A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the partial requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand Department of African Literature, March 2017 / XL2018

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Science. December 2015 / Cervical cancer remains a global health related issue among females of Sub-Saharan Africa, with over half a million new cases reported each year. Different therapeutic regimens have been suggested in various regions of Africa, however, over a quarter of a million women die of cervical cancer, annually. This makes it the most lethal cancer amongst black women in this area, and makes it important to search for new effective therapeutic drugs through screening of medicinal plant extracts used by many in Sub-Saharan Africa as potential anti-cervical cancer agents. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-proliferative effects of Cannabis sativa extracts and its isolate, cannabidiol on cervical cancer cell lines HeLa, SiHa, and ME-180. To achieve our aim, phytochemical screening, MTT assay, cell growth analysis, flow cytometry, morphology analysis, Western blot, caspase 3/7 assay, and ATP measurement assay were conducted were conducted. Results obtained indicate that both plant extracts induced cell death at an IC50 of 50 – 100μg/ml and the Inhibition of cell growth was cell line dependent. Flow cytometry confirmed that, with or without cell cycle arrest, the type of induced cell death was apoptosis. Cannabis sativa extracts led to the up-regulation of apoptosis proteins (p53, Bax, caspase-3, and caspase-9) and the down regulation of anti-apoptosis proteins (Bcl-2 and RBBP6), signalling the execution of apoptosis. Apoptosis induction was further confirmed by morphological changes, an increase in Caspase 3/7 and a decrease in the ATP levels. In conclusion, this data implies Cannabis sativa crude extracts has the potential to inhibit growth and induce apoptosis in cervical cancer cell lines, which may be due to the presence of cannabidiol. Key words: Apoptosis, cervical cancer cells, cannabidiol, and Cannabis sativa extracts

Little is known about breast health behaviors in Afro-Caribbean women (ACW) residing in the United States, as they are often included in the collective group of African American women (AAW). The objective of this study was to determine the influence of a spiritually-guided intervention on breast health self-care (BHSC) attitudes in ACW residing in southeastern Florida using a concurrent triangulation mixed methods design. One hundred and seventeen women were recruited from three local south Florida Caribbean churches. Inclusion criteria included: (a) self-identification as Afro-Caribbean, (b) female aged 30 years or older, (c) living in the United States for at least 1 year, (d) able to provide informed consent, (e) able to speak and read English at the 8th grade level, and (f) no previous history of breast cancer. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

During the 1860s in Paris, Edouard Manet and his circle transformed the style and content of art to reflect an emerging modernity in the social, political and economic life of the city. Manet's Olympia (1863) was foundational to the new manner of painting that captured the changing realities of modern life in Paris. One readily observable development of the period was the emergence of a small but highly visible population of free blacks in the city, just fifteen years after the second and final French abolition of territorial slavery in 1848. The discourse around Olympia has centered almost exclusively on one of the two figures depicted: the eponymous prostitute whose portrayal constitutes a radical revision of conventional images of the courtesan. This dissertation will attempt to provide a sustained art-historical treatment of the second figure, the prostitute's black maid, posed by a model whose name, as recorded by Manet, was Laure. It will first seek to establish that the maid figure of Olympia, in the context of precedent and Manet's other images of Laure, can be seen as a focal point of interest, and as a representation of the complex racial dimension of modern life in post-abolition Paris. It will then examine the continuing resonance and influence of Manet's Laure across successive generations of artists from Manet's own time to the present moment. The dissertation thereby suggests a continuing iconographic lineage for Manet's Laure, as manifested in iteratively modernizing depictions of the black female figure from 1870 to the present. Artworks discussed include a clarifying homage to Manet by his acolyte Frédéric Bazille; the countertypical portrayal by early modernist Henri Matisse of two principal black models as personifications of cosmopolitan modernity; the presentation by collagist Romare Bearden of a black odalisque defined by cultural, rather than sexual, attributes metaphoric of the cultural hybridity of African American culture; and direct engagement with Manet's depiction of Laure by selected contemporary artists, including Maud Sulter and Mickalene Thomas, often with imagery, materials and processes also influenced by Matisse or Bearden. In each case, the fitfully evolving modernity of the black female figure will be seen to emerge from each artist's fidelity to his or her transformative creative vision regardless of the representational norms of the day. The question of what, if anything, is represented by Manet's idiosyncratic depiction of the prostitute's black maid has seldom been comprehensively addressed by the histories of modern art. The small body of published commentary about Manet's Laure, with a few notable exceptions, generally dismisses the figure as meaning, essentially, nothing -- except as an ancillary intensifier of the connotations of immorality attributed to the prostitute. Manet's earlier portrait of Laure, rich in significations relevant to her portrayal in Olympia, is even more rarely discussed, and typically seen as a study for Olympia, rather than as a stand-alone portrait as this analysis suggests. The image of Laure as Olympia's maid is frequently oversimplified as a racist stereotype, a perspective that belies the metonymic implications of a figure that is simultaneously centered and obscured. It is in the extensive body of response to Laure's Olympia pose by artists, more than by historians, that the full complexity and enduring influence of the figure's problematic nuance can be seen. This dissertation, like the artists, takes its cues from the formal qualities of Manet's images of Laure, in the context of precedent images and the fraught racial interface within Manet's social and artistic milieu, to suggest new and revisionary narratives. It suggests that Manet's Laure can be seen as an early depiction of an evolving cultural hybridity among black Parisians- visible in Laure's placement, affect and attire--that took shape during the early years of the newly built northern areas of Paris that are today home to some of the largest black populations in central Paris. Within this context, an iconographic legacy of ambivalent yet innovative modernity can be asserted for the Laure figure -extending from Delacroix to Matisse, Bearden and beyond. This lineage can be seen as parallel to the long-established pictorial lineage for Manet's figuring of the prostitute Olympia. What is at stake is an art-historical discourse posed as an intervention with the prevailing historical silence about the representation and legacy of Manet's Laure, and by derivation about the significance of the black female muse to the formation of modernism. This analysis suggests that the black female figure is foundational to the evolving aesthetics of modern art. It suggests that Olympia's standing as a progenitor of modern painting can only be enhanced by breaking through the marginalization of Laure's representational legacy. It asserts that it is only when the bi-figural significance of Manet's Olympia is recognized that the extent and influence of Manet's radical modernity can be most fully understood.

While the number of African American women filling executive level positions in Fortune 500 companies in America has improved, there is still a need for significant improvements in increasing their access to corporate chief executive officer (CEO) positions. African American women occupy only 11.7% of the board seats, and their representation as CEOs has steadily declined. Throughout the history of Fortune 500 companies, there have been only 14 African American men with CEO titles. As of January 2017, there are no African American women CEOs. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the lived experiences and perceptions of 15 African American women who aspire to be chief executive officers in corporate America. The experiences and perceptions of these women were examined to understand why there is a limited number of African American women CEOs despite their increase in executive level roles. The responses from 15 African American revealed that the increased numbers of these women in the executive leadership level resulted from diversity initiatives that made it possible for these women to return to school, and provided a context in which organizational leaders could recognize their talent. The organizations' use of diversity initiatives contributed to practices that legally allow them to minimize the number of minorities they hire at the executive level. The theoretical framework included elements from critical theory, critical race theory, and black feminist theory. The increased representation of these women at the executive level contributes to positive social change because the information adds to the existing literature on the lack of African American women CEOs in corporate America and may provide knowledge that will guide other women pursuing this role.

Despite increases in HIV awareness, prevention and treatment, little is known about the contributing factors to medication adherence among adherent Black women with HIV. Understanding the protective factors that improve medication adherence and CD4 cell count for Black HIV+ women is essential and necessary to improve the treatment outcomes for this understudied population. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between spirituality, social support, trust in physician, and medication adherence among HIV+ Black women. While this study was not designed to test the influence on medication adherence, it was hypothesized that increased levels of spirituality, social support and trust in physician would positively relate to adherence. In this study, medication adherence was measured by 1) self-report on The AIDS Clinical Trial Group (ACTG) Adherence Questionnaire and 2) CD4 T-cell count. Baseline data was collected from 82 Black women in the Miami-Dade community and participants were administered the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWB), the Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ), and the Trust in Physician Scale (TPS). The results of this study indicate that medication adherence is not related to spiritual well-being, social support, or trust in physician. However, a significant positive correlation between spiritual well-being and trust in physician was found. Findings suggest that additional research is needed to explore the multifarious nature of the factors that enhance medication adherence for this population. Implications for research and practice are discussed with respect to the inclusion of spirituality, social support and trust in physician components within prevention and intervention programs designed to increase adherent behaviors among Black HIV+ women.

This dissertation develops a social analysis the Brazilian Black women's non-governmental organizations (NGOs) by focusing on their political activism around issues of Black women's sexual and reproductive health. My research responds to two major questions: (1) what has been the effectiveness of the political work of Black Women's NGOs in the areas of sexual and reproductive health in Brazil, particularly with respect to reducing the effects of racial, gender, and class discrimination; (2) what are the contributions that these NGO's have made to the formation of Black women's agency and collective organizing in their communities? The finding of this study is that claims and struggles for political autonomy and citizenship rights waged by Black women's NGOs around women's sexual and reproductive health (and health in general) have played a central role both in transforming Black women's life conditions and in promoting their agency and collective organizing in the country. In the 1990s and 2000s there has been an increase in the number of Black women's activists affiliated to NGOs involved in local and national debates with policymakers and healthcare administrators about health disparities and health services. Furthermore, because of the activism of these NGOs, the federal, state and district governments have been forced to endorse and implement specific policies and programs that directly benefit the Black population generally, and Black women, in particular. This dissertation analyzes issues such as feminist movement, aspects of sexual and reproductive health and rights, violence, vulnerability, and Black women's experiences in relation to race, gender, class, and sexuality as major systems of oppression. It focuses on the histories of four Black women's organizations in the Brazilian cities of Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre: Criola, Grupo de Mulheres Felipa de Sousa, ACMUN (Cultural Association of Black Women) and Maria Mulher. In addition, this dissertation contributes to the documentation of Black women's contemporary history concerning political organizing in Brazil. Ultimately, I hope this dissertation will be beneficial to scholars and activists in Brazil and elsewhere focusing their political work on the eradication of racial and gender oppression, and winder issues of social justice. / text

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The dissertation examines the coping strategies of women curio sellers of the Durban Beachfront. In order to know the coping strategies employed the study looked at the problems that the curio sellers face. The understanding of the women's coping strategies by the service providers while addressing the needs of the curio sellers was also examined. The Fieldwork was conducted at the Durban Beachfront among a total of 35 women drawn through the accidental and snowball sampling techniques. Findings: Women curio sellers experience problems related to recognition of their work, capitaVcredit, shelter, accommodation, crime and laws that impede their business operations. Though these problems are quite crippling, women are not entirely helpless. They cope. The coping strategies of the curio sellers are both individual and collective. The individual coping strategies are used to deal with immediate problems and the collective strategies are used to tackle problems that women would not resolve as individuals. The collective efforts are transfonnative in that they seek to change women's position. The effectiveness of the coping strategies is demonstrated by the number of women that employ them and the gains made by using the strategies. Through collective coping strategies women have been able to get the authorities to act on the problems they face such as crime, shelter and accommodation. Coping strategies have implications for participation in endeavours to resolve the problems faced by the curio sellers. The service providers are aware of the problems faced by the women and some of the coping strategies that the traders employ. The service providers have made efforts to resolve the problems of the women but these efforts have not been fruitful. Women's coping strategies appear not to have been taken into consideration and their participation has not featured much in the planning and implementation of the programmes aimed at assisting them. For development programmes to be effective and sustainable, women's coping strategies need to be taken into account in the planning and implementation of development programmes. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1997.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1997.