Magister Artium - MA / South Africa became a globally recognised democratic country in need of a development agenda after its first democratic elections were held in 1994. Democratising South Africa, however, requires rigorous attempts to open up spaces for and by the previously silenced and marginalised segments of society to become active and participatory citizens. Within the framework of New Literacy Studies and a “sociolinguistics of mobility” (Blommaert 2010), this study explored the link between selected discourses and literacy resources used by three groups of Coloured women in the working class township of Wesbank in Cape Town, South Africa. The study was framed as ethnographic, qualitative research and Appraisal Theory (a branch of Systemic Functional Linguistics) was applied to analyse the identified discourses. Based on the research findings, I also identified what literacy resources these women used for the purposes of empowering one another and the broader space of Wesbank. In addition, I proceeded to label several “transportable literacies” that my research participants from this hybrid community – where everyone “…is a migrant from elsewhere” (Dyers 2008) - appeared to be sharing in order to co-create the spaces which they use in Wesbank.

This thesis is concerned with the mobilisation of African labour in South Central Africa and the creation of a dual economy there. The problem it seeks to examine is why a purely migrant labour system was created, in which Africans spent only short periods in the cash economy interspersed with longer periods in their own subsistence one. This problem is closely linked with the wider issues of land policy, native policy, and colonial labour theory in the nineteenth century. Using the records of the Colonial Office and of the British South Africa Company's administrations in Northern and Southern Rhodesia, together with other contemporary material, an attempt is made to examine the relationship between developments in the Rhodesias and wider colonial experience, between the Company's aims in its administration and the Colonial Office's control of it. Colonial labour theory in the nineteenth century is found to have emerged as a response to the end of the slave trade and the emancipation of the slaves, as a need to substitute for force both stimulants (like taxation) to overcome so-called tropical indolence and a modicum of land hunger to overcome excessive dependence on subsistence. This had to be balanced, however, by the need to protect the interests and rights of indigenous peoples in the face of humanitarian concern and international opinion. These considerations, coupled with administrative expediency and the desire of European settler communities for the security of social and political segregation, led to the creation of a reserves policy. In Southern Rhodesia, the absence of a genuine reserves policy during the first years of settlement appeared to lead to disastrous relations with the native peoples. The Colonial Office insisted upon the creation of reserves, and the effect, if not the intention, of subsequent Company native policy was to move Africans increasingly on to the reserves, away from European centres of employment, opportunities for marketing produce and stock, and principal lines of communication. As a result, Africans' capacity to respond rationally to the cash economy actually declined as opportunities for exploring the various avenues into it were withdrawn with geographical isolation. In consequence labour became a purely migratory experience which entailed brief periods in the essentially alien environment (accentuated by ordinance) of the town or mine location. This was accentuated also by the migration of labour into Southern Rhodesia from throughout South Central Africa and the import of indentured labour from overseas, policies pursued by an administration convinced of the inadequacy of the internal labour supply. Thus Colonial Office concern for the protection of the native interest led to the perpetuation of an inefficient and, to the African, disturbing system, which ultimately facilitated the mortgaging of Africans' social and political development. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

The diploma work deals with the view of Prof. Dr. Albín Bráf on social politics. Albín Bráf, who wrote many works that treat social politics, was a distinguished Czech economist and politician living on the break of the 19th and 20th century. The aim of the work is to find out what were Bráf's theoretical opinions about social politics and whether he asserted any governmental intervention in this area. The work is divided into two chapters. The first one contains the biography of Bráf. The second chapter describes his view of social politics and is further subdivided into particular sections that deal with issues that Bráf was concerned with (e. g. the insurance of workers, the legislation for the protection of workers, the problematics of wages and alms). This work draws from the Bráf's works concerned with social politics chiefly and uses the method of analysis of original sources and the comparation of Bráf's view with actual Czech conception and understanding of social politics .

The particular forms of work in provincial Massachusetts influenced and were reflected in the structure of that society to an extent previously ignored by social historians. While this study presents a description of individual practices and collective patterns of work, it addresses itself to the broader framework of provincial society. As the analysis proceeds, it tests the conclusions of a large number of recent historians who have found significant change in the social structure of Massachusetts in the decades prior to 1765. There were two distinct settings for work in the province: the rural network of self-contained towns where subsistence farming and an informal system of labor and commodity exchange formed a socio-economic base for the great majority of the population; and the commercial economy of coastal Massachusetts, as exemplified by Boston, where contracted specialized crafts work and individual control of production were the most common features of labor. This analysis of work and workers reveals a marked difference in the respective forms of work in each of the settings, but it confirms a similar degree of communal influence upon the nature and objectives of work. Conversely, the chief features and arrangements of work helped to sustain the established forms of family, domicile and local society. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

This master thesis in History of Science and Ideas explores ideas held by Swedishimmigrants to the United States during the period 1859-1909: their opinions about the newlife in America compared to the life they had before in Sweden. Previous researchindicates that Swedish immigrants in general had a positive view on the possibility tosupport themselves by working in America, contrasted to the limited possibilities to do soin Sweden. Furthermore, they were attracted to America since workers there wereconsidered as equals to persons from upper social classes. Yet, Swedes also had to adaptto the new culture, for example by learning English. The immigrants did not likeeverything about America but most of them wanted to stay there for the rest of their life.The results in this study points to the same conclusions but the source material usedletterswritten by (mainly) workers- makes it possible to take the analysis a bit further, insome respects.

This master thesis in History of Science and Ideas explores ideas held by Swedishimmigrants to the United States during the period 1859-1909: their opinions about the newlife in America compared to the life they had before in Sweden. Previous researchindicates that Swedish immigrants in general had a positive view on the possibility tosupport themselves by working in America, contrasted to the limited possibilities to do soin Sweden. Furthermore, they were attracted to America since workers there wereconsidered as equals to persons from upper social classes. Yet, Swedes also had to adaptto the new culture, for example by learning English. The immigrants did not likeeverything about America but most of them wanted to stay there for the rest of their life.The results in this study points to the same conclusions but the source material usedletterswritten by (mainly) workers- makes it possible to take the analysis a bit further, insome respects.

This survey follows the development of working-class poetry from Whitman to contemporary poets. It begins by considering how the need for working-class poetry emerged. Whitman’s “Song of Myself” sought to democratize poetry both my challenging previous poetic formal conventions and broadening the scope of included subjects. Williams also challenged formal expectations, but both were limited by their historical and socioeconomic position. To combat this, I include the twentieth-century poets Ignatow and Levine who began in the working class so they could speak truths that had not been published before. Ignatow includes the phrase “dream of completion” which encapsulates various feelings of the working class. This dream could include moments of temporary leisure, but also feeling completed by societal acceptance or understanding. Finally, I include the contemporary poets Laux, Addonizio, and Espada. They complicate the “dream of completion” narrative with issues surrounding gender and race, and do not seek to find resolution.

Between Cross and Hammer. Reception of Social Thought in the Catholic Church during the First Half of the 20th Century ABSTRACT The thesis examines the construction, development, transfer, and adaptation of Catholic social thought in the first half of the 20th century. Social Catholicism is understood not only as a concept defined by the social teachings of the Church in the form of encyclicals, but primarily as a collective social practice present in society in various forms. From this perspective the thesis contributes to the debate around the secularization discourse and the role of religion in modern society. The analysis of the Social Catholic movement is done in two different national contexts: Belgium and Czechoslovakia. Comparative method finds its place dominantly in the second part of the study, which puts together the network of Social Catholic organizations and different actors in both countries. The focus on the discourse and social practices of Social Catholicism and Catholics' involvement among the working class tries to reinforce connections and links within ecclesiastical, social, and cultural history. Jakub ŠTOFANÍK

(in English) A thesis deals with the secularization of a Prague, especially Smichow working class in the second half of the 19th century. The working class is usually considered the most secular stratum and the aim of the thesis is to verify the proposition locally and to examine why the process of secularization occurred in the working class so powerfully. The working class is drafted as a social stratum in which the process acts as well as the stratum actively practices it. The process of secularization is then divided into three categories; religion - spirituality - church and the process is conceptualized as "de-catholization" as well as the spiritual transformation. In the process of the transformation, traditional religion (Catholicism), its institutions (church) and religiosity lose their socio-cultural power and are replaced by modern ideologies, state (bureaucratic and rational) structures and implicit spirituality, resp., "un- religious faith". In the process of secularization, there is particularly stressed the role of urbanization, industrialization, socialism, church and its social teaching. In the thesis, there are combined theoretical approaches of the sociology of religion (the sacred canopy) and religious studies (dimensions of the Sacred) and are applied to the secondary and...

(in English) A thesis deals with the secularization of a Prague, especially Smichow working class in the second half of the 19th century. The working class is usually considered the most secular stratum and the aim of the thesis is to verify the proposition locally and to examine why the process of secularization occurred in the working class so powerfully. The working class is drafted as a social stratum in which the process acts as well as the stratum actively practices it. The process of secularization is then divided into three categories; religion - spirituality - church and the process is conceptualized as "de-catholization" as well as the spiritual transformation. In the process of the transformation, traditional religion (Catholicism), its institutions (church) and religiosity lose their socio-cultural power and are replaced by modern ideologies, state (bureaucratic and rational) structures and implicit spirituality, resp., "un- religious faith". In the process of secularization, there is particularly stressed the role of urbanization, industrialization, socialism, church and its social teaching. In the thesis, there are combined theoretical approaches of the sociology of religion (the sacred canopy) and religious studies (dimensions of the Sacred) and are applied to the secondary and...