School of Social Sciences (ETDs)

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A computational study of media bias in South African online political news reporting over the period 2021 - 2023
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Ngwenya, Nonhlanhla Nomusa; Alence, Rod
The study examined the presence of tonality bias in South African political news reporting over the period 2021 until mid-2023. The study employed the methods of the Lexicoder Sentiment Dictionary, a lexical-based method, and Latent Semantic Scaling, a semi-supervised machine learning method. Sentiment was utilised as a proxy for tonality. Online commercial media publishers were contrasted against the state-owned news publisher to ascertain how online news reporting contributed to shaping the national agenda, and the framing of political actors and their respective political parties. The Lexicoder Sentiment Dictionary and the Latent Semantic Scaling evidenced that commercial media publishers exhibited positive tonality bias for the Democratic Alliance during the 2021 Municipal Elections. South African media publishers were found to exhibit consistent negative tonality bias when reporting on protest action. The state-owned media publisher was found to drive a pro ruling party sentiment whereas commercial media publishers’ sentiment was anti- populist and agenda-setting. The congruency in political news reporting gave grounds to the call for diversity in publishing
A Contractarian Conception Of The Basic Income Grant: General And South African Considerations
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-10) Mc Lean, Jordan; Glaser, Daryl
This academic report proposes an additional moral argument for implementing a basic income grant (BIG) within the framework of the social contract in South Africa. The analysis aims to establish whether there are implicit obligations on the part of the state to provide all citizens with access to social assistance. The report ascertains what moral obligations the state has towards its citizens by exploring social contract theory. The report also analyses the South African case more closely, arguing that state obligation to provide social assistance to all citizens can be found in the Constitution and in the objectives of the social. The research report offers reflections regarding how the South African state attempts to satisfy these obligations through a discussion on some of the government’s social and economic policies. The reflections argue that while the state recognises this moral obligation, it follows the structurally unviable policy position that wage employment can satisfy the social contract for the working aged population. The report investigates the nexus between the social contract and basic income, arguing that the social contract makes the provision of social assistance a moral requirement of the state and thus a basic income grant is necessary, especially in the South Africa case where a large number of working age people have no social assistance access and face high rates of structural unemployment. The report undertakes document analysis of relevant literature, government policy proposals and development programmes to achieve this objective. Ultimately, this report contributes to the understanding of the post-Apartheid social contract, the politics of the welfare system, and the discourse surrounding basic income grants.
A Critical Inquiry into The Ethical Justification(s) For Decriminalising Cannabis Use In South Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Moolla, Sadiyyah; Attoe, Aribiah David
The right to privacy, as contained in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, grants individuals the right to engage in certain activities, insofar as those activities are private, without infringement by individuals or the state. The said right is what was relied upon by the Constitutional Court in the decision to decriminalize Cannabis, for private use. However, there is a marked difference between that which is legal and that which is moral. In this thesis, I will grapple with the ethical justifications for the decriminalization of Cannabis. Using the Ubuntu ethical theory, I will show that there is in fact no ethical justification for impeding on a moral agent’s right to consume cannabis. I will begin by providing some arguments for and against the legalisation of cannabis use, showing their merits and their demerits. I will then provide an account of Ubuntu ethics and show how its tenets bear on the right to consume cannabis.
A gendered inquiry into South Africa’s agrarian question and agro-food system trends
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Mabasa, Khwezi; Williams, Michelle; Cock, Jacklyn
South Africa’s agrarian question has been shaped by the evolution of racial capitalism for nearly four centuries. Dispossession, commodification, and social stratification continue to characterise the country’s agrarian system and broader social structure. However, these three structural features exist in a 21st century finance-led racial capitalist system, which has decoupled socio-economic development from rural-based agrarian livelihoods and exacerbated uneven spatial development across the country. Sixty-seven per cent of the population resides in urban areas and deagrarianisation continues to expand. The country’s agro-food system is highly industrialised, with strong upstream and downstream linkages to other economic sectors dominated by large corporates along value chains. Yet these structural shifts, created through centuries of dispossession and racially segregated industrialisation, have not totally obliterated the role of agrarian livelihood practices in households or community social reproduction. This study used a gendered lens to explore the agrarian political economy structural changes mentioned above, drawing primarily on the experiences of black African women from low-income communities. The discussions elevate gendered socio-economic and sociological impacts of structural agrarian changes in South Africa, which are often underplayed in agrarian political economy literature focusing on transforming race or class relations. More importantly, the study examined the women’s individual and communal agentic agrarian livelihood practices. The main aim was to explore significant lessons for contributing towards debates on alternative agro-food systems in South Africa. Feminist and extended case methodology framed the overall methodological approach in the study, and data was obtained from semi-structured individual and focus group interviews. I relied on Marxist feminist and black feminist political economy literature to develop the study’s theoretical framework and analytical concepts. The central argument of the study is anchored on the following three points. Firstly, South Africa’s post-apartheid agro-food system structural change logic advances narrow agrarian transformation goals, which seek to change racial ownership patterns and integrate ‘emerging’ women farmers into existing commercial agro-food system market structures. This approach has led to negative gendered socio-economic impacts because it fails to address structural social reproduction dimensions that cause gender disparities in the first place. Secondly, black African women have created dynamic agrarian subsistence practices in response to their structural socio-economic challenges, which form part of multiple livelihood and income sources. Their contribution towards local economic v development through these subsistence livelihood practices is overlooked because it takes place outside formal markets. Thus, it is imperative to examine and study these livelihood practices with the aim of obtaining key lessons on how to support marginalised black African women who view agrarian development as an importance source of social reproduction in their communities. Thirdly, black African women-led agency goes beyond orthodox productivism approaches in studying agrarian and non-agrarian livelihood strategies. This study revealed other essential elements in the women’s agentic practices such as solidarity building, experiential learning, indigenous knowledge sharing and creating spaces for formulating women-led public policy demands.
A Philosophical Examination of Thomas Szasz on Mental Illness as a Myth
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Fenderico, Alex; Vice, Samantha
The field of psychiatry has encountered substantial scrutiny pertaining to its diagnostic and therapeutic modalities since the inception of the antipsychiatry movement in the 1960s. A prominent figure within this movement was Thomas Szasz, a Hungarian-American psychiatrist whose influence looms large. Szasz, inspired by the ideas of Michel Foucault, posited that psychiatry functions as a ‘locus of control’ designed to subjugate and pacify societal masses into compliance. His seminal work, "The Myth of Mental Illness," expressed the argument that the medicalisation of mental illness is inherently problematic, constituting a category error of profound significance and resulting in harmful stigmatisation. Szasz advocated for the extrication of mental illness, or as he preferred, 'problems in living,' from the view of the medical domain. Instead, he proposed a paradigm shift towards addressing these issues through social frameworks, particularly emphasizing psychotherapy or counselling as opposed to reliance on psychiatric medications. Szasz's perspectives yielded both enthusiastic support and strong criticism, and contemporary theorists, such as Gabor Maté, persist in echoing his sentiments to this day. The objective of this report is to critically examine Szasz's theoretical position, as well as to present a concerted effort to substantiate its enduring relevance in the current intellectual milieu.
A Podcast Original: Feeling out Black Contemporary Masculinity in South Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-08) Mkhwanazi, Vuyiswa Samukelisiwe Nomvula; Kiguwa, Peace
This research report provides detailed account of the ways in which “Podcast and Chill with MacG” possibly surfaces affective identifications and attachments in its representations of black masculinity. The theoretical explorations are performed with the Millennial and Gen-Z aged masculine audience in mind as they would be the main consumers of this podcast. This study uses affect theory as its theoretical framework - particularly as it is offered by Sara Ahmed in conversation with Tomkins’ work. The study has taken on a qualitative approach. Data collection occurred through purposive sampling of three sixty minute [or longer] episodes of the podcast. The specific episodes feature the following people as interviewees or guests: media personality Jub Jub, comedian and actor Mpho “Popps” Modikane as well as radio personality and reality television star, Dineo Ranaka. The data is analysed and interpreted by means of critical discourse analysis which is focused on studying and analysing spoken and written texts for the purpose of revealing discursive sources of bias, inequality, dominance and power. This paper utilises a culturally responsive relational reflexive ethical framework. The key findings of this paper are that the podcast guest embody one of the following Jungian archetypes: fallen hero [Jub Jub], jester [Mpho Popps] and rebel [Dineo Ranaka]. Furthermore, the fallen hero and jester embody affects of elevation and pride, as well as anxiety respectively. The rebel subverts expectation by rejecting to embody shame and instead uses that rejection as a feminist rallying cry that works to summon a caring masculinity.
A relational history of space, administration and economic extractivism in the Mogalakwena Local Municipality in Limpopo, South Africa (1948-2000)
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Pearson, Joel David
This dissertation seeks to contribute to existing local government scholarship by presenting a situated and relational historical study of the Mogalakwena Local Municipality in present-day Limpopo Province of South Africa. By adapting and extending Gill Hart’s spatial-relational methodology, this study draws out key mechanics of change over time in the Mogalakwena area since the early 20 th century. This historical analysis reveals that the shifting array of power relations which together structured the field of rural local governance came to be enacted and concretised through specific and identifiable processes of spatial transformation, administrative government, and economic extractivism. While existing scholarship has elaborated on aspects of these processes, the present study insists on analysing all three together, in relation to each other, attentive to forms of both mutual constitution and contradiction, and cognisant of how these processes feed into political dynamics of varying scales – local, regional, and national. As such, the thesis argues that these three sets of processes should be understood as axes of rural local governance. This analysis draws off an empirical foundation compiled from archival and oral history sources, and which points to three broad historical conjunctures of local governance in Mogalakwena over the apartheid and early democratic eras. The first, spanning the period between the early 1950s and early 1970s, is identified as an era of state-building and remaking the countryside under the ascendant National Party (NP), one in which the white central state initiated massive and sweeping transformations of rural areas to bring to life its “Bantustan strategy”. The second conjuncture, defined as the terminal phase of apartheid from the late 1970s through to the end of the 1980s, was one in which rural local governance came to be dominated by forms of resistance, reform and repression when bottom-up political forces challenged the reach and authority of the apartheid central state in rural localities. And during the third conjuncture, the transitional period of national negotiations and democratisation between 1990 and 2000, rural local governance came to be defined by uneven and contested initiatives towards institutional amalgamation, deracialisation and redress. In considering the field of rural local governance within which the Mogalakwena Local Municipality operates today, this study concludes that the three axes together remain key determinants in structuring local and regional power relations. While dramatic new power relations have unfolded within and around the municipality since its creation in the year 2000, this study concludes that these have continued to be materialised through intertwined spatial, administrative and extractivist processes which extend back into history. As such, it suggests a new systematic approach for the study of local government institutions, histories of the state in rural areas, and studies of the state more broadly.
A study of Saemaul Undong in South Korea: Making self, memory and development
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Jeong, Da Un; Roy, Srila
Saemaul Undong (New Village Movement) was South Korea’s state-led rural development project, launched in 1970, under Park Chung Hee’s authoritarian regime. Studies of Saemaul Undong have been deeply polarised, especially along ideological lines, either praising the movement for empowering rural communities, or dismissing it as a tool of political propaganda. While Saemaul Undong has received global attention as a development model in the last two decades, the literature on Saemaul is still limited to judging its success or failure alone. Drawing on a Foucauldian analytic of governmentality and memory-work method, this thesis reveals how Saemaul Undong was not simply imposed by the South Korean state, but also embraced and implemented by rural communities. Taking a triangulated approach of complementing an analysis of state archive materials with participants’ life histories and cultural repertoires of the media, this study explores the experiences, memories and emotions of rural villagers in their engagement with Saemaul Undong and its ‘technologies of the self’. It finds that Saemaul Undong, using visual guidelines and discourses of nation building and ideal citizenship, created a space for the constitution of new types of selves and new ways of relating to the selves, in the long shadow of war, famine and colonialism. This thesis contributes to the fields of development, social movements and state-building in the global South by revealing how power and governance in state-led development projects are played out at the micro level of the self.
A study of the psychometric properties of the Personality and Values Questionnaire in a sample of the South African Population
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024-03) Clack, Crystal; Laher, Sumaya
Personality assessment plays a crucial role in various domains in South Africa. Both personality traits and values dimensions have been shown to be reliable predictors of performance and behaviour. Research on personality in South Africa is lacking, as is research on values. Assessment use in South Africa is governed by legislation, requiring evidence of reliability, validity, fairness, and a lack of bias. Most objective, self-report personality assessments are based on the Five Factor Model (FFM), which is widely accepted in personality as being universal. However, evidence on personality in South Africa suggests that there are additional elements to these factors. This study explored the applicability of the Personality and Values Questionnaire (PVQ) for use in the South African context. This was done by investigating internal consistency reliability, construct validity, and aspects of construct bias as they pertain to the potential for adverse impact. A non probability convenience sample of 288 participants completed the PVQ. The study took the form of a non-experimental, cross-sectional design. From the results, it was evident that the scales of the PVQ demonstrated adequate internal consistency reliability. In assessing construct validity, the five factor structure replicated similarly with regards to the Extraversion and Neuroticism domains, but the domains of Agreeableness, Openness, and Conscientiousness loaded differently to that proposed by the FFM and the test developers and more in line with other research on personality in South Africa. Evidence for construct bias was found. Women were likely to be more considerate of others, and concerned with how they appear to others. Black participants appeared more inclined towards harmony in interpersonal relationships and traditionalism. The differences for the language subgroups were small. The results suggest that the PVQ would have some suitability for use in South Africa depending on the context and sample. More research with larger and more diverse samples is needed.
Adaptation strategies against drought: The case of rain-fed subsistence crop farmers in Mphego village in the Vhembe District of Limpopo province, South Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Ntuli, Nokutenda Chantelle; Mukwedeya, Tatenda
South Africa’s Limpopo province is recognized as one of the drought prone regions of the country. Incessant droughts in Limpopo are compromising agricultural productivity in both the large-scale commercial and smallholder farming sectors. Regardless, smallholder farmers, especially those located in historically marginalized settings (former homeland areas) that experience socio-economic deprivation at the hands of the state, and practice rain-fed subsistence agriculture bear the disproportionate burden of drought. These farmers lack adequate finances, agri-mechanization as well as state support to sufficiently cushion them against drought. Such is the plight of rain-fed subsistence in Mphego village, a former homeland area of the Venda Bantustan now known as Vhembe district. This study contributes to understanding how drought is impacting the practices of rain-fed subsistence crop farmers in the rural community of Mphego. Attention is placed on investigating the ways in which drought intersects with existing politically engineered social and economic constraints experienced by subsistence farmers in Mphego village to exacerbate systemic vulnerabilities. Moreover, it explores the adaptation strategies that are being employed by these subsistence farmers to cope with drought impacts. Qualitative interviews were used to investigate these dynamics, and the data was analysed using the thematic approach. The results obtained from Mphego revealed that drought vulnerabilities experienced by subsistence farmers should be understood in light of other converging state orchestrated socio-economic structures of deprivation in local rural communities that shape outcomes in the smallholder agricultural sector. The state is contributing to the expansion of agri-capitalist practices and its drought relief support is biased towards large-scale commercial farmers at the expense of subsistence livelihoods. Given these circumstances, subsistence farmers in Mphego have been employing their own agency to adapt to drought conditions. The livelihood capitals possessed by the farmers were found to play a significant role in influencing and shaping their choice of adaptation practices.
An analysis of the relationship between HIV-testing and cervical cancer screening uptake among females of reproductive age (15-49 years old) in South Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Madubye, Koketšo Tholo; Wet-Billings, Nicole De
Background: Higher income countries (HIC) have threefold testing coverage over lower to middle income countries (LMIC). Cervical cancer is the 4th most prevalent cancer among females globally, and a key contributor to mortality in Southern Africa. In LMIC, including South Africa, only 9% of the eligible screening cohort had ever undergone cervical cancer screening. This study examined the gap in understanding the relationship between HIV testing behaviours and the uptake of cervical cancer screening. Methods: The study was conducted in South Africa, utilising the 2016 South African Demographic and Health Survey (SADHS), as a secondary data source. The sample size of this study was a weighted (n) distribution of 4,199 females. The study design is cross-sectional, the outcome variable of interest in this study was the uptake of cervical cancer screening and the predictor variable is HIV Testing. The data by SADHS (2016) was analysed through the three phases: univariate, bivariate and multivariate. At the bivariate level, contingency tables were employed, using the Pearson chi-square test of association which examined the strength of crude relationships between cervical cancer screening and the study of independent variables. In addition, a multivariate analysis through the employment of a binary logistic regression as the outcome of the study was categorised with ‘yes’ and ‘no’ binary responses. Results: The findings of this study indicated that 33% of females of reproductive age had ever undergone cervical cancer screening, while 62.5% responded affirmatively to having tested for HIV. Females who tested for HIV displayed a higher propensity to having undergone cervical cancer screening, 37.43% female respondents who tested for HIV had undergone screened for cervical cancer, as opposed to those who didn’t test, which only 10.19 % screened for cervical cancer. Conclusions: 37.43% female respondents who tested for HIV had undergone screened for cervical cancer. Among those who did not test for HIV, 10.19 % screened for cervical cancer. There is still much to be done to improve cervical cancer screening among females, while HIV testing remains high, cervical cancer screening is alarmingly low. The 2017 Cervical Cancer Prevention and Control Policy functions as a mediating apparatus, additional supplementations targeting females below the age of 30 remain a necessity
An ethnographic study of outside-circularity and deconstructive creation from the waste reuse practices of the urban waste precariat
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Reyneke, Pierre
The study consists of an ethnographic inquiry into the waste reuse practices performed by the urban waste precariat on the landfill and streets of Pretoria East, City of Tshwane. I analyse the contribution of this social grouping to the urban circular economy and environment by conceptualising of these waste reuse practices as value-production processes not rooted in capitalism, practised outside of state and formal market recognition and support. I term these forms of existing circularity “outside-circularity” and identify an alternative value-production process termed “deconstructive creation”. The deconstructive creation process produces life from capitalist ruins, an alternative form of value to capitalism. This form of value draws on new formations of kinship and exchanges in a subsidiary and care economy, and functions on principles of everyday communism. Life from the capitalist ruins finds expression in two ways. Firstly, urban life that is more than mere material sustenance is produced, and a form of social solidarity as new kinship formations develop between Zimbabwean migrants in the City of Tshwane. Secondly, urban space is produced in the form of street craft markets and garden beautification to transform the suburban aesthetic. I problematise portrayals of waste reclaimers as an undifferentiated group exclusively performing reclaiming and recycling of paper and packaging materials. For this I develop and apply the social categorisation ‘urban waste precariat’, to move beyond the term ‘reclaimer’ with its singular focus on paper and packaging recycling. The term urban waste precariat incapsulates both recycling and reuse practitioners and hereby, I portray the complexity of the urban waste economy to include waste reuse practices, a cluster of waste work excluded from the literature in South Africa, thus far. Methodologically, I identify points of transition that are seminal to the circularity of the practices seen as meshwork. These points are discard, salvage, disassembly, transformation, exchange, and use. In addition, I trace circuits of material flow, both human and nonhuman, to portray the meshwork that entangles to form waste reuse practices. Through critical ethnography and by viewing waste reuse practices through the concept of skill, I show how space is relationally produced by tracing the socio-spatial history of traditional craft making skill development. The ethnographic data illustrate how this skill is employed in waste reuse practices, from artist hubs in Zimbabwe (Mbare and Chitungwisa) to its emergence through migration in Pretoria East’s informal iii street markets and suburban gardens. The study thus argues for the potential of sustainability and circularity to emerge from such skilled waste reuse practices of deconstructive creation.
An Evaluation of Democratization Processes in West Africa: A Comparative Analysis of Nigeria’s and Ghana’s Democratic Governance
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Nevobasi, Aletta Adaaku
Since 2022, the robustness and endurance of democracy in Africa have been subject to debate due to the rise in military coup d'états in sub-Saharan Africa. The rise of military takeover highlights the possible democratic regression on the continent. Therefore, it is imperative to examine the level of consolidation of democracy on the continent. This research study aims to evaluate the strength and quality of democratic governance in Africa by comparing Nigeria and Ghana. By utilizing the Democracy Index devised by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), this analysis evaluated the internal dynamics of both nations to determine their operationality or non- operationality. The five categories are used to assess the state of democracy in each country. To achieve this, the analysis relied on the five categories utilized by the EIU index to evaluate the state of democracy. The categories are 1. Electoral processes and pluralism 2. Functioning of government 3. Political participation 4. Civil liberties and 5. Political culture. The EIU Index offers a comprehensive evaluation of democracy through the inclusion of objective and subjective indicators. These variables were selected for this research as they best provide a comprehensive framework of the key components of a democratic system. In the category of electoral processes and pluralism, this report will compare the 2019 presidential elections in Nigeria to the 2020 presidential elections in Ghana. Regarding civil liberties, this report compared the perception of civil liberties in relation to ethnicity. Additionally, the report compared the pervasiveness of corruption in both Nigeria and Ghana, in the years 2019 and 2022 in the category functioning of government. In terms of political participation, the report will assess the involvement of women in parliament and politics since both nations formally restored democracy (Nigeria in 1999 and Ghana in 1992). Lastly, the report examined militarism in Nigeria and neo-patrimonialism in Ghana within the category of political culture. In conjunction with the presented case studies, this research report incorporated public opinions to further analyze the quality of democracy. It specifically compared social variations in the practice and perception of democracy. The report concludes by emphasizing the significance of leadership in advancing democracy, asserting that leadership challenges in Nigeria and Ghana contribute to hindered consolidation. Consequently, the report advocates for a reimagining of leadership, with a particular focus on the concept of thought leadership, thought liberation, and critical consciousness as three pivotal elements for advancing democracy.
Appreciative Inquiry in the Context of Student Wellbeing
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024-02) Bondi, Cheryl; Milner, Karen
This study investigated the value of an Appreciative Inquiry intervention for enhancing the wellbeing of a sample of 46 first-year psychology students at a higher education institution. This is particularly important considering first-year students’ experience high levels of anxiety caused by this major transitionary phase which impacts their academic performance and overall wellbeing. Wellbeing was defined according to Seligman’s (2011) PERMA framework, including the elements of positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishment. The investigation followed a mixed-methods approach by considering three distinct angles. Firstly, it considered students’ positive-orientated wellbeing perspectives and the promotion of their wellbeing at university. To achieve this, workshops were conducted, following the methodology of the first three phases of Appreciative Inquiry (Discover, Dream, Design). The workshops generated six overarching themes, which corroborate with previous research, namely: lecturers; small learning environments; support; identity and belonging; aesthetics; and personal growth. Secondly, it analysed students’ experiences of an Appreciative Inquiry workshop and their perspectives of the utility of the methodology. Students completed Appreciative Inquiry Assessment Questionnaires, immediately after attending the workshops. These questionnaires were analysed according to four key topics: students’ reflections of Appreciative Inquiry; students’ reflections of the value of positivity; whether and how Appreciative Inquiry inspired them; whether students would consider using the Appreciative Inquiry methodology in the future and in what context. Thirdly, it determined if an Appreciative Inquiry intervention can be considered a positive psychological intervention (PPI). Students completed the Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE) before and immediately after the workshop to test the hypothesis that students would experience an increase in positive emotions. Results from the paired-samples t-test indicated a statistically significant mean increase (µ = 5.18, t(43) = -6.384, p < .001), and a large effect size (d= -.962). These results support the hypothesis, however, considering the design limitations, they do not indicate causality. Future research, with a more rigorous design approach, is required. Overall, the research suggests the positive value of Appreciative Inquiry in enhancing student wellbeing, even in contexts of high levels of stress. Additionally, it underscores the value of following a recognised wellbeing framework, such as PERMA, in this regard
Assessing how an alternative waste management system may facilitate subaltern and environmental justice: a thematic analysis of a zero waste pilot case study in South Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Van Biljon (née Swart), Johanna Yvonne (Jani)
Waste is socio-political – a symbol of our economic and consumerist society. Since the Industrial Revolution, our manufacturing processes and materialist lifestyles produced more hazardous and nondegradable externalities than we were prepared to deal with. With environmental and consumer pressure building, we are at a crossroads between continuing with business-as-usual and justly transitioning over to a systemically different, zero waste society where the focus on waste management shifts to waste prevention so that, like Karl Marx, it challenges and eventually changes production processes, ownership, consumption, and ultimately, our connection with the natural environment and each other. South Africa’s waste landscape is characterised by two things: its reliance on landfills and the thousands of informal waste pickers reclaiming the value of discarded goods. So, what could a zero waste system that is just toward the environment and the subaltern look like in South Africa? In exploring this question, I considered the work of waste pickers, as well as the case of an urban composting initiative for an inner-city market supporting the zero waste philosophy. Synthesising these, I imagine a gradual, deep bottom-up transformation in attitude, behaviour and eventually infrastructure with regard to our relationship with the environment, ownership and use, as well as the revaluation of the material and therefore waste ‘management’. The role and insights of waste pickers and local, informal economies will be crucial and influential. Though South African waste pickers do not yet participate in the organic waste stream on a noticeable scale, the prioritisation of composting by the Warwick Zero Waste project and the National Waste Management Strategy sees the recovery and local, low-tech, low-cost composting of organic waste as a vital starting point in establishing a more regenerative food and waste system that will build solid
Association between perinatal behaviors and hypertensive disorders among pregnant and postpartum women in Southern Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Mhlanga, Lesley; Wet-Billings, Nicole De
Background: Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy (HDP) are among the primary causes of maternal and newborn infant deaths and morbidity globally. It affects between 5 to 10% of pregnancies, and 14% of pregnant women worldwide die due to HDP related complications. There are several known HDP risk factors, both those that can be changed and those that cannot. However, there are conflicting reports on the impacts of dietary and behavioral habits on HDP. As a result, the role of perinatal behaviors on HDP outcomes remains unclear. Objective: This study aims to determine the prevalence of HDP and examine the association between perinatal behaviors and HDP among pregnant and postpartum women in three Southern African countries (South Africa, Namibia, and Lesotho). Methodology: This investigation employed a cross-sectional study design utilizing secondary data from the most recent population-based DHS programs for South Africa (2016), Lesotho (2014), and Namibia (2013). The study population comprised 1273 pregnant and postpartum women with complete blood pressure measurements. Chi-square statistical tests were conducted to describe the prevalence of HDP. Adjusted and unadjusted binary logistic regression analyses assessed the relationship between perinatal behaviors and HDP. Stata statistical software (v.14) was used for data management and analysis. Results: Of the 1273 participants enrolled in the study, about 221 (17.36%) HDP cases were identified, while the majority, 1052 (82.6%), had no HDP in all three Southern African countries. The prevalence of HDP was higher in Namibia (23.78%) and South Africa (23.75%) than Lesotho (11.54%). After accounting for confounders, only iron supplement intake, was confirmed to be a significant predictor of HDP. Iron supplement intake increased the odds of HDP by three fold among study participants (AOR: 2.99; CI: 2.00 to 3.72; p < 0.05). Conclusion This study concluded that of the five main predictor variables analyzed in this study, routine iron supplementation was the only significant predictor of HDP among pregnant and postpartum women in these three Southern African countries. HDP prevalence was notably higher in these three countries compared to global and regional estimates, with Namibia and South Africa showing higher rates than Lesotho, despite their upper middle-income status
Azibuye Emasisweni: Exploring Everyday Notions of Zulu Nationalism Through the Women in the Hostels of Alexandra Township
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Makhathini, Sinqobile; Mngomezulu, Nosipho
This thesis explores the lives of four women who ethnically identify as Zulu within the hostels of Alexandra. Hostels, which refer to the housing compounds that were established as ethnically segregated and gender-distinguished spheres for the colonial migrant labour system, have become an essential axis for Zulu nationalist revival away from Kwa-Zulu Natal. Through participant observation and semi-structured interviews, I examine how Mam’Dlamini (57 years), the Nduna of Madala hostel and three hostel residents: Nokukhanya (23years), Mam’Nzama (55 years), Nokwazi (21 years), engage and shape forms of Zulu nationalism within their everyday life. I further engaged in autoethnography, whereby I positioned myself as the fifth participant, undertaking self-reflexivity about my identification as a Zulu woman. My work is invested in ukuzwa ngenkaba, listening with the umbilical cord, which is to say, centring African epistemologies in the ways we research (Mkhize 2023). In this way, I think through Fox and Miller-Idriss’ (2008) four modalities of everyday nationhood (talking, choosing, consuming and performing the nation) within Zulu conceptual frames. In my research, I found that in “talking the nation'' women used ulimi and ukuncelisa both literally and figuratively to signal membership and centre the role of mothers in shaping Zulu subjectivity. The framing of choices as national is understood by participants as more than individual articulations of personal agency but importantly incorporates inherited traditions. Ordinary people are not simply uncritical consumers of the nation; they are simultaneously its creative producers through everyday acts of consumption (Fox et al 2008, 505). My research shows how rituals become fertile sites for enacting Zulu personhood through specific forms of consumption and production. Performing the nation was evidenced through the women’s embodied expressions of inhlonipho. These themes have allowed for the understanding of how women do not remain hidden within notions of co-constituting but rather preserve this order from and beyond their matriarchal hold of the hostel.
Blindsided, othered, losing, coping: Experiences of syndemics among Nigerian-born migrant women in Johannesburg, South Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-07) Oyenubi, Adetola; de Gruchy, Thea; Vearey, Jo
Background and rationale - Migrants in South Africa frequently face complex challenges that negatively affect their mental and physical health. Current literature has mostly focused on identifying these health conditions with little attention paid to the socioeconomic factors that exacerbate the overall well-being of these migrants. To fill this gap, this study explores the health experiences of migrant women in Johannesburg through the lenses of social determinants of health, othering, and coping strategies. Method - The syndemic framework serves as the foundation for this qualitative study, which examines migrant women's lived experiences and how they interpret their health in the context of the stressors they experience in the city. Data from twenty-one Nigerian-born migrant women were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings - Participants' lived experiences represent syndemic suffering, which Mendenhall describes as experiences of poor health that are due to non-biological factors. These complexities include being blindsided by high expectations of a better life in Johannesburg versus sentiments of disappointment with reality, as well as the pressures of being othered in a new society. All of this has resulted in participants losing their health owing to an array of mental health issues and chronic diseases they suffer from. In the midst of their hardships, these women have discovered ways to cope through social support, religion, mobile technology, and self-care. Conclusion - This study contributes to the literature and praxis on social determinants of migrant health, othering, and the syndemic frameworks by providing insight through the findings of this study. By identifying and exploring syndemics among migrant communities in urban Johannesburg, we can explore how syndemic suffering for migrant women shares commonalities with, but also diverges from, that experienced by South African women.
Caste and Colourism: Constructions of beauty among women in the historically Indian area of Chatsworth, Durban
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Moodley, Paalini Jasanthini; Mngomezulu, Nosipho
This research study has set out to uncover the silences surrounding caste and colourism, and the influence of this on constructions of beauty standards among women in the Chatsworth Indian community. My fieldwork consisted of participant observations and interviews over the course of four weeks at a beauty parlour in Chatsworth, with a predominantly Indian women clientele. There were six participants in this study who consisted of the owner of the beauty parlour, Sandhya, the nail technicians, Mahati and Nidhi, the threaders, Yukti and Kalyani, and the hairdresser, Lavana. Throughout the chapters within this study, I argue that despite the language of caste rarely spoken, it exists as a reconfigured caste system determined by culture and colour, significantly influencing women’s perceptions of beauty. Moreover, certain standards of beauty that favour lighter skin tones as a result of systemic prejudice, influence women to partake in beauty treatments that feed into this ideal. Lastly, women’s choices in certain treatments are severely influenced by their desire to please a man, impress a mother-in-law, flaunt social status to family through a lighter skin tone, and fit an ideal standard of beauty. In theorising beauty, I draw on feminist and postcolonial perspectives, contextualising beauty within historical, socio-cultural, socio-economic, and socio-political dimensions. I use Hauntology as a framework in unmasking the recursive force of caste which consumes women’s everyday lives, dictating marriage criterion, popularity, status, affluence, and beauty standards
Changing Patterns of violence in the Western Sahel
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Krienke, Hannah
This dissertation investigates how changing patterns of violence in Mali and Burkina Faso have resulted in the formation of alternative government systems by jihadist groups and community militias. By analysing the interactions between these non -state actors, state institutions, and foreign intermediaries, the study highlights the significant impacts of socioeconomic problems, corruption, ethnic and religious tensions, and climate change, which have given rise to space where power and control of the state is contested. In Mali, violence erupted in 2012 with an insurgent movement that was exacerbated by subsequent coups and political crises, eroding state authority and supporting the growth of multiple armed groups most notably via jihadist insurgency. Violence in Burkina Faso began to grow in 2015, and it was exacerbated with the 2022 coup, which altered the dynamics of domestic and foreign alliances, including the Russian Wagner Group's involvement. Both countries are currently governed by the military, although in both cases the military has struggled to calm violence. The frequency of attacks increasing drastically between 2015 and 2024. Therefore, the dynamics of violence in both countries are examined in relation to the restructuring of local and state interactions and the emergence of new forms of governance. This involves drawing on theories such as Mary Kaldor's t "new wars," who emphasises the relationship between identity politics and armed conflict. Through a comparative examination, the study reveals parallels as well as differences in the ways that violence has impacted state formation and impacted Sahelian populations in Mali and Burkina Faso.