Thesis (PhD) -- Stellenbosch University, 2001. / Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Curriculum Studies. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: My study investigates opportunities that may currently be available to enable the transformation of post-apartheid teacher education. I examine two case studies of my own professional practice. The first case study involves in-service education work that I performed with teachers in a local community, Grassy Park. The second case study represents work I performed with students in a pre-service education programme at the University of Stellenbosch. My study aims to: • Critically examine the implications of social issues, particularly environmental issues, for pedagogical practices generally and for South African pedagogical work in particular. • Critically review the changing socio-historical determinants of pedagogical practices in South African teacher education. • Investigate changing pedagogical practices by describing and reflecting on work done in my own professional contexts as a science/environmental teacher educator at a historically Afrikaner university. With respect to teacher education, Pendlebury (1998) argues that we are seeing shifts in public space, evaluative space, pedagogical space and institutional space from insulated space (hidden from public scrutiny) to a more porous space. In this study I am concerned with pedagogical space that, in Pendlebury's (1998:345) terms determines 'who may learn (or teach), how and what they learn (or teach), when and for how long and where'. I use these categories of Pendlebury (1998:345) together with Turnbull's (1997) perspectives on knowledge production as conceptual tools to frame my analyses of the cases. Although a significant part of my study focuses on classroom practices, I take pedagogy to have a much broader meaning that incorporates in Hernandez's (1997:11) terms 'all spaces in which knowledge is produced and identities are formed'. This research report offers a brief insight into the complexities of change at the micro-level of classroom practices. But, importantly also contextualises these micro-level pedagogical practices within broader socio-historical determinants and provides praxiological comments on postapartheid education policies. The research also initiates an investigation into the social organisation of trust in post-apartheid South Africa. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie studie ondersoek ek die geleenthede vir die transformasie van onderwyseropleiding in die post-apartheidsera. Ek bespreek twee gevallestudies uit my eie professionele praktyk. Die eerste gevallestudie handel oor die indiensopleiding van onderwysers in Grassy Park, 'n plaaslike gemeenskap. Die tweede gevallestudie handel oor die werk wat ek met studente in 'n voorgraadse onderrigprogram aan die Universiteit van Stellenbosch gedoen het. Die studie het die volgende ten doel: • 'n Kritiese ondersoek na die uitwerking van sosiale aspekte, met die klem op omgewingsaangeleenthede, op opvoedkundige praktyke in die algemeen en op die Suid- Afrikaanse opvoedkundige praktyk in die besonder. • 'n Kritiese oorsig oor die sosio-historiese veranderinge wat deeI vorm van die opleiding van Suid-Afrikaanse onderwysers. • 'n Ondersoek na veranderende opvoedkundige praktyke aan die hand van 'n beskrywing van en refleksie op my eie professionele werk as dosent in die wetenskap/omgewingsopvoeding aan 'n historiese Afrikaanse universiteit. Ten opsigte van onderwyseropleiding beweer Pendlebury (1998) dat verskuiwings in die publieke ruimte, evaluerende ruimte, pedagogiese ruimte en institusionele ruimte, plaasvind van 'n afgesonderde ruimte (verberg vir publieke waarnemimg/evaluasie) na 'n meer deursigtige ruimte. In hierdie studie fokus ek op die pedagogiese ruimte wat, volgens Pendlebury (1998:345), bepaal 'who may learn (or teach), how and what they learn (or teach), when and for how long and where'. Ek gebruik Pendlebury (1998: 345) se kategoriee saam met Turnbull (1997) se perspektiewe oor kennisproduksie as konseptuele raamwerk vir my analise van die twee gevallestudies. Alhoewel 'n beduidende gedeelte van my studie op klaskamerpraktyke fokus, moet die term pedagogie(k) volgens my 'n veel breer betekenis verband gesien word om ook Hernandez (1997: 11) se 'all spaces in which knowledge is produced and identities are formed' intesluit. Hierdie navorsingsverslag lig die komplekse aard van transformasie op die mikro-vlak van klaskamerpraktyke toe. Van groot belang is ook die kontekstualisering van opvoedkundige praktyke op mikro-vlak binne die breer sosio-historiese veranderlikes en lewer praktykverwante kommentaar op die opvoedkundige beleid van die post-apartheidsera. Die navorsing dien ook as vertrekpunt om sosiale vertroue in die post-apartheids-Suid-Afrika te ondersoek.

Drawing on relevant theory from memory studies, literary criticism, sociology, reception studies and book history, this thesis examines the prevalence of nostalgia in white South African writing of the post-apartheid period. It identifies the numerous and remarkably conventional texts by white authors that proliferated in this time which might be described as nostalgic, arguing that these constitute a key genre of post-apartheid South African literature. In seeking to offer an explanation for why these nostalgic forms predominated in this period, this study takes into consideration the full "communications circuit" of a book i.e. the life-cycle of a book from production to consumption. Consequently, it employs an interdisciplinary framework to examine nostalgic literature from the perspectives of both the producers and consumers of texts. It is argued, ultimately, that post-apartheid nostalgic writing was particularly involved in the protection of certain formulations and structures of whiteness at individual, collective and institutional levels. The argument unfolds in three phases, each of which explores the value of nostalgia and nostalgic white writing in a different but related sphere: namely, literature, memory, and the market. The first phase of the argument provides a literary critical reading of the generic hallmarks of these novels, considering a range of representative texts, including works by Mark Behr, André Brink, Justin Cartwright, J. M. Coetzee, Lisa Fugard, Christopher Hope, Jo-Anne Richards, and Rachel Zadok. The second examines the allure of nostalgia and nostalgic books for the writers and readers of this literature, drawing on sociological studies of post-apartheid white South African identity and reader-response theory to analyse a selection of online and print reviews by readers. In the third phase, the thesis utilises a book historical approach to investigate the influence of various literary markets and the publishing industry, both local and global, in shaping the nostalgia trend.

Background: The South African youth is confronted by unemployment. Ironically, even the youth of Soweto Township experience the harsh realities of unemployment, despite them playing a significant role to fight the apartheid regime. Therefore, the study explores the experiences of the youth of Soweto with regards to unemployment. Method: This study adopted a qualitative research approach and case study design. The purposive sampling method was used to select the sample. The sample consisted of ten unemployed youth of Soweto Township. The unstructured interview was utilised to collect data. Results: One of the main findings in this study was the fact that unemployment has impacted negatively on young people in Soweto Township. Unemployment has led to psychological effects and isolation amongst the jobless youth of Soweto. Conclusion: There is a need for great job opportunities for the youth in South Africa to grow the economy. This could also reduce crime among young people since it is well known that some of the young people have engaged in criminal activities due to unemployment. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

South Africa and Russia achieved two of the most remarkable political transformations in modern history, yet significant numbers of their citizens feel a longing for aspects of the old regimes. While there have been some studies of nostalgia among older Russians and South Africans, the following is the first comparative qualitative examination of the phenomenon among young members of the countries’ inaugural “born free” generations: those who came into the world just before or after the fall of Apartheid and Communism, and have had little or no experience of life prior to regime change. Its purpose is to examine how and why young people growing up in post-authoritarian transition societies experience, and long for, the past. I conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with seven South African and five Russian youths, recruited through purposive sampling, who reflected on the ways in which the recent past impacts their lives, self-perceptions and socio-political identities. While they differed in some areas, respondents from both countries identified several broadly shared areas of nostalgia, clustering around a perceived loss of community, moral values, personal safety and social trust; and a concomitant rise in individualism, materialism and anomie. Employing a Marxian engagement with symbolic interactionism and interpretative phenomenological analysis, I analyse their transcribed testimonies in light of the relevant scholarship on nostalgia, social memory and transition studies, alongside theories of post-modernity and critical sociology. I conclude that their nostalgia may be the product of Russia and South Africa’s belated and compressed transition from “modern” to “post-modern” societies; a rebellion against the harsh transition to a Baumanian “liquid” life characterised by economic precariousness and the fraying of social bonds; and/or an expression of profound ambivalence that struggles to reconcile nostalgic regrets about the risks and human costs of globalised capitalist polyarchy, with a hunger to exploit the freedom and opportunities it offers. / Theses (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Global economic conditions are forcing donor and development agencies to reduce aid to developing countries and communities. This reduction is resulting in less developmental programmes for disadvantaged communities. To ensure that developmental programmes are implemented successfully and cost effectively, implementing agents will have to ensure that they improve their developmental communication. It is also becoming important that those who are to benefit from developmental programmes convey or identify exactly what their needs are. There should be very little speculation from development agencies about what the needs of the disadvantaged are. It is becoming necessary to review current developmental tools, methods and systems, and also to explore what other measures can be applied to ensure that speculation or time and money wasting exercises are eliminated. This study attempts to look at two things that will influence effective development communication. The first is to examine if community radio is still as an efficient developmental communication tool as perhaps two decades ago. Secondly, it looks at the possibility to tailor-make information for those who need develop, especially in the context of evolving technology.

This thesis relates the work of a non-governmental organisation, The Spirals Trust, to discussions on human and participatory development. The focus of the study is one of The Spirals Trust’s projects, the 2006/7 Tantyi Youth Empowerment Project, which is discussed in relation to theoretical material on human development and participatory development. Collectively these perspectives are defined in this thesis as ‘participatory human development’. The 2006/7 Tantyi Youth Empowerment Project illustrates some of the challenges that face the practice of participatory human development. Workshops and focus group interviews were conducted with participants who were part of the 2006/7 Tantyi Youth Empowerment Project in order to draw out their experiences of the project. Questions were created from themes that emerged from the participants’ discussion of their experiences and these questions were then posed to members of staff of The Spirals Trust. The experiences of both the participants and the staff members are discussed in order to explore issues that emerge in the practice of participatory human development in the 2006/7 Tantyi Youth Empowerment Project. The results highlight the challenges of putting into action the tenets of participatory human development. Feedback showed that a focus on personal development can help cultivate the ethic of participation. The effort that this entailed on the part of facilitators is discussed. The importance of exposing and continually working with power dynamics that may emerge in projects of this nature is revealed and the eroding influence of bureaucratic compliance in projects like this one is explored. The study also suggests that there is a need to promote development initiatives that challenge the political status quo rather than just finding ways to incorporate the marginalised more effectively into current systems. New questions that the research poses to the practice of participatory human development are considered in conjunction with suggestions for further research.

The main aim of this study was to attempt to establish by the use of an environmental specific Personal Growth Programme, whether it is possible to assist students towards a more ‘holistic’ personal formation. It also aimed to investigate whether a move away from traditional education in the form of alternative or parallel programmes, would assist in bringing about an integrated individual, who is more capable of dealing with life as a whole (Krishnamurti 1953). The research was undertaken with adult students between the ages of 21 and 60, at the multi-cultural and extremely diverse residential theological College of the Transfiguration, in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape Province. An overview of Holistic and Mainstream education was explored in this study, which included also the challenges and influences which each type of education faces. The study then went on to investigate whether it is possible to bridge the gap that exists between holistic and mainstream education using various methods of alternative education. In the qualitative study, the Personal Growth Programme Annual Review Questionnaire was used to obtain feedback from the students to assess the usefulness of the Personal Growth Programme in their journey towards wholeness. This, together with the student’s responses from the in-depth interviews were used to ascertain the study’s limitations, credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability.

The author strongly holds- in the thesis- that the Theology of liberation can inspi re the poor of South Africa to uproot the post-1994 socio-economic and political evil structures which continue unabated to impoverish them. The introductory chapter studies the reasons which motivated the author to write the thesis. It further discusses the method, the format and the limitations of the thesis. Chapter one focuses on the author's understanding of the Theology of liberation, and its historical background. Chapter two discusses the relationship between the Theology of Liberation and black theology, while chapter three contemplates on the possibility of the creation of what the author calls, An African Theology of Liberation. Chapter four studies the relationship between the Theology of liberation and the Social Teachings of the Catholic Church as taught by the pope and his council. The study of this relationship is extremely difficult because of the on-going, and seemingly insurmountable ideological differences between the two parties. The author suggests, as a solutio n, that each party seriously considers and recognizes the contextual limitations of its theology. Chapter five focuses on the implementation of the Theology of Liberat ion into the South African situation. The author highly recommends the inclusion of the veneration of the ancestors of Africa, as a perfect instrument by means of which the Theology of Liberation can succeed in achieving one of its major aims, which is to convert the poor to be leaders of their own liberation. The concluding chapter suggests concrete ways through which the Theology of Liberation can be kept alive and relevant within the South African situation. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D. Th. (Theological Ethics)

The aim of the thesis is to examine the way in which J. M. Coetzee employs animal imagery in his three fictional works - the novel Disgrace, the novella The Lives of Animals and the short story "The Old Woman and the Cats". A historical overview of the development of the human-animal relationship is provided as the theoretical basis for the practical part, along with an explanation of the term speciesism. The overview will help to comprehend why and how has the relationship of humans to animals changed throughout time and what is the reason of its contemporary shape. It will also serve as a theoretical basis for the interpretation of the portrayal of animals in the selected works. A description of the author's life and the analysed works will be given along with a brief presentation of the situation in post-apartheid South Africa and its historical events which will serve as a basis for a later analysis of the portrayal of animals in connection with political issues. The analytical part will therefore be based on the interpretation of the role of animals in the selected works and will examine its connection with both ethical and political issues, and its function as a language and educational tool. KEY WORDS literature, South-African literature, Coetzee, speciesism, human-animal relationship, human...

The post-apartheid government of South Africa has committed itself to achieving fundamental transformation of the education system. The government has adopted policies and measures that aimed to bring about the goals of equity and redress, and to enhance democracy and participation of all groups in development and decision making processes at all levels. It is acknowledged that the democratic government has accomplished a lot in education within this short period and has made numerous strides in enhancing equity, redress and social justice; providing high quality education for all the people of South Africa; bringing about democratisation and development; and enhancing effectiveness and efficiency. However, despite these apparent achievements, this study shows that there have been a number of setbacks and contradictions in the policies which have affected the process of bringing about fundamental changes and transformation in the education sector. The setbacks and contradictions resulted from factors which have affected the type of policies developed to transform the education sector. They also affected the formulation and implementation of the policies, thereby limiting the achievements of the goals of transformation agenda in education. Hence, this study examined the politics of transformation and change in the education sector by examining the type of policies that have been put in place; their formulation, implementation and outcome. The main research questions are: • What kind or type of policies have been put in place to transform the education sector? • How and by whom were the policies formulated? • How are these policies being implemented and what have been the outcomes of the process? Transformation and in particular the policy process is beset with continuous debate, contestation and struggle for the success of ideas and interests which are pursued by individual actors, groups and policy networks through the institutions. During these different stages policies are modified, constituted and reconstituted. As a result, they give rise to intended and unintended outcomes which are likely to support or contradict the objectives of those policies. Hence, the process cannot be explained using only one approach or theory. Therefore, this study has been situated in ideas, group and network and institutional approaches or theories to examine the factors that have affected education policies, their formulation and implementation and the overall transformation of education in South Africa. It contends that policy change and variation result from interaction of ideas and interests within patterns of group and policy networks and preset institutions. The study adopts qualitative interpretive methodology in order to question, understand and explain institutions; interests groups and ideas; socio economic and power relations involved in the process. It also appraises the framework for action. In addition to conducting literature review, unstructured interviews were held with officials from provincial and national Departments of Education, members of national and provincial legislatures, principals, teachers, members of school governing bodies, learners, Non-governmental organisations, Community based organisations, Faith based organisations, teachers’ and workers’ unions. Observations were made during meetings of school governing bodies. The study draws reference from the Eastern Cape Province between 1994 and 2002 and looks at the school level (Basic and Further Education levels). Reference is also made to selective policy instruments namely, the South African Schools Act (SASA) (1996), Curriculum 2005 and Norms and Standards for School Funding (1999). Overall, the findings of the study have shown that various factors have led to setbacks and contradictions in the policies that were adopted in education. They have also affected the formulation and implementation of the policies, hence exerting certain limitations on the achievements of the goals of transformation in education. The factors identified in the findings are the outcome of the negotiated settlement and subsequent changes made by the apartheid government in education before the 1994 elections; constraints and unequal participation of different groups in education policy development in various established structures and avenues; drawbacks in the implementation of education policies by decentralised structures and agents at various levels. This was exacerbated by lack of capacity, lack of adequate resources, lack of commitment and will among some of the civil servants coupled with corruption and mismanagement. The legacy of apartheid and the homeland governments, together with existing backlogs added another layer. Consequently, there were challenges in the economic policy which led to inadequate funding for education. The findings of this study show that competing ideas and interests advanced by groups and networks have impact on decision making, policy content and implementation. Therefore, some policies will reflect and maintain the interests of those individual actors, groups and policy networks that exerted most influence. The findings also reveal that institutional norms and rules, inadequate resources, lack of capacity and skilled human resources and economic environment, constrain decision making, policy content and implementation.