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Ideational Analysis and Integration of African Folktale in Science, Technology, and Education
No full textFolktales are literary forms that reveal the soul of any society; they express its wishes, desires, hopes, and beliefs about the world. They have fictional characters and situations, mostly oral traditions, before they were written down. According to Cynthia McDaniel (1993), folktales can be used in all disciplines to convey knowledge and communicate ideas; they serve as an inherent vehicle for intergenerational communication that prepares and assigns roles and responsibilities to different generations in their communities. They are more pedagogic devices and less literary pieces. They cultivate universal values such as compassion, generosity, and honesty while disapproving of attributes such as cruelty, greed, and dishonesty. To illustrate McDaniel\u27s claims, this paper will firstly use the ideational metafunctional framework found in Systemic Functional Linguistics, which expresses the clausal experiences and content from a grammatical perspective, coupled with syntagmatic analysis, which describes the text (folktale) in chronological order as reported by the storyteller. Secondly, the presentation will use a textual metafunctional framework that fulfills the thematic function of the clause, coupled with the paradigmatic analysis where the folkloristic text\u27s patterns are regrouped more analytically to reveal the text\u27s latent content, or theme. The Voyant Tool, a web-based text reading and analysis environment designed to facilitate the analysis of various text formats, was used to extract and analyze data from a Sesotho folktale to illustrate how folktales may be integrated with technology for research and educational purposes. This paper employed a descriptive research design that incorporates qualitative (content analysis) and quantitative (statistical analysis) methodologies to analyze and interpret the story. It is observed, through the Voyant tool, that the story is built out of 191 Sesotho word formations, and through the ideational analysis, that the storyteller employed more material process types than mental process types, and lastly, with the textual interpretation, indicating the value of oral literature in our daily lives as well as the significant role folktales may play in interpreting sociopolitical events in contemporary communities
Using Margaret Archer’s sociological concepts of structure, culture, and agency to investigate the dissemination of customary marriage literature in South African Higher Education Institutions
Get PDFBefore colonialism, apartheid, and democracy, customary marriages were regulated by customs and practices under living customary law. The advent of these systems introduced official customary law. This introduction brought about changes to customary marriages, which are known and understood by the people of South Africa who subscribe to living customary law. The existence of official customary law as a result of actions from colonialism, apartheid, and democracy impacted the literature of customary marriages that is disseminated by South African Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). These institutions disseminate customary marriage literature that often fails to capture the lived realities of African South African people. This led to the subjugation and marginalisation of the literature of customary marriages as practised by most South African people under living customary law. Unavoidably, the status quo concerns epistemological access to customary marriage literature based on living customary law. Against this backdrop, this paper adopts a multidisciplinary approach to investigate what led to the status quo and how the status quo could be changed. This will be done using Margaret Archer’s sociological concepts of structure, culture, and agency, typically known as Margaret Archer’s Morphogenesis Theory. In this contribution, this theory mainly denotes the relationship between the systems and interactions through systemic conditioning
Tacit choice of law in the Hague Principles on Choice of Law in International Contracts
Get PDFThis article contains the submission in respect of tacit choice of law made to the working group tasked with the drafting of the Hague Principles on Choice of Law in International Contracts. The different criteria for tacit choice of law in various international instruments and national laws are considered. A strict test for the existence of tacit or implied agreements is supported to prevent legal uncertainty and so as not to undermine the conflicts rule that applies in the absence of a choice of law. The procedural element which appears in this regard in various codes, must be avoided in the appropriate choice of law context. The possible sources for a tacit choice of law are discussed and it appears that contractual terms as well as the circumstances of the case may play a part in this regard. The authors submit that the choice of a forum does not as such constitute a tacit choice of law. In view of this analysis, certain recommendations are made for the proper formulation of the test for a tacit choice of law. The changes made by the working group and the formulation provisionally agreed on, are mentioned. The proposed rule is as follows: “A contract is governed by the law or rules of law chosen by the parties. The choice or any modification thereof must be made expressly or appear clearly from the provisions of the contract or the circumstances. An agreement between the parties to confer jurisdiction on a court or an arbitral tribunal in a given state to determine disputes under the contract, is not in itself equivalent to a choice of the law of that state.
Some thoughts on state regulation of South African insolvency law
Get PDFThe significance of a modern insolvency system as a key foundation of sustainable economic development has widely been acknowledged and there is furthermore a general recognition that, in turn, those systems depend on the existence of strong and efficient regulatory frameworks. While the primary focus of any reform process of insolvency law should be on how best to serve the needs and interests of society, it would thus be unrealistic to ignore the wider global context in which trade and commerce takes place. This article aims to emphasise the importance of a fresh approach to law reform in this field of South African law so as to ensure compliance with the underlying values of the Constitution but also public confidence in the system of regulation and supervision, and in the process of insolvency law. The main objective of this study is to make certain recommendations with regard to a regulatory framework for state regulation in South African insolvency law and to propose and highlight certain vital design features which could complement any future policy design and law reform initiatives
The right to development in the African human rights system: The Endorois case
Get PDFNotwithstanding the controversy about the right to development (RTD), the African human rights system expressly recognizes it as a human right. The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of the Centre for Minority Rights Development (CEMIRIDE) (on behalf of the Endorois) v Kenya (Endorois case) on the realization of the RTD in the African human rights system. After an overview of the RTD characterized by the controversy on its nature, the paper proceeds to show that Endorois departs from Social and Economic Rights Action Center and the Center for Economic and Social Rights v Nigeria (SERAC case), Democratic Republic of the Congo v Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda (DRC case) and Kevin Mgwanga Gumne et al v Cameroon (Gumne case). In this respect, Endorois defines the concept of “peoples”, clarifies the beneficiaries of the RTD and stresses the role of the state as the primary duty bearer. It also explains the content of RTD which is multifaceted as it comprises elements of non-discrimination, participation, accountability, transparency, equity and choices as well as capabilities. In addition, it explains the threshold of people’s participation needed in development endeavours and emphasizes the immediate realization of human rights as subscribed to by the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The Endorois decision provides guidance on how to ensure the justiciability of the RTD. Prior to the Endorois decision, all these features of the RTD were never clarified by the African Commission in the SERAC, DRC and Gumne cases
Wesbank v Deon Winston Papier and the National Credit Regulator (unreported Western Cape High Court case no 14256/10 (WCC)): Termination of debt review in terms of section 86(10) of the National Credit Act 34 of 2005
Get PDFThe application of section 85 of the National Credit Act in an application for summary judgment
Get PDFBefore the implementation of the National Credit Act (NCA) in 2007 Consumer protection legislation was largely unheard of in South Africa. One of the main objectives if the NCA is to promote the protection of debtors. Debt counselling as set out in section 86 is one way in which the legislature endeavours to provide this protection. Section 85 determines that a court may in any matter before it, regarding a credit matter where the debtor claims to be over indebted, refer the credit agreement to a debt counsellor or declare the debtor over indebted and restructure his debts. In practice, section 85 is usually reserved for use by debtors in applications for summary judgement with regard to immovable property. Section 85 grants the court the discretion to refer the credit agreement to a debt counsellor resulting in the postponement or amendment of the summary judgement. It falls to the debtor to convince the court to order such a referral. The courts have identified a number of important factors that must be considered during the implementation of the courts discretion. This article is a critical discussion of section 85 as well as the court’s interpretation thereof
Experiencing the South African undergraduate law curriculum
Get PDFIn a study to ascertain the fitness for purpose of the four year LLB degree, introduced in South Africa in 1998 as part of a post-apartheid transformation agenda, six law graduates from a single year cohort at one historically white university, who are now practicing attorneys, were interviewed. The purpose of this part of the empirical study was to obtain insights into the experience of the undergraduate law curriculum from a representative sample of successful graduates, who had completed the degree in the minimum time prescribed for the qualification.
Adopting a phenomenographic methodology, which attempts to explore the differing perceptions of respondents in relation to a particular experience, in this case, the experience of the undergraduate law curriculum, the study developed an analysis of some of the ways in which the students respond to the LLB curriculum. The categories of description derived from the graduate interviews produced an interesting “map of the collective mind” of the graduates: the instrumental strategist (outsider); the pragmatic generalist (in comfort zone) and the transformed vocationalist (engaged insider). These positions appear to reflect three hierarchically ordered levels of engagement with the curriculum.
The key principles of integrating skills, teaching ethics explicitly and sensitising students to the practice of law in a diverse, pluralistic society that were to inform the design of the undergraduate curriculum have not been effectively implemented, and play a role in the way law students experience the curriculum. A “cycle of disadvantage,” emerged from the data as a representation of the replication of historical disadvantage through the curriculum. For many “non-traditional” students, their status as “outsiders” – both within the university and beyond it, once they enter the realm of professional enculturation – along with their personal history and expectations, tends to replicate their social positioning. The law curriculum acts to reproduce existing inequalities rather than serving as a transformative vehicle for students.
In conclusion, the author develops some suggestions for ways in which the experience of the undergraduate law curriculum in South Africa could become a transformative educative process, instead of remaining as an obstacle to many students seeking to gain entry to the legal professions
The judicial and legislative reform of the customary law of succession
Get PDFDie inheemse erfreg was gebaseer op die grondslag dat die manlike eersgeborene die oorledene se erfgenaam is. Die Konstitusionele Hof het dit ongrondwetlik verklaar omdat dit teen vrouens en kinders van die oorledene diskrimineer. Die hof het dus gelas dat alle intestate boedels moet vererf ingevolge die Wet op Intestate Erfopvolging. Weens die verweefdheid van die inheemse familiereg met die erfopvolgingsreg was die wetgewer verplig om die reëls van die intestate erfopvolging te versoen met sekere familieregtelike gebruike. Die uitkoms was die “Reform of Customary Law of Succession and Regulation of Related Matters Act”. In hierdie artikel wys die skrywers op sekere ongerymdhede in die Wet en dat sommige bepalings nie prakties uitvoerbaar is nie
Statistical adjustment of matric marks: The right of access to information
Get PDFHierdie artikel neem die historiese rol van Umalusi, ’n liggaam wat wetlik daargestel is om as kwaliteitversekeraar en kurator van die Nasionale Senior-Sertifikaat (Graad 12) te funksioneer, onder die loep. Die doel is om vas te stel in welke mate die Bevordering van Toegang tot Inligting Wet 2 van 2000 gebruik kan word om toegang tot sensitiewe inligting aangaande die statistiese verstelling of “standaardisering” van matriekpunte te verkry.
Die artikel verskaf in-diepte agtergrond aangaande twee aspekte, naamlik: die legitieme mandaat van Umalusi om punteverstellings te mag doen en hulle aanvanklike weiering in 2011 om die uitkomste van sulke verstellings aan die media en breë publiek bekend te stel, gegewe die historiese konteks; tweedens ontleed die artikel die doel en bepalings van die Wet ten einde uitvoering te gee aan artikel 32(2) van die Grondwet van die Republiek van Suid-Afrika, 1996.
Die uitgang van hierdie studie is die betoog van die media en publiek in 2011 dat hulle die grondwetlike reg het om ingelig te word aangaande die proses en uitkoms van die statistiese verstelling van matriekpunte (Graad 12). Volgens regsvertolking is Umalusi deur parlementêre wetgewing daargestel as ’n staatsliggaam wat in die openbare belang binne ’n bepaalde politieke en juridiese raamwerk funksioneer en sy aksies moet as sodanig gemoniteer kan word