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Thesis (M.Ed. (Education)) - Rhodes University, 2009. / Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education (Environmental Education)

Thesis (Ph.D. (Computer Science)) - Rhodes University, 2009.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-16T13:31:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 RaunyOS_DISSERT.pdf: 2169689 bytes, checksum: 72139a27a304a449f68fb3a9513e90bd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-08-08 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The integration of popular knowledge and scientific forms as an essential tool in the identification of appropriate practices for soil and agricultural uses for its conservation management. This study aimed to characterize the attributes of soil from agricultural scientific and Ethnopedological the Projeto de Assentamento Terra de Esperança study uses located at Governador Dix-Sept Rosado - RN, located in the middle region of the western Rio Grande do Norte, in microregion of the Chapada do Apodi. The survey was conducted from September 2013 to May 2014, the physical and chemical soil attributes were analyzed in the following locations: Native Forest Area (AMN), Orchard Cajaraneiras (APM), Collective Conventional Cultivation Area (AC) and area of colluvium (ACol). Sample collection at depths of were performed 0,00 0,10; 0,10 0,20; 0,20 0,30 m, benefited the Laboratory of Analysis of Soil Water and Plant - LASAP/DCAT/UFERSA. Particle size, particle density, soil consistency, mechanical resistance to root penetration and chemical attributes: EC, pH, TOC, P, K, Na, Ca, Mg, H + Al, CEC at pH 7,0 the physical attributes were evaluated, effective CEC, SB and V. Multivariate analyzes were used as the main tool, specifically the Principal Component Analysis, to distinguish the areas surveyed in terms of potential and / or restrictions of the environment. Ethnopedological studies and learning workshop with (the) farmers (as) were performed and built concepts of soil attributes (exposure images of crops, soil color, soil consistency, microbiological activity and infiltration test), the landscape, weather patterns and agricultural production cycles depending on the experience of the group. Description of the soil popular way according to the Brazilian Classification System soil profile was performed in addition to the mineralogical analysis of samples from the profile horizons. It was observed that the first factor generated for the attributes of the areas surveyed explained 48.33% of the total variation of the studied attributes and the highest correlation coefficients (≥ | 70 |) variables were identified: sand, silt, pH, Ca2+, (H + Al), SB, t, T, V in the layer 0.00 - 0.10 m. These attributes were more sensitive to distinguish the areas of agricultural uses, being observed in the projection vectors, where the attributes have become more distant from the axis of factor 1 diagram. There was integration of popular and scientific knowledge in research on the adoption of appropriate practices to local particularities and the construction of essential concepts for the conservation of natural resources. The soil classification was scientifically Eutrophic Cambisol Ta typical and popular classification as dark clay surface and "white clay" or "gravel" in the subsurface / A integração dos saberes popular e científico constitui como uma ferramenta essencial na identificação de práticas adequadas de manejo do solo e dos usos agropecuários para sua conservação. Este trabalho teve como objetivo realizar a caracterização dos atributos físicos, químicos e mineralógicos, quanto as suas potencialidades e/ou restrições nas áreas de usos agropecuários, a partir de estudos científicos e etnopedológicos no Projeto de Assentamento Terra de Esperança, situado no município de Governador Dix-sept Rosado - RN, localizado na mesorregião do Oeste Potiguar e na microrregião da Chapada do Apodi. A pesquisa foi realizada no período de setembro de 2013 a maio de 2014, onde foram analisados os atributos físicos e químicos do solo nas seguintes áreas: Mata Nativa (AMN), Pomar de Cajaraneiras (AP), Área de Cultivo Convencional Coletivo (AC) e Área de Colúvio (ACol). Foram realizadas coletas de amostras deformadas nas camadas de 0,00 0,10; 0,10 0,20; 0,20 0,30 m, beneficiadas no Laboratório de Análise de Solo Água e Planta LASAP/DCAT/UFERSA. Foram avaliados os atributos físicos: granulometria, densidade de partículas, resistência mecânica do solo à penetração das raízes, consistência do solo e atributos químicos: CE, pH, COT, P, K, Na, Ca, Mg, H+Al, CTC a pH 7,0, CTC efetiva, SB e V. Foram empregadas técnicas de análise multivariada como ferramenta principal, especificamente a Análise de Componentes Principais, para distinção das áreas pesquisadas em função das potencialidades e/ou restrições do ambiente. Foram realizados estudos etnopedológicos e oficina de aprendizagem com os (as) agricultores (as), sendo construídos conceitos dos atributos do solo (exposição de imagens de cultivos agrícolas, cor do solo, consistência do solo, atividade microbiológica e teste de infiltração), da paisagem, do padrão climático e dos ciclos de produção agrícola em função da vivência do grupo. Foi realizada a descrição de perfil de solo de forma popular e de acordo com o Sistema Brasileiro de Classificação de Solo, além da análise mineralógica das amostras dos horizontes do perfil. Observou-se que o Fator 1 gerado para os atributos das áreas pesquisadas explicou 48,33 % da variação total dos atributos estudados e os maiores coeficientes de correlação (≥ |70|) identificados foram as variáveis: areia, silte, pH, Ca2+, (H+Al), SB, t, T, V na camada de 0,00 0,10 m. Esses atributos foram mais sensíveis para distinguir as áreas de usos agropecuários, sendo observado no diagrama de projeção de vetores, onde os atributos apresentam-se mais distantes do eixo do Fator 1. Houve integração do conhecimento popular e científico na pesquisa quanto à adoção de práticas adequadas às particularidades locais e a construção de conceitos essenciais para a conservação dos recursos naturais. A classificação do solo de forma científica foi CAMBISSOLO HÁPLICO Ta Eutrófico típico e a classificação popular como barro escuro em superfície e barro branco ou piçarra em subsuperfície

This study was developed around concerns about how indigenous knowledges have been represented and applied in environment and development education. The first phase of the study is a genealogical analysis after Michel Foucault. This probes representations and applications of plant-based indigenous knowledge in selected anthropological, botanical and environmental education texts in southern Africa. The emerging insights were deepened using a Social (Critical) Realism vantage point after Margaret Archer to shed light on agential issues in environmental education and development contexts. Here her morphogenetic/morphostatic analysis of social transformation or reproduction is used to trace changes in indigenous knowledge representations and applications over time (from the pre-colonial into the post-colonial era). The second phase uses the same perspectives and tools to extend the analysis of power/knowledge relationships into the interface of indigenous communities and modern institutions in two case study settings in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. This study reveals colonially-derived hegemonic processes of modern/Western scientific institutional representations/interpretations of the knowledges of indigenous communities. It also tracks a continuing trajectory of their dominating and prescriptive mediating control over local knowledges from the pre-colonial context through into the post-colonial period in southern Africa. The analysis reveals how this hegemony is sustained through the deployment of institutional strategies of representation that transform local knowledges into the disciplinary knowledge discourses of modern scientific institutions. These representational strategies therefore generate/reproduce and validate disciplinary discourses about the other, constructing disciplinary 'regimes of truth'. In this way modern institutions appropriate and displace indigenous/local knowledges, silence the voices of local communities and regulate individual and community agency within a continuing subjugation of indigenous knowledges. This study reveals how working within modern institutions and disciplinary knowledges in participative education and development interactions can serve to implicate indigenous researchers in these institutional hegemonic processes. The study also notes evidence of a continued resistance to hegemonic Western knowledge discourses as indigenous communities have sustained many knowledge practices alongside Western knowledge discourses. There is also evidence of a recent emergence of counter-hegemonic indigenous knowledge discourses in environmental education and development practices in southern Africa. It is noted that these have been contingent upon the changing political terrain in southern Africa as this has opened the way for alternative discourses to the dominant conventional Western knowledges in formal education and development contexts. The counterhegemonic discourses invert power/knowledge relations, decentre hegemonic discourses and reposition indigenous knowledges in formal education and development contexts. This study suggests the need to foreground indigenous knowledges as a process of knowledge decolonisation that gives contextual and epistemic relevance to environmental education and development processes. This calls for a need for new strategies to transform existing institutions by creating enabling spaces for the representational inclusion of indigenous knowledges in formal/conventional knowledge discourses and their application in social contexts. This opens up possibilities for plural knowledge representations and for their integrative and reciprocal co-engagement in situated contexts of environmental education and development in southern Africa.

The study was conducted in Eastern Cape Province to 1) investigate local people’s knowledge and perceptions on Euryops floribundus and 2) landscape distribution and effect of Euryops floribundus on herbaceous vegetation and soil. A total of 90 households who own livestock were randomly selected from the three communal areas, namely; Tsengiwe, Upper Mnxe and Manzimdaka for household surveys and group discussions. For landscape study, a total of about 5 ha of land were selected at Upper Mnxe communal area. Selection criteria included the presence of E. floribundus and different landscape gradients. A total of four 50mx50 plots were marked along the landscape gradients: Bottom, Middle, and Upper Slope and upland positions. To study the effect of E. floribundus invasion on the herbaceous vegetation and soil, a total of 4 ha communal land was selected in an accessible area which had a largely flat terrain. The area was selected to have adjacent sites with no invasion (< 5% shrub cover), light (5-15% shrub cover), moderate (>15-35) and heavy invasions (>35% shrub cover) of E. floribundus. The average household size in the study area was 6.8± 0.7. All people in the three communal areas unanimously ranked sheep as the most important species for their livelihood, but the ranking of cattle and goat varied among the communal areas. All elder groups agreed that Europs floribundus decreases both the quantity and quality of herbaceous forage as well as livestock production. Moreover, invaded patches create more bare areas which are responsible for the loss of top fertile soils and the formation of rills and gullies. The result showed that the total density of E. floribundus significantly increased from the topland (2301 plants ha-1) moving to the bottomland (4888 plants ha-1). Canopy cover was significantly lowest in the topland (17.9%), but the remaining gradients had similar cover. Grass dry matter yield was higher in the bottomlands and sloppy gradients than the toplands. Soil organic carbon was significantly higher (P<0.05) in the flat than the sloppy terrain. Soils from higher elevations (toplands and upper sloppy) had significantly higher N than the lower elevations (bottomlands and Middle sloppy). The lowest dry matter was observed at low invasion and non-invaded sites. Soil chemical properties were generally different from all density levels. In conclusion, E. floribundus encroachment was found to be major cause of decline in the peoples’ livelihood because as this reduces the vegetation diversity and livestock production, both of which are the major of their livelihoods.

Traditional healing is one of the most trusted methods of healing in South Africa, especially in rural areas, where health-care infrastructure is inadequate. People have depended on this method of healing since time immemorial. That belief has been strengthened by the fact that this method keeps people in touch with their ancestors. Traditional healers are trusted and believed to be the link between people and their ancestors. The Dwesa community is amongst the areas that still have strong belief in traditional healing. Traditional healers have a variety of methods of healing that they use, these methods have been trusted for people of all age groups. These methods are ukugabha, ukufutha and ukucima. Traditional healers prescribe them for both major and minor illnesses. They are believed to play a role in cleansing people from inside and outside. These methods together with other methods that are used in traditional healing are being explored in this study. This exploration is based on the fact that this information will be integrated into the teaching of isiXhosa to Pharmacy students at Rhodes University. This is an initiative to create awareness amongst health-care practitioners about traditional healing methods, so that they can caution and advise their patients about medicine taking behaviours, also to make them approach the subject in a sensitive manner. An isiXhosa course has been taught to Pharmacy students, as a pilot in 2007 and as an elective in 2008 onwards. This course deals with cultural issues in a broad manner, the issue of traditional healing specifically, and these methods of healing are outlined in the course, such that students have an understanding first of what a traditional healer is and their role in providing health-care services.

The constructivist world view is advocated in the Namibian National Curriculum for Basic Education (NNCBE, 2010) since it encourages teachers to use different knowledge sources. This perspective embraces a multicultural approach to science teaching and learning. Indigenous knowledge (IK) and western science (WS) are some of the knowledge sources that are advocated. Yet, it has been noted that some science textbooks used in school science curricula do not consider IK. It is often diminished and considered of lesser value. The sole use of WS in teaching and learning is often distant from IK sources which can be used as prior knowledge. In this study, I therefore endeavoured to minimize this gap in the science curriculum. Essentially, the study focused on investigating trainee teachers’ engagement with prior everyday knowledge and experiences of natural phenomena in teaching physical science concepts. The rationale behind the study emerged while I was supervising twelve trainee teachers on school based studies (SBS) in the Caprivi Region. Observations revealed that learners frequently asked trainee teachers to relate their IK to WS to contextualize what they were learning. However, most trainee teachers seemed to experience challenges. This pedagogical gap and challenge was investigated using the instruments below. An analysis was done on the Namibian National Curriculum for Basic Education (NNCBE, 2010), extracts of research papers and a chapters on pressure in physical science textbooks. A worksheet was used to orientate trainee teachers with suggestions on how IK could be fused with WS to contextualize teaching and learning. Thereafter, this was followed by the simultaneous use of brainstorming and audio-visual techniques. Base line instruments paved the way for the main data generating techniques; namely, microteaching, audio-visual techniques, critical partners’ observation and focus group interview. There was triangulation of data collection instruments which enhanced validation followed by tabulation and data collation to develop themes. Analysis entailed checking theme repetition, indigenous categories and key words in context techniques. Themes enabled the construction of analytical statements which were discussed with reference to the relevant literature, theory and subsequently aligned to the research questions. Findings from this study include the suggestions that IK can be incorporated into teaching and learning of science concepts through the use of models or practical activities, science language used in the community and some cultural artifacts. The relevance of incorporating such type of knowledge is to contextualize science teaching and learning. The study therefore concluded that the incorporation of IK into teaching and learning of science concepts; (a) broadens the curriculum as it addresses conceptual progression and cohesion; (b) contextualizes concepts taught; (c) empowers teachers to use a practical curriculum and (d) it also creates space for misconceptions that come with IK to be identified and corrected. The study thus recommends that cultural artifacts and the social science jargon used in the community of the trainee teachers can be used to incorporate IK with WS as these types of knowledge are not mutually exclusive but in fact complement one another.

The notion of a global knowledge society is somewhat of a misnomer due to the fact that large portions of the global community are not participants in this global knowledge society which is driven, shaped by and socio-technically biased towards a small fraction of the global population. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is culture-sensitive and this is a dynamic that is largely ignored in the majority of ICT for Development (ICT4D) interventions, leading to the technological determinism flaw and ultimately a failure of the undertaken projects. The deployment of ICT solutions, in particular in the context of ICT4D, must be informed by the cultural and socio-technical profile of the deployment environments and solutions themselves must be developed with a focus towards context-sensitivity and ethnocentricity. In this thesis, we investigate the viability of a software architectural framework for the development of ICT solutions that are context-sensitive and ethnocentric1, and so aligned with the cultural and social dynamics within the environment of deployment. The conceptual framework, named PIASK, defines five tiers (presentation, interaction, access, social networking, and knowledge base) which allow for: behavioural completeness of the layer components; a modular and functionally decoupled architecture; and the flexibility to situate and contextualize the developed applications along the dimensions of the User Interface (UI), interaction modalities, usage metaphors, underlying Indigenous Knowledge (IK), and access protocols. We have developed a proof-of-concept service platform, called KnowNet, based on the PIASK architecture. KnowNet is built around the knowledge base layer, which consists of domain ontologies that encapsulate the knowledge in the platform, with an intrinsic flexibility to access secondary knowledge repositories. The domain ontologies constructed (as examples) are for the provisioning of eServices to support societal activities (e.g. commerce, health, agriculture, medicine) within a rural and marginalized area of Dwesa, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The social networking layer allows for situating the platform within the local social systems. Heterogeneity of user profiles and multiplicity of end-user devices are handled through the access and the presentation components, and the service logic is implemented by the interaction components. This services platform validates the PIASK architecture for end-to-end provisioning of multi-modal, heterogeneous, ontology-based services. The development of KnowNet was informed on one hand by the latest trends within service architectures, semantic web technologies and social applications, and on the other hand by the context consideration based on the profile (IK systems dynamics, infrastructure, usability requirements) of the Dwesa community. The realization of the service platform is based on the JADE Multi-Agent System (MAS), and this shows the applicability and adequacy of MAS’s for service deployment in a rural context, at the same time providing key advantages such as platform fault-tolerance, robustness and flexibility. While the context of conceptualization of PIASK and the implementation of KnowNet is that of rurality and of ICT4D, the applicability of the architecture extends to other similarly heterogeneous and context-sensitive domains. KnowNet has been validated for functional and technical adequacy, and we have also undertaken an initial prevalidation for social context sensitivity. We observe that the five tier PIASK architecture provides an adequate framework for developing context-sensitive and ethnocentric software: by functionally separating and making explicit the social networking and access tier components, while still maintaining the traditional separation of presentation, business logic and data components.