1,720,958 research outputs found
The intergenerational conversation amongst Xhosa women in Centane about contraception use over the past 50 years
Get PDFTo understand the culture, intergenerational beliefs, and attitudes towards contraception use among Xhosa women in Centane. This study is based on fifteen in-depth interviews with Xhosa women from Centane who identify themselves as amaGcaleka, a sub-tribe from the main tribe amaXhosa. This study used autoethnography which explores a culture's relational practices, common values, beliefs, and shared experiences to help the insiders (cultural members) and outsiders (cultural strangers) gain a deeper understanding of the culture. Thematic analyses provided two key themes: (1) AmaGcaleka culture and (2) Women's contraception. In this study I found that in Centane there is a lack of information about contraceptive use, and that the amaGcaleka women had their own traditional forms of contraception that they used before the modern contraceptives. The lack of access to contraception and cultural beliefs had an influence on the lack of conversation between the intergeneration's of mothers and daughters
Lobola in Eswatini: Exploring Male Vulnerabilities through Kinship Making
Get PDFThe costly performances and displays of emalobolo and marriage by emaSwati aged 25 years to 35 years, during a time where 47% of the youth in Eswatini is unemployed has increased over the last two decades, while the legal marriage rates have decreased in the same period. The ethnographic study conducted predominantly online, in the Kingdom of Eswatini over eight months, during the COVID-19 pandemic uses qualitative methods to investigate the relationship between marriage and lobola practice, the performances of masculinity and how these performances influence and shape kinship making and the creation of family. The processes and procedures ascribed to emalobolo and marriage are not necessarily followed by the participants, as they make decisions and take actions that give the best possible outcomes for those involved. Family and kin relations produced during emalobolo magnify the tensions between consanguineal relatives and often friends take on the responsibilities of family members thus becoming family. The process of lobola also reveals the performative nature of class and social mobility, and places pressure on men to provide even when they cannot. The financial pressures and expectations placed on men to provide financially for members of their families, expose vulnerabilities in men, in ways that hegemonic masculinity neglects and erases. The embodiment of kuhlonipha and how it is practised by men and women help them strive for happiness and do what is right in the contexts they encounter as they navigate emalobolo, marriage and the afterlife of it all. My analysis shows that the creation of new family and kinship bonds through kulobola and marriage and the financial implications of them, expose male vulnerabilities that exist among Swazi men
The adoption of interorganisational information systems by South African firms: a technological, organisational and environmental perspective
Get PDFThesis (M.Com. (Information Systems))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic and Business Sciences, 2017Interorganisational information systems (IOIS) are automated systems which allow one or more firms to connect to their suppliers or customers in order to exchange data and information. Previous literature has suggested that the adoption of interorganisational information systems presents several benefits and challenges. IOIS is assumed to offer organisations the capability to improve business processes and provide better working relations with business partners. Despite this advantage that IOIS offers, adoption of IOIS presents complexities such as those associated with compatibility with a firm's IT infrastructure, lack of available skills, and concerns over data security and system failures.
Through a review of existing IOIS literature, this study identified that four types of IOISs are available in South African, namely dyadic, multilateral, community, and hub and spoke. In addition, the technological, organisational and environmental (TOE) factors influencing the adoption IOIS were identified. A model exploring the effects of the pre-determined TOE factors on the adoption of IOIS was developed and tested. The TOE framework provided a theoretical contribution and addressed a gap in the literature into the barriers and determinants of the adoption of interorganisational information system (IOIS) across various organisations.
A quantitative study was carried out and survey data was collected from a sample of 119 organisations across different sectors in South Africa. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire instrument administered online to a single key informant from each sampled organisation. The results revealed that multilateral IOIS are the most adopted systems while Hub and spoke IOIS are the least used. Furthermore, from the elven technologies which were identified in the literature review, the study revealed that groupware technologies, electronic payment system/online banking, video conferencing and electronic data interchange were the most adopted IOIS technologies within the sampled organisations.
Adoption of IOIS was defined in two ways. First, IOIS adoption was measured as the number of implemented IOIS technologies. Second, as the extent which IOIS is used as communication medium with business partners and supports an organisation in decision making, business operation and replaces legacy technologies. Correlation analysis was used to test the model’s hypotheses and multiple regression was used to test the overall TOE model. The results showed that perceived compatibility, competition, and IS technical skill and education and training are most correlated with the adoption of IOIS, where adoption is measured as the extent of IOIS used as communication medium with business partners and used as support within an organisation. Top management support, trading partner pressure and perceived relative advantage of IOIS were also positively correlated with adoption, where adoption is measured as implemented IOIS technologies. Perceived complexity was found to be a barrier to IOIS adoption. This study serves as a guide for assessing factors contributing to interorganisational information system adoption and provides organisations with greater insight into the factors likely to enable and inhibit IOIS adoption. Keywords: IOS, IOIS, Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) Framework, information technology, IS department.GR201
Using community development practice for instilling the value of the institution of family: perceptions of academics at Howard College.
No full textMasters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Several literary works have acknowledged that the modern institution of the family is in crisis. The increase in social welfare cases such as street children, the vagrant homeless, moral degeneration and rampant crime have however been explained as indicators of and effects of the demise of the institution of the family. Rarely have scholars, researchers and practitioners in community development considered Community Development Practice as a possible tool for reviving the institution of the family. This study examined how community development practice can be used to restore the value of the institution of the family. A descriptive qualitative research design and purposive sampling was used. The sample consisted of information – rich informants who are academic elites in Social Sciences (the Department of Community and Development Studies, the Department of Social Work and the Department of Sociology) at Howard College University of KwaZulu-Natal. The interviewing method was used for the data collection. The study revealed that on one hand, community development practice can play eight roles in instilling the value of the institution of the family. On the other hand, community development practice can apply nine strategies in restoring the value of the beleaguered institution of the modern family
Exploring Black Female Post-graduate Science Students’ Experiences and Understandings of their Intersectional Identities
Get PDFBlack women face oppression in various fields but research indicates that black women in the science, technology, mathematics and engineering (STEM) fields face even more scrutiny. Black women belong to two oppressed groups – black and women – and therefore face discrimination on multiple levels. This article, underpinned by the theory of intersectionality, explores ten black female postgraduate science students’ experiences and understandings of their intersectional identities, and interrogates the implications of their views in this era of women’s rights and feminism. Interviews with the students focused on their experiences in their degree, knowledge of their intersectional identities, and understandings of their professional career trajectory and was analysed qualitatively. The study found that these students were a bi-product of their schooling socialization and the influence of their science discipline, prompting the authors to question whether transformation is occurring in higher education in South Africa or if classism is now the new ‘racism’. Further, the implications of entering the workplace, whilst holding outdated patriarchal views, are interrogated
Enlightened women and polygamy: Voices and perspectives from within
No full textWithin the prevalent patriarchal system, polygamy and ilobolo are deeply-rooted practices that still endure and are considered vital within African cultures. The customs, however, have gender and power implication at times, where polygamy causes anguish for women when men consider them ‘paid for’ or ‘bought commodities’, not deserving to be treated with respect. Traditional men have championed polygamy in terms of ‘tradition and culture’ but a cursory observation suggests that it is currently also being embraced by women who seem to marry into these unions freely. By extension, it would seem that some first wives do not find it a problem when their husbands inform them of their intention to take second and subsequent wives. Even in arranged marriages certain women seem content to enter into a polygamous union because they will be answering the call of duty (Mkhize, 2011). This article reports on a study that was conducted at a semi-urban township of Hammarsdale in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa between 2009 and 2011 using qualitative research methodology. The aim of the study was to explore why middle-class educated and employed women enter or even stay in these matrimonial arrangements. The study differed from any previous studies in that it focused on financially independent women; a crucial point which eliminated one of the main assumptions that women enter into such unions for financial and or material gain and/or support. Moreover previous studies had focused on rural women who were mainly housewives entirely dependent on their husbands for their livelihoods. The findings of the study revealed that women entered such unions for numerous reasons, amongst them, love, family, societal pressures as well as desperation to have a higher social standing in the community than being a single woman. It is concluded that most of these women were influenced by society into being married regardless of the type of marriage they wanted.Keywords: Polygyny, polygamy, ilobolo, tradition, culture, patriarchy, gender, power, social phenomeno
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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