School of Social Sciences (ETDs)
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Item Back from the Brink: De-escalation of Conflict During the Four Crises of the Taiwan Strait(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Tshabalala, Matshepo Kholofelo; Small, MichelleThe Taiwan Strait remains a critical flashpoint in East Asia, with significant implications for regional and global security. This study explores the Four Crises of the Taiwan Strait, investigating historical tensions, military strategies of brinkmanship and deterrence, and the diplomatic relations between the PRC, ROC and the USA. Through qualitative analysis, this paper endeavours to understand the causal mechanisms and strategies that have been employed to de-escalate conflict. Key aspects of this research include an examination of China's strategic objectives, the effectiveness of the use of brinkmanship to achieve these objectives, Taiwan's evolving political landscape and defence strategies, and the United States’ policy manoeuvres aimed at maintaining regional stability and protecting Taiwan. The study analyses incidents and crises to identify patterns and triggers of escalation and de-escalation. The findings highlight the importance of deterrence, diplomatic engagement, concession and appeasement. This study contributes to the broader discourse on conflict resolution and ongoing efforts to maintain peace and stability in the region.Item Contraceptive use Transition and Fertility Dynamics and Reproductive Health Outcomes in Zambia(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Phiri, MillionBackground: Improving access to and utilisation of contraceptive methods has been a major global goal of maternal health and development programming for over four decades now. Despite the benefits associated with contraceptive use, the prevalence in Zambia is still low. The country’s population policy has identified high fertility rate, population growth rate and maternal mortality rate as hindrances to the country’s socio-economic development agenda. Although the contraceptive prevalence rate in Zambia is still low, it has been increasing steadily from 15.2% in 1992 to 34.2% in 2001 and then from 40.8% in 2007 to 49.0% in 2018 among women of reproductive age. The sources of the observed increase in the contraceptive rate use were not known. This is because previous studies in Zambia concentrated on examining factors associated with using contraception use rather changes in usage. This study achieved the four specific objectives: (i) describe how contraceptive use has changed in Zambia over time regarding levels and trends; (ii) explore the geographic, social, economic, environmental and demographic factors that explain contraceptive use transition in Zambia; (iii) examine how contraceptive use transitions have affected fertility dynamics (iv) examine how contraceptive use transition has affected reproductive health outcomes in Zambia. Theoretical framework: The theoretical framework used in this study reflects the fact that a woman’s choice to use contraceptive is affected by a complex interplay of social, economic and interpersonal relationships at household or neighborhoods levels. It is in this regard that this study adopted the empowerment and social capital theories, reflecting social phenomena which operate at different level to influence contraceptive use. As such, contraceptive use can be viewed as a function of the level of empowerment among women, their access to social capital, and the degree to which gender inequality and problematic social norms are present in their social environment. The key woman empowerment elements include participation in the decision- making process, education attainment, access and ownership of resources, access to information, employment opportunity, and higher socioeconomic status. Methodology: This study employed a mixed methods research design to examine factors explaining contraceptive use transition in Zambia. Quantitative analysis used a pooled dataset comprising a sample of 44,762 fecund sexually active and non-pregnant women aged (15-49 years) captured in the demographic and health surveys (DHSs) conducted between 1992 and 2018. The DHS is a cross-sectional study which applies a two-stage stratified cluster sampling design to select Enumeration areas and households. Furthermore, qualitative data analysis was conducted on the data collected through focus groups (FGD) with women of reproductive age (n=4) and key informant interviews with key staff (n=10) from the Ministry of Health and stakeholder organisations implementing family planning programmes in Zambia. All the FGDs and key informant interviews were conducted in Lusaka and Chongwe districts. The first objective was achieved by conducting descriptive and trend analysis on data to examine the changes in contraceptive use overtime. Qualitative data was used to explain the reasons behind the observed changes in contraceptive use transition. Analysis for the second was done in two steps. The outcome variable for this study is current contraceptive use. All sexually active women in the DHS were asked a question “Are you currently using any contraceptive method to prevent a pregnancy”. The first step involved application of multilevel regression analysis to examine the influence of both individual and community factors on current contraceptive use in Zambia. The second step involved utilisation of multivariable nonlinear decomposition technique (Blinder Oaxaca decomposition techniques) to measure the contribution effects of both individual and contextual factors to the observed changes in contraceptive use in Zambia. This was also complimented by qualitative data to explain to ii | P a g e explain quantitative results. Objective three was achieved through application of multivariable Blinder- Oaxaca decomposition regression techniques to examine the effects of contraception use changes over time on fertility rate and maternal health outcomes in Zambia. Using a multivariable decomposition regression analysis technique is an improvement over previous similar research works that have been conducted in Zambia. All DHS analysis took into account the complex survey design and statistical significance was determined at α0.05. Key findings: Study findings show that in Zambia's contraceptive prevalence rate rose 30.8 percentage points (14.2% to 45.0%) throughout the analysis period, 1992 to 2018. This translates to an average of 1.2% annually. The major share of contraceptive use increase in Zambia happened between 1992 and 2001 (16.7%). The least change was during 2013 and 2018 (0.2%). Findings show that the rate of increase in CPR has been declining over time, even though overall CPR has increased during the analysis period. The findings show that overall, contraceptive use among sexually active women has increased significantly in Zambia, despite regional, residential, and socioeconomic differences. The study's findings support the proposed research hypothesis that contraceptive use has increased significantly in Zambia. Overall, both changes in women’s compositional structure and changes in women's contraceptive behaviour significantly contributed to the change in contraceptive use in Zambia. Multivariable decomposition analysis of the determinants of change in contraceptive use has revealed that between 1992 and 2018: increase in proportion of women with secondary education (5.20%), reduction experience of child mortality (7.70%), reduction in the proportion of women desiring 6 or more children (5.63%) and increase in proportion of woman decision with making autonomy (3.33%) were the major contributors to the trend change in contraceptive use among sexually active women in Zambia. Results from the decomposition analysis reveal that the observed increase in contraceptive use in Zambia has significantly affected reduction and fertility rate and teenage pregnancy. The study results confirm the hypothesis that the increase in contraceptive use has contributed to the reduction in fertility rate and teenage pregnancy. Conclusion: Contraceptive utilisation among sexually active women in Zambia has shown a steady and significant progressive increase of 30.8 percentages over the 26-year period from 1992 to 2018. The larger increase in contraceptive use happened during the period 1992-2001. Although there are still regional and area disadvantage in contraceptive prevalence rate, the gap in utilisation between urban and rural areas has narrowed. Women’s compositional factors have contributed differently to contraceptive use increase observed in the country. The observed increase in contraceptive use in Zambia is largely due to changes in the contraceptive behaviour of sexually active women. Positive change in women’s contraceptive behaviour could be attributed to the country’s huge investment in family planning programming by government and stakeholders. However, improvement in women compositional factors, such as education, decision-making autonomy, access to family planning information and child mortality experience reduction among other individual and community-level factors were key in driving contraceptive use transition. Therefore, as emphasized in the empowerment and social capital theories, social change among women is key in influencing contraceptive use transition. Furthermore, the study has established that the noted increase in contraceptive use in Zambia has positively contributed to fertility rate decline. iii | P a g e Implications of results The findings of this current study imply that both changes in women’s social factors and changes in the contraceptive use behaviour of sexually active women in Zambia have been driving contraceptive use transition in Zambia. This signifies that the investments in family planning programmes have been yield expected results by changing contraceptive behavior of women. The study findings further suggest that understanding social context is key to inform the design of new FP strategies and strengthening of exiting interventions aimed at further improving acceptance and utilisation of contraceptive methods among women. Contribution to knowledge of the study The study has made a contribution to research by delineating social factors that have contributed to the observed contraceptive use transition in Zambia. Such findings have not been explored before in the context of family planning research in Zambian. Furthermore, the study has provided evidence of how the observed increase in contraception use in the country has affected fertility, teenage pregnancy rates, and prevalence of unintended births. This information is relevant for understanding the country’s population and maternal health dynamics. The findings not only validate the relevance of core principles of the empowerment and social capital theories in explaining contraceptive use transition in Zambia, but also shed light on other theoretical aspects that should be considered when understanding contraceptive use transition. Future research Future studies should examine rural-urban and regional variations of the determinants of contraceptive use transition. This will generate information to inform regional specific interventions. More so future studies should examine the factors that may influence a person's decision to utilise contraception in the future among sexually active adolescent girls. Doing so will generate data to inform the design of future family planning programmes that appeal to specific target groups. Furthermore, an in-depth qualitative research is required to understand how to overcome barriers of contraceptive use behaviour relating gender norms, cultural beliefs and religious values.Item The moral permissibility of coercive treatment in psychiatry(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Talatala, Mvuyiso; Coates, AshleyThe advent of psychopharmacological interventions in the middle of the 20th century accompanied by the improvements in psychotherapy has improved the outcomes of treatment of mental illness from the dark days of chronic institutionalisation in mental asylums to the ushering in of an era of deinstitutionalisation. Today it is established that psychiatric treatment is beneficial to people with mental illness and untreated mental illness has negative biopsychosocial consequences. However, some people with severe mental illness such as those with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder or other disorders such as anorexia nervosa, refuse psychiatric treatment despite its established benefits. In these cases, coercive treatment, which is involuntary psychiatric treatment without the patient’s consent, may be a consideration even if these people are not infringing on the rights of others. If coercive treatment is considered in these people with mental illness, there could be concerns about respect for autonomy and the infringement of coercive treatment on their rights. In this research report the autonomy of people with mental illness and the respect for their rights is weighed against the benefits of psychiatric treatment. It is argued that in some cases of mental illness the objection to psychiatric treatment may be non- autonomous as the person with mental illness may lack decisional capacity. It is further argued that psychiatric treatment has benefits that far outweigh the temporary infringement on rights by coercive treatment. The overall argument of this research report is therefore that coercive treatment in psychiatry is morally permissible, and that society has a moral obligation to treat people with mental illness even if that treatment includes coercive treatment in selected cases.Item Geek Culture and Art Therapy: Explorations of Gender Dysphoria Expressions(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Malatsi, Neville Modife; Mngomezulu, Nosipho; Wilhelm-Solomon, MatthewGender dysphoria is a psychologically distressing condition, which transgender people experience, as an incongruence between one’s natal sex and perceived gender identity. The standard medical reaffirmative interventions in treating gender dysphoria involve hormone replacement therapy, psychotherapy, and gender reassignment surgeries. However, not all transgender people choose to undergo medical reaffirmative treatments either because of inaccessibility to such treatments, lack of financial or informational sources, personal reasons, or the severe difficulties they experience in transitioning due to transphobia or discrimination. The purpose of this research report is to explore the creative ways transgender geeks employ to alleviate gender dysphoria and communicate lived experiences, especially when gender reassignment surgeries or hormone replacement therapy (HRT) are unavailable. These creative ways may involve tropes within the geek subculture such as avatars, or character creation that conforms with one’s perceived gender, and role-playing in online video games and virtual environments that allow one to express their gender. Other creative ways include art as therapy through painting, writing, or journaling, as well as dressing up as a means of expressing one’s gender identity. The theoretical framework that informs this study is phenomenology which helps appraise or analyse the lived experiences of the research participants. A key concept that has helped shape the research approach is surfaces and depths in considering how the trans body and trans art as texts are read and interpreted in relation to passing or transitioning. There are four emerging themes in the overall study which include: time/temporality, genres of textual hybridity, geek subculture and identity, and art as therapy. The data for this project was collected through ‘deep- hanging out’ as a method of observation, fieldnotes, and semi-structured interviews with two participants, Archer and Kahless, both of whom are white transgender men from different socioeconomic brackets and identify as geeks or creatives. Additionally, autoethnography has been included as part of polyvocality and reflexivity. The ethnography is multi-sited in the suburbs of Roodepoort and Randburg where my participants reside. The findings in the ethnographic text have shown that both participants primarily engage in creative arts as a means of self-expression and secondarily as a way of 7 alleviating or communicating gender dysphoria. Art, therefore, fulfils two purposes for my research participants: as a form of therapy and for creative expression.Item Executive Functioning in a HIV-positive Paediatric Sample(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Mes, Nike; Cockcroft, Kate; Zondo, SizweHigh prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) poses significant public health challenges in regions like Sub-Saharan Africa, especially among children and adolescents. Despite advancements in reducing vertical mother-to-child transmission and increasing access to antiretroviral therapies, paediatric populations continue to face substantial neurocognitive challenges associated with HIV infection. This study aimed to establish a profile of executive functioning in a South African paediatric population using cognitive measures (the NEPSY-II) and a behavioural rating scale (the BRIEF) to elucidate the cognitive impact of HIV. Assessing executive functions in children presents challenges due to their multifaceted nature, with cognitive measures and behavioural rating scales offering differing insights. As such, a secondary aim of this paper was to examine the inter-correlations between these measures. The participant group was comprised of 40 children living with HIV in Johannesburg, South Africa, aged 10-16. Normative data for comparisons were obtained from the NEPSY-II and BRIEF manuals, as well as a sample of NEPSY-II raw scores for South African youth without a central nervous system disease (Truter et al., 2017). Significant differences were found between the HIV+ group and comparison samples. Specifically, HIV+ children showed poorer performance in working memory, inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility compared to their typically developing peers. These results provide insights into executive function challenges faced by HIV+ children and adolescents, emphasising the importance of early intervention and support.Item The responses of the Gauteng Department of Social Development to homelessness during the COVID 19 lockdown: A case study of two Tshwane and Johannesburg homeless shelters(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Ngcobo, Noluthando; Chilenga-Butao, ThokozaniHow homelessness presents itself in Gauteng is complex and to dissect this phenomenon, the study undertook to explore the responses and approaches to homelessness during the COVID 19 pandemic and from these, establish how the department conceptualizes homelessness, what policies informed the approaches, and lastly, explore whether these interventions were successful or not. Having used document analysis and semi-structured interviews with social workers, the study made key recommendations for the DSD to take into consideration for future interventions. Of great concern is the lack of policy and a legislative framework that guide strictly the DSD’s interactions with homeless people. The study further found that factors including unemployment, migration and urbanisation, and substance abuse are structural factors that attribute to the persistent nature of homelessness in Gauteng. If the DSD seeks to truly eradicate homelessness, the study recommends that more resources need to be invested into sustainable interventions, improving intergovernmental relations as the problem is greater than the confines of the department, and developing solid policy and legislation.Item A Study of African and Western Epistemic Intuitions and Implications for Decolonisation(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Lembethe, Nolwandle Ayanda; Etieyibo, EdwinDiscussions surrounding decolonisation in academic spaces in South Africa took a turn in 2015 when student protests forced the academy or academic landscape to revisit its relationship with Eurocentrism. This had far reaching consequences, as institutions of higher learning began to interrogate different aspects of academic culture including knowledge production. My thesis looks at decolonisation from an epistemic lens by principally interrogating the use of epistemic intuitions and their relevance to the decolonisation project. By examining experimental philosophy as a methodology, my research provides some meaningful ways in which we can broaden our understanding and use of epistemic intuitions. I draw on different ways scholars in feminist theory have extrapolated methods from lived experiences and epistemic standpoints of epistemically marginalised groups to point out the marginalizing nature of experimental philosophy. The contribution that my thesis makes to knowledge then is that it helps to show how and why experimental philosophy should be made more inclusive to worldviews that have been otherwise marginalised by dominant research methods.Item The Efficacy of Migration Policies in Addressing Migration Issues: An Analysis on the Situation of Zep Holders(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Ndebele, NomazuluThis study comprehensively analyses the efficacy of migration policies in ensuring the welfare of ZEP holders in South Africa by examining the intersection between migration, policies, and life experiences of ZEP holders. Using a qualitative research method to compare the experiences of ZEP and non-ZEP holders, this study explores the challenges and opportunities faced by Zimbabwean migrants with different legal statuses against inconsistent migration regulations and changing socioeconomics. This study reveals the importance of legal migration status in shaping the lives of migrants and the impact of migration policies on ZEP holders. The study further emphasises the consideration of different experiences of ZEP holders, ranging from labour migrants to asylum seekers, where different migrant categories were mixed under one migration regulation program. It is against the grouping of different migrant categories under the ZEP program and calls for inclusive and sustainable policies, emphasising addressing migration problems from their root cause to ensuring migrant welfare in the host country.Item Principles to guide media practitioners in ethical decision-making in real time(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Sullivan, Peter John; Allais, LucyThis research paper defines a set of five principles, summarised as five questions, to guide media practitioners to ethical decisions under deadline pressure. They are: 1. Truth – does this attempt to tell the truth? 2. Integrity – does this compromise the integrity of the reporter or newspaper? 3. Respect – does this respect everyone involved? 4. Fairness – is this fair to all? 5. Readers’ interests – is this in the interests of the readers? Selected guides for uncovering principles are selected and deconstructed. The three main ones are Beauchamp and Childress’s “Principles of Biomedical Ethics”, “The Satchwell Report on Media Ethics,” and “The South African Press Council Code of Ethics and Behaviour.” The Press Council’s Code of Ethics helps uncovering the five principles, Satchwell is less helpful and Beauchamp and Childress provide the useful methodology used in the paper. Principlism itself is analysed and critiqued by five philosophers. It is finally considered useful in the limited way required by the demands of quick ethical decisions. Previous studies are found wanting in positing principles. Interrogation of moral virtues like justice, beneficence and nonmaleficence shine some light on the quest for principles. Examining utilitarianism, Kantianism, rights theory and virtue ethics proves helpful. Six practical dilemmas are discussed and decision-taking measured against the five principles. The search for ethical perfection will never end, but principles suggested in this paper may help guide those journalists looking for a mapItem Testing machine learning algorithms for classifying authority in a hybrid institutional complex(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Manoim, RosaThe growing diversity of institutions that make up Hybrid Institutional Complexes involved in global governance has meant growing masses of raw data. Although these forms of institutions are some of the most important contemporary governance bodies, that have not yet been adequately analysed in the literature. Annual Reports, meeting minutes, policy documents and Codes are constantly being produced and published by these institutions, but this data is not in a form useful for statistical analysis. The use of hand-coding techniques for textual data is extraordinarily time consuming, a problem that is exacerbated in a swiftly changing field where data collection and classification could easily fall behind the ongoing shifts in institutional collaboration. In order to keep up with the increasing complexity of these global governance bodies, research methodology needs to evolve accordingly, and develop new ways of capturing information about these institutions. By harnessing machine learning algorithms and especially deep learning networks for classifying textual-data, social scientists are able to deepen their research, particularly by creating new, usable datasets from the output documents of the institutions they research. This report demonstrates how the output documents released by the institutions in the global private security governance institutional complex can be successfully classified by machine learning algorithms. This research report focuses on developing, and then assessing the effectiveness of an automated text classification approach. It demonstrates how a deep neural network algorithm can classify textual data from the global private security governance complex with up to 90% accuracy compared to expert labelling of the texts. It further compares traditional machine learning models to deep learning models and finds that traditional models like the random forest algorithm can classify these texts with over 85% accuracy.