Unisa Press Journals (University of South Africa)
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Psychosocial Experiences of LGBTQIA+ Youth Experiencing Homelessness in Cape Town, South Africa
No full textSocial science literature demonstrates consistent trends of socioeconomic disadvantage and complex psychosocial problems for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, plus (LGBTQIA+) people globally. This is particularly salient in the area of homelessness among LGBTQIA+ youth in the literature from the Global North. This study sought to document and analyse the psychosocial experiences of LGBTQIA+ youth (aged 18 to 34) in Cape Town, South Africa. Through a mixed methods approach, using the theoretical frameworks of intersectionality, minority stress theory, and minority strengths theory, researchers examined semi-structured interview and survey data from 12 residents at an emergency shelter service organisation for LGBTQIA+ individuals experiencing homelessness in Cape Town. Findings indicate that residents in the shelter reported heightened levels of depression and experiences of discrimination. Several major themes emerged from interview transcript analysis, such as the role of culture, toxic masculinity, religion, substance use, and mental health concerns. Recommendations are that social workers continue to follow-up with residents once they have left the shelter to ensure that the interventions are successful and that programmes designed for the population should incorporate an understanding of these psychosocial aspects of LGBTQIA+ homelessness in South Africa
Navigating Life after Imprisonment: The Experiences of Elderly Parolees Transitioning Back to Communities in eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality
No full textThe study explored the perceptions and experiences of elderly parolees transitioning back to the community. The study sample comprised 15 elderly parolees selected through purposive sampling. In-depth interviews were conducted using semi-structured interview guides. The study was situated in Durban Community Corrections, a reintegration centre under the Durban Management Area in the KwaZulu-Natal province. The study aimed to gain an in-depth understanding of elderly parolees’ experiences of transitioning from prison to the community. This study reveals that even though participants experienced loss of independence, family ties and identity, chronic health problems, and discrimination, they were able to desist from criminal activities, received religious support, and obtained short-term employment opportunities. The study concludes by proffering recommendations for the Department of Correctional Services, programme developers, coordinators, planners, social workers, as well as managers of community correctional centres who are responsible for ensuring that parolees continue to receive effective services after release from a correctional centre
Interrogating the Meagre Response of Social Work to the “Social Question” Exposed by the COVID-19 Pandemic
No full textThe outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in South Africa in March 2020 unleashed not only a health crisis, but also a “tsunami” that disrupted every aspect of human and social life. Social work practice and education were not spared. The aftermath of the pandemic saw various services declared essential while the conventional delivery of others, including social work, were brought to a complete halt. In response, social workers elsewhere explored innovative strategies to continue rendering services remotely. In South Africa, some social workers embarked on consultative engagements through various formations whilst, others either remained mum or lamented the exclusion of social work as an essential service. Notwithstanding the fact that the above were not the only responses, the consequences of the lack of a unified professional voice and leadership may have far-reaching and negative consequences. This article presents a critical interrogation of the South African social work response throughout the pandemic. The interrogation reveals three explanatory factors behind the ineptness of social work, namely: professional decadence; a perpetual struggle for recognition; and the need to improve the status of the profession in society. These factors explain the unsatisfactory responses of the social work profession. The author argues that this amounts to failure to engage the social question, which inadvertently leads to the erosion of the value, status and societal recognition of social work. The author proposes serious professional reorientation to a focus on the social question which translates into focusing primarily on societal rather than disciplinary issues and problematics
Market or State? Post-Reform Distribution of Sociology Faculty at Chinese Universities
No full textNeoliberal policies since 1978 have caused severe regional inequality in China. Cities in regions with high levels of marketisation attract top academic experts due to their proximity to economic incentives and prestigious universities. However, little is known about how economic reform has shaped the distribution of experts in the social science and humanities disciplines as they are less in demand on the market and often rely on support from the state. Using sociology as a unique case, this study investigates market and state influences on the regional distribution of sociology experts in Chinese universities based on city-level measurements. Sociology has a unique historical and paradigmatic connection with the state of China, which complicates any straightforward relationship between neoliberal policies and higher education inequality in sociology departments. Through a manual collection of 1,041 faculty profiles from 66 university websites, it was determined following the fractional logistic regression method that both the market and the state facilitate distribution. The city’s marketisation increases the internationalisation of faculty members in sociology departments, while the city’s position in the state’s administrative hierarchy maintains the sociology departments, regardless of the city’s marketisation. In general, the state still plays an important role in shaping academic expert distribution after 40 years of market reform in China
A Systematic Review of English as a Medium of Instruction Policy in the Arab World
No full textLanguage of instruction policy plays a major role in the success of education, impacting stakeholders from different backgrounds, such as instructors, students, parents, and government officials. This article presents an analysis of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) research conducted in Arab world (AW) countries since the year 2000. A keyword search of the Scopus database returned 101 articles, 52 of which were removed using identified selection criteria. This left 49 articles analysed in terms of authorship, funding information, research instruments, contexts, publication year and place, citations, and key findings. The results were as follows: Although AW researchers have examined EMI policy in greater detail during the last five years, several AW contexts remain unexplored. Author affiliations were linked to the locations of funding organisations. Neither K-12 nor graduate EMI provision has been investigated fully. While EMI is a successful top-down policy well-suited to AW demographics, it is viewed negatively by most students, possibly because programmes are not designed well and instructors are insufficiently prepared to teach EMI programmes effectively. Although EMI’s one-size-fits-all approach is common in many AW institutions, educational levels and academic disciplines impact the success of EMI policy. I argue that AW and international researchers must collaborate to gain a wider understanding of AW contexts, and that research must strive to include other stakeholders, such as employers and parents
Becoming Community-Engaged Educators: Engaging Students within and beyond the Classroom Walls, edited by George Jacobs and Graham Crookes
No full textPsycho-Social Factors Influencing Exclusive Breastfeeding Among the Primigravida Mothers at a Public Hospital in the uGu District, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
No full textPrimigravidae, first-time mothers are generally inexperienced at motherhood, which affects breastfeeding initiation and intent. Therefore, they need frequent professional and social support that must be clinical and practical for successful exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) outcomes. The study aimed to qualitatively explore the psychosocial factors influencing exclusive breastfeeding among primigravida mothers at a public hospital in the uGu District, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa. A qualitative phenomenological and explorative research methodology was used to conduct the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 purposive sampled primigravida mothers from the postpartum ward from day one today to four post-delivery. Data was collected until saturation was reached. Based on Bandura\u27s Self-Efficacy and Social Cognitive Theoretical Framework, the study has shown that personal, social, and environmental factors strongly influence maternal attitudes toward breastfeeding efficacy. Five significant themes that emerged from the data analysis were (a) factors influencing maternal self-efficacy, (b) challenges to EBF, (c) cultural influence on EBF, (d) the role of support systems to EBF, and (e) breastfeeding support strategies. The study showed that stakeholders need to apply critical clinical interventions if South Africa reaches the global nutritional target of 50% EBF by 2025. These include healthcare workers (HCWs), Policymakers, Employers, the Department of Health, the Department of Education, the Department of Labour, and the Department of Social Services. Access to child support grants, social services, ARVs through mobile clinic services, and frequent face-to-face antenatal care were among the study\u27s recommendations to address doubts, fears, and anxieties around EBF intent, practice, and duration
The Influence of Culture and Religion in Coping with a Mental Illness by the Residents of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.
No full textCulture and Religion are significant constructs in the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of mental illness, and acknowledging culture and religion is thus essential to effectively engage with all people seeking mental healthcare. This study sought to explore the role of culture and religion in coping with mental illness among people of the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa. The study employed a quantitative exploratory-descriptive approach, with 101 participants taking an online questionnaire as a convenience sample. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. The findings suggested that there is a link between religion/culture and how people cope with mental illnesses. The study\u27s findings highlight the importance of public education initiatives that recognise and appreciate people\u27s cultural variety and collaboration between traditional and medical experts
The New Prison Narrative in Zimbabwe: Re-Imagining (In)Justice in the Second Republic
No full textThe prison has long functioned in Zimbabwe’s official post-colonial history as a symbolic, ideologised, and often politicised mnemonic of colonial injustice. This conception of the prison allows for its convenient summoning and implementation in hegemonic (neo)nationalist identity projects of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union (Patriotic Front) (ZANU PF) party. As a metaphor of colonial oppression and injustice, the colonial prison enters ZANU PF’s “patriotic” narratives of self-legitimation as a historical testament of nationalist rites of passage to political power that define and ring-fence nationalist sacrifice. It would be fascinating, in the context of the proliferation of various forms of prison narratives in post-colonial Zimbabwe, to consider what is (un)changing with the meaning of the prison vis-à-vis its paradoxical function as, on one hand, a symbolic monument archiving liberation struggle sacrifice and, on the other, a site of inspiration for incarcerated opposition activists to chart alternative forms of liberation from “liberation.” Using a purposefully selected set of prison writings and anecdotes, mostly in the form of epistles and speeches by jailed Zimbabwean opposition activists, this article argues that new prison narratives use the prison as an aesthetic and discursive metaphor for unsettling the state’s epistemic justice in Zimbabwe. Invoking Maria Pia Lara’s ideas about the disclosive effect of narratives by oppressed groups, the article looks at how certain aesthetic constructions of political victimhood in prison narratives create a new logic of justice. It explores the various ways in which the post-colonial prison in Zimbabwe is re-imagined in emerging prison narratives that portray it as emblematic of a new form of injustice that underscores the inherent instability of post-colonial justice in independent Zimbabwe
Behind and Beyond the Bench: Challenges and Opportunities for Judicial Protection and the Attainment of Justice in Zimbabwe as Explored in Petina Gappah’s Rotten Row (2016)
No full textThis article interrogates the role that judicial protection, a critical element in the justice delivery system, plays in the broader quest for justice in Zimbabwe. Within the formal judicial system, justice is realised when officials sworn to serve the system and constitutionally mandated to dispense justice work consistently, fairly, and uniformly to protect the citizens. Whenever there are challenges to judicial protection, both behind and beyond the bench, the very notion of justice is compromised, and this is not uncommon in a fluid system manned by fallible human beings. Using seven purposely selected short stories from Petina Gappah’s short story collection Rotten Row, namely “The White Orphan,” “The Lament of Hester Muponda,” “In Sad Cypress,” “A Kind of Justice,” “The Death of Wonder,” “A Short Story of Zaka the Zulu,” and “The Dropper,” the article capitalises on the burgeoning law and literature interstices to reveal the redacted yet valuable events that occur behind and away from the courts and are symptomatic of the shortcomings and/or weaknesses of judicial protection at both the individual and institutional level. These events have the capacity to enhance or curtail justice. Hopefully, this analysis helps to demystify and de-sacralise the judiciary so that the reflexive spaces afforded by discussing law and justice in literary spaces nurture the occult instability that can deconstruct notions of law and justice to make them both accessible and relevant to societies