3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item The Fulani of Northern Nigeria(Lagos: Govt print, 1945) St. Croix, F.W. De.Item Sustainability in arts and culture funding : a retrospective exploration of Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre as a case study, 1998-2008.(2014-07-29) Tembe, Welile K.Abstract could not load on D Space.Item The cultural beliefs and practices amongst urban antenatal Botswana women(2014-05-19) Lionjanga, ReginahThe purpose of this non-experimental descriptive study was to identify the cultural beliefs and practices surrounding pregnancy. The study aims at collecting data which will function as baseline information on cultural beliefs and practices surrounding pregnancy. The study was conducted in the city of Francistown, the second largest to the capital of Botswana situated in the north-east. A structured interview guide with both open and close-ended questions was used to collect data from 230 pregnant women who were 18 years of age and above and who were willing to participate. The data was processed on computer and a statistical software package known as Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used. The study revealed that pregnant women used a combination of care givers which either included a modem midwife and an elderly woman at church or a modem midwife and a traditional midwife. This is done in order to follow the traditional and cultural beliefs surrounding pregnancy and childbirth. The majority (92.2%) of the antenatal women in this study had primary and secondary education but still follow their cultural beliefs and practices, thus education does not appear to influence cultural beliefs and practices. The most common reasons cited for adhering to the beliefs and practices were that defiance was a taboo punishable by the ancestors. This study has highlighted the cultural beliefs and practices related to pregnancy. Further in-depth investigation into the impact of these cultural beliefs and practices is needed as it is imperative to determine their impact on pregnancy and its outcome. The limitation of the study was that data was only collected in one city and therefore the results cannot be generalised to the entire population.Item Context, culture and disability : a narrative inquiry into the lived experiences of adults with disabilities living in a rural area.(2013-11-05) Neille, Joanne FrancesThis thesis documents the everyday experiences of adults with disabilities living in a rural area of South Africa. Given South Africa’s tumultuous history, characterised by human rights violations incurred through cultural, political and racial disputes, and the country’s current state of socio-economic and political turmoil, violence has come to represent a core feature in the lives of many South Africans. This, together with the impact of unemployment, food insecurity and unequal power distribution, has significantly affected the ways in which many people make sense of their life experiences. Despite the fact that exposure to unequal power dynamics, violence, marginalisation and exclusion are documented to dominate the life experiences of people with disabilities, little is understood about the ways in which these aspects manifest in the interpretation and reconstruction of experiences. Previous research into the field of disability studies has depended primarily on quantitative measures, or on the reports of family members and caregivers as proxies, perpetuating the cycle of voicelessness and marginalization amongst adults with disabilities. Those studies which have adopted qualitative measures in order to explore the psychosocial experiences of disability have focussed largely on the limitations imposed by physical access, and have relied predominantly on the medical and social models of disability, or on the World Health Organisation’s International Classification on Functioning, Disability and Health (WHO ICF, 2001). These models consider the psychosocial experience of disability to be universal, and do not adequately take into account the impact of cultural and contextual variables. This has negatively impacted on the establishment of a research repository upon which evidence-based practice has been developed. This thesis aimed to explore and document the lived experiences of 30 adults with a variety of disabilities, living in 12 rural villages in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. A combination of narrative inquiry and participant observation was employed in order to examine the relationship between personal and social interpretations of experience. Data analysis was conducted using a combination of Clandinin and Connelly’s (2000) Three Dimensional Narrative Inquiry Space, Harré’s Positioning Theory (1990, 1993, & 2009), and Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Results revealed that narratives were plurivocal in nature, giving rise to a complex relationship between personal and social interpretations of experience. The findings highlighted the impact of cultural norms, values and roles on making sense of experiences associated with disability. Four new types of narrative emerged, none of which conformed to the current interpretations of lived experience as reported in the literature. All of the narratives were pervaded by the embodied experience of violence, including evidence of structural, physical, psychological and sexual violence, as well as violence by means of deprivation. This gave rise to a sense of moral decay and highlighted the ways in which abuse of power has become woven into lived experience. In this way insight was gained into the complex interplay between impairment, exclusion, high mortality rates, violence, and poverty in rural areas. Narrative inquiry proved to be a particularly useful tool for providing insight into disability as a socio-cultural construct, drawing attention to a variety of clinical, policy and theoretical implications. These gave rise to a number of broader philosophical questions pertaining to the role of memory, vulnerability and responsibility, and the ways in which all citizens have the potential to be complicit in denying the reality of lived experience amongst vulnerable members of society. These findings demand attention to the ways in which governments, communities and individuals conceive of what it means to be human, and consequently how the ethics of care is embraced within society.Item An exploration of South African Muslim general practitioners perceptions of mental illness within Lenasia, a suburb of Johannesburg.(2013-04-17) Mohamed, ZaakiyahGeneral practitioners (GP’s) are often the first point of entry when seeking medical treatment. They are responsible for treating members of the community and thus their understanding and conceptualisation of mental illness will influence patient care. Additionally, GP’s religious and cultural affiliations play an influential role in the aetiology and treatment of mental illness. Thus this study explored perceptions of mental illness in a sample of 10 Muslim GP’s (5 male, 5 female) of Indo-Pak ancestry in the Lenasia area (Johannesburg, South Africa). Semi structured interviews were conducted with each GP which entailed 37 questions related to the GP’s context, GP’s perceptions of mental illness, the understanding of religion and culture, the treatment of mental illness and the aspect of spiritual illness. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse the data. From the results obtained, eight themes were salient; namely definitions and aetiology of mental illness as understood by GP’s, the role of culture, the assimilated identity, Islamic beliefs regarding mental illness, GP’s beliefs regarding spiritual illness, collaboration and referral to other healthcare professionals and finally influential factors affecting GP’s. Based on the above themes it can be concluded that more awareness regarding the stigmatization of mental illness needs to be addressed. Furthermore, it is vital that healthcare professionals possess an understanding of the use of traditional healing as a mode of treatment amongst certain South African population groups. This study therefore paves the way for further research regarding the incorporation of cultural beliefs into mainstream theory.Item The perceptions of Malawians living in Gauteng, South Africa, on the contributions of indigenous Malawian tribes' cultural practices in HIV infection in Malawi.(2011-11-08) Munlo, JulianaIt is well known that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) have affected millions of people throughout the world and continues to affect people on a day to day basis. In Africa, sub-Saharan Africa is the most affected. Malawi, one of the poorest countries in sub-Saharan Africa is no exception to the growing trend and severity in HIV prevalence (Kalipeni& Ghosh, 2006).Like many countries in Africa, cultural practices in Malawi have been criticised as contributing to the spread of HIV and AIDS (Mwale, 2008). In recent years it has been recognised that in order to understand the spread of HIV and AIDS it is imperative to address the economic, social, cultural and political issues that lead to the contraction and spread of the virus. Hence there is a growing realisation that more effective prevention strategies in response to HIV and AIDS should focus on traditional, cultural, medical and political beliefs and practices as well as perceptions of individual risk to HIV and AIDS (Lwanda, 2005).The proposed research seeks to explore the perceptions of Malawians in the role and implications that cultural practices play in promoting HIV infections in Malawi. A sample of 17 people representing both genders from three tribes, namely the Yao, Tumbuka and Chewa participated in the study. Participants were purposively selected on their knowledge of cultural practices and in their being members of the tribe that was investigated. The research study was qualitative and a case study research design was applied. Data was analysed using thematic content analysis. The findings were therefore organised according to themes. The findings were that a number of cultural practices of the Tumbukas, Chewas and Yaos play a role in HIV and AIDS infections. Some of the cultural practices that were identified included wife inheritance, polygamy, initiation ceremonies, the practice of fisi(hyena), the practice of kulowafumbi(wiping of dust) and traditional marriages. The study found that cultural practices accompanied by lack of education, poverty, gender inequalities, lack of condom use and peer pressure among the youth promotes risky behavior that often leads to HIV transmission and prevents behavioural change. It was identified that it would be beneficial to educate elders of the community and influential people about HIV so that they could teach community members about the link between HIV and AIDS and cultural practice, and to find alternative ways to ensure that the cultural practice is safer, such as encouraging people to test before they practice wife inheritance. This study hopefully has the potential of contributing to knowledge and awareness in the fields of social development and social work on the role that cultural practice plays in promoting risky behaviour,which leads to contracting HIV infection among the Chewa, Tumbuka and Yao tribes. These findings could be useful in the creation of cultural-specific intervention programmes that are aimed at curbing HIV infection in Malawi and in many African countries where similar cultural practices are practiced.Item Adapting the NEO-PI-3 for a South African context : a pilot study using a South African student population.(2011-05-13) Quy, G. S.The trait approach to personality is one of the most influential epistemological frameworks in personality psychology and underlies the development of most objective personality inventories. The Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) is amongst the most widely used operationalisations of the FFM within personality assessment (Costa and McCrae, 1992). However, recent research (Franklin, 2009; Laher, 2010) suggests that the NEO-PI-R is not wholly applicable within the South African context; as there may be inappropriate items contained within the inventory, both linguistically and culturally. Within the United States, McCrae, Costa and Martin (2004) identified the NEO-PI-R as having specific problematic items, and developed the NEO-PI-3 as a revised “more readable” version of the NEO-PI-R. Thirty-seven items were changed from the original 240 items in the NEO-PI-R to create the NEO-PI-3. However, the modifications made to the NEO-PI-3 did not address all the issues pertinent within the NEO-PI-R from a South African perspective as evidenced in Laher’s (2010) and Franklin’s (2009) studies. This study adapted the NEO-PI-3 by changing specific items informed through Franklin (2009) and Laher’s (2010) research, as well as research conducted within this study on two samples of university lectures at the University of the Witwatersrand. Forty-nine items were changed from the original 240 NEO-PI-R items, retaining 30 items changed from the NEO-PI-3, and preferring 3 of the original NEO-PI-R items to the NEO-PI-3 items. These changes were aimed at making the NEO-PI-3 a more appropriate and applicable instrument both culturally and linguistically within the South African context. This modified inventory was then administered to 175 students at the University of the Witwatersrand to test the inventory’s validity and reliability. The reliability of this modified inventory was assessed through conducting an internal consistency analysis generating alpha coefficients indicating that the inventory was indeed reliable. The construct validity of this modified inventory was assessed through an exploratory factor analysis where five factors did emerge from the analysis; concomitant with the theoretical basis of the FFM. Based on feedback from the participants, both quantitatively and qualitatively, recommendations for future research and further problematic items are identified and discussed. In terms of the reliability of the modified version of the NEO-PI-3, internal consistency coefficients produced within the study suggested that the instrument is reliable, producing moderate to good alpha values, as well as producing evidence of good construct validity. Only 17 items emerged as still being potentially problematic within the modified version of the NEO-PI-3.Item An ethnography of adults living with aphasia in Khayelitsha.(2010-11-09) Legg, Carol FrancesThis thesis is concerned with the experience of aphasia in Khayelitsha, a township on the outskirts of Cape Town characterised by poverty, violence, limited resources and a culture and language that differs from the setting of most speech and language services in South Africa. It is based on three years of intermittent fieldwork that entailed participant observation of the everyday life of five adults living with aphasia and interviews with participants, kin and healthcare workers in various settings. Grounded in sociocultural theory, this thesis has aimed to provide an ethnographic account of cultural frameworks of interpretation of communication impairment following stroke and of the daily reality of life for adults living with aphasia in this setting. An exploration of causal notions in this setting provided interesting commentary on social and cultural processes and how people, caught up in these processes, search for meaning and for cure. Participants entertained plural notions of causation of aphasia and explored numerous therapeutic avenues. The wide variation in causal notions included biomedical causes, social and behavioural determinants, and the influences of supernatural powers, such as witches and ancestors. Similarly participants experienced aphasia through multiple healing systems, including traditional, biomedical and religious therapy options. All however seemed to be ambiguous sources of help. Whilst encounters with the health system presented serious challenges to participants, traditional and religious avenues for help were obscured by a burgeoning and not always ethical open market offering miracle cures. An articulation of the circumstances of this group of adults provided further commentary on the influence of the social context on aphasia. In a context where sociopolitical processes have had a disintegrating effect on social cohesion, questions of support, care and security were of primary concern. Prejudices towards the elderly and women were more acutely felt and vulnerability, isolation, insecurity and fluidity of circumstance emerged as overarching themes. The central argument in this thesis is that the genesis of these experiences can be found in contextual factors in Khayelitsha, such as poverty, inequality, urbanisation and changing cultural paradigms. These emerging themes highlight the disjunctions between the medical alignment of the discipline of speech language therapy in South Africa and the capacity for socially-engaged practice. They also highlight the socio-cultural complexity of the experience of aphasia, specifically the influences of culture and poverty. There is thus theoretical and clinical relevance in using anthropological objectives to explore the world of the adult living with aphasia and the interface between context and service provision. Interventions and healthcare communications that will make a meaningful difference to adults with aphasia in a setting such as Khayelitsha are proposed.Item Perceptions of cross-racial adoption in South Africa.(2010-08-06) Hall, Victoria AnnThis study aimed to explore possible ways in which racist ideology and counter positions to this ideology are played out in discourses about cross-racial adoption (CRA) in the current post-apartheid context of South Africa. Three focus group interviews were conducted with 18 psychology students at the University of the Witwatersrand. The study adopted a social constructionist approach to knowledge and transcripts from the focus groups were analyzed using discourse analysis that combined techniques from Braun and Clarke (2006) and Parker (1992, 1999). Analysis revealed that students’ discussion focused mainly on the extent to which they thought black children raised by white parents should (or should not) be exposed to black culture. The discourses underlying these opinions appeared to gain social legitimacy for their speakers through three overarching repertoires, all of which tended to be used to divert attention away from the political ramifications of arguments. Firstly, participants claimed that their arguments were made with “the best interests of the child” at heart. Secondly, participants constructed particular meanings of the relationship between ‘race’ and identity by framing these meanings as central to “knowing who you are”. Thirdly, participants distanced themselves from accountability for their opinions by framing them as reflections of “other South Africans’ attitudes” towards ‘race’ and CRA. Overall, the analysis revealed that processes of racialisation show strong persistence in both black and white people’s discourses about CRA, but tend to be overtly expressed as a value and tolerance of different cultures and ethnicities. However, counter voices to these discourses did emerge in prominent challenges to the idea that ‘race’, ethnicity and culture are intrinsic and immutable features of people. Less prominent were the occasional counter voices that suggested these constructs are nevertheless pertinent, because of the ways in which they may be used to either challenge ‘racially’-derived inequalities between groups, or to fuel the prominence of racist ideology in society.Item Exploring language bias in the NEO-PI-R(2010-03-08T06:49:14Z) Franklin, Dee RossThe study explores language bias in the NEO-PI-R both quantitatively and qualitatively. A sample of 28 postgraduate psychology student volunteers completed a questionnaire containing the NEO-PI-R and two open-ended questions about the instrument. These responses were then analysed across English first language and second language speakers to explore issues of bias. Reliability of the NEO-PI-R appeared to be robust at a domain level. The reliability of the facets, while appropriate for the most part, still yielded low alpha coefficients for the Excitement-seeking, Actions, Values and Straightforwardness facets. ANOVA’s at the domain and facet scale levels indicated no significant differences across home language. However ANOVA’s at the item level yielded 33 in total that were problematic, comprising of 12 items that were significant at the 5% level of significance and 21 items at the 10% level of significance. These items were primarily from the N and E domains. Thematic analysis of the open-ended questions of the questionnaire indicated 26 items were difficult to understand and/or inappropriate for the South African context. These items were primarily from the E and A domains. From the original sample of 28 volunteers, two focus groups were formed, comprising of volunteers from the initial sample. The focus groups explored several qualitative issues, including concepts of personality, language and culture and the applicability of the NEO-PI-R for South African user groups. It was perceived that there is a presence of American socio-cultural references within the use of language, grammar and socio-cultural context in the instrument. Thus the results show evidence of language bias in the NEO-PI-R, and subsequently identify particular aspects and items of the instrument that are especially problematic for a South African user group. The present study suggests that the NEO-PI-R would need to be revised to suit the South African context by changing the problematic items.