The recent history of Africa is one of rapid chance. This process is still continuing and even accelerating. The peoples of Africa are being drawn from a subsistence way of life to a money economy and, more often than not, from a rural to an urban environment. South Africa is no exception to this pattern. In fact, as the most developed country on the continent it is in the front-line of this transformation. Various facets of this problem have held the attention of anthropologists world-wide. Southern Africa specifically has produced some of the earliest urban studies (Hellman, 1948), as well as some of the classical contributions to the field (Mitchell, 1956, 1960, 1966, 1969, 1970; Epstein, 1958; Mayer, 1961, "(1971), 1962; Pauw, 1963). Complex as the urban problems are, anthropologists have obviously not been alone in this field. Workers from many disciplines have been and still are required to contribute to the understanding of the process or urbanization as well as the urban process. Partly for this reason no attempt has been made in the present study to illuminate all the varied facets of the urban field. In general, the focus has been on the urban process and more specifically, on part of a local-level political system. Thus only a limited problem has been selected for analysis.

M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / Social interaction plays a key role in children’s social development and learning. Hence, social interaction is important for everyone, including individuals with intellectual impairment. Researches such as Vygotsky, Dockett and Perry (2003) has shown that opportunities for social interaction for people with intellectual impairment can facilitate increased community integration, improved quality of life, greater sense of life-satisfaction and wellbeing, the development of friendships, and increased social skills. I engaged with relevant literature in order to understand the characteristics of children with intellectual impairment and their social functioning. My theoretical framework was based on a socio-cultural theory. The research was conducted at a school in the East Rand region of Gauteng that caters for children with intellectual impairment. The sample of participants that participated has played a prominent role in the school concerts and their age range between 12 years and 23 years old, with intellectual impairment as their primary disability. A phenomenological research design was followed so as to understand social and psychological phenomena from the perspectives of the people involved, in how they experience the school concert. Data was collected from various participants form the school’s environment, such as educators, the identified participants parents/caregivers, support staff the participants themselves. I conducted unstructured and semi-structured interviews, such as focus group discussions and individual interviews, with participants, parents/caregivers, educators, and support staff (speech therapist). After the research was conducted, the central findings about the research is the use of creative expressive arts helps children with intellectual impairment to become more focussed and increase their communication skills, developing a sense of self and building relationships. The school concert boosted their self-esteem and their confidence, improving their social interaction.

The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences some teachers in preschool have of how the social interaction looks like in play of children with autism spectrum disorder. The study relied on the following questions:   • How do teachers describe their experiences of children within the autism spectrum disorder? • How do teachers describe these children's social interaction in play? • How do teachers talk about how play is designed in preschool to promote social interaction among children with autism spectrum disorder?   To be able to answer the questions above, qualitative semi-structured interviews have been used. Four interviews have been conducted with active teachers in preschool who all have experience with children with autism spectrum disorder.   Results from this study shows that teachers' have experience of that social interaction in play is difficult for children with autism spectrum disorder. In play they do not seem to experience self-comfort in comparison with other children. They often play next to each other rather then together. At the same time teachers' experiences shows that play can work if the right support is given.   Keywords Autism spectrum disorder, social interaction, play, preschool, preschool teacher.

The aim of this study was to get knowledge and understanding about the actions people do and the experiences they have in the two different lifeareas, family/relatives and workplace, when they have an ongoing gambling addiction. The study was conducted with a qualitative method based on literature studies on four autobiographies written by Swedish people with a gambling addiction, and the study had a sociological perspective. The results showed that gambling addiction leads to patterns of actions and emotions/thoughts in a downward spiral with common actions as lies and immorality, and emotions of shame. It also showed that the actions and emotions/thoughts emerged in the social interaction with other people in the lifeareas, and can therefore be seen as a sociological process.

[pt] Este estudo busca compreender o processo de mediação cultural ocorrente em quatro blogs de moda bem sucedidos: Blog da Thássia, Garotas Estúpidas, Super Vaidosa e Petiscos. Através de teorias da mediação cultural, cultura de consumo e campo da moda, o presente trabalho buscou compreender a tematização observada no processo de mediação cultural, bem como a interação social que ali se desenvolve. Para tanto, foram reunidos e analisados um conjunto de posts e comentários veiculados nos quatro blogs, no período entre fevereiro e outubro de 2014. O exame do material evidenciou cinco categorias analíticas – nomeadamente: expressões de afeto, insatisfação, a construção participativa dos blogs, dúvidas e compartilhamento de informações. / [en] This study seeks to understand the process of cultural mediation occurring in four successful fashion blogs: Blog da Thássia, Garotas Estúpidas, Super Vaidosa and Petiscos. Through theories of cultural mediation, consumer culture and the fashion field, the present study sought to understand the lemmatization observed in the process of cultural mediation, as well as social interaction that develops on there. Were gathered and analyzed a set of posts and comments aired on all four blogs, in the period between February and October 2014. The examination of the material showed five analytic categories – in particular, expressions of affection, dissatisfaction, participatory construction of blogging, questions and sharing information.

Magister Educationis - MEd / In this research paper, guided by Prof Z Groener, I explore the learning barriers experienced by deaf learners in the structured workplace component of a learnership programme. I focus on the learning barriers of deaf learners at work on an Information Technology learnership where the learning environment shapes and are shaped by deaf learners. Twenty deaf learners have entered during 2005 into an Information Technology: Technical Support NQF4 learnership, funded by the Information Systems (IT), Electronics and Telecommunications Technologies Sector Education Training Authority (ISETT Seta). I have determined how deaf learners are faring with work and learning in a technological environment that has experienced rapid and extensive restructuring during the past ten years. The specific difficulties which they experience during their structured workplace component of the learnerships have also been defined. I argue that when deaf learners form part of a community of practice, consisting of both deaf learners and hearing colleagues and who operate in the same area of knowledge and activity, they fare better than those who did not form part of such a community. I conclude this research paper with a link to the situated learning theory where I explain why the learner’s situation contributed to their ability to learn. / South Africa

Denna studie är en kvalitativ studie baserad på ett jämförande, tolkande och sociologiskt perspektiv med fokus på medieanvändning samt social interaktion. Syftet är att se hur högskolestudenter upplever social interaktion på Facebook i jämförelse med den fysiska världen. Metod och tillvägagångssätt är i huvudsak en reflexiv intervjumetod. Materialet för studien består av sex inspelade och transkriberade intervjuer med universitetsstudenter i åldrarna 19 till 38 år. Anledningen till att göra en social interaktionsstudie på Facebook är att vi idag behöver kunskap om våra handlingar och beteenden online. Slutsatsen är att social interaktion på Facebook uppfattas som ett komplement till den fysiska världen. Det kan värderas annorlunda men anses fortfarande vara en uppenbar tillgång i det sociala livet idag. / This study is a qualitative study based on a comparative, interpretative and sociological perspective, with a focus on media use and social interaction The purpose is to see how university students experience social interaction on Facebook in comparison with the physical world. Method and approach is essentially a reflexive interview method. The material for the study consists of six recorded and transcribed interviews with universitystudents in the ages 19 to 38. The reason to do a social interaction study on Facebook is because we need knowledge about our actions and behavior online. The conclusion is that social interaction on Facebook is perceived as a complement to the physical world. It can be valued differently but is still considered to be an obvious asset in social life today.

By referring to established concepts and theories which contemplate our experiences in relation to others and space, this thesis examines the interactions and responses of an audience during various participatory artworks. I draw upon Jean-Paul Sartre’s Being and Nothingness and Elizabeth Grosz’ Architecture From The Outside: Essays on Virtual and Real Space in order to understand our interactions with other people, our interactions inside an environment, and the objects and ceremonies we use during these interactions. I align these experiences with the methods which are employed to anticipate and create the interactions between an audience and a participatory artwork. Our daily interactions can be considered a frame that an artist shapes for their represented situation to allow, provide and guide an audience towards their possibilities for movements and actions within a participatory artwork. The interactions that occur in participatory art are done in relation to others and include groups of people interacting with each other rather than an individual disembodied experience. I refer to Claire Bishop in her book, Artificial Hells, and Nicolas Bourriaud in Relational Aesthetics in order to define participatory art. In defining participatory art I focus on the idea that participation is a social activity without which the artwork does not function or exist. I unravel Brett Bailey’s Exhibit A, Anthea Moys Anthea Moys vs The City of Grahamstown and Christian Boltanski’s Personnes in terms of the frame they use to construct participation and interaction. I refer to my own exhibition Ineffaceable as an exploration of these frames which encourage participation. The inside and the outside are a constant theme throughout this thesis and my exhibition. This thematic re-emerges in relation to a number of opposing and fluctuating dynamics: the self and the other; the object and the subject; familiarity and strangeness; the participator and the spectator; the immersive and the disembodied; and the artwork and the audience. Participatory art has not been sufficiently explored particularly in South Africa with South African case studies and particularly from a practical standpoint that includes methodologies for creating participation. This thesis hopes to enrich and contribute to the contemplations on participatory art by focusing on our interactions with others.

Ever since the earliest times much emphasis has been placed on the physical appearance of women. Particularly in western cultures idealized images of perfection are constantly promoted and the message that comes across in various media outlets is that a woman ought to have a 'perfect' appearance in order to be competent and desirable. This puts a great deal of stress on women and particularly on adolescent girls who are going through a phase of increased sensitivity about their appearance. The literature suggests that people, and women in particular, are fundamentally affected by the way they view their bodies. The body image furthermore has a strong relationship with the self concept, which affects other areas of a person's life such as her academic achievement and her social 'life. Against this background an attempt was made in this study to determine the relationship between the body image of adolescent girls and their academic achievement, their sport participation and their social involvement. The subjects were 180 girls drawn from two rural secondary schools. The survey involved the completion of two questionnaires, namely an adapted form of the Physical Self Subscale of the Tenessee Self Concept Scale (used to determine a score for body image) and a questionnaire on social involvement and sport participation, which was drawn up by the researcher. Biographic data as well as academic scores were gathered from school records. Data was analysed statistically by means of the BMDP Software Version 1990: programme (Sun Unix). Pearson's chi square tests of independence, as well as a one-way analysis of variance with co-variate were carried out. The results reveal that the body image and academic achievement of this group of girls are not significantly correlated. There are, however, significant correlations between the body image and social involvement of these girls, between their body image and sport participation, as well as between their social involvement and sport participation. iv These findings have important implications for"'e"ducation and consideration is given to addressing these issues in schools.

La presente investigación tuvo como principal objetivo crear el test “Habilidades de Interacción Social” y analizar las propiedades psicométricas de las puntuaciones derivadas de aplicarlo en la muestra de estudio. Se utilizó un muestreo no probabilístico por conveniencia y la muestra estuvo compuesta por 222 niños de 3 a 6 años de los distritos de Surco y La Molina de Lima Metropolitana. Las tutoras respondieron la prueba en base a la frecuencia de las conductas que observaban en los niños. Los resultados indican que las puntuaciones derivadas de aplicar este instrumento cuentan con propiedades psicométricas satisfactorias en la población de estudio / Tesis