Knowledge production or research in South Africa, as elsewhere in the world, does not occur within 'innocent' spaces devoid of personal, social, political, economic and cultural contexts. Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences has been largely the domain of white, male academics operating within positivistic, western, or eurocentric paradigms that have consequently cast all differing modes of knowledge production as 'other'. Research has been 'normalised' within particular frames of reference that have often served to marginalize knowledge production emanating from other contexts such as a feminist perspective or a black perspective. This thesis presents a critical analysis of the participation of women academics in research in the Humanities and Social Sciences in South Africa. I argue in this study that the discourses and practices of the academy have traditionally operated to marginalize, and continues to marginalize women effectively excluding them from the arena of research. Whilst there are many studies that have been conducted investigating women in academia, the emphases have been essentially on establishing baseline data such as the numbers and positions women occupy and explanations for the situations that exist. There are, however, very few studies that have extended the analysis to focus on women as researchers and knowledge producers within academia as is the case with this study. I also advance the analyses by arguing for a shift from the widely accepted conceptions that cast women academics as the problem and focus attention instead on the often hostile culture or climate of academia. I argue further that the historical exclusion of women and more especially black women, from the production of knowledge or research has contributed to the exclusion of women from positions of power in the social, cultural, political, economic and academic contexts. My own passion for these issues is directly linked to a conviction that in its public absence, and in the assumption that knowledge about gender is largely irrelevant to the possibility of social justice, lies some of the deep roots of women's complex degradations. This study grew out of my participation in the former Centre for Science Development's (now part of the National Research Foundation) audit of women academics and researchers in the Humanities and Social Sciences in South Africa and was carried out in three phases. The first phase entailed a secondary analysis of the audit data, drawing comparisons between the national findings and the findings for the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Besides conducting a general analysis the data was also disaggregated according to the historically designated racial categories to establish how black women, in particular, were faring. Having established a statistical picture, the second phase was concerned with exploring the qualitative understandings of women academics in research, through the eyes of six black women academics from KwaZulu-Natal. The six women in the study were selected from the University of Durban-Westville, the University of Zululand (both historically disadvantaged institutions) and the University of Natal (a historically advantaged institution). Although it is my contention that all research is necessarily autobiographical, the third phase of the study turned my 'subtext' of being the researcher who is simultaneously 'other' into 'text'. In the autobiographical data I author and reflect on my own experiences as an academic and researcher who is 'other'. Conducted in a style that challenges the mainstream or what is described as 'male-stream' conventions and understandings of research practice, I inscribe the personal into the 'scientific' by employing an autobiographical, feminist 'gaze' throughout this study. The narrative style of communicating parts of the study to the audience, and my attempt to blur the divide between researcher and researched, express a significant feminist desire to infuse the generic aspects of feminist theory, feminist methodology, feminist practice and feminist politics into each other. Finally the insights gained from this study about the general participation of women academics in research and more especially, the position and experiences of black women academics, including myself, achieve many objectives. Not only does it provide baseline information for the province of KwaZulu-Natal in relation to the national trends but also serves to unpack this baseline information with respect to the historically designated racial categories and deepens our understandings of the problems through insights into the day-to-day lived experiences of black women in particular. All of which are integral to informing equity and redress initiatives designed to bring about transformation and democratisation in the arena of research in the humanities and social sciences. / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Durban-Westville, 2000.

The study deals with administration of education in KwaZulu where the concern is for efficient and effective use of limited financial, human and material resources. The purpose of this evaluative analysis of educational administration is to determine the degrees of efficiency and effectiveness with which the system of education functions. Therefore, the aims of the study were the following: * To describe the KwaZulu educational system: its origin, character, socio-political context and constraints; * To identify the generic functions of educational administration on the basis of which criteria were formulated for evaluation; * To analyse educational administration in KwaZulu and to evaluate it by means of formulated criteria, and * To formulate recommendations regarding the improvement of educational administration in the area. The conceptual framework of the study derived from the development of administrative theories through time and their implication for, and impact on educational administration. This analysis enabled the investigator to extract criteria for evaluating administration of education in KwaZulu. The evaluative analysis had to be carried out in terms of the organisation of education from the school level to the head office. To deal adequately with the problem being examined, detailed discussion was given of the KwaZulu system of education and the broader context in which it functions. The population of the study comprised three categories of education officers, namely, school principals, circuit inspectors and selected administrators from the head office. The instruments for data collection were questionnaires for school principals and circuit inspectors and interviews for the head office administrators. The study identified the following problem areas: preparation for administrative roles, perceptions of work-related skills, work performance in terms of tasks, the process of administration and related problems, and collaboration among education officers as well as with interested parties. The analysis of data was both quantitative and qualitative. In the light of the findings of the study the investigator offered several recommendations. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1991.

The democratic South Africa’s dual challenge in overcoming its own divisive history as well as addressing global economic imperatives, has led to transformations in education. Policy production thus takes place in an atmosphere infused by economic, political, social and cultural effects of globalization. Embedded within the wave of curriculum reform, are new forms of learner assessment which have shifted from being largely norm-based and summative to one which is formative, standards- based and continuous. The new discourse on assessment requires a ‘paradigm shift’ for most teachers implementing the new assessment policy. Although education policy reforms in schools challenge teachers’ existing practices and increases teachers’ work load, they seldom give due attention to teachers’ identities. My research raises questions about the political rationalities that have informed policies on a new conception of the ideal teacher as assessor and how these political rationalities have intersected with the individual lives and identities of teachers. This study investigates at a micro-level, the workings of how teachers govern themselves in their work and in general as human beings. The constitution of teacher identity through discourses and discursive practices of the assessment reform is central to the argument of this thesis which is guided by the following critical question: Within the historical context of the current wave of curriculum reform in South Africa, how is teacher identity constituted in the discourses and practices of assessment reform? Data was obtained from ten teacher participants through interviews, classroom observations and document evidence. Using the biographical / life history approach and teachers’ narratives of self, I explore patterns by which experiential and emotional contexts, feelings, images and memories are organized to form the teachers’ identity. My analytical strategy draws from the work of Foucault (1954-1984), Giddens (1991), Wenger (1998), Bourdieu (1977), Frankl (1984), Laclau and Mouffe (1985), Maslow (1943) as well as other scholars. / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

No abstract available. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

This thesis assesses shifts in societal perceptions of mental retardation in South Africa from the mid-nineteenth century to the 1990s and investigates the influence of political, economic and social change on such perceptions. In order to assess the subjective nature of perceptions, evidence appertaining to legislation, policy changes and facilities provided for persons with mental retardation was sought in historical records. Relevant acts of legislation and reports of governmentally appointed commissions in the field of mental health are examined for evidence of prevailing trends. The study commences with an overview of the provision made for so-called lunatics in the early years of the Cape Colony and, because of the strong influence of British medical practitioners during the period of British rule, a comparative study of the English asylum system is included. The onset of institutionalisation in South Africa during the final quarter of the nineteenth century is examined and the standard of accommodation is discussed. This includes references to the differing criteria for any race other than white. Allegations of constant overcrowding investigated by reference to tables of statistics, wherever available. Document analysis reveals that prior to World War I little mention was made of provision for children with mental retardation. Records reveal that during the Depression which followed in the aftermath of the war, attention was focused on feeble-mindedness among the progeny of the poor whites. Investigations disclosed that the children from this social class were alleged to be morally as well as mentally defective. The introduction and application of intelligence testing in South Africa is considered, and in particular the role this played in creating the perception of allegedly inferior intelligence in certain race groups. The special educational and training facilities introduced for the various race groups are also discussed. The eugenics movement, particularly in relation to the allegedly feeble-minded, is considered. The thesis concludes with an examination of accommodation and amenities available for persons the mental retardation, both children and adults, in post-apartheid South Africa, and the legal provision afforded them in the new constitution. The conclusions substantiated the notion that societal perceptions of mental retardation do vary during periods of social, economic and political change. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1996.

1994 was a watershed in the history of education in South Africa. The post-apartheid government was faced with a large number of schools that were dysfunctional, especially black secondary schools in urban areas (Fleisch, 2004). Schools were in greater need of effective leadership than ever before. Since the advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994, there have been increasing demands on education leaders and managers. School leaders have been toted repeatedly in the media and literature as the key drivers of change. Studying school leadership is thus indeed an imperative, and the question to answer is not whether but how. This study uses ethnographic techniques to explore ways in which leadership is experienced in a school by individuals and groups through interactional events. Initial enquiries thrown up by this include: What best practice models could be revealed from a prolonged stay in the research field? What new leadership vocabularies permeate the educational space and what do these reveal about leadership practice? Given the political changes in South Africa, how has leadership evolved? This thesis presents an ethnographic portrait of a functional school in South Africa and focuses specifically on providing an analysis of how discourse, power and ethics are central to individual subjectivities of school leaders and managers by addressing the following critical research questions: (i) What are the leadership discourses in a school setting?; (ii) How do power and subjectivity play out within daily interactions of the school management team (SMT)? The concepts of surveillance, gaze, normalisation, and discourses throw new light on the discipline and practice of leadership and management, exposing their power relations’ pervasive effects in shaping the ethical decisions made. Without critical reflection and attention to power relations, school management could easily become inward looking and give inadequate attention to parents, learners and other stakeholders. The thesis concludes by drawing out four significant findings on the practice of leadership and management: (i) discourses shed light on institutional practices and the working of power; (ii) building social capital is an essential part of effective leadership; (iii) in an organisation such as the school, individuals are placed in a matrix of power relations; and (iv) schools advance iii the concept of moral ecology through the subjectivities and ethical actions of collective leadership of the school and community. Key Terms: Power relations, leadership, discourse, subjectivity, ethics, ethnographic techniques. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2011.

No abstract available. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1973.

My research examined farmers' knowledge and practices of farmers supported by Volunteer Efforts for Development Concerns (VEDCO), a non-governmental organisation in Central region of Uganda. Farmers in VEDCO were trained in modern farming methods, and were supposed to apply them on their farms. I worked with farmers over a period of eight months, which is a full agricultural year, to understand how farmers negotiated their way around risk in different seasons of the year using their own knowledge. I was interested in understanding the knowledge they drew on to survive. The study was qualitative and employed a case study methodology. It relied on participant observation, focus group discussions, seasonality calendars, trends' analysis, informal interviews and document review to collect data. The livelihoods of farmers and the extension education intervention by VEDCO provided an opportunity to understand the concept of knowledge, risk and livelihoods security. In this regard, the theories of Paulo Freire (1972, 1973, 1973a,1985), Ulrich Beck (1992, 1998, 2000) and Robert Chambers (1983, 1991, 1995) formed the framework for theorising knowledge, agricultural extension education, risk and livelihoods in this research. The thesis engages with what constitutes livelihoods for poor people and what that means for survival and risk reduction. In the discussion, it becomes evident that knowledge for poor people is worthwhile if it enables them meet their livelihood needs. In the discussion it also becomes apparent that poor people's livelihoods security is dependent on many aspects, and they pursue livelihoods security in a multi-disciplinary, negotiated manner that incorporates all those aspects. And unfortunately, sometimes the way modern agricultural extension pedagogy is planned and executed puts livelihoods at risk in a context where farmers' own local knowledge is not enough to confront the challenges they have to confront. The gap created by both local and modern knowledge processes resulted into the emerging of a subsistence risk society (Beck, 1992, 1998). The thesis concludes with a discussion of a concept of really useful agricultural extension education drawn from the idea of 'really useful knowledge (Jane Thompson, 1997). The emerging really useful agricultural extension education is drawn partly from the livelihoods' analysis of poor people. And partly RUAEE is drawn from an emerging understanding developed, that adult education is not just about meeting needs, rather it is about confronting systems and structures that enable social injustice and livelihoods insecurity. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2011.

This thesis examines the constructions of childhood by seven early childhood teachers and twenty young children (ten boys and ten girls) in two private early childhood centres catering for children below Grade R in urban KwaZulu-Natal. An ethnographic approach is used to present childhood as a complex socially constructed process. On the methodological front, this study argues for the practice of responsive researching to engage with moment by moment realities that are sensitive to the particularities of young children and their circumstances when they are positioned as participants in research. In the analysis of teachers’ constructions of childhood for young children, the findings of this study suggest that the lack of public funding in early childhood education, for children below Grade R, sets the conditions for early childhood centres to operate as commercial enterprises trading commodities in a free market. Given this context, teachers position themselves in the dominant market discourse. The study suggests that the focus on the purchasing power of parents determines the type of childhood young children experience at the centres. Teachers access normalising images of young children as property and essentialised adults-in-the-making to support the processing of children as human capital for a fee. As such, the social project of early childhood, as space for democratic practices for public good, is weakened. The focus on the doings of childhood by young children (boys and girls) contrasts the normalising images presented by teachers. The findings of this study suggest that the complex struggles within the temporal zones of growing up and relations in race and gender, present young children as powerful social actors who actively construct their childhoods. The study illuminates how young children use the limiting discourses freely available to them to constitute themselves in familiar ways, and also how they find spaces to loosen the power of these discourses. In concentrating on the lived realities of childhood, this study enters some unfamiliar spaces that provide a base to ask more questions about early childhood centres, teachers, and young children in early childhood education. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

Amid the dearth of implementation of South Africa’s post-apartheid Language-in-education policy which encourages multilingualism and recognizes the value of instruction in the home language of learners, internal change agents initiating language change in their schools were identified in a Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) project on multilingual education. With limited policy support these change agents had sought ways of transforming language policy and practices at their schools to address the linguistic diversity of their learners. The initiative taken by these change agents to transform language policy and practice in their schools was the point of departure for the study. While the HSRC project focused broadly on the factors enabling and disabling multilingual education with a view to exploring strategies to encourage greater implementation of multilingual education, the study interrogated the work of the change agents with particular focus on the sustainability of their language change initiatives. The change agents were two school principals, a Level 1 educator (classroom practitioner) and a School Governing Body chairperson, operating in four public primary schools (one in each school) in KwaZulu-Natal. The experiences of sustaining school language change of these change agents were interrogated to elicit how and why they were able to sustain or not sustain the school language change that they had initiated in their schools. The insights drawn from this interrogation were used to deepen understanding of the process of school language change that encourages multilingual education. The data used in this study was gathered from in-depth interviews with the change agents and significant others (educators/school managers) in their schools, documentation (school language policies and notices to parents) and a Focus Group Discussion in which the change agents engaged in reflecting on their experiences of driving school language change and commenting on the process of sustaining school language change. The findings from the study revealed that all but two of the change agents were marginally successful in sustaining language change in their schools. The study revealed that school language change was a complex process involving the interplay of various factors and the existence of such factors enabled but did not guarantee the sustainability of school language change. The non-existence of some or any of the factors necessary for school language change thwarted the attempts of the change agents to sustain language change in their schools. Using the experiences of each of the change agents and the collective experience of all four change agents contextualized in qualitatively-oriented case study research and using features of grounded theory research to develop theory from case studies, the study developed a theoretical framework explicating the process of school language change led by internal agents of language change. It is suggested that the framework which seeks to deepen understanding of the complexities of the school language change process can be used as a guide to planning language change but cautions against using it as a blue print for school language change. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.