Thesis (MPhil (Sociology and Social Anthropology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study seeks to document the emergence of programme evaluation in South Africa. The value of the study lies in the fact that no extensive study on the history of programme evaluation in South Africa has been undertaken before. In order to locate the study within an international context, the study commences with a description of how programme evaluation developed as a sub discipline of the social sciences in other countries. In terms of the South African context, the NGO sector, public sector and professionalisation of programme evaluation is considered. Through this study, it is proposed that the emergence of programme evaluation in South Africa is directly linked to donor activities in the NPO sector. This leads to a discussion of the advancement of monitoring and evaluation in the public sector – specifically the role played by government in institutionalising monitoring and evaluation. Finally, the professionalisation of the evaluation field is also included. The study commenced with a thorough document analysis to gather data on both the international context as well as the South African context. In terms of gathering data on South Africa, data on certain aspects of the emergence of programme evaluation was very limited. To augment the limited data on the local front, face to face and telephonic interviews were conducted. Through these conversations, valuable additional non-published resources and archaic documents were discovered and could be included in the study to produce a comprehensive picture of the emergence of programme evaluation in South Africa. A number of salient points emerge from the thesis. Firstly, there are both similarities and differences between the United States and the UK when considering the emergence of programme evaluation internationally. Secondly, South Africa followed a different trajectory to the USA and UK, where programme evaluation originated within government structures and was consequently a top down occurrence. In South Africa, programme evaluation emerged through donor activity and therefore occurred from the bottom up. Thirdly, in comparison to the US and UK, the South African government did not initially play a significant role in the advancement of monitoring and evaluation (M&E). However, it is within this sector that M&E became institutionalised in South Africa. Finally, the professionalisation and development of programme evaluation in South Africa can be attributed to the first generation evaluators of the 1990s. It is the critical thinking and initiative taken by these individuals that stimulated the field. It is hoped that this study will constitute only the first step into the documentation of programme evaluation’s history in South Africa as there are many areas where further investigation is still required. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek die opkoms van program evaluering in Suid-Afrika. Die waarde van die studie is gekoppel aan die feit dat daar nog nie vantevore so ‘n uitgebreide studie rondom die geskiedenis van program evaluering onderneem is nie. Ten einde die studie binne ‘n internasionale konteks te plaas, word ‘n beskrywing gegee van hoe program evaluasie as ‘n subdissipline van die sosiale wetenskappe in ander lande ontwikkel het. In terme van die plaaslike konteks word die NPO sektor, die publieke sektor en die professionalisering van program evaluering ondersoek. ‘n Hipotese word voorgelê dat die opkoms van program evaluering in Suid- Afrika direk verwant hou met internasionale skenkerorganisasies se aktiwiteite in Suid-Afrika. Daarna volg ‘n bespreking van die groei van monitering en evaluering in die publieke sektor. Laastens word die professionalisering van die evaluasie domein ook bespreek. Die beginpunt van die studie was ‘n deeglike dokumentêre analise ten einde inligting in te samel oor die internasionale sowel as plaaslike konteks. In die geval van Suid-Afrika was die data baie beperk in sommige areas, veral rondom die geskiedenis van program evaluering. Ten einde die data aan te vul, is telefoniese en persoonlike onderhoude gevoer met sleutelpersone in die betrokke sektore. Deur die gesprekke is toegang verkry tot waardevolle addisionele ongepubliseerde bronne en historiese dokumente. Die ontdekking en insluiting van die dokumente verseker dat ‘n volledige beeld geskets word rondom die opkoms van program evaluering in Suid- Afrika. ‘n Aantal betekenisvolle bevindings volg vanuit die studie. Eerstens, daar is beide ooreenkomste en verskille in die manier wat program evaluering in Amerika en die Verenigde Koninkryk tot stand gekom het. Tweedens, Suid-Afrika volg ‘n verskillende perogatief in vergelyking met Amerika en die Verenigde Koninkryk waar program evaluering sy ontstaan binne die regering gehad het en ook deur die regering “afgedwing is”. In Suid-Afrika, kan program evaluering se opkoms in teenstelling daarmee direk gekoppel word aan die betrokkenheid van ‘n skenker organisasie. Derdens, in vergelyking met Amerika en die Verenigde Koninkryk het die Suid-Afrikaanse regering aanvanklik nie ‘n betekenisvolle rol gespeel in die vooruitgang van monitering en evaluering nie. Dit is egter noemenswaardig dat die publieke sektor die institusionalisering van monitering en evaluering teweegebring het. Laastens, kan die professionalisering en groei van program evaluering in Suid-Afrika grootliks toegeskryf word aan die bydrae van die eerste generasie evalueerders van die 1990s. Dit is grootliks die persone se bydrae in die vorme van kritiese denke en inisiatief wat die veld gestimuleer en bevorder het. Dit is my hoop dat hierdie studie gevolg sal word deur die voortdurende dokumentasie van die geskiedenis en verloop van program evaluering in Suid-Afrika.

This thesis is a microhistorical investigation of the dynamics of control and resistance in Pollsmoor Prison and Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital’s Maximum Security section from 1964 to 1994 in South Africa. It examines the evolution of daily life inside these institutions, both situated in the Western Cape, and the extent to which these institutions were part of the security apparatus developed by the apartheid state. The permeability of Pollsmoor and Valkenberg shed light on the connections between repression, resistance, collaboration and survival inside and outside closed institutions. The division of incarcerated populations according to race, gender, age and behaviour reflected wider logics of governance of the South African society. Similarly, the modalities of resistance and collaboration adopted by ‘political’, ‘common law’ and ‘insane’ prisoners on the inside echoed the processes of popular mobilisation on the outside. The construction of a ‘healthy nation’ through the production and control of deviances was hence far from being a smooth process. The thesis is divided into three parts, each composed of three chapters. The first part analyses the way a system of law and order, based on delineation, the bestowal of privileges and violent repression, was imposed in prisons and psychiatric hospitals’ Maximum Security sections and how this evolved according to the changing social and political imperatives of the apartheid state. The second part shifts the gaze to the level of the courts, where psychiatric and criminological discourses became increasingly entangled throughout the period. The operating modalities of the judicial system reflected the fears and expectatives of the white minority, while providing a racialised image of black populations as both dangerous and childlike. Finally, the third part analyses the links between outside and inside resistances and adaptations to the regime of apartheid. It focuses on the 1994 prison revolts as prisms to understand the processes of subjectivation and politicisation which had emerged in closed institutions during apartheid.

Thesis(MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study excavates a century’s worth of the history of household waste in South Africa, from 1890-1996. It shows that waste history is entangled with histories of disease and poor sanitation, advances in technology, the impact of war, environmental concerns and – perhaps above all – shifting socio-economic circumstances. Using a socio-environmental analytical framework, this analysis of waste history unearths empirical archival data and oral testimony, to contextualise themes of gender, race, class and nationalism in order to place rubbish within the wider historical debates in South Africa. This study uses Rubbish Theory and Broken Windows Theory as well as concepts of “Othering” and the “Sanitation Syndrome” to explore the role of waste in the construction of racial identities and perceptions. This thesis shows that Apartheid should not be seen as a watershed within this waste history, but rather as a continuation of colonial ideas of cleanliness that helped to perpetuate racist stereotypes. This study argues that the lack of waste services in “locations” during this time helped to contribute to the perception of the urban African as the unsanitary Other. The state and civic societies fostered gender roles, which (coupled with wartime nationalist propaganda) helped in shaping waste behaviour promoted by the National Anti-Waste Organisation (NAWO) during the Second World War (WWII). In the years after WWII, the threats of wartime shortages and enthusiastic solutions suggested to municipalities to “end the waste problem” were thwarted by the spread of the landfill as an even more convenient disposal method. The implementation of Apartheid, especially the Group Areas Act (No 41 of 1950) and the rise of consumer society, led to increasingly divergent experiences of waste for urban Africans and whites. The thesis uses a case study of the Devon Valley Landfill community outside of Stellenbosch. This ethnographic history explores notions of the “Subaltern” in order to give this history a human face. The diachronic analysis of this community offers a lens into ideas of “ordentlikheid” (decency), “weggooi mense” (throwaway people) and how these waste-pickers experience the environment in which they live. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie grawe ’n eeu se geskiedenis van huishoudelike afval in Suid-Afrika op, van 1890-1996. Dit toon dat die geskiedenis van afval verweef is met geskiedenisse van siekte en swak sanitasie, tegnologiese vooruitgang, die impak van oorlog, omgewingskwessies en – dalk bowenal – veranderende sosio-ekonomiese omstandighede. Deur middel van ’n sosio-omgewings-analitiese raamwerk ontgin hierdie analise empiriese argiefdata en mondelingse getuienis om temas van geslag, ras, klas en nasionalisme te kontekstualiseer ten einde afval binne die breër historiese debatte in Suid-Afrika te plaas. Die studie gebruik Afval-teorie en Gebreekte Vensters-teorie sowel as begrippe van “Othering” en die “Sanitasie-sindroom” om die rol van afval in die totstandkoming van rasse-identiteite en -persepsies te ondersoek. Die tesis toon dat Apartheid nie as ’n waterskeiding in hierdie afval-geskiedenis gesien moet word nie, maar eerder as ’n voortsetting van koloniale idees oor higiëne wat gehelp het om rasse-stereotipes te perpetueer. Die studie argumenteer dat die gebrek aan afvalverwyderingsdienste in “lokasies” in die tyd bygedra het tot die persepsie van die stedelike Afrikaan as die onhigiëniese Ander. Die staat en burgerlike samelewings het geslagsrolle gekweek, wat (tesame met oorlogtydse nasionalistiese propaganda) gehelp het met die vestiging van afval-gedrag wat bevorder is deur die National Anti-Waste Organisation (NAWO) gedurende die Tweede Wêreldoorlog. In die jare na dié oorlog is die bedreigings van oorlogtydse tekorte en die entoesiastiese oplossings wat vir munisipaliteite aanbeveel is om die “afvalprobleem te beëindig”, gefnuik deur die toenemende gebruik van stortingsterreine as ’n selfs geriefliker afvalverwyderingsmetode. Die implementering van Apartheid, veral die Groepsgebiedewet (No. 41 van 1950) en die opkoms van die verbruikersamelewing, het gelei tot toenemend uiteenlopende ervarings van afval onder stedelike Afrikane en wit mense. Die tesis maak gebruik van ’n gevallestudie van die gemeenskap van die Devonvallei-stortingsterrein buite Stellenbosch. Hierdie etnografiese geskiedenis verken denkbeelde van die “Ondergeskikte” om ’n menslike gesig aan die geskiedenis te gee. Die diakroniese analise van die gemeenskap is ’n venster op idees van “ordentlikheid”, “weggooimense” en hoe hierdie afvalontginners die omgewing waarin hulle woon, beleef.

Please read the abstract (Summary) in the section, 20summary of this document Copyright 2002, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Bauermeester, EM 2002, Die Kaapse slawe in kultuurhistoriese perspektief - 1652-1838 (Afrikaans), MA dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-11082007-092819 / > / Dissertation (MA (Cultural History))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Historical and Heritage Studies / Unrestricted

Bibliography: pages 278-301. / The principal intention of this thesis was to study the archaeologically excavated remains from the site of the Grand Parade in central Cape Town. The main lines of argument are centred around the question of the ceramics and how these can be interpreted to add to the knowledge of everyday life at the Cape. This involved excavation of the site, a descriptive report on the site, formulating a typological system of classification relevant to the sample, and interpretation of the ceramic data, considering its context within the local ceramic tradition and the overarching historical background of the Cape. The typological framework used in the ceramic analysis is largely based on the work by Mary Beaudry and others and the interpretive style draws heavily on the ideas about the food domain postulated by Anne Yentsch. A social history paradigm has been used to study the nature of the local evidence, to investigate how the excavated ceramics can be used to inform in one of the most basic cultural traditions involving the foodways of early Capetonians. It has been found: that the typological framework for the ceramic analysis set out in this thesis, is successful in interpreting the ceramics; that the ideological functions of the ceramics remain a less tangible aspect of recreating the past; that although the local food way tradition of the mid-18th century continues to be a complicated web of cultural interactions, through the use of a multi-disciplinary approach, the archaeological evidence can be successfully integrated with the faw:ial, inventory and other docwnentary sources; and that all the aforementioned are crucial to a better, more holistic understanding of the local Cape foodway tradition of the mid-18th century.

Thesis (DPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Although a legitimate provider of manipulative therapy, chiropractic largely functions outside mainstream health care in South Africa. A narrow research focus, poor institutional representation and inadequate professional integration all contribute to its undetermined role in health care. This study exploratory, qualitative study sought to investigate the state of the art of chiropractic with respect to beliefs, philosophy, research methods and clinical practices. Semi-structured, interviews were used to extract responses from ten chiropractors, six patients and four researchers. The results were interpreted on three levels; thematically, in relation to chiropractic’s discipline and profession and as a function of the ‘3 worlds’ framework. The thematic analysis revealed that: 1. Beliefs and philosophical traditions play an active role in the practice and science of chiropractic. 2. The chiropractic investigative paradigm has started to mature. 3. The contextual role of research methods is being clarified. 4. Contemporary chiropractic practice is not as evidence-based as it should be. 5. The chiropractic model of practice is significantly different to the perceived standard medical model. 6. Chiropractic clinical practice has a fuzzy identity. 7. Chiropractic’s professional status is unclear. 8. The professional and disciplinary components of chiropractic are still institutionally immature. 9. Chiropractic’s legitimacy is questionable. Themes 1-3 indicated that beliefs and philosophical traditions affect the way in which chiropractors conduct themselves clinically, the way patients view the world of health care and the manner in which researchers study clinical phenomena. Themes 4-6 suggest that the state of the art of chiropractic clinical practice is different from medicine, however the exact nature of its model of practice seems quite fluid. Themes 7, 8 and 9 suggest that the degree of professional and institutional maturity provide chiropractic with only partial legitimization.With regards to the discipline it seems that science and education have an important buffering role to play between the patient and the practitioner, in order to curb metaphysically motivated practices. Furthermore, chiropractic’s investigative paradigm is progressing atypically and hence the view of it conforming to a standard view of science is questioned. With regards to professional matters, our study indicates that chiropractors function on a spectrum which runs between “technicians” and “physicians”. Whilst patients have holistic health care beliefs it seems they are pushed toward chiropractic, through negative allopathic health care experiences and are drawn to the profession by its integrated model of practice. However, the lack of mainstream healthcare integration counter balances this worth and reduces chiropractic’s professional legitimacy. Two cross over themes were revealed. Firstly, chiropractic’s investigative paradigm has started to narrow the gap between applied science and clinical practice and secondly chiropractic’s legitimacy cannot lie in the opinion of medicine. The ‘three worlds’ framework indicated that the first three themes are meta-scientific (W3) reflections on beliefs, philosophical traditions and research methodology. The fourth theme reflects the relationship of research and practice (W2 and W1), and the remaining five themes are reflections clinical practice (W1 activities). Our study contends that chiropractic has the potential to develop into a mainstream health care provider through the implementation of a multi-leveled development strategy. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Alhoewel chiropraktyk ’n geoorloofde verskaffer van manipulasieterapie is, funksioneer dit grootliks buite hoofstroomgesondheidsorg in Suid-Afrika. ’n Eng navorsingsfokus, swak institusionele verteenwoordiging en ontoereikende professionele integrasie het tot die onbepaalde rol van chiropraktyk in gesondheidsorg bygedra. Hierdie verkennende kwalitatiewe studie het gepoog om chiropraktiese praktyk ten opsigte van oortuiginge, filosofie, navorsingsmetodes en kliniese praktyke te ondersoek. Semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude is gebruik om response van tien chiropraktisyns, ses pasiënte en vier navorsers te verkry. Die uitslae is op drie vlakke geïnterpreteer: (i) tematies; (ii) met betrekking tot die chiropraktiese dissipline en beroep; en (iii) as ’n funksie van die “drie wêrelde”-raamwerk. Die tematiese analise het die volgende blootgelê: 1. Oortuiginge en filosofiese tradisies speel ’n aktiewe rol in die praktyk en wetenskap van chiropraktyk. 2. Die chiropraktiese ondersoekende paradigma is besig om verder te ontwikkel. 3. Die kontekstuele rol van navorsingsmetodes word duideliker gemaak. 4. Hedendaagse chiropraktiese praktyk is nie soveel op bewyse gegrond as wat dit behoort te wees nie. 5. Die chiropraktiese model van praktyk verskil aansienlik van die aanvaarde standaard- mediese model. 6. Die identiteit van chiropraktiese kliniese praktyk is vaag. 7. Chiropraktyk se professionele status is onduidelik. 8. Die professionele en dissiplinêre komponente van chiropraktyk is steeds institusioneel onderontwikkel. 9. Die legitimiteit van chiropraktyk is betwisbaar. Temas 1 tot 3 het daarop gedui dat oortuiginge en filosofiese tradisies die wyses beïnvloed waarop chiropraktisyns klinies handel, waarop pasiënte die wêreld van gesondheidsorg sien, en waarop navorsers kliniese verskynsels bestudeer. Uit temas 4 tot 6 kan afgelei word dat chiropraktiese kliniese praktyk van geneeskunde verskil; die presiese aard van die praktykmodel kom egter heel onbestendig voor. Uit temas 7, 8 en 9 kan afgelei word dat die graad van professionele en institusionele ontwikkeling chiropraktyk slegs gedeeltelik legitimeer.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree or Master of Arts. Johannesburg, February 1995. / This study, based on material excavated at Rose Cottage Cave, presents a new theoretical perspective for our understanding of the southern African archaeological record dated to the Pleistocenel Holocene boundary. Over the past twelve years, : NO contesting models for interpreting the Pleistocene! Holocene boundary have been proposed - it has been described as a period of cultural stasis, on the one hand, or, as exhibiting continuous change, on the other hand. This study departs from the position that this debate is at a theoretical impasse. Through the assumption of a theoretical framework that deals concurrently with cultural representation and social strategy, previously unrecognised aspects of the archaeological record are investigated. t explore the r-ctlve constitutive role of material culture and thus remove the false dichotomy between cultural form and functional expediency. In allowing for the active role of human agency, a model for the interpretation of spatial use is developer, through the incorporation of the informative and constraining role of previous spatial patternings. I recognise that meaning is actively created, and exarnple the spatially and chronolcqlcatlv contingent nature of meaning through the unique perspective that deep sequence archaeological deposit offers. / MT2017

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Film and Television, August 2017 / Located in the town of Nieu Bethesda in the Karoo desert, the Owl House is a fascinating heritage museum that was once the home to outsider artist, Helen Martins. Much work has been created about the eccentric Helen Martins and her unusual home, and appears in the form of books, films, music and plays. The content of these works follow a similar pattern, and it is the aim of this research and film to explore a less literal interpretation of the Owl House, and its creators, Helen Martins and Koos Malgas. The Owl House is re-imagined through the lens of an experimental essay film, juxtaposing footage of the creative eastern imagery of the Owl House (in South Africa) with actual footage of the east (India, Thailand and Laos). In exploring these binaries, an investigation of theory of the landscape, home, mobility and hermeneutics takes place. Furthermore, these theories and concepts are looked at in relation to the politics of an apartheid, and later, a democratic South Africa. The Owl House is therefore analysed as the collaboration of the white, female Helen Martins, and the coloured, male Koos Malgas. / XL2018

In this dissertation I focus on the life and works of Marguerite Poland and argue that landscapes in her fiction act as sites for identity construction. In my analysis I examine the central characters’ engagement with the land, taking cognisance of Poland’s historical context and that of her fiction as represented in her four adult novels and eleven children’s books. I also focus on her doctoral thesis and non-fiction work, The Abundant Herds: A Celebration of the Nguni Cattle of the Zulu People (2003). Poland’s latest work The Boy In You (2008) appeared as this thesis was being completed, thus I only briefly refer to this work in the Conclusion. My primary aim puts into perspective personal, social and cultural identities that are constructed through an analysis of the landscapes evident in her work. Post-colonial theories of space and place provide the theoretical framework. In summary, this thesis argues that landscape is central to Poland’s oeuvre, that her construction of landscape takes particular forms depending on the type of writing she undertakes; and that her characters’ construction of identity is closely linked to the landscapes in which they are placed by their author, herself a product of her physical and cultural environment. “Landscape is dynamic; it serves to create and naturalise the histories and identities inscribed upon it, and so simultaneously hides and makes evident social and historical formations” (Carter et al 1993: xii). The implication of this statement is that the landscape is continuously constructed and deconstructed; that there is a constant evolution of meaning between individuals and the landscape; and that socio-historical conditions are largely responsible for forming ideology and consciousness. This, I argue, is also true for Poland’s fiction. Poland’s own position, as a writer who draws inspiration from the land and its inhabitants, is also discussed. In this thesis I examine the different phases of Poland’s work looking at different kinds of identity construction through different kinds of landscape portrayal. As a prolific South African female contemporary writer, Poland has made inroads into the world of fiction writing once dominated by men. Consequently, feminist issues abound in her writings and I deconstruct characters’ engagement with the land in order to uncover their gendered identities. Primarily, I explore the themes of belonging, identity formation, displacement and dispossession in a particular space and place. My thesis opens with an introduction outlining reasons for my choice of writer, her works to be discussed and the theoretical approaches to landscape and identity construction pertinent to the thesis. I focus on what Poland’s writing yields in terms of gendered identities, racial attitudes and cultural practices in her fictional landscape construction. These sections are grounded in the theories proposed by writers such as, inter alia, Paul Carter, Edward Relph, Chris Fitter and Dennis Cosgrove. In Chapter 2 my discussion focuses on the life and works of Poland placing her in a historical and cultural context. In Chapter 3, I explore how Poland constructs what I call a ‘mythological landscape’. My aim here, as in the following chapters, is to analyse place as a text upon which histories and cultures are inscribed and interpreted and which, in turn, inscribes them too. I also show the extent to which Poland relies on oral folklore to create space and place in her fiction. The literary focus is on her children’s literature and her writings on cattle description and folklore. Chapter 4 focuses on a literary analysis of Train To Doringbult (1987), Shades (1993), and Iron Love (1999) respectively. These novels demonstrate how Poland shows identity shaped within a ‘colonial landscape’. I examine how these novels reiterate that socio-historical conditions are responsible for forming ideology and consciousness. I also analyse how this particular genre puts into perspective personal, social and cultural identities that emerge from particular periods in South African history. Chapter 5 focuses on what I call the ‘indigenous landscape’, on how the South African landscape and the indigenous cattle of the region become characters in their own right. A literary analysis of Recessional for Grace (2003), The Abundant Herds: A Celebration of the Nguni Cattle of the Zulu People (2003) and Poland’s thesis, Uchibidolo: The Abundant Herds: A descriptive study of the Sanga-Nguni cattle of the Zulu people with special reference to colour-pattern terminology and naming practice (1996), form the basis of my discussion in this chapter. I conclude my thesis by further confirming the significance of landscape in Poland’s work as a site for the construction of identity. I focus on Poland’s impact on South African literature to date. I also focus on Poland’s preoccupation with identity in a transforming landscape, showing that there is a constant evolution of meaning between individuals and the landscape within which they find themselves. In this regard I show that identity linked to place has to be seen in terms of context. I mention Poland’s most recent commissioned project – a historical biography of the St. Andrew’s College in Grahamstown, an institution that is now a hundred and fifty years old. Poland’s association with this college, its social and historical context and other discursive issues pertaining to landscape, transformation and construction of identities are fore-grounded, to lend impetus to my thesis. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

This study is an investigation and description of ways in which the Apostolic Faith Mission churchwomen are succeeding in overcoming patriarchy. It also gives a critical evaluation of the extent to which these women are successful in their endeavour to overcome it. Fifteen women from the AFM Church were interviewed using the narrative methodology. This method was chosen to give women freedom to narrate their stories without interference. The data collected was analysed using a feminist theoretical framework on what it means to be human and to be a church. To avoid repetition and to give a room for a detailed analysis, the study was limited to four stories of the AFM churchwomen. Furthermore library research and fieldwork were also used to give a broader picture in analysing the field research work. The findings of this study indicated that women ministries are not taken seriously and are not fully supported by the church. They are still struggling with the issue of partnership because the church does not trust them to be good leaders. It has been noted in this study that patriarchy is the root cause of the marginalization of women of the AFM church. However, the study has demonstrated that women are resisting patriarchy despite the struggles that they are facing inside this church. The study went further to investigate some Biblical texts that advocate for gender equality and to find ways in which the Bible can be used as the source of liberation for both women and men of the AFM church. It has been suggested that the church should engage in the pursuit of Biblical directives for the Body of Christ. The scriptures prove that men and women are given equality by God and also some differences that clearly express the human diversity in general. So, the AFM women are challenging the church to recognise, affirm and celebrate them. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.