Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-87). / Cognisant of a legacy of exotification of Tibet and Tibetans, Tibetan studies scholars have argued for a certain instrumental internalisation of romantic Western portrayals by Tibetans. Exemplifying this perspective, Lopez worries that Tibetans have been forced to perpetuate limiting orientalist fantasies about themselves for political expediency. In reproducing Tibet as some hyper-real Shangri-la, it is turned into a floating signifier that loses its historical, nationalist, and political specificity. While I do not deny the relevance of such claims, I suggest that Lopez's formulation is problematic for how it risks implying that identity performed or articulated for an audience is likely to be less complex, less flexible, and to leave less room for personal innovation, socio-historical complexity and multivocality. In judging some self-representations as instrumental, the existence of a more genuine, entrenched, tacit Tibetan-ness behind such staged performances is presupposed. Seeking to problematise this position, I take as my entry-point the idea of instrumentality, and, sketching a rough trajectory of academic writing about Tibet, probe some of the dominant discourses and implicit strategies that emerge in the literature. I draw upon two months of ethnographic fieldwork where I interacted closely with the 'Office of Tibet' of South Africa (a representative organ of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA)) and the three Tibetan families associated in various capacities with it. As a heuristic strategy, I attempt to locate 'Tibetan-ness' as it emerges (and fades from view) in a variety of contexts. Shifting from strategic and public performances of Tibetan-ness, to everyday gestures and habitus, and back again, I show how convenient distinctions between the public and the private, the local and the global, the political and the religious or cultural, are ultimately unsettled in the face of complex and contingent expressions of ethnic identity that take place in the midst of extensive transnational networks and audiences. As an alternative to a recourse to 'instrumentality,' I propose a rethinking of cultural identity as 'skilful'.

The ethnographic data presented in this dissertation is drawn from 20 weeks of informal interviews, participant observation, and other creative research methods such as the use of social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp, WhatsApp interviews, focus groups and pictures. Drawing on concepts of managing risk, this dissertation demonstrates that in a world where life is precarious due to illnesses, poverty and other social ills that reflect the political economy of the different spaces, child care is about sustaining the life of an infant. This paper explores the different ways that the state (represented through the National Department of Health) and mothers imagine themselves to be sustaining infant life. It further explores the complexities that arise when the state, external health institutions as well as the mother together with her family and friends imagine the process of sustaining infant life differently. This paper argues that infant feeding choices reflect the different discourses that surround 'sustaining life' and 'managing risk'. It aims to show that the introduction of exclusive breastfeeding policies is a manifestation of the state's ideas on how to sustain infant life. In contrast, the introduction of medicine and complimentary feeds reflect the ideas mothers have for sustaining the lives of their infants. This paper suggests that, although exclusive breastfeeding is important, there are different ways to sustain infant life that are not within the biomedical framework. Alas, these are often dismissed as barriers to exclusive breastfeeding and isolated from other tools used to sustain infant life and to address infant mortality.

Around the world, the implementation of effective fisheries management has been met with a variety of challenges. The incorporation of fisher's local ecological knowledge (FK) into the management paradigm is an important step in understanding perceptions and responses to the changing environment, and emerges as an indispensable component in the dialogue between trans-disciplinary coastal ecology studies. This dissertation seeks to contribute to the integration of these knowledges, and emphasises the involvement of fishers, communities, and research in informing policy.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-73). / Based on fieldwork conducted over two months in 2010 in Lamberts Bay on the west coast of South Africa where the cold Benguela Currrent asserts its presence in water and wind, this dissertation aims to describe the ways that people come to know fish and the sea differently.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / AllPay and No Work explores the consequences of post-apartheid political-economic changes on the social fabric of Manenberg, a residential neighbourhood on the Cape Flats, Cape Town. I show that despite the important benefits of codified human rights for all, recent macro-level changes have meant that young women are currently struggling to establish themselves in their local spheres as socially valued individuals, or achieving "positive personhood". In a context of relative deprivation being socially valued is critical for belonging to "coping systems", the systems of support and reciprocity that cushion the worst aspects of suffering.

Includes bibliographical references. / This dissertation is focused on the (re)configuration of social relations around a communal tap. It looks at the different ways in which fetching water from a communal tap brings life within an impoverished community in Cape Town, South Africa. I examine how the people of Imizamo Yethu who are located in a constrained and heavily populated geographical space, where movement and sociality are limited, take advantage of the tap space to (re)build relations through various social interactions. Water, one of the elements basic to human needs, activates hope in the midst of suffering, while stabilising residents’ uncertainties. During a four month ethnographic study of life within this community, I participated in and observed the daily practice of fetching water, and the interactions around one of the community’s taps. Building on the idea of water as a total social fact, and also conviviality as theoretical frame, I argue that water is as much a giver of life as it is a catalyst for social living. Water provides an opportunity for residents to meet, exchange stories, and seek survival strategies, further strengthening communal bonds. Through water and the social relations that it (re)configures, residents activate dignity.

Bibliography: leaves 148-152.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 138-157). / The development of the city of Cape Town in the last 20 years has led to the discovery of burial sites 110t sufficiently documented in the city's archival records. Human remains under study were recovered from three different locations namely Cobern Street (11=28) mid 18th century; Marina Residence (11=40) and Polyoak (11=9) both late 18th to early 19th century. The aim of this study is to investigate oral hygiene; dental pathologies; behaviour; lifestyle aspects and geographic origins as seen on the dentition using standard osteoscopic methods. Calculus deposition which is an indicator of poor oral hygiene was found in 98.7% of the individuals. Pathologies such as caries at 4.3, abscesses at 2.5 and teeth lost antemortem at 8.8 per mouth, the Cape Poor were found to be similar to 18th century poor communities. The evidence points more towards a difference in oral hygiene practices but similar diets between the three communities. The seemingly shared social class does not, at least in the earlier times of the colony, mask the diverse cultural heritage as evidenced in the dental behaviour through intentional, unintentional dental modification as well as habitual dental markers.

Bibliography: pages 51-56. / This report is the result of an investigation into the effects of a small scale intervention strategy known as the Community Motivator (CM) Programme on the childraising practices of caregivers in two informal settlements in the Cape Town area. The Community Motivator Programme, initiated by the Early Learning Resource Unit(ELRU) seeks to integrate the fragmented service delivery that is occurring in communities where children in the age category birth to six years are at risk in terms of health, nutrition and psycho social development. The ideas for this type of intervention have been informed by developments world wide. Increasing child survival rates have brought new challenges with regard to development and from these concerns, has come the need for integrated and innovative developmental approaches (Young, 1994, Morgan 1993, Myers 1992). This small scale study has investigated the effects of the Community Motivator programme of work on childraising practices in the informal settlements of Samora Machel near Mitchells Plain and Imizamo Yethu in Hout Bay, Cape Town. The original intention was to develop a case study of the Community Motivator Programme in Samora Machel . An outbreak of tension and violence in the area led to postponement after two weeks. The study was then relocated to Imizamo Yethu in Hout Bay. It became apparent that useful comparisons could be made between the Community Motivator Programmes operating in each site and the study design was amended.

The purpose of this research is to explore the structural forces that limit the access to health care services for Deaf people. Literature has acknowledged the disconnection between the Deaf and hearing worlds, particularly in health care. Much of the existing literature exploring these fields have failed to include input from the Deaf community members. As such, hearing perspectives dominate the research and hence also in the lives of Deaf individuals. The narrative presented indicates that hearing people need to be made more aware of Deaf people’s own perspectives and respect the policy of self-representation so that laws and regulations do not negatively affects Deaf people’s lives. Using ethnographic methods, including narratives, participant observation, informal and semi-structured interviews, and photo-elicitation interviews, this study highlights the structural violence experienced in accessing health care by six Deaf people in Cape Town, South Africa. The findings confirm previous studies’ assertions that the dominant biomedical view towards deafness negatively affects Deaf people overall, particularly because of lack of communication access to health care.