UJ Press Journals
Not a member yet
2155 research outputs found
Sort by
Natural Language Processing for Agriculture-Based Industrial Skills Development in Polytechnics
Full text linkMachines are created to execute tasks naturally required to be done by the natural intelligence of human, this is known as Artificial Intelligence (AI). Using generative AI in TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training) promotes lifelong learning and digital literacy. However little research has been done on how Nigerian agriculture students use Natural Language Processing (NLP) AI tools like ChatGPT, Meta AI and DeepSeek. This study looked at the social-demographic of Agric-based students, usage patterns effects and difficulties of NLP AI tools among Nigerian polytechnic students enrolled in agriculture-related programs. Data were gathered from 300 students using structured questionnaires and a descriptive quantitative design. The results showed that 50% had a National Diploma 2 and 43% were between the ages of 20 and 22. Research (60%) assignments (30%) and learning (30%) were the main uses of NLP tools with ChatGPT (35%) and Meta AI (56%) being the most popular. Significant gains in comprehension (88.70%) application (93.20%) and problem-solving abilities (76.60%) associated with agricultural capabilities were reported by respondents. Students faced obstacles like restricted access technical problems and trouble understanding AI-generated content in spite of these advantages. If inclusive access and usability are improved the results demonstrate the revolutionary potential of AI in agricultural TVET. It is advised that Nigerian agricultural sector especially in polytechnic education benefit from the strategic application of NLP AI tools
The Judicial Imperialism: Politicisation of International Criminal Justice In Africa
No full textThis is a multi-disciplinary study that covers discourses on International organizations, Judiciary, Law, Politics, Decoloniality, African issues, and International Relations. The book is in 3 parts, that are conceptual and theoretical issues, International Criminal Court (ICC), Case studies or case laws on Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, and Ivory Coast, and Analysis and Normative Proposals. The merits of carrying and producing a multi-disciplinary approach for the study of this nature are that it empowers intellectuals to see correlations across subject matters and intellectuals get a more holistic understanding of the law, imperialism, and political discourses. This multi-discipline research also opens doors for different ideas and ways of understanding the nexus between international law and international politics.
 
Community Radio in Efforts to Curb Maternal Mortality: Perspectives from Radio Staff and Women in Rural Areas of Tanzania
Full text linkMaternal mortality is a critical public health challenge that significantly impacts the lives of millions of women globally, with sub-Saharan Africa accounting for 70% of global maternal deaths. Like many other sub-Saharan African countries, Tanzania continues to experience high maternal mortality rates, particularly among women of reproductive age in rural areas. Guided by the Community for Development Theory and the Health Belief Model, this study examines the potential of community radio as a community-based medium that can contribute to efforts aimed at reducing maternal mortality among rural women in Tanzania. A qualitative approach was employed, collecting data through in-depth interviews from a sample of 48 women involved in the focus group discussion from three Tanzanian districts (Bunda, Maswa and Uvinza), as well as from 22 community radio staff, including managers, editors and producers from Uvinza FM, Mazinga FM and Sibuka FM. The findings indicate that although community radio stations have undertaken several initiatives to combat maternal mortality, such as formulating radio policies to address community issues, conducting awareness campaigns on maternal health and incorporating maternal health topics into their programming, women’s access to radio programmes and engagement in these efforts remain low. Their limited access and participation are attributed to factors such as media illiteracy, financial challenges, household responsibilities and entrenched patriarchal norms in rural areas. This article suggests enhancing rural women’s access to and participation in community radio dialogues on maternal health issues as essential to improving maternal health outcomes
Christianity, Communality, and Resilience inthe Wake of COVID-19 in African Religious Worlds
Full text linkClean Energy and Financial Development as Determinants of Sustainable Development in sub-Saharan Africa
Full text linkSub-Saharan Africa is prominently involved in a range of established policies and international initiatives aimed at advancing clean energy and financial development, which are pivotal for addressing environmental concerns, stimulating economic growth, and promoting sustainable investment. However, access to clean energy, insufficient political commitment, and a lack of clear policy guidance remain major issues. This study investigated the relationship between clean energy access, financial development, and sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa, aiming to address critical research gaps. Financial Development exhibited a positive and significant relationship with gross domestic product per capita via analysis using panel data and employing panel Fully Modified Least Squares (FMOLS) regression, after determining that all the variables are stationary at I(1) except one, which is stationary at I(0). This suggests that a well-developed financial sector positively impacts economic growth by facilitating access to capital. Also, Renewable Energy Consumption demonstrated a negative association with gross domestic product per capita, possibly due to initial investment costs and technological constraints. The interaction effect between financial development and renewable energy also showed a negative impact on gross domestic product per capita, indicating a mitigating influence when both factors are considered together. Additionally, Trade Openness and Foreign Direct Investment exhibited notable impacts on gross domestic product per capita, with higher levels of trade openness and foreign direct investment potentially leading to lower economic growth. Based on the findings, the policy recommendations of this study are to strengthen the financial sector with efficient credit allocation, promote clean energy adoption despite challenges, mitigate trade openness impacts through diversification, and evaluate FDI for sustainable development alignment that enhances local benefits
Challenges in Teaching and Learning during COVID-19 Pandemic on Sustainable Development Goals in South Africa (A Systematic Review)
Full text linkDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, South Africa implemented lockdown and social distancing measures, resulting in the closure of all schools and higher education institutions in the country. Despite the challenges posed to both educators and learners, education systems have been forced to transition from traditional face-to-face pedagogical classroom methods into remote virtual platforms, which allow sustainability in the continuity of teaching and learning in traditional methods. This study adopts a systematic review approach to examine challenges in teaching and learning during and after the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa. Evidently, the findings from the study depict that, in the wake of the pandemic, the transition in education in South Africa was hampered by educational inequality and insufficient digital literacy among instructors in many South African educational institutions. However, post-COVID-19 evidence reveals that much progress has been made as there is an increased focus on adoption training and the use of digital tools and technology. The conclusion of this study is that traditional education should be blended with online teaching and learning to achieve sustainable development goal number four.
L\u27anthropologie clinique d\u27orientation psychanalytique : un dialogue inter-culturel
No full textThis article addresses the question of how to take anthropologists\u27 subjectivity into account in their research through a psychoanalytically oriented clinical approach. Through the analysis of the author\u27s own psychological movements, he hypothesizes that a sense of guilt may be common to those who practice anthropology, and that analyzing their transference and countertransference reactions can provide a way to access the reality of the other. In this way, he proposes to find in the clinical approach an ethic that allows us to break with the evolutionary and neocolonial positions of the discipline. He seeks to define anthropology as the practice of intercultural dialogue, first at the level of intersubjectivity, but also at the level of culturally distant social and institutional practices.Cet article aborde la question de la prise en compte de la subjectivité de l\u27anthropologue dans sa recherche, à travers une démarche clinique d\u27orientation psychanalytique. Il fait l\u27hypothèse qu\u27un sentiment de culpabilité est peut-être commun à celles et ceux qui font de l\u27anthropologie, et que l\u27analyse de leurs réactions transférentielles et contre-transférentielles constitue une voie d\u27accès à la réalité de l\u27autre. En cela, il propose d\u27appliquer la démarche clinique pour tenter de rompre avec les positionnements évolutionnistes et néo-coloniaux de la discipline. En rappelant les principes méthodologiques de l\u27entretien clinique de recherche, il montre qu\u27il est possible de faire de l\u27anthropologie la pratique d\u27un dialogue inter-subjectif et inter-culturel
A Pan-African Exploration of Queer Embodiment in African Film: A Book Review of Gibson Ncube’s Queer Bodies in African Films (NISC, December 2022)
No full textGibson Ncube’s monograph produces a Pan-African archive of films that grapple with the specificities of queer embodiment in several regions on the African continent. Queer Bodies in African Films does important intra-continental theorising about what it means to be queer in Africa, or African and queer, in both North and sub-Saharan African contexts, with a corpus that maps filmed queer bodiesin selected Maghrebian (chapter one), Egyptian (chapter two), East African (chapter three), and South African films (chapter four). Throughout, Ncube centres the filmed queer body as a site where “multiple and often intersecting discourses and narratives” (Ncube 2022, p.2) contest for legitimacy within their given cultural milieus. In this frame, the author remains attentive to “how the touching of bodies and rubbing together of physical bodies produce feelings and affection and forge (dis)connections” (2). As Ncube avers, this kind of pan-African consideration of queerness is lacking in Queer African Studies, and the monograph provides a useful entry point for scholars looking to do similar intracontinental research
Epistemic Freedom: Itineraries of a Concept
Full text linkThe concept of epistemic freedom, which I introduced in Epistemic Freedom in Africa: Deprovincialization and Decolonization (2018), is elaborated in this article to give it context and to highlights its itineraries. This reflective article provides five problematic epistemes that necessitates struggles for epistemic freedom. These are racist, (en)slave, colonial/imperial, endocentric/patriarchal, and capitalist/neoliberal epistemes. These inextricably intertwined epistemes are constitutive of Eurocentric epistemologies and its reproductions at a world scale and make it difficult for alternative epistemologies from the Global South to flourish. They also underpin contemporary global economy and its asymmetrical power dynamics, which continues to marginalise decolonial ways of thinking, seeing, and praxes