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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
131

Experiences of Social Inequalities Related to Skin Colour Enhaced by Fashion Magazines in South Africa : A case study on how women in South Africa identify themselves in relation to the representation of race in South African fashion magazines

Åkerlund, Josefine January 2013 (has links)
This study was carried out during the spring of 2013 in Cape Town, South Africa with a Minor Field Study (MFS) scholarship funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). South Africa is a country with a complex society due to the still recent history of Apartheid. South Africa faces great challenges with the gap between rich and poor, high unemployment and deep expertise gaps between the white minority and the historically disadvantaged coloureds and black majority. As a result the contemporary situation is extensive segregation and difficulties for the multicultural population to conduct a common cultural identity. The aim of this study was to find out how four South African issues of international fashion magazines deals with the representation of black, white and coloured people. Furthermore, to find out how South African women from socially diverse areas experience and perceive this representation. Quantitative content analysis, connotative and denotative picture analysis and the conduction of interviews was made in order to reach a result. Consequently, it turned out that the investigated magazines do not present a fair and equal representation of the South African society, hence highly over representing the white minority in each magazine. Additionally, South African women do not describe the fashion magazines as presenting an equal representation of race, neither that a reality based ideal is being conveyed.
132

Taylor-regelns aktualitet och tillämpbarhet : En jämförelse av Taylor-skattningar i Brasilien, Kanada, Polen, Sverige och Sydafrika för åren 2000-2013 / The Taylor rule’s relevance and applicability : A comparision of Taylor interest rates in Brazil, Canada, Poland, Sweden and South Africa for the years 2000-2013

Björklund, Pontus, Hegart, Ellinor January 2014 (has links)
John B. Taylor, professor i nationalekonomi vid Stanford University, presenterade år 1993 en penningpolitisk regel som syftade till att vara ett hjälpmedel för centralbanker vid räntebeslut. Taylor-regeln är mycket enkel i sitt uförande och baseras på att styrräntan bör sättas efter två variabler: BNP-gapet och inflationsavvikelsen. Denna styrränteregel fick genomslag inom den vetenskapliga världen men spreds även till makroekonomisk praktik och medförde stora förändringar för penningpolitiken. Flera empriska studier har publicerats sedan Taylor-regeln tillkom och det råder det delade meningar om hur väl Taylor-regeln presterar för olika typer av ekonomier och hur användbar den är idag. Det har även uppkomit nya teorier angående trögheten i effekterna av styrränteförändringar och vid vilken tidpunkt dessa får en inverkan på inflationstakten. Syftet med denna uppsats är att jämföra hur väl den ursprungliga Taylor-modellen och en tidslaggad modell förklarar centralbankernas historiska styrräntesättning i fem länder med inflationsmål under tidsperioden 2000-2013. Analysen av resultaten görs med utgångspunkt i ländernas olika ekonomiska egenskaper samt tidsperioden som studien omfattar. Studien begränsas till jämförelser av de två Taylor-modellernas tillämpbarhet vid styrräntesättningar för länderna Brasilien, Kanada, Polen, Sverige och Sydafrika. De två modellerna modifieras också med en styrränteutjämningsfunktion.   Våra resultat tyder på att den ursprungliga Taylor-regeln presterar bättre i förhållande till den tidslaggade modellen när det gäller att förklara den faktiska styrräntesättningen idag för alla länder i studien utom Polen. Den tidslaggade presterar dock bättre än den ursprungliga för de utvecklade ekonomierna Sverige och Kanada under 1990-talet. Båda modellerna gör kraftiga över- och underskattningar som till stor del avhjälps med den utjämningsfunktion som vi tillämpar. Koefficienterna hålls konstanta över hela tidsperioden, vilket inte är rimligt då en viss dynamik bör inkluderas så att regeln justeras efter varje period då för mycket vikt läggs vid BNP-variabeln som såldes är en bidragande faktor till regelns över- och underskattningar. Regeln presterar bättre för ekonomier med stabila förhållanden mellan tillväxttakt och inflationstakt än för länder som lider av mer volatila förhållanden mellan dessa två variabler, likt tillväxtländerna i vår studie. Dessutom ger Taylor-regeln skattningar som ligger närmre den faktiska styrräntesättningen under de tidigare delarna av perioden för att sedan till större del börja avvika från den faktiskt satta styrräntan.   Slutsatserna som kan dras utifrån våra resultat är att den ursprungliga Taylor-regeln presterar bäst i att beskriva ett lands styrräntesättning sett till kvantitativa mått medan en tidslaggad modell tar större hänsyn faktiska förhållanden. Över lag presterar modellerna bättre för de utvecklade ekonomierna än för tillväxtekonomierna och huruvida storleken på ekonomin har någon inverkan är svårt att avgöra. Resultaten tyder också på att Taylor-regeln med tidslagg ligger närmre den faktiska styrräntesättningen för de utvecklade ekonomierna under 1990-talet än under perioden 2000-2013 medan den ursprungliga presterar bättre idag. / John. B Taylor, professor of Economics at Stanford University, presented a monetary policy rule in 1993 which intended to help central banks with their interst rate decisions. In its design the Taylor-rule was very simple and based on only two variables: the GDP-gap and the deviation of actual inflation from the inflation target. The Taylor rule had a great impact on the academic research and also contributed to changes within monetary policy around the world. Many empirical studies have been published on the Taylor rule and there are divided contentions about its applicability in different kind of economies and its relevance today. New theories have also been published regardning the time aspect of the impact on inflation due to a change in the interest rate. The intentions of this study is to make a comparsion between the original Taylor rule and a Taylor rule including a time lag regarding how well they describe the actual interest rates set by the central banks in five countries during the period 2000-2013. The results will be analyzed under consideration of the different economies attributes. The study compares the two kinds of Taylor rules and the applicability in describing the historical interest rate in Brazil, Canada, Poland, Sweden and South Africa. The two rules have also been modified with an interest rate smoothing-function.   Our results conclude that the original Taylor rule describes the historical interest rate better than the rule including a time lag for the time period 2000-2013 for all countries apart from Poland. For the developed economies Canada and Sweden the time lagged model show less deviations for the 1990’s. However both rules tend to over and underestimate the valutation of the interest rate. The smoothing function does to some extent correct this problem. The coefficients of the variables are held constant during the study which in reality should not be the case. They should instead be adjusted between every period to make allowances for the different relationship of the two variables. Mostly too much weight is put on the GDP-variable which should be a contributing cause of the overestimations. The rules do however have the tendency to describe the historical interst rate of the developed economies superior to the developing economies. The performance is greater at the beginning of the period with less deviation from the actual outcome than later on. The conclusion of our study is that the original Taylor rule generally performs superior to the one including time lag with conciderations to the deviations from the actual interest rates. However, the Taylor rule including the time-lag does allow for actual circumstances which the original Taylor rule does not take into consideration. Mainly the rules do perform better for developed economies compared to developing economies. Regarding the impact of the size of the economy on the applicability of the rules it was difficult to conclude anything specific. The Taylor rule with the time-lag is more applicable for the developed economies during the earlier time period, the 1990’s, than the later time period, the 2000’s where the original Taylor rule shows less deviations.
133

Hyenas of the Limpopo : The Social Politics of Undocumented Movement Across South Africa’s Border with Zimbabwe

Tshabalala, Xolani January 2017 (has links)
An increasing number of people today cross the Beitbridge border of South Africa and Zimbabwe. This comes with a corresponding growth of creative strategies that seek to aid the crossing of those people and goods that may lack the necessary documentation. Such ‘informal’ border crossings have come to define one of the important economic regions in Southern Africa, the post-1994 Limpopo Valley. This thesis approaches routine acts of facilitating undocumented border crossings as an everyday social politics with deep historical roots. By use of archival and ethnographic methods, the thesis examines the social history and embodied practices of a variety of actors who engage in undocumented border crossings. A particular focus is placed on the role of private transporters (omalayitsha), who represent an important link between an exclusionary and yet fragmentary migration regime and undocumented travellers. In three theoretical and four empirical chapters, and inspired by border studies as well as the critical realist approach in migration studies, the thesis connects border practice to irregular movement and cheap labour within a regional context defined, in part, by dispossession. Through thick interpretations of the lived experience of border practice, the study also connects such political economic processes (e.g. migrant irregularity, labour precarity and economic informality) to questions of social identity and migrant subjectivities. By situating the figure of the hyena at the centre of Southern African border struggles, the thesis invents an analytical concept that serves both an empirical and a theoretical task. Empirically, it enables a synthetic understanding of how everyday contestations around the possibility to work across the border for low-skill migrants have been interacting, through time, with broader processes of capital accumulation to partly shape the region’s migrant labour system. Theoretically, it shows how facilitation of undocumented border crossings calls for new sociological models that can account for processes that escape binary classification (as formal or informal, inclusive or exclusive, legal or illegal, ordered or disordered), thus contributing to a better understanding of the role of migration in the contemporary world. / Allt fler människor korsar idag gränsen vid Beitbridge mellan Sydafrika och Zimbabwe. Samtidigt sker en motsvarande ökning av kreativa strategier som gör att även personer och varor som saknar rätt handlingar kan ta sig över gränsen. Dessa ‘informella’ gränsövergångar har kommit att definiera vad som efter 1994 blivit en av de viktigaste ekonomiska regionerna i södra Afrika, Limpopodalen. I denna avhandling betraktas rutinerna vid sådana oregistrerade gränsövergångar som en vardagens politik med djupa historiska rötter. Genom arkivstudier och etnografiska observationer undersöker avhandlingen en samhällshistoria och en mänsklig aktivitet där en rad aktörer är inblandade i en pågående, papperslös migration. En viktig roll i sammanhanget har omalayitsha, dvs. privata transportörer, som ofta är en viktig länk mellan de papperslösa resenärerna och den migrationsregim som å ena sidan stänger dem ute och å andra sidan är så fragmenterad att de tillåts passera igenom. I tre teoretiska och fyra empiriska kapitel, samt med ett angreppssätt hämtat från gränsstudier (border studies) och den kritiskt realistiska skolan inom migrationsstudier, syftar avhandlingen till att förstå gränsövergångens praktik i förhållande till den irreguljära mobilitet och det överskott på billig arbetskraft som sätter sin prägel på en region där många är fattiga och fördrivna. I avhandlingens djuptolkningar av migranternas levda erfarenhet vid gränsen förbinds i sin tur de politiskt-ekonomiska processerna (irreguljär migration, prekära arbetsvillkor och ekonomisk informalitet) med frågor om samhällelig identitet och migrantens subjektivitet. Avhandlingen ser hyenafiguren som central för förståelsen av de ’gränskamper’ (border struggles) som utkämpas i södra Afrika; med hyenan introduceras också ett analytiskt begrepp. Empiriskt sett möjliggör begreppet en syntetisk förståelse av hur vardagliga tvister och problem som präglar arbetsmigrantens försök att jobba på andra sidan gränsen över tid samverkar med större processer av kapitalackumulation, som delvis formar regionens migrantarbetarsystem. I teoretiskt avseende visar begreppet hur förhandlingarna som sker vid gränskontrollen klargör behovet av nya sociologiska modeller som kan redogöra för samhällsprocesser som undflyr varje binär klassificering (som formell eller informell, inkluderande eller exkluderande, legal eller illegal, ordnad eller oordnad), och på så vis bidrar det till en bättre förståelse av migrationens betydelse i dagens värld.
134

The Goal of Literacy Teaching - to Complete School or to Make a Change? A Critical Analysis of Literacy Teaching in Multilingual Classrooms in South Africa

Krstic, Nicole, Nilsson, Nikki January 2018 (has links)
This qualitative minor field study is conducted in a multilingual public secondary school in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The aim is to analyse the literacy teaching from a critical literacy point of view and to gain new perspectives on how to work with literacy in multilingual classrooms in Sweden. The material was collected over approximately three weeks and consists of participant observations and two semi-structured group interviews with nine learners in total. The theoretical approach derives from a socio-cultural orientation and focuses on how unequal power relations are represented in language. Our results indicate a focus on individual learning of cognitive skills, for example, answering pre-written questions to a text in the work with reading comprehension. Furthermore, reading is considered important to be able to influence one’s own life and to connect with the surrounding society, as is good knowledge of English, which in turn is developed by reading. English is the language the learners are most used to use in school related activities and the language they feel confident to read in. In addition, the results show social, critical and transformative aspects of literacy. The teachers want to make use of the learners’ experiences in the teaching. Moreover, this goal is occasionally connected to a desire to empower the learners with agency to act for change. However, this desire is limited by the curriculum since it is forcing the teachers to teach at a certain pace. These results are then analysed by the use of Hilary Janks’ interdependent model for critical literacy by considering the consequences of focusing on any of its four parts – power, access, diversity and design – without any one of the others. We conclude that it is a challenge to design teaching that does not separate, but include cognitive, social, critical and transforming aspects of literacy in Sweden as well. Janks’ model can be used to design a teaching that includes these aspects to a greater extent and thereby create a more inclusive multilingual learning environment. Finally, we suggest that theories about critical literacy should be added to both teacher education and to the steering documents.
135

National Appropriateness of International Climate Policy Frameworks in India, Brazil, and South Africa

Upadhyaya, Prabhat January 2017 (has links)
How does the international climate policy frameworks influence the domestic institutional responses to climate mitigation in emerging economies? And how, in turn, do domestic institutions and politics in emerging economies influence the fate of international climate policy frameworks? The thesis provides answers to these questions by studying domestic engagements with Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions in three emerging economies – India, Brazil, and South Africa. The thesis specifically studies how these engagements were influenced by the domestic institutional context provided by national climate policy, norms, and institutional capacity in the three countries. Drawing upon the variations in the engagements with nationally appropriate mitigation actions, made visible by use of the policy cycle as a heuristic device, the thesis informs the implementation of another nascent, yet prevalent, international climate policy framework – Nationally Determined Contributions. The thesis identifies how engagements with nationally appropriate mitigation actions varied in India, Brazil, and South Africa in agenda-setting, policy formulation, decision-making, implementation, and evaluation. In cases where international support is considered crucial for taking mitigation actions, external factors such as lack of clarity on definitional aspects and availability of international support can hamper the prospects of such frameworks at the agenda-setting and policy formulation stages. Efforts to engage with these frameworks under this uncertainty are held back by non-decisions, overriding national climate policy, as well as by uneven inter-ministerial coordination. The thesis argues that successful implementation of upcoming Nationally Determined  Contributions will be influenced by a country’s ability to align them with its national climate policy, localization of the transnational norms, and the extent to which efforts to enhance institutional capacity for  coordinating the implementation of national climate policy are made. In sum, the effective implementation of International Climate Policy Frameworks will be dependent on the willingness of the state to  provide oversight and coordination, and clarity on the availability of international support. / Hur influerar ramverken för internationell klimatpolicy nationella institutionella åtgärder för att begränsa utsläpp av växthusgaser i framväxande ekonomier? Och hur påverkar, i sin tur, dessa länders nationella institutioner och politik dessa ramverk för internationell klimatpolicy? Denna avhandling studerar nationella engagemang i Nationellt lämpliga utsläppsminskande åtgärder (s.k. NAMAs) i tre framväxande ekonomier – Indien, Brasilien, och Sydafrika. Avhandlingen studerar i synnerhet hur dessa engagemang har påverkats av de tre ländernas nationella klimatpolicy, normer, och institutionella kapacitet. Genom att använda policycykeln som heuristiskt analysverktyg identifierar avhandlingen variationer i hur länderna utvecklat sitt engagemang i NAMAs. Avhandlingen visar att och hur engagemang med nationellt lämpliga utsläppsminskande åtgärder varierar mellan Indien, Brasilien, och Sydafrika vad det gäller fastställande av dagordning, policyformulering, beslutsfattande, implementering, och policyutvärdering. I de fall internationellt stöd anses vara avgörande för att vidta utsläppsminskande åtgärder kan externa faktorer såsom bristande definition av de internationella policyramverken för åtgärder samt tillgänglighet på internationellt stöd försvåra utsikterna för att internationella ramverk tas upp i de nationella dagordnings- och policyformuleringsstadierna. Arbetet med dessa ramverk försvåras även av icke-beslut och ojämn interministeriell koordinering samt om tvingande nationell klimatpolicy inte ligger i linje med de internationella besluten. Avhandlingens slutsatser har betydelse för implementeringen av ett annat framväxande ramverk för internationell klimatpolicy: Nationellt fastställda bidrag (s.k. NDC:er). En framgångsrik implementering av   NDC:er kommer att influeras av en stats förmåga att anpassa dem till nationell klimatpolicy samt transnationella normer, så att dessa överensstämmer eller jämkas med nationella normer, samt den institutionella kapaciteten för att koordinera implementering av nationell klimatpolicy. En effektiv implementering av ramverk för internationell klimatpolicy kommer, sammanfattningsvis, att vara beroende av staters villighet att tillhandahålla tillsyn och koordinering, samt tydlighet vad gäller tillgänglighet till internationellt stöd.
136

A Novel Approach to Youth Crime Prevention: Mindfulness Meditation Classes in South African Townships / A Novel Approach to Youth Crime Prevention : Mindfulness Meditation Classes in South African Townships

Kneip, Katharina January 2020 (has links)
Children growing up in poor areas with high crime rates are shown to easily get involved in violent actions and criminal gangs. In South Africa, despite considerable efforts to reduce youth delinquency, youth crime rates are still disturbingly high – specifically, in the townships of the Cape Flats. This paper points out an important aspect previously unaddressed by most youth crime prevention: the subconscious roots of youth crime. What if we could develop youth crime prevention programs that manage to impact the subconscious behavioral patterns of youth in high crime areas? This paper proposes a  promising and cost-effective approach that has great potential to affect multipe causes of crime: mindfulness meditation. Built upon newest findings in Neuroscience, this paper suggests that mindfulness meditation classes are associated with a reduction in aggressive behavior, a risk factor for youth crime, and an increase in self-efficacy, a protective factor. The impact of mindfulness classes at a high school in Khayelitsha, a poor and violent-stricken township of Cape Town, is analyzed. Self-reported aggression and self-efficacy are measured via a psychometric survey questionnaire created from two well-tested and validated scales. Regression analyses of 384 survey answers provided mixed results. Whilst novice meditators were not associated with higher self-efficacy and lower aggression, long-term meditators performed better in several dimensions of self-efficacy and aggression, yet no significant relationship was found. Further research specifically needs to investigate the moderating effect of age (a proxy for psychological development) on meditation. This study aims to bridge the gap between the outdated paradigms of youth crime prevention and ancient wisdom via ground-breaking new evidence from the field of Neuroscience. This study furthermore hopes to point policy makers toward developing new, integrative and sustainable approaches to youth crime prevention – approaches that give back agency to our youth. / <p>Anders Westholm har inget med betygssättningen att göra annat än i rent formellt hänseende (examinator). Det är han som rapporterar in och skriver under men i sak är det seminarieledaren som har beslutet i sin hand. Statsvetenskapliga institutet har som princip att skilja på handledning och examination vilket innebär att handledaren inte får vara seminarieledare. Seminarieledare och personen som satt betygget var i det här fallet Sven Oskarsson: Sven.Oskarsson@statsvet.uu.se</p>

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