoe verskillende maniere van MIV/VIGS-verwante bekendmaking ontvou in plekke, ruimtes en gebeurtenisse wat verband hou met die ondersteuningsgroep. MIV/VIGSverwante bekendmaking is ondersoek te midde van inhiberende en fasiliterende faktore wat mense verhoed of aanhelp om Paarl Hospice te besoek. Ek het bevind dat die definisie van bekendmaking in die meeste navorsing gebrekkig is. Beskikbare navorsing het bekendmaking volgens ‘n bo-na-onder-wyse benader as die openbare bekendmaking van ‘n MIV-status na afloop van diagnose alleenlik. Met behulp van ‘n konstruktiewe benadering van die begronde teorie het ek gepoog om die definisie van bekendmaking uit te bou om sodoende die verskeidenheid maniere waarop bekendmaking plaasvind te akkommodeer. Ek het vasgestel dat bekendmaking onlosmaakbaar deel is van die situasionele konteks waarin dit plaasvind en dat dit slegs begryp kan word in verband tot die verhoudings en omstandighede waarin dit plaasvind. In hierdie studie was bekendmaking ʼn voortdurende proses, gesitueer tussen aktiewe openbare bekendmaking en volledige geheimhouding van ʼn MIVstatus, asook tussen volkome vrywillige en onvrywillige bekendmaking van ʼn MIVstatus.