Thesis (M.H.C.S.(Historical and Heritage Studies) -- University of Pretoria, 2007.

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South African society was in a state of flux by the early 1960s. The main reason for this state of affairs was that the National Party government had, for the last decade or so, plied social engineering at degrees previously unheard of in the history of the country with a view to consolidating apartheid at all levels and in all spheres of South African life. As a result tensions flared and reached breaking point in urban and rural areas alike within a matter of months. In some cases these situations escalated into fully fledged uprisings; most of which ultimately were put down in a heavy handed manner by the apparatus of state. This study busies itself with an uprising that may well be described as the apex of resistance in the South African countryside during the period mentioned, for it not only stood out due to its intensity, but also for the remarkable levels of its organization and for the length of its duration. What is more, if secondary sources are to be believed, it galvanized the struggle movement in its decision to take up arms a year or so later. By looking at a vast array of primary and secondary source documents an attempt is made at: (1) critically weighing up what has been written about the revolt that took place in Eastern Pondoland in 1960 and 1961; (2) describing the situation in the area immediately prior to it taking place; (3) analyzing the causes thereof; (4) describing the course of events that constituted the revolt; and (5) attempting to establish the class positions of a sample of people resident at the epicenter of the revolt, who were directly affected by it. Due to its scope this study is by no means meant to be exhaustive. It is merely intended to contribute to the existing literature as an exploratory inquiry into the focus areas listed above. / Dissertation (MHCS)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Historical and Heritage Studies / unrestricted

The main aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between landscape, memory and heritage. It aims to establish that landscape is not only an inseparable part of the intangible process of memory, but also the formation and perpetuation of cultural and individual identity. The composition of heritage, including the sociocultural and biophysical, is therefore a complex result of varying interactions between memory and landscape, as perceived by the living custodians. The intangible values of meaning, memory, lived experience and attachment, in relation to people's connection to locality and landscape, are traced back to the tangible fabric of place. Through means of qualitative and quantitative anthropological fieldwork methods and an extensive literature review, the sociocultural profile of the Mpondo is briefly documented. The subsequent case study explored a site in the Eastern Cape on Ngquza Hill, where the oral traditions and memories connected to the site are mapped. These elements were accessed through employing the theories of mnemotechnics. / Anthropology and Archaeology / M.A. (Anthropology)

The main aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between landscape, memory and heritage. It aims to establish that landscape is not only an inseparable part of the intangible process of memory, but also the formation and perpetuation of cultural and individual identity. The composition of heritage, including the sociocultural and biophysical, is therefore a complex result of varying interactions between memory and landscape, as perceived by the living custodians. The intangible values of meaning, memory, lived experience and attachment, in relation to people's connection to locality and landscape, are traced back to the tangible fabric of place. Through means of qualitative and quantitative anthropological fieldwork methods and an extensive literature review, the sociocultural profile of the Mpondo is briefly documented. The subsequent case study explored a site in the Eastern Cape on Ngquza Hill, where the oral traditions and memories connected to the site are mapped. These elements were accessed through employing the theories of mnemotechnics. / Anthropology and Archaeology / M.A. (Anthropology)

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis uses local narratives to explore relationships between agrarian landscapes, agrarian land use practices and the traditional cultural perspectives of traditional amaMpondo farming communities living along Pondoland‟s Wild Coast, on the East Coast of South Africa. This endeavour is based on theories that propose that human behaviour, including agrarian practice, is influenced by complex socio-cultural factors that shape cultural values, knowledge and world-views, and that are reflected in cultural narratives, and these influence the way different cultures relate to the surrounding environment. As a consequence of these cultural influences, different cultures use and shape the landscape in unique, culturally determined ways. Consequently, in human impacted landscapes attention needs to be paid to how cultural world-views, practices, customs and value systems influence the land use practices of the people inhabiting those landscapes. Amongst traditional communities with a long history of habitation within particular landscapes, traditional land use practices and customs, including agrarian practices, need to be understood from the perspective of the opportunities and constraints that particular environments present. Literature shows that a failure to understand relationships between culture and land use can led to the imposition of unsuitable development practices and policy on traditional cultures, and this can undermine cultural, agricultural and ecological diversity and lead to unsustainable models of development (Naveh, 1995; Antrop, 2005; Antrop, 2000; Capra, 2003; Capra, 1996; Nusser, 2001; Harding, S. 2006). Given the need to address development and agricultural practices that perpetuate unsustainable land use, an understanding of the nature of influencing relationships between landscape, land use and culture is particularly important Despite the debilitating influences of a colonial history, many rural communities along the Pondoland Wild Coast still retain a strong sense of cultural identity that has deep roots in a traditional agrarian system, and this has given rise to a unique indigenous landscape. This study of traditional amaMpondo farming communities presents an opportunity to gain insights into how different cultural perspectives might shape and utilize the landscape and lead to alternative land use systems than the dominant industrial norm. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis gebruik plaaslike narratiewe om die verhoudings tussen agrariese landskappe, landbou grondgebruik en die tradisionele kulturele perspektiewe van tradisionele amaMpondo boerdery gemeenskappe wat langs die Pondolandse Wildekus, aan die ooskus van Suid-Afrika voorkom te verken. Hierdie strewe is gebaseer op teorieë wat voorstel dat menslike gedrag, insluitende agrariese praktyk, beïnvloed word deur die komplekse sosio-kulturele faktore wat kulturele waardes, kennis en wêreldbeskouings vorm, en wat weerspieël word in die kulturele verhale, wat dan weer invloed het op die wyse waarop die verskillende kulture verband hou met die omliggende omgewing. As gevolg van hierdie kulturele invloede, maak verskillende kulture in unieke, kultureel bepaalde wyse gebruik van die landskap. Gevolglik, in landskappe wat deur die mens beïnvloed word, moet aandag geskenk word aan hoe kulturele wêreldbeskouings, praktyke, gewoontes en die waarde stelsels die mense in hierdie provinsies se landgebruik be-invloed. Tradisionele praktyke en kulture waaronder agrariese praktyke ingesluit is, moet in die tradisionele gemeenskappe wat 'n lang geskiedenis het van habitasie binne bepaalde landstreke, verstaan word vanuit die perspektief van geleenthede en beperkings wat hierdie besondere omgewings verteenwoordig. Litteratuur toon dat die versuim om die verhoudings tussen kultuur en grondgebruik te verstaan, kan lei tot die oplegging van ongeskikte ontwikkelings praktyke en beleid op tradisionele kulture. Dit kan' n kultuur-, landbou-en ekologiese diversiteit ondermyn en lei tot onvolhoubare modelle van ontwikkeling (Naveh, 1995; Antrop, 2005; Antrop, 2000, Capra, 2003; Capra, 1996; Nusser, 2001; Harding, S. 2006). Om die behoefte te vul wat ontwikkeling en landbou-praktyke wat nie-volhoubare grondgebruik perpetueer, is 'n goeie begrip van die aard van die beïnvloedings verhoudings tussen landskap, grondgebruik en kultuur veral belangrik. Ten spyte van die kreupelende invloed van 'n koloniale geskiedenis, het baie landelike gemeenskappe langs die Wildekus van Pondoland nog steeds' n sterk gevoel van kulturele identiteit wat diep wortels in 'n tradisionele agrariese stelsel het. Dit het aanleiding gegee tot' n unieke inheemse landskap. Hierdie studie van die tradisionele amaMpondo boerdery gemeenskappe bied 'n geleentheid aan om insig te verkry in hoe verskillende kulturele perspektiewe van die landskap kan vorm en gebruik maak en lei tot' n alternatiewe grondgebruik as die dominante industriële norm.

Local perceptions and livelihood strategies have in this study been examined through extensive fieldwork in two villages in rural Pondoland in the former homeland Transkei in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province. Using a bottom-up perspective, changes in livelihoods and the processes involved in choosing between and combining various types of livelihood activities are analysed. The study also looks at specific South African policies, targeted at poverty relief and restriction of natural resource use, from the local perspective and points at communication problems between the national and local levels. Livelihoods in Transkei are today often conceptualised as consisting of subsistence agriculture combined with monetary incomes in the forms of state pensions and remittances from migrant labourers. This view is challenged by the results of the present study, showing that local jobs are the major components of livelihoods in the studied villages. Informal jobs are stressed as constituting an important, and perhaps previously underestimated, part of local job opportunities. While pensions also do make important contributions to livelihoods, the significance of agriculture, livestock keeping and various forms of natural resource use is shown to be relatively low. Key insights are that livelihood activities in rural Transkei vary a lot between specific localities, and that important recent changes in livelihoods have taken place. Transkei is furthermore often conceptualised as a region where severe environmental degradation is taking place, a fact that is also contradicted by findings from the study area. In accordance with recent research on an ‘African degradation narrative’, the hopeless and homogenous picture of Transkei as a generally degraded region is questioned. These results are also used to critically examine concepts such as ‘multiple livelihood strategies’ and the tendency to generalise about rural livelihoods across regions, countries or even continents. / Lokala uppfattningar och försörjningsstrategier har i denna studie undersökts genom långvarigt fältarbete och omfattande intervjuer med lokalbefolkningen i två byar i den rurala kustregionen i Pondoland, i Sydafrikas f.d. ‘homeland’ Transkei (idag Östra Kapprovinsen). Under apartheidtiden tvingades Sydafrikas befolkning av afrikanskt ursprung i hög utsträckning att bo i dessa s.k. homelands, vilket anses ha lett till både fattigdom och omfattande miljöförstöring i dessa områden. Transkei konceptualiseras idag därför ofta som ett problemområde, där befolkningen överlever på småskaligt jordbruk, nyttjande av, statliga bidrag och pengar från släktingar som jobbar i storstäder. Denna studie ifrågasätter upprätthållandet av en sådan bild av Transkei, genom att peka på att majoriteten av hushållen i fältområdet idag har lokala jobb. I detta sammanhang har informella jobb en viktig och troligtvis tidigare underskattad roll. Studien pekar också på att försörjningsstrategier är föränderliga och att det finns stora skillnader mellan olika lokaliteter med avseende på olika försörjningsmöjligheter. Många studier i Afrika har på senare tid ifrågasatt antaganden om att olika regioner är generellt degraderade, och visat på att detta ofta kan vara ett narrativ som av olika skäl upprätthålls utan att närmare granskas. Denna studie visar däremot på att miljön i fältområdet inte är generellt degraderad och att lokalbefolkningen inte överutnyttjar naturresurserna. Därmed bidrar studien till att nyansera en ibland alltför homogen och hopplös bild av Transkei som region. Studien granskar också specifika Sydafrikanska policies för naturvård och fattigdomsbekämpning utifrån lokalbefolkningens perspektiv och visar på problematiska kommunikationsbrister mellan nationell och lokal nivå.

Tourism is widely perceived as an easy access, low-impact means to achieving economic growth and development. In South Africa, community-based tourism has been promoted as a way of delivering resources and services to historically marginalised areas, and as a means by which rural communities can begin to exercise more control over the decisions and resources that directly affect the quality of their lives. A history of deliberate underdevelopment during apartheid, has left the Wild Coast region with high unemployment, widespread socio-economic poverty, limited infrastructure; and a pristine coastline of 'untapped' tourism potential. Given its incompatibility to other forms of development, tourism has been identified by government as a key sector for driving economic development and poverty alleviation along the Wild Coast. This study reviews four tourism enterprises in operation along the Pondoland Wild Coast in terms of their 'pro-poor' credentials (net benefits to local communities), socio-economic impact, participation and ownership by local communities, institutional establishment, and environmental sustainability. The selected operations exemplify different models of community and private sector involvement in tourism development on communal land. A wide range of investigative methodologies from primary and secondary data analysis, interviews, structured questionnaires, surveys, and quantitative assessment criteria, were employed in this study. The key findings and recommendations from the case studies are then considered in light of the developmental opportunities and constraints pertaining to the region. This study revealed that the Pondoland Wild Coast is faced with numerous socio-economic and environmental challenges. The principal limitations to sustainable tourism development include lack of basic infrastructure and services, prevailing tenure insecurity, unclear legislation and overlapping jurisdictional mandates, direct environmental threats such as a proposed toll road and mining, haphazard/illegal developments, and a poorly defined spatial planning framework. Whilst all four tourism enterprises appeared to be underpinned by sustainable development principles, they differed widely in the nature and size of benefits they provided, and their degree of institutional, economic and environmental sustainability. The findings and conclusions drawn from this study are intended to contribute towards the theory, practice and sustainability of 'pro-poor,' 'community-based', and 'responsible' tourism development, and assist future tourism development planning in the region. / Thesis(M.Sc.)-University of Kwazulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

Diarrhoea and related diseases are the most common causes of death in children, especially from developing countries, killing about 1.5 million children under the age of five yearly. In South Africa, diarrhoea is the third leading cause of death. This condition results from food and water sources infected with Campylobacter spp., Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Giardia intestinalis and Cryptospondium parvum amongst others. Diarrhoea spreads through faeces-contaminated water. Hence, infection is more common when there is a short supply of clean drinking and cooking water. Waterborne diseases are common in rural communities of Bizana because the majority of rural dwellers depend largely on water from unprotected sources. Most of the pathogens that cause diarrhoea have developed resistance to several antibiotics. Therefore there is a need for new and safe antidiarrhoeal drugs. Most people in developing countries use traditional medicine to treat all kinds of diseases including diarrhoea and South Africa is no exception. Each cultural group in South Africa has different medical solutions for the prevention and curing of the same disease. The people from Pondoland (AmaMpondo), around Bizana have a strong tradition of using medicinal plants for the cure and prevention of several conditions including diarrhoea. Although several researchers have conducted different types of studies in many parts of South Africa to evaluate the efficacy of traditional medicine used in the treatment of diarrhoea, there is, however, still a lot of undisclosed data that should be collected. The aims of this research were to record and collect medicinal plants that are used for treating diarrhoea in Bizana, Pondoland in the Eastern Cape and evaluate them for their pharmacological properties. An ethnobotanical approach is one of several methods that have been useful in selecting plants for pharmacological research, yielding better results than other plant selection methods. Using questionnaires, this approach was used to record plants that are used for treating diarrhoea in Bizana for testing in pharmacological assays. From the completed questionnaires, nine plants were selected for bioassays based on their higher frequency index, and the fact that the plants have never been evaluated against diarrhoea causing-microorganisms. The study revealed 34 plant species belonging to 21 families as being used in treatment of diarrhoea in the study area. Psidium guajava was the most mentioned plant species. The dried, ground plant materials were each extracted non-sequentially using petroleum ether (PE), dichloromethane (DCM), 70% ethanol (EtOH) and water. Among all the extracts, 70% ethanol yielded the highest quantity of crude extract. The extracts were each evaluated for their antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and genotoxicity properties. For the antibacterial activity, the following diarrhoea causing microorganisms were used: Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and Gram-negative Campylobacter jejuni, E. coli and Shigella flexneri. A microdilution assay (for S. aureus, E. coli and S. flexneri) and the disk diffusion technique (for C. jejuni) were used for antibacterial testing. The extracts were also evaluated for their ability to inhibit cyclooxygenase (COX-1 and -2) enzymes. Genotoxicity was evaluated using the Salmonella microsome assay without S9 metabolic activation. Three strains of Salmonella typhimurium TA98, TA1535 and TA1537 were used. The evaluated plant extracts showed a broad spectrum of inhibitory activity with MIC values ranging from 0.098-12.5 mg/ml and mean zone inhibition percentage ranging from 0-73%. The best activity was exhibited by DCM extracts of Rapanea melanophloeos, EtOH extracts of Ficus craterostoma and Maesa lanceolata with MIC values of 0.098 mg/ml and EtOH extracts of Searsia chirindensis with 73% mean zone inhibition percentage. The inhibitory activity against COX-1 enzyme was higher than COX-2, with 19 plant extracts for the former and 7 for the latter. The highest inhibition of COX-1 was shown by EtOH extracts of F. craterostoma and the DCM extract of S. chirindensis at 100%. Highest percentage COX-2 inhibition was shown by water extracts of F. craterostoma and DCM extracts of Tecoma capensis with 99.5% and 99.0% respectively. None of the tested plant extracts were mutagenic, at all concentrations tested against all tester strains of the bacteria. The results of this study demonstrate that people still have a rich and diverse pool of knowledge concerning the uses of plants against diarrhoea. The data also show that plants form part of the cultural heritage of the communities in Pondoland. Therefore it is important to urgently save the people’s cultural heritage by recording the existing knowledge and confirming therapeutic uses of plants through scientific methods. This will prevent the information from vanishing together with the ageing knowledge holders. In light of the fact that the evaluated plants were selected based on their ethnobotanical use for treating diarrhoea, the activities reported here goes a long way in adding value to the plants used as part of traditional medicine. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.