Unisa Press Journals (University of South Africa)
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Libraries as a Vehicle for Community Transformation: Assessing the Impact of Kwakupokela Community Library on the Well-Being of Community Members
No full textThis study was undertaken to determine the impact that Kwakupokela Community Library is having on the well-being of community members. This qualitative study was conducted in Lusangazi on the outskirts of the City of Mzuzu in northern Malawi. Data were collected through focus group discussions carried out with two groups of users, one comprising primary school learners and the other comprising secondary school students who are regular users of the library. The researcher also interviewed the librarian. The collected data were transcribed in MS Word, cleaned, and analysed manually by following the order of the themes. The findings showed that the library has had a positive impact on the life of community members in terms of enhancing literacy skills, improved academic performance of learners, and fostering developmental activities. The findings further show that the library faces some challenges that include a shortage of information resources, noise, and lapses in security that need to be addressed to ensure it remains relevant and meets the needs of its users
Remaining Unspoken: Historicising Priscilla Ngoma’s Contributions to the Emergence and Development of the Zimbabwe Assemblies of God Africa
No full textThis article reports on a study that aimed to examine the role of women in African Pentecostal Churches in Zimbabwe, with a particular focus on their often-unrecognised contributions. Prompted by the acknowledgment that women have been crucial in the establishment and expansion of these churches, the study utilised a historical narrative approach to chronicle Priscilla Ngoma’s (1928–1998) influence on the growth of the Assemblies of God Africa (AOGA), which was founded by Archbishop Ezekiel Handinawangu Guti (1923–2023) on 12 May 1960. After Zimbabwe gained its independence on 18 April 1980, the church was renamed the Zimbabwe Assemblies of God Africa – Forward in Faith church (ZAOGA-FIF). The study findings indicated that Ngoma and other women were instrumental during the church’s early years. She was the first woman to contribute significantly to the development of church talents (Matarenda) and was the sole female among the original five executive directors of the church. However, the study uncovered that patriarchal frameworks and the church’s literal Bible interpretation within the Zimbabwean Pentecostal Church overshadowed Ngoma’s contributions. Such a literal understanding of certain biblical texts and the patriarchal setting among many Zimbabwean societies has fostered ZAOGA theology summarised by the church’s rhetoric – “men must lead!”, leaving the marginalisation of women largely uncontested. The article argues that this marginalisation has led to the overshadowing and the unrecognition of many ordained female pastors who have become a forgotten memory following their husbands’ deaths. Based on interviews and an analysis of unpublished documents in the National Archives of Zimbabwe, the article concludes that, in spite of Ngoma’s significant role in the founding and development of ZAOGA, not much has been written about her in the history of the organisation; hence, her ecclesiastical legacy may soon become a forgotten memory
Land, Freedom, Church, and Oral History: Retracing General Ndaya during Kenya’s War of Independence
No full textThis article explores the delicate context of the 1950s, when the church was classed with the oppressor, perhaps wrongly, during Kenya’s quest for land and freedom (wiyathi na ithaka). Indeed, the antithesis of the church and its perceived engagement with the “intolerant” state in colonial Kenya is epitomised in the life of General Ndaya, the Mau-Mau rebel leader in the then-Embu District (now Kirinyaga and Embu counties). This was communicated when his soldiers attacked and shed blood in an otherwise holy ground, the Roman Catholic Church, Baricho Parish of the present-day Kirinyaga County, in October 1953. Using oral history techniques, such as storytelling, archival sources, and personal communications, among others, the research article focuses on the Kenyan freedom fighter, General Ndaya, whose historicity has failed to gain traction in the national historiographies since the 17th of October 1953, when he was killed after the Battle of River Ragati, along the Nyeri-Kirinyaga County border. In this article, the lifetimes of the pioneer Mau-Mau rebel general are used as the axis through which the concepts of land, freedom, church, and oral history are interfaced in our endeavour to understand the delicate situation where the “reign of terror” triggered the “guillotining” of the “saints.” Is oral history the right companion in our endeavour to learn from our past errors
Exploring Student Perceptions of Blended Learning in a Higher Education Institution in South Africa
No full textThis study aimed to examine students’ experiences of blended learning in a higher education institution (HEI) in South Africa. Blended learning is increasingly recognised as an approach that promotes learning environments that enhance students’ self-directed learning and improve the overall learning experience. The Complex Adaptive Blended Learning System (CABLS) theoretical framework was used for this study, as it places the student at the centre of learning. This study explored the views of 28 students on blended learning, focusing on its benefits and challenges in the South African context. Using a qualitative design, data were collected through semi-structured focus group interviews and document analysis, with themes identified through inductive coding. The conclusions emphasise the importance of blended learning for ensuring student success and their achievement of the learning outcomes. It also highlights the need for adequate and reliable technological access and infrastructure, as well as strong support systems to overcome the challenges facing students in South African HEIs
Promoting Ecological Citizenship: Social Work Approach to Save the Environment for Sustainable Livelihood
No full textEcological citizenship is gaining recognition as a strategy to mitigate the impact of climate change. Climate change continues to pose a threat to the well-being of individuals, families, groups, and communities. Not only does it affect the environment, resulting in environmental degradation posing a threat to the general well-being of individuals, but it also has consequences for society since it compromises livelihood. Environmental degradation, as a cause of climate change, also threatens their society and future generations’ well-being. The devastating floods that caused massive destruction in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape in April 2022 are some of the factors that result in environmental degradation, thereby increasing vulnerability, which serves as a reminder of the significant role of ecological citizenship. Social work has a responsibility to help improve the quality of life, especially of marginalised and vulnerable populations, and can, therefore, play a crucial role in minimising the devastating effects of climate change through promoting ecological citizenship. Promoting green behaviour among citizens is one way in which social workers can indicate their commitment to sustainable development. Because environmental problems are proving to have a social angle, social workers should include the attainment of environmental justice and sustainability as part of their social interventions. In addition, social work can influence the environmental actions of various stakeholders. This paper offers a pragmatic approach rooted in social work to consider ecological citizenship to support sustainable livelihood. Informed by approaches and processes in social work, this paper explores and describes the role of social work in promoting ecological citizenship to achieve sustainable livelihood
Exploring the Role of Emotional Intelligence in New Teachers’ Approaches to Educational Inequality in Low-Resource Schools
No full textThis study, conducted in a low-resource region of western China, examines the role of emotional intelligence in low-resource schools, where socio-economic challenges and limited resources hinder student engagement and academic achievement. Despite extensive research on emotional intelligence, its impact on educational equity in these contexts remains underexplored. Drawing on Goleman’s emotional intelligence framework, the study investigates how emotional intelligence shapes teacher-student interactions and emotional support. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and classroom observations with 30 teachers, analysed using thematic analysis. The findings show that emotional intelligence significantly enhances teacher-student relationships, emotional support, and student engagement, ultimately improving academic outcomes. This research contributes to the literature by extending the application of emotional intelligence to low-resource environments, highlighting its potential relevance in international and cross-cultural educational settings, and underscores the importance of emotional intelligence training for teachers to foster educational equity
Performing Widowhood in African Songs
No full textMost Black African women whose husbands have passed away face cultural stigma. Most men and women within Africa’s patriarchal cultures use words such as “murderers,” “witches,” and “prostitutes” to describe and police African widows as they are deemed loose and sexually dangerous to society. Inevitably, African widows, female and male singers have used songs to depict widows lamenting being ill-treated and marginalised after the death of their husbands. Analysing a combination of female and male singers performing widowhood through songs raises the following questions: What are the popular thematic aspects of widowhood that female and male African singers sing about? How can one explain the imaginative differences that female and male singers authorise as they perform widowhood through songs? This current study uses Judith Butler’s concept of performative acts and gender constitution to identify, analyse, and evaluate what African women and men emphasise when singing about widowhood. A desktop approach is best suited to this task because the researcher used written literature derived from the library and the internet as primary and secondary sources. Convenient sampling enabled the researcher to select widowhood songs available in African society. A comparative gender perspective enabled an exploration of ways through which female and male singers have used old and new songs to comment on different experiences of widowhood. The findings of the study are that performing widowhood through songs reveals different, vested gender interests of performers. I argue that, beyond using songs of lamentation, both female and male singers creatively imagine and use linguistic metaphors that embed resistance discourses against the oppression of widows. The article contributes to African scholarship by arguing that, on one hand, singers emphasise the theme of vulnerability of widows, while on the other hand, interpreting the human condition of vulnerability of widows must reveal veiled voices of resistance to the oppression of widows in society
Culture as an Underlying Factor for Xhosa and Biblical Hebrew Aspectual Verbs
No full textScholars have long observed that Biblical Hebrew differs from English and other Indo-European languages in its verbal system. Levinsohn notes that Hebrew conveys aspect rather than tense, requiring translators to infer tense from context, while LaSor underscores the importance of interpreting Hebrew terms within their native linguistic framework. This article explores why Biblical Hebrew prioritises aspect over tense and investigates whether this distinction carries significant implications for interpretation and the construction of meaning. To engage these questions, the study examines how cultural world-views serve as an underlying factor in the prominence of aspectual verbs in Xhosa and Biblical Hebrew, providing a comparative lens for deeper linguistic and hermeneutical insights
Maishe Maponya’s Letta: Exploring Es’kia Mphahlele’s African Humanism as a Mediation of the South African Exile Experience
No full textTaking Maishe Maponya’s biographical play Letta as a starting point, in this article, I explore how exiled Black South African artists who moved to North America in the 1950s and 1960s mediated their yearning for home by finding solidarity with their American counterparts. In Letta, Maponya constructs a historical narrative based on the singer Letta Mbulu’s life to comment on the lives of South African exiles forced to migrate because of apartheid. Unfortunately, Mbulu has not written a biography on her experiences. Due to the nature of close relations while in South Africa and in exile, it is helpful for analysing Maponya’s play that Mbulu features in the biographies written by Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela, who also narrate the experiences of a small number of South African artists who formed the core of the exiled group. Upon interacting with Maponya’s play, as well as the texts by Makeba, Masekela, and Keorapetse Kgositsile, it becomes apparent that the exile experience was multilayered (both unhomely and strengthened by solidarity in social and cultural interactions). I propose that Mphahlele’s philosophy of African humanism can explain how Black South African artists were able to navigate and ultimately harmonise their sense of rootlessness as individual immigrants by being part of a mutually supporting, if modest, community diaspora. This enabled them to create a body of work that is still relevant in South African culture