Browsing Faculty of Arts by Title
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Hart, Genevieve (Elsevier, 2010)[more][less]
Abstract: Job satisfaction was investigated at a South African university library undergoing change on many fronts. The study included 31 members of staff and the data were gathered via interviews/questionnaires, informed by standard HRM job satisfaction theory. The study found a “love–hate” relationship between respondents and their work. The key positive finding is that 61% report overall job satisfaction—with the core work of an academic library, providing for the information needs of clients, the source. However, only 51% claim to be proud to work at their library and 50% are open to other job offers. Causes for the restlessness include a sense of stagnation, frustration with inadequate resources, and anger at poor remuneration. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10566/252 Files in this item: 1
HartJobSatisfaction2010.pdf (1.839Mb) -
Conradie, Ernst (Stellenbosch University, 2008)[more][less]
Abstract: This essay reconstructs the way in which Jürgen Moltmann tells the story of God’s work. This is done on the basis of a review essay by Douglas Farrow who identifies a neo-Platonic structure in Moltmann’s systematic contributions to theology. The argument of this essay is that Moltmann fails to distinguish adequately between creation and fall. This has significant implications for his understanding of salvation, church and eschatological consummation. In this way theology becomes preoccupied with the doctrine of providence and thus with the theodicy problem. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10566/384 Files in this item: 1
ConradieMoltmann2008.pdf (136.6Kb) -
Wotshela, Luvoyo (Univ. of Fort Hare) (Published by History Dept, University of the Western Cape, 2009)[more][less]
Abstract: Since its initiation, South Africaʼs post-apartheid land reform programme has generated extensive analysis and critique that in turn has yielded a body of scholarship. Discussion revolves around the official policy of the programme, the challenges associated with its implementation and its reception at local levels. It cannot be overstated that much of the discourse on the formulation of the programme itself commenced in the dying years of apartheid, through a series of workshops, policy conferences, research projects and publications. Prompted by glaring disparities in the countryʼs social and living conditions and primarily by entrenched imbalanced landownership, contemporary land reform dialogue has a well-built backdrop. What, however, is our understanding of local community politics that played perceptible roles in triggering land redistribution and facilitating patterns of settlement? This article gives some insight into a veiled history of interplay between community mobilisation politics, governance and official land reform policy in the Lukhanji municipality of the Eastern Cape during South Africaʼs transitional years of 1995 to 2006. After outlining how land redistribution was initially driven by forces operating outside government action, the article proceeds to illustrate the frailty of the government land redistribution accomplishment. Moreover, it demonstrates the complex nature of a rural setting that has arisen from community-facilitated and incipient government land redistribution achievements in the area. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10566/103 Files in this item: 1
WotshelaLand2009.pdf (520.8Kb) -
Bock, Zannie (Taylor & Francis, 2008)[more][less]
Abstract: This paper explores how two testifiers at the Human Rights Violation hearings of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1996 used selected markers of evaluation (shifts in tense, the inclusion of direct speech and code-switching) to express evaluative meanings and position themselves, the police and their audiences in relation to their narratives. Both testifiers are mothers of young activists who were pursued, detained and tortured by police in the 1980s. The paper argues that it is through the subtle though significant linguistic choices the women make that their perspective is construed and their 'narrative truth' realized. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10566/267 Files in this item: 1
Bock_Language2008.pdf (555.2Kb) -
Holdridge, Christopher (University of Cape Town) (Published by History Department, University of the Western Cape, 2010)[more][less]
Abstract: This article examines Sam Sly’s African Journal (1843–51), a literary and satirical newspaper published by William Layton Sammons in Cape Town. It contends that the newspaper utilised satire to forge British cultural affinity in the colony, as well as to encourage and preserve the conservative social boundaries of propriety and family values espoused by white middle-class colonists. This differed from the more widely studied position of satire as a subversive challenge to the established order, with Sammons avoiding sexually explicit, scandalous humour or overt attacks on personal character. In a period of growing white consensus, the African Journal’s use of satire in the 1840s formed part of the cultural politics of establishing bourgeois values through the medium of appreciation of British literature and popular culture. Satire in Sam Sly’s African Journal thus functioned ideologically to extend British cultural dominance and affinities, and to preserve and instil white bourgeois moral codes. Although much satire was shorn of the racial reality of the Cape Colony, seeking to replicate an impression of metropolitan whiteness, those satires that focused on race derided the Khoikhoi and Xhosa as incapable of achieving equality with whites, drawing on growing anti-humanitarian sentiment in the Cape. The African Journal’s popularity, however, diminished in the face of the anti-convict agitation of 1848–50, when colonists opposed the landing of ticket-of-leave convicts from Ireland as an impediment to the goal of representative government, through petitions and boycotting supplying to the government. Satirising these measures as a radical betrayal of British loyalty, Sammons’s support dwindled owing to his criticism of popular feeling. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10566/206 Files in this item: 1
HoldridgeLaughing2010.pdf (4.079Mb) -
Hart, Genevieve (Bibliotek I Samhalle (BIS), 2002)[more][less]
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Clowes, Lindsay (Routledge, 2008)[more][less]
Abstract: In this article I discuss some of the ways in which Drum tended to ascribe ‘modernity’ to particular practices and processes in opposition to other practices and processes portrayed as ‘traditional’. In mid-twentieth-century South Africa, dominant discourses tended to signal (white) male adulthood through independent decision making alongside financial autonomy. In contrast African discourses tended to signal male adulthood through proximity to family members, through respect for age and seniority and through deference to the praxis of ‘tradition’. In the representations of black men in its pages, Drum magazine negotiated a somewhat disorderly path through these competing racialised discourses. I suggest that Drum’s claim that black males were indeed men was made through highlighting and condoning practices that demonstrated similarities and continuities between subordinate black and dominant white versions of manhood. In challenging the racial discourse the magazine paradoxically found itself simultaneously reinforcing western rather than African versions of manhood. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10566/132 Files in this item: 1
ClowesMasculinity2008.pdf (696.3Kb) -
Clowes, Lindsay (HSRC Press, 2006)[more][less]
Abstract: This chapter explores changing representations of fatherhood and masculinity in Drum magazine over the course of the 1950s. In the early 1950s men were portrayed in close proximity to their children and adult masculinities were tied to being a father. Over the course of the 1950s this changed such that by the 1960s adult masculinities were portrayed outside the home and disconnected and distinct from their offspring. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10566/133 Files in this item: 1
ClowesFatherhood2006.pdf (287.7Kb) -
Conradie, Ernst (Wiley-Blackwell, 2005)[more][less]
Abstract: This essay builds on the conference on “Mission in the 21th century: New models and strategies in a world of diversity” held in Livingstone, Zambia from 25 March to 1 April 2004. It offers some background to the tension between mission as “evangelism” and as “development” which was addressed at this conference. It then describes some of the insights emerging from this conference, with specific reference to the description of mission as “crying and struggling with others to live today with dignity.” It provides some perspectives on this description on the basis of an exegesis of the second half of the Lord's prayer. The conclusion to the essay suggests that further reflection is required on the relationship between soteriology and missiology. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10566/385 Files in this item: 1
ConradieLordsPrayer2005.pdf (171.6Kb) -
Conradie, Ernst (Stellenbosch University, 2011)[more][less]
Abstract: This contribution explores John Calvin's position on natural theology. The point of departure is not so much the much discussed notions of a sensus divinitatis or of the semen religionis, but the role played by the human senses in coming to knowledge of God in the first place. How can God's presence be recognised? How can human language (that which is natural), from below, express the inexpressible? How is it possible to speak of God in the first place? This article suggests that Calvin's remarkably sophisticated understanding of signification is the clue to respond to these questions. His position is discussed on the basis of the reading strategy of catena and commentary. The author finally offers some concluding observations on the relationship between signifier, signified and referent in human language about God. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10566/388 Files in this item: 1
ConradieNaturalTheology2011.pdf (59.27Kb) -
Hart, Genevieve (Library and Information Association of South Africa, 2010)[more][less]
Abstract: The article reflects on a case study of a group of six school-based dual use libraries in rural South Africa – focusing specifically on their community role. Its starting point is the library and information services (LIS) Transformation Charter’s vision of public libraries that play a meaningful role in the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals. The study employed a mix of data gathering methodologies – interviews, observation and analysis of documents. The key question that emerges from the study relates to the rather low usage of the libraries by the adults in the surrounding villages. All six libraries claim to provide “access” but it is not clear what they provide access to. The study suggests that a sharper focus on their community information services is required. More leadership, staff education and focused programming might enable the libraries to fulfil their exciting potential. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10566/250 Files in this item: 1
HartNewVision2010.pdf (192.3Kb) -
Nasson, Bill (Stellenbosch University) (Published by History Dept, University of the Western Cape, 2009)[more][less]
Abstract: This review essay explores the racial and social divides that have permeated cricket in South Africa. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10566/105 Files in this item: 1
NassonCricket2009.pdf (131.5Kb) -
Raju, Reggie; Witbooi, Sally; Goosen, Annamarie (Library & Information Association of South Africa, 2012)[more][less]
Abstract: The road to acquiring statutory status for the Library and Information Services (LIS) sector in South Africa has been traversed numerous times over the last sixty to seventy years. In more recent years, there has been renewed vigour to explore the acquisition of statutory status for the sector in South Africa. As part of this process of acquiring statutory status, a number of studies have been conducted. This paper examines the latest drive by the Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA) to solicit the views of a cross section of LIS personnel with regard to the sector acquiring statutory status. This issue of the acquisition of statutory status is earmarked as a priority in the recently developed Strategic Directions 2010-2014 document of LIASA. At the 2009 LIASA Conference, a clear mandate was given for a national survey to be conducted to solicit the views of personnel that work in the LIS sector with regard to the said issue. The authors administered a short questionnaire to a sample population representing all categories of staff irrespective of whether they belonged to an association or not. The questionnaire was administered using Survey Monkey. This paper reports the results of that survey. Given the overwhelming support for the acquisition of statutory status, the authors examined significant elements that would need to be crafted into the governance structures of a statutory body for the sector. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10566/557 Files in this item: 1
RajuStatutoryStatus2012.pdf (670.6Kb) -
Hart, Genevieve; Mfazo, Ncumisa (Library and Information Association of South Africa, 2010)[more][less]
Abstract: The article reports on an investigation of the provision of gay and lesbian literature and of information services to gays and lesbians in Cape Town’s public libraries. Although by definition public libraries serve all members of a community, the international literature suggests that they neglect the reading and information needs and interests of gays and lesbians. The progressive South African Constitution views the rights of gays and lesbians as human rights; yet homophobia is prevalent. Using a questionnaire, the study explored attitudes and practices of 69 senior librarians, responsible for collection development, across all six of Cape Town’s library districts. The situation was found to be “spotty” with only 26 respondents believing that their library service is meeting the needs of gays and lesbians. The survey found contradictions between stated beliefs and behaviours. Thus, although most agree that LGBT rights to information and equal services are human rights, only 55% consider LGBT people in their selection procedures and very little material is acquired. Information services are thin with, for example, only 10% of the libraries in the survey providing LGBT related information in their community information files. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10566/251 Files in this item: 1
HartPlacesForAll2010.pdf (233.3Kb) -
Hart, Genevieve (LIASA Forum Press, 2004)[more][less]
Abstract: The paper explores the impact of educational change in South Africa on public libraries. It surveys the recent literature to conclude that the position of school libraries is precarious and that public librarians feel victimised by the new curriculum. This represents a puzzling contradiction, as librarians’ expectations were that the ethos and methodologies of the new curriculum, Curriculum 2005 (C2005), would provide a more favourable climate. The curriculum has indeed brought increased use of public libraries by school learners yet there has been little recognition in official quarters of the educational role of public libraries. It is suggested that, if librarians are to gain a better footing in curriculum planning, they need to engage with educationists as to the role libraries play in resource-based learning. They will need to provide documented evidence by means of research studies. As an example of such a study, the paper describes the author’s study of school learners’ use of two public libraries in a disadvantaged community in Cape Town. The libraries were found to be playing a crucial role in the learning programme of the learners. However, it is suggested that the two libraries need to design more systematic structured programmes if the needs of school learners for information literacy education are to be met. This might require explicit endorsement of their educational role by their own governance structures and the provincial Education Department. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10566/441 Files in this item: 1
HartPublicLibraries2004.pdf (240.5Kb) -
Zinn, Sandy (Library and Information Association of South Africa, 2009)[more][less]
Abstract: E-learning has come of age in South African higher education but scepticism, caution and an inadequate reward system for innovative teaching methods have resulted in a slow uptake by academics. Within this milieu the author pioneered a course in the ACE School Librarianship programme. The study describes the e-learning experiences of the course participants gleaned from questionnaire responses to questions related to experiences of ICTs, the Internet and online learning, ability to navigate the e-learning environment, utilization of elements of the learning management system and implementation of course ideas in their respective schools and personal lives. The study also provides an opportunity for the author to reflect on her pioneering experiences with e-learning and how she would approach it differently next time. The main lessons learned were that 1) the e-learning environment is not necessarily intuitive and participants need opportunities to digest novel features such as the discussion forum; 2) several of the advantages and disadvantages of e-learning that appear in the research literature are identified in this study; and 3) setting up an e-learning course is best achieved incrementally. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10566/526 Files in this item: 1
ZinnE-learning2009.pdf (350.4Kb) -
Langenhoven, Belinda; Dyssel, Michael (Springer, 2007)[more][less]
Abstract: The article reflects the findings of a survey undertaken in Mitchell’s Plain and presents a case study of the factors that impact recycle-related employment tendencies and opportunities in the area of the Cape Flats in South Africa. The article states recycling also has advantages for the creation of formal and informal employment and it can be enhanced with the encouragement of local authorities through incentives URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10566/542 Files in this item: 1
LangenhovenMitchellsPlain2007.pdf (978.8Kb) -
Clowes, Lindsay; Lazarus, Sandy; Ratele, Kopano (Medical Research Council, Tygerberg, 2010)[more][less]
Abstract: This article reports on a study that sought to elicit the views of male university students on risk and protective factors to male interpersonal violence. The participants were 116 third-year students who participated in a final year research project in the Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS) Programme at the University of Western Cape (UWC). Each of the students conducted six semistructured face to face interviews with male students. Following initial analyses of the interviews, a video-recorded class discussion was held to discuss the research findings. The data from the class discussion was captured under the four levels of individual, relationship, community and society, utilised by the World Health organization (WHO) in its World Health Report on Violence and Health. The analysis of the class discussion and the students’ own research reports revealed that at the individual level, risk and protective factors primarily revolve around the challenges of constructing a viable masculinity in specific social and economic contexts; at the relationship level, the key factors appear to be the experiences and expectations around gender roles and family dynamics; at the community level, it seems that weak or non-existent community networks and activities feed into increasing the risk of male community members becoming involved in violence. Each of these three levels needs to be understood against the historically specific backdrop of the societal ecological level: the gendered cultural values expressed in and reflectedby the wider social, economic and political contexts. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10566/170 Files in this item: 1
ClowesRisk&Protective2010.pdf (869.8Kb) -
Hayes, Patricia (Wiley - Blackwell Publishing, 2009)[more][less]
Abstract: Born in 1956, Santu Mofokeng formed part of the Afrapix Collective that engaged in exposé and documentary photography of anti-apartheid resistance and social conditions during the 1980s in South Africa. However, Mofokeng was an increasingly important internal critic of mainstream photojournalism, and of the ways black South Africans were represented in the bigger international picture economy during the political struggle. Eschewing scenes of violence and the third-party view of white-on-black brutality in particular, he began his profound explorations of the everyday and spiritual dimensions of African life, both in the city and in the countryside. His formal techniques favor “fictions” that contain smoke, mist, and other matters and techniques that occlude rather than expose. Using angularity and ambivalence, he also ruptures realist expectations and allows space for the uncanny and the supernatural. He works with the notion of seriti (a northern seSotho term encompassing aura, shadow, power, essence, and many other things). The essay follows strands in Mofokeng’s writings and statements in relation to certain of his photographs, most recently repositioned in the substantial 2007 exhibition Invoice, to argue that he has pushed for a desecularization and Africanization of photography from the 1980s to the present. In more recent work the scourge of apartheid has been replaced by the HIV/AIDS virus, a mutation of nature, exacerbating the spiritual insecurities of many people in postapartheid South Africa. The essay concludes that Mofokeng’s work poses a critique of the parallel paradigms of Marxist-influenced social history and documentary photography in 1980s South Africa, both still highly influential, by attempting to reinsert aura (seriti) into photography and by highlighting what secular Marxism has concealed and proscribed. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10566/559 Files in this item: 1
HayesSantuMofokeng2009.pdf (660.2Kb) -
Hart, Genevieve (2012)[more][less]
Abstract: South Africa is a youthful society with 54% younger than 24 years. South African young people face disproportionately high rates of unemployment, HIV-AIDS infection, and violent crime. Even in post-apartheid South Africa, the disparities between the historically white and black sectors of schooling are still evident. The implications of the “youth bulge” for South African librarianship are clear. However, public and school libraries face daunting challenges. Fewer than 10% of schools have functioning school libraries and millions of South Africans do not have access to public libraries. Clearly innovative models of service must be found to reach more than the current tiny minority of library users. The paper reports on two case studies of community library services: one a group of dual-use libraries set up in six remote schools as public library “outreach”, and the second a so-called “satellite” library in a township on the outskirts of Cape Town. Their environments and operations are very different; but what they have in common is a willingness to break down conventional barriers and to move into fresh ground. The paper argues that they point to new models of service which, by moving beyond the concept of “outreach”, offer solutions to developing new kinds of library services in South Africa and perhaps in other countries with similar challenges. The sites might well fall short of rigorous international standards but both are imaginative attempts to meet the needs of young South Africans. Description: Paper presented at the Libraries for young people: Breaking through boundaries, IFLA section libraries for children and young adults, Joensuu, Finland, 9-10 August 2012 URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10566/451 Files in this item: 1
HartIFLA2012.pdf (203.7Kb)