2,969 research outputs found
Spaces of contestation: the everyday experiences of ten African migrants in Cape Town
No full textIncludes bibliographical references.Xenophobia in South Africa is so overt that it has take a covert form. The 'xenocide' events that took place in 2008 were called xenophobic acts. It is the recurrent denialism of xenophobia on an everyday basis that this project has explored through the narrative accounts of ten African migrants in Cape Town. The lived everyday experiences of ten African migrants have brought forward the central argument of this thesis. From the data, it is evident that as a reponse to everyday pressures of prejudices and xenophobia in social and physical spaces, African migrants have developed mutable, unsettled and vagrant identities in order to cope with everyday low level violence. This argument emerged as four key stressors have been identified as the components of a more substantial explanation of xenophobia in South Africa. The four key components are: the enforcement of identity (national and group), the demarcation of spaces of belonging, the experiences of economic insecurity, and lastly a 'culture of violence' in South Africa. This thesis argues that these four stressors are the result of an on-going active process of xenophobic attitudes
Developing a strategic approach to social responsiveness at the University of Cape Town South Africa
No full textCollaborative community-engaged scholarship has roots in many parts of the world, and engaged practitioners and researchers are increasingly finding each other and sharing resources globally. This article focuses on a "social responsiveness" initiative at the University of Cape Town. Its story, told here by three University of Cape Town colleagues, illustrates the possibilities and complexities of this work in southern Africa. While strongly contextualized there, it also illustrates how the University of Cape Town has both benefited from and contributed to the broader international discussions taking place through TRUCEN (The Research University Civic Engagement Network), the Talloires Network, and other means
From madrasah to museum : a biography of the Islamic manuscripts of Cape Town
No full textThis paper focuses on the Islamic manuscripts of Cape Town, locally referred to as kietaabs, written by Muslims predominantly in the 19th century, in jawi (Arabic-Malay) and Arabic-Afrikaans. Inspired by the idea of a 'biography' of the archive and 'the social life of things', the study traces the life of the kietaabs, from their creation and original use, to their role in contemporary South African society, as objects of heritage and identity. It approaches the kietaabs as objects, emphasizing their movements, status and use, rather than their content
A process evaluation of the City of Cape Town Business Support Voucher Programme
No full textIncludes bibliographical references (leaves 74-78).This dissertation focuses on a process evaluation of the City of Cape Town (CoCT) Business Support Voucher Programme (BSVP) which assessed whether this programme was implemented as intended. The BSVP aims to provide access to quality business support services and products to entrepreneurs in order to empower them to develop and grow their businesses. The target beneficiaries of the BSVP are the over 35 year old age group (including women, youth and the disabled) who are potential or start-up entrepreneurs or who own/run existing small businesses. A service utilisation flow chart was used to review the services provided by the allocating agents and the business development service providers. Data providers included the project sponsors, the implementation agent, the allocating agents and a convenience sample of beneficiaries and service providers. Additional materials used included check lists during site visits and a review of records. The findings suggested that whilst the programme was largely implemented as planned, there could be improvements to the definition of the programme targets, the consistency of the implementation across the programme and putting monitoring and reporting systems in place. The dissertation includes selected recommendations for implementation improvement, sustainability and future outcomes and impacts
Measuring and analysing the impacts of travel demand management interventions on commuter travel behaviour : the case of rail-based park-and-ride facilities in Cape Town
No full textIncludes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 78-81).This dissertation reports upon the findings of a study undertaken in Cape Town to measure the impacts of park-and-ride facility upgrades on commuting behaviour at selected rail stations. The study analysed data from two sources covering the period before and after park-andride facility upgrades at three affected rail stations (Brackenfell, Kraaifontein and Kuilsrivier) and three control stations. The purpose of including the control group was to assist in assessing whether any utilisation changes observed across the before and after periods were the result of external factors
Experiencing the armed struggle : the Soweto generation and after
No full textIncludes bibliographical references (p. 354-369).This study explores the experiences of the rank-and-file soldiers of Umkhonto we Sizwe and the Azanian People's Liberation Anny. Extensive interviews by the author and other researchers reveal the voices of the soldiers themselves. The African National Congress and Pan African Congress archives at the University of the Western Cape and the University of Fort Hare supplement and verify these oral testimonies, as do some published sources. Most previously published materials about the armed struggle against apartheid have already focused on diplomacy, strategy and tactics, operations, leadership, and human rights abuses to the neglect of the soldiers' actual experiences. This study complements these with significant new oral history materials from the Soweto generation of soldiers and their successors. When dealing with MK, many authors have documented issues of the camp structure in Angola, and operations inside South Africa, so much of this detail is only addressed briefly, leaving space to explore the soldiers' experiences. In the case of APLA, very little has been written on its history, and more detail is provided on these subjects. This study therefore deals with the soldiers' politicisation and motivation for joining the armed struggle, their experiences in leaving South Africa and training in exile, the crises in exile which limited their effectiveness for a time, their return to fight in South Africa, and their difficulties in the "new" South Africa. These materials reveal that vast problems remain facing these veterans of the struggle against apartheid, and that they have the potential, if properly supported and employed, to contribute substantially to the development of present day South Africa. Conversely, if their neglect continues, they also have the potential to bring vast harm to the country. Further use of the investigative tools of oral history, especially if extended to the former soldiers' vernacular languages, is necessary to augment the history of South Africa, and these soldiers' contributions
The changing face of the Constantia Valley a temporal study of land use change in a heritage landscape
No full textIncludes bibliographical references.The study of land use change and urban morphology requires a multi-layered approach. Case studies are needed to gain an understanding of the local factors that are driving land use change and forming urban landscapes. This study will provide a temporal perspective on land use change in the Constantia Valley, a high income suburb on the outskirts of Cape Town. It will contextualise the efforts to conserve its heritage and, furthermore, attempt to explain the factors underlying the observed changes in the urban form. This study, through the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping and a series of interviews, examines how and why the urban form of the Constantia Valley has changed. Finally, based on the findings the possible future urban form of Constantia will be considered
The role of postgraduate students in co-authoring open educational resources to promote social inclusion: a case study at the University of Cape Town
No full textThis is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Distance Education on 24 Jul 2012, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/01587919.2012.692052.Like many universities worldwide, the University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa has joined the open educational resources (OER) movement, making a selection of teaching and learning materials available through its OER directory, UCT OpenContent. However, persuading and then supporting busy academics to share their teaching materials as OER still remains a challenge. In this article, we report on an empirical study of how UCT postgraduate students have assisted in the process of reworking the academics' teaching materials as OER. Using the concept of contradictions (Engeström, 2001), we endeavor to surface the various disturbances or conflicts with which the postgraduate students had to engage to make OER socially inclusive, as well as Engeström's “layers of causality" (2011, p. 609) to explain postgraduate students' growing sense of agency as they experienced the OER development process as being socially inclusive
The prospect of providing low-income medium density housing in developing countries : problems and opportunities with special reference to Cape Town, South Africa
No full textIncludes bibliography.It is thus proposed in this thesis that low-income medium-density developments, located appropriately in inner city areas to kick-start settlements that are integrated, compact and promote mixed land uses, as well as aspiring towards sustainable urban development, are needed in the cities of developing countries. A typical example of such a housing development is Springfield Terrace Woodstock, Cape Town. This pilot project, demonstrating how the provision oflow-income medium-density housing (in the fonn of three- to four-storey walk-up blocks of flats) can be provided in central Cape Town and how these benefit from the existing bulk infrastructure. It further demonstrates how this housing type could be located and utilised to encourage a shift away from low-density to medium-density housing, particularly with regard to lowincome earners
"We'd go home if we could" : political xenophobia, citizenship and human rights of asylum seekers and refugees : Cape Town - a pilot study
No full textIncludes bibliographical references (leaves 98-106).This thesis is concerned with the conceptions of three key and interactive groups - human rights lawyers/advocacy officers, asylum seekers and refugees, and Department of Home Affairs officials - who are in different ways involved with asylum seekers and refugees in Cape Town in the dual contexts of the new rights-based Constitution and the recurrence of political xenophobia. More specifically the thesis investigates their respective conceptions of (human/constitutional/legal) rights, citizenship and political xenophobia. The findings suggest that although the respondents hold the Constitution in high esteem in providing for the rights of everyone they also argue that in practice there is a denial of refugee and asylum seekers' rights under the Constitution, making them effectively rightless
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