There is no abstract available for this thesis.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

History as a school subject confronts a child with events, motives for action, and moral dilemmas, demanding a high level of abstract reasoning. Before the child reaches the cognitive stage of formal operations (14 years), his abstract reasoning is limited and egocentric in terms of time concept and social consciousness. To supplement this lack of abstraction, it seems necessary to enrich the teaching of history by means of substitute experiences. In an analysis of different teaching methods, it was found that abstract historical facts become more palatable to the pupil when historical novels are used to replace direct experience. The pupil thus identifies with the historical character of his own age group, and encounters history on a human level, because an emotional involvement with the facts has taken place. If a historical novel is to be utilized successfully it must therefore be more than a feebly romanticized, and superficial account of historical facts. Such a novel should capture the exact atmosphere of a specific era. It should attain a delicate balance between fact and fiction, gripping intrigue and real life characters in order to form an emotional bridge between reality and abstract historical facts. In reviewing South African history from 1488 to 1915, it seems that the fiction possibilities of this era have been adequately exploited. Novelists have however given preference to events of a more spectacular nature. More attention and focus has been given to novels for older children and teenagers. There is a great variety of these novels, enabling the pupil of middle childhood and adolescence to identify with the characters, thus experiencing universal needs and universal problems. The natural affinity for fantasy of early childhood has however not been utilized fully. The historical novel concerning the history of indigenous race groups is scantily represented. This jeopardizes the employment of historical novels in promoting positive attitudes towards other races and meaningful co-existence in South Africa. / MBibl, PU vir CHO, 1985

This thesis explores the impact of the new Children’s Act, Act 38 of 2005 on the acquisition by unmarried fathers of parental responsibilities and rights. The research has shown that the Children’s Act has fundamentally transformed the way in which parental responsibilities and rights are acquired. Parental responsibilities and rights can now be automatically acquired by a committed unmarried father. Although the Act has undergone major changes, unmarried fathers must still satisfy many more requirements than mothers, and thus it is asserted that the Act is deemed not to have been progressive enough. Granting full parental responsibilities and rights to both parents, based on their biological link to the child, would meet the constitutional demands of sex and gender equality. This would also place the focus on the child, and the best interests of the child. The importance in securing these best interests that the presence of both parents has in the life of the child is emphasised. / Thesis (LL.M. (Comparative Child Law))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011

This thesis situates the life and work of Virginia Woolf in a socio-literary history of writing by, and attitudes towards, children. It explores late-Victorian middle-class children's lives, and the relationships between parents and children during the period. Although Darwinian ideals had begun to influence parents earlier in the century, it was not until the 1870s that they seem to have become prevalent in middle-class families. Through an examination of the expansion of evolutionary and developmental stage theories in the late Victorian years, the thesis puts forth the theory that middle-class adults of the period saw children as containing adult potential. It makes a study of how this view affected middle-class family life, child rearing, and children's culture during the period. It particularly investigates linguistic developmental theory and its effect on reading and writing education, and late-Victorian ideas of children's sexual development and the need for sexual education. The thesis examines how such theories led to changes in writing by children during the period, exploring nineteenth-century works by children, and focusing on the home manuscript magazine genre. It questions the late-Victorian belief that children wrote spontaneously and "naturally." It situates the juvenile writings of the Stephen children (of whom Woolf was one), using these texts as typical products of the late-nineteenth-century middle-class familial and cultural context that the thesis examines. This study allows me to propose a critical definition of late-nineteenth-century children's home magazine writing. The thesis goes on to argue that Woolf, while recognizing herself as a product of the late-Victorian middle classes and retaining some of the authorial qualities evident in her family's juvenile works, rebelled against the late- Victorian evolutionist-developmentalist view of childhood, and helped to create a new language in the process.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

While the participation of children in armed conflict has been evident for some time, internal community mobilization on the issue is fairly recent. In 1993, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted resolution 48/157 in response to a request by the Committee on the Rights of the Child.<br /> <br /> At the present the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers reports that approximately 300,000 children in over 40 countries worldwide are engaged in armed conflict. Of the estimated 300,000 child soldiers in the world, 120,000 can be found in Africa alone.<br /> Apart from making them direct combatants, both governments and armed groups use children as messengers, lookouts, porters, spies able to enter small spaces, and even use them as suicide bombers and human mine detectors. In the due course of such use and abuse children are forced to kill or are themselves killed, sexually assaulted, raped, forced to become wives of the commanders, exposed to drugs and forced labour, showing the cross cutting nature and magnitude of the problem of child soldiers.<br /> <br /> There are a variety of international legal standards which, at first glance, seem to give some direction and guidance in the protection of child soldiers. In spite of these legal instruments for the protection of child soldiers in Africa, however, much remains to be done as the problem is continuing at a larger scale every day and new challenges keep cropping up. This study will look into ways of addressing these problems in the context of Africa.<br /> <br /> Therefore, in order to address the issue to the best possible level, the normative framework in place may need to be strengthened. Moreover, in an attempt to be comprehensive in addressing the problem, ways of dealing with child soldiers who have allegedly committed atrocities during armed conflict should be included. This piece explores how these issues could possibly be addressed to provide for protection to the child soldier in Africa.

Cultural representations of bushfire have long reflected the importance of these events in both the nation’s history and in popular imagination. / The central argument of this thesis is that depictions of fire in literature, art, film and popular culture have demonstrated the capacity to shape community understandings of bushfire behaviour and may influence the way in which people respond to and behave during such emergencies. In support of this, the role that bushfire has played in popular culture is explored and the perpetuation of certain myths and understandings through a range of cultural expressions is examined. It is contended that these cultural artefacts can have a direct impact upon community understanding of bushfires, their place in the Australian landscape and — importantly — how the broader community respond to such events. / The work discerns the shift in attitude towards bushfire in such cultural expressions from the 19th century until the present day. One purpose of the research is to posit whether such influences may act as impediments to the delivery of community bushfire education programs. / The structure of the thesis incorporates an introductory review of relevant literature and theoretical material. As the study of the cultural interpretation of disaster in Australia is in its infancy, pertinent overseas research is examined that identifies theoretical models that may be applied to bushfires in Australia. In particular, the representation of bushfire in • visual art • children’s literature; • adult fiction; is examined in detail. / Primary texts and artistic works will be examined for evidence of the understandings about bushfire that they generate or sustain. These interpretations will be compared with scientific and experiential understandings of bushfire behaviour and to the limited literature in disaster studies that has examined myths and perceptions of such events. / In the visual arts, fire has an obvious attraction for practitioners, both during its impact and in its aftermath. There has been an evident revival of interest in fire as a theme in the late 20th and early 21st centuries parallel to the intense interest artists showed in these events at the end of the 19th century. / Juvenile literature in Australia has produced extensive manifestations of bushfire representations. Fire lends itself to depiction in this genre for a number of reasons. It has been used, for example, to locate stories in a distinctly Australian context. It provides the elements of danger and adventure that allow for the development of strong narratives. Finally, it has a bold visual element that lends itself to pictorial interpretations. There is significant theoretical support for the idea that knowledge learned at this stage of a person’s development is retained until much later in life. / Conversely, bushfire appears to be relatively unusual as the basis for adult fiction, although (particularly in the 19th century) it is often incorporated into the background landscape. There are only a handful of adult novels in which bushfire is central to the narrative, while there are many in which it forms part of the backdrop.