Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Northern ireland, social life and customs'

To understand the complexity of life in a city one needs to consider a spectrum of experience. Belfast has a history of conflict and division, particularly in relation to the Troubles, reflected in comprehensive academic studies of how this has affected, and continues to affect, the citizens. But this is a particular mode of representation, a vision of life echoed in fictional literature. People's quotidian lives can and do transcend the grand narratives of the Troubles that have come to dominate these discourses. Anthropology has traditionally accorded less epistemological weight to fleeting and superficial encounters with strangers, but this mode of sociality is a central feature of life in the city. The modern stranger navigates these relationships with relative ease. Communicating with others through narrative – personal stories about our lives – is fundamental to what it is to be human, putting storytelling at the heart of anthropological study. Engagements with strangers may be brief encounters or build into acquaintanceship, but these superficial relationships are not trivial. How we interact with strangers – our public presentation of the self to others through the personal stories we share – can give glimpses into the private lives of individuals. Listening to stories of quotidian life in Belfast demonstrates a range of people's existential dilemmas and joys that challenges Troubled representations of life in the city. The complexity, size and anonymity of the city means the anthropologist needs different ways of reaching people; this thesis is as much about exploring certain anthropological methodologies as it is about people and a place. Through methods of walking, performance, human-animal interactions, my body as a research subject, and using fictional literature as ethnographic data, I interrogate the close relationship between method, data and analysis, and of knowledge-production and knowledge-dissemination. I present quotidian narratives of Belfast's citizens that are Not-the-Troubles.

This thesis seeks to delineate what change in divided societies such as Northern Ireland is possible. Two steps are necessary to answer this question: first, to explain the potency of nationalism. I contend that taking the evolutionary history of humans and a human need to belong into account is essential for an understanding of A.D. Smith's ethno-symbolist approach to nationalism. We need to acknowledge that human beings emerged from small-scale settings and are therefore conservative beings who seek those patterns of familiarity that make up the ordinary ‘everyday'. They are also prejudiced beings, as prejudice helps to break down a complex world into digestible pieces. The ethnic state excluding an ethnic ‘other' is an answer to these calls for simplicity. By establishing an apparent terra firma, a habitus, symbols of an ethnic past and national present speak of nationalist narratives that provide a sense of ontological security. In (Northern) Ireland, ethno-national communities based on prejudiced understandings of history have long been established. In this second step I maintain that change that violates the core potent national narratives cannot be achieved. The Provisional IRA's change from insurrection to parliament became feasible because a radical break with republican dogmas was avoided. Sinn Féin, despite a rhetorical move towards ‘reconciliation', still seek to outmanoeuvre the unionist ‘other'. The history of Irish socialism, on the other hand, has been a failure, as it embodied a radical attempt to banish the ‘other' from the national narrative. Regarding ‘post-conflict' Northern Ireland, I argue for a peacebuilding approach that leaves the confinements of hostile identity politics, as these mass guarantors of ontological security possess only limited potential for relationship transformation. We need to appreciate those almost invisible acts of empathy and peace that could be found even in Northern Ireland's darkest hours.

This thesis is an investigation of the ways in which activities of house-building are woven into the histories and biographies of the people of Ngamiland in nothern Botswana. Criticising those approaches in anthropology that have tended to see forms of buildings as the symbolic expressions of (or metaphors for) aspects of social order, the thesis argues that building practices are themselves embedded in the current of social activity - that is, of dwelling - which, over time, is generative of both persons and places. Just as every inhabitant enfolds within his or her person a set of relations with others, which are played out in the manifold tasks of everyday dwelling (including building), so every place (including the buildings found there) embodies a set of relations with other places. The first set of relations, essentially social, are captured by the notion of the taskscape, the second set, essentially material, by the notion of landscape. The thesis seeks to demonstrate the dynamic interplay between taskscape and landscape, or between social and material relations over time. The thesis argues for several important ways in which this dynamic relationship can be considered anthropologically. The first is the notion of the 'otherplaceness' of dwelling, in which the inherent interconnectedness of the landscape is highlighted, describing the ways in which both personal biographies and the material biographies of places are mutually creative over time. This is extended to investigate the relationship between social and material permanence in the landscape through an analysis of the ways in which building with concrete has affected everyday dwelling. Another key notion is that dwelling involves a wide range of social practices that can be understood as containing both forces of a centrifugal (movement away from a centre) and centripetal (movement toward a centre) nature, being an important aspect of how social practice and homestead form are interrelated over time. This is also extended in the final chapter through an exploration of the ways in which the materiality of the homestead is interwoven with memory, biography and personal history.

The Dene are a subarctic people indigenous to northern Canada. The indirect and direct contact the Dene had with the European traders and Christian missionaries who came to their land around the turn of the 20th century triggered profound changes in their society and economy. This study focuses on some of these changes, and, particularly, on how they have affected the lives of Dene women who inhabit the small community of Fort Liard, which is located in the southwest corner of the Northwest Territories.
Using as context the formal and informal economy and the concept of the model of production, the author proposes two main ideas: first, "nurturing" or "social reproduction" and "providing" or "production" are vital and integral to the Dene's subsistence economy and concept of work; second, it is through the custom of "seclusion" or female puberty rites that the teaching and learning of these responsibilities occurred. Dene women played a pivotal role in this process. The impositions of external government, Christianity, capitalism, and free market economics have altered Dene women's concept of work.
The Dene women of Fort Liard are presently working to regain the social and economic status they once had. However, reclaiming their status in current times involves recognizing conflicting and contradictory ideologies in the workplace. The goal of these Dene women is, ultimately, to overcome economic and ideological obstacles, to reinforce common cultural values, and to reaffirm the primacy of their own conceptions of family and community. The goal of this study is to identify and examine the broad spectrum of factors and conditions that play a role in their struggles.

Reducing gender inequalities by enabling women's empowerment is a major focus of the literature and practices of gender and development. The work of this thesis contributes to debates about female empowerment, especially for peasant women in peripheral capitalist economies. The central themes of enquiry are power relations of gender and space in the socio-economic processes in which peasant households and their members are embedded. The focus of investigation is the extent to which commodity exchange outside the household reinforces, or reduces, women's position of power/disempowerment. The central question taken for analysis is whether income earning via trading empowers women, thus reducing their subordination. This hypothesis is widely accepted. Many NGOs (non-governmental organisations) and other development institutions base efforts around the notion that income earning is liberating for women. This hypothesis is investigated for rural Hausa women in Northern Nigeria who are secluded within their homes by the religio-cultural practice of purdah, but who engage in trade, often through the agency of children. The major empirical part of the study develops and applies an original framework for analysis of empowerment that identifies and maps gender divisions of labour and space in the spheres of production, reproduction and circulation in which rural Hausa men and women are embedded. The overall conclusion reached is that gender divisions of work, both inside and outside rural Hausa households, and especially in trade, reflect and sustain the subordination of women and their inferior position relative to men, especially through the control of space. The notion of income earning as universally empowering for women does not hold because rural Hausa women engaged in the market are not significantly empowered by their income earning because of the complex realities of patriarchy whereby women have weak bargaining powers.

Not having the feeling of presenting a clearly identifiable product, I will explain some of the basic impressions that motivated this thesis, point out the targets it is aimed at, the polemics it engages in or opens and indicate something of the design of the work.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation is a missiological assessment of the evangelization of the Mano of Northern Liberia. The study considers the historical record of Liberia, the transmission of Christianity through the Americo-Liberian community, and the movement of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to and through the Mano of Northern Liberia. As a foundation, a theoretical and missiological framework of evangelization is explored on a biblical, theological, and social understanding. How does one measure the extent and evangelization? Definitions and theories are presented along with expressions of evangelization. In regards to transmission, what was the approach of the initiating missionaries? How and through what impetus did a transition occur to local agents? Understanding evangelization involves identifying the contextual process resulting in the community of God expressed as the local church. This dissertation argues that the intent of the American Colonization Society and the immigrants who sailed to Liberia in 1822 was to establish a Christian presence in Africa that would serve as an impetus for evangelization of the continent. The Americo-Liberians, however, became entangled in a cultural Christianity that proved to be a barrier to evangelization of the indigenous people of the region. Other barriers included geographical isolation, the societal structure of governance, and the absence of a contextual witness. Sociological analysis is given to the all-inclusive nature and governance of the Poro Society which stymied the evangelization process. This study explored the influencing factors towards evangelization of the Mano and Gio and the acceptance of the good news of Jesus Christ. The influencing factors included the collapse of the Liberian governmental structure, the empowerment of local agent through theological education, the role and necessity of leadership caused by the coup, and the subsequent diaspora of the Civil War. Over 50% of the Baptist Churches among the Mano and Gio were started after the coup in 1980 and during the civil war which lasted from 1989 – 2004. This study utilized the methodology of qualitative researching through interviews, observations, and empirical surveys to evaluate the process of evangelization. The first gospel witness came to the Mano and Gio in 1926. The next fifty years of evangelization revolved around missionaries, mission stations, schools, and humanitarian enterprises. More recently, the Gospel has spread rapidly through the influence of contextual witness and local agents. The delimitations of the study focused on the role of Baptist Churches affiliated with Nimba Baptist Union. Prior to 1970, there were few indigenous led, linguistically Mano or Gio Baptist churches. Today, there are almost a hundred churches and missions affiliated with the Nimba Baptist Union, most started after the coup and during the war. A crucial component of the study was to determine whether or not this was a contextual indigenous movement of evangelization. The evidence of such a movement is determined by the presence of churches in the local villages, acts of personal and community transformation associated with the church, and reproductive patterns in regards to leadership and church starting. The movement of evangelization was a collaborative effort of the missionaries and local agents facilitated by political, social, and spiritual transitions. On this basis, the study proposes an Interpretative Model of Evangelization to serve as a useful tool in attempting to understand how to interpret the extent of evangelization. From this study, it is clear that evangelization is an imperfect process, but the movement towards contextualization of the gospel infuses deeper levels of transformation. As the Apostle Paul concluded in the Acts of the Apostles, the Gospel continued unhindered (Acts 28:31). The unhindered manner did not reflect the absence of barriers, but the onward movement propelled by the Holy Spirit, through proclamation of the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and by local empowerment through contextualization of methods, message, and leadership. The study is evaluative in nature and has implications for missiological strategy, cross-cultural understanding, and contextual methods of evangelization.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie proefskrif is ʼn sendingkundige assessering van die evangelisasie van die Mano-stam in Noord-Liberië. Die studie ondersoek die geskrewe geskiedenis van Liberië, die oordrag van die Christendom deur die Amerikaans-Liberiese gemeenskap en die verspreiding van die evangelie van Jesus Christus aan en deur die Mano-stam van Noord-Liberië. Om ʼn grondslag vir die studie te lê, is ʼn teoretiese en sendingkundige raamwerk vir evangelisasie ondersoek vanuit ʼn Bybelse, teologiese en sosiale perspektief. Dit is gedoen deur die volgende vrae te beantwoord: Hoe meet ʼn mens die reikwydte van evangelisasie? Definisies en beskrywings van, asook teorieë oor, evangelisasie word hiervoor aangebied. Wat was die benadering deur die aanvanklike sendelinge om die evangelie aan ander oor te dra? Hoe en deur watter impetus het oordrag na plaaslike agente plaasgevind? Om evangelisasie te verstaan, moet die kontekstuele proses geïdentifiseer word wat lei tot die gemeenskap van God, soos uitgedruk deur die plaaslike kerk. In hierdie proefskrif word daar geargumenteer dat die oogmerk van die American Colonization Society en die immigrante wat in 1822 na Liberië gevaar het, was om ʼn Christelike teenwoordigheid in Afrika te vestig wat sou dien as ʼn impetus vir evangelisasie van die kontinent. Die Amerikaans-Libiërs het egter in ʼn kulturele vorm van Christenskap verstrik geraak wat ʼn hindernis gevorm het vir die verspreiding van die evangelie onder die inheemse bevolking van daardie streek. Ander hindernisse was geografiese isolasie, die gemeenskapstruktuur van die regering en die afwesigheid van ʼn plaaslike getuie. Die allesomvattende aard en regering van die Poro-gemeenskap, wat die evangelisasieproses gestuit het, is gevolglik in hierdie studie geanaliseer. Hierdie studie het verder die faktore ondersoek wat evangelisasie van die Mano- en Gio-stamme, asook hul aanvaarding van die blye boodskap van Jesus Christus, beïnvloed het. Hierdie faktore sluit in die ineenstorting van Liberië se regeringstruktuur, die bemagtiging van plaaslike agente deur teologiese opvoeding, die rol en noodsaaklikheid van leierskap wat deur die staatsgreep veroorsaak is en die diaspora na aanleiding van die burgeroorlog. Meer as 50% van die Baptistekerke onder die Mano- en Gio-stamme is gestig na die staatsgreep in 1980 en tydens die burgeroorlog wat van 1989 tot 2004 geduur het. In hierdie studie is daar van kwalitatiewe navorsingsmetodologie, deur middel van onderhoude, waarnemings en empiriese opnames, gebruik gemaak om die evangelisasieproses te evalueer. Die eerste evangeliese getuie het in 1926 die Mano- en Gio-stamme besoek. Vir vyftig jaar daarna het evangelisasie om sendelinge, sendelingstasies, skole en humanitêre inisiatiewe gewentel. Meer onlangs het die evangelie vinnig versprei as gevolg van die invloed van gekontekstualiseerde getuies en plaaslike agente. Die afbakening van hierdie studie was om te fokus op die rol van die Baptistekerke wat met die Nimba Baptist Union geaffilieer is. Voor 1970 was daar min Baptistekerke wat deur mense van die inheemse bevolking gelei is en waar daar in Mano of Gio gepreek is. Vandag is daar amper ʼn honderd kerke en sendinggenootskappe wat met die Nimba Baptist Union geaffilieer is. Meeste van hierdie kerke is na die staatsgreep en tydens die burgeroorlog gestig. ʼn Belangrike komponent van die studie was om te bepaal of hierdie ʼn kontekstuele, inheemse evangelisasiebeweging was. Bewyse van so ʼn beweging sal wees die teenwoordigheid van kerke in plaaslike dorpies, persoonlike en gemeenskapstransformasie wat met die kerk geassosieer word en reproduserende patrone met betrekking tot leierskap en kerkvestiging. Die evangelisasiebeweging was ʼn samewerkingspoging tussen die sendelinge en plaaslike agente wat gefasiliteer is deur politieke, sosiale en geestelike oorgangstadiums. Op grond hiervan, stel die proefskrif ʼn interpretatiewe model van evangelisasie voor om te dien as ʼn nuttige hulpmiddel om die omvang van evangelisasie te probeer verstaan. Uit hierdie studie kan daar duidelik gesien word dat evangelisasie ʼn onvolmaakte proses is, maar dat dieper vlakke van transformasie bewerkstellig kan word, namate die evangelie gekontekstualiseer word. Soos die apostel Paulus ook in die Handelinge van die Apostels opmerk, het die verspreiding van die evangelie onverstoord (soos in Handelinge 28:31) in Liberië voortgegaan. Dié onverstoorde wyse het egter nie die afwesigheid van hindernisse weerspieël nie en die voorwaartse beweging het plaasgevind danksy voortdrywing deur die Heilige Gees, deur die verkondiging van die blye boodskap van die evangelie van Jesus Christus, en as gevolg van plaaslike bemagtiging deur middel van die kontekstualisering van metodes, die boodskap en leierskap. Hierdie studie was evaluerend van aard en hou gevolge in vir die bewerkstelliging van sendingkundige strategieë, transkulturele begrip en kontekstuele evangelisasiemetodes.

Funded by Nellis Air Force Base (NAFB), my thesis research and analysis examined Native American knowledge of heritage foods and how diminished access to food resources has affected Native American identity and health. NAFB manages the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR), land and air space in southern Nevada, which includes Native American ancestral lands. During a research period of 3 months in the spring/summer of 2012, I interviewed members of Native American nations culturally affiliated with ancestral lands on the NTTR, the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah (PITU) and the Bishop Paiute Tribe. My research included participant observation and 31 interviews with tribal members considered knowledge holders by tribal leaders. In dialogue with the literature of the anthropology of food, political economy, and Critical Medical Anthropology, my analysis focused on the role of heritage foods in everyday consumption, taking into account the economic, social, environmental, and political factors influencing heritage foods access and diet. My work explored the effects of structural forces and rapid changes in diet and social conditions on Native American health. I found shifts in concepts of food-related identity across ethnic groups, tribes, ages, and genders. I also found evidence of collective efforts to improve diet-related health at tribal and community levels. Through the applied aspects of my research, participants and their families had the opportunity to share recipes and food dishes containing heritage foods as a way to promote human health and knowledge transmission.

This study aims to analyze the application of twentieth century sociologist George Mead's role theory to Henry VIII and Mary I, of Britain's Tudor Dynasty, regarding their treatment of their families during the early to mid-sixteenth century. Contemporary role theory can offer a useful lens to study sixteenth century royal family functionality through an analysis of Henry VIII and Mary I's lives as monarchs of England. Role theory can illuminate the role conflict that led to a separation between Henry and Mary as people and as sovereigns. Their roles, derived from traditional authority, set them apart as people and led them to behave in a way that would not have been true to their characters if they were not monarchs. The roles will therefore be given particular attention pertaining to family issues within a sixteenth century social, religious and political context. The findings of this study include an explanation of conflict with identity as well as a conflict with roles using transformation as the catalyst in the case of both of these monarchs. This study includes a qualitative content analysis, while also employing methods from the humanities to create a unique blend of methodology from both the social sciences and the field of history. This blend of methodology aids in creating a model to ensure further understanding of conflict analysis from a historical perspective.

In post-conflict settings real and imagined boundaries do a great deal to determine who is inside and who is outside of state-based narratives of peace and prosperity. Based on case studies in Rwanda and Northern Ireland, I provide an analysis of the post-conflict periods and the impact of neoliberal-styled governance on the dynamics of power. I argue that as power shifted, ‘peace’ also entailed a general social pacification, and prosperity equated to greater private profit. However, top-down social engineering has not contained the entire field of social struggle. I examine micro-level interventions taking place on the margins of mainstream discourse that trouble the moralizing state-narratives that seek to legitimate structural violence. Such spaces facilitate alternative values and practices that contribute to sustained social and cultural resilience, as well as forms of resistance. Post-conflict Rwanda and Northern Ireland have been impacted by both coercive and consensual forms of social engineering. In Rwanda, state-based framework laws and forceful regimes of local implementation rely on stark contingencies of reward and punishment to shape and control behaviour in the public sphere. In Northern Ireland, the power-sharing structure of the Belfast Agreement has reinforced ethnic politics, while depoliticizing and instrumentalizing civil society in support of its neoliberal policies. I present ethnographic research and interviews conducted with community organizations in Northern Ireland (Ikon) and Rwanda (Student Association of Genocide Survivors - AERG) that demonstrates how alternative discourses and practices are emerging in the cracks of these top-down systems. I explore Ikon’s use of creative performances and radical theology to create socially resonant cultural spaces that function as temporary autonomous zones. These TAZs unsettle aspects of individual identity while intentionally seeking to destabilize mainstream power dynamics. Unlike Ikon, AERG faces greater public scrutiny and higher political stakes. They demonstrate an adherence to the dominant social script in the public sphere, while exhibiting micro- level agency through trauma healing, and material support in private day-to-day practices. AERG’s performance in the public sphere creates temporary spaces of encounter that exceed the boundaries of official discourse, making their alternative presence felt while remaining illegible to the dominant surveillance frameworks.
Thesis (Ph.D, Cultural Studies) -- Queen's University, 2014-06-02 11:02:09.033

The thesis has to do with seriti in its tripartite manifestation that the researcher calls category A, B and C. Category A deals with oratory, wisdom, hospitality, kindness and generosity in the Northern Sotho's everyday interaction with other people. It also deals with ritual as part of strengthening the character of an individual. Category B deals with a human being in his/her interactions with ancestors who in turn end up conferring seriti upon him/her. Category C is the type of seriti that is almost antithetical to category A seriti. This type of seriti could be enhanced with the sole purpose of harming others or seeking unfair advantage over other people. Of the three types of seriti, the researcher argues that category C seriti is waning. In the case of category B, there is a rejection of traditional healers (who perform rituals which are required by ancestors), as well as other elements like protecting oneself with strong medicine which has to do with category C. This therefore means that category B is not rejected in totality. The chapter that deals with women and seriti takes into account the development of seriti from the past and present. Both the traditional concept of a woman and the modern one are accepted by all respondents. The idea of a woman working like a slave to please everyone is not gaining popularity. The traditional concept of a man is that he is a polygamist and a lover of many concubines. He produces many children who make up for the loss through warfare. A traditional man works in a group context and loves to possess many cattle. These traits are rejected by modern people who in turn think that a man with seriti works for his family, he is loved and respected, he loves his wife and believes in equality. The thesis proves that certain characteristics of category B and C are waning while category A seriti is getting popular. The fact that this is the case is encouraging for the development of an African Philosophy and Religion.
Religious Studies and Arabic
D. Litt. et Phil (Religious Studies)

Under debate is how 'outside' planners can best work with different cultures to ensure inclusion and participation. It is evident why in general planners need to expand their understanding of different cultures if they are to work with them effectively and appropriately, but not enough empirical research has been undertaken on what planners find they need to know in the specific context of working with First Nations. On the basis of a literature review and the author's own extensive experience with First Nations, seven areas of knowledge (themes) were identified as likely to be relevant to outside planners working with First Nations. These seven knowledge themes guided interviews with nine planners who were asked which of these kinds of knowledge they found useful when working with First Nations in western and northern Canada, and Alaska, particularly when facilitating participatory planning. The first six identified themes concern knowledge of First Nations' value and traditional knowledge systems; authority relations; social organization; communication processes; participation processes; and capacity for planning. The seventh theme is knowledge about effective methods that planners can employ to facilitate participatory relationships with First Nations communities and individuals. The findings from the interviews add to our understanding of what outside planners need to consider when they work with First Nations. The findings are particularly instructive in the theme areas of First Nations' communication and participation processes, and in the area of planner practice. It was also found that while the seven areas of knowledge are relevant to planners at all stages of working with First Nations, they are particularly important when planners and First Nations begin their planning relationship, when planners first enter a community, and when planners are helping communities to develop their planning processes. Research is now needed on what First Nations' individuals themselves think planners should know if they are to be effective in promoting culturally appropriate, inclusive, and participatory planning in First Nations settings.

This thesis explores and describes the lived world of the people inhabiting the Lelet Plateau in central New Ireland, Papua New Guinea. Its particular focus is embodiment and the forms of corporeal imagery in magical belief, interpreted from a perspective that draws on Bakhtin's dialogism and Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology. Bakhtin argues that dialogic relations extend far beyond dialogic speech in the narrow sense and are imbued in the entire realm of living thought. For him there is no unitary or self-constituting subject who exists in and by him or herself. I argue similarly for a relational or dialogical theory of personhood which sees the person as constituted in the social world, in relations with others. Among the Lelet sociality is crucial in defining humanness. I follow Merleau-Ponty in seeing the subject as embodied, and suggest that the consciousness of the Lelet person is not radically separated from bodily being, as it is in modem western thought, but is integrally bound up with it. The Lelet person is very much a body-subject whose consciousness of self as acting subject is integrally connected to the corporeal component of his or her being. I draw on the insights of Merleau-Ponty to elaborate a theory of the body which points to the significance of movement and action as the basis of intentionality. I argue that the movement of the body in action is central to the Lelet imagination because it is integral to the constitution of the person. The immobile state of the sitting body is opposed to the more mobile state of movement in numerous contexts. Throughout, I explore the polyvalent meanings of such bodily images and the ways in which they are reconfigured in different contexts. The body, thus, is the medium through which the Lelet construct personhood and identity. Because of this, power relations are often concerned with the body. The renown of a person is dependent on the processes of value creation in which bodily power or bodily movement are transformed into products which are then circulated and exchanged with others. Because the body is central to the constitution of the person and the creation of value it is the target for those who seek to attack or control others.

Text in English
In a diachronic and multi-sited study that extended from 2004 through 2012/2013 I deconstructed the sociocultural dynamics of relocating farm graves from the farm Zevenfontein in northern peri-urban Johannesburg. The graves at the focus of the study were some seventy-six graves removed from a northern portion of the farm in 2004 for a huge development project that commenced construction in 2010, and other graves removed in the 1980s from portions of the farm developed for residential estates in the 1990s. The study explored the people who dwelt on the farm and created the graveyards, the religious processes entailed in relocating the mortal remains of ancestors, the mortuary processes of exhuming and reburying ancestors, the disputations between and negotiating processes of landowners and grave owners, and the demands and demonstrations by farm workers and dwellers seeking redress for past human and cultural rights infringements. Although the topic of farm graves is well-referenced in land claims and sense of place discourses and is not in itself a new topic, this study provides original and in-depth information and insight on the broader picture of ancestral graves and their relocation, including the structuring of a community and its leaders and followers, it suggests answers to the question as to whether ancestral graves/graveyards can successfully and functionally be relocated. Not only are religious aspects examined in the study, but also the sociopolitical and economic dimensions of relocating graves are fully scrutinised in the context of farm workers and dwellers’ political awareness of and astuteness to the social and economic potential of farm graves and their relocation.
Anthropology and Archaeology
M.A. (Anthropology)

Vitayatprapaiphan Nongyao.
Thesis submitted in: June 2004.
Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91-96).
Abstracts in English and Chinese.
Abstract --- p.i
Acknowledgements --- p.1
Preface --- p.4
Chapter 1. --- Introduction - Knowing the Akha
Chapter a. --- Background --- p.10
Chapter b. --- Problems the Akha People are Facing --- p.16
Chapter c. --- Government Policy Towards the Akha and Hill Tribes in Northern Thailand --- p.22
Chapter d. --- The Impact of Government Policy on the Akha People --- p.27
Chapter e. --- Rituals and the Beliefs of the Akha --- p.30
Chapter 2. --- The Traditional Musical Life of the Akha --- p.33
Chapter 3. --- The Impact of Christianity on Akha Life and Musical Life --- p.38
Chapter 4. --- The Impact of Tourism on Akha Life and Musical Life --- p.56
Chapter 5. --- Prospects for the Traditional Musical Life of the Akha --- p.65
Chapter 6. --- Conclusion --- p.73
Appendix I: Figures --- p.82
Appendix II: Musical Examples --- p.89
Bibliography --- p.91

The dissertation tries to explain why most of the Bapedi people do not feel free to speak their language when they are among other communities. It explains why the speakers of the so-called ‘inferior’ dialects of the Limpopo Province have an inferiority complex while the speakers of the ‘superior’ dialects are confident when speaking their dialects. The standardisation of the Northern Sotho Language Board and the missionary activities within the Bapedi communities led to the creation of 'superior' and ‘inferior’ dialects. A detailed discussion is presented of the social rural and urban varieties, which found in Bapedi culture. Some of these varieties are kept secret and therefore are unknown to the public; and others, which are not secretive in nature. The use of language and the impact of language contact between languages is discussed.
African Languages
M.A. (African Languages)

Witchcraft discourse in South Africa has increasingly permeated all social structures, thereby becoming a real threat to the process of reconstruction and development. The neglect of witchcraft accusations and their resultant consequences can cause the country to lose all it gained as a result of the liberation struggle. In this study I examine the historical developments of witchcraft accusations around the world in general, and in South Africa in particular as well as the threats they pose to society. I analyse five broad areas: 1) The inborn h tendency to scapegoat; jealousy; and the role religion plays in the escalation of these problems; 2) The African world-view and its consequences on interpersonal relationships; 3) Colonial and missionary attempts to suppress the African world-view; 4) Ways and means of containing the conflicts arising from the witchcraft problem; and 5) Summary of findings. The research was occasioned by the untold suffering victims of witchcraft accusations have to undergo in the three Northern Provinces of South Africa. Because of the cruelty and misery such accusations cause the poor people of these rural provinces urgent attention is needed to contain them, especially since such accusations have not diminished despite all governmental efforts to curtail them. At the centre of witchcraft accusations there are stress, hatred, vindictiveness, and aspirations to become famous. The fear that one may be victimised by either being accused of witchcraft or being bewitched is very real even today. The relevance of the study is apparent when one considers the feelings of helplessness that paralyses the opponent of this carnage, such as government and the churches. A number of resources should thus be employed to counter would be put into it. This threat which is aggravated by the abject poverty prevalent in the rural communities of the three Provinces. The prevailing conditions of abject poverty play a definite role in the creation, promotion and escalation of the scourge. Policy makers should therefore have clear grasp of the extent to which poverty has influence on society in any effort to contain witchcraft accusations. I conclude the study by ~ecommending transformational paths to the Government, NonGovernmental Organisations and other Community Leaders to follow in attending to improve the lot of the poor. This is done by highlighting ten findings that emerged during the study. The findings were the result of analyses of archival records, literature and case studies on witchcraft accusations. Because the subject of witchcraft is so wide and emotive I have employed several sociological and anthropological theories to cover as wide a field as possible. The incorporation of so many theoretical approaches into the study presents on interpretive and analytical explanation of the causes, effects and containment of witchcraft accusations. The overall conclusion is encapsulated by the title of the study Moloi ga a na mmala (A witch has no colour). A witch remains unidentifiable, but witch-hunters and sniffers know how to identify their witches. Although the process remains paradoxical, it is practised on a daily basis.
Religious Studies & Arabic
D.Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies)