Electronic Theses and Dissertations (PhDs)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10539/37993

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Start date: 2020End date: 2024

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    Invisibility of women’s voices, choices, and opinions in African traditional marriages: a case study of the Swati people from Kanyamazane
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Ngobeni-Hlophe, Nkateko; Zungu, E. B.
    Most Africans believe that marriage is a gift from the ancestors. Marriage is also perceived as an occasion that brings together two families through the union of two individuals. The study explores the role of makoti within traditional Swati marriages. Traditional marriages require several cultural marriage rites to be observed and completed before a couple can be considered to be married. Different types of traditional marriages require different ceremonies, but the basis of every traditional marriage is lobola. In traditional Swati societies, the only way a woman can officially enter into a man’s family and become a member of that family is through marriage. Once lobola has been paid and makoti joins her new family, she begins to form relationships with her in-laws. Having unpleasant relationships within the family can cause a lot of conflict between family members, which in turn angers the ancestors. African families are known to avoid direct conflicts as a way of avoiding angering the ancestors (Ngidi, 2012). Therefore, family members opt for alternative ways of dealing with conflicts by using mitsi on one another. For this study, Critical theory and Feminism theory were used to explain the impact of cultural practices in the way that woman are perceived and treated in traditional societies. The study was conducted from an ethnographic perspective using a qualitative method for data collection. This was done in order to fully outline different cultural aspects with full understanding of the people being studied. This study has proved that the excitement of being a makoti is short-lived and has demonstrated how culture is often used to eclipse the voices and choices of traditionally married women in the Swati society with particular reference to the Swati community of Kanyamazane. Makotis who participated in this study have reported experiencing a shift in character upon getting married. Most of these shifts have resulted in there being conflict within the household. They have also reported drastic changes in their relationship with their in-laws after they were married into the family. Some of the v negative experiences they have had with their in-laws include physical altercations, being bad mouthed, name calling, being put under excessive pressure to conform, and many others. Once married, in-laws expect makotis to transition into their role as the newest member of the family. Makotis are expected to change the way they dress, behave, who they associate with and are also told how to treat her husband. Failure to meet any of these expectations will result to makoti being mistreated.
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    Exploring early-stage digital transformation in secondary mathematics education
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Mata, Songezo; Abrahams, Lucienne
    Research problem: Digital transformation or technology integration in secondary mathematics education in South Africa is at an early stage. Technology integration can be used in either an enhanced manner (substitution or augmentation) or a transformational manner (modification or redefinition) as described by the substitution-augmentation-modification-redefinition (SAMR) model. The enhancement level is regarded as the early stage in this research study. Previous studies on South African schools have not thoroughly investigated the data and dimensions associated with shifting digital transformation in secondary mathematics education beyond the early stage. Hence, this study investigates the use of digital technologies for teaching mathematics in secondary schools, which are critical for the deep conceptual understanding needed for better education outcomes. Method/approach: Grounded in a social constructivist approach, this qualitative study undertook two complementary case studies. Western Cape Education Department (WCED) and Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) schools were examined via semi-structured interviews, participant observations, and document analysis to collect the necessary data. This was done to examine the study’s four dimensions, namely the digital skills of educators, digital leadership, digital infrastructure, and the digital teaching experience. The data were collected purposefully from key secondary mathematics stakeholders (teachers, district officials, academics, local development agency officials, and independent experts) in the Western Cape and Gauteng provinces. The study explored the early use of dynamic software applications – GeoGebra and Geometer’s Sketchpad, amongst others. Findings: The findings from the two case studies identified the need for (i) a holistic digital transformation in the secondary mathematics environment framework; (ii) an appropriate governance structure for digital education policy design, implementation, and monitoring; (iii) a continuous evolving technical architecture; and (iv) a focus on digital pedagogy for mathematics, to shift digital transformation in secondary mathematics beyond the early stage. Conclusions: The use of digital technologies such as Excel, GeoGebra, and Geometer’s Sketchpad in a transformational manner for teaching mathematics in secondary schools is linked to the promotion of deep conceptual understanding for the improvement of mathematics education outcomes. Based on the data analysis, the study proposed a digital transformation in secondary mathematics education 2022 (DT-SME 2022) framework as a theoretical and practice-oriented framework for South Africa. The study theorises that shifting digital transformation in secondary mathematics education beyond the early stage can be facilitated by applying the DT-SME 2022 framework, which advocates (i) the kinds of intermediate and advanced digital skills that are crucial for the successful implementation of digitally supported teaching of secondary school-level mathematics; (ii) attention to digital leadership, including the establishment of a formal governance structure for the participation of all stakeholders during the design, implementation, and monitoring of digital education policy; (iii) an effective technical architecture to address connectivity issues; and (iv) a constructive and enjoyable digital teaching experience that encourages learning-centred pedagogical approaches.
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    The Heart Experience: A Study of Poetry and Piety in Methodist Hymnody in the Eighteenth Century in Britain
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Worster, Starr Liane; Houliston, Victor
    This study engages in an exploration of the poetics of Methodist hymnody of the eighteenth century in Britain focusing on Charles Wesley, William Williams and Ann Griffiths. Throughout, the reference point is that of the heart experience which shapes the hymns both in terms of poetic expression and theological belief. Methodism was – and is – above all, an experiential faith, a faith of not only knowing but also feeling God and it is in this confluence of knowledge and emotion that the hymnists of the eighteenth century gave voice to what was for all of them a spiritual pilgrimage. It is a confluence which inspired and informed the hymns, and which is brought to bear on the examination of what John Wesley calls the ‘Spirit’ of poetry and piety at the core of this study. The transforming power of Methodism on British society is universally accepted. John Wesley’s preaching, ministry and organisational abilities were key, but as much as hearing the spoken word played a major role in evangelisation so, too, did the sung hymns of Charles Wesley and others like him. Their poetic expressions of spirituality served to inspire, to encourage, to teach but, most of all, to bring people together in shared worship of their God. The hymns were both a personal articulation of Christian faith and the spiritual journey and an inclusive means of expression for all believers. Charles Wesley, a founder of Methodism along with his brother, John, gave to the movement an enduring channel of evangelism, testimony and testament to the power and love of God through the creative output of his hymns. They emerge out of the context of a spirituality that was focused and devotional; the poetry in his hymns became a means to express praise and reverence to God, and the communication of his faith and religious experience was underscored, in every instance, by his linguistic, thematic and stylistic choices. Charles Wesley was at the forefront of hymnody as it manifested in eighteenth- century Britain although certain figures, namely William Williams and, at the end of the century, Ann Griffiths, became the voices of a Welsh hymnic expression. While Charles Wesley and Williams were evangelists as well as poets, Griffiths wrote to convey her deeply personal and mystic experience of God; all three, nonetheless, used the hymn form to articulate poetically the experience and intensity of emotion in the journey of faith. Methodism’s religion of the heart is at the forefront of all its creeds, its mission, its ministry, but nowhere is this more evident than in its hymns. It is in the consideration of the manifestation and poetic functionality of that heart experience that the crux of this thesis lies.
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    Newsroom Culture and Journalistic Practice at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC): An Ethnographic study
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Dlamini, Tula; Chiumbu, Sarah
    This research sets out to examine newsroom culture and journalism practice at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). The primary objective is to understand the factors inside the SABC newsroom that impact the construction of news stories and current affairs productions. Anchored on Pierre Bourdieu’s theories of the habitus, doxa, and capital, together with Habermas’ concept of the Public Sphere, this thesis describes the newsroom culture of the SABC between 2016 and 2021 based on everyday work experiences and perspectives of news workers, managers at the broadcaster and available documents. As a secondary objective, the study explores how SABC newscasts and current affairs programming mediate news. Specifically, the content analysis of News and Current Affairs products assesses how the SABC mediated pluralist politics during the 2016 local government elections from the perspective of normative public sphere principles and examines how routines, practices, and professional values broadly impacted the broadcaster’s coverage, particularly the contested issue of ‘land’. The study is essentially a qualitative ethnography of the SABC newsrooms, although a multi-method approach is adopted to arrive at a more encompassing view of the journalistic culture of News and Current Affairs construction at the broadcaster. The 2016 period and after are interesting because these are also moments in time when the SABC newsroom was characterised by widely reported tension and editorial turmoil. The findings reveal some of the embedded structural systems in the SABC’s newsrooms, such as the role of the management hierarchy and the institutional norms, shared professional values, and routines that journalists use to achieve functional ends for the broadcaster. Furthermore, the study identifies a gap in the general scholarship of the SABC. For example, fewer studies have attempted to account for the culture and journalistic practice inside SABC newsrooms, all of which have impacted directly on the general operations of the broadcaster and execution of its PSB mandate.
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    Analyzing Financial Survival Strategies for Public Service Broadcasters in Disruptive Environments: A Case Study of SABC and Alternative Funding Models
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Mnguni, Thamba Isaack; Koba, Yolo
    Following the upsurge in globalization, digitization, and audience fragmentation, public service broadcasting and its legitimacy are often questioned, if not undermined. This study explores the financial survival of public service broadcasters in the digital era. The lack of funding for public broadcasters has a bearing impact, affecting the delivery of public mandate, diversity of content, cultural diversity, inadequate production of television content, and editorial independence due to the lack of funds. In production, producers often need reduced production budgets, thus limiting the quality of the media output and the representation of audiences. Using a qualitative approach, in-depth interviews, and the case of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), this study argues that traditional public broadcasters need to modernize their business operations and adopt technology and innovation to survive against competition while retaining the public service mandate as its Unique Selling Point (USP). This paper also highlights internal and external organizational impediments that have thus far hindered the successful financial operation of the SABC. This, therefore, leads to questions about the legitimacy and democratic role of public broadcasters. In response to the financial challenges exerted by poor funding from the government, poor commercial revenues, and TV license evasion, this study argues that public broadcasters can deploy multiple alternative revenue streams to harness revenues to make up for the shortfalls with traditional revenues. As a result, this study recommends four funding models for the SABC to harness alternative revenues: Services and Commercial model, Endowment Funding and Licensing and Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiatives and the Hybrid model. This study also reveals that the legitimacy of the SABC as a public broadcaster is hanging on a shoestring until the matter of Analogue Switch Off (ASO), Set Top Boxes (STBs), and Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) are successfully resolved by the government.
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    Teaching Intermediate Phase isiZulu reading comprehension skills to at-risk readers in uMkhanyakude mainstream schools: Pedagogical strategies that work
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Ntshangase, Chief Langelihle; Tshuma, Lindiwe
    Despite several interventions put in place to alleviate the reading crisis in South African primary schools, many teachers still experience challenges in teaching reading comprehension. The situation is even more dire with regards to teaching inclusive reading to at-risk readers in mainstream schools in under-resourced settings. The term at-risk readers refer to learners with reading difficulties. Curriculum guidelines on reading do not outline pedagogical strategies that are effective in reading classrooms that include both at-risk and healthy progress readers. It is against this background that this study investigates the pedagogical strategies used to teach isiZulu inclusive reading comprehension at the Intermediate Phase level. Since the majority of studies conducted around literacy challenges focus on teachers’ capabilities to teach reading, this study extends this debate by interrogating teacher educators’ facilitation of inclusive reading. This qualitative study is guided by the interpretivist paradigm and framed by the Lexical quality hypothesis, Word Learning Theory and the Simple view of reading approach. Non-participant classroom observations and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from 10 intermediate phase isiZulu teachers based in mainstream schools, in uMkhanyakude district. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with seven isiZulu methodology lecturers purposively selected from five South African universities. The qualitative data were analysed by the researcher through thematic analysis. The unit of analysis in this research are the pedagogical strategies for developing intermediate phase isiZulu inclusive reading among At-Risk readers. Findings indicate that intermediate phase isiZulu teachers struggle to organize meaningful and cohesive reading strategies. Strategies employed are not structured to address specific reading challenges and consequently at-risk readers in mainstream schools remain inadequately catered for. Furthermore, university teacher education departments do not adequately equip pre-service intermediate phase teachers with the necessary pedagogical skills to teach inclusive reading to at-risk readers in mainstream schools. This study, thus contributes to the body of knowledge related to the pedagogical strategies best suited for developing inclusive reading.
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    Mogaga: Play, Power and Purgation
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Magogodi, Kgafela Golebane; Law-Viljoen, Bronwyn
    In street parlance, or iscamto, mogaga refers to the face of confrontation. In Sekgatla, a dialect of Setswana, mogaga is a name for a potent plant used in rituals of “social purgation” (De Graft, 2002: 26-27). This study focuses on the element of go gagaola or the act of triggering mogaga through a fusion of poetic incantations,1 song, dance and “spirit embodiment” (Ajumeze, 2014: 78). Go gagaola, the act of activating mogaga, hinges on agit-prop-mechanics that enable the elimination of botheration or the purging of domination. Does ritual drama have the power to alter material conditions? This and other questions about play-making as a scaffold which holds up a combination of spiritual elevation and political rebellion drive this enquiry. How do we expel botheration using the power of play? As it appears, ritual drama and guerilla theatre have the same framework as acts of “spiritual realism” (Mahone, 2002: 270). Guerilla theatre, like ritual drama, is also a system of change. Plotting the adventures of Phokobje and Phiri, I have found great resources in spiritual traditions such as malopo/malombo of Bakgatla/Bapedi and VhaVenda as well abaNgoma of Ba-Nguni. Mapping the journeys of characters in Chilahaebolae led to unexpected forays into astronomy – bolepa dinaledi in Setswana. People’s Experimental Theatre, Malombo Jazz Makers, Dashiki, Mihlothi, Malopoets and others who accentuated the connection between ritual and rebellion. Through this enquiry I make an offering to the decolonial project and the community of scholars, artists, astronomers and iZangoma who have been silenced by the settler-colonial canon through epistemic violence, massacre, and incarceration. These musings about mogaga play-making recasts theatre as the locus of confrontation and a tool for purging botheration. Going beyond “the banal search for exoticism” (Fanon, 1967: 221), I trace the bloodline of resistance theatre
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    The effects of embracing multilingualism on the academic performance of learners in primary science education in botswana
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-12) Kereeditse, Dumelang Lorato Thomas; Inggs, Judith
    In Botswana, primary school learners perform better in Setswana as a subject than in the science subjects. This trend can be observed in the annual Primary School Leaving Examinations results despite the country’s high literacy rate. Since these learners are emergent multilinguals, this study sought to determine the effects of embracing multilingualism on Botswana learners’ academic performance in science as a subject at primary level. Considering that using translation as a pedagogical strategy has never been fully recognised as a useful way of scaffolding in lower levels of education, the translanguaging perspective was employed to determine the effects of translation in multilingual contexts. This was done to enhance comprehension of fourth year primary science texts using bilingual texts because, in the Botswana education system, codeswitching is usually practised as a communication strategy, but textbooks and assessments are printed monolingually in English from Standard 2. The study acknowledged the benefits of both English and Setswana in the education system and on learners’ cognitive development. Therefore, it employed a cognitive theory of communication in translation coupled with the translanguaging theory to develop bilingual science texts that could enhance pedagogic strategies for emergent multilinguals. A quasi-experimental design was used to assess the effects of using bilingual texts on learners’ academic performance. Three participating schools from different language communities in Botswana were selected via non-proportional stratified sampling. The control group received a monolingual science topic with content as usual, whereas the experimental group received the same text translated and presented bilingually in English and Setswana. Both groups attempted a written comprehension exercise after reading the same topic. Data were analysed statistically using SPSS Statistics and qualitatively using moment analysis to determine the significance of differences between 2 the control and the experimental groups. Learners in the minority language speaking school showed a considerable improvement as well as a significant difference in the performance of learners who used monolingual texts compared to those who used bilingual texts. Other schools showed an insignificant difference between the performance of the experimental group and the control group. These results show the potential of bilingual texts in the creation of translanguaging space in the classroom. They support the ostensive multilingualism pedagogy which brings together translanguaging pedagogy and relevance theory in translation to open translanguaging spaces in science education.
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    The role of the fictional biographer in “The Aspern Papers” by Henry James, Summertime
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-06) Sandnes, Charmaine Henriette; Van Wyk, Karl
    This thesis is a literary, critical investigation of the role of the fictional biographer in selected writings by Henry James, J.M. Coetzee, Patrick Flanery, and A.S. Byatt. The central focus of the work is the establishment of the possible reason for the inclusion of fictional – rather than real or nonfictional – biographers in “The Aspern Papers” by Henry James, Summertime by J.M. Coetzee, Absolution by Patrick Flanery, and The Biographer’s Tale and Possession by A.S. Byatt. My argument focuses on the essence of the quest for truth, albeit literary truth, and how this determines our appreciation of a work of fiction. This quest becomes evident in the interesting collocation of the five primary texts across historiological, sociological, cultural and philosophical divides. I introduce my work tentatively by defining the concept of the orthodox or real biographer, and ultimately how truth itself is manifested in the biographer’s quest to establish that her subject’s life story is a genuine reflection of her reality. In opposition to the former, I go on to proffer a definition of the fictional biographer. In the first chapter, I explore the philosophy of life-writing with reference to the theories of Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Virginia Woolf and Philippe Lejeune. I also note how modernism and post-modernism are reflected in the five primary texts. In the second chapter, I make specific observations regarding Henry James’ use of the anonymous fictional biographer in his novella, “The Aspern Papers”, and further examine his deliberate metafictional interests in four short stories from his collection, Stories of Artists and Writers. In the third chapter on Summertime, I add to the autobiography-biography dichotomy, and in the fourth chapter I explore Byatt’s playful and erudite metafictional toying with fact and fiction through multiple fictional biographers exploring fictional and real subjects. The fifth chapter focuses on fictional biographers writing outside of their nationality, and explores their aim to determine’ socio-political truths through an engagement with confessional writing in the South African context. Finally, in chapter six I offer a comparative perspective of the uses of the fictional biographers in all five texts.
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    An analysis of domain-specific terminology for pedagogical lexicographic resources: towards a comprehensive english isizulu life sciences dictionary
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-02) Dladla, Celimpilo Piety; Zungu, E.B.
    This thesis examined the structure of published dictionaries as a foundation for creating guidelines for developing a domain-specific lexicographic resource in an African language. The resource developed in the study is directed at Grade 10 to 12 learners as a remedy for the absence of domain-specific lexicographic resources for senior phase learners whose mother tongue was previously marginalised. Subjects are taught in a second language despite the language policy of the Department of Basic Education stating that learners and their guardians are at liberty to choose their language of education (Diko, 2018). The unavailability of these resources deprives potential users of the opportunity of having a choice to use reference material in their home language to understand crucial educational material. This limits their ability to achieve the results they would have had if they had the opportunity of learning in their mother tongue (Osborne & Collins, 2001; Mji & Makgato, 2006). Dictionaries have been identified as assistive resources in increasing learners’ understanding of educational concepts (Ranalli & Nurmukhamedov, 2014; Charamba, 2017). Subsequently, this thesis employed the theory of lexicographic functions to develop guidelines for the development of a bilingualised Life Sciences dictionary in isiZulu with English serving as the source language, as users need the information in English in class and in their examinations. This qualitative study garnered data by means of content analysis of existing English-Zulu bilingual dictionaries by examining their structure and function, as a foundation for developing guidelines for the new resource and the ultimate compilation of the resource. Further, the study interrogated the Life Sciences glossary from prescribed Grade 10 to 12 Life Sciences books from the Department of Basic Education and extracted terminology from these resources. Terminology was then translated into isiZulu employing translation strategies applicable in lexicography as this was not a translation exercise but a lexicographic exercise. Nkomo (2019) asserts that most lexicographic practices had been mistaken for a translation exercise because lexicographic theories are often not employed. For this reason, the study employed the theory of lexicographic functions – studying the needs of users, the user situation and the function of a dictionary (Tarp, 2004; 2008; 2012) to create a dictionary development guideline and additionally, produce a digital dictionary to be made available in a freely downloadable form for use and availability to all users. The dictionary developed was analysed according to guidelines set by Ball and Bothma (2018) for analysing digital dictionaries.