Thesis (M.A.)--University of Alberta, 2009. / "Fall 2009." Title from pdf file main screen (viewed on October 30, 2009). A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Department of Political Science, University of Alberta. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Bowling Green State University, 2005. / Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 131 p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, March, 2004. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 215-235)

Proefschrift Universiteit Maastricht. / Met lit. opg. - Met een samenvatting in het Nederlands.

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this analytical study was to establish whether the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) operates as a true public broadcaster or as a state-controlled broadcaster. The performance of the ZBC was analysed through its main 8.00 pm television news bulletins broadcast during the period between the signing of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) by the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front, ZANU (PF) and the two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) political parties in September 2008 and the establishment of the inclusive Government of National Unity (GNU) in February 2009. The study was undertaken from within the paradigms of the Social Responsibility Theory as this was deemed the most applicable in terms of the research subject. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were applied as part of a process of triangulation. The qualitative research method, as the main methodological approach, was applied to solicit views and opinions of participants by use of questionnaires designed to interview specific interviewees, namely the ZBC journalists and spokespersons for the various political parties now in the GNU. The journalists explained how they gathered and packaged news bulletins having to endure some government interference on a regular basis. The MDCs' spokespersons outlined how the ZBC denied them broadcast time for their rallies, press statements and participation in live debates. ZANU (PF) was of the view that the MDC parties only wanted to blame the previous ZANU (PF) government through “unsubstantiated” remarks about bias and the breakdown of the rule of law and absence of democracy and freedom of expression in the country. This, according to ZANU (PF), they did in order to please their alleged Western financiers like Britain and the United States who imposed targeted sanctions on the country. Through the analysis of political parties' accessibility to the main television news bulletins, the research confirmed the assumption that the ZBC is still biased in favour of the former sole ruling ZANU (PF) party which is also in charge of the information ministry in the GNU. The study concluded that since the ZBC, as a public-funded institution, was clearly not accessible to different political parties and civic society groups in order for them to participate in a crucial nation-building process, it failed to fulfil its expected mandate as a public broadcaster. By also negating a social responsibility role that calls for high professional conduct, fairness and objectivity expected of public broadcasters, this study showed that the ZBC was still a state-controlled broadcaster that needs to be reformed. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie analitiese studie was om vas te stel of die Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) as 'n ware openbare uitsaaier of as 'n staatsbeheerde uitsaaier funksioneer. Die werkverrigting van die ZBC is geanaliseer deur die 8 nm-TV-bulletin gedurende die periode tussen die ondertekening van die Global Political Agreement (GPA), deur die Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, ZANU (PF) en die twee Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) politieke partye in September 2008 en die totstandkoming van die inklusiewe Government of National Unity (GNU) in Februarie 2009 te bestudeer. Beide kwalitatiewe en kwantitatiewe navorsingsmetodes is toegepas deur dit met die proses van triangulering te kombineer. Die kwalitatiewe navorsingsmetode, wat die hoof-metodologiese benadering is, is aangewend om perspektiewe en opinies van deelnemers te verkry, deur gebruik te maak van vraelyste wat ontwerp is vir spesifieke deelnemers, naamlik die ZBC joernaliste en woordvoerders van die verskillende politieke partye, tans in die GNU. Die joernaliste verduidelik hoe hulle met die inwin van nuus en samestelling van nuusbulletins inmenging van die staat op 'n gereelde basis moes verduur. Woordvoerders van die MDC het in breë trekke uiteengesit hoe die ZBC hul uitsaaityd geweier het vir hul byeenkomste, persverklarings en deelname aan regstreekse debatte. Die ZANU (PF)-deelnemers is van mening dat die MDC- partye net die vorige regering wou blameer deur "ongesubstansieerde‟ opmerkings te maak oor vooroordeel en die ontbinding van die oppergesag van die gereg, die afwesigheid van demokrasie en vryheid van spraak in die land. Dit sou hulle doen om hul beweerde Westerse finansiers, soos Brittanje en die Verenigde State, wat geteikende sanksies op die partyleierskap opgelê het, insluitende president Robert Mugabe, tevrede te stel. 'n Analise van die politieke partye se toegang tot die hooftelevisie-nuusbulletins bevestig die hipotese dat die ZBC steeds die vorige enkel regerende ZANU (PF)-party wat in beheer van die inligtingsministerie in die GNU is, bevoordeel. Die slotsom is dat, aangesien die ZBC, 'n openbaar-gefinansierde instansie, ontoeganklik vir verskillende politieke partye en burgerlike gemeenskapsgroepe is, hulle van deelname aan 'n belangrike nasiebouproses uitgesluit is. Daarmee faal die ZBC in sy veronderstelde mandaat van 'n ware openbare uitsaaier, asook sy sosiale verantwoordelikheidsrol, wat hoë professionele gedrag, regverdigheid en objektiwiteit van openbare uitsaaiers vereis. Die studie bewys die ZBC is steeds 'n staatsbeheerde uitsaaier wat hervorm moet word.

Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

The Schools and Colleges Permaculture (SCOPE) Programme in Zimbabwe has developed a process for use by schools in planning for the sustainable management of their land. The process is called Integrated Land-Use Design (ILUD) and is based on Permaculture principles. The ILUD process has so far been implemented in 54 pilot schools where it has been used to facilitate the re-design of the school grounds through the active participation of the students, staff and parents. The aim of this research was to investigate what environmental learning takes place during the implementation of the ILUD process and related activities, with a view to informing the improvement of the process. The research was conducted within the interpretive paradigm with particular use being made of the Symbolic Interactionist theoretical framework to explore the social situations in which the ILUD process has been applied. A purposive sample of two schools and five form 4 (grade 11) pupils from each school was selected for the study. The main data collection method was the structured interview. Other data were collected from nonparticipant observations and the analysis of documents, particularly photographs. The data was analysed using the constant comparative method. The findings point towards a significant contribution from the Permaculture activities to the environmental knowledge, environmental management skills and the positive environmental attitudes of the pupils. The work done at the two schools indicates the usefulness of the ILUD process as a tool for environmental action in the schools but its application in the communities was found to be limited by constraints such as lack of resources and the limited capacity of teachers to work in the field of adult education and training. It is recommended that Permaculture should be integrated into the secondary school curriculum if the momentum of the progress made so far is to be maintained. The SCOPE Programme itself needs to be strengthened for its work with communities. There is, for example, a need for adult education and training methods if the introduction of ILUD to the communities is to be successful.

Within the context of debates surrounding the consumption of global media by local audiences in Third World countries, this study explores the reasons behind satellite television subscription, and consumption of international news among a sample of young professional men and women in contemporary Zimbabwe. The study seeks to uncover how the research participants respond to news broadcast on SABC Africa's '60 minutes live in Africa', a programme which they can only access via satellite television in their country. Working within the frame of audience studies which insists on understanding media consumption and reception in context, this study examines how the respondents, situated within the specific Zimbabwe context, characterised as it is by serious social, economic and political challenges, respond to both regional news and news about their country on '60 minutes live in Africa'. Within the frame of qualitative research the study employs a two-stage sampling procedure and data collection strategy to uncover the factors that underpin international media consumption and reception by professional men and women situated in a country undergoing rapid change. The findings of the study point to the various social and individual factors that underlie media consumption choices as well as to the different socially patterned reasons why local audiences are either attracted to, or reject global media. The study found that SABC Africa's '60 minutes live in Africa' is more popular and better received than Western-broadcast programmes on channels such as BBC, CNN, and Sky News among Zimbabwean professionals. I also uncovered some evidence that cultural proximity and relevance are of supreme importance in determining which media audiences chose to consume and what level of engagement they bring to their reception of global media. These and other findings directly confront media models that privilege beliefs in cultural imperialism and the dominance of Western media and their effects on Third World audiences.

Listening for learning during lectures has been established to be a staged process. Listening's role during didactic andragogical events in the Bulawayo Polyte9hnic Business Studies Department's Business Communication lectures was investigated. Both the qualitative and the quantitative data gathered contributed to a statistical groundstructure and an ethnomethodological outline, which together combined into a balanced description of the listened learning .p rocess in that tertiary learning environment. Data sources included student and lecturer responses as well as observed learning during communicativeness skills development, and whilst learning in lectures and tutorials. The related literature was supported by the study's findings, confirming that individuals perceive, interpret and evaluate information directly in accordancewith their own lifeworld. This includes own learned technique which derives from inherent oral or literate culture base as well as from personal cameral preferences and endowments. The consequent individually different listened learning range constitutes a conventional normal dispersion. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Didactics)

The world is currently afflicted by unstable and undemocratic political systems which are frequently a product of failed political transitions. At the point of transition, states are often presented with the unique opportunity to address past human rights violations and restore divided societies, through the implementation of thorough and effective transitional justice processes; truth commissions remain one of the most influential tools in orchestrating these practices. However, as recent history demonstrates, when implemented incorrectly, the transitional justice processes facilitated by truth commission enquiries can not only be ineffective but also damaging. To account for these inadequacies, this thesis seeks to address three key issues: a common misunderstanding of the core concepts promoted by truth commission investigations, the need to notate and comprehend the positive and negative outcomes of past commission enquiries and the current lack of 'case-specific' guidance for future truth commission architects. With reference to these studies, the thesis will then seek to develop a three-pronged truth commission guidance framework to account for the three modes of political change through which transitional states can pass and recommend the establishment of a 'Truth Commission Advisory Body' to oversee and assist the process. These frameworks will then be applied to the case study of Zimbabwe, which is considered to be a candidate for political transition in the near future. The current proliferation of truth commission investigations reflects the common belief that they are the best response when confronting a transitional state's troubled past; this belief can only be vindicated by a substantial increase in the positive and lasting effects of future commission endeavours. Ultimately, this will only be achieved by an increased understanding of these complex processes and the provision of more extensive guidance to those seeking to foster them; this thesis represents a step closer to this eventuality.