The hidden colonialities of mobile communication: Phone uses by women in a South African rural community
- Authors: Dalvit, Lorenzo
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/468239 , vital:77035 , ISBN 9781003304197 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003304197-5/hidden-colonialities-mobile-communication-lorenzo-dalvit
- Description: This chapter discusses the experiences and uses of mobile phones by women from Dwesa, a rural area in the former homeland of Transkei in South Africa. While representative of many similar rural realities in terms of poverty, internal migration, and lack of infrastructure, Dwesa is the site of an ICT-for-development project called the Siyakhula Living Lab. A decade and a half worth of multidisciplinary research and an intense working relationship with the community provide the scope for understanding the arrival, uptake, and adoption of mobile communication in a marginalized rural area. Local women often stood out as a particularly interesting group, for example, as information and communication technology champions in the community. The empirical component of this chapter draws on four individual interviews to explore the potentially problematic sides of mobile communication. In particular, the chapter employs the theoretical lens of coloniality to interrogate the oppressive potential of mobile phones in terms of gender relationships, negotiating gendered identities and interacting with institutions in a still largely patriarchal milieu.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
- Authors: Dalvit, Lorenzo
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/468239 , vital:77035 , ISBN 9781003304197 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003304197-5/hidden-colonialities-mobile-communication-lorenzo-dalvit
- Description: This chapter discusses the experiences and uses of mobile phones by women from Dwesa, a rural area in the former homeland of Transkei in South Africa. While representative of many similar rural realities in terms of poverty, internal migration, and lack of infrastructure, Dwesa is the site of an ICT-for-development project called the Siyakhula Living Lab. A decade and a half worth of multidisciplinary research and an intense working relationship with the community provide the scope for understanding the arrival, uptake, and adoption of mobile communication in a marginalized rural area. Local women often stood out as a particularly interesting group, for example, as information and communication technology champions in the community. The empirical component of this chapter draws on four individual interviews to explore the potentially problematic sides of mobile communication. In particular, the chapter employs the theoretical lens of coloniality to interrogate the oppressive potential of mobile phones in terms of gender relationships, negotiating gendered identities and interacting with institutions in a still largely patriarchal milieu.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
The nexus between COVID-19 and sexual and reproductive health of adolescents: Bringing adolescents ‘home’
- Kangaude, Godfrey, Macleod, Catriona I
- Authors: Kangaude, Godfrey , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/434171 , vital:73036 , ISBN 9781032671420 , https://www.routledge.com/COVID-19-and-the-Right-to-Health-in-Africa/Durojaye-Mahadew/p/book/9781032671420?_ga=1281847179.1711584000
- Description: The devastating impact of the COVID-19 virus is well-documented. The disease was less severe among young people than in the older population. The effect on adolescents was primarily due to government measures to curb the pandemic, including lockdowns that disrupted social, education, and health services and diverted resources away from sexual and reproductive health. Young people lost or had limited access to sexual and reproductive health services and comprehensive sexuality education. They experienced the loss of financial and emotional support and parental care because of sick adults and caregivers. Young persons also lost time with friends and in developmental tasks associated with adolescence, such as exploring intimate relationships and forming identities outside the home. Government-imposed lockdowns and isolation measures revealed how being home can be problematic for young people, despite the concept of ‘home’ suggesting safety, security, and nurturance. Of particular concern were sexual and gender-based violence in the home and the increase in teenage pregnancies. In this chapter, we engage with the notion of home and how all institutions with which the adolescent interacts, especially family and school, should be a ‘home’: A place of belonging and acceptance because adolescence is a critical time for the emergence of sexual identity.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
- Authors: Kangaude, Godfrey , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/434171 , vital:73036 , ISBN 9781032671420 , https://www.routledge.com/COVID-19-and-the-Right-to-Health-in-Africa/Durojaye-Mahadew/p/book/9781032671420?_ga=1281847179.1711584000
- Description: The devastating impact of the COVID-19 virus is well-documented. The disease was less severe among young people than in the older population. The effect on adolescents was primarily due to government measures to curb the pandemic, including lockdowns that disrupted social, education, and health services and diverted resources away from sexual and reproductive health. Young people lost or had limited access to sexual and reproductive health services and comprehensive sexuality education. They experienced the loss of financial and emotional support and parental care because of sick adults and caregivers. Young persons also lost time with friends and in developmental tasks associated with adolescence, such as exploring intimate relationships and forming identities outside the home. Government-imposed lockdowns and isolation measures revealed how being home can be problematic for young people, despite the concept of ‘home’ suggesting safety, security, and nurturance. Of particular concern were sexual and gender-based violence in the home and the increase in teenage pregnancies. In this chapter, we engage with the notion of home and how all institutions with which the adolescent interacts, especially family and school, should be a ‘home’: A place of belonging and acceptance because adolescence is a critical time for the emergence of sexual identity.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
The Price of Simplicity: Skewed and Regressive Taxation in Accra’s Informal Sector
- Anyidoho, Nana A, Gallien, Max, Rogan, Michael, Van den Boogaard, Vanessa
- Authors: Anyidoho, Nana A , Gallien, Max , Rogan, Michael , Van den Boogaard, Vanessa
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/478073 , vital:78152 , ISBN , DOI: 10.19088/ICTD.2024.044
- Description: International and domestic policymakers have long assumed that informal economies represent an ‘untapped goldmine’ for government coffers. While recent research has highlighted that many informal businesses do pay a range of formal and informal taxes, there has, to date, been little systematic account of their tax burdens. Using a novel dataset of 2,700 informal enterprises in the Accra metropolitan area, we explore the nature and impact of taxation in the informal sector. We find that the majority of informal sector operators pay a range of taxes and fees, which together amount to a significant burden, especially for low earners. These payments are skewed and regressive. Two additional findings emerge in relation to the structure of these taxes. First, the incidence and burden of tax payments is strongly correlated with visibility to the state. Second, taxes and fees are highly regressive, with lower-earning operators paying significantly more in relation to their earnings. These findings have important implications for efforts to tax informal businesses in low- and middle- income countries. The regressivity of efforts to tax the informal sector is often framed as a price worth paying for simplicity. Our study provides both an estimation of this ‘price’, and an underlying argument for collecting this kind of data on taxation of informal enterprises in order to assess real policy impacts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
- Authors: Anyidoho, Nana A , Gallien, Max , Rogan, Michael , Van den Boogaard, Vanessa
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/478073 , vital:78152 , ISBN , DOI: 10.19088/ICTD.2024.044
- Description: International and domestic policymakers have long assumed that informal economies represent an ‘untapped goldmine’ for government coffers. While recent research has highlighted that many informal businesses do pay a range of formal and informal taxes, there has, to date, been little systematic account of their tax burdens. Using a novel dataset of 2,700 informal enterprises in the Accra metropolitan area, we explore the nature and impact of taxation in the informal sector. We find that the majority of informal sector operators pay a range of taxes and fees, which together amount to a significant burden, especially for low earners. These payments are skewed and regressive. Two additional findings emerge in relation to the structure of these taxes. First, the incidence and burden of tax payments is strongly correlated with visibility to the state. Second, taxes and fees are highly regressive, with lower-earning operators paying significantly more in relation to their earnings. These findings have important implications for efforts to tax informal businesses in low- and middle- income countries. The regressivity of efforts to tax the informal sector is often framed as a price worth paying for simplicity. Our study provides both an estimation of this ‘price’, and an underlying argument for collecting this kind of data on taxation of informal enterprises in order to assess real policy impacts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
The Public Intellectualism of Stephen Chifunyise: Crafting an African-Inspired Theatre Praxis
- Authors: Sibanda, Nkululeko
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/469645 , vital:77275 , https://doi.org/10.1080/10137548.2024.2428589
- Description: This paper deploys Brouwer and Squires’ (2003) [Public intellectuals, public life, and the university. Argumentation and Advocacy, 39 (3), 201–213] concepts of ‘breadth’, ‘site/ location’ and ‘legitimacy’ as conceptual categories to frame and examine Stephen Chifunyise’s artistic and cultural practice of public intellectualism. Stephen Chifunyise’s artistic and cultural work spanned decades, working in Zimbabwe and Zambia, the academy and industry, and taking up consultancy and administration positions in government. This paper explores how this work by Chifunyise positions him as a public intellectual who shaped policy, ideological, epistemological and ontological foundations for cultural work, artistic training and development at the tertiary level, and policy formulation at a regional and continental level. This paper draws from several plays and theatre scripts, published research papers and policy documents to highlight the breadth, location and legitimacy of Chifunyise’s public intellectualism in Zimbabwe and Africa. This paper further submits that Chifunyise’s public intellectualism is located in how he uses his experiences in telling stories that speak to his environment and that of his publics’ lived existence, ways of experiencing and seeing and locatedness in the ‘village’.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
- Authors: Sibanda, Nkululeko
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/469645 , vital:77275 , https://doi.org/10.1080/10137548.2024.2428589
- Description: This paper deploys Brouwer and Squires’ (2003) [Public intellectuals, public life, and the university. Argumentation and Advocacy, 39 (3), 201–213] concepts of ‘breadth’, ‘site/ location’ and ‘legitimacy’ as conceptual categories to frame and examine Stephen Chifunyise’s artistic and cultural practice of public intellectualism. Stephen Chifunyise’s artistic and cultural work spanned decades, working in Zimbabwe and Zambia, the academy and industry, and taking up consultancy and administration positions in government. This paper explores how this work by Chifunyise positions him as a public intellectual who shaped policy, ideological, epistemological and ontological foundations for cultural work, artistic training and development at the tertiary level, and policy formulation at a regional and continental level. This paper draws from several plays and theatre scripts, published research papers and policy documents to highlight the breadth, location and legitimacy of Chifunyise’s public intellectualism in Zimbabwe and Africa. This paper further submits that Chifunyise’s public intellectualism is located in how he uses his experiences in telling stories that speak to his environment and that of his publics’ lived existence, ways of experiencing and seeing and locatedness in the ‘village’.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
The Sociolinguistics of South African Television: Language Ideologies in Selected Case Studies
- Authors: Aiseng, Kealeboga
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/455397 , vital:75427 , ISBN 978-3-031-54914-4 , DOI: 10.4018/979-8-3693-0477-8.ch021
- Description: This book explores the interwoven relationship between language, media, and society in post-Apartheid South Africa. The author examines selected case studies from the sociolinguistic landscape of South African television, analysing dominant language ideologies and illuminating the challenges, opportunities, and potential for transformation. He argues for the power of television in shaping language ideologies, fostering cultural understanding, and advocating for more inclusive and equitable language usage in the media. This book contributes to the field of sociolinguistics by emphasizing the complexity of multilingualism in South Africa and inviting ongoing exploration and dialogue in this landscape. It will be of interest to students and scholars of Sociolinguistics, Media Studies, African Culture and History, and Language Policy and Planning.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
- Authors: Aiseng, Kealeboga
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/455397 , vital:75427 , ISBN 978-3-031-54914-4 , DOI: 10.4018/979-8-3693-0477-8.ch021
- Description: This book explores the interwoven relationship between language, media, and society in post-Apartheid South Africa. The author examines selected case studies from the sociolinguistic landscape of South African television, analysing dominant language ideologies and illuminating the challenges, opportunities, and potential for transformation. He argues for the power of television in shaping language ideologies, fostering cultural understanding, and advocating for more inclusive and equitable language usage in the media. This book contributes to the field of sociolinguistics by emphasizing the complexity of multilingualism in South Africa and inviting ongoing exploration and dialogue in this landscape. It will be of interest to students and scholars of Sociolinguistics, Media Studies, African Culture and History, and Language Policy and Planning.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
Transdisciplinary curriculum design for sustainability transitions: A reflective dialogue
- Olvitt, Lausanne L, Davies, Megan, Ebrahim, A’ishah I, Cockburn, Jessica J
- Authors: Olvitt, Lausanne L , Davies, Megan , Ebrahim, A’ishah I , Cockburn, Jessica J
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480673 , vital:78465 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/ejc-sajsci-v120-n9-a23
- Description: Inter- and transdisciplinary curricula can potentially develop an integrated understanding of an increasingly interconnected, complex world and develop students' agency, empathy, creativity and critical thinking skills. Within the South African qualification landscape, the Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) is identified as a multior interdisciplinary qualification that allows working professionals 'to undertake advanced reflection and development by means of a systematic survey of current thinking, practice and research methods in an area of specialisation'. In this paper, four academics reflexively share their experiences of (re)developing and piloting transdisciplinary curricula for the PGDip in Sustainable Development (at Stellenbosch University) and the PGDip in Sustainability Learning (at Rhodes University). Reflections centre around the rationale, context and emergence of the two programmes, their structure and intended learning outcomes, and principles guiding the overall curriculum design. We highlight the appropriateness of transdisciplinary approaches to curricula focused on the sustainability field, and it distils three broad features of the two PGDip programmes that seem important - even necessary - for developing students' competencies as sustainability practitioners. These are ontological groundedness, epistemological openness and ethical attentiveness.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
- Authors: Olvitt, Lausanne L , Davies, Megan , Ebrahim, A’ishah I , Cockburn, Jessica J
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480673 , vital:78465 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/ejc-sajsci-v120-n9-a23
- Description: Inter- and transdisciplinary curricula can potentially develop an integrated understanding of an increasingly interconnected, complex world and develop students' agency, empathy, creativity and critical thinking skills. Within the South African qualification landscape, the Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) is identified as a multior interdisciplinary qualification that allows working professionals 'to undertake advanced reflection and development by means of a systematic survey of current thinking, practice and research methods in an area of specialisation'. In this paper, four academics reflexively share their experiences of (re)developing and piloting transdisciplinary curricula for the PGDip in Sustainable Development (at Stellenbosch University) and the PGDip in Sustainability Learning (at Rhodes University). Reflections centre around the rationale, context and emergence of the two programmes, their structure and intended learning outcomes, and principles guiding the overall curriculum design. We highlight the appropriateness of transdisciplinary approaches to curricula focused on the sustainability field, and it distils three broad features of the two PGDip programmes that seem important - even necessary - for developing students' competencies as sustainability practitioners. These are ontological groundedness, epistemological openness and ethical attentiveness.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
Understanding resource use of an invasive species: Diet of the common warthog in Eastern Cape succulent thicket
- Mgqatsa, Nokubonga, Jama, Kanyisa, Landman, Marietjie, Kerley, Graham I H
- Authors: Mgqatsa, Nokubonga , Jama, Kanyisa , Landman, Marietjie , Kerley, Graham I H
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/462746 , vital:76331 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105155"
- Description: Understanding resource use of invasive species provides insights for predicting and mitigating their impacts on biodiversity. We explored the predictability of diet of the invasive common warthog by describing and comparing the diet of warthog populations from two semi-arid, invaded sites, Addo Elephant National Park (AMC), and Great Fish River Nature Reserve (GFRNR), Eastern Cape, South Africa. These sites are both dominated by the Subtropical Thicket biome, but differ in vegetation type. We used forage availability to estimate diet preferences at AMC. We predicted that warthog would consume grass in invaded landscapes. Additionally, we predicted that the diet at one invaded site would predict this at another invaded site. As predicted, warthog mainly consumed grass at both sites (AMC – 87.4%, GFRNR – 88.5%), eating few woody plants, succulents, and forbs. Cynodon dactylon was the most consumed species in AMC, in GFRNR this was Eragrostis curvula and Cymbopogon pospichilii. Our ability to predict the diet between sites was constrained by variation in the plant species consumed. We found strong relationships between the consumption of preferred plant species at AMC and their consumption at GFRNR. We show that warthogs are specialised grazers outside their native range and thus can be expected to impact grass communities in invaded areas, especially preferred grass species. Thus, conservation managers need to monitor grasses in areas invaded by warthog to better detect and manage their impacts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
- Authors: Mgqatsa, Nokubonga , Jama, Kanyisa , Landman, Marietjie , Kerley, Graham I H
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/462746 , vital:76331 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105155"
- Description: Understanding resource use of invasive species provides insights for predicting and mitigating their impacts on biodiversity. We explored the predictability of diet of the invasive common warthog by describing and comparing the diet of warthog populations from two semi-arid, invaded sites, Addo Elephant National Park (AMC), and Great Fish River Nature Reserve (GFRNR), Eastern Cape, South Africa. These sites are both dominated by the Subtropical Thicket biome, but differ in vegetation type. We used forage availability to estimate diet preferences at AMC. We predicted that warthog would consume grass in invaded landscapes. Additionally, we predicted that the diet at one invaded site would predict this at another invaded site. As predicted, warthog mainly consumed grass at both sites (AMC – 87.4%, GFRNR – 88.5%), eating few woody plants, succulents, and forbs. Cynodon dactylon was the most consumed species in AMC, in GFRNR this was Eragrostis curvula and Cymbopogon pospichilii. Our ability to predict the diet between sites was constrained by variation in the plant species consumed. We found strong relationships between the consumption of preferred plant species at AMC and their consumption at GFRNR. We show that warthogs are specialised grazers outside their native range and thus can be expected to impact grass communities in invaded areas, especially preferred grass species. Thus, conservation managers need to monitor grasses in areas invaded by warthog to better detect and manage their impacts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
Using photo by-catch data to reliably estimate spotted hyaena densities over time
- Mgqatsa, Nokubonga, Jama, Kanyisa, Landman, Marietjie, Kerley, Graham I H
- Authors: Mgqatsa, Nokubonga , Jama, Kanyisa , Landman, Marietjie , Kerley, Graham I H
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/462757 , vital:76332 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105155"
- Description: Protected areas are becoming increasingly isolated refugia for large carnivores but remain critical for their survival. Spotted hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta) are important members of the African large carnivore guild but, like other members of the guild, routinely come into conflict with people because of their large home ranges that are not always confined to protected areas. To effectively conserve spotted hyaena populations, it is paramount to monitor their abundance through reliable and cost-effective techniques. We estimated the density of spotted hyaenas in Hluhluwe–iMfolozi Park (HiP), South Africa using camera trap images and a spatially explicit capture-recapture (SECR) framework between 2013 and 2018. We estimated an average of 18.29 ± 3.27 spotted hyaenas per 100 km2 between 2013 and 2018, with an annual estimated high of 20.83/100 km2 in 2014 and a low of 11.98/100 km2 in 2015. Our results demonstrate that camera trap by-catch data can be used for estimating spotted hyaena densities over time. We believe that given the widespread use and deployment of camera traps across Africa, collaborative efforts to use existing data to improve regional and continental estimates and population trends for spotted hyaenas should be a priority.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
- Authors: Mgqatsa, Nokubonga , Jama, Kanyisa , Landman, Marietjie , Kerley, Graham I H
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/462757 , vital:76332 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105155"
- Description: Protected areas are becoming increasingly isolated refugia for large carnivores but remain critical for their survival. Spotted hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta) are important members of the African large carnivore guild but, like other members of the guild, routinely come into conflict with people because of their large home ranges that are not always confined to protected areas. To effectively conserve spotted hyaena populations, it is paramount to monitor their abundance through reliable and cost-effective techniques. We estimated the density of spotted hyaenas in Hluhluwe–iMfolozi Park (HiP), South Africa using camera trap images and a spatially explicit capture-recapture (SECR) framework between 2013 and 2018. We estimated an average of 18.29 ± 3.27 spotted hyaenas per 100 km2 between 2013 and 2018, with an annual estimated high of 20.83/100 km2 in 2014 and a low of 11.98/100 km2 in 2015. Our results demonstrate that camera trap by-catch data can be used for estimating spotted hyaena densities over time. We believe that given the widespread use and deployment of camera traps across Africa, collaborative efforts to use existing data to improve regional and continental estimates and population trends for spotted hyaenas should be a priority.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
Value created for small-scale farmers in an agroecology movement in the Eastern cape region of South Africa: an application of the value creation framework
- Chanyau, Ludwig, Rosenberg, Eureta
- Authors: Chanyau, Ludwig , Rosenberg, Eureta
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/484286 , vital:78892 , https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2023.2301023
- Description: The paper reports on an evaluative study of an agroecology movement that has been running in South Africa for over 20 years. The study applied a Value Creation Framework to gather value creation stories from key movement members, farmers, trainers, and the involved organizations. Data was generated through storytelling interviews, document analysis and participant observations. The findings show that the functions of the movement are enabled by support from tertiary institutions, government departments, NGOs, international networks and the private sector. In the initial stages, the movement’s growth as measured by the uptake of agroecology faced resistance because the associated labor intensity, especially in the early stages and farmers considered it to be very slow compared to conventional methods. However, the movement’s mobilization through open dialogs, co-creation and farmer-centered learning approaches has seen a gradual and wide adoption of agroecology practices by over 2700 new and existing farmers in the Eastern Cape alone, thereby widening the learning and seed-sharing network. In the communities it has reached, the movement has registered transformational gains in biodiversity preservation, social cohesion, market power, gender equality and food security.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
- Authors: Chanyau, Ludwig , Rosenberg, Eureta
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/484286 , vital:78892 , https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2023.2301023
- Description: The paper reports on an evaluative study of an agroecology movement that has been running in South Africa for over 20 years. The study applied a Value Creation Framework to gather value creation stories from key movement members, farmers, trainers, and the involved organizations. Data was generated through storytelling interviews, document analysis and participant observations. The findings show that the functions of the movement are enabled by support from tertiary institutions, government departments, NGOs, international networks and the private sector. In the initial stages, the movement’s growth as measured by the uptake of agroecology faced resistance because the associated labor intensity, especially in the early stages and farmers considered it to be very slow compared to conventional methods. However, the movement’s mobilization through open dialogs, co-creation and farmer-centered learning approaches has seen a gradual and wide adoption of agroecology practices by over 2700 new and existing farmers in the Eastern Cape alone, thereby widening the learning and seed-sharing network. In the communities it has reached, the movement has registered transformational gains in biodiversity preservation, social cohesion, market power, gender equality and food security.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
Violence against women who sell sex in eastern and southern Africa: a scoping review
- Macleod, Catriona I, Reynolds, John H, Delate, Richard
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Reynolds, John H , Delate, Richard
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/441380 , vital:73881 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380231160847"
- Description: Women who sell sex (WSS) are vulnerable to violence. We present a scoping review of the last decade of research on the prevalence and incidence of, factors associated with, and services regarding violence against WSS in Eastern and Southern African (ESA). A systematic search of various databases resulted in 20 papers being reviewed. Inclusion criteria, applied by the first two authors, were as follows: empirical papers, key research problem is violence against WSS, and conducted in ESA countries. The lifetime prevalence of violence revealed in the studies ranged from 21% to 82%. A pattern of generalized violence against WSS from paying clients, male partners, strangers, family members, friends/acquaintances, and the authorities emerged. Factors associated with violence included the context within which the sex work occurs, alcohol use, type of sex exchange interactions, and personal factors (low education, low income, marriage, youth, high client volume, time in sex work, forced sexual debut, and internalized sex work stigma). WSS seldom access services after violence. Evaluations of two programs, a woman-focused HIV intervention, and the Diagonal Interventions to Fast-Forward Reproductive Health project, showed improvements in gender-based violence services. Findings suggest that targeted programmes should be paired with improving general health services and focus on promoting collective agency among WSS.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Reynolds, John H , Delate, Richard
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/441380 , vital:73881 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380231160847"
- Description: Women who sell sex (WSS) are vulnerable to violence. We present a scoping review of the last decade of research on the prevalence and incidence of, factors associated with, and services regarding violence against WSS in Eastern and Southern African (ESA). A systematic search of various databases resulted in 20 papers being reviewed. Inclusion criteria, applied by the first two authors, were as follows: empirical papers, key research problem is violence against WSS, and conducted in ESA countries. The lifetime prevalence of violence revealed in the studies ranged from 21% to 82%. A pattern of generalized violence against WSS from paying clients, male partners, strangers, family members, friends/acquaintances, and the authorities emerged. Factors associated with violence included the context within which the sex work occurs, alcohol use, type of sex exchange interactions, and personal factors (low education, low income, marriage, youth, high client volume, time in sex work, forced sexual debut, and internalized sex work stigma). WSS seldom access services after violence. Evaluations of two programs, a woman-focused HIV intervention, and the Diagonal Interventions to Fast-Forward Reproductive Health project, showed improvements in gender-based violence services. Findings suggest that targeted programmes should be paired with improving general health services and focus on promoting collective agency among WSS.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
Vulnerable Youth or Vulnerabilising Contexts? A Critical Review of Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Policies in Eastern and Southern Africa
- Lynch, Ingrid, Macleod, Catriona I, Chiweshe, Malvern T, Moore, Sarah A
- Authors: Lynch, Ingrid , Macleod, Catriona I , Chiweshe, Malvern T , Moore, Sarah A
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/461035 , vital:76075 , https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-024-01018-y
- Description: Policy decisions about young people’s sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) have far-reaching implications for their well-being. Few SRHR policies, however, focus specifically on youth. Rather, youth SRHR tends to be subsumed within national policies of Health, Youth, Education and Development Ministries, particularly in the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) region, complicating an assessment of the overall state of youth SRHR policies. Given the fact that youth SRHR policies focus on a particular segment of the population—youth, teenagers or adolescents—how policies depict these subjects has implications for how policy objectives, programmes and interventions are conceptualised and the kind of sexual and reproductive health concerns that are prioritised.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
- Authors: Lynch, Ingrid , Macleod, Catriona I , Chiweshe, Malvern T , Moore, Sarah A
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/461035 , vital:76075 , https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-024-01018-y
- Description: Policy decisions about young people’s sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) have far-reaching implications for their well-being. Few SRHR policies, however, focus specifically on youth. Rather, youth SRHR tends to be subsumed within national policies of Health, Youth, Education and Development Ministries, particularly in the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) region, complicating an assessment of the overall state of youth SRHR policies. Given the fact that youth SRHR policies focus on a particular segment of the population—youth, teenagers or adolescents—how policies depict these subjects has implications for how policy objectives, programmes and interventions are conceptualised and the kind of sexual and reproductive health concerns that are prioritised.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
What does practising the Adaptive Systemic Approach offer engaged sustainability science?
- Palmer, Carolyn G, Tanner, Jane L
- Authors: Palmer, Carolyn G , Tanner, Jane L
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480784 , vital:78476 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/ejc-sajsci-v120-n9-a8
- Description: Engaged sustainability science is a relational response that mobilises knowledge into constructive action. However, theoretical and conceptual development has outstripped effective practice. Some of the barriers to practice include: (1) integrative theories, concepts and vocabulary that are not familiar to most disciplinary scholars; (2) literature that supports these perspectives is dispersed and difficult to organise into practical steps; (3) the skill-set for effective engagement is rare, and includes facilitating co-learning that is attentive to power and equity. By providing a clear set of activities, the Adaptive Systemic Approach enables novice and experienced research practitioners to start, and to follow a pathway.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
- Authors: Palmer, Carolyn G , Tanner, Jane L
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480784 , vital:78476 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/ejc-sajsci-v120-n9-a8
- Description: Engaged sustainability science is a relational response that mobilises knowledge into constructive action. However, theoretical and conceptual development has outstripped effective practice. Some of the barriers to practice include: (1) integrative theories, concepts and vocabulary that are not familiar to most disciplinary scholars; (2) literature that supports these perspectives is dispersed and difficult to organise into practical steps; (3) the skill-set for effective engagement is rare, and includes facilitating co-learning that is attentive to power and equity. By providing a clear set of activities, the Adaptive Systemic Approach enables novice and experienced research practitioners to start, and to follow a pathway.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
What have we been thinking about? Higher education as a knowledge field in the SAJS
- Authors: Boughey, Chrissie
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480795 , vital:78477 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/ejc-sajsci-v120-nsi1-a16
- Description: This article reviews work published in the South African Journal of Science (SAJS) over the past 10 years. The aim is to explore the interests of contributors who mostly are not experts in higher education but whose disciplinary backgrounds and experiences of universities lead them to research, think and write about higher education. The article begins with an outline of changes in higher education globally and in South Africa before moving on to a review of work published by the SAJS, identified as the result of a content analysis.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
- Authors: Boughey, Chrissie
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480795 , vital:78477 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/ejc-sajsci-v120-nsi1-a16
- Description: This article reviews work published in the South African Journal of Science (SAJS) over the past 10 years. The aim is to explore the interests of contributors who mostly are not experts in higher education but whose disciplinary backgrounds and experiences of universities lead them to research, think and write about higher education. The article begins with an outline of changes in higher education globally and in South Africa before moving on to a review of work published by the SAJS, identified as the result of a content analysis.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
What Is Missing from National Economic Recovery Plans? COVID-19 and the Informal Economy
- Mhlana, Siviwe, Moussié, Rachel, Roever, Sally, Rogan, Michael
- Authors: Mhlana, Siviwe , Moussié, Rachel , Roever, Sally , Rogan, Michael
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/478139 , vital:78158 , ISBN 9780198887041 , 10.1093/oso/9780198887041.001.0001
- Description: At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the first half of 2020, there was nearuniversal acknowledgement that employment losses, globally, would be borne disproportionately by vulnerable workers, in general, and informal workers, in particular (ILO 2020a). Of the world’s 2.2 billion informal workers, it was estimated that 1.6 billion would be among the most severely affected by job losses and reduced working hours (ILO 2020b). The result of this impact has been the reversal of decades of progress in human development. For example, the number of people living in extreme poverty in emerging markets and developing economies was expected to increase by 100 million by the end of 2021 (World Bank 2021a). Similarly, the gendered burden of job losses has threatened progress towards gender equality, as evidenced by the highly uneven recovery of employment between women and men throughout 2021 (ILO 2021a). Country-level data on job losses provides support for the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) initial projections about the vulnerability of informal workers to the global ‘pandemic recession’. Most informal workers in the world are located in low-and middle-income countries and are in self-employment. Data from ILOSTAT shows that working hours in lower-income countries in 2021 were about 7 per cent below their pre-COVID (2019) levels, while the corresponding decrease was only about 4 per cent in high-income countries (ILO 2021c). Data from Peru in 2020 suggests that the difference in the decrease in labour income between employees and the self employed (who are largely in the informal sector) was 21 percentage points (ILO 2021b; see also Chen and Vanek, Chapter 2 in thisvolume).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
- Authors: Mhlana, Siviwe , Moussié, Rachel , Roever, Sally , Rogan, Michael
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/478139 , vital:78158 , ISBN 9780198887041 , 10.1093/oso/9780198887041.001.0001
- Description: At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the first half of 2020, there was nearuniversal acknowledgement that employment losses, globally, would be borne disproportionately by vulnerable workers, in general, and informal workers, in particular (ILO 2020a). Of the world’s 2.2 billion informal workers, it was estimated that 1.6 billion would be among the most severely affected by job losses and reduced working hours (ILO 2020b). The result of this impact has been the reversal of decades of progress in human development. For example, the number of people living in extreme poverty in emerging markets and developing economies was expected to increase by 100 million by the end of 2021 (World Bank 2021a). Similarly, the gendered burden of job losses has threatened progress towards gender equality, as evidenced by the highly uneven recovery of employment between women and men throughout 2021 (ILO 2021a). Country-level data on job losses provides support for the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) initial projections about the vulnerability of informal workers to the global ‘pandemic recession’. Most informal workers in the world are located in low-and middle-income countries and are in self-employment. Data from ILOSTAT shows that working hours in lower-income countries in 2021 were about 7 per cent below their pre-COVID (2019) levels, while the corresponding decrease was only about 4 per cent in high-income countries (ILO 2021c). Data from Peru in 2020 suggests that the difference in the decrease in labour income between employees and the self employed (who are largely in the informal sector) was 21 percentage points (ILO 2021b; see also Chen and Vanek, Chapter 2 in thisvolume).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
Zulu Ethnolinguistic Nationalism
- Authors: Aiseng, Kealeboga
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/455384 , vital:75426 , ISBN 978-3-031-54914-4 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54915-1
- Description: Language is more than just a communication medium; it exists within interrelated social and political processes. Therefore, language never appears by itself; it always represents a system of social and political interests, reflecting the prevailing discursive and ideological strategies. The current chapter investigates the notion of “Zulu ethnolinguistic nationalism” as a language ideology in South African television. Having watched a series of television programs in South Africa and utilizing the corpus linguistic approach, the author asserts that there is a clear dominance of isiZulu in South African television. Ultimately, this dominance created a language ideology that privileges isiZulu over other indigenous languages on South African television.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
- Authors: Aiseng, Kealeboga
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/455384 , vital:75426 , ISBN 978-3-031-54914-4 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54915-1
- Description: Language is more than just a communication medium; it exists within interrelated social and political processes. Therefore, language never appears by itself; it always represents a system of social and political interests, reflecting the prevailing discursive and ideological strategies. The current chapter investigates the notion of “Zulu ethnolinguistic nationalism” as a language ideology in South African television. Having watched a series of television programs in South Africa and utilizing the corpus linguistic approach, the author asserts that there is a clear dominance of isiZulu in South African television. Ultimately, this dominance created a language ideology that privileges isiZulu over other indigenous languages on South African television.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
‘Crushed all over again’: the professional experiences of early career counselling psychologists in South Africa
- Haine, Phillipa, Booysen, Duane D, Young, Charles S
- Authors: Haine, Phillipa , Booysen, Duane D , Young, Charles S
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/454056 , vital:75306 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/ejc-sapsyc_v54_n1_a51"
- Description: Counselling psychology in South Africa has recently emerged from a tumultuous period, stemming from regulatory efforts in 2011, which negatively impacted on the profession’s status and viability. While the definition and scope of counselling psychology arguably demonstrate improvements in aligning with global practices, concerns persist surrounding the work opportunities and professional experiences of counselling psychologists, particularly those in the early stages of their careers. This study aimed to gain an in-depth understanding of the professional experiences of early career counselling psychologists in South Africa. The pool of participants were 10 early career counselling psychologists (females = 7, males = 3, period in service = 1–10 years). The participants completed semi-structured interviews on their early career professional experiences, as well as the meanings they attributed to these experiences. An interpretative phenomenological analysis of the data revealed three group experiential themes: (1) the complexity of finding and securing work; (2) navigating an array of personal, professional, and systemic challenges, and (3) self-acquiring support. The findings suggest that despite the unique and valuable skills and knowledge counselling psychologists possess, the participants struggled to successfully transition into the workforce, resulting in feelings of anxiety, frustration, and professional disillusionment. The findings indicate enhanced support is needed at various levels to address the needs and bolster the wellbeing, utilisation, and retention of counselling psychologists in their transition into the South African workforce.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
- Authors: Haine, Phillipa , Booysen, Duane D , Young, Charles S
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/454056 , vital:75306 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/ejc-sapsyc_v54_n1_a51"
- Description: Counselling psychology in South Africa has recently emerged from a tumultuous period, stemming from regulatory efforts in 2011, which negatively impacted on the profession’s status and viability. While the definition and scope of counselling psychology arguably demonstrate improvements in aligning with global practices, concerns persist surrounding the work opportunities and professional experiences of counselling psychologists, particularly those in the early stages of their careers. This study aimed to gain an in-depth understanding of the professional experiences of early career counselling psychologists in South Africa. The pool of participants were 10 early career counselling psychologists (females = 7, males = 3, period in service = 1–10 years). The participants completed semi-structured interviews on their early career professional experiences, as well as the meanings they attributed to these experiences. An interpretative phenomenological analysis of the data revealed three group experiential themes: (1) the complexity of finding and securing work; (2) navigating an array of personal, professional, and systemic challenges, and (3) self-acquiring support. The findings suggest that despite the unique and valuable skills and knowledge counselling psychologists possess, the participants struggled to successfully transition into the workforce, resulting in feelings of anxiety, frustration, and professional disillusionment. The findings indicate enhanced support is needed at various levels to address the needs and bolster the wellbeing, utilisation, and retention of counselling psychologists in their transition into the South African workforce.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
“Bactricia nematodes Kby., 1894” (Phasmida, Diapheromeridae, Diapheromerinae) is a nomen nudum
- Authors: Villet, Martin H
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/440615 , vital:73797 , https://doi.org/10.3897/ AfrInvertebr.65.115507
- Description: A review of published evidence indicates that Bactricia nematodes Kirby, 1894 is a nomen nudum because it is an unavailable name. The specimen collected during the Lund University Swedish South African Expedition and reported by this name is a male of Bactricia bituberculata (Schaum, 1857).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
- Authors: Villet, Martin H
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/440615 , vital:73797 , https://doi.org/10.3897/ AfrInvertebr.65.115507
- Description: A review of published evidence indicates that Bactricia nematodes Kirby, 1894 is a nomen nudum because it is an unavailable name. The specimen collected during the Lund University Swedish South African Expedition and reported by this name is a male of Bactricia bituberculata (Schaum, 1857).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
# SideHustle: Jason GH Londt’s contribution to holdings of the South African Cicadidae (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha) in the KwaZulu-Natal Museum
- Authors: Villet, Martin H
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/440598 , vital:73796 , 10.3897/afrinvertebr.64.100851
- Description: Jason GH Londt contributed almost a quarter of the KwaZulu-Natal Museum’s specimens of Cicadidae, including a strong sample of females, and probably the best set to date of African records of predation on cicadas by robber flies. The collection provides evidence that robber flies catch more male cicadas; speculatively, because attacks on the heavier-bodied female fail more often. The metadata derived from these specimens also provide a small gazetteer of Londt’s collecting sites.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
- Authors: Villet, Martin H
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/440598 , vital:73796 , 10.3897/afrinvertebr.64.100851
- Description: Jason GH Londt contributed almost a quarter of the KwaZulu-Natal Museum’s specimens of Cicadidae, including a strong sample of females, and probably the best set to date of African records of predation on cicadas by robber flies. The collection provides evidence that robber flies catch more male cicadas; speculatively, because attacks on the heavier-bodied female fail more often. The metadata derived from these specimens also provide a small gazetteer of Londt’s collecting sites.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
A 20-year review of South African Early Grade Mathematics Research Articles
- Morrison, Samantha, Graven, Mellony, Venkat, Hamsa, Vale, Pamela
- Authors: Morrison, Samantha , Graven, Mellony , Venkat, Hamsa , Vale, Pamela
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/482278 , vital:78635 , https://doi.org/10.1080/18117295.2023.2226547
- Description: In this article we share the findings emanating from a 20 year (2003–2022) review of South African Early Grade Mathematics (EGM) research articles published in key international and local/regional journals. The review shows a substantial increase in the volume of published EGM articles in the second decade (2013–2022), nationally and internationally. These increases are marked across the key clusters of articles seen in our analysis: Teachers and Teaching, Learners and Learning, Language and Multilingualism, and Assessment. The emergence of the South African Journal of Childhood Education as a phase-specific journal in 2011 has been a particularly important factor within the increasing volume of publication. We note too, that whilst the base of publication across institutions has broadened in the local/regional publication space, international publications are tied primarily to projects linked with established South African Research Chairs.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
- Authors: Morrison, Samantha , Graven, Mellony , Venkat, Hamsa , Vale, Pamela
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/482278 , vital:78635 , https://doi.org/10.1080/18117295.2023.2226547
- Description: In this article we share the findings emanating from a 20 year (2003–2022) review of South African Early Grade Mathematics (EGM) research articles published in key international and local/regional journals. The review shows a substantial increase in the volume of published EGM articles in the second decade (2013–2022), nationally and internationally. These increases are marked across the key clusters of articles seen in our analysis: Teachers and Teaching, Learners and Learning, Language and Multilingualism, and Assessment. The emergence of the South African Journal of Childhood Education as a phase-specific journal in 2011 has been a particularly important factor within the increasing volume of publication. We note too, that whilst the base of publication across institutions has broadened in the local/regional publication space, international publications are tied primarily to projects linked with established South African Research Chairs.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
A Critical exploration of YouTube texts by and about people with disabilities in South Africa
- Authors: Dalvit, Lorenzo
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/468129 , vital:77021 , https://rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa03/mediascapes/article/view/18303
- Description: The work of intellectuals such as Marx and Gramsci has been exten-sively employed in the study of social inequalities across contexts and in relation to different dimensions. As one of the most unequal societies in the world, South Africa provides a number of past and recent exam-ples of discrimination, oppression and violence on the basis of race, gender, socio-economic and migrant status, political affiliation etc. De-spite their continued marginalisation during and after apartheid and de-spite accounting for a substantial portion (7.5%) of the population, peo-ple with disabilities appear relatively neglected in scholarly and media debates. The booming Internet and mobile penetration, which promised to give a voice to the voiceless, increasingly seems to reproduce and at times exacerbate such marginalisation. By drawing on Gramsci’s no-tions of hegemony and public intellectuals, in this paper, I explore dis-cursive constructions by and about South Africans with disabilities on YouTube. Videos and comments are purposively selected from three active channels based on their relevance and are quantitatively as well as qualitatively analysed. The first objective of the study is to under-stand disability in relation to other dimensions of diversity, eg race or gender.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
- Authors: Dalvit, Lorenzo
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/468129 , vital:77021 , https://rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa03/mediascapes/article/view/18303
- Description: The work of intellectuals such as Marx and Gramsci has been exten-sively employed in the study of social inequalities across contexts and in relation to different dimensions. As one of the most unequal societies in the world, South Africa provides a number of past and recent exam-ples of discrimination, oppression and violence on the basis of race, gender, socio-economic and migrant status, political affiliation etc. De-spite their continued marginalisation during and after apartheid and de-spite accounting for a substantial portion (7.5%) of the population, peo-ple with disabilities appear relatively neglected in scholarly and media debates. The booming Internet and mobile penetration, which promised to give a voice to the voiceless, increasingly seems to reproduce and at times exacerbate such marginalisation. By drawing on Gramsci’s no-tions of hegemony and public intellectuals, in this paper, I explore dis-cursive constructions by and about South Africans with disabilities on YouTube. Videos and comments are purposively selected from three active channels based on their relevance and are quantitatively as well as qualitatively analysed. The first objective of the study is to under-stand disability in relation to other dimensions of diversity, eg race or gender.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023