Today, concerns for environmental quality affect nearly all walks of life. In response to demands for resource conservation, architecture has become more complicated because the design process now depends on a large number of different disciplines. Now more than ever, building owners and users have many requirements—informed by developments in knowledge, technology, and science. These stakeholders are asking architects to design for lower operational cost, good daylighting and views, and higher indoor environmental quality (IEQ). Integrating all of these issues in building design is a dynamic process, which looks holistically at all of the dimensions of architectural. Present barriers of integrating green and sustainable strategies in the design process are mostly associated with architect's education and the understanding of the fundamental knowledge of the dynamics between the building and the local environmental conditions. For example, Saudi Arabia faces many challenges related to creating more environmentally responsive buildings, and peoples' behavior may not be easily changed with regard to resource conservation. To achieve such changes, a new educational framework for architecture is needed. This study captures and structures knowledge that informed the examination and development of the new knowledge-based educational framework for green building design in Saudi Arabia. Through literature review, a series of case studies, and interviews with professors from United States architecture schools and interviews with graduates from Saudi Arabian architecture schools, the study revealed how knowledge related to green building can be structured and strategically implemented into architectural design education in Saudi Arabia. This framework presents green knowledge in a logical, sequential structure representing a learning path/knowledge map. The knowledge map was not intended to present a sequential structure over the course of several years, but is more general so that it can be applied across all architecture schools in Saudi Arabia. In other words, the knowledge map may be applied as-is within the current architectural educational knowledge in Saudi Arabia schools, or it can be used as a guideline and assistance tool for educators and school administrators. Overall, this framework presents a workable model for green design education in the context of the existing Saudi Arabia educational practices. Thus, the goal of the final knowledge framework is to transform the architectural educational system in Saudi Arabia. / Ph. D.

Thesis (Ph.D. Commerce (Human Resource Management)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / Workplace bullying is a complex and widespread phenomenon, which has become a challenge to understand as an organisational phenomenon because of its complexity and numerous labels and terms that are used interchangeably by researchers, media and the public, when describing the behaviour. The potential for bullying in the workplace is always present in situations where people continually interact. Currently, workplace bullying has become a phenomenon that has caused significant problems when ignored. This study endeavoured to explore workplace bullying from African indigenous perspective with no predominantly continuation of the work from Western countries and develop strategies and model of managing workplace bullying from an African perspective. This empirical study was conducted in Limpopo province and grounded theory was used as methodological strategy with twenty-one indigenous research participants selected through the use of snowball sampling. Furthermore, the constructivist worldview formed the basis of the study on workplace bullying accounts, which was generated through semi-structured interviews with the support of interview guide. Interviews were recorded using call phone recorder, transcribed, coded and analysed using Microsoft Excel and interpreted. Thus, six key themes emerged from this study to address shared themes from individual accounts of workplace bullying incidents, causes and consequences from indigenous, contextualised perspective. The findings of the study identified nine accounts of bullying behaviour. These are disrespect, rumours or bad-mouthing, name calling, threats, unfair treatment, yelling to cause public humiliation, infringement of rights, work overload and domineering. Furthermore, contracts of employment and demonstration of power was identified as causes and dynamics of bullying behaviour. The findings also showed that workplace bullying accounts resulted in high turnover rate, compromised employee well-being and performance. Most participants managed workplace bullying by “doing nothing”. The data also showed that age and gender play a significant role in the African contexts, taking into consideration shared cultural believes and customs. The study further provided a practical model for managing workplace bullying from an African perspective. Furthermore, the study proposes a need for workplace bullying legislation to further increase the severity of bullying behaviour. The study also highlights a need to incorporate indigenous knowledge when managing workplace bullying. Keywords: Workplace bullying; Indigenous knowledge; Western knowledge; Consequences; Conceptual framework; Culture

Department of African Studies / PhD (African Studies) / One of the contemporary themes which dominated discourse in the education fraternity is the integration of IKS in the curriculum of South African education system. There is a growing call for the recognition of contribution by locals and indigenous societies in making education relevant to African children. The aim of the study was to explore the viability of integrating indigenous knowledge into Life Orientation (LO) Curriculum in the intermediate phase. Objectives were to explore Indigenous Knowledge that could be integrated into LO Curriculum in the intermediate phase and to generate knowledge exchange platforms where community and other stakeholders could be involved in the discussion about Indigenous Knowledge integration. A qualitative method and an exploratory-interpretive approach were adopted in the study. Data were gathered through focus group discussions. Data analysis and field notes were clustered thematically. The study indicated that, to integrate Indigenous Knowledge into LO effectively, it could require a shift from the western knowledge focused curriculum taking into cognisance the knowledge of the local inhabitants. The study showed that the integration of Indigenous Knowledge in the South African school curriculum in LO will bring new life into the content and the delivery of tuition. Although there were opportunities to integrate indigenous knowledge in the curriculum, educators felt that the curriculum does not create sufficient space, time and training for the integration of indigenous knowledge. Some of the reasons put forward were that there was inadequate content knowledge on Indigenous Knowledge integration, inadequate support and insufficient allocation of resources. Without a deliberate educator capacity development focusing on indigenous knowledge systems, the viability of IKS integration remains questionable. This is exacerbated by the growing discouragement of Indigenous Knowledge amongst the parents who also felt that there is no practical relevance for IKS in the current education trajectory. Vigorous efforts need to be executed to fast track the process of integrating Indigenous Knowledge in teaching LO in the intermediate phase.

Natural hazards are predicted to only increase in frequency and severity over the next decade, making it crucial to avoid their negative consequences by disaster risk reduction. Reducing risks of natural hazards is not a recent invention as it has been shown that indigenous and local communities possess indigenous and local knowledge systems related to reducing disaster risks. These knowledge systems are however largely being ignored in policy and research. They are also subjected to pressures which risk altering, eroding or destroying them. In this thesis, these indigenous and local knowledge systems and the pressures that might threaten them are explored through a field study with interviews and observations in rural indigenous and local communities in northern Thailand. The findings show clear evidence of multiple and varying types of indigenous and local knowledge systems, such as knowledges, practices, and beliefs that reduce disaster risk. However, multiple types of pressures to the indigenous and local knowledge systems are also found. These pressures have in some cases already resulted in a loss of indigenous and local knowledge systems, or risk doing so in the future. The conclusion of the thesis is that these indigenous and local knowledge systems and the pressures to them should be kept in close mind in research, policy and intervention to improve disaster risk reduction and not perpetuate the current western paradigm.

Climate change poses paramount challenges to our world. While more developed nations in the West are not without harm, among the hardest hit are vulnerable indigenous islanders in the South Pacific. Without sufficient action, Pacific Island nations might become uninhabitable, or practically disappear, in the near future (Belson, 2018). To manage the crisis, leaders across the world have united under supranational agreements in efforts to provide development assistance. In Fiji, this has resulted in an international development campaign anchored in Western ideals, often embracing technocentric and hard engineering solutions. To manage the climate crisis in an indigenous Fijian context, this work argues that sustainable development efforts must embrace indigenous knowledge, and that planning, and planners, can play a crucial part. Through diary entries and fieldnotes, I invite the reader on my journey through Fiji to explore current adaption and mitigation efforts, examine their impact on the indigenous Fijian way of life (bula vakavanua), and propose a way for planning and planners to embrace alternative notions of sustainability in development. As a result, this work promotes development that not only safeguards indigenous land, but the values and traditions under which indigenous land is governed.

Benefiting from the process of globalisation and becoming an information and knowledge society, has become the vision for many governments throughout the world. However, as it has been demonstrated in this thesis, becoming an information and knowledge society is much easier for developed countries that already possess some of the prerequisite criteria, such as an efficient and effective ICT infrastructure. By investing in such an infrastructure, the interaction and exchange of data, information, and knowledge from a local knowledge system with the global knowledge system is enabled. Through this two-way flow of information, the other criteria these countries have to comply with are stimulated, making it much easier and faster for these countries to achieve their goal. However, for the developing countries that are still in the grip of the digital divide, the goal of becoming information and knowledge societies seem nearly unattainable. Owing to this digital divide that is experienced by developing countries, combined with other barriers such as the social barriers that include the overall health and education level of citizens, the citizens of these countries cannot take part in the interaction and exchange process. Thus, this interaction and exchange process cannot aid these countries in complying with the other criteria needed to become information and knowledge societies, and in this way, the progress of developing countries towards becoming information and knowledge societies are seriously hampered. How does the interaction and exchange of data, information, and knowledge between developing countries’ local knowledge systems and the global knowledge system contribute to their development and positive participation in the global information and knowledge society? This is the research question that has guided this thesis. To get an answer to this question the author addressed the following issues:<ul> <li>The author sketched the theoretical foundation of this thesis by providing a brief historical perspective of the Information Science domain. This provided a better understanding of concepts such as data, information, knowledge, global-, western-, and scientific knowledge as well as indigenous-, traditional-, and local knowledge as applied in this thesis. The underlying relationship between these concepts were also explored. Furthermore, the phenomenon of the global information and knowledge society was discussed as one of the opportunities presented by globalisation.</li> <li>The author then analysed the criteria of the information and knowledge society as discussed in Chapter 3, and identified indicators that the stated criteria are constructed from. To investigate whether developed countries are information and knowledge societies, these indicators were applied to Norway and the USA. It was concluded that both countries comply with the stated criteria and are thus information and knowledge societies. </li> <li>The author followed the same method of investigation and applied the indicators identified in Chapter 4 to two developing countries, namely Niger and South Africa. It was concluded that both these countries do not comply with the stated criteria and, thus, are not information and knowledge societies. Furthermore, barriers were identified by the author that inhibit these countries from becoming information and knowledge societies.</li> <li>Lastly, the author discussed proposed solutions and recommendations that can be used to overcome the various barriers that inhibit the progress of developing countries becoming information and knowledge societies. </li></ul> / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Information Science / DPhil / unrestricted

PhD (African Studies) / Centre for African Studies / This interdisciplinary study examined witchcraft beliefs and criminal responsibility in South Africa and Zimbabwe. The unshakeable deep rooted and profound cultural beliefs of African people do not find expression in written law and therefore introduce a mismatch between law as the people live it and law as contained in the statute books. The aim of this interpretive doctrinal (legal) and qualitative research study was two-fold. Firstly, it sought to evaluate and assess the influence of African value systems particularly ethical ideas on the development of criminal responsibility. Secondly, it undertook a comparative examination of the criminal responsibility of actors who commit crimes while labouring under belief in witchcraft. The research, therefore, undertook a comparative examination of the criminal responsibility of actors who commit crimes while labouring under the overpowering fear of belief in witchcraft. In that regard, the study was premised on and informed through theories of criminal punishment, a Human Rights Based Approach, psycho-analytic theory and socio-cultural theory. The primary motivation for the study was the need to address the mismatch of laws and African value systems and to add knowledge to the scholarly legal writing on beliefs in witchcraft. Explorative qualitative research methods of collecting data (case studies, semi-structured interviews and focus groups discussions) and the doctrinal methods of data collection (case law observation, newspaper reports and witchcraft legislations) were employed as the research methodologies for the purposes of this study. For social empirical findings to be useful in integrating with the legal issues, the study adopted an Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) perspective. Although customary practices play a very important role in the lives of the African people, some of the rules can no longer withstand constitutional scrutiny. The research findings confirmed the mismatch that exists between the African value systems and the law. The study unveiled that the African value systems of the two countries have been affected by modernity. Also, the two countries have similar laws governing the aspect of belief in witchcraft that are weak and archaic thus introducing a lacuna in the

The quest for epistemic liberation remains an important project in the post-colonial era of Zambia, and entails challenging the existing inequalities in knowledge representation at the epistemic front in the country. At the core of this quest is the position that the continued dominance of Western knowledge and the corresponding marginalisation of indigenous knowledges amount to an epistemic injustice that affects the contemporary existence of the peoples in the country. This study critically examines the problem of epistemic injustice in Zambia while reflecting on the country’s uncompleted project of decolonisation. It traces the problem from the theoretical assumption of modernity that Western knowledge is universal and that it should, therefore, be applied to all societies in the world. It is submitted that the current education system in Zambia is based on this assumption, and, consequently, favours Western knowledge to the exclusion of indigenous knowledges. This practice is identified as a conduit for accelerating epistemic injustice and its intensity in the country. The study approaches this problem from an African philosophical standpoint, and draws its current from the history of the political struggle against domination on the continent. To adequately confront the problem of epistemic injustice in Zambia, the study suggests parity and equilibrium in representation between indigenous knowledges and Western knowledge in the country. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M.A. (Philosophy)