The social and political effects of mass unemployment in South Africa mean there is an urgent need for strategies of job- creation. In this context, the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu), the South African Youth Congress (SAYCO), and the National Unemployed Workers' Co-ordinating Committee (NUWCC) have all expressed support for producer co-operatives, which are not only seen to have the potential to create jobs, but at the same time, are seen as providing a democratic alternative to capitalist enterprises. Thus firstly, this dissertation is exploring the potential for producer co-ops to fulfil these roles. However, for co-ops to make any contribution at all, they have to be economically viable. Thus this dissertation also attempts to analyse the terms on which this may be possible. In Chapter One, I analyse the roots of mass unemployment in South Africa, locate the problem and its effects within the framework of the current economic and political crisis, and analyse state strategies for overcoming this problem. I then turn to analysing the social and psychological effects of unemployment, and the implications of this for the growth of democratic organisation in the factories and township communities. I look at the strategies emerging for organising the unemployed, and conclude that the potential to organise the unemployed hinges largely around the extent to which unemployed workers' organisation manages to create jobs. In this regard, co-ops are a strategy of job creation that allows the unemployed to take the initiative in creating their own jobs, and on terms that build different forms of work organisation. On the basis of the priorities defined by the NUWCC, I then turn to analysing the limits and possibilities of co-op production. In Chapter Two, I address the theoretical issues that have emerged in relation to co-ops in capitalist society internationally, and attempt to analyse the reasons for their widespread economic failure, and for their tendency to degenerate into capitalist enterprises. From this, I draw out the potential terms on which collapse and/or degeneration can be countered, and refer to Mondragon in Spain and Lega in Italy as case studies. I then look at the potential political role co-ops can play, and conclude this chapter by focussing the issues discussed onto South African questions. In Chapter Three, I attempt a typology of co-op development in South Africa today, highlighting the extent to which a broad range of social forces see co-ops serving their own interests. Then, on the basis of a list of production co-ops in Addendum A, I analyse some of the overall features of the democratic co-ops that do exist at present, and point to the existence of degenerative tendencies in the South African context, with specific reference to Thusanang. I then focus on three case studies - the Pfananani co-ops, a carpentry co-op, and Nonthutuzelo. Each of these co-ops has arisen under different conditions, and they illustrate different aspects of the issues co-ops in SA will have to address if they are to survive. Chapter Four focusses on the production co-ops of the Sarmcol Workers Co-op (SAWCO), particularly the t-shirt co-op. The analysis of SAWCO constitutes the main case study of this dissertation. I have prioritised SAWCO because at the time I began the research, it was the only co-op with structural links to a Cosatu union; it is a co-op that arose out of the context of a workers' struggle, and contains important lessons for the establishment of co-ops with a clear relationship to democratic organisation. Furthermore, it relies on the 'solidarity' market to sell its products, and highlights certain important features and contradictions within this market. Finally, it highlights key issues in relation to the structures of ownership and control in democratic co-ops. In my conclusion, I attempt to draw together the material in the dissertation as a whole. I apply the theoretical discussion to the South African context, assess the implications of the nature of SA's economy for the development of co-ops, and attempt to provide some pointers to the terms on which democratic co-ops can be economically viable, thus creating jobs, at the same time as making a broader contribution to the extension of democracy in South Africa. / Labour studies research report (University of the Witwatersrand); v 4

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During the 17th and 18th century a number of Jews settled on the English island of Barbados and the Dutch island of St. Eustatius. The Jews on both islands erected synagogues and a number of key structures essential for a practicing religious community. Although they had strong connections that spanned across geo-political boundaries, the synagogue compounds on each island became key places for the creation and maintenance of a Jewish community. I argue that these synagogue compounds represented diasporic places that must be understood through a tri-partite model that explores the relationships between the Jewish community and its hostland, other dispersed Jewish communities, and the homeland. Furthermore, during the early modern period, these compounds were "heterotopias" within the colonial landscape. Heterotopias, as places of alternative ordering, speak to the constructions of social and cultural difference. For the Jews, the synagogue compounds provided them a chance to create a place founded on their cultural values and ideals within the Christian controlled spaces of both islands. Alternatively, for the Christian communities on the islands, the synagogue compounds highlighted how the Jewish community had different loyalties and values than they did. In exploring the ways that these places served as heterotopias, and for how long they were sites of alternative ordering, this dissertation demonstrates the fundamental role that places play in the formation and maintenance of diasporic communities and the dynamic relationship between spaces, places, and identities in the early modern period.

This qualitative study identified the strategies that secondary French teachers use in their classroom to show students that they have made progress in their learning. Six teachers participated in this study. Data were collected from interviews, class observations, and artifacts used by the teachers. The findings suggest that teachers use a variety of strategies to help their students to know that they have made progress. These strategies include various forms of formative assessments, self-assessments, and self-reflections. The findings reveal that teachers choose to use these strategies because they are able to help their students develop characteristics of autonomous learners.

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This thesis examines the composition of 2 Thessalonians 2 and focuses specifically on the relationship of the participles Τό Kαtεxov and Ό Kαtεxwv to the chapter's main theme, the Parousia of Jesus Christ. The study begins with a discussion of the various interpretations given to solve the referential meanings of the participles (chapter one). This exploration of the various attempts of scholars to account for the participles concludes with the challenge to seek answers elsewhere. To help situate and evaluate what the writer says in regard to the participles, it was necessary to reassess the role of 2 Thessalonians 2 in the epistle as a whole (chapter two). This broader compass of the letter contributed to an understanding of the author as engaged in practical admonitions of several different concerns. It exposed the myth of centrality surrounding 2 Thessalonians 2 and thereby warned of determining the meanings of the participles except from the immediate thought of the context wherein they are found. A detailed exegesis of 1 Thes 2:1-15 was presented in order to confirm and clarify the specific nature of verses 2:6-7 (chapter three). This made familiar the context in which the participles are located. Particularly, it established the limit of the passage as extending to v. 15 rather than v. 12. In addition, the flow of thought contained in the text was demonstrated to center on the appearing of Christ, a significant point of perspective for interpreting the two participles and other elements in the passage. With the literary and exegetical foundation lai., it was left to deal witn the participles themselves. k guiding principle in their interpretations was the that thr should be understood from a strict relationship to their context. It was shown that the technique of an inverted parallelism at the climax of the first pericope (2:1-6) helped explain the meaning of the neuter participle as signifying the two preliminary events of the apostasy and the revelation of the Man of Lawlessness. This interpretation was based on a correlation in the parallelism between tαϋtα (v. 5 and Τό Kαtεxov (v. 6). An important ramification was that the personal pronoun αύtόv in v. 6 must then refer to Christ and not the Man of Lawlessness. It was the Day of the Lord that was being restrained because the two pre-signs of the apostasy and the revelation of the "Antichrist" had not yet occurred. Accordingly, the masculine participle Ό Kαtεxwv was a particularization of the content of the neuter participle; thus, it was shown that Ό Kαtεxwv represented the Man of Lawlessness. The thesis concludes with a brief review of each of the chapter studies and underscores the present need for scholars to give more attention to the proposed meanings of the participles, especially in light of there having been other advocates of interpretations for the participles that are similar to the one this thesis develops--most notably, N. F. Freese, P. Andriessen, Joseph Coppens.

This thesis examines the use of folklore and the folkloresque in Haruki Murakami’s novel Hitsuji wo meguru bōken, or, as it is translated by Alfred Birnbaum, A Wild Sheep Chase. Murakami blends together Japanese and Western folklore to present a Japan that has been colonized by a post-national, global capitalistic force. At the same time, Murakami presents a strategy to resist this colonizing force by placing agency onto the individual and suggesting that it is still possible to craft a meaningful identity within the Japanese/Western blended, globalized society in which these individuals now exist. Alongside examining the use of folklore in this novel, issues of translation are also considered by comparing Murakami’s original Japanese text to Birnbaum’s English translation. The fields of folkloristics and translation studies inform this comparison, and a new way to discuss translations (especially those that come from a text in which folklore is central) is developed. These two major threads are pulled together in an analysis of Murakami’s role as a multinational writer. His blending of multiple cultural references and languages make his message on constructing an identity from a globalized culture more accessible to those outside of Japan; rather than focusing on what is lost in Birnbaum’s translation, this thesis uses a folkloristic perspective on translation studies and explores how Birnbaum expands upon Murakami’s process.