In the field of International Development, increased attention has been given to the concept of women’s empowerment as it has been recognized as a potential driver for change. Classified as a global struggle, commitments to this concept have been at the core of many development interventions, whether they be a small NGOs working in a single community or large-scale international aid agencies with presence all around the world. Despite its international recognition, women’s empowerment has been largely left unquestioned within development practices and especially with regards to the impact it may have on local beneficiary communities. This thesis will address how universal ideas such as this one become meaningful in the local setting through a case study of CARE-International’s Women’s Empowerment in Zanzibar project that was implemented from the years 2008-2011. In applying Sally Merry’s (2006) concept of vernacularization, as a theoretical framework, it will be shown that international aid organizations do not simply adapt women’s empowerment to the local arena. Instead, various local actors are involved in a dynamic process of translating, negotiating, and making the concept more meaningful to the beneficiaries and, thus, cause a new hybrid understanding of women’s empowerment to emerge. This new concept draws more extensively on local institutions, knowledge and practices that have been inter-weaved with Islamic practices which play an important role in the lives of Zanzibaris. This thesis will illustrate how NGO culture converges with and diverges from the local communities and expose the realities that exist within the greater development discourse.

Text in Afrikaans / Apartheid is verby. Die nuwe Suid-Afrika het gekom. Maar met die koms van die nuwe Suid-Afrika het die oue nie verdwyn nie. Die oue van die apartheidsverlede is nog met ons. Ons is die erfgename van apartheid en dra die letsels van apartheid nog saam met ons. Armoede, werkloosheid, behuisingsnood en geweld en misdaad is deel van die post-apartheid samelewing en kan nie weggewens word nie. Die kerk is geroep om die evangelie in die samelewing aan alle mense te kommunikeer. In hierdie kommunikasie moet die evangelie in 'n post-apartheid samelewing gesien en ervaar kan word in dade van diens. Daarom staan dade van diens in hierdie studie sentraal. Hierdie studie handel dus oor die diens van gelowiges wat 'n kommunikasievoertuig is van die evangelie in 'n post-apartheid samelewing. Vanuit die nood en behoeftes van mense in die post-apartheid samelewing is twee dade van diens geidentifiseer wat sentraal staan in die kommunikasie van die evangelie. Dit is bemagtiging en versoening. Omdat 'n groot dee! van die samelewing in die verlede geen mag op ekonomiese en politieke terreine gehad het nie, is dade van diens wat mense bemagtig noodsaaklik. In hierdie bemagtiging speel ekonomiese-, sosiale- en psigologiese bemagtiging 'n groot rol. En omdat mense deur die verlede van apartheid op grond van velkleur van mekaar geskei en geisoleer is, vra dit dat mense met mekaar versoen word. In die proses om versoening tussen mense te bewerkstellig speel verantwoordelikheid, erkenning van apartheidskuld, restitusie, regstellende aksie, die luister na mense se stories en vergifnis 'n baie belangrike rol. Vanuit 'n geloofsperspektief is die <liens van die gelowige in 'n post-apartheid samelewing in verband gebring met Jesus Christus se di ens wat Hy as voorbeeld voorgehou het vir al sy navolgers. Omdat gelowiges navolgers is van Christus is alle gelowiges die subjekte van diens aan mense in die samelewing. Vir hierdie diens in die samelewing word die gelowige in die geloofsgemeenskap (of gemeente) deur gemeenskap (koinonia) opgebou en deur die geestelike leiers toegerus om diensbaar aan mense in die samelewing te wees. / Apartheid is a thing of the past. The new South Africa has dawned. But that does not mean that the "old" South Africa has disappeared. The "old" South Africa is still present. We are the inheritors of apartheid and have to live with the scars of apartheid. Poverty, joblessness, a shortage of housing and violence and crime are an integral part of the post-apartheid society and cannot be wished away. The church is called upon to communicate the gospel to all people in society. In a post-apartheid society it is important that in this process of communication, the gospel is seen and experienced in deeds of service. Deeds of service are thus central in this study. This study entails service of believers as communication vehicles of the gospel in a post-apartheid society. Derived from the needs of people in the post-apartheid society two deeds of service are identified which are essential in the communication of the gospel. These are empowerment and reconciliation. A large part of the society previously had no power on the economical and political fronts - therefore deeds of service that cultivate empowerment are essential. In this process economic, social and psychological empowerment plays an important role. And because people were separated and isolated on the ground of skin colour, people need to be reconciliated. In the process of establishing reconciliation among people, it has to be recognised that responsibility, confession of guilt, restitution, affirmative action, listening to people's stories and forgiveness have an important role. From a Christian perspective the service of the believer in a post-apartheid society is orientated to the service of Jesus Christ. His service serves as an example to all his followers. Because believers are followers of Christ, they are all his instruments of service. For this service believers are edified in their local churches by community (koinonia) and equipped by the spiritual leaders to be of service to people in the society. / Philosophy, Practical & Systematic Theology / D. Th. (Praktiese Teologie)

Esta pesquisa busca contribuir para o desenvolvimento de relações entre corpo e tecnologia, ao compreender esse dialogo como um sistema alterador de percepção. Ao partir da experiência do corpo junto a dispositivos que permitem a transgressão do organismo natural, inicio com essa dissertação a formulação do conceito de \"acoplamento\", espécie de extensão que não invalida o corpo natural, mas que trabalham em conjunto para formar um novo corpo propositor de distintas perspectivas. Compreendo que \"acoplamento\" seja em consonância ao que chamo \"poética do risco\", onde encaro a berlinda não como um abismo, mas como um desconhecido que me permite sair da zona de conforto para alcançar a potência do sistema em que me encontro. Ao apresentar alguns trabalhos desenvolvidos nos últimos anos, pretendo tatear noções de corpo, tecnologia, presença, órtese e prótese que possam apontar caminhos para a formulação do que venho até então chamando de \"acoplamento\". Serão apontados os trabalhos: \"adaMachine Experimento #1 Máquina de Criar Presenças\", performance telemática que investiga possibilidades de presença, tecnologias e afetos através de formas de comunicação mediadas, ruidosas e suscetíveis as limitações dessa mediação; \"La Grand Pelea\" investiga sensores biofísicos buscando ultrapassar a fronteira da pele através da criação de wearables, com capacidade para potencializar as relações entre a tecnologia e o corpo que a veste, propondo interfaces assistivas e para performance; e \"Monomito\", objeto performático vestível, no qual as dimensões da tecnologia e do corpo ocupam o mesmo lugar de importância, trata da jornada humana modificada pelas relações que cria com o outro, ainda que em tempos distintos. Encerro esta dissertação com um relato sobre o Projeto Híbrida, que promoveu de forma técnica, teórica e sensível, conexões que nos mostram as potências do atuar coletivamente na contemporaneidade. O projeto revela implicações que extrapolaram os conceitos de arte e o laboratório acadêmico ao vivenciar a cultura do compartilhamento e da prototipagem para apresentar questões estéticas que emergiram de proposições sensíveis, oferecerendo ferramentas de empoderamento social. / This research aims to contribute to the development of relations between body and technology, as understanding this dialogue as perception changing system. From the physical experience of connection with devices that allow the transgression of the natural organism, I discuss, with this dissertation, what I\'ve been calling the \"coupling\" concept. A sort of body extension that does not invalidate the natural body, but instead works mutually to form a new body that proposes different perspectives. In my understanding, \"coupling\" is in consonance to what I call \"poetics of risk,\" in which I see the line before the void, the exit point; not as an abyss, but as an unknown space that allows me to get out of the comfort zone to achieve the power of the system in which I find myself in. By presenting some work done in recent years, I want to grope for notions of body, technology, presence, orthotics and prosthesis that indicate the principles for what I\'ve been calling so far as \"coupling\". The works that will be discussed are: \"adaMachine Experiment # 1 Presence Creator Machine\", a telematic performance that investigates the possibilities of presence, technologies and affections through mediated, noisy and limited communication; \"La Grand Pelea\" investigates biophysical sensors seeking to cross the border of the skin by creating wearables, able to enhance the relationship between technology and the body that wears it, proposing interfaces for assistive purposes and performative art experiments; and \"Monomyth\", wearable performative object, in which the dimensions of technology and body occupy the same place of importance, deals with the human journey that is modified by establishing peculiar relations provoked by the apparatus and the performer. I conclude this dissertation with a report about Hibrida Project, which promoted technical, theoretical and sensitive connections that show us the power of acting collectively in contemporary times. The implications of this project revealed that it went beyond the concepts of art and the academic laboratory, as its participants experienced the culture of sharing and prototyping, and were able to present aesthetic issues that emerge from these sensitive propositions, offering social empowerment tools.

Esta pesquisa busca contribuir para o desenvolvimento de relações entre corpo e tecnologia, ao compreender esse dialogo como um sistema alterador de percepção. Ao partir da experiência do corpo junto a dispositivos que permitem a transgressão do organismo natural, inicio com essa dissertação a formulação do conceito de \"acoplamento\", espécie de extensão que não invalida o corpo natural, mas que trabalham em conjunto para formar um novo corpo propositor de distintas perspectivas. Compreendo que \"acoplamento\" seja em consonância ao que chamo \"poética do risco\", onde encaro a berlinda não como um abismo, mas como um desconhecido que me permite sair da zona de conforto para alcançar a potência do sistema em que me encontro. Ao apresentar alguns trabalhos desenvolvidos nos últimos anos, pretendo tatear noções de corpo, tecnologia, presença, órtese e prótese que possam apontar caminhos para a formulação do que venho até então chamando de \"acoplamento\". Serão apontados os trabalhos: \"adaMachine Experimento #1 Máquina de Criar Presenças\", performance telemática que investiga possibilidades de presença, tecnologias e afetos através de formas de comunicação mediadas, ruidosas e suscetíveis as limitações dessa mediação; \"La Grand Pelea\" investiga sensores biofísicos buscando ultrapassar a fronteira da pele através da criação de wearables, com capacidade para potencializar as relações entre a tecnologia e o corpo que a veste, propondo interfaces assistivas e para performance; e \"Monomito\", objeto performático vestível, no qual as dimensões da tecnologia e do corpo ocupam o mesmo lugar de importância, trata da jornada humana modificada pelas relações que cria com o outro, ainda que em tempos distintos. Encerro esta dissertação com um relato sobre o Projeto Híbrida, que promoveu de forma técnica, teórica e sensível, conexões que nos mostram as potências do atuar coletivamente na contemporaneidade. O projeto revela implicações que extrapolaram os conceitos de arte e o laboratório acadêmico ao vivenciar a cultura do compartilhamento e da prototipagem para apresentar questões estéticas que emergiram de proposições sensíveis, oferecerendo ferramentas de empoderamento social. / This research aims to contribute to the development of relations between body and technology, as understanding this dialogue as perception changing system. From the physical experience of connection with devices that allow the transgression of the natural organism, I discuss, with this dissertation, what I\'ve been calling the \"coupling\" concept. A sort of body extension that does not invalidate the natural body, but instead works mutually to form a new body that proposes different perspectives. In my understanding, \"coupling\" is in consonance to what I call \"poetics of risk,\" in which I see the line before the void, the exit point; not as an abyss, but as an unknown space that allows me to get out of the comfort zone to achieve the power of the system in which I find myself in. By presenting some work done in recent years, I want to grope for notions of body, technology, presence, orthotics and prosthesis that indicate the principles for what I\'ve been calling so far as \"coupling\". The works that will be discussed are: \"adaMachine Experiment # 1 Presence Creator Machine\", a telematic performance that investigates the possibilities of presence, technologies and affections through mediated, noisy and limited communication; \"La Grand Pelea\" investigates biophysical sensors seeking to cross the border of the skin by creating wearables, able to enhance the relationship between technology and the body that wears it, proposing interfaces for assistive purposes and performative art experiments; and \"Monomyth\", wearable performative object, in which the dimensions of technology and body occupy the same place of importance, deals with the human journey that is modified by establishing peculiar relations provoked by the apparatus and the performer. I conclude this dissertation with a report about Hibrida Project, which promoted technical, theoretical and sensitive connections that show us the power of acting collectively in contemporary times. The implications of this project revealed that it went beyond the concepts of art and the academic laboratory, as its participants experienced the culture of sharing and prototyping, and were able to present aesthetic issues that emerge from these sensitive propositions, offering social empowerment tools.

Text in Afrikaans / Apartheid is verby. Die nuwe Suid-Afrika het gekom. Maar met die koms van die nuwe Suid-Afrika het die oue nie verdwyn nie. Die oue van die apartheidsverlede is nog met ons. Ons is die erfgename van apartheid en dra die letsels van apartheid nog saam met ons. Armoede, werkloosheid, behuisingsnood en geweld en misdaad is deel van die post-apartheid samelewing en kan nie weggewens word nie. Die kerk is geroep om die evangelie in die samelewing aan alle mense te kommunikeer. In hierdie kommunikasie moet die evangelie in 'n post-apartheid samelewing gesien en ervaar kan word in dade van diens. Daarom staan dade van diens in hierdie studie sentraal. Hierdie studie handel dus oor die diens van gelowiges wat 'n kommunikasievoertuig is van die evangelie in 'n post-apartheid samelewing. Vanuit die nood en behoeftes van mense in die post-apartheid samelewing is twee dade van diens geidentifiseer wat sentraal staan in die kommunikasie van die evangelie. Dit is bemagtiging en versoening. Omdat 'n groot dee! van die samelewing in die verlede geen mag op ekonomiese en politieke terreine gehad het nie, is dade van diens wat mense bemagtig noodsaaklik. In hierdie bemagtiging speel ekonomiese-, sosiale- en psigologiese bemagtiging 'n groot rol. En omdat mense deur die verlede van apartheid op grond van velkleur van mekaar geskei en geisoleer is, vra dit dat mense met mekaar versoen word. In die proses om versoening tussen mense te bewerkstellig speel verantwoordelikheid, erkenning van apartheidskuld, restitusie, regstellende aksie, die luister na mense se stories en vergifnis 'n baie belangrike rol. Vanuit 'n geloofsperspektief is die <liens van die gelowige in 'n post-apartheid samelewing in verband gebring met Jesus Christus se di ens wat Hy as voorbeeld voorgehou het vir al sy navolgers. Omdat gelowiges navolgers is van Christus is alle gelowiges die subjekte van diens aan mense in die samelewing. Vir hierdie diens in die samelewing word die gelowige in die geloofsgemeenskap (of gemeente) deur gemeenskap (koinonia) opgebou en deur die geestelike leiers toegerus om diensbaar aan mense in die samelewing te wees. / Apartheid is a thing of the past. The new South Africa has dawned. But that does not mean that the "old" South Africa has disappeared. The "old" South Africa is still present. We are the inheritors of apartheid and have to live with the scars of apartheid. Poverty, joblessness, a shortage of housing and violence and crime are an integral part of the post-apartheid society and cannot be wished away. The church is called upon to communicate the gospel to all people in society. In a post-apartheid society it is important that in this process of communication, the gospel is seen and experienced in deeds of service. Deeds of service are thus central in this study. This study entails service of believers as communication vehicles of the gospel in a post-apartheid society. Derived from the needs of people in the post-apartheid society two deeds of service are identified which are essential in the communication of the gospel. These are empowerment and reconciliation. A large part of the society previously had no power on the economical and political fronts - therefore deeds of service that cultivate empowerment are essential. In this process economic, social and psychological empowerment plays an important role. And because people were separated and isolated on the ground of skin colour, people need to be reconciliated. In the process of establishing reconciliation among people, it has to be recognised that responsibility, confession of guilt, restitution, affirmative action, listening to people's stories and forgiveness have an important role. From a Christian perspective the service of the believer in a post-apartheid society is orientated to the service of Jesus Christ. His service serves as an example to all his followers. Because believers are followers of Christ, they are all his instruments of service. For this service believers are edified in their local churches by community (koinonia) and equipped by the spiritual leaders to be of service to people in the society. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D. Th. (Praktiese Teologie)