Dissertations / Theses: 'Africa, West – Social life and customs'

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Anthonie, Alexa N. "Profiling bilingualism in an historically Afrikaans community on the Beaufort West Hooyvlakte." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/2678.

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Thesis (MA (General Linguistics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. ENGLISH SUMMARY: This sociolinguistic study examines selected aspects of the linguistic behavior of a rural language community in South Africa. The general aims are to establish first, whether this "coloured" community in the historically Afrikaans town of Beaufort West is still predominantly Afrikaans, second, whether there is evidence of language shift in the community, specifically following more use of English in other formerly Afrikaans communities after the change of government in 1994, and third, what the nature of such language shift may be. An overview of pertinent aspects of the social and political history of South Africa generally and of Beaufort West specifically, is presented in order to contextualise the language dispensation – past and present – addressed in this study. History reveals that the town in question was first named Hooyvlakte and only later acquired the name of Beaufort West. Hooyvlakte is currently the name of one of the suburbs in which a section of Beaufort West's "coloured" community resides. For the purpose of this study the larger Beaufort West community which is in focus here, is also referred to as the Hooyvlakte community The study is mainly of a qualitative nature. The respondents were 184 members of the Hooyvlakte community, they included individuals of both genders and were aged between 16 and 87 years. The only requirement for participation in this study was that the respondent should have been a Beaufort West resident for at least 15 years. Each respondent completed a questionnaire from which his/her language proficiency, language use and language preference could be assessed. The questionnaire also allowed respondents an opportunity to express their opinion on the value and practice of multilingualism in their community. The results of this study indicate that the Hooyvlakte community remains predominantly Afrikaans. There is, however, an increase in the knowledge and use of English, and despite possible limits in actual English proficiency, the residents in the Hooyvlakte mostly view themselves as balanced Afrikaans-English bilinguals. This view is related to the gradual change in linguistic identity, from an almost exclusively (often stigmatized) Afrikaans identity to a (mostly proud) Afrikaans-English bilingual one. The stigmatized "coloured" and Afrikaans identities appear to be products of South Africa's sociopolitical history of ethnic and cultural categorisation and segregation. Stigma, on the one hand, and exclusion, on the other, have led to a desire in the Hooyvlakte community to associate with a language other than Afrikaans as well. This shift to an Afrikaans-English bilingual identity contrasts with the shift from predominantly Afrikaans monolingualism to virtual monolingualism in English found in other Coloured communities studied in the Western Cape's and Eastern Cape's metropoles (see Anthonissen and George 2003; Farmer 2009; Fortuin 2009). AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie sosiolinguistiese studie ondersoek geselekteerde aspekte van die talige gedrag van 'n landelike taalgemeenskap in Suid Afrika. Die algemene doelstellings van die studie is eerstens, om vas te stel of die "bruin" gemeenskap in die histories Afrikaanse dorp Beaufort- Wes steeds hoofsaaklik Afrikaans is, tweedens, of daar aanduidings is van taalverskuiwing, spesifiek een wat neig na 'n toenemende gebruik van Engels, soos gevind is in ander histories Afrikaanse gemeenskappe na die regeringsverandering in1994, en derdens, wat die aard van so 'n taalverskuiwing sou wees. 'n Oorsig word gegee oor beduidende aspekte van die sosiale en politieke geskiedenis van Suid-Afrika in die algemeen, en meer spesifiek van Beaufort-Wes, om die huidige en voormalige taalsituasie soos dit in hierdie studie aan die orde kom, te kontekstualiseer. Geskiedkundige verslae wys daarop dat die dorp eers die naam Hooyvlakte gehad het voor dit verander is na Beaufort-Wes. Hooyvlakte is tans die naam van een van die dorp se woonbuurte waar 'n gedeelte van Beaufort-Wes se "bruin" gemeenskap woonagtig is. In hierdie studie benoem "Hooyvlakte" die "bruin" gemeenskap van die hele dorp. Dit is in húlle wat hierdie tesis geïnteresseerd is. Die studie is hoofsaaklik kwalitatief van aard. Die respondente was 184 lede van die Hooyvlakte gemeenskap, en deelnemers het individue van beide geslagte tussen die ouderdomme van 16 en 87 jaar ingesluit. Die enigste vereiste vir deelname aan die studie was dat informante reeds 15 jaar in Beaufort-Wes woonagtig moes wees. Elke informant het 'n vraelys voltooi op grond waarvan sy/haar taalvaardigheid, taalgebruik en taalvoorkeur vasgestel kon word. Die vraelys het ook die informante geleentheid gegee om hul mening te lug oor die waarde en gebruik van veeltaligheid in hul gemeenskap. Die bevindinge van die studie toon aan dat die Hooyvlakte gemeenskap steeds hoofsaaklik Afrikaans is. Daar is egter 'n toename in hul kennis en gebruik van Engels, en ten spyte van moontlike beperkinge in hul Engelse taalvaardigheid wat formele toetse sou kon uitwys, beskou deelnemers hulself steeds as gebalanseerde tweetalige sprekers van Afrikaans en Engels. Hierdie siening hou verband met 'n verskuiwing in talige identiteit, van 'n oorwegend eksklusiewe (meestal gestigmatiseerde) Afrikaanse identiteit na 'n (grootliks trotse) Afrikaans en Engels tweetalige identiteit. Die gestigmatiseerde Bruin en Afrikaanse identiteite blyk neweprodukte te wees van die (etniese en kulturele) klassifiseringsgebruike uit die vorige Suid-Afrikaanse sosio-politiese bestel. Stigma, enersyds, en uitsluiting, andersyds, het 'n begeerte in die Hooyvlakte gemeenskap laat ontstaan, om te assosieer met 'n ander taal benewens Afrikaans. Hierdie verskuiwing na 'n tweetalige Afrikaans-Engelse identiteit kontrasteer met die verskuiwing van hoofsaaklik Afrikaanse taalidentiteit na feitlik uitsluitlik eentalig Engelse identiteit, wat onlangs in "bruin" gemeenskappe elders waargeneem en opgeteken is (vgl. Anthonissen en George 2003; Farmer 2009; Fortuin 2009).

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Ndiaye, Malick. "The impact of health beliefs and culture on health literacy and treatment of diabetes among French speaking West African immigrants." Thesis, Connect to resource online, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1805/2050.

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Thesis (M.A.)--Indiana University, 2009. Title from screen (viewed on February 1, 2010). Department of English, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Advisor(s): Ulla M. Connor, Frank M. Smith, Honnor Orlando. Includes vitae. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 138-139).

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Gomes, Shelene. "The social reproduction of Jamaica Safar in Shashamane, Ethiopia." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/2548.

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Since the 1950s, men and women, mainly Rastafari from the West Indies, have moved as repatriates to Shashamane, Ethiopia. This is a spiritually and ideologically oriented journey to the promised land of Ethiopia (Africa) and to the land granted by His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I. Although migration across regions of the global south is less common than migration from the global south to north, this move is even more distinct because it is not primarily motivated by economic concerns. This thesis - the first in-depth ethnographic study of the repatriate population - focuses on the conceptual and pragmatic ways in which repatriates and their Ethiopian-born children “rehome” this area of Shashamane that is now called Jamaica Safar (or village in the Amharic language). There is a simultaneous Rasta identification of themselves as Ethiopians and as His Majesty’s people, which is often contested in legal and civic spheres, with a West Indian social inscription of Shashamane. These dynamics have emerged from a Rastafari re-invention of personhood that was fostered in West Indian Creole society. These ideas converge in a central concern with the inalienability of the land grant that is shared by repatriates, their children and Rastafari outside Ethiopia as well. Accordingly, the repatriate population of Shashamane becomes the centre of international social and economic networks. The children born on this land thus demonstrate the success of their parents’ repatriation. They are the ones who will ensure the Rastafari presence there in perpetuity.

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Edwards, Ian, and Ian Edwards. "The Social Life of Wild-Things: Negotiated Wildlife in Mali, West Africa." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/12540.

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Two markets located in Bamako, Mali, West Africa specialize in the commodification of wildlife, and in so doing contest western-centric notions of globalization. Founded in traditional medicine, the Marabagaw Yoro sells wildlife to serve the needs of the local community, while the Artisana, a state sponsored institution, manufactures fashion accoutrements from wildlife and is oriented towards meeting the demands of tourists. Actors in both markets effectively curb the impact of national and international forces and demonstrate the necessity of putting local-global relations at the heart of transnational studies. Malians are not weak and reactive, but potent and proactive. They become so by engaging in networks that move out from the two markets and that intersect to a degree. Through these networks, local actors negotiate and/or manipulate national and international forces for personal benefit for example, using wildlife for profit, despite national and international sanctions. As such, these markets are sites of articulation, where local resource users engage the world at large and actively negotiate a myriad of values as well as mediate political and economic pressures. Investigating these networks helps us understand the actual, empirical complexities of globalization while allowing for the agency of local actors. Supplemental File: Wild Species of the APT and their Conservation Status This file is an Excel spreadsheet of all wild species recorded in association with the Animal Parts Trade (APT) of Mali. It includes the following classes of vertebrates: Pisces, Aves, Reptilia, and Mammalia, as well as provides their conservation status and additional details.

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Howard, Nancy Jill. "Reinterpreting the influence of domestic ideology on women and their families during westward migration." Virtual Press, 1992. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/834147.

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The purpose of this study is to reinterpret the influence of domestic ideology on middle-class Anglo women during westward migration using the Oregon Trail as a case study. By analyzing traditional cultural constructs which portrayed women as "reluctant drudges" or " stoic helpmates," a new paradigm for trail women emerged. The inculcated tenets of domesticity, comprised of a domestic routine and a values system, seemed to have equipped women with domestically-related role identities, and thus facilitated the accommodation of these women to the challenges of trail life. In addition, this ideology served as the basis for establishing relationships with Native American women, for Anglo women recognized similaritiesbetween the domestic routine of Native Americans and themselves. Finally, shared domestic chores and values enabled Anglo women to develop non-competitive, mutually beneficial relationships with each other, in contrast to the often competitive nature of interaction between men. Department of History

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McAllister, P. A. "Xhosa beer drinks and their oratory." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012863.

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This is a study of 'beer drinks' among Xhosa people living in the Shixini administrative area of Willowvale district, Transkei. Beer drinks are defined as a 'polythetic' class of events distinguishable from other kinds of ceremonies and rituals at which beer may be consumed, and an attempt is made to outline their major characteristics. A detailed description of the way in which beer drinks are conducted is provided in Chapter 3, with emphasis on the symbolism involved in the allocation of beer, space and time, and on the speech events (including formal oratory) that occur. The main theoretical argument is that beer drinks may be regarded as 'cultural performances' in which social reality or 'practice' is dramatised and reflected upon, enabling people to infuse their experience with meaning and to establish guidelines for future action. This is achieved by relating social practice to cultural norms and values, in a dynamic rather than a static manner. It is demonstrated that the symbolism involved in beer drinking is highly sensitive to the real world and adjusts accordingly, which means that 'culture' is continually being reinterpreted. Despite poverty, a degree of landlessness and heavy reliance on migrant labour, Shixini people maintain an ideal of rural selfsufficiency and are able to partly fulfill this ideal, thereby maintaining a degree of independence and resistance to full incorporation into the wider political economy of southern Africa. They achieve this largely by maintaining a strong sense of community and of household interdependence, linked to a sense of Xhosa tradition. It is this aspect of social practice, manifested in a variety of forms - work parties, ploughing companies, rites of passage, and so on - that is dramatised, reflected upon and reinforced at beer drinks. In a definite sense then, beer drinks may be regarded as a response and a way of adapting to apartheid, and this study one of a community under threat.

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Mbewe, Mpho. "‘Ubhuti wami’: a qualitative secondary analysis of brothering among isiXhosa men." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013149.

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This project is interested in investigating the construction of the fraternal sibling relationshipwithin the South African context from a narrative perspective. In particular, this study is interested in the ways in which middle aged isiXhosa men narrate experiences of brothering and how social class, as one particular context, mediates these narratives. This project is particularly interested in brothering within the isiXhosa culture and is concerned with both middle class and working class men within this cultural context. The project takes as its particular focus the meaning of brothering, and specifically how masculinity, intimacy and money or class influence the brothering practices constructed by the men in the sample. The project employs a social constructionist perspective, using a thematic narrative analysis to analyse the data. This project uses secondary analysis of data, as the data was collected for the primary use by Jackson (2009), Peirce (2009), Saville Young (Saville Young & Jackson, 2011) and Stonier (2010). The analysis reflects emergent themes of the importance of fraternal sacrifice, care-taking and sibling responsibility, honouring the family, and challenge to traditional masculinity. These themes emerged within the prior themes of masculinity, intimacy and class within brothering. The men spoke of keeping the family prosperous and united as an important duty in their brothering role. Affection was expressed more practically and symbolically, and closeness constructed through shared experiences, proximity and similarities. My findings reflect that family expectations, culture and social context had key influences on brothering, based on the men's narratives. Findings are discussed in relation to literature on brothering, masculinity and intimacy, and the influence of money in close relationships.

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Husni, Rahiem Maila Dinia. "Learning from the west : sexuality education in taboo Javanese society." Thesis, McGill University, 2004. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=81497.

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In this thesis I examine the issues of sex education in Western and Javanese society using a conceptual-comparative approach. My main goal is to highlight the importance of sex education for young people in Javanese society. Research foci and discoveries include: how the notions of conservatism with regards to sexuality are rooted in Javanese culture and social values; the definitions, history, components, methods and principles of Western sex education (particularly Canadian); the measures of success for sex education programs in the West; and to what extent Western sex education can be applied to Javanese society. In the final chapter I offer recommendations for Javanese educational authorities on the need to create a new terminology of sex education.

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Philogene, Heron Adom. "Fathermen : predicaments in fatherhood, masculinity and the kinship lifecourse, Dominica, West Indies." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/10999.

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Fathermen is an ethnographic journey in the kinship lives of men on the island of Dominica, West Indies. It traces the various complexities, conundra and contradictions Dominican men encounter and create as they navigate relational life trajectories. These are termed kinship predicaments: moments in kin-lives that trouble hegemonic concepts of fatherhood and masculine personhood; that spark ambivalence between dominant ideals and lived experiences; that provoke quarrels between mothers' expectations and fathers' practices; and expose incongruities between established norms and emerging forms. Seeking to transcend the historical and contemporary circumscriptions that stereotype Caribbean fathers as absent studs or patriarchal authoritarians, this enquiry asks how Dominican men chart their own paths of paternal becoming. Developing an intuitive participatory methodology, referred to as the ethnography of relation, Fathermen commutes into the kin-worlds of Caribbean men, seeking to understand fatherhood through deep dialogue as it is built from the ground up. Organising its chapters around local idioms through which Dominicans frame kinship, Fathermen features discussions on: the romantic and conjugal tensions that precede/inform parenting; the ‘mystic' bodily affects that draw men into reproduction; the vexed norm of paternal provision; Caribbean fathers' emergent nurturant practices; the classed politics of paternal recognition; and, finally, men's ambivalent intergenerational experiences of becoming grandfathers. Fathermen argues that it often takes a lifetime to realise fatherhood, with many Dominican men unable to resolve its many paradoxes within their mortal spans. Whilst it contends that men are ‘tied' tighter into kin-life as they grow along their paternal journeys, ambivalences persist. Yet still, amidst angst and complexity, Fathermen is nonetheless an ethnography of love, dedication, familial vitality, creativity and humour.

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McDonald, Shirley Ann. "The Sheppard journals, British cowboys in the Canadian west." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2001. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp05/MQ65043.pdf.

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Mkhize, Sibongiseni. "“There are certain things that I just know that I have to do because we are brothers”: a discourse analysis of young black men’s engagement with popular representations of brotherhood." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013212.

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The present study analyses the discourses that young black South African men employed when they engaged with popular representations of brotherhood in the media. In particular the study explores how these particular young men view masculinity within brothering and what the implications of ‘doing brothering’ are as a result of this view. Drawing on discursive psychology, the study is located in a social constructionist theoretical framework and uses a qualitative methodological approach. The data used in the discourse analysis was gathered through focus group discussion of scenes from the television show Generations. The discourse analysis produced two major discourses in which there were different constructions of masculinity each influencing the way in which brothering was done. The first discourse constructed a ‘dutiful man’ who performs his brotherly obligations separately from his emotions, this discourse is in line with discourses of hegemonic masculinity where men are expected to fulfil obligations and are not expected to be emotional. Resisting this discourse at times, some participants in this study did occasionally construct men as having rich emotional lives such that the quality of interaction with brothers is constructed as more important, in terms of building intimate fraternal relationships, than the amount of interaction with them. The second major discourse constructs the ‘ideal man’ in two different ways: as the ‘good man’ and the ‘unscrupulous man’. The ‘good man’, like the ‘dutiful man’ performs the obligations society has placed on him, but does not receive the social esteem that is given to the ‘unscrupulous man’, who is successful and financially powerful. Although both these types of men are spoken of as possessing masculinity, the ‘good man’ is constructed as holding onto a type of masculinity that does not have a place in contemporary society. The findings suggest that brothering informs the way in which men take up certain masculine positions. The study contributes to our understanding of the construction of gender identity within familial relationships, specifically the adult brother-brother relationship.

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Toll, Larry A. "The military community on the western frontier, 1866-1898." Virtual Press, 1990. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/720166.

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Army posts in the Trans-Mississippi West from 1866 to 1898 were more like small towns than forts. Military posts provided their inhabitants with urban services, and possessed a social structure that was a microcosm of nineteenth-century American society, complete with a ruling middle class, and a lower working class. The officer class constituted the ruling middle class of garrison society, while the enlisted men comprised the lower class. This study will show that the social structure of the western military garrisons, based on a military caste system, dominated the daily lives of the inhabitants, both military and civilian.While frontier service and the dangers of combat may have lessened the social division between officers and soldiers in the field, this distinction was maintained while at the posts. Officers dined, lived, and attended social functions separately from the enlisted men. This social division also applied to the civilian members of the garrison community. Prominent civilians such as ranchers and prosperous business people associated with the officer class, while less prominent civilians were identified with the enlisted class. Department of History

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May, Ester Ruby. "Virginity testing: towards outlawing the cultural practical practice that violates our daughters." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2003. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&amp.

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MacDonald, Diane. "The cultural construction of an island identity : an ethnographic study of an inner Hebridean island on the west coast of Scotland." Thesis, University of Stirling, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/2620.

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The central argument of this thesis is that, for the Gaels of Lismore, their boundaries are not just the physical ones (important though they may be) of living on an island bounded by the sea, but that the boundaries are also symbolic and relate to the recreation and reinforcement of a cultural identity. These can be denoted by a variety of things but, in this thesis, I explore boundaries of History, Oral Tradition, Music, Language, Life-cycle rituals and the ritual boundaries of 'celebrations', both at home and when the Gael moves away from the Highlands. Where possible, several specific historical incidents have been used which have direct relevance and significance for the mental construction of these boundaries for the Gaels in general, and the Gaels of Lismore in particular. One of the aims has been to understand the present, by looking at the past, since the culture of the Gaels has important historical referents for them. Both emic and etic perspectives are considered as far as possible, using two types of perspectives on history, outsider viewpoints and those of the Gaels themselves. The identity of a community is a reality: a community consciousness is reinforced and encompassed by boundaries which can be symbolic. The symbols of community can incorporate many differences successfully, specifically because symbols can be so general. In this way, it is possible for a community to come under one banner despite intense variations in belief and ideals. When community parameters are under threat, perhaps by historical factors which necessitate social cliange as in the case of Lismore, people reinforce these boundaries by turning to symbolic behaviour. Ethnographic examples are used throughout to illustrate these points. An audio tape is supplied to use with the Gaelic extracts. This is to allow the reader to hear the sound of the language and music extracts used in the thesis.

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Van, Heerden Gary Paul. "Holding on or letting go?: the resolution of grief in relation to two Xhosa rituals in South Africa." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016055.

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The dominant emphasis in Western models of bereavement is on the breaking of bonds with the deceased in order for healing to occur. Failure to let go often leads to a diagnosis of 'pathological grief'. This paper challenges the assumption that death invariably means that the bonds with the deceased have to be severed. Situating Western models of bereavement in a modernist context not only challenges the 'truth' claims of these models, but also facilitates a deconstruction of the elements that contribute to the emphasis on letting go. In contrast to these theories, two Xhosa rituals (umkhapho and umbuyiso) that seek to sustain the bond with the deceased person will be examined. Such rituals demonstrate that it is possible to both maintain the bond and for the bereaved person to move on with their lives. Despite different contexts, it will be argued that these Xhosa bereavement rituals have a contribution to make to Western models of bereavement and some implications for therapy will be explored.

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Segooa, Maite Stella. "The role of Chiefs as characters in Matsepe's novels : An appraisal." Thesis, University of Limpopo, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10386/2073.

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Thesis (M.A. (African languages)) --University of Limpopo, 2004. In this research an attempt has been made to assess, evaluate and examine the role of chiefs as characters in Matsepe's novels. The need for this study was found to be necessary because no in-depth study of the role of chiefs in Matsepe's novels has as yet been undertaken. This study demonstrates how Matsepe portrays chiefs as characters in his novels, what their duties are and how they help in developing his themes.

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Dowling, Tessa. "Isihlonipho sabafazi : the Xhosa women's language of respect : a sociolinguistic exploration." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14268.

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Bibliography: leaves 166-172. Isihlonipho Sabafazi (the Xhosa women's language of respect) is a language in which syllables occurring in the names of menfolk are avoided by women. Thie thesis attempts to place the practice in it social context by applying both descriptive and analytical methodologies. The thesis include a literature survey and a critique on the dynamics of gender and language. The results of interviews conducted in three areas, one urban and two rural, are analysed and tabulated. A glossary of substitute words is included.

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Liebenberg, Alida. "Authority, avoidances and marriage: an analysis of the position of Gcaleka women in Qwaninga, Willowvale District, Transkei." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002663.

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Authority as it operates in the daily lives of married women in Gcaleka society is reinforced and maintained by a body of avoidances which women need to observe during their married lives. Avoidances constitute part of the control system in the society whereby wives are being 'kept in their place'. Avoidances do not only restrict her, but also safeguard her position and her interests. Lines of authority emerge through the process of interaction; the structure reveals itself as avoidances are acted out in time and space. This study was conducted in Qwaninga, an administrative area in the coastal area of the Willowvale district, Transkei. The research started out as a study of ritual impurity and the status of women in a traditional, 'red' Gcaleka society. It soon became clear that pollution practices and beliefs associated with women form part of a greater body of avoidances which women need to observe during their married lives. Avoidances entail economic, dietary, sexual, linguistic and spatial prohibitions; as well as restrictions concerning what a woman is supposed to wear, and her withdrawal from social life. These restrictions are enforced through certain ritual and other sanctions. Three forms of avoidances are identified in this study, and are discussed and analysed. Avoidances are found in the everyday male/female division in society; in the ways through which the wife shows respect towards her husband and her in-laws (especially her husband's ancestors); and in the reproductive situations a woman finds herself in from time to time. In many anthropological studies in the past women have often been hidden in the background. This study is an attempt to give women the prominence they should be given, to show that nonwestern women are not as subordinated as people in Western society like to assume. In Gcaleka society the authority structure affecting the position of women is not only based on a distinction being made between males and females. It will be shown that a finer authority structure operates in this society whereby gender as well as age and kinship distinctions are being made. These distinctions constitute a system of classification which is safeguarded and protected by the avoidances and other restrictions imposed on women.

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Solomon, Anne Catherine. "Division of the earth : gender, symbolism and the archaeology of the southern San." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 1989. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/21818.

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Bibliography: pages 180-207. Gender studies in various disciplines, particularly anthropology, have shown that the opposition of masculine : feminine is commonly used to structure other cultural contrasts, and that the representation of this opposition in cultural products is in turn implicated in the cultural construction of gender content. This bidirectional problematic, supplementing the more limited critique of gender 'bias' and masculinist models, is the focus of this research into archaeological materials. Rock art is the principal archaeological 'trace' analysed. Because the impetus to gender studies comes principally from the critical standpoint of feminism, analyses of gender and gendering in archaeological materials are evaluated in the context of gender issues in the present day, in terms of archaeological 'reconstructions' as legitimising the existing gender order. Theoretical influences include feminism, hermeneutics, marxism, (post)- structuralism, semiotics, and discourse theory. Aspects of language, and, particularly, the oral narratives of various San groups - the /Xam, G /wi, !Kung, Nharo, and others - are examined in order to establish the way in which masculinity and femininity are/have been conceptualised and differentiated by San peoples. This is followed by an assessment of the manner of and extent to which the masculine: feminine opposition informs narrative content and structure. The analysis of language texts permits an approach to the representation of this opposition in non-language cultural texts (such as visual art, space). Particular constructions of masculinity and femininity, and a number of gendered contrasts (pertaining to form, orientation, time, number, quality) are identified. Gender symbolism is linked to the themes of rain and fertility/ continuity, and analysed in political terms, according to the feminist materialist contention that, in non-class societies, gender opposition is potentially the impetus to social change. Gender(ing) is more fundamental to San cultural texts than has been, recognised, being present in a range of beliefs which are linked by their gender symbolism. I utilise a 'fertility hypothesis', derived from a reading of the ethnographies, in order to explain various elements of Southern African rock art, Well-preserved (thus relatively recent) paintings, principally from sites in the Drakensberg and south-western Cape, were selected. Features interpreted via this hypothesis include: images of humans, the motif of the thin red line fringed with white dots, 'elephants in boxes', therianthropic figures, and 'androgynous' figures, including the eland. The spatial organisation of the art, the significance of non-realistic perspectives, and the problem of the numerical male dominance of the art are also interpreted from this standpoint. The analysis permits critique, of the theorisation of gender and ideology in rock art studies, and of the biophysical determinism implicit in current rock art studies, in which attempts are made to explain many features of the art by reference to trance states, altered consciousness and neurophysiological constitution. Rain, rather than trance, is proposed as the central element of San ritual/religious practices. Finally, the treatment of (or failure to consider) gender(ing) in the archaeological record is situated in relatio.n to contemporary gender ideologies, in the contexts of archaeological theory and practice.

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Mahwasane, Mutshinyani Mercy. "Tsenguluso ya ndeme ya u thuswa ha nwana nga ndila ya Tshivenda." Thesis, University of Limpopo, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10386/1239.

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Thesis (MA. (African Languages)) -- University of Limpopo, 2012 Ngudo ino yo sengulusa ndeme ya u thusa ṅwana ho sedzwa nḓila ya Tshivenḓa, sa izwi maitele aya a tshi khou ngalangala musalauno. Ngudo iyi yo sumbedza uri u thusiwa hu kha ḓi vha hone naho mathusele a hone o fhambana, sa izwi zwi tshi bva kha thendelano ya muṱa. Ho wanala uri kha muthuso hu shumiswa vhathu vhofhambanaho u fana na vhomaine, vhakegulu, vhafunzi kana ha tou rengwa mishonga ine ya shumiswa kha u thusa ṅwana. Ngudo yo dovha ya sumbedza mvelelo mmbi dza u sa thusa ṅwana na mvelelo mbuya dza u thusa ṅwana.

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Pezisa, Lindiswa. "Ubuntu: linking indigenous values with efforts in building a reconciled South Africa: the case of NMMU." Thesis, Nelson Mandela University, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/14477.

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This thesis investigates the role that African indigenous value systems, Ubuntu in particular, could play in building a reconciled South Africa. In doing so a discourse analysis on Ubuntu is conducted and its potential in facilitating social cohesion in the quest for nation building. Specific focus is drawn on higher education an important task if we are to consider the accusation that higher education like its society, is still undergoing transformation and is under pressure to provide quality education for all people whilst also considering the large numbers of cultures that exist. For much needs to be done in redressing the imbalances caused by the apartheid education system which was organized according to racial lines. In doing so, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University is utilised as a case study with narrative presentations of how students perceive this traditional African value and its applicability to reconciliation in a post conflict society. For seemingly, there is something inherently important about this value in that it has been invoked and referred to in many important instances in South African history.

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Moran, Arik. "Permutations of Rajput identity in the West Himalayas, c. 1790-1840." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2010. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:a5436935-3a87-4702-8b0a-471643633c46.

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The sustained interaction of local elites and British administrators in the West Himalayas over the decades that surrounded the early colonial encounter (c. 1790-1840) saw the emergence of a distinctly new understanding of communal identity among the leaders of the region. This eventful period saw the mountain ('Pahari') kingdoms transform from fragmented, autonomous polities on the fringes of the Indian subcontinent to subjects of indigenous (Nepali, Sikh) and, ultimately, foreign (British) empires, and dramatically altered the ways Pahari leaders chose to remember and represent themselves. Using a wide array of sources from different locales in the hills (e.g., oral epics, archival records and local histories), this thesis traces the Pahari elite's transition from a nebulous group of lineage-based leaders to a cohesive unitary milieu modelled after contemporary interpretations of Hindu kingship. This nascent ideal of kingship is shown to have fed into concurrent understandings of Rajput society in the West Himalayas and ultimately to have sustained the alliance between indigenous rulers and British administrators.

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Du, Preez Petrus. "Ikoon en Medium: die toneelpop, masker en akteurmanipuleerder in Afrika-performances." Thesis, Link to the online version, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10019/620.

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Hanisi, Nosipho. "Nguni fermented foods: working with indigenous knowledge in the Life Sciences: a case study." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008372.

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This study examines learning interactions around indigenous ways of knowing associated with fermented grain foods (the making of umqombothi) and the concept of alcoholic fermentation in the Grade 11 Life Sciences curriculum. As an environmental education study it also investigates the cultural significances of the fermented grain food and how learners might make better lifestyle choices. The inclusion of indigenous ways of knowing in the Life Sciences curriculum (FET band) created spaces and opportunities for the use of both knowledge's in sociocultural context and the structured propositions of the learning area in order to construct knowledge. This stimulated learners' understanding of fermentation and also led to a valuing of social context as well as the cultural capital embedded in the indigenous ways of knowing. The study suggests that parental involvement contributed to this valuing of intergenerational ways of knowing. Learners also deliberated how colonial interpretations of Nguni culture and the religious beliefs of Christians had served to marginalise and foster a widening urban rejection of isiXhosa cultural practices related to fermented foods. In their learning and discussion, learners developed new insights and respect for isiXhosa fermentation practices (ukudidiyela) that bring out the food value and nutrition in the grain. The data illustrates that lesson activity that drew on relevant Learning Outcomes and Assessment Standards to integrate Indigenous Knowledge practices in a Life Sciences learning programme, served to enhance learner understanding of alcoholic fermentation. They also document a revaluing of cultural heritage and learners bringing up the problem of alcohol abuse in the community. Curriculum work with Indigenous Knowledge thus not only assisted learners to grasp the science but to use this alongside a valued cultural knowledge capital to deliberate and act on a local concern.

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Booi, Beauty Ntombizanele. "Three perspectives on ukuthwasa: the view from traditional beliefs, western psychiatry and transpersonal psychology." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002445.

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Among the Xhosas, the healing sickness called intwaso is interptreted as a call by the ancestors to become a healer. Transpersonalists also see these initiatory illnesses as spiritual crises, while according to the widely accepted Western psychiatric view, illness is purely perceived in physical and psychological terms. A case study was conducted where a single participant who has undergone the process of ukuthwasa and is functioning as a traditional healer was interviewed. A series of interviews were done where information was gathered about significant experiences related to ukuthwasa process. Tapes were transcribed and a case narrative was written and interpreted using the traditional Xhosa beliefs, the western psychiatric and the transpersonal psychology perspectives. Strengths and weaknesses of each perspective were then examined.

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McKenzie, Kirsten Elizabeth. "Gender and honour in middle-class Cape Town : the making of colonial identities, 1828-1850." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1997. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:f00a5b9b-2797-4e6e-9b75-159c1985b74a.

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This study comprises an examination of the role of ideas concerning gender roles and respectability in the elaboration of a specific notion of a white colonial middle class in Cape Town, Cape Colony, in the decades before the establishment of Representative Government at the Cape. It pays particular attention to the cultural interaction of the incoming British settlers with the older Dutch society already in place in Cape Town. The insertion of British middle-class ideals of domesticity into Cape society had a decisive impact upon the public culture which would underpin the new political dispensation in the colony when a Representative Assembly was set up in 1853. The thesis argues that the new colonial political order which was enshrined in the constitution of 1853 was grounded upon a new gender order which set out distinctive roles for middle-class men and women and which allowed for the expression of a particular kind of personal and social respectability. Political developments in the Cape colony were thus inextricably tied to the elaboration of this new gendered social system. The thesis approaches the question of white colonial identity through several avenues. These include: the creation of a public sphere and changes in commercial culture; the importance of issues of the family and domestic service in structuring reform initiatives; the nature of male and female honour and its defence through defamation cases; the role of marriage in Cape colonial society; and the mediation of sexual transgressions through religious and civil authorities. Finally, the manner in which domestic ideology impacted upon political culture is approached through two case studies of political crisis during this period. The thesis thus seeks to advance South African historiography by undercutting the traditional division between studies of private and public life at the Cape in this period.

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Mkhize, Nomalanga. "Bones of contention : contestations over human remains in the Eastern Cape." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007665.

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This thesis examines three contestations involving human remains which have arisen in the Eastern Cape over the past fifteen years. It shows that the value or meaning attached to human remains is constructed through the socio-historical dynamics out of which these contestations arise. The meaning and value of human remains is neither inherent nor neutral. In Ndancama's case, the need for housing in Fingo Village led hundreds of poor residents to settle on the township's Old Cemetery in 1972. Basic material needs trumped concerns for those buried in the cemetery. When the post-apartheid municipality sought to provide sewerage and housing infrastructure for Ndancama in 2003, its development plans were constrained by new heritage legislation which protects historic cemeteries. Residents insisted that their infrastructural needs were of primary importance. In 1993, the unearthing of human remains at the Old Military Cemetery in King William's Town created a thirteen year long saga which was only resolved with the reburial of the remains in 2006. The presence of the remains proved problematic for a number of reasons. Local authorities failed to rebury the remains speedily. The burden to store them fell on the Kaffrarian Museum which came under fire because this was considered unethical in the postapartheid era. The identity of the remains became a bone of contention in 2006 when the new Amathole District Municipality concluded that the remains were those of victims who died in the 1856-57 Great Cattle Killing. The remains and their reburial became symbols of past injustice and present restoration of African heritage. The 1996 quest by 'Nicholas Gcaleka', a 'self-styled' chief and traditional healer, to search for King Hintsa's skull in the United Kingdom provoked unprecedented public engagement with the incomplete narrative on the fate of Hintsa's body. The power to represent history, and the methods through which historical truth is discovered were at the heart of the contestation. Elites such as the Xhosa Royal and the white scientific establishment were considered neither credible nor authoritative on this historical matter. Public support for Gcaleka revealed that many South Africans sought just recompense for colonial injustices.

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Phoofolo, Pule. "In time of plague : the Basotho and the rinderpest, 1896-8." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002405.

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Rinderpest, the most dreaded bovine plague, struck the cattle of the BaSotho in British Basutoland early in 1897. By December the murrain had spent itself, having reduced the cattle population by half As it did so, the rinderpest claimed the primary historical significance of an epidemic. By sharpening behaviour and illuminating latent or developing tendencies, the rinderpest helped to reveal the nooks and crannies of contemporary historical processes that would have otherwise eluded historical visibility. This thesis brings out the complexities and ambiguities surrounding the epidemic. It uses the crisis occasioned by the panzootic in its multifaceted manifestations as a prism through which we might view the complex aspects of contemporary historical processes. It goes beyond the narrow limits of the crisis itself to discerning the broader and wider historical patterns that the rinderpest helped to highlight.

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De, Wet C. J. "An analysis of the social and economic consequences of residential relocation arising out of the implementation of an agricultural development scheme in a rural Ciskei village." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1986. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008090.

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From preface: This dissertation is concerned with the impact of the implementation of a particular kind of agricultural development project, viz. Betterment Planning, upon a rural Black village in the Keiskammahoek Magisterial District of the Ciskei, in South Africa. The project was implemented in the mid-1960s, and involved the re-organisation of the village environment into demarcated arable, grazing and residential areas, which necessitated the villagers moving from their old, scattered residential clusters to several new, concentrated residential areas. This dissertation seeks to trace the consequences of this development project, and particularly the socio-economic consequences of the residential relocation that it involved.

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Adendorff, Christian Michael, and S. Radloff. "The development of a cultural family business model of good governance for Greek family businesses in South Africa." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002779.

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Never in the history of the South African nation has the entrepreneurial spirit been more alive. Since the opening of international doors, after the 1994 elections, South Africa has experienced the explosive growth of transnational entrepreneurship. An enduring aspect of the explosion of such economic activity is the need for "good governance" and the need for governance education in South Africa and the rest of the continent has never been greater. The size of the family business component of the South Aftican economy suggests that it is the predominant way of doing business in South Africa. Of importance to this study is the estimate that approximately 95 % of all Greek businesses in South Africa can be classified as family businesses. The sustainability of Greek family businesses requires that they maintain good governance practices that are economically and environmentally acceptable to all stakeholders. It also requires that the next generation of Greek entrepreneurs balance good governance for the businesses as well as for the family. The primary objective of this study was to identify and explore the internal factors that influence and determine good governance to ensure the survival, growth and sustainability of Greek family businesses in South Africa. The secondary research objectives pertained to the underlying dimensions of good governance and required an exploration of the different governance concerns in relation to specific South African Greek behaviour and characteristics. A theoretical model of good governance factors was proposed and tested using Structural Equation Modeling. The study found that perceived good governance in a South African Greek family business context needs to be measured in terms of three factors, namely risk control, the internal regulatory environment and the protection of the stakeholders' interest. The study dealt further with the secondary sources effecting governance for South African businesses and was based on the latest report by the King Commission. An important finding is that the cross cultural aspect of family business governance must now be considered when conducting such research as more and more emphasis is placed on the good governance of all businesses.

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Puckreesamy, Sashika. "Therapist perceptions of narcissism in traditional cultural contexts." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/19872.

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Narcissism, often linked to a sense of entitlement and inflated sense of self, is a complex condition that has been studied for approximately a century. It is typically associated with individualistic cultures, which place emphasis on the self. Although much is known about narcissism, there is far less knowledge on narcissism in collectivist cultures. The Xhosa culture is commonly seen as a collectivist culture. No research to date has been conducted on this construct with Xhosa-speaking South Africans. The aim of the study was to explore and describe therapist perceptions of narcissism in traditional cultural contexts. The objectives of the study included an investigation into how narcissism presents in the Xhosa culture, and an exploration of the narcissistic elements that manifest more prominently. A qualitative, exploratory descriptive research design was employed, and snowball sampling was used to identify psychologists from the Nelson Mandela Metropole for inclusion in the study. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather data, and data was analysed by thematic analysis. The findings of the thematic analysis consisted of six themes, which are thoughts on the Xhosa culture, culture and personality, contemporary Western theory lacking, traits, parenting, and interpersonal and personal difficulties. These themes reflect the participants’ experience, thoughts, and opinions on narcissism in individuals from the Xhosa culture.

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Rabe, Lizette. "'n Kultuurhistoriese studie van die Duitse Nedersetting Philippi op die Kaapse Vlakte." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/1276.

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Anderson, Gavin Craig. "The social and gender identity of gatherer-hunters and herders in the Southwestern Cape." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22515.

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Bibliography: pages 134-166. Southern African archaeology has experienced several changes in theoretical perspectives over the past few decades. More recently there have been renewed calls for a more social and theoretical approach to the analysis of the prehistoric past, especially the Late Stone Age. This thesis is an account of the last 4000 years in the southwestern Cape, where material culture is analysed in terms of contextual meaning. Contextual meaning is used in conjunction with social identity theory to analyse the interaction between Khoi herders and San gatherer-hunters. I use the active processes of identity formation and maintenance to argue that both the isolationist and revisionist arguments have simplified the concepts of identity, where identity is seen to have a passive role in interaction. I argue that identity is dynamic and changeable, and that individuals have several social identities which are made salient according to the context of interaction. I use specific fine line images in the rock art to argue that these images, in conjunction with scraper styles, were used as strategies by San males to increase their self-esteem. I further argue that interaction would result in unequal gender relations and San females used specific adzes to reassert their gender identity within San society. I further argue that finger paintings and handprints may have been painted by Khoi females as part of their menstruation and/or menarche rituals. I use both the gender and social identities from the Khoi and the San to argue that these are interrelated and cannot be separated. I argue that interaction would result in unequal gender and social practices and these practices would be expressed in the material culture of that group.

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Hodgskiss, Jodi Lyndall. "Cumulative effects of living conditions and working conditions on the health, well-being, and work ability of nurses in Grahamstown East and West." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005186.

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Despite the many changes that have occurred in South Africa since the end of apartheid, there are still residual effects of it, as is evidenced in the disparity of living conditions between different racial groups. It is also evident that there are differences in the work tasks and working conditions of nurses working in different work environments. This project looks at how living conditions as well as working conditions interactively affect the health, subjective well-being, and work ability of nurses. Questionnaires were completed by, and interviews were conducted with nurses from Settlers Hospital and seven municipal clinics within Grahamstown (n=152). The participation rate was approximately 71%. The questionnaires included self-report, forced-choice questions regarding basic demographics of the nurses, work conditions, living conditions, subjective satisfaction levels, as well as a simplified version of the Nordic Questionnaire of Musculoskeletal Strain (Kuorinka et al., 1987), and the Work Ability Index (WAI) (Tuomi et al., 2006). The questionnaires were translated into Afrikaans and IsiXhosa. One-on-one interviews were conducted with the participants, in order to obtain a 24-hour dietary recall, an indication of physical activity levels, as well as measurements of stature, mass, waist girth and hip girth. Factor analysis was performed to identify common variance from amongst the variables, while canonical correlations examined the interaction between the sets of factors. It was found that variables relating to demographic factors, living conditions, and working conditions were closely linked to each other. Factors from each of these groups were associated with life, health, and job satisfaction, anthropometric measures, musculoskeletal strain, and WAI scores. Satisfaction levels appeared to be largely determined by socioeconomic status, while anthropometrics, WAI scores, and levels of musculoskeletal strain were associated with levels of smoking and drinking, race, age, stature, position and tenure.

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Cumes, Heide Ulrike. "Coping in two cultures: an ecological study of mentally ill people and their families in rural South Africa." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002467.

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This study explores severe mental illness in a South African ru~al district, moving, as with a zoom lens, from the macroperspectives of (i) Xhosa culture, and (ii) biomedicine, to the lived experience of the individual. Its methodology, predominantly qualitative, employed anthropological and psychological procedures. The fieldwork (1988-1989)encompassed a three month stay in the village of Msobomvu. Patients continued to be tracked informally until June, 1995. The empirical research has three parts. In part one, the person with a mental illness was contextualized within Xhosa cosmology and social attitudes. The cognitive and social ecologies were tapped through the narratives of high school and university students at different stages of a Western-biased education. Social attitudes regarding mental illness, and confidence in treatment by traditional healers and the hospital, were also evaluated. Traditional attitudes and supernatural beliefs of illness causation persisted in spite of Eurocentric education, with a concurrent increase in the acceptance of Western-type causal explanations commensurate with continued education. Part two considered the the patients in relation to (i) the biomedical framework (the mental and local hospitals), and (ii) their readjustment to the community after hospitalization. Data came from patient charts, interviews with medical staff, and follow-up visits in the villages. Socio-political and economic issues were salient. Part three case-studied people identified by the village residents as having a mental illness. Resources for treatment - traditional healers, mobile clinic, and village health workers - were the focus. The traditional healing system, and biomedicine, were compared for effectiveness, through the course of illness events. While biomedicine was more effective in containing acute psychotic episodes than treatment by the traditional healer, lack of appropriate resources within the biomedical setting had disastrous results for patient compliance and long-term management of the illness, particularly in people with obvious symptoms of bipolar disorder. The mental hospital emerged as an agent of control. While Xhosa culture provided a more tolerant setting for people with a mental illness, the course of severe mental illness was by no means benign, despite research suggesting a more positive outcome for such conditions in the developing world.

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McAlister, Gareth. "You don't love your mother just because she feeds you : amaXhosa and woodlands in the Peddie district, Eastern Cape." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006044.

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This thesis will discuss how the application of place theory might provide insight into how a selection of Xhosa-speaking people in a rural village (Ntloko), in the former Ciskei of the Eastern Cape, interact with and establish relationships with the local indigenous thicket forest (ihlathi). I am concerned with how these influence residents' perceptions and attitudes (relational epistemologies) towards this resource, and how these may (or may not) translate into conservation practices. I am also interested in how socio-political and economic changes have altered these people/place relations (including gender) and their corresponding cultural perceptions. It is argued that the local thicket forest's significance and importance moves beyond the economic and utilitarian value of its natural resources. The thicket plays an important part in local identity construction, due to both its socio-cultural significance and its role in local livelihoods. People form meaningful attachments and relationships (relational epistemologies ) with the thicket as a place, through their interactions with it. While this may or may not result in actions and attitudes in-line with the conservation agenda, it is shown that this relationship is necessary for a local concern and stake in the natural environment. Those who have no or minimal interaction, such as many of the young women of Ntloko, have no opportunity to forge a relationship with it. Ihlathi may be known through narrative, but not personal experience, and as such no significant attachments can be formed, and thus concern for its conservation status is irrelevant. It is clear that if you remove people from an environment, you remove the stake they hold in the environment in question, thereby disrupting the relationship, and alienating people from nature. While a relational epistemology may not equate to conservation practices, it does imply a stake or concern in the environment, and as such, may provide an opportunity for conservationists to work with local communities. Resistance to conservation and development projects that aim to exclude local interaction, and therefore relationships, with the environment, will always be strong when local identities are intricately tied to the places and experiences that form them. Threatening that relationship threatens local identities and the attachments that orient them.

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Harple, Todd S. "Controlling the dragon : an ethno-historical analysis of social engagement among the Kamoro of South-West New Guinea (Indonesia Papua/Irian Jaya)." View thesis entry in Australian Digital Theses Program, 2000. http://thesis.anu.edu.au/public/adt-ANU20030401.173221/index.html.

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Nenungwi, Tondani Grace. "Tsedzuluso ya thuthuwedzo ya lutendo lwa vhuloi kha vhushaka vhukati ha vhathu kha Tshivenda." Thesis, University of Limpopo (Turfloop Campus), 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10386/921.

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Thesis (M.A.) --University of Limpopo, 2010 Ngudo iyi i khou sedzulusa ṱhuṱhuwedzo ya lutendo lwa vhuloi kha vhushaka vhukati ha vhathu kha Tshivenḓa. Luambo lu kwamaho matshilisano na vhupfiwa zwi ḓo dzhielwa nzhele. Hu ḓo sedziwa na maipfi a elanaho na zwa vhuloi. Izwi zwi ḓo itwa ho katelwa vhuḓipfi, u vhaisala, kudzhielwe kwa zwithu, mbeu na maambele musi hu na lutendo lwa zwa vhuloi. Ndi zwa ndeme u ḓivha uri dziṅanga dzi na luambo lu ne dza lu shumisa u sumbedzisa vhuloi ngeno vho vhafunzi vha zwa vhurereli vha na maitele na maambele a vho.

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Mukorombindo, Yeukai Chido. "Social networks in recently established human settlements in Grahamstown East/Rhini, South Africa." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003098.

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This thesis attempts to understand the concepts of social capital and social networks within the South African government’s current policy on “human settlements”. It considers the association between social networks, social capital and social cohesion, community development and improved general quality of life. The thesis also explores the possibility and challenges of using social capital and social networks amongst low income urban communities as a viable strategy against poverty and for the development of sustainable human settlements. The thesis will examine the nature and form in which informal social networks function in a low income urban community in South Africa and the benefits that arise from these. The thesis particularly looked at informal social security networks in the form of savings clubs/stokvels and burial societies as well as other informal social networks such as religious associations and neighbourhood social support groups. The study discovered that in light of the high unemployment rate, high poverty levels and increasing urban economic pressures, most low income households cannot access or rely on social networks as a means of survival but on grants and wages. Social security networks are only accessible to those who can afford monthly membership contributions thereby excluding the poorest of the poor. For those who can afford to be members of social security networks, the benefits are limited and they do not adequately address household needs. The study also showed how those who cannot afford to be members of social security networks still have access to some sort of communal social support. Neighbours stand out as valuable in this regard. However, the casual neighbourhood support networks are not ‘resource rich’ mainly due to, the inability of people to donate and reciprocate. Religious networks are mainly identified with emotional, psychological and spiritual well-being, providing friendship, comfort and advice but these benefits are only provided to members only in their time of need. The theoretical understanding of social networks producing social capital which is seen as being beneficial to the poorest of the poor is questioned, as the results show the inequalities and divisions that exist within informal social networks themselves. On the other hand, all the social networks considered in this thesis have managed to contribute towards strengthening neighbourly relations, trust, building community identity and promoting values of ubuntu- sharing and caring for one another which in the long-run benefits the community, both members and non-members alike.

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Ndlovu, Caesar Maxwell Jeffrey. "Religion, tradition and custom in a Zulu male vocal idiom." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002315.

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The study is about a Zulu male vocal tradition called isicathamiya performed by 'migrants' in all night competitions called ingomabusuku. This is a performance style popularized by the award winning group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Isicathamiya, both in its symbolic structure and in the social and culturalpractice of its proponents has much in common with the ritual practices of Zionists. And Zionists are worshippers who integrate traditional beliefs and Christianity. This study will reveal that isicathamiya performance and Zionists are linked in three major areas:in the sqcial bases and practice of its proponents, in the structural properties of their performances and tn the meanings attached to these practices. Firstly, Zionists, who are also called a Separatist or African Independent church, and isicathamiya performers have minimal education and are employed in low income jobs in the cities. Most groups are formed with 'homeboy networks'. Furthermore, performers, unlike their brothers in the city, cling tenaciously to usiko [custom and tradition]. Although they are Christians, they still worship Umvelinqangi [The One Who Came First], by giving oblations and other forms of offerings. Amadlozi [the ancestors] are still believed to be their mediators with God. Also commonplace in this category is the practice of ukuchatha, [cleansing the stomach with some prepared medicine]; and ukuphalaza [taking out bile by spewing, which is also done as a way of warding off evil spirits]. These are rural practices that have meaning in their present domiciles. The second area of similarity consists in the structure of the nocturnal gatherings that form the core of the ritual and performance practices among isicathamiya singers and Zionists. Thus, a core of the ritual of Zionists is umlindelo [night vigil] which takes place every weekend from about 8 at night until the following day. Likewise, isicathamiya performers have competitions every Saturday evening from 8 at night until about 11 am the following day. Although Zionists night vigils are liturgical and isicathamiya competitions secular, the structures of both isicathamiya choreography and Zionists body movements appear the same. These movements are both rooted in a variety of traditional styles called ingoma. Thirdly, the meanings attached to these symbolic correspondences must be looked for in the selective appropriation of practices and beliefs taken to be traditional. Using present day commentaries in song and movement, ingoma and other rural styles performed in competitions and Zionists night vigils reflect a reconstruction of the past. Isicathamiya performers and Zionists see themselves as custodians of Zulu tradition, keeping Zulu ethnicity alive in the urban environment. This is why in this study we are going to see rural styles like ingoma, isifekezeli [war drills], ukusina [solo dancing] that were performed on the fields, now performed, sort of feigned and 'held in' as they are p~rformed in dance halls with wooden stages.

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Matthee, Deidre Denise. "Acts of eating : the everyday eating rituals of female farm workers of color in the Western Cape." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/52072.

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Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2001. ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this qualitative study the significance of the everyday eating rituals of female farm workers of color in the Western Cape is explored. Eating and its associated activities are understood as embodied, social practices that are meaningful and meaning-making. It aims to address the gap left by mainstream psychology's scant attention to the subject matter. Furthermore, it is an endeavor to steer away from the dualistic path trailed by mainstream psychology's following of traditional western philosophical thought. Assuming a social constructionist approach, six transcribed interviews were analyzed using the grounded theory method. Three main themes are extracted from these texts: knowing, agency and community. The ritual of preparing food involves embodied knowing, which enhances the women's impressions of their capacities as transformative agents. This sense of agency is performed through other acts of eating within relational contexts. The link between eating rituals and notions of community is thus introduced, which opens the space to revisit the positions of women in the sites of the family and society. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie kwalitatiewe studie word die sinvolheid van die alledaagse eetritLiele van vroue-plaaswerkers van kleur in die Wes-Kaap verken. Eet en gepaardgaande aktiwiteite word beskou as beliggaamde sosiale praktyke wat betekenisvol en betekenisgewend is. Dit poog om hoofstroom sielkunde se gebrekkige hantering van die onderwerp aan te spreek. Ook is dit 'n poging om weg te stuur van die dualistiese trajek wat hoofstroom sielkunde navolg in die handhawing van die westerse filosofiese tradisie. Ses getranskribeerde onderhoude is ontleed vanuit In sosiaal-konstruksionistiese perspektief. Die analise maak gebruik van die "grounded theory" metode. Drie sleuteltemas is ge'identifiseer: om te weet, agentskap en gemeenskap. Die ritueel van kosmaak behels In beliggaamde vorm van weet wat bydra tot die vroue se gevoel van hul kapasiteit as transformatiewe agente. Die gevoel van agentskap word uitgevoer deur ander eethandelinge binne die konteks van verhoudings. Die skakel tussen eetrituele en idees oor gemeenskap word dus aangevoer, wat die ruimte skep om die posisies van vroue binne gesin en samelewing te herbesin.

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Zideba-Thomas, Cynthia Daniswa. "Normative value systems as portrayed by V.N.M. Swaartbooi and V. Magadla." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/650.

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This study will focus on norms and value systems as portrayed by two female Xhosa writers. The aim of this study is to show how normative value systems are represented by two female Xhosa female writers. It also aims to show the effects of these systems on women. The method of research will be based on survey of Xhosa literature focusing on the following two books, Inzol ‘enkundleni, by V. Magadla and UMandisa by V.N.M. Swaartbooi.

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Hirst, Manton Myatt. "The healer's art : Cape Nguni diviners in the townships of Grahamstown." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1991. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001601.

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This is a study of Cape Nguni diviners practising in the townships of Grahamstown where, during the 1970s, there was a large and active concentration of diviners treating clients from the locality, the rural areas and even the large urban centres further afield. The study situates local diviners in the socio-economic, cultural and religious context of contemporary township Iife during the 1970s (see chapter 1 and section 2.1). The personalities and socio-economic circumstances of diviners (and herbalists) are described as well as their case-loads, the various problems they treat, the relations between them and their clients, the economics of healing and the ethics pertaining to the profession (see chapter 2) . Chapter three focuses on the various problems and afflictions - which are largely of an interpersonal nature - suffered by those who are eventually inducted as diviners and the ritual therapy this necessarily entails. Here we see how the diviner, what Lewis (1971) terms a 'wounded healer', becomes an expert in interpersonal and social relations as a result of suffering problems - largely connected to the family but not necessarily limited to it - in interpersonal relations and that require a ritual, and thus social, prophylaxis. The main theoretical argument is that the diviner, qua healer, functions as a hybrid of Levi-Strauss' s bricoleur and Castaneda's 'man of knowledge' artfully combining the ability of the former to invert, mirror or utilise analogies from linguistics to make everything meaningful and the ability of the latter to creatively bend reality . The diviner's cosmology is described in terms of a 'handy', limited but extensive cultural code/repertoire of signs, symbols and metaphors that is utilised in getting the message across to others and in which animals bear the main symbolic load (see chapter 4). This leads logically to a reappraisal of Hammond-Tooke's (1975b) well-known model of Cape Nguni symbolic structure particularly in so far as it pertains to the way in which diviners classify animals, both wild and domestic (see section 4.6). A striking evocation and confirmation of the view argued here, namely of the diviner as bricoleur/'man of knowledge', is contained in chapter five dealing with an analysis of the diviner's 'river' myth and the context, form and content of the divinatory consultation itself. Finally, the conclusions, arising out of this study of contemporary Cape Nguni diviners in town, are evaluated in the ligrht of Lewis's (1966, 1971, 1986) deprivation hypothesis of spirit possession (see chapter 6)

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Moolman, Anna Magdelena. "Landboutydskrifte as kultuurhistoriese bron : 'n studie van 'Die Landbouweekblad' en die 'Farmer's Weekly' (1945-1961) aan die hand van 'n aantal geselekteerde kultuuraspekte." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1990. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/67304.

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Thesis (MA) -- Stellenbosch University, 1990. ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The two well-known South African agricultural journals The Farmers Weekly and the Landbouweekblad are important sources for the cultural historian. In this thesis attention is paid to a few selected aspects of post-war culture in South Africa. The period covered stretches from 1945 to 1961. In Section A an introductory background is given, concerning the cultural historian's use of agricultural journals, as well as the epoch as frame within which the information should be interpreted. Chapter 1 concentrates on journalistic sources as primary written sources, and in particular on the contemporary journal. Chapter 2 places agriculture and the agricultural journal in the correct cultural historic perspective. A criptic background is given as to the origin and development of the two journals concerned, as well as an outline of the approach necessary for the use of the different sections in the journals. lt appeared that mechanisation and urbanisation became the two transforming powers with regard to the general cultural climate in South Africa after the Second World War. Chapter 3 focusses hereupon. The theme of Section B is non-material culture. Here attention is paid to folk tales, rhymes and riddles (Chapter 4), folk science (Chapter 5), the most important times in the life cycle of people (Chapter 6) and folk festivals (Chapter 7). The folk tales dealt with are, apart from topics of discussion, true experiences, sagas, legends and jokes. A background discussion will be found, followed by the categorised examples. Folk science is divided into three main sections: folk meteorology, water-witching and folk medicine. Animal as well as human illnesses have been categorised under the latter. Customs and beliefs which evolved around the birth and christaining if a child, courtship and weddings and death and funerals belong under Chapter 6. Regarding folk festivals, a discussion of a few festivals is given with, secondly, a description of a few games, evidently played at such festivals. Material culture is the theme of Section C. Here the following aspects were selected: folk crafts and home industries (Chapter 8), architecture and house interiors and farm and werf layout (Chapter 9), food (Chapter 1 O) and clothing (Chapter 11 ). Home and farm industries are discussed in Chapter 8. Chapter 9 is concerned with the modern home - in the city as well as on the farm - and with the layout of the modern farm and farm yard (werf). A few aspects of the post-war food culture earned themselves further discussion. The rest of Chapter 1 0 is devoted to traditional South African cookery - in the form of recipes, accompanied by a discussion. In the chapter dealing with clothing, the natural phases in fashion between the years 1945 and !,.. 1961 were identified. The discussion of the doting focus'es mainly on women's fashion. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die twee bekende Suid-Afrikaanse landboutydskrifte, die Farmer's Weekly en Die Landbouweekblad is belangrike bronne van kultuurhistoriese inligting. In hierdie tesis word op 'n aantal geselekteerde aspekte van die naoorlogse kultuur in Suid-Afrika gekonsentreer. Die tydperk wat gedek word, is 1945 tot 1961. In Afdeling A word daar inleidend 'n agtergrond gegee van die benutting van landboutydskrifte deur die kultuurhistorikus en van die tydvak waarbinne die stof vertolk moet word. In Hoofstuk 1 word daar op joernalistieke bronne as primere geskrewe bronne gekonsentreer en in die besonder op die tydgenootlike tydskrif. Hoofstuk 2 plaas die landbou en landboutydskrif kultuurhistories in perspektief. 'n Kort agtergrond oor die ontstaan ~n groei van die betrokke twee tydskrifte word gegee, en daar word oorsigtelik gewys op die spesifieke benaderings wat die onderskeie afdeli'ngs in die tydskrifte vereis. Uit die landboutydskrifte het geblyk dat meganisasie en verstedeliking nit die Tweede Wereldoorlog die twee omvormende kragte ten opsigte van die bree kultuurklimaat in SuidAfrika geword het. In Hoofstuk 3 word daar hierop gefokus. Afdeling B het die geestelike kultuar as tema. Aspekte wat daariri aandag kry, is: Volkswoordskeppinge (Hoofstuk 4), Volkswetenskap (Hoofstuk 5), Lotstye (Hoofstuk 6) en Volksfeeste (Hoofstuk 7). Onder Volkswoordskeppinge word gespreksonderwerpe, belewenisvertellings, sages, legendes, grappe, rympies en raaisels behandel. 'n Agtergrondbespreking word gegee, waarna die gekategoriseerde voorbeelde wat opgespoor is, volg. Volkswetenskap word hier in drie hoofdele ingedeel: volksweerkunde, waterwys en volksgeneeskunde. By laasgenoemde word aandag aan siektes by diere sowel as die mens gegee en voorbeelde wat gevind is, gekategoriseerd aangebied. Gebruike en gelowe rondom geboorte en doop, hofmaak en die huwelik en derdens die dood en begrafnis word ender lotstye gedek. Die hoofstuk oor volksfeeste bestaan uit 'n bespreking van 'n aantal volksfeeste met as tweede ! deel die beskrywing van enkele speletjies wat klaarblyklik by feesgeleenthede gespeel is. Afdeling C handel oor die stoflike kultuur, waarvan die volgende aspekte geselekteer is: Volksbedrywe (Hoofstuk 8), Huisbou en -inrigting en plaas- en werfuitleg (Hoofstuk 9), Voedselkultuur (Hooptstuk 1 O) en Kleremodes (Hoofstuk 11 ). Volksbedrywe word in twee hoofdele behandel, naamlik huis- en plaasbedrywe. Ten opsigte van huisboujinrigting word daar op die moderne huis gekonsentreer - die stedelike sowel as die plaashuis. Die uitleg van die moderne plaas en werf word volledig bespreek. Slegs 'n aantal naoorlogse aspekte van die voedselkultuur word belig, waarop verder ruimte afgestaan word aan die tradisionele Suid-Afrikaanse kookkuns - in die vorm van resepte, vergesel van 'n bespreking. Kleremodes word aan die hand van die natuurlike fases wat daar in die betrokke tydvak onderskei kan word, behandel. Die klem val hier op vrouemodes

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Le, Roux Antoinette. "Buisplaas: ‘n histories-analitiese ondersoek na die ontstaan en voortbestaan van ‘n minderheidsgemeenskap in die Wes-Kaap vanaf 1863 tot 2018." Thesis, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/25594.

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Text in Afrikaans with abstracts in Afrikaans and English In hierdie proefskrif word die agtergrond van die pre-koloniale stand van die destydse Kaapkolonie geskets en die historiese ontstaan van een gemeenskap word as tersaaklike voorbeeld behandel. Die verhouding wat met verloop van tyd tussen hierdie gemeenskap en die indringende koloniste ontwikkel het, is grotendeels gebaseer op persepsies en houdinge wat reeds sedert die 17e, 18e en veral die 19e eeu weens die ontmoeting tussen die uiteenlopende bevolkingsgroepe ontstaan het. Die verhoudinge wat inherent as gevolg van hierdie koloniale inmenging vertroebel is, was die oorsaak dat sekere inheemse bevolkingsgroepe radikale verandering ondergaan het. Die inheemse bevolking se rol het al hoe meer ondergeskik geword en die landskap het vir goed verander. Waar die inheemse bevolkingsgroepe se grondgebied van hulle ontneem is, moes hulle hul oorlewingstrategieë drasties verander. Die sogenaamde bruinmense, wat ontstaan het uit die ondertrou van die koloniale inkommers met die plaaslike bevolking en ingevoerde slawe, is gou tot die rol van arbeiders gereduseer en hul status het bly verlaag soos die tyd verbygegaan het. Aangesien min van hulle grondbesitters kon wees, wys hierdie proefskrif dat daar wel uitsonderings was. Daar is ’n gemeenskap wat die eienaars van erfgrond aan die Gouritzrivier is en dit steeds na 155 jaar besit. Hierdie gemeenskap is Buisplaas. ‘n Blanke voorvader, Frederick du Buis het aan sy twee seuns wat van gemengde bloed was, Simson en Saul ’n stuk grond langs die Gouritzrivier in die suidooste van die Wes-Kaap nagelaat. Op hierdie 94 hektaar het ’n Buis-gemeenskap ontstaan wat deur al die jare van politieke veranderinge in Suid-Afrika bly voortbestaan en gegroei het. Die onsimpatieke geografie en klimaat van Buisplaas het sy beperkings ingehou en tog het hierdie gemeenskap oorleef en die skamele voordele soos die nabyheid van die rivier en die aalwyne tot hulle voordeel gebruik. Al het die ekonomiese realiteit die meeste van die inwoners genoop om elders te gaan vir verdere opleiding en werksgeleenthede het die Buis-afstammelinge dikwels na hul aftrede uit hul beroepe teruggekeer na hul heimat. Ontwikkeling en die daaropvolgende verbetering van hul omstandighede het eers 127 jaar na die oordrag van Buisplaas aan Simson en Saul Buis begin en ’n groot verbetering in hul lewensomstandighede gemaak. Die rol van die Buisplaas Bewonersvereniging wat in 1986 gestig is en die belangrike proses van ontwikkeling wat deur hierdie vereniging begin is, vorm ’n kernaspek van die studie. Oor die jare het die twee kerke, die Lutherse en Anglikaanse kerke ’n deurslaggewende invloed op die inwoners gehad en veral omdat die Lutherse kerk ook verantwoordelik was dat daar ’n laerskool op Buisplaas opgerig is. Die navorsingsproses het die toepassing van ’n multi-dissiplinêre benadering behels, maar is daar hoofsaaklik van historiese metodologie gebruik gemaak. Die aktiewe bydrae van verskeie inwoners en oud-inwoners van Buisplaas het die gebruik van ander primêre en sekondêre bronne aangevul. Die fokus van die studie was derhalwe op die Buisplaas-gemeenskap wat vir so lank reeds bruin grondeienaars is, te midde van die problematiek van grondeienaarskap in Suid-Afrika. Alhoewel die konkrete realiteite van hierdie gemeenskap behandel word, gaan dit meer oor die ontasbare emosionele verbintenis van die mense met hulle plek, hulle eiendom. Dit gaan oor ‘n landskap wat uit kulturele tradisies en herinneringe bestaan. Dit kry die mistiek deur die krag van onthou, deur die nooit-vergeet-nie van mense se plekbewussyn. Plek word die verlenging van die self want plek is dan ook ‘n oord van tussenmenslike verbondenheid. Dit maak dit nie ‘n volmaakte plek nie maar ten minste ‘n plek waar mense van mekaar geweet het en steeds weet. Die veranderende ekonomiese en politieke streeksdinamika het ‘n invloed op die betekenis wat die inwoners aan hulle plek heg. Die fisiese en ruimtelike omgewing beïnvloed ook die interaksie en verhoudings van hierdie mense. This thesis describes the background of the pre-colonial situation in the Cape Colony of the time. It uses the historical origin and development of one specific community as an example. The relationship which developed between this community and the intrusive colonialists is based to a large extent on perceptions and attitudes which were observed in the seventeenth and eighteenth but especially during the nineteenth century between the diverse population groups. The interference of the colonialists caused great harm to these relationships and consequently some of the indigenous population groups underwent radical changes. The indigenous population’s role in the area became more and more submersed and the landscape changed forever. As the territories of the indigenous groups were taken from them, they had to change their survival strategies drastically. The group which in former times was called ‘coloured’ because of inter marriages between the colonialists and the local population or the imported slaves, was soon reduced to labourers and their status diminished as time went by. In spite of very few being able to remain as landowners this thesis shows that there were exceptions. There is a community which inherited land next to the Gouritz River and after 155 years they are still the rightful owners. This community is known as Buisplaas. A white ancestor, Frederick du Buis left his two sons, Simson and Saul who were of mixed blood, 94 hectares of land next to the Gouritz River, in the south eastern part of the Western Cape. This is where the Buis community came into being and through the many years of political change in South Africa they continued to remain and develop there. The harsh geography and climate of Buisplaas had its limitations and yet the community survived. They used the meagre possibilities of the area like their proximity to the Gouritz River and the aloes growing there to their benefit. Although the economic realities forced many of the inhabitants to move elsewhere to further their studies or to find work opportunities, the Buisplaas descendants often returned to their community after retirement. It was only 127 years after Simson and Saul Buis inherited Buisplaas that development and consequently improvement started happening on a bigger scale. It changed their quality of life immensely. In 1986 the Residents’ Association of Buisplaas was formed and its role in the development of the community forms the major part of this study. Over the years both the Lutheran and the Anglican churches had a very strong influence on the inhabitants, especially since the Lutheran church was responsible for the establishment of a primary school at Buisplaas. The research entailed a multi-faceted approach, but mostly historical methodology was used. The active participation of different members of the Buisplaas community as well as some of the former inhabitants and neighbours in this thesis, supplemented the use of various other sources. The focus of the study was on the Buisplaas community who had been land owners as so-called ‘coloured’ people long before the issues and problems of owning land in South Africa were addressed. Although the basic realities of survival of this community will be addressed, the main focus is on the emotional bonds of the people with their place, with their property. It deals with their memories and with the cultural traditions that form the backbone of the area. This study has a charm which is revealed because of the memories of the people and the omnipresent consciousness of the ownership of their special place. Place becomes an extension of the self because place and space are also where human ties exist. It doesn’t make the place perfect but it remains a place where the people have always been aware of one another. The changing political and economic dynamics of the area have an influence on the importance and meaning of this place for its inhabitants. The physical and spatial environment and its spiritual importance also influence the interaction and relationships between these people. History D. Litt. et Phil. (Geskiedenis)

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Molnar, Andrea Katalin. "The grandchildren of the Ga'e ancestors : the Hoga Sara of Ngada in West-Central Flores." Phd thesis, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/111186.

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The thesis is based on eighteen months of fieldwork in the regency of Ngada on the eastern Indonesian island of Flores. It examines the system of organizing principles and symbolism of Hoga Sara society as is expressed in its social organization and cosmology. The people of the modem village and former village confederacy of the Sara Sedu, the Hoga Sara, are on a continuum with the Ngadha and Nage-Keo ethnic groups of the regency. They exhibit, however, their own unique cultural features as a group in their own right, and as a part of a larger grouping which encompasses the peoples of their neighbouring villages of Taka Tunga, Sanga Deto, and Rowa. The introduction situates the Hoga Sara in their ethnographic region and provides a brief literature and historical review of the regency. The first chapter of the thesis examines Hoga Sara identity in the context of contrasting themselves to the Ngadha on the one hand, and predicating commonality with the Hoga Taka, Are, and Rowa on the basis of common derivation from a ancestral pair and their offspring, the Ga'e siblings, on the other. Common ancestral derivation, ebu mogo, is also a basis of defining the identity of the Hoga Sara as a group, although composed of authochthonous and immigrant clans. Other aspects of group definition are connected with shared agricultural calendar and other collective ritual activities. The second chapter focuses on the individual traditional villages ( nua) which make up the territory of the former village confederacy of Sara Sedu. The composition of the nua and spatial orientation within it are examined. The third chapter deals with Hoga Sara organization of the individual clans (woe) that occupy the nua. The woe is composed of a number of named and supporting unnamed houses. The two eldest houses, sa'o pu'u (source houses) — sa'o saka pu'u and sa'o saka lobo (trunk and tip rider houses) -- form the major dual division within the clan. All named houses relate to each other and to their unnamed houses as elder-younger, ka'e-azi, based on the order of precedence of their establishment. The trunk and tip parts of the clan furthermore relate to each other as female and male. Structural differences between the clans of Sara and Sedu(Bodo) are also highlighted. Chapter four looks at the house as the basic unit of social organization. The house is a collectivity of a group of related families. The principles of membership, who is an ana ebu of the house, as well as the process of derivation from one named house from another are examined. Membership is based on a range of principles: payment of bridewealth, fulfilment of ritual obligations, tracing derivation through the father's houses and the house of origin of the mother, and marriage. Access to ancestral land is ultimately dependant on membership (ana ebu status). The named house ties together wide ranging social relations and is thus the basic unit of social organization of the Hoga Sara. The fifth chapter examines the significance of the named house (sa'o meze) and other physical objects emblematic of house and clan organization with regard to Hoga Sara concepts of identity and continuity. Social use of space, various symbolic aspects, and cosmological significance of the sa'o are explored. The buffalo sacrifice post (madhu or peo), the ancestral mother house (bhaga) and megalithic stone platforms (nabe and ture) are also considered with respect to identity. Chapter six continues to examine the significance of these physical structures of a clan in the context of Hoga Sara concepts of continuity. The cycle by which deceased members of a house become the specific protective ancestors of a clan and house are considered with a focus on the ancestral embodiment in the parts of the house, stone platforms, and sacrificial post. The ritual installation of these objects is thus essential in securing the continuity of a house or clan in the form of lifegenerative potential granted by the ancestors. Chapter Seven looks at the relationship of the Hoga Sara with their ancestors. The nature of the ritual interaction between the living and the ancestors is examined. A specific example, the ritual installation of the buffalo sacrifice post (madhu or peo) is considered in this regard. The conclusion provides an overview of Hoga Sara society with reference to current approaches of comparative studies of Austronesian societies. The comparative remarks highlight the presence of several wide-spread organizing and symbolic principles which the Hoga Sara share with other Indonesian groups, yet in their own unique configuration which is the result of local historical process of development.

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"The Malay community of Gauteng: syncretism, beliefs, customs and development." Thesis, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1869.

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M.A. The dissertation focuses on a particular community, religiously defined, residing in a certain area. It characterizes their particular beliefs and customs, and portrays the history and development. For this purpose several sources have been consulted and no less than 37 people interviewed. The Malay community of Gauteng predominantly originated from the Cape and Port Elizabeth. Their ancestors were originally posted to South Africa from the Dutch settlements in the Malay Archipelago during the 17th and 18th centuries as slaves and political exiles. Some of them, however, were people of high rank. The Malays settled in Johannesburg and Pretoria towards the end of the 19th century and in Nigel between 1976 and 1977. This area is presently known as Gauteng. The Malay community of Gauteng are all Muslims and predominantly followers of the Shafi‘î madhhab (Islamic School of Thought). They constitute a minority group both religiously and ethnically. The Malays of Gauteng furthermore consist of various ethnical groups who were classified as part of the Coloured population group under the Group Areas Act 41 of 1950. In Johannesburg and Nigel the Malays lived in Coloured residential areas but in Pretoria the Malays rather associated them with the Indian Muslims. In Pretoria the majority of the Malays therefore settled in the Indian residential area Laudium instead of the Coloured residential area Eersterust. The research highlights the prominent early ‘Ulamâ’ (Muslim religious scholars) in both the Cape and Gauteng as well as their contributions towards the preservation, growth and development of Islam in both areas. Unfortunately in the Gauteng province (formerly part of the old Transvaal province) the Malays were often denied their contributions and initiatives in the Islamic field by another Muslim ethnical group. Attention is paid to the Malay communities’ acceptance of various syncretistic elements and innovations in their daily Islamic belief systems and social and religious customs. These include certain practices during pregnancies, ‘aqîqah (birth ceremonies), grave worshipping, engagements, weddings, doopmaal (baptisms), religious celebrations and tamats (Muslim religious school graduations). The research shows how pure Islamic elements were diffused and transformed into a unique local version of Islam since their days of slavery. The said practices also reflect possible elements of Hinduism and local tribal customs in them. It is founded in the research that the Malay community practised syncretism in the spirit of pure Islam. Their syncretistic customs were never intended to show disrespect to Islam or to create a new brand of Islam. It was practiced by the majority of the Malay community rich and poor, educated and uneducated. The Malay community of Gauteng never realised nor were they aware that their various religious customs and cultures were actually syncretistic in nature and not part of pure Islam. It was only during the last fifteen years that they became aware of this fact. To many Malays what they were practising was part of Islam and as such will always be part of Islam and part of their heritage. Their practices, however, brings them into conflict with some of the Malay ‘Ulamâ’. The research also discusses the various dark superstitious beliefs of the Malays of Gauteng. These kinds of superstitious beliefs formed an integral part of the belief system of the Pagans prior to the advent of Islam. Unfortunately even today superstition still forms part of some Malays’ belief system which include elements such as visiting dukums (Malay spiritual doctors), fortune tellers; avoiding double weddings; superstitious beliefs pertaining to pregnant ladies, new born babies and the misperception that the month of Safar (2nd Islamic month) is filled with fear, ill fortune and bad luck. Some Malay ‘Ulamâ’ especially those who are alumni from the Dâr al-‘Ulûms tried and are still trying various methods to rid the general Malay community of Gauteng from their syncretistic practises and superstitious beliefs but unfortunately they are not very successful in it. Wherever and whenever these ‘Ulamâ’ officiate at Malay religious functions they would not participate nor allow or even encourage that any of the Malay syncretistic practices should be part of the proceedings. Since the Malays of Gauteng have moved to new mixed racial areas far from vibrant Malay communities the future of the Malay culture is however unpredictable. The research further focuses on the spiritual, educational and economical development of the Malays of Gauteng. Firstly it focuses on the fact that the Malays were forcibly removed from their homes in Johannesburg and Pretoria and compelled by the government to resettle in new Coloured residential areas. Here they were however afforded the opportunity to purchase their own residential properties and built their own businesses. (Formely the Malays were deprived by the authorities to rent businesses from government owned business enterprices). Secondly it focuses on the growth and development, deterioration and eventual resurgence of the Malay Hifz (memorization of the Qur’ân) tradition. A similar tendency is also reported with regard to the number of ‘Ulamâ’. Most students are nowadays trained locally at the Dâr al-‘Ulûms in South Africa. Formerly they were educated at institutions in India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Many Malay ‘Ulamâ’, past and present were known for their extensive academic qualifications. Thirdly the research focuses on the Malay ‘Ulamâ’s inability and unsuccessful attempts since 1923 to establish a recognized ‘Ulamâ’ body (theological council) in Gauteng. The research found that the Malay ‘Ulamâ’ had over the years resisted all attempts to unite on a common ground in Gauteng.

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Fakude, Nonkululeko Beauty. "Lucwaningo ngekulahleka kwemasiko nemihambo yemaSwati." Thesis, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10530/936.

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Submitted in fulfillment for the Degree Master of Arts in the Department of African Languages at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2006. Lolu lucwaningo lolumayelana nekulahleka kwemasiko nemihambo yemaSwati. Luhleleke ngetehluko. Lolucwaningo lugcile kakhulu emaSwatini aseNingizimu Afrika luye luyewuphelela kaNgwane eSwatini. Sehluko I, sichaza lucwaningo kutsi lumayelana nekulahleka kwemasiko esiveni semaSwati, Sivete kubaluleka kwemasiko esiveni. Siveta tinhloso telucwaningo, tindlela telucwaningo, kubaluleka kwelucwaningo, nemkhawulo lucwaningo, sigcine ngekuvuselelwa kwesimilo. Sehluko 2, sichaza imphilo yemaSwati ngembi kwekufika kwebadzeshi. Siveta umlandvo wemaSwati aseNtalasifali, simonhlalo nekudla kWemaSwati. Siphindze sivete, umuti, kufa kwemnumzane ekhaya nemisimeto lechutjwako nakufiwe. Kubuywe kwachazwa imisebenti yemaSwati ngebulili nangekwehlukana kwetigaba . Sehluko 3, Sichaza ngekubaluleka kwemphilo nemikhosi lemikhulu yesive. Siveta kubaluleka kwekutimbandzakanya nalemikhosi, kanye nemvunulo yemaSwati. Sehluko 4, Sibuka tinkholelo temaSwati nalokunye lokubukeka kuligugu esiveni semaSwati. Sehluko 5, Siveta sikhatsi semphucuko esiveni semaSwati. Sitsintsa tintfo letehlukene letiyinkhomba yekulahleka kwemasiko nemihambo yesintfu. Sehluko 6, Sibutselandzawonye konkhe lokntsintfwe lucwaningo. Siphindze sivete nalokntfolakele ngesikhatsi selucwaningo kanye netincomo.

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49

Friedman, Hazel Deborah. "The iconology of Women's paraphernalia among the Ntwane." Thesis, 1992. https://hdl.handle.net/10539/24708.

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A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, for the Degree of Master of Arts. This dissertation is a study of the iconology of paraphernalia produced by women, among the Ntwane. It represents the culmination of primary field research into the matelial culture of this group, as well as supplementary research conducted at the Africana Museum in Johannesburg, the South African Museum in Cape Town, the National Museumin B1u~!mfontein and the Duggan-Cronin Museumin Kimberley. My investigative methods consisted of unstructured interviews with both married and unmarried members of the Ntwane community at :Kwarrielaagte. Although the focus of my research was primarily on paraphernaIia produced and worn by women, I also interviewed Ntwane men in order to obtain a variety of interpretations and opinions as to the 'meanings' of the objects and traditions under analysis. In addition to the above mentioned field work and gallery research, I consulted a wide range of literature on critical theories, auch as marxism, structuralism end paststructuralism, 141 order to supplement my methodological approach to the iconology of women's art among the Ntwane. It also referred to literature on a number of traditional South. African groups, such as the Pedi and Ndebele. in order to identify the cross-cultural influ8nces between these groups and the Ntwane. The literature on these closely related However, this definition constitutes a gross oversimplification of the concept, for it doe) not allow for a shift in aesthetic criteria from culture to culture. It establishes the concept 'aesthetic' as an absolute, whereas in actuality, it is a value-laden term, whose problems of definition are exacerbated '.men attempting cross cultural research. It is therefore necessary at the outset of this dissertation to formulate a working definition of 'aesthetics' within the context of the Ntwane. It is suggeuted that the aesthetic componsnts of Ntwane objects include style. technique and medium, but extend beyond their formal qualities into activities such as ritual and custom. The socio-cultural activities performed by the Ntwane may be regarded as intrinsically significant to the formal characteristics of their paraphernalia. It may therefore be argued that their objects are the concrete. tangible manifestations of a set of underlying constructs. expressed in adherence to particular conventions of representation; furthermore, that the reduction of the aesthetic component of Ntwane objects to merely an ase ssment; of their formal criteria, would constitute an impoverishment of their levels of meaning. A formalist approach to the art of Ntwane women also fails to consider issues of change in the form and function of their paraphernalia and the effects of broader social transformations on the material culture of the Ntwane. Chapter One of my dissertation will comprise a brief survey of the literature on the Ntwane. In addition to identifying the existing information, methodological gaps in the literature will be mentioned. It is the partial aim of this dissertation to "fill in" some of the gaps by groups helped to shed light on signitficant aspects of Ntwane material culture, which in turn, provided me with greater insight into the iconology of their paraphernalia. Andrew Chakane 2018

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"The uprooting of the Ravele community in the Luvuvhu river valley and its consequences, 1920-1930's." Thesis, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10210/162.

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This thesis attempts to reconstruct the manner and the effects of the forced removal of the Ravele community, from their historical homes in old Mauluma1 along the Luvuvhu River Valley. Luvuvhu is the name given to a river that dominates the area under discussion. The name Luvuvhu’ is retained until, it enters Kruger National Park, where the Vatsongas call it Phafuri - as the river flows through Chief Mphaphuli’s territory. After relocation, the whole area under discussion is now known as Levubu. Levubu is corruption of the word Luvuvhu by the local white farming community. Old Mauluma in the Luvuvhu valley was situated on the North Eastern part of Louis Trichardt. More or less 3000 Ravele community members were forcibly removed from their land, between 1920 and 1940 to new Mauluma or Beaconsfields.2 The removal constituted a severe crisis for the members of the community as they were taken from a rich ecological area and resettled 100 kilometres west of old Mauluma, a dry and rocky area. A study of the Ravele community’s removal from old Mauluma (Levubu area) is especially pertinent at this juncture because of the campaign by the previous owners to reclaim their land. Since the April 1994 election and the promise by the government that dispossessed people could reclaim their land, hundreds of the former Levubu residents (including Ravele community) have demanded compensation or return to their land. Not surprisingly, the campaign has the support of all those who were removed, but is viewed with suspicion by white farmers in Levubu and surrounding areas. Whether the Ravele community will succeed in their campaign or not is uncertain. However the campaign has highlighted the anger of people who were forcibly removed from their homes. Many of these people believe, naively perhaps, that the wrongs of the past will only be eradicated when they can escape the enforced racial segregation of the past and return to their old location where the Vhavenda and the Vatsonga lived together. Prof. L.W.F Grundlingh

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Africa, West – Social life and customs'

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