Includes abstract. / This dissertation aims to identify the multi-faceted ways in which the car enabled a deep restructuring of South Africa's cultural and spatial spheres, taking Johannesburg as a context from which to extract specific insights. The two most popular modes of transportation in South Africa-the car and the minibus taxi-run on the nation's dominant system of highways and roads that came with the mass importation of the car. Because of their high usage, these two transportation modes are compared, contrasted and analyzed throughout the research. Non-instrumental factors associated with the two transport modes (i.e. a means to express oneself, social status, lifestyle and culture) are scrutinized. These factors shape transport choice and play an integral role in the relationships mobility has with space and culture. The car not only helped enable a dramatic shift in geography, but society at-large. This shift laid the groundwork for the desired lifestyle that is embodied by much of the alluring non-instrumental factors identified by respondents and the car advertisements reviewed. Conversely, this dissertation also identifies the multi-faceted ways people without cars participate in a ...... car-oriented society. The layers of informality within the minibus taxi industry, its social networks, culture and spatial organizations are analyzed and compared with that of the car. Transportation studies, government papers, theories within the disciplines of sociology, cultural studies and social psychology were integrated to support the research. Using grounded theory, this study also includes personal insights from private car and public transport users. Car advertisements produced by four of the top-selling car manufacturers in South Africa were reviewed using semiotic analysis and compared with participant responses. Rather than offering a theoretical solution to a car-oriented society, this dissertation offers a way to rethink the geography, lifestyle, culture, institutions, spaces and people associated with the private car and public transport. Ultimately, this may contribute to how a more positive characterization of public transport can be achieved. 2

Refugees are generally perceived in very negative terms in South Africa. They are perceived as coming to South Africa to take advantage of the country's economy, of stealing jobs and using up scarce resources and of never intending to leave. Refugees are also conceptualised by some as being helpless and in need of direct intervention. This thesis considers the question 'How accurate are the general preconceptions about refugees in South Africa?' utilising qualitative data from six respondents collected over a two month period in 2007 in addition to evidence from working in the field prior to commencing this study. This thesis presents evidence that the decision to settle in South Africa is the result of complex processes influenced by a number of factors aside from economic considerations. The myth that refugees are helpless and needy is tackled with evidence illustrating the resourcefulness and resilience of the six respondents on arrival in Cape Town. The perception of refugees using up resources and stealing jobs from South Africans is challenged by evidence that refugees struggle to legalise their status and get little assistance from Non-Governmental Organisations. As a result, refugees create opportunities for themselves relying on networking and chance encounters. Finally, the perception that refugees never intend to leave South Africa is challenged by evidence of the complexities of returning 'home' where security is uncertain. Having considered the evidence, the thesis concludes that the general preconceptions about refugees in South Africa are in fact false. Includes references (pages 76-82).

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / This dissertation draws on qualitative research conducted in 2012 with foster mothers and young people living and having lived in three household-style ‘safety homes’ in the township of Khayelitsha, Cape Town. Unlike large formalised residential care facilities, with high staff turnover and high ratios of children to caregivers, these settings are intimate long-term spaces of care that provide stable parenting. This finding of stable parenting and of proper care of young people in the safety homes forms the crux of this thesis and challenges the dominant view that care other than within the biological family is inferior and ‘out of home’ and ‘out of family’ care. The research highlighted that the social (non-biological) family has both strengths and limitations.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / This thesis looks into how the concept of Public Works Programmes has developed along historical and theoretical lines to reveal how authors writing for international institutions such as the World Bank have substantially dominated the production of knowledge on the topic. This has led to inappropriate policy choices, errors in programme design and unrealistic expectations on the part of policy implementers especially in developing countries. A qualitative case study on the micro-level performance of the EPWP [Extended Public Works Programme in South Africa] then draws attention to the undifferentiated and superficial analysis the literature has delivered, emphasizing how economists have failed to adequately conceptualise and evaluate Public Works Programmes.

Includes bibliographical references ( leaves 86-91). / This research considers the reasons for the position of African migrants with a tertiary education in menial jobs in Cape Town. Until recently, mainstream migration literature on South Africa has tended to universalise xenophobia and to treat migrants as innocent people for their situation. To what extent does xenophobia explain the position of skilled migrants in menial work in Cape Town bearing in mind that i) South Africa suffers a shortage of skills needed to spur economic growth and development, ii) xenophilia (love and support for foreigners) is part and parcel of the interactions between South Africans and foreigners? Using an in-depth, qualitative, face-to-face interview schedule instrument and a convenience sampling method to select twelve skilled migrants from five African countries, this research provides a 'thick' and comprehensive understanding of the reasons for the position of African skilled migrants in menial jobs in Cape Town. It establishes a system of antecedent and immediate reasons which explain this position. The antecedent reasons are deprivation in home countries, reliance on superficial information and/or emotions to find out about opportunities in South Africa, the imperative of survival, reliance on limited social capital to find jobs, limited English skills, low entry requirements characterising menial jobs, and the fact that the migrants saw menial jobs as a temporary measure and exploited this facet of such jobs. Immediate reasons consist of limited knowledge of Xhosa and Afrikaans languages, xenophobia, racism, and the temporary nature of asylum seeker permit identity document. This research challenges the sketchy finding of earlier studies which has implicitly suggested that xenophobia is omnipresent in South Africa. It throws doubt into the extent to which the Government and businesses are informed about and willing to tackle the skills shortage in this country. It shows that the value of education is not forgone even though highly educated migrants do menial jobs. Such migrants are likely to and do secure professional jobs in the long-term.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 90-93). / Traditional, information-giving approaches to HIV prevention have failed to curb the rapidly expanding HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa. Scholars and practitioners have looked to new interventions for HIV which centre upon structural changes, or the broader societal forces which shape HIV vulnerability. In recent years, Paulo Freire's notion of 'critical consciousness' has been cited as a way to involve communities in critical analysis and social change for HIV prevention. However, increasing calls for critical consciousness within HIV literature fail to recognise the complexities of integrating the notion at the ground-level. The Intervention with Microfinance for AIDS and Gender Equality (IMAGE) is a South African structural intervention for HIV which has been guided by critical consciousness. IMAGE aims to impact on poverty and gender-based violence by partnering a participatory gender curriculum with group-based microfinance. The research examines how IMAGE has translated the notion of critical consciousness into distinct processes, and evaluates the implementation of these processes by drawing from qualitative research with programme planners, facilitators and participants.

Includes bibliographical references. / This study set out to establish statistical relationships between matters relating to governance and changes in Zambia’s socioeconomic development. With the aid of survey data compiled by the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators, and perceptions of governance amongst Zambian citizens obtained from Round 5 of the Afrobarometer survey, this study used quantitative research methods to investigate the performance of indicators of governance in Zambia between 1996 and 2012 and the perceptions that Zambians had toward matters relating to governance. The indicators and perceptions of governance were based on measures of Control of Corruption, Government Effectiveness, Rule of Law and Voice and Accountability. The study further addressed the changes in Zambia’s socioeconomic development by investigating trends in Zambia’s Human Development Index between 1996 and 2012. The study also established the extent of lived poverty in Zambia by addressing how Zambians rated their living conditions based on how much access they had to essential commodities such as food, cooking fuel, water and cash income.

Includes bibliographical references. / What areas of social life do our existing social theories allow us to understand, and what areas of society leave us baffled, unsettled and unable to respond? This paper will argue that we are in need of new interpretive tools to allow us to understand the areas of our social world that have previously been excluded from academic view by our colonial and apartheid history, and even by progressive liberal and Marxist responses to apartheid. By first surveying the intellectual history of sociology’s emergence as a discipline and its formations in South Africa, I will argue that we are unable to effectively think about large areas of the African cultural and social world within our society. In search of alternatives this paper will explore the work of the prolific early 20th c. intellectual, S.E.K. Mqhayi. Mqhayi was a product of the complex social hybridity of his time, but oriented this hybridity towards amaXhosa and African people. By looking at his various mediums of writing I will argue that Mqhayi offers powerful insight into the complexities of the changing social world of his time and that his methodologies -- so different from those of academic sociology -- give us powerful insights into an African tradition which can revitalise contemporary social inquiry.

Includes bibliographical references. / This dissertation focuses on understanding the development philosophy and standards of practice that contribute to the organisational effectiveness that mark Ziphilele Youth Projects (ZYP) as an effective and professional non-governmental organisation (NGO).

Includes bibliographical references (p. 90-92). / People-centred development places a great deal of emphasis on the participation of the "beneficiaries" (or what I call targets) in the process of their development. The language of participatory development is often used in development programmes in South Africa, but very little is said about how participation is measured. In this thesis I grapple with the problem of how to measure participation in participatory development. I have designed and tested an instrument based on Arnstein's well known ladder of participation in order to gauge perceptions of participation. I reflect critically on this process, identify limitations in gauging perceptions of the levels of participation, and critique Arnstein's model. The case used to test the instrument I designed was a school building development project which was undertaken by the Independent Development Trust (IDT) as part of their Mud Schools Eradication Programme in the community of Klapmuts in the Western Cape. The methods I used for data collection included archival and documentary research, participant observation and semi-structured interviews. I drew on Miles and Huberman's (1994: 10-12) three step iterative process of data reduction, data display and conclusion drawing to analyse the data. I also made use of NVivo, which is a computer software package for qualitative data analysis.