No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

The thesis concerns the persistent coupling of formal and informal industrial relations within a particular manufacturing company. At first, the company's formal structure of industrial relations was heavily tempered by the operation of informal cross cutting ties. The resultant system of industrial relations was one that might be regarded as a hybrid, integrating formal and informal networks of relationships within the organization of the factory. The quite discernible ethos of informality or paternalism remained largely unchallenged by the rather facilitating political conditions that prevailed at the time. However, the political climate has, in the last decade or so, been subject to considerable pressure that has resulted in some far reaching and fundamental changes to the political order of the country. The emergent political conditions have enforced upon the company the need for change. The essence of such changes were perceived to hinge upon the transformation of the company's system of industrial relations. The transformation entailed the establishment of a more overtly formal system of industrial relations, separating the formal and informal relations which had becomes inextricably entwined. However, the objectives of such changes were never quite achieved. The distinction between the formal and informal industrial relations remained submerged in the melee of intergroup contestation. The various interest groups in the factory context appropriated the division between formal and informal industrial relations, enabling these groups to phrase their industrial strategies within an idiom most contextually appropriate. What emerged was an extension of this tendency to merge formal and informal industrial relations. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1995.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1978.

This is a study conducted in a telecommunications call centre called the Greater Brand Company; located in KwaZulu Natal, in a suburb North of Durban. I conducted fieldwork for a complete year whilst working full time in the call centre. Although the call centre had over 400 call centre agents employed at the Durban branch, I had access to 121 agents who worked a similar shift as me. The experiences of these agents are brought to life through this piece of research. The Great Branding Company (pseudonym) is an inbound call centre, which means it handles incoming calls and offers customer service to these callers. It has been argued that “since their appearance on the scene in the early 1990s, call centres have become the most important single source of customer contact in the developed information economies. They have also become huge employment generators, with jobs numbering in the millions” (Rusell, 2008: 01). The call centre industry is growing globally and South Africa is in line with this growth. The nature of the work is also very fast paced and challenging, yet monotonous, for the faceless employees who are working in this environment. The research aims to bring an understanding of these challenges and offer insight into the activities that agents engage in as ways to cope with their jobs. I carefully chose research methodologies that I believed were going to add value to the research. Writing from the emic perspective offers an opportunity to be able to be part of the study and share my views with very little inhibitions and thus offering a richer ethnography. My research was conducted using purely qualitative research tools because it examines the lives of the call centre agents and there is no better way to showcase this than through qualitative research. Participant observation being the key tool that I used to gain information in true Anthropology style. Being a participating observer did not mean I was devoid of barriers to entry; it did however put me at an advantage to gain better rapport amongst the research participants who considered me to be one of their own. In supplementing participant observation I also used focused groups, unstructured interviews and semi structured interviews for those questions that required greater probing. The combination of all these research methodologies allowed me an opportunity to gain a greater understanding into the lives of agents and thus write some detailed ethnographic chapters. The study adds to the field of Industrial Anthropology and hopes to spark a greater interest into this field thereby creating a platform for more researchers to conduct studies on call centre employment in the South African context. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

Lolu lucwaningo olumayelana neqhaza elingabanjwa ubuciko namasiko ukukhuthaza ukuzwana nokubekezelelana ngokwamasiko nokuvuselela ubuntu phakathi kwezinhlanga ezahlukene KwaZulu-Natal. Kulolu cwaningo kucutshungulwa izindlela ezingasetshenziswa ukwenza izizwe zamasiko ehlukahlukene zikwazi ukwazana kangcono nokungaholela ekuhloniphaneni kanye nasekuhlalisaneni ngokuzwana. Ngasekuqaleni kwalolu cwaningo, kuye kwahlahlelwa kabanzi amagama abumbe isihloko salolu cwaningo ngenhloso yokuveza ukubaluleka kwalolu cwaningo. Kuye kwavela izincazelo ezahlukene ezichaza isiko, kuvele umongo wesiko njengomthetho wesizwe oyinkolelo yokwakha umphakathi, ukuzazisa nokwehluka kwesizwe kwezinye, ubugugu, ukuziphatha kanye nendlela yokuphilisana ngokwabelana kwabantu nokuhlanganisa impilo yabantu. Kulolu cwaningo kubhekwe iqhaza elibanjwe ngumkhakha wezobuciko namasiko ukuphumelelisa impokophelo yoMnyango Wezemfundo KwaZulu-Natal nokuyilapho kuye kwavela khona ukugqugquzela nokulondoloza amagugu esizwe kanye nokuthuthukisa imisebenzi yezobuciko namasiko njengeminye yemisebenzi esemqoka yalolu phiko. Kuye kwacutshungulwa eminye yemikhosi egujwa yisizwe samaZulu okubalwa phakathi kweminye, uMkhosi woMhlanga; uMkhosi weLembe (inkosi uShaka) kanye noMkhosi woKweshwama. Lapha kuye kwacutshungulwa umsuka kanye nomongo womkhosi ngomkhosi ngenhloso yokuthola ukufana okuqukethwe nokungaholela ekwakheni ukwazana kangcono ngenxa yomongo ofanayo oqukethwe yisiko lesizwe nesizwe. Lokhu kwenzeke ngokubheka neminye yemikhosi egujwa yisizwe samaNdiya okubalwa kuyo umgubho woBuciko Bomlomo; umgubho kaDiwali kanye naleyo egujwa ngokuhlanganyela kwezinhlanga ezahlukene zaKwaZulu-Natal okubalwa kuyo umgubho woKunambitha kanye noWesitimela. Phakathi kolwazi oluqoqiwe Iwalolu cwaningo, kuye kwavela lokhu okulandelayo njengalokho okungabamba iqhaza ukukhuthaza ukuzwana nokubekezelelana ngokwamasiko nokuvuselela ubuntu: ukufundisa ngamasiko; ukusebenzisa ubuciko namasiko ukuvuselela ubuntu; ukuthuthukisa izilimi zomdabu; ukuziqhayisa kwentsha ngesiko; ukukhuthaza ubusikoningi kanye nobuliminingi. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2008.

Previous studies have demonstrated that Zulu Zionists remained peace-loving and politically quiescent in times of racial segregation and political injustice. Since then the political situation in South Africa has shifted dramatically and, despite the dismantling of apartheid structures and the unbanning of major Black political organisations, political violence and instability have becomethe order of the day. The main concern of this dissertation was therefore to explore the response of Zulu Zionists in Kwa Mashu to such a volatile political climate and to ascertain whether they can uphold their reputed apolitical attitude. It emerged from fieldwork, conducted in Kwa Mashu, Durban, over a period of 22 months, that their social boundaries, group cohesiveness and religious identity are threatened by the negative side-effects of an increased politicisation. Like their fellow township dwellers, Kwa Mashu Zionists are expected to take sides and are exposed to political propaganda and intimidation. Young Zionists, in particular, are prone to violate the apolitical stance of their church, for they are not only marginalized within their congregations but they are also the main object of political pressure and recruitment. However, it was found that the majority of Zionists successfully resisted being drawn completely into political participation and insisted on the retention of their religious values. Those who choose political partisanship defend their religious convictions and hold out against taking part in violent political competition. To counteract the intrusion of politically related damage and to prevent their youth from religious alienation, Zionists no longer exclusively emphasise the negative implications of politics but acknowledge the inevitability of being conscious about it. Zionists thereby reach an acceptable definition of politics which does not endanger group-cohesiveness and does little harm to their social boundaries. The conclusion reached in this study is that Kwa Mashu Zionists confront the encroachment of politics by transforming it into a harmless form of political consciousness. In this form Zionists can assimilate politics and employ it as an instrument for achieving their goals in the upliftment of the economic poor and the socially disadvantaged. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1993.

This thesis is based on a study examining the concept of African scholarship through the contributions of foreign African academics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) on the Howard College and Pietermaritzburg campuses. Being branded “The Premier University of African Scholarship” the study principally set out to investigate the role played by these academics as possible conduits in the expansion of African scholarship within the knowledge production circuit. The concept of African scholarship, though not a novel term, remains an elusive category that still needs to be defined within the global knowledge economy. A cursory look at written literature around African scholarship reveals a general tendency that presents „the debate‟ much more as a theoretical engagement and less at empirical engagements that could help advance the practicalities of this concept within the different intellectual debates. Among the different pockets of intellectuals concerned with the vision of African scholarship, the African diaspora outside the continent has always played a leading role in the need to address the African knowledge paradigms within the global intellectual production of knowledge. This study is of significance because it engages with an emerging African diaspora within the South African space and attempts to highlight how their experiences as migrants help in broadening the understanding of the African experience as a knowledge site. Using in-depth interviews within a qualitative research framework in combination with the technique of observation, the findings of this study reveal that as an emerging diaspora, foreign African academics at UKZN, are actively taking advantage of the university‟s slogan to meaningfully (re)insert „Africanness‟ in the kind of knowledge that is produced in the institution. Their contributions are measured in terms of postgraduate supervision, new research agendas, pedagogic and curricular development and networks of collaborations with other universities in Africa. Using an anthropological approach the study equally examines the implications of the attempt to position African scholarship within the global knowledge production map. The study further highlights the role that social identities such as gender, language, nationality, and race can play as epistemic spaces in the advancement of African scholarship. By engaging with these markers, the debate advances beyond the current ad hoc manner of presenting African scholarship simplistically within political rhetoric to a more nuanced incorporation of other markers which should occupy epistemic spaces within the discourse of African scholarship. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

This study set out to examine contextual level drivers of HIV among the South African Indian community of Chatsworth. Very little is currently known about HIV/AIDS among South African Indians. It was from this starting point that I set out to research this largely unexplored study topic, to gain insight into and understanding of the non-biological factors that underlie the spread of HIV/AIDS among people in Chatsworth. In-depth interviews, informal discussions and participant observation were carried out among community members, including members who were HIV positive. Findings revealed that poverty, gender power relations and stigma were major social factors contributing to the growth of HIV/AIDS within the South African Indian community of Chatsworth. Poverty places many in vulnerable positions, having to choose between treatment and disability grants to buy food for example, and gender inequalities make women more susceptible to contracting HIV than men. Culture plays a role in placing women in high risk situations. Furthermore stigma, denial and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS makes it very difficult for HIV positive people to disclose their status and to live their lives in the community. The importance of understanding the context in which the HIV/AIDS pandemic is occurring and the various cultural factors that play a role in the experience of HIV/AIDS in people?s lives, is argued to be vital to the development of successful strategies to prevent and manage the disease. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

This study examines social adjustment and renegotiation of identity through networking, arrival and settlement of Nigerian migrants in Durban. The focus of the study therefore was based on the interrogation of personal relationships and the varying experiences that the migrants had as newcomers to Durban. It examined the barriers and challenges that individual Nigerian migrants encountered, as well as the ways in which they sought to transcend them. Since the study is anthropological it seeks to describe the migration experience from individuals‘ perspectives. I used both overt and covert participant observation, as well as semi structured interviews as part of my qualitative research approach. The goal was exploratory with a view to understanding the human side to a group that is often tarnished by accusations of illicit activities. While the number of Nigerian migrants in South Africa has increased since 1994, the media has been selective in its reporting of this migrant population group in Durban, shaping and determining popular perception about them. Issues such as reasons for coming to South Africa, their challenges and coping strategies, and their personal living experiences in Durban were central to this project. The information will show that respondents to my research had different reasons for migrating and settling in Durban. As much as the individual case studies differed in many ways they converge towards at least one common goal – that is to uplift themselves and their communities back home in Nigeria. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1984.