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This thesis uses aspects of the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) to investigate how global trends and national eco-political factors in Botswana impact the livelihood strategies or actions of a group of individuals who identify as !Kung Group Basarwa in a small village called Ngwatle, located in the south western Kalahari. These global and national forces produce and reproduce institutions, structures and processes that constitute the particular vulnerability context in which Ngwatle is couched. The Sustainable Livelihoods Framework, a key component of SLAs, is used here as a tool of analysis to identify barriers and constraints to livelihood aspirations. Basarwa, known as Bushmen or San people more generally, have a history of strained relationships with more powerful majority groups including the Setswana (or Tswana) who account for 79% of the population as well as wealthy cattle owning minority groups. This history, understood in a wider global context, makes livelihood construction extremely difficult for people living in Ngwatle. The research is exploratory in nature and seeks to contextualize a problem or a set of problems given a particular set of circumstances rather than establish categorical causality between variables. The approach of this research has been methodologically investigated by answering three primary research questions. The first question seeks to establish the major activities undertaken in Ngwatle households that help people in the community to make a living. In this regard, the research clearly establishes that several specific livelihood actions, such as making crafts and conducting cash-generating entrepreneurial activities are performed on a daily basis in Ngwatle. The second research question asks whether resources (assets) are constrained by institutions, structures and processes and if so, how. In fact, resources are constrained by these factors and are informed by historical precedence. The third research question focuses on how institutions, structures and processes impact livelihood strategies in Ngwatle in more detail. Links are established between the macro (global), meso (national) and micro (community) economic and political environments. The suggestion is that aspects of capitalism and neo-liberalism at the global and State levels have informed and strengthened various mechanism of control designed to manipulate and direct the movement of individuals (bio-politics). In essence prejudices and discriminatory practices have served to radically alter Basarwa social systems and seriously undermine livelihood strategies. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

As increasing emphasis is placed upon the role surface processes play in regulating tectonic behaviour, the need for accurate measurements of denudation rate has become paramount. The quantity and quality of denudation rate studies has grown with the advent of cosmogenic radionuclide techniques, capable of recording denudation rates over timescales of 100 to 1000000 years. This study seeks to utilise cosmogenic 10Be concentrations measured in alluvial sediments in order to further develop this method and to investigate rates of basin-wide denudation in the San Bernardino Mountains, an active orogen associated with the San Andreas Fault system. The theory which underpins measurements of basin-wide denudation rates with cosmogenic radionuclide analysis is evaluated in light of recent understanding of production mechanisms. Field testing of the assumptions required by the basinwide denudation rate model highlights the importance of sampling thoroughly mixed sediments. Denudation rates ranging over three orders of magnitude are measured by applying the cosmogenic radionuclide technique in thirty-seven basins throughout the San Bernardino Mountains. Results show a relationship between denudation rate and slope which provides quantification of the threshold slope angle in high relief granitic environments and suggests tectonic activity is the first order control of denudation rates in these mountains. Mean annual precipitation is shown to exert no significant influence over the rates measured in the San Bernardino Mountains. Questions concerning denudation rates recorded over differing timespans are addressed using the cosmogenic technique, (U-Th)/He thermochronometry, incision into dated horizons and modern day sediment flux data. This comparison reveals that a decrease in rates with distance from the San Andreas Fault has been consistent throughout the lifespan of the San Bernardino Mountains and provides further evidence that a tectonic mechanism is driving denudation in this region. The relevance of both spatial and temporal scale in geomorphic studies is considered in light of these results, highlighting the need for a greater appreciation of their role in the interpretation of basin-wide denudation rates.

Thesis (M. P. A.)--Texas State University-San Marcos, 2008. / "Spring 2008." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-99).

Thesis (M.A.)--Southwest Texas State University, 1940. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-67).

Thesis (Higher Certificate in Librarianship)--University of Cape Town, 1962. / Includes index.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 369-382).

Thesis (Higher Certificate in Librarianship)--University of Cape Town, 1962. / Includes index.