Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Alberta, 2009. / A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Sociology, University of Alberta. "Fall 2009." Title from pdf file main screen (viewed on October 30, 2009). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Central Florida, 2009. / Adviser: Ezekiel Walker. Includes bibliographical references (p. 95-98).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of Political Science, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on July 7, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 304-329). Also issued in print.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This ethnography explores the meanings ofpersonhood and agency in Manen¢berg, a township located on the Cape Flats, in Cape Town South Africa. The township was a site of relocation for people who were classified coloured during the apartheid era and who were forcibly removed from newly declared white areas in the city in the 1960s. I argue that despite the old apartheid state's attempts to reify the meaning of colouredness through racial legislation, the residents ofManenberg created their own meanings of personhood, agency and community within the bureaucratic, social and economic interstices of the apartheid system. Yet at the same time they also reinstated the very structural processes at the heart of their racial and gendered subjugation. I indicate how the cohesiveness of the Rio Street community in Manenberg, the survival of its residents and their validation as respectable mothers, tough men and good daughters hinged on and effioresced from a moral economy that articulated with the structural location of coloured women in the apartheid economy and racial bureaucracy.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The argument of this dissertation calls for an abiding by missing-ness as it relates to apartheid-era disappearances. I am concerned with the ways in which the category missing is articulated in histories of apartheid-era disappearances through histories seeking to account for apartheid and how that category is enabled and /or constrained through mediating practices, processes and discourses such as that of forensics and history itself. My deployment of a notion of missing-ness therefore is put to work in underscoring notions of history and its relation to a category of missing persons in South Africa as they emerge and are figured through various discursive strategies constituted by and through apartheid’s violence and iterations thereof. I focus specifically on the enforced disappearances of Siphiwo Mthimkulu, Tobekile ‘Topsy’ Madaka and Sizwe Kondile and the vicarious ways in which they have been produced and (re)figured in a postapartheid present. Mthimkulu and Madaka were abducted, tortured, interrogated, killed and their bodies disposed through burning by apartheid’s security police in 1982. In 2007 South Africa’s Missing Persons Task Team exhumed commingled burnt human fragments at a farm, Post Chalmers. After two years of forensic examinations, those remains were identified as most likely those of Mthimkulu and Madaka. Their commingled remains were reburied in 2009 during an official government sanctioned Provincial re-burial. Kondile was similarly abducted in 1981 and after being imprisoned, tortured, interrogated and killed, his physical remains were burnt. The MPTT has been unsuccessful in locating and thus exhuming his remains for re-burial. Sizwe Kondile remains missing. Missing-ness as I evoke it serves to signal the lack and excess as potentiality and instability of histories accounting for the condition and symptom of being missing. The productivity of deploying missing-ness and an abidance to it in the ways I argue is precisely in not explicitly naming it, but rather by holding onto its elusiveness by marking the contours of discourses on absence-presence, those which it simultaneously touches upon and is constitutive of. Articulating it thus is to affirm missing-ness as a question that I argue, be put to work and abided by.

Thesis (M.A. (Political & International Studies)) - Rhodes University, 2009. / Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree in Political Studies.

Thesis (Ph. D. (Political and International Studies))--Rhodes University, 2006.

The post-apartheid era in South Africa demonstrated a grand shift in the country's legislation. Local government legislation was particularly affected, as it was at the municipal level that the policies of apartheid were visible. Part of addressing the legacy of spatial segregation included a suite of legislation aimed at addressing the legacy of apartheid and the deep socio-economic inequality present by ensuring that local government had high levels of autonomy. By forging the concept of “developmental local government”, the legislation cemented local government as an active branch of state, able to address the post-apartheid goal of redistribution. My research focuses on one aspect of this legislation, the categorizing of municipalities. South African local government legislation is outlined in a way that provides greater autonomy to municipalities that are deemed “metros” whilst simultaneously describing the model of “cooperative governance” which describes all levels of government as being equally crucial and able to perform governance. The case of Buffalo City Municipality (BCM) forms the focus of my case study because it is an example of a small city that was promoted to ‘metro status'. My research teases out the political and technical hopes, dreams and realities of ‘metro status'. It relies on a narrative qualitative inquiry based on the input from 19 interviewees (including academics, national government ministers and municipal employees) and an analysis of the governmental, legislative and media archives focussed on the local government transformation in the country. Being prompted by the work of Jennifer Robinson, who asks scholars to consider the trajectory of urban labels and the theories they are grounded in, I do not take for granted the jurisdictional/legislative label of “metro” and I seek to answer the question: Is bigger better? Further, the growing questions on the absence of scholarly research on smaller cities gives this research room to ask questions regarding a city caught between larger and smaller cities. BCM demonstrates a municipality whose hopes to be a big city may have been rooted more in appearances rather than in fact. Whilst the term metro speaks to a set of technical assumptions of the characteristics of a city, BCM demonstrates an example of how politics plays a large part in how local government policy is enacted. Where ‘metro status' can be perceived simply as a change in jurisdictional status, BCM demonstrates that even for a small city the prestige of ‘metro status' brings a slew of political and governmental infighting at local, regional and even national level.

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The globally relevant, billion-dollar fashion industry has been regarded as one of the industries responsible for the greatest amount of pollution. The fast fashion industry thrives on production, often overproducing clothing at a rapid pace, according to quick trends that have fleeting lifespans. It can be said that this industry feeds the ‘throw-away culture’ seen at present, whereby consumption has increased tremendously, resulting in large amounts of clothing waste which has fulfilled its superficial purpose. Consumers purchase new trends, use it for a short period of time and thereafter dispose of the clothing items to make room for the next trend. Such a practice has negative implications for the environment, through the irresponsible manner in which waste by-products are disposed of during production of the clothing and through the mass disposal of clothing, which often ends up in landfills. There are also societal implications, whereby the fast fashion industry has been responsible for many unethical business practices that allow for poor working conditions and unfair treatment of the makers of the clothing. As a response to some of these concerns, slow fashion was born. Slow fashion intends to slow down the process of clothing production entirely and revisits the emphasis on quality over quantity, as it encourages the production and conscious consumption of clothing with longevity. As a result of the process of clothing production being slowed down, it has been suggested that the consumer would then be able to appreciate the production process in itself, as well as the clothing produced, resulting in a decreased desire to consume more, but rather to extend the lifespan of the clothing purchased. Slow fashion is synonymous with the slowing down of trends and the mindful consumption of clothing. Similarly, the voluntary simplicity movement (VSM), adopts the constructs of a life simplified, through the freeing of oneself from mental and emotional clutter, as well as material possessions. This lifestyle promotes simplicity of living and the appreciation of lived experiences instead of things, as a means to gain internal and external fulfilment. The VSM has therefore been used as the conceptual framework of this study, as both movements promote reduced consumption practices. This study was qualitative in nature and took the form of an exploratory research design, as it intended to gain information and understanding on a topic within an environment where there is limited information. Millennial slow fashion consumers made up the sampling group because millennial consumers are recognised as the most influential consumer group, with the greatest buying power, and are also most likely to adopt or support environmentally and ethically sound brands and businesses. Interviews were conducted with the participants to gain knowledge on the perceptions, attitudes and awareness of these consumers in relation to slow fashion consumption in the country. Attitude has been recognised as a motivator of behaviour and was investigated to analyse consumption behaviour, in the context of this study. The findings revealed that most participants recognised the fast fashion industry purely as a money-making scheme, which often employed reckless production practices and resulted in the consumption of clothing at a dangerous pace. They were aware of the damaging effects of the by-products of these production processes on the environment, as well as the negative social impacts as a result of unethical practices that have occurred. The participants recognised slow fashion as somewhat of an antithesis to fast fashion, whereby the focus is on quality clothing made to last a lifetime, which encompasses mindful consumption. The participants revealed that they were influenced by the aesthetic appeal of clothing as well as the convenience and ease of access in acquiring the clothing. Price sensitivity was also raised as a motivator for consumption; however, the resounding motivator was that of consumption out of necessity for the item, which is a valuable perspective for both slow fashion consumers and VSM adopters. Price sensitivity is a factor that cannot be ignored, considering South Africa is a country with an unequal dispersion of wealth and a high unemployment rate. As a result, it has been determined that slow fashion is only accessible to a certain niche market, in terms of the affordability of the items. The excessive imports of fast fashion clothing, which are often cheap and easily accessible, are said to be choking the local clothing and slow fashion industries alike. However, the most common response in terms of the hindrance of slow fashion in the country was notably a lack of information, education and awareness about slow fashion, its constructs and its availability in the country. The participants recognised slow fashion as relevant in the country, and that VI | P a g e South African consumers have the influence to make a change to the local clothing industry, if they supported local producers of slow fashion, ethical and sustainable clothing, instead of overconsuming cheap, trend-inspired, imported fast fashion clothing. As a result, the slow fashion designer was revealed as having a significant role to play, in ascertaining that such clothing is locally produced with sustainable, slow trend underpinnings. Further recommendations were expressed in the need for slow fashion designers to market their products and ethos well, and to educate and inform those around them, including their customers, about the philosophies behind and need for slow fashion. The upskilling of individuals from lower or no income households was also seen as a valuable tool to not only allow those individuals to lengthen the lifespan of their clothing by repairing it, but also to equip them with a skill that might lead to some form of employment, with the hope that the end result will be a rejuvenated local clothing and textile industry and a lowered unemployment rate. Conclusively, consumption levels could prospectively see a decrease, should the interest in slow fashion clothing increase among consumers. / Life and Consumer Sciences / M.A. (Consumer Science)