Infant mental health in South Africa has been receiving more attention in recent years. Mothers appear to be the main caregivers of infants but they face many psychosocial, economic and cultural challenges. There exists very little evidence suggesting that mothers living in shelters or institutions have access to the necessary support and education to help them to understand their circumstances and how this may impact on the attachment with their infant. The New Beginnings Programme, as an early intervention model, is aimed at improving attachment between mother and infant so as to reduce the potential risk of mental health problems later in life for the infants, the mothers and future generations. This evidence based intervention focuses on the mother and her capacity for mentalisation, which refers to the mother’s capacity to hold her infant in mind and recognise and respond to the inner states of the infant. The pilot study of the New Beginnings Programme within a South African context took place in two shelters in the Greater Johannesburg area. This particular study formed part of this bigger research effort. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of the mothers who attended the New Beginnings programme. A secondary aim was to explore these mothers’ experiences of the programme within the context of living in a shelter. The adaptation of this programme to a South African context could contribute significantly to bridging the gap in mother-infant attachment which could influence the future mental health of the infant and their ability to foster ongoing healthy attachments later in life. This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews and a narrative analysis from the theoretical perspective of psychoanalytic attachment theory. Thirteen mothers from two shelters participated in this research study.

A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of the Witwatersrand December 2016 / Within a narrative paradigm, this research project had two elements. Firstly, the project aimed to enable the researcher to gain an understanding of the construction of adolescent identity from the perspective of a cohort of first-generation, post-Apartheid adolescents as members of an NGO’s after-school support programme. Secondly, a participatory action element aimed to provide the participants with an opportunity to reflect upon their own lives in a positive, empowering way thereby providing an understanding of their past lives, strengthening a realistic power of agency for their future lives, balanced between self-identity and self transcendence in the present (Crites, 1986). Within this research, the self is theorised psychosocially, presented as both a narrated and narrating subject in which identity construction is consolidated through story-telling and the adaption of these stories to different audiences and cultural contexts. 12 volunteer participants were provided with disposable cameras and asked to take photographs of people and objects that were important to them. Using these photographs, the participants then constructed art timelines of their lives in the narrative format of ‘past’, ‘present’, and ‘future’. Each participant was then narratively interviewed twice, four months apart. The two datasets (the art timelines and the interview transcripts) were subject to three levels of analysis. Firstly, the construction of each participant’s descriptive narrative portrait was analysed across the time zones of ‘past life’, ‘present life’, and ‘future life’; secondly, thematic analysis was horizontally conducted across the narrative portraits identifying the similarities and differences between the participants, extending the specific experiences discussed by the participants into generalised themes; and thirdly, the vertical analysis of portraiture was re-invoked in greater depth, examining how the different theoretical dimensions of narrative identity identified, coalesce in one case history. The first level of analysis focused specifically on the imagoes, or personified concepts of the self, identified within the narrative portraits of three participants. It was found that these imagoes had significant effects on the identity construction of these young people, specifically on those whose parents had died. In the second phase of analysis three different dimensions of, or ways of thinking about, narrative identity were distinguished: relationality and the sense of belonging or alienation experienced by the participants in their interaction with others; the consolidation of life stories at adolescence and the participants’ social positioning within the systems of structural identity markers of race, class, gender and sexuality; and lastly the participants’ hopes and dreams, their narrative imaginations and future-orientated lives. In the third level of analysis, one participant’s narrative was selected to illustrate the theoretical concepts that underpin the construction of narrative identity, particularly constructionist intersectionality (Prins, 2006) and cultural creolisation (Glissant, 1989). These young people’s narratives indicate a patent tension between their lives to date, the histories of their families marked by insecurity and feelings of being unsafe as the effects of racism, disease and poverty, and their future imagined lives characterised by the promise of freedom and agency, education, employment and health. Through listening to and analysing these young people’s past, present and future stories, this study gained an insight into the ambivalence that exists in their lives, the contradictions they face between their moments of belonging and their moments of alienation, and how all these experiences inform and contribute to their identity constructions. / MT2017

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

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, 2017 / This thesis examines how the political subjectivity of black youth took shape within the violent period of late colonialism in South Africa known as apartheid. As a historico-philosophical inquiry that aims to understand the historical modalities of subject formation and political practice, the thesis is grounded in extensive original research on black youth politics in the townships of the Vaal region south of Johannesburg during the 1980s and early 1990s. At the same time, the thesis interprets the findings of that historical research through a critical engagement with the philosophical work of various thinkers (including Hegel, Nietzsche, Benjamin, Foucault, Fanon, Mamdani, Mbembe, Zizek and Maldonado-Torres, among others) in an effort to address the problem of freedom in relation to the black subject under colonial and post-colonial rule. The thesis shows how colonial authority and governance both posits and aims to reproduce what I call the ‘permanent juniority’ of blacks generally, and of black youth in particular. Key sites for the exercise of such authority and governance in the townships under apartheid included the street and the school, where blacks were subjected to social, infrastructural and disciplinary violence. In examining one ‘Bantu’ high school in depth, I show how black youth were subjected to what I call a ‘pedagogy of offence’ – a mode of socialisation and discipline based on the premise that black youth, merely by virtue of being black, are always already guilty of breaching the socio-political order and are therefore addressed as delinquents. The thesis shows how a collective black youth subject constituted itself in revolt against this disciplinary regime. In the course of this revolt, the figure of the outlaw comrade, or ‘com-tsotsi’, emerged, occupying an ambiguous position between political resistance and illegal criminality. This figure is shown to have a genealogy originating in slavery and the Frontier Wars in the Cape, and extending to the early period of mining and industrial capitalism in Johannesburg. In the concluding chapters, which explore the underground activities of Self-Defence Units as violence on the Vaal reached its apogee in the early 1990s, the thesis probes the ethical ambiguity that emerges when violence is used in the service of a politics of love and emancipation. Here, I argue that the constitution of a collective black youth political subject in revolt also suggests a theory of black emancipation: of subjectivity beyond object-hood, of political love and everyday life beyond colonial violence and death, and of a political optimism oriented toward freedom. / XL2018

Thesis (MTech (Human Resource Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2018. / Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) has been the epitome of policy reform pervading South Africa (SA) since 1994, the end of apartheid. Often making media headlines, it inherently arrogates itself to all stakeholders engaged in commerce with/within SA. The impetus for the study ensued owing to recent (2013) changes to the B-BBEE legislative landscape. More specifically, the focus of the study was on one segment: Qualifying Small Enterprises (QSEs), operating within the same realm as Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs). The rationale for such a focus stemmed from this market segment’s seemingly rigid response to such change, deemed to support this study’s results. The literature review embarked upon in Chapters 2 to 4, that is, collecting secondary data, provided for a solid foundation relative to a subject matter embedded with technical jargon and often driven by highly emotive/subjective inputs from stakeholders. The literature primarily drew from untested assumptions: these were mainly due to the high degree of contentiousness surrounding B-BBEE as subject matter, the lack of research (statistical results) relative to B-BBEE legislative change and more specifically, the lack of the latter relative to this study’s scope. The above introduction initiates the notion of there being inherent demarcations to this study, dictating the most relevant research design and methodology suited thereto. A pragmatic research philosophy was adopted, owing to its qualitative, exploratory enquiry. Furthermore, the unit of analysis, consisting of 16 samples, was conveniently selected. Although convenience sampling was regarded the most suitable approach to collecting data, it gave rise to the study’s biggest limitation: its inability to generalise findings. On that note, its findings were in line with the researcher’s precedential assumption upon its initiation: legislative change to Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) for Qualifying Small Enterprises (QSEs) lead(s) to non-compliance and impeded transformation goals. The results give rise to a plethora of valuable insights into the dynamics of the industry, not only for strategic direction to be set for/by stakeholders on both a micro and macro level, but also providing a solid foundation relative to further research to be embarked upon – a notion highly advocated in supporting the integration of sustainable transformation in modern South Africa (SA).

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D. Tech.Business Administration / The purpose of the study is to identify and quantify socioeconomic factors that adversely affect the viability of black African entrepreneurial activities in the tourism sector in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. Data was gathered by use of a structured questionnaire and in-depth interviews. The sample size of the study was equal to n=311 black African entrepreneurs working in the tourism industry in Gauteng Province. Stratified random sampling was used as a sampling technique.

South African black children have been exposed to extremely high levels of violence, especially in the townships. This study was initiated in ,order to explore the effects of violence on the self-concept of the black child in South Africa. In addition the applicability of current self-concept theories and psychometric measures to this population was investigated. This study is therefore mainly exploratory. Sixty individuals of both sexes between the ages of 8 and 10 years were sampled from two schools. Thirty from one in a high violence and the other thirty from one in a low violence area. However, after finding that the experimental and control groups did not differ signifficantly these groups were reassigned according to exposure to violence rather than geographically. Direct and indirect exposure to violence as well as family and other stressors were measured with the aid of the Life Events Questionnaire (Mason and Killian, 1993). In order to determine the effect of exposure to violence on selfconcept these two groups were compared using one quantitative and two qualitative selfconcept measures. The quantitative measure was the Piers-Harris Children's SelfConcept Scale and the qualitative measures were the Human Figure Drawing Test and an Incomplete Sentences Test. Results were analysed by multivariate statistical procedures. This study concluded that violence has no significant effect.on self-concept in black children (p,>O.05). The Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale was found to be a reliable measure of self-concept in black children. Recommendations include broadening self-concept theories for black children by incorporating theories from disciplines other than psychology. The power of the present study would have been increased by using larger samples. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1996.

This study investigated Black African female psychologists’ lived experiences of career development. The purpose was to describe the influences of the community on the career development of Black female psychologists. It also aimed to explore the challenges and successes of these women’s career lives in order to generate knowledge to understand Black female psychologists’ career development dynamics. This qualitative study was informed by narrative/hermeneutic approaches and Black feminist thought frameworks. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 Black African female psychologists. Results show that Black African female psychologists faced numerous challenges such as lack of family and community support in some cases; limited understanding of psychology in their communities and health sectors, as well as financial problems and discourses of inferiority throughout their professional training. The lack of relevance of their academic training to the multicultural society, in which they have to practise, was emphasised. The intersection of gender, race and class was evident in most of the narratives. The role of emotion and spirituality in the career development of some of the participants was highlighted. The results are discussed in relation to the literature. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.