NGOization: Complicity, Contradictions and Prospects
- Authors: Helliker, Kirk D
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/144699 , vital:38371 , DOI: 10.1177/0021909614535552
- Description: This book focuses on the process of ‘NGOization’, namely, ‘the institutionalization, professionalization, depoliticization and demobilization of movements’ for social change (p. 1) by non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This process arises in and through the interface and relations between movements and NGOs and it highlights the overall system-maintenance role of NGOs. Of course, NGOs may not deliberately seek to depoliticize and demobilize movements. Rather, NGOization may involve the unintended consequences of the logic and dispositions of NGOs as a particular organization form.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Preface: proceedings of the 13th IASWS international conference
- Authors: Foster, Ian , Rowntree, Kate M , Ellery, William F N , Ogrinc, Nives , Oldham, Carolyn
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/144465 , vital:38348 , DOI 10.1007/s11368-015-1276-2
- Description: Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa, was the venue for the 13th IASWS International Conference, held from 15 to 18 July, 2014. This international meeting built upon and expanded developing research in South Africa on sediment processes and followed on from a successful meeting organized by Rowntree and Foster on behalf of the Southern African Association of Geomorphologists (SAAG) held in Grahamstown in 2010 and the publication of a special issue of the journal Land Degradation and Development edited by Rowntree et al. (2012).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Seasonal consumption of browse by the African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) in the Thicket Biome of South Africa
- Authors: Watermeyer, Jessica P , Carroll, Sarah L , Parker, Daniel M
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/126096 , vital:35849 , https://doi.org/10.1111/aje.12214
- Description: The African buffalo (Syncerus caffer Sparrman) is both morphologically and physiologically adapted for grazing (Prins, 1996). However, buffalo populations of the Eastern Cape, South Africa, are confined to reserves dominated by thicket vegetation where grass is sparse (Landman & Kerley, 2001; Tshabalala, Dube & Lent, 2009). Given that the nutritional value of grass deteriorates more rapidly than browse in nonproductive periods (Shipley, 1993), it has been hypothesized that buffalo increase their intake of browse during the dry season (Tshabalala, Dube & Lent, 2009). However, past studies contradict one another (de Graaf, Schulz & van der Walt, 1973; Landman & Kerley, 2001; Tshabalala, Dube & Lent, 2009). de Graaf, Schulz & van der Walt (1973) analysed the rumen contents of buffalo in the Addo Elephant National Park and suggested that buffalo should be considered browsers because of the high proportion of browse in rumen samples. However, their study was restricted to one site during a drought. Landman & Kerley (2001) later found the opposite (grass comprised ~72% of buffalo dung) and criticized the findings of de Graaf, Schulz amp; van der Walt (1973). However, their study was conducted after a period of exceptionally high rainfall. More recently, Tshabalala, Dube & Lent (2009) recorded significantly more browse in the diet of buffalo during the dry season (33%) than the wet season (28%) at the Great Fish River Nature Reserve. We test the assertion that buffalo increase their intake of browse during dry periods, at another site dominated by thicket. We describe the extent to which grass and browse were consumed by buffalo and whether the proportional occurrence changed monthly.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
The timing of moult in males and females of the monomorphic Pale-winged Starling Onychognathus nabouroup
- Authors: Craig, Adrian J F K , Bonnevie, Bo T , Hausberger, Martine , Henry, Laurence
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/443805 , vital:74155 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC177689
- Description: Pale-winged Starlings Onychognathus nabouroup inhabit the arid western interior of southern Africa and moult-breeding overlap may occur. We collected field data in two successive years on the moult of individual birds, whose sex was confirmed by genetic techniques. Small samples revealed a non-significant tendency for the moult of females in the early stages of wing moult to be more advanced than that of males in both years, but also clear evidence that the starting date of moult differed in the two years. In this species the moult schedule may thus be variable at both the individual and the population levels.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Too big to fail?: the case of the New York Times: journalism next
- Authors: Garman, Anthea
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: vital:38353 , http://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC175792
- Description: Andrew Phelps, the Senior Product Manager for The New York Times and one of the investigators involved in the leaked Innovation Report, (the paper's investigation on changes needed to cope with the digital world) was the keynote speaker at the Menell Media Exchange (MMX15) in South Africa this year. Here are some highlights from his talk to a crowded room of journalists from across the country and journalism spectrum.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
'On the fringes of society’ and ‘out of the closest’: a response to ‘Sexual/Textual Politics
- Authors: Spencer, Lynda G
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/139034 , vital:37698 , https://doi.org/10.1080/02589001.2014.983324
- Description: Gibson Ncube’s ‘Sexual/Textual Politics: Rethinking gender and sexuality in gay Moroccan literature’ focuses on an emerging body of gay literature that is developing within the larger framework of Moroccan literature. Ncube attempts to illustrate how the contemporary narratives of Rachid O. and Abdellah Taïa portray the quotidian experiences of minority sexualities who strive to exist in the hegemonic heteropatriarchies of Moroccan societies. These narratives challenge and destabilise the heteronormative ideals of Arab-Muslim communities and endeavour to offer alternative ways of thinking about marginalised sexualities in the public space. This analysis draws on the feminist underpinnings of Maria Pia Lara to argue that private gay narratives have the potential to re-imagine the public domain.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
A new approach to obesity for health journalism: fit not fat
- Authors: Dugmore, Harry
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/158620 , vital:40212 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC159484
- Description: Health journalism is a complicated beat. The science is easy to get wrong, and the tone and tenor of the reporting needs careful attention. Coverage of obesity is even more fraught. Early insights from an on-going research project by the Discovery Centre for Health Journalism suggests that not only is most journalism about obesity not helping - some reporting may inadvertently be making the situation worse. This needs to change. There is too much at stake for journalism about food, fat and fitness to be anything less than impactful and effective.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Bells as memorials in South Africa to the Great (1914-18) War
- Authors: Lewis, Colin A , De Wet, Tertius , Teugels, Jet L , Van Deventer, Pieta J U
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: Article , text
- Identifier: vital:6192 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013418
- Description: The contribution of South Africa to the allied cause in the Great War, and the sacrifice of so many lives of the White and Coloured populations, is memorialised on bells of the Cape Town carillon, on ringing, and on clock and other bells. The contribution of the Black population awaits recognition. Restoration of the Cape Town carillon so that it can again be played effectively, would be a fitting memorial to those who lost their lives in the non-combative roles that were open to the majority population of South Africa. Completion of the ring at what is now Queenstown cathedral would also be a fitting tribute to the bravery and unstinting service of so many South Africans during the Great War. , Colin Lewis was Professor of Geography at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa from 1989 until his retirement at the end of 2007. In 1990, with the strong support of the incumbent Vice-Chancellor, Dr Derek Henderson, he instigated the Certificate in Change Ringing (Church Bell Ringing) in the Rhodes University Department of Music and Musicology - the first such course to be offered in Africa. Since that date he has lectured in the basic theory, and taught the practice of change ringing. He is the Ringing Master of the Cathedral of St Michael and St George, Grahamstown, South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Citizenship rights : still a long road to travel - Graduation Ceremonies address 2014
- Authors: Badat, Saleem
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: Text
- Identifier: vital:7872 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016421
- Description: The 20th anniversary of our democracy is a good time to reflect on the progress that we have made with respect to citizenship in post-1994 South Africa. 1994 was a revolutionary breakthrough. From being a racially exclusive authoritarian society in which millions were downtrodden subjects, we became a democracy in which for the first time almost all inhabitants became citizens. Critical here was a commendable Constitution, including a Bill of Rights, which held out the promise of an extensive range of human, social and economic rights that did not exist for all or at all prior to 1994. During the past 20 years there have been significant economic and social gains and achievements. At the same time, there continue to be many challenges, and key institutions of our democracy have come under strain as a result of too many in power seeking to use the state as their private piggy bank. Still, a relatively independent judiciary, free media, autonomous universities and the like remain intact. Witness in this regard the magnificent performance of the Public Protector’s office under Thuli Madonsela. However, a number of contemporary realities, compromise the ideal of full and substantive citizenship rights for all that the Constitution promises. Indeed, they condemn large numbers of people to conditions that are associated with subjecthood and being subjects.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Echoes of colonial discourse in journalism:
- Authors: Wasserman, Herman
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/159891 , vital:40353 , https://doi.org/10.1080/02560054.2014.886657
- Description: Last year marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of David Livingstone, the explorer and missionary who is best remembered as an anti-slavery campaigner who presented Africa in humanitarian terms to the British Empire. Today the legacy of colonialism continues to haunt the continent, and the discourses of colonialism can still be heard in media representations of Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Elephants in Africa: Big, grey biodiversity thieves?
- Authors: Kuiper, Timothy R , Parker, Daniel M
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/69886 , vital:29591 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/ sajs.2014/a0058
- Description: The conservation of biological diversity is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity today.1,2 Addressing this challenge must inevitably involve the maintenance of the composition, structure and functioning of multi-species ecosystems.2-4 While preventing the loss of particular species is an obvious strategy, a second goal might be to manage for local species diversity and the heterogeneity of habitats.5 A further objective may be the restoration of damaged ecosystems.6 Large herbivore assemblages form an important component of many diverse ecosystems and are of distinct ecological, and hence conservation, value.7-9 On the other hand, herbivores managed at unnaturally high densities may drive detrimental changes in the structural heterogeneity of habitats.10-12 Thus, decision-makers are faced with the challenge of balancing the needs of populations of large herbivores with the preservation of vegetation and ecosystem diversity.9 In light of these considerations, conclusions as to whether large herbivores are 'good' or 'bad' for biological diversity are both contentious and elusive. Nonetheless, we seek to explore this question with particular reference to African savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana). We discuss whether or not the elephant should be considered a biodiversity thief - a species that upsets the natural diversity of life in the habitat in which it lives. The African elephant has been driven to local extinction over much of its former range, with hunting for meat and ivory and the conversion of elephant habitat to agriculture constituting the major drivers.5 Given the historical decline in elephant numbers, the conservation of this species appears to be a sensible objective.9,13 However, the protection afforded to elephants in confined (usually fenced) reserves across Africa has distinct implications for the management of local species diversity and the heterogeneity of habitats.14,15 Elephants have been shown to have clear impacts on the structure of vegetation, particularly in woodland habitats12,16,17, and these changes may have knock-on effects for sympatric species10,18,19. The effects of elephants on biological diversity in protected areas are of particular concern in light of how expansion in human populations, and the land-use change that follows, places increasing pressure on reserves to preserve biological diversity.9,10. Change within ecosystems is natural and inevitable and large herbivores have been living in an ever-changing environment for millions of years.20 Changes brought on by elephants, therefore, should not automatically be categorised as undesirable, and short-term changes may be part of an overarching trend of long-term stability.8,21 Furthermore, current elephant impacts can only be adequately assessed in the light of historical (on the scale of centuries) benchmarks, for which accurate information is notoriously scant.10,21 The current impacts of elephant populations on vegetation dynamics in some regions may in fact represent a shift towards a more natural historical state.8,21 Finally, much of the detrimental impacts of elephants on habitat structure and diversity, particularly at smaller scales, has resulted from human interventions (such as the erection of fences and the establishment of artificial water points) that have unnaturally confined elephants to localised areas, disrupted seasonal movements and disturbed the natural dynamics of population processes.5,13,22.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Elephants in Africa: Big, grey biodiversity thieves?
- Authors: Kuiper, Timothy R , Parker, Daniel M
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/124385 , vital:35601 , https://doi.org/10.2989/16085914.2011.589120
- Description: The conservation of biological diversity is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity today.1,2 Addressing this challenge must inevitably involve the maintenance of the composition, structure and functioning of multi-species ecosystems.2-4 While preventing the loss of particular species is an obvious strategy, a second goal might be to manage for local species diversity and the heterogeneity of habitats.5 A further objective may be the restoration of damaged ecosystems.6 Large herbivore assemblages form an important component of many diverse ecosystems and are of distinct ecological, and hence conservation, value.7-9 On the other hand, herbivores managed at unnaturally high densities may drive detrimental changes in the structural heterogeneity of habitats.10-12 Thus, decision-makers are faced with the challenge of balancing the needs of populations of large herbivores with the preservation of vegetation and ecosystem diversity.9 In light of these considerations, conclusions as to whether large herbivores are ‘good’ or ‘bad’ for biological diversity are both contentious and elusive. Nonetheless, we seek to explore this question with particular reference to African savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana). We discuss whether or not the elephant should be considered a biodiversity thief – a species that upsets the natural diversity of life in the habitat in which it lives.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Rise and fall of apartheid: photography and the bureaucracy of everyday life
- Authors: Simbao, Ruth K
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147604 , vital:38653 , DOI: 10.1080/02533952.2014.998052
- Description: The exhibition catalogue Rise and Fall of Apartheid is a valuable collection of photographic images that create, according to Enwezor, “a critical visualization and interrogation of […] [apartheid’s] normative symbols, signs and representation” (18). The catalogue focuses on African subjects as “agents of their own emancipation” (18), and contextualises South Africa’s anticipation of the end of apartheid within broader global changes in the late 1980s. Essays by Okwui Enwezor, Michael Godby, Achille Mbembe, Darren Newbury, Colin Richards, Patricia Hayes, Andries Walter Olifant, Rory Bester and Khwezi Gule are included in the catalogue, and are interspersed between photographic images that are grouped in chronological clusters: 1948–1959; 1960–1969; 1970–1979; 1980–1989; and 1990–1995.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Teaching in higher education
- Authors: Quinn, Lynn
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , review
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/66557 , vital:28963 , https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2014.908094
- Description: publisher version , As Becker and Denicolo point out in their introduction, traditionally most lecturers in higher education begin teaching with little or no formal training: ‘It is assumed if you were expert in your field you would be able, by some ill-defined means, to teach others’ (p. 1). This book aims to remedy that situation and does exactly what it sets out to do: it provides a useful, step-by-step training guide for teachers in higher education. It provides much needed advice for new academics for ways in which they can successfully combine their teaching and their research roles. It is written in an accessible style, draws on the experiences of people who have taught in higher education for some time, and provides practical advice for teaching in a range of contexts and for dealing with different challenges that may arise.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2014
The territorial invasion of Apis florea in Africa
- Authors: Bezabih, G , Adgaba, N , Hepburn, H Randall , Pirk, Christian W W
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/452044 , vital:75098 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC163586
- Description: Apis florea took an inadvertent leap onto the African continent and was detected in Khartoum, Sudan, for the first time in 1985 (Lord and Nagi 1987; Mogga and Ruttner 1988). The occurrence of these bees in Africa is very likely via global transportation. Since then, A. florea has been gradually expanding its territory to the whole of Sudan (Moritz et al. 2010) and to neighbouring countries. Moreover, in Asia A. florea has been steadily expanding westwards, and it is now well established in the Middle East (Hepburn et al. 2005; Haddad et al. 2009).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
The transformers: journalism education
- Authors: Boshoff, Priscilla A
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141911 , vital:38015 , http://journals.co.za/content/rujr/2014/34/EJC159497
- Description: Universities are strange places. People come in as one kind of being, and leave quite different. They are places of transformation. One way in which they effect this transformation is to challenge our preconceived notions of the world, and our relationship to it. However, at the same time, universities are also places of privilege and so can be conservative – in the sense of conserving and fostering particular interests in their favour.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Tracing the ANC’s criticism of South African media: 20 years of democracy
- Authors: Malila, Vanessa
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/158661 , vital:40219 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC159512
- Description: We often forget the strides that have been made in the media industry in South Africa since the end of apartheid and the repressive conditions under which the media industry operated prior to 1994. In the current context of complaints by the ANC about the lack of transformation in the industry and the poor reporting by the mainstream commercial media, the gains in ownership changes and the massive growth of the community media sector in South Africa are sometimes overshadowed. Despite a positive early relationship between the media and the ANC government, things have become progressively more difficult between these two institutions and the criticism from the ANC more vociferous in recent years.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Vulnerability, coping and adaptation within the context of climate change and HIV/AIDS in South Africa: Investigating strategies to strengthen livelihoods and food security and build resilience.
- Authors: Ndlovu, Patrick , Luckert, Martin K , Shackleton, Sheona E
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: vital:6622 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016230
- Description: [From Introduction] In South Africa, social grants are a central component of government's efforts to alleviate poverty. The number of people receiving social grants has significantly increased in recent years (from about 10.9 million in 2005 to almost 15.7 million in 2013, and an anticipated 16.8 million recipients by 2015).With social grants playing an increasingly important role, a pressing policy issue is whether or not the current social grant schemes are an effective tool for alleviating poverty. Some studies have shown that social grants improve food security (Case and Deaton, 1998; Samson et al., 2008) and in the long run can promote employment through accumulation of human capital and enhancing productivity of poor households (Edmonds et al., 2006; Samson et al., 2008; Surender et al., 2007). However, other studies have reported that social grants have possible disincentive effects on labor market activity, for example, through the relaxing of household budget constraints which may lead to a reduction in labor supply (Bertrand et al., 2003; Ranchorhod, 2006; Klasen and Woolard, 2009). Our study provides new insights by highlighting two key household characteristics, gender and education, in catalyzing or diminishing the effects of grants on household livelihood outcomes. Our analysis mainly focuses on impacts of pensions on household food security and labor supply of household members.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Zimbabwe takes back its land:
- Authors: Helliker, Kirk D
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/144677 , vital:38369 , DOI: 10.1080/02589001.2014.984946
- Description: Zimbabwe Takes Back its Land offers a useful introduction to fast-track land reform in contemporary Zimbabwe for a broad popular audience unfamiliar with the existing literature on fast-track land reform. But its value as a contribution to a more specialised and nuanced body of knowledge about fast-track is considerably more problematic.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Welcome to roundtable on critical issues in Higher education
- Authors: Badat, Saleem
- Date: 2013-09-13
- Language: English
- Type: Text
- Identifier: vital:7913 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016463
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013-09-13