Unisa Press Journals (University of South Africa)
Not a member yet
6222 research outputs found
Sort by
“Theologising the Bounds of Community: VOC Religious Policies in the Early Cape Colony”: 2023 CONFERENCE OF THE CHURCH HISTORY SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN AFRICA
No full textThis paper seeks to challenge scholarly assumptions over the role that Reformed religion played in the first 50 years of the Cape colony. Rather than rooted in a doctrine of external holiness, it is argued the practice of baptism reflected a covenantal framework that served as a theological basis for ordering and demarcating an increasingly diversified community while maintaining strict social hierarchies. In so doing, the VOC created a community defined by covenantal inclusion and exclusion. While this radically changed over time, the early policy should be understood in its context.
A History of the Fellowship of Youth in the Zambezi Evangelical Church (1983–2018)
No full textThe Fellowship of Youth (FoY) is an established name for the youth organisation in the Zambezi Evangelical Church (ZEC) in Malawi. Prior to its establishment, several missionaries attempted to organise the youth ministry in the church but with little success. The idea of having an established youth organisation in the ZEC was introduced in the early 1960s; however, not much was done until 1983, when the FoY was launched at Dombole congregation in Ntcheu. The original goal of the FoY was to enhance spiritual growth among the youth through biblical teachings and social support. Its establishment helped the ZEC to bring together the autonomous youth choirs which actively participated in evangelism and crusades. The FoY has planted new churches in urban areas and produced some leaders in the church and the community. In the early 1990s, the FoY embraced a charismatic spirituality which transformed the theological praxis and the order of worship in the church. However, the shift to the charismatic movement has led to a liturgical crisis which resulted in factions and split-offs between 2004 and 2018. For this reason, the FoY has been receiving mixed perceptions
The Professionalisation of Child and Youth Care: Perspectives of Child and Youth Care Workers in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
No full textThe professionalisation of child and youth care (CYC) has long been an important milestone for the profession. This article will further add to the voices of child and youth care workers (CYCWs) about this process. It focuses on and explores the perspectives of CYCWs in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, on the process of CYC professionalisation. The researchers conducted an in-depth qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with 12 purposely selected CYCWs from different children’s homes in eThekwini. Their perspectives showed that there is still a lack of understanding of the concept and that there are aspects of CYC professionalisation that still have not been achieved while others have. The research findings revealed that the process of CYC professionalisation is important for the growth, status, and continuous stability of the CYC profession. The researchers concluded that the research findings highlighted will offer important insight for the stabilisation of the CYC profession
The Contribution of the Agricultural Food Security Pack Programme to Beneficiary Households in Zambia: A Case Study of Mpulungu District
No full textSmall-scale farming provides most of the food produced in Southern Africa. Unfortunately, most vulnerable-but-viable small-scale farmers in Zambia are affected by household food insecurity despite the Zambian government providing them with farming inputs under the food security pack programme. This study investigated the effects of the programme on maize crop production among 147 vulnerable-but-viable farming households in Mpulungu District, using a mixed-methods approach. The study results revealed improved land cultivation, maize crop productivity and access to food by family members after respondents entered the programme. These results imply that the programme contributed positively to the achievement of the aforementioned positive successes, despite the beneficiaries receiving farming inputs late, i.e., outside the planting period. Notwithstanding the many positive effects achieved by the programme, there were some challenges, namely, the late receipt of farming inputs by most beneficiaries, failure by the Zambian government to release timely funds to suppliers of farming inputs, imposition of some male beneficiaries into the programme by politicians, and low literacy levels among most beneficiaries. The study concludes that despite the challenges encountered in the programme implementation, the food security pack programme had positive effects on maize crop production among most of the benefiting vulnerable-but-viable small-scale farmers in Mpulungu District. Therefore, the study recommends scaling up the programme and increasing the number of programme beneficiaries, timely distribution of inputs and budget profiling by the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services — a lead ministry for implementing the programme
On Pipelines and Precarity: Competing Narratives on the Roles and Functions of Postdocs in South African Higher Education
No full textIt is broadly understood that postdoctoral research fellows (hereafter postdocs) play a significant role in higher education’s research outputs, teaching and learning, and the rating and ranking of an institution. Largely shaped by the neoliberal turn(s) in higher education from the late 1970s and 1980s, postdocs have become an indispensable yet precarious labour force that higher education institutions have come to rely on. In the South African context, research on postdoc fellowships is relatively new, with limited scholarship focusing on the narratives and voices of these marginalised scholars. In this article, I purposively recruited and interviewed 23 former and current postdocs in three research-intensive universities in South Africa as well as a university vice dean of research, and a former senior official of the Department of Higher Education and Training. I also consulted and analysed various South African higher education policy documents and ministerial articulations regarding postdocs in the country. Through the use of in-depth semi-structured interviews, two competing narratives emerged from the data—that is, the deeply rooted and entrenched idea of the postdoc system as a pipeline for novice researchers to transition into established scholars, and the idea of the postdocs as precarious scholars whose academic labour is insecure, unstable, and exploited in the university. I conclude the article with some broad systemic implications on the role and function of postdocs in South African higher education, and the need for more research to understand these marginalised scholars.
Bridging the Algorithmic Divide: Refocusing Faculty Artificial Intelligence Literacy in Higher Education
No full textThe urgency for artificial intelligence (AI) literacy has been highlighted by the 2024 Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry, awarded for groundbreaking AI research. Despite AI’s transformative potential in higher education, a digital divide persists between faculty and students, with educators often lagging behind in AI adoption. This commentary addresses the critical need to enhance AI literacy among faculty, examines the barriers to AI adoption, and emphasises the evolving role of students as contributors to faculty development. The commentary outlines future research and development directions, including interdisciplinary studies, ethical frameworks, and international collaboration, to foster an inclusive and effective AI-integrated educational environment. Through these efforts, higher education can cultivate a technologically adept and ethically informed academic community, prepared to leverage AI for scientific discovery and innovation
Indigenous Knowledge on the Management of Ungomwa among the Ndau of South-Eastern Zimbabwe
No full textThe article explores the indigenous Ndau people’s conceptualisation of ungomwa (infertility) and its management. More specifically, I investigated the Ndau beliefs and practices around ungomwa. I conducted a literature review, informal conversations and made observations for data collection. I delimited the study to causes of infertility among Ndau males, its detection, effects, and how it is managed within Ndau cosmology. The findings showed that, although beliefs on ungomwa were varied, it is an undesirable condition. It results in childlessness, which presents serious problems; victims suffer personal grief and frustration, social stigma, and ostracism. Using an indigenous knowledge perspective in a patriarchal Ndau community, I argue that men want to maintain their ego and masculine grandstanding in the community and usually blame women for the infertility. More important to note is that there are indigenous knowledge systems that can be employed to (mis)manage infertility if detected early at youth. If detected when a man is already in marriage, measures are put in place to ensure children are born in the family. I argue that ungomwa is a gendered, cultural, and psycho-social sexual reproductive health challenge that can be innovatively managed for human flourishing
Domesticating the English Language in Niyi Osundare’s The Word Is an Egg
No full textNiyi Osundare’s revolutionary poetics is rooted in his distinctive ability to maximise his bilingual linguistic repertoire to express Yoruba thoughts in English words. In this article, I analyse the creative and stylistic strategies that Osundare deploys to domesticate the English language using poems from his collection The Word Is an Egg (2000). I argue that Osundare uses his autonomy and agency as an African writer to present an alternative perspective on the politics of language in African literature while also meeting the decolonisation imperative of his day. He domesticates the English language by peppering it with Yoruba to create an “African English” or “Yoruba English” in his poetic composition. The article is in five parts. Initially, I situate Osundare as a poet within the Nigerian literary landscape and highlight the critical reception his radical development of Nigerian poetry in English received. A literature review focuses on the contentious language debate in African literature. The third part presents decolonisation theory as the theoretical framework, specifically highlighting language as an African resource for challenging the Western grip on poetry and the hegemony of the English language in African literature. In the fourth part, the domestication of the English language by Osundare, I discuss how he uses English and Yoruba to co-create an African English or Yoruba English in his poetic composition. I conclude by asserting that Osundare’s alternative perspective weakens Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s absolute perspective on language usage in African literature by highlighting the omission and inherent problems in the absolutisation of colonialism in decolonial discourse
Perspectives on African Indigenous Religion and the Natural Environment: Beings, Interconnectedness, Communities and Knowledge Systems
No full textThis article explored the intricate relationship between African Indigenous Religion (AIR) and the natural environment. It uncovered diverse perspectives on how African communities historically engage with and conserve their natural surroundings and underscored the contemporary relevance of these insights in addressing global environmental challenges. The article covered a wide range of online and offline materials, including books, book chapters, and journal articles, offering a comprehensive understanding of the connections between indigenous belief systems and environmental conservation in Africa. By analysing key recurring themes and concepts within the literature, including African ontology, belief in God, ancestral roles, deities, community values, moral status, and Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS), the article synthesised insights from previous research and identified important areas for future research
Kant’s Perpetual Peace (1795) and the Russia-Ukraine/NATO Conflict
No full textThe work that I wish to concentrate on here, Perpetual Peace, is situated at least in the converging fields of (international and constitutional) law and politics. Given its date of publication (1795), Kant’s preceding works may all safely be said to have prepared his thinking for the progressive ideas expressed there, but to disclose the specific threads that connect each of these 12 preceding works with Perpetual Peace would require far more than a mere article. For this reason, I have confined myself largely to drawing such connections between the latter work and Kant’s seminal (and famous) essay, What is Enlightenment? (1784) before elaborating on Perpetual Peace and its implications for the current global situation, which will, therefore, also have to be reconstructed, unavoidably, from my own perspective. This article, therefore, addresses the question of “lasting” world peace through the lens of Kant’s essay on the conditions for “perpetual peace.” This is done by listing each of the six “Preliminary Articles” and three “Definitive Articles” stated by Kant, in turn, and comparing their respective requirements to current events in the extant world, specifically those surrounding the Russia-Ukraine/NATO conflict. It is demonstrated that, although Kant admitted that the principles he listed comprised an “ideal”, the present era marks a set of conditions further removed from lasting peace than ever before