Local Food Systems (LFS) is a relatively new concept in geographical and planning research. Academic, professional, and public interest in LFS is in part a reaction against the social, environmental, and economic effects of a dominant Production Agriculture paradigm (Lyson, 2004), and growing concern with the potential impacts of climate change on the food supply (Ostry, Miewald, and Beveridge, 2011). While there is a growing public and policy interest in making transformative change in LFS, there is a lack of theoretical work that addresses how change processes in food systems occur. In this study, a classic Glaserian grounded theory research project investigated the subject area of local food system planning. The primary research goal was the development of a theory grounded in the experience of practitioners, elected officials, and members of the public. The emergent theory, called Transformative Incrementalism (TI) describes the social process underlying planning initiatives focused on achieving significant (transformative) change in local food systems. The data for this research project are drawn from interviews with 29 elected officials, public stakeholders, and planning staff in five communities with local food system initiatives. In addition, 10 member checking interviews were also conducted. The core category identified in the emergent TI theory was Power, with Values, Praxis, and Outcomes being other main themes. From this research, Power could be defined as the ability, through authoritative and non-authoritative influence, to have an effect on a person, process, action, or outcome. Values act as sources of power to the extent that they motivate and drive the actions of individuals and groups. Praxis includes activities designed to create, use, and maintain power, such as building relationships with other people that will give ongoing support for food planning initiatives. Outcomes include broader system and social changes resulting from local food system planning processes and activities. The main findings from this dissertation underscore the fact that the role of power has been largely ignored in the planning literature (Friedman, 2011; Flyvbjerg, 2012; Assche, Duineveld, and Buenen, 2014). Power is the main driver of change; therefore, a lack of understanding about what power is and how it operates would seem to compromise the ability of planning efforts to be effective. This research identifies and illustrates the interrelationship between the political, public, and bureaucratic spheres of actors, and examines how values, praxis, and outcomes are pivotal to transformative change in food planning initiatives. Transformative change is achieved through a long process of incremental efforts (programs, policies, and actions) by actors within the public, political, and bureaucratic groups whose values and beliefs converge and align over time. The incremental efforts are intended to support a transformative change goal. / Graduate

In this thesis an image-space and geometry hybrid algorithm for portal rendering is con- structed and evaluated in terms of correctness and performance. A number of tests are de ned and out of these three are selected and executed. Based on the results of these tests, the con- clusion is that a hybrid approach to portal rendering is a valid option for increasing the speed without sacri cing the correctness of an image-space portal rendering algorithm.

Abstract The theoretical basis for this research is alcoholism as a disease. The methodological choices are based on a critical emancipatory perspective. The data consists of individual interviews, group interviews, and written accounts collected from an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) group, and is analysed through different narrative methods. The principle research question of this doctoral thesis asks, ‘What sort of process of change is the process of recovery from alcoholism as described by eight alcoholic mothers belonging to two generations?’ The secondary research questions are as follows: 1) How do denial of alcoholism in society and societal attitudes towards alcoholic mothers become apparent in dialogue between mothers from two generations? 2) How do mothers in their narration portray the experience of losing control of their drinking? 3) How does the mother-child relationship appear in the narratives of alcoholic mothers? 4) In their narratives, how do mothers describe recovery from alcoholism as a transformative process of change? The results challenge us to examine the expectations placed on motherhood and to scrutinise everything a mother must overcome in order to be a ‘good enough’ mother. Those expectations also set a threshold for applying for and receiving support. This study highlights the stability and stigma of the problems and attitudes faced by alcoholic mothers in our society, strengthening our understanding of the mechanisms of social denial related to alcoholism as a disease. The mothers’ subjective descriptions of losing control of their drinking bring out the nature of alcoholism as a comprehensive, progressive disease associated with a harsh experience as well as negative emotional states. Alcoholism is a disease that traumatises mothers and their children. Issues relating to alcoholism often remain unaddressed in the world of experience of mothers and children for years after a mother becomes sober. This research also highlights the consequences of alcoholism as a disease inherited from one generation to another. The mothers describe their recovery as a liberating, empowering process. The meaningful relationship created with alcohol turns in to meaningful relationship with an abstinent way of life. The significance of telling one’s story and receiving peer support is emphasised. Recovery from alcoholism is, in the longer term, a process leading to transformative change. This research shows that alcoholism is a disease that can be recovered from and that investments should be made to develop support systems for alcoholics with children. / Tiivistelmä Tutkimuksen teoreettisena lähtökohtana on alkoholismi sairautena. Metodologiset valinnat pohjautuvat kriittis-emansipatoriseen näkökulmaan. Aineisto muodostuu Nimettömien Alkoholistien (AA) piiristä kerätyistä yksilö- ja ryhmähaastatteluista sekä kirjoitetuista kertomuksista, ja se analysoidaan erilaisilla kerronnallisilla menetelmillä. Väitöskirjan päätutkimuskysymys tarkastelee sitä, millainen muutosprosessi alkoholismista toipumisen prosessi on kahdeksan kahteen sukupolveen kuuluvan alkoholistiäidin kertomana. Alakysymyksissä kysytään, miten alkoholismiin yhteiskunnassa kohdistuva kielto ja alkoholistiäiteihin kohdistuvat asenteet tulevat esille kahden sukupolven äitien dialogissa, miten äitien kerronnassa tulee esiin juomisen hallinnan menetyksen kokemus, millä tavoin alkoholistiäitien kerronnassa näyttäytyy äidin ja lapsen välinen suhde ja millä tavoin äidit kerronnassaan kuvaavat alkoholismista toipumisen prosessiaan transformatiivisena muutosprosessina? Tulokset haastavat tarkastelemaan äitiydelle asetettuja odotuksia ja sitä, mistä kaikesta äitien tulee selviytyä ollakseen riittävän hyviä äitejä. Odotukset asettavat omat kynnyksensä myös avun hakemiselle ja saamiselle. Äitien kerronta nostaa esiin alkoholistiäitien kohtaamien ongelmien ja asenteiden pysyvyyden ja leimaavuuden vahvistaen käsitystä alkoholismiin sairautena liittyvistä yhteiskunnallisista kiellon mekanismeista. Äitien subjektiivinen kuvaus juomisen hallinnan menetyksestä tuo esiin alkoholismin luonteen kokonaisvaltaisena ja etenevänä sairautena, johon liittyvät rankat pohjakokemukset sekä negatiiviset tunnetilat. Alkoholismi on äitejä ja heidän lapsiaan traumatisoiva sairaus. Asiat ovat käsittelemättöminä äitien ja lasten kokemusmaailmassa usein vielä vuosia äidin raitistumisen jälkeen. Tutkimus nostaa esiin alkoholismin seurauksia myös sukupolvesta toiseen periytyvänä sairautena. Toipumistaan äidit kuvaavat vapauttavana ja voimaannuttavana prosessina. Alkoholiin syntynyt merkityksellinen suhde kääntyy merkitykselliseksi suhteeksi raitista elämäntapaa kohtaan. Kertomisen ja vertaistuen merkitys korostuvat. Alkoholismista toipuminen on pidemmällä aikavälillä transformatiiviseen muutokseen johtava prosessi. Tutkimus osoittaa alkoholismin sairaudeksi, josta voi toipua ja alkoholistit lapsineen asiakasryhmäksi, jonka auttamisjärjestelmien kehittämiseen tulisi panostaa.

The aim of this work was to develop knowledge about and awareness of fatness stigmatization from a systemic perspective. The stigmatization of fat people was located as a social problem in a second-order reality in which human fatness is observed and responded to, in turn providing it with negative meaning. Four separate studies of processes involved in this systemic stigmatization were performed. In study I, the association between weight and psychological distress was investigated. When controlling for an age-gender variable, this association was almost erased, questioning the certainty by which a higher weight in general is approached as a medical issue. In study II, the focus was on stigma internalization where negative and positive responses combined were connected to fat individuals’ distress. We found that both responses seemed to have a larger impact on fat individuals, suggesting that the embodied stigma of being fat sensitizes them to responses in general. In study III, justifications of fatness stigmatization was explored by a content analysis of a reality TV weight-loss show. The analysis showed how explicit bullying of a fat partner could be justified by animating the thin Self as violated by the fat Other, thus downplaying the evils of the bullying act in favor of highlighting the ideological value of thinness. The implications of these studies were related and seated in a context comprising a historical aversion toward the fat body, a declared obesity epidemic, a new public health ideology, a documented failure to reverse this obesity epidemic, and a market of weight-loss stakeholders who thrive on keeping the negative meanings of being fat alive. The stigmatization of fat people was intelligible from a systemic perspective, where processes of structural ignorance, internalized self-discrimination, and applied prejudice reinforce each other to form a larger stigmatizing process. In paper IV, it was argued that viewing fatness stigmatization as oppression rather than misrecognition could hold transformative keys to social change. / There are social groups in society that are categorically connected, for example by their physical, cultural or psychological markers. For political, or moral, reasons, some of these groups seem to trigger special attention in form of forceful response processes at several societal levels. This is the case with the contemporary ‘obesity epidemic’ phenomenon; postulated by the World Health Organization as one of the most severe threats to the health of future mankind. One of the downsides with such special attention is that the fat individuals find themselves caught up in seemingly unavoidable processes of devaluation. Instead of investigating the catastrophic (well-known) psycho-social consequences of these individuals, this work focuses on connecting the devaluing processes that form a systemic stigmatization of fat individuals. From this critical perspective, it is argued that the pervasive stigmatization of fat people is not an unfortunate consequence of structural norms that passively exclude its ‘non-fits’, but an intelligible outcome of a highly active set of processes that continuously construct and re-construct a historical aversion towards fat people.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Food, Nutrition, Dietetics, and Health / Tandalayo Kidd / HIV and nutrition status are interrelated. Nutrition problems associated with HIV or its treatment occur in nearly all people living with HIV (PLHIV) and can be indicative of the stage and progression of infection. On the other hand, adequate nutrition ensures good nutrition status, immune function, improved treatment outcome, and quality of life. The growing problems of HIV and AIDS in Indonesia require health professionals, including dietitians, to mobilize for HIV care and control. However, studies have demonstrated health care workers to have prejudicial attitudes towards PLHIV, which may further jeopardize the quality of care. The objective of this study was to implement the attribution theory to improve HIV-related knowledge and attitudes among dietetics students. It is hypothesized that given the opportunity to revisit the antecedent of their stigma, dietetic students might be able to improve their attitudes and emotional reactions to HIV. Results from the cross-sectional study confirmed the attribution theory, showing that the stigmatizing attitudes were influenced by both personal values and environmental factors. The study also found that greater knowledge about HIV was associated with a better attitude toward PLHIV. This and the fact that universities differed in how they educated dietetic students about HIV, raise questions on the current dietetic curriculum in Indonesia and the teaching conduct in each dietetic school. These notions were studied in the second study, using a qualitative approach to inquire lecturers and school administrators. Four major themes emerged from the analysis confirming that HIV discourse in dietetic schools in Indonesia is very limited since it is not mandatory in the curriculum, lecturers are reluctant to talk about HIV, and there is apparent restriction to work with the key population. The way the lecturers attribute HIV with blames of personal responsibility and fear of contagion, heavily influence their teaching conduct. The intervention model with transformative learning supported the hypothesis that given the opportunity to reflect and re-question their judgment, students were able to improve their knowledge and reduce their stigmatizing attitudes. Overall, these studies give a warning to policy makers in health and education sectors as well as the school administrators that dietetics students have negative attitudes towards PLHIV and this stigma is associated with lack of knowledge about HIV, hence the need to improve response from both sectors. This study also serves as a strong call to provide more opportunities to students to learn about HIV and to reach out to the patients and key population to instill better understanding and acceptance to HIV.

Magister Philosophiae (Land and Agrarian Studies) - MPhil(LAS) / Over the past fifteen years, the South African government has extended various land, labour and social rights to farm workers, ranging from provisions of basic labour rights in 1993 to the minimum wage in 2003. Literature suggests that social relations on commercial farms do not remain static in the context of policy changes. This thesis sets out to understand the ways in which social relations have or have not changed, on one commercial farm in Limpopo province, South Africa, and to establish factors that impede or promote such change as well as the consequences for farm workers’ daily lives. Drawing from the interpretive and critical social science philosophical perspectives, the thesis adopts a qualitative research methodology that takes into consideration the experiences and perceptions of farm workers, farm managers, the farm owner and key informants from government institutions and civil society. At a theoretical level the study is informed by four paradigms namely: the materialist perspective; the total institution thesis; paternalism; and structuration theory. It considers three overlapping conceptual models of understanding relations between farm owners and farm workers namely the welfarist, workerist and transformative models. The paper argues that, in the past decade, the extension of farm labour and tenure laws to the farm sector has eroded the welfarist relations between the farm owner and farm workers. There is now a rise in workerist relations in a context of unequal power relations tilted in favour of the farm employer. The thesis concludes that in order to adequately understand land, labour and social relations, one has to consider the politics of land ownership as well as the politics of agricultural capitalist employment.

Magister Educationis (Adult Learning and Global Change) - MEd(AL) / The purpose of this research paper is to explore and examine the nature of learning within the context of and situated within a social movement. Based on an exploratory qualitative study of learning within the Jyoti Jivanam Movement of South Africa, this research explores the nature and purpose/s of learning within a social movement. Accordingly, this study is guided by the research questions: How and why do adults learn as they collectively participate in social movements; and what factors facilitate, contribute, hinder and influence learning within social movement? This study confirms that social movements are important sites for. Collective learning and knowledge construction. For this reason, social movements need to be acknowledged as pedagogical sites that afford adults worthwhile learning opportunities. Furthermore, social movements, as pedagogical sites, not only contribute to conceptions of what constitute legitimate knowledge(s), social movements also contribute to the creation of transformative knowledge(s).

Magister Educationis (Adult Learning and Global Change) - MEd(AL) / The purpose of this research paper is to explore and examine the nature of learning within the context of and situated within a social movement. Based on an exploratory qualitative study of learning within the Jyoti Jivanam Movement of South Africa, this research explores the nature and purpose/s of learning within a social movement. Accordingly, this study is guided by the research questions: How and why do adults learn as they collectively participate in social movements; and what factors facilitate, contribute, hinder and influence learning within social movement? This study confirms that social movements are important sites for collective learning and knowledge construction. For this reason, social movements need to be acknowledged as pedagogical sites that afford adults worthwhile learning opportunities. Furthermore, social movements, as pedagogical sites, not only contribute to conceptions of what constitute legitimate knowledge(s), social movements also contribute to the creation of transformative knowledge(s).

The underlying premise explored is whether the right to gender equality as interpreted and imposed within the confines of dominant western ideologies of liberal legalism could create the space for meeting the particular needs of (South) African women and men who wish to live out their dreams and desires differently. Modernist discourses mask the political, social and economic power of law and are crucial for the maintenance of the status quo. This adherence to formal rules, extant legal texts and a legalistic culture is violently exclusionary and thus it is necessary to enter into critical discourses that lead to transformative jurisprudence and thought. Different voices have been silenced by these ideologies and it is essential that the stories of women and other outsiders are listened to in order to (re)introduce new futures and new possibilities to South Africans struggling to find a home for themselves in the post apartheid context. The recognition of more ethical approaches to law creates the space to move beyond liberal legalism to post liberal interpretations of the law, the Constitution and the right to gender equality. I therefore focus on exploring the inter relationships between the ethic of care, ethical feminism, ubuntu, and storytelling, which may render judg(e)ments less rigid and exclusionary, and make it more possible to ensure that we can ‘do things a different, a better, way’. Since 1994 the Constitutional Court has formulated a substantive test for equality infringements. This approach, although widely supported, continues to ignore the contextuality of situations and narratives. For this reason I submit that ethical feminist discourses and the insistence on attention to minor, marginal and subversive narratives can teach us much about ourselves and those that we deem to be 'different' from ourselves. Adopting a 'minor' jurisprudence such as the jurisprudence of care formulated in this thesis allows us to reconsider what is and to dream of what is yet to be. In such a way, sites of (legal) resistance are created and maintained, where the 'feminine' (as the beyond, and not 'lack') operates as a locus of change. The equality courts created by the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act could be utilised as spaces of non violent and ethical judgment where the other before the law is seen as unique, considered with care, and thus freed from oppression. The aim of this research is not to conceptualise and categorise a new metanarrative or meta jurisprudence, but to introduce to the reader other ways of listening, seeing and being ways which are less violent, less exclusionary, and more accommodating of difference and diverse experiences of oppression and subordination. Furthermore, the aim is to challenge current legal traditions and to develop new thinking around an indigenous and ethical interpretation of gender equality. Copyright 2005, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Bohler-Muller, N 2005, Developing a new jurisprudence of gender equality in South Africa, LLD thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-06152006-123856 / > / Thesis (LLD)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Jurisprudence / Unrestricted

Despite extensive team studies research over the past 40 years, team learning remains an emerging field of study where there is significant conceptual discord. Three conceptualizations have dominated the literature where team learning is represented as: acquisition; participative activity, or an open system. Team learning models have also emerged integrating these three conceptualizations and included elements such as feedback, mediational factors and emergent states, though they have generally maintained the linearity of traditional input – process – output models. Teams have also recently been conceptualized as complex learning systems, yet there is a paucity of research at the team level of analysis particularly within dynamic work teams. In conjunction, exploration into a complementary area, collective transformative learning within authentic work teams, is also limited. Through an instrumental case study, the researcher investigated in what ways is collective informal learning is enacted within this authentic work team. Additionally, the potential for unfacilitated collective transformative learning was also studied. Using a social constructivist lens, this case study leveraged multiple methods including document analysis, observation, focus groups and interviews to capture a rich picture of team informal learning at the collective level of analysis. The study found that team informal learning was embedded in work activities and enacted in various ways through team interactions and activities. Moreover, the findings supported that the team had experienced collective transformative learning. The study concluded that conceptualizing teams as complex learning systems supports team informal learning and emergence as well as the potential for collective transformative outcomes in and through work. Overall, this study enhances our understanding of collective informal learning in authentic work teams and collective transformative learning.