28 research outputs found
Response article: Concepts and in/express-ability in posthuman scholarship: A shared response-ability
No full textThis response article is an attempt to theorise together and become ethically in touch with posthumanism and the posthuman text/s and author/s in the article, “A posthumanist re-reading of teacher agency in times of curriculum reform” written by Wedsha Appadoo-Ramsamy. The ability to respond (response-ability) through theorising entails a radical openness to think otherwise, and for thinking thinking otherwise. Such thinking matters and thinking along the concepts we use and the limits of expressibility when thinking otherwise, matters a great deal. The becoming of Wedsha Appadoo-Ramsamy’s article revealed some insights into the ticklish nature of (posthuman, philosophical) concepts and the difficulty and limitations of expression in frontier debates. This article will, firstly, respond to the production and workings of posthuman concepts, and secondly, comment on the limits of expressibility when writing about frontier debates such as those concerning posthumanism and related feminist materialism/s
CHATGPT AS A SOCRATIC ASSISTANT: DEVELOPING STUDENTS’ REFLECTIVE AND CRITICAL THINKING
No full textThe introduction of ChatGPT and its use in the education sector has received varying responses. Termed as ‘apocalyptic’, ChatGPT presents an ethical dilemma with the possibility of leading students towards plagiarism, lack of criticality and passivity. However, if used properly, this tool, similar to other technological pedagogical tools that have initially been feared or criticised, may contribute to the development of STEM skills such as critical analysis, communication, independent thinking and reflection. Within this perspective and building on the principles of the Socratic Method with an emphasis on critical thinking, intellectual engagement and reflection, this paper explores the use of ChatGPT as a Socratic assistant. ChatGPT is, therefore, presented as a collaborative tool that enriches the learning environment whereby students can develop their critical skills, question assumptions, develop intellectual curiosity through prompting and eventually produce reflective and critical responses. This research adopts a posthumanist innovative methodology where data is produced through the intra-action between the researcher (human) and ChatGPT (non-human). The chosen methodology reflects the entanglement of the human (students, teachers) and non-human (AI) in an educational space dominated by chatbots and other technological assistance. Through generated examples, this paper shows how ChatGPT can be integrated into teaching and learning contexts, fostering deeper inquiry and self-reflection aligning with the Socratic Method. This research contributes to discourses on AI and its ethical use in transforming teaching and learning through innovative methods and may assist teachers in the development of innovative teaching practices assisted by AI
CHATGPT AS A SOCRATIC ASSISTANT: DEVELOPING STUDENTS’ REFLECTIVE AND CRITICAL THINKING: Received: 26th November 2025, Revised: 2nd December 2025 & 04th December 2025, Accepted: 05th December 2025, Date of Publication: 10th December 2025
No full textThe introduction of ChatGPT and its use in the education sector has received varying responses. Termed as ‘apocalyptic’, ChatGPT presents an ethical dilemma with the possibility of leading students towards plagiarism, lack of criticality and passivity. However, if used properly, this tool, similar to other technological pedagogical tools that have initially been feared or criticised, may contribute to the development of STEM skills such as critical analysis, communication, independent thinking and reflection. Within this perspective and building on the principles of the Socratic Method with an emphasis on critical thinking, intellectual engagement and reflection, this paper explores the use of ChatGPT as a Socratic assistant. ChatGPT is, therefore, presented as a collaborative tool that enriches the learning environment whereby students can develop their critical skills, question assumptions, develop intellectual curiosity through prompting and eventually produce reflective and critical responses. This research adopts a posthumanist innovative methodology where data is produced through the intra-action between the researcher (human) and ChatGPT (non-human). The chosen methodology reflects the entanglement of the human (students, teachers) and non-human (AI) in an educational space dominated by chatbots and other technological assistance. Through generated examples, this paper shows how ChatGPT can be integrated into teaching and learning contexts, fostering deeper inquiry and self-reflection aligning with the Socratic Method. This research contributes to discourses on AI and its ethical use in transforming teaching and learning through innovative methods and may assist teachers in the development of innovative teaching practices assisted by AI
Teacher agency: a case study of Mauritius.
No full textDoctoral degrees. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.This study explores the phenomenon of teacher agency within a dynamic socio-cultural space
where a landmark national schooling curriculum policy reform was introduced by Mauritian
educational authorities. It contributes to an understanding of teachers' experiences, their
interpretations of their experiences and the ways in which they exercised agency as they
revisited pedagogies and personal beliefs in relation to a changing macro-policy and micro institutional environment.
A narrative inquiry methodology within an interpretivist paradigm was adopted to immerse in
teachers’ multi-layered experiences. Data was produced through various methods: interviews,
classroom observations, informal conversations and artefact construction activities that
triggered responses and provided insights into teachers’ biographical experiences, beliefs and
practices. The data was re-presented through an ethnodrama of interlocuting participants. This
creative form enabled me to co-construct three-dimensional characters inhabiting complex
temporal and spatial dimensions.
The fieldwork revealed that teachers' personal and professional experiences could not be
isolated from an evolving broader global space grappling with digital pedagogical evolution.
Furthermore, unique nationalistic strategies to enhance the country's small island developing
state socioeconomic landscape exerted additional pressure on teachers’ choices of
representation of their actions. Teachers' career experiences reflect divergent agencies and
agendas characterised by fluid, complex and complementary contradictions and stabilities. An
assessment and performativity regime of outputs of the schooling system featured prominently
as a backdrop.
The thesis developed a model of diffracted and entangled agencies that emphasise a
kaleidoscope of possibilities of understanding teacher agency. Rather than being
conceptualised as a stable characteristic trait of teachers, teacher agency was seen as constantly
adapting to temporal and spatial changes, adopting new beliefs, revisiting past experiences and
reconstructing their professional roles. Teacher agency was further considered as dialogical
choices of representations amongst varied audiences, co-participants and role-players, with
varied agendas.
This study’s unique contextual policy reform parameters are potentially representative of any
significant change that causes diffraction of a relational teacher agency. The thesis emphasises
agentic responsiveness to space and time specificities that intersect with teachers’ personal and
professional experiences. Teacher agency is not simply a singular identity and political
construction, but also a strategic negotiated shifting set of performances of responsiveness to
situational contexts that in themselves are not stable, or coherent. The report concludes with
the theoretical, methodological and contextual implications of the proposed reconceptualised
notion of teacher agency, discusses the study's limitations, and highlights the possibilities for
future research
Representing teachers’ voices: An ethnodrama of Mauritian teachers under times of curriculum reform
No full textThis article emphasises the motivation for a methodological representation choice that captures teachers’ voices in a small island developing state context during the introduction of a curriculum reform. The diverse voices of teachers, as they inhabit a context that gears towards compliance and managed intimacy demands, are explored through the representational choice of an ethnodrama. A narrative inquiry methodology led to an ethnodrama representation which protected the anonymity and confidentiality of participants and simultaneously revealed multiple forms of agencies in entangled spatial and temporal dimensions. The findings foreground teachers’ choice of agencies and representations serve different interests which are influenced by whom they dialogue with in specific spaces. Ending with a fictionalised future enactment of the ethnodrama, this article closes with teachers negotiating their agency and opening reflections for future research in new normal COVID-19 spaces
Privatized Prisons & Their Impact on Social Services for Low-Income Black Women
No full textThis work was produced while the author was an undergraduate student in the Summer Research Institute of the Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Degree Achievement Program at Rutgers University
Colonisation: the Experience of a Psychiatric Nurse Through the Lens of Reflective Autobiography
No full textThe oppression of colonization lives on in the daily lives of colonized people. It is vital for us as nurses to understand the effects of that oppression, as well as the restrictive impacts, and dislocation from one's land and culture to-day. Nurses come from both the descendants of colonisers and the colonised. This thesis is a journey and a quest for insights into the impacts and significances of colonisation by looking at historical and socio-political contexts that have bearing on the health of colonised people who remain mostly powerless and marginalized. It is prompted in response to a cultural safety model which advocates that nurses should become familiar with their own background and history in order to be culturally safe in practice.
This reflective autobiographical account is a personal effort and provides the foundation for an exploration of issues during nursing practice encounters, from a colonised ethnic minority perspective. The method was informed by Moustakas research approach and Johnstone's Reflective Topical Autobiographical process. The selection of specific events are deliberate, to make visible some of the many barriers that exist within our health structures as pertinent issues for non-dominant cultures that remain on the margin of our society. Maori issues provide a contrast and became a catalyst for me as the author while working for kaupapa Maori services in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
The intention of this thesis is to generate new knowledge about what it means to be a nurse from an ethnic minority working in a kaupapa Maori mental health service, and to encourage other nurses to explore these issues further. Some recommendations are made for nurses in the last chapter, as I believe that they are ideally situated to build upon the strengths indigenous people already have and contribute positively toward the improvement of poor health outcomes of the colonized people in an embracing and collective way
Cymadusa microphthalma
No full textCymadusa microphthalma (Chevreux) Grubia microphthalma Chevreux, 1901: 422, figs. 46–49. Cymadusa microphthalma.—Appadoo & Steele, 1998: 639. Material examined. 333, 3♀♀, 2 juv., AM P60636, from Digenia simplex, Dictyota divaricata and Gracilaria salicornia, Roches Noires (20°6.2'S 57°44.5'E), 9 April 1999; 633, 12♀♀, 16 juv., AM P60637, from Digenia simplex, Padina sp. and Jania adherens, Roches Noires, 6 August 1999; 13, 3♀♀, 3 juv., AM P60638, from Sargassum sp., Amansia glomerata and Digenia simplex, Souillac (20°31'S 57°30.7'E), 14 October 1999; 13, 6♀♀, 8 juv., AM P60639, from Padina sp. and Digenia simplex, Roches Noires, 24 January 2000. Diagnosis. Antenna 1 accessory flagellum 2-articulate, article 2 rudimentary. Coxae 1–4 distal margin with very short setae. Gnathopod 1 propodus palm oblique. Gnathopod 2 carpus subtriangular; propodus 2.5× length of carpus, palm with a small excavation near base of dactylus followed by a subrectangular process and a straight margin, palm with short slender setae; dactylus robust, medially expanded. Telson distally truncate. A full description is given for this species as there is some confusion about synonymies of the species in literature, see remarks. Description. Male, 9 mm. Head about as long as deep, distoventral margin excavate; eyes large with welldeveloped pale yellow ommatidia (in alcohol). Antenna 1 peduncle article 2, subequal with article 1; article 3, 0.25× article 1; accessory flagellum 2-articulate, article 2 rudimentary; primary flagellum 41-articulate. Antenna 2 poorly setiferous, peduncle article 5, 0.9× article 4; flagellum 23-articulate. Mandible palp well developed, article 3, 2.1×article 1, with apico-medial setae. Lower lip outer lobe broad, moderately notched, without robust setae; mandibular lobe rounded. Maxilla 1 inner plate subovate with few medial slender setae. Maxilla 2 inner plate narrow. Maxilliped palp article 3 slightly expanded distally; article 4 slender, conical and terminating in a nail. Gnathopod 1 coxa subovate, about as long as broad, anterodistally moderately expanded, distal margin with very short setae; basis 2.5× as long as broad, anterodistal lobe weak; carpus elongate, 1.8× as long as broad; propodus subequal to carpus, 1.8× as long as broad, palm oblique with 1 robust seta at posterodistal margin; dactylus fitting palm. inner margin toothed. Gnathopod 2 coxa subrectangular, 1.3× as long as broad, distal margin with minute setae; basis with small rounded anterodistal lobe, 2.3× as long as broad; carpus subtriangular, 0.8× as long as broad; propodus 2.5× length of carpus, palm with a small excavation near base of dactylus followed by a subrectangular process and a straight margin, palm with short slender setae; dactylus robust, medially expanded, inner margin teeth poorly defined. Pereopods 3–4, coxa subrectangular, 1.4× s long as broad, posterodistal margin with 1 group of slender setae; basis weakly expanded, 2.8× as long as broad; merus 1.8× as long as broad, anterior margin weakly expanded; carpus elongate, 2.3× as long as broad, 0.8× length of merus; propodus subequal to carpus, with groups of slender setae on posterior margin. Pereopod 5 coxa with moderate posterior lobe; basis expanded, length subequal with breadth; carpus 0.9× merus; propodus 1.4× carpus, posterior margin with slender and straight robust setae. Pereopod 6 basis subrectangular 1.5× as long as broad, anterior and posterior margins with a few robust setae; merus elongate, 2.4× as long as broad; carpus 2.6× as long as broad, 0.9× length of merus; propodus slender, 5× as long as broad, 1.4× length of carpus, posterior margin with groups of slender setae, anterior margin with slender setae and straight robust setae. Pereopod 7 similar to pereopod 6 but basis 1.6× as long as broad. Epimera 1–3 posterodistal margin rounded. Uropod 1 peduncle 2.8× as long as broad, outer margin with short fine setae, inner margin lined with robust setae, distal margin produced into an acute interramal process; outer ramus 0.8× inner ramus, both rami with numerous robust setae. Uropod 2 peduncle 2.8× as long as broad, distal margin with a small triangular interramal process; outer ramus 0.9× inner ramus, both rami with numerous robust setae. Uropod 3 peduncle 1.8× as long as broad, distal margin with robust setae; inner ramus with slender and robust setae at apex, outer ramus with a group of medial slender setae and 1 robust seta, two recurved apical robust setae. Telson distally truncate, with two groups of medial long slender setae. Female, 10.3 mm (ovigerous). Gnathopod 1 coxa 1.3× as long as broad, anterodistal margin strongly produced, rounded, posterodistal margin with one group of slender setae, setae 0.3× length of coxa; basis 2.7× as long as broad, anterodistal lobe weak; carpus elongate, 1.6× as long as broad; propodus 1.2× length of carpus, 2× as long as broad, palm oblique with groups of slender setae and 1 robust seta at posterodistal margin; dactylus inner margin toothed. Gnathopod 2 coxa 1.5× as long as broad, posterodistal margin with 1 group of slender setae, setae 0.2× length of coxa; basis 2.6× as long as broad, anterodistal lobe weak; carpus cup-shaped, 0.9× as long as broad; propodus 1.7× length of carpus, palm oblique, weakly excavate with groups of slender setae, posterodistal corner with 1 robust seta; dactylus inner margin toothed. Variation.Young males (5–6 mm): in gnathopod 2 the distal margin of the coxa has a group of slender setae, the propodus palm is barely excavate with fine slender setae and 1 robust seta on the inner face and the inner margin of the dactylus is strongly toothed.Young males (7.8 mm): the posterodistal corner of the coxa has fewer setae, the propodus lacks robust setae on the inner face, the palm is weakly crenate and the dactylus is strongly toothed. Type locality. Seychelles. Distribution. Seychelles, Mauritius. Habitat. This species lives mostly amongst the brown algae, Sargassum sp. and Padina sp., and red algae. It was collected at depths of less than 1 m from several sites on the north, east and south coasts. It was common at Roches Noires on the east coast and Bain Boeuf on the north coast. Remarks. This species resembles the species described by Ledoyer (1982) from Madagascar under the name Cymadusa filosa form “B”. It differs from that species, however, in the male gnathopod 2 propodus palm, which is sinuous in present material but evenly convex in Ledoyer’s species and in the dactylus, which is medially expanded and short, fitting the palm, in the present material, but elongate, slender and strongly overlapping the palm in Ledoyer’s species. A comparison of the present material with Grubia microphthalma Chevreux (1901) is hampered by the fact that only a female was available to that author for the original description. Since the present material agrees well with the description of G. microphthalma, in all except secondary sexual male characters and since the type locality for this species is the Seychelles it seems reasonable, at least for the moment, to assign the present material to Cymadusa microphthalma (Chevreux). It is doubtful whether the species described under the name Cymadusa microphthalma by Sivaprakasam (1970a: 573, fig. 12) belongs in this species. Cymadusa microphthalma is distinguished from all other Cymadusa from Mauritius except C. cavimana, by having only one patch of setae on the distal margin of coxae 1–4. It can be distinguished from C. cavimana by the shape of the propodus of the hyperadult male gnathopod 2, which has a small process and by the length of the dactylus which reaches the end of the palmar margin.Published as part of Appadoo, C & Myers, A. A., 2004, Corophiidea (Crustacea: Amphipoda) from Mauritius, pp. 331-362 in Records of the Australian Museum 56 (3) on pages 344-34
Subterranean politics: critical theory and Freud's legacy
No full textThis dissertation reinterprets psychoanalysis within the context of and for use by critical theory. The central argument is that psychoanalysis has emancipatory potential that critical theory has yet to tap, and that a reimagined psychoanalysis thus has much to offer critical theory. The dissertation begins with a rereading of Freud’s critical method that highlights Freud’s heretofore-obscured militant optimism and compassion. The question of how critical theory can utilize this new understanding of Freud’s work is then considered in analyses of Horkheimer’s work on compassion and Habermas’s theorization of psychoanalysis as a model of communicative action. With this groundwork established, the dissertation turns to consider three directly political categories. Firstly, psychoanalytic Eros is critically juxtaposed with Herbert Marcuse’s account of the same. The author argues that psychoanalytic Eros, which is balanced more heavily towards the quotidian than the utopian, is more useful to critical theory because it speaks to concrete social agency and solidarity. Secondly, the critical category of guilt is considered. The author contests that critical theory has long understood the importance of working through guilt as a social problem, but lacks the nuanced understanding and methods for the resolution of guilt contained in psychoanalysis. Finally, sublimation and identification are considered in relation to the reality principle. The author notes that critical theory consistently rejects these theories, which are seen as processes that adapt the subject to domination, and reimagines them as central to the development of autonomy and social agency. As a whole, the dissertation reclaims psychoanalysis as an ally to critical theory’s efforts to restore subjectivity and oppose systemic domination in modernity.Ph. D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Amy Lynn Buzb
South Africa's response to terror : the case of PAGAD
No full textIncludes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-84).During the mid-1990s to 2001, South Africa was the victim of numerous terrorist acts carried out by the People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD). This paper discusses the problems and the procedures and methods used to combat domestic terrorism in constitutional democracies as well as the problems encountered by democratic South Africa in responding to PAGAD bearing in mind the legal-constitutional and the political constraints that this democracy faces. Using PAGAD as a case-study and discussing and analyzing the South African counter-terrorism strategies that were used against PAGAD, many interesting features are observed which clearly show that, while South Africa exemplified the problems that older constitutional democracies face when responding to terrorism, the country also deviated from what is usually expected from a constitutional democracy responding to terrorism
