Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11837/382
Browse
Recent Submissions
Item Small-Scale Farming of Gqumahashe Village, Alice District, Eastern cape Province(University of Fort Hare, 2007-04) Komanisi, Mzwandile PaulThe persistence of rural poverty, the underutilization of agricultural resources, and the sluggish innovativeness in many African countries serve to demonstrate, in part, that despite the availability of modem communication techniques, the agricultural extension services in these countries do not effectively reach the target group.Item The socio-cultural factors underpinning maize farming in Ethembeni location, King williams town district(University of Fort Hare, 2014) May, NokonwabaMaize is the staple food for most South Africans. This means that if maize crops are damaged that will affect the food security of many South Africans. Maize is an important staple food and a source of food security in Ethembeni location. The study found that maize has multiple uses: including that local farmers (1) use maize to make local drinks as a basic ingredient (including, amarhewu and umqombothi); (2) maize is used as food umxhaxha (a mixture of maize and pumpkin) and inkobe (maize boiled whole, i.e without being previously stamped); (3) and maize is given to livestock as feed. Local farmers also grow maize because the crop offers an avenue to raise money through which they sell at informal markets. The funds from the sale of crops are used to buy fertilizers, hire tractors and help cultivate fields. Also many people use these funds to purchase needed goods and consumables. Despite the significant role and contribution of maize production in the local economy, illiteracy, lack of credit, lack of access to agricultural lands, and desires for employment in the urban centres have added to the decline on maize farming in the study area. This bring us to the question of how we transform a traditional maize farming-system, dominated by socio-cultural constraints into a modern-farming type arrangement, whereby there is potential to advance maize production. Data was collected from 50 smallholder farmers who participated in maize production using purposive sampling and key informant interviews. The main data collection techniques used include participant observation, key-informant interviews, questionnaires, oral history and focus group discussions. Results indicate that land ownership, easy access to farmland, levels of education, age, labour, and infrastructure are essential for the development of maize farming. The researcher suggested strategies which aimed at addressing current socio-economic constraints ought to be addressed by local traditional leaders and government councillors who should view the issue of land ownership seriously and grant women land rights which are essential for any agricultural practices. What is equally important is that the current channels of communication that ought to be developed among government officials and local famers need improvement so that famers can have better assistance and improve on their agricultural production potential and capacity.Item Cultural impediments, land and female farmers : the case of Lower Gqumahashe, Nkonkobe Municipality(University of Fort Hare, 2016) Magwa-Bobotyani, Nompumelelo Aretha NtomboxoloThis study sought to investigate how cultural barriers hinder female farmers from accessing land at Lower Gqumahashe village. This settlement is situated in Alice, Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa. The hypothesis of the study is that land rights and customs at Lower Gqumahashe limit the participation of female farmers in agricultural development. There are several factors that interfere with land ownership at the study area and elsewhere in the world. However, this study only explored the effect of marriage since it is the only factor that has negative effect on accessing land at the study area. The researcher adopted a qualitative research approach because she wanted to observe and describe events as they occur. The goal of the researcher was to capture all the richness of the everyday behaviour. The findings of the study suggest that, female farmers at Lower Gqumahashe, as elsewhere in the world, are not immune to gender imbalances based on customs. At Lower Gqumahashe, as elsewhere in the world, land is the most essential resource, because a very large proportion of people depend on it for cultivation and therefore their livelihoods. This study recommends that, there is a need for a re-assessment of property ownership as well as legacy customs and practices. Furthermore, the study recommends that class and sex discrimination can be rectified if the government is committed through its extension of credit program makes provision to ensure loans for women are available.Item The influence of gender based stereotypes on farm credit: the case study of Melani village – Nkonkobe municipality.(University of Fort Hare, 2016) Sokutu, VuyiswaHistorically, rural women of South Africa have significantly contributed to sustainable agriculture of the country as well as that of their communities. However, it has been discovered that there are factors that impede the participation of women in agricultural development. This study sought to investigate the influence of gender-based stereotypes on farm credit access at Melani village in the Nkonkobe Municipality. Contemporary studies inspired by African feminist perspective revealed persistence of different gender stereotypes despite endevours to eradicate them from societies. This study predominantly concentrated on female inhabitants in South Africa of a village who are either active in agriculture or have retired in practicing crop production. The study discovered access to credit among other socio-cultural factors stifle agricultural development for women in agriculture. The study found that the main cause of lack of access to credit for women in agriculture was influenced by gender stereotype.Item White poverty in post-apartheid South Africa: The case of West Bank in East London.(University of Fort Hare, 2014) Sibanda, OctaviaThis dissertation examines the question of poor Whites in the South African context using the case study of a predominantly working-class suburb of West Bank in East London. This study is written within the context of a global and countrywide recession, and within a dominant discourse that portrays White poverty as non- existent and that views White people as predominantly wealthy and ‘normal’. Within this discourse, the benefits and privileges extended to White people during the apartheid era are viewed as having transferred property to Whites, whilst dispossessing Blacks. As the White middle-class retains and expands its dominant position in the economy in contemporary South Africa, poor Whites have become overshadowed, invisible and unwanted. This ethnographic exploration focuses on the existence of poor Whites that dwell on the margins of society. The existence of poor Whites is severely stigmatised because it contradicts the perfect images of ‘normal’ Whites who are not poor. As such, poor Whites suffer from being stereotyped as lazy, drunkards, abnormal, dishonest and trash. This study seeks to understand the social meanings of White poverty and offer a clear interpretation of why it remains invisible and stigmatised. This study details the historical background of poor Whites in order to shed light on how their negative identity, which has been inherited from post-apartheid South Africa, evolved. White poverty is a genuinely feared condition amongst White people as it carries distinct negative connotations. As such, the subject of poor Whites has for a long time been a sensitive issue. Historically, concerted efforts to deal with and cover up this ‘White shame’ were made in order to shield it from the public gaze. If Whites had been allowed to fall into this abhorrent category of poor Whites, what then would have differentiated them from poor Blacks? The colonial and the apartheid mentality influenced the diagnosis and the treatment of poor Whites. I argue that, although there were measures put in place to deal with the plight of poor Whites, their poverty was not eliminated. The poor Whites during that period were uplifted through a wide range of social nets that kept the shame of poverty contained. Job reservations, priority education, and subsidised housing kept White poverty under control. This strategy generated a ‘normal’ image of White lives to the outside world in order to justify White domination and White privileges. Historically, making Whites appear as different and having privileged access to a range of social capital reflected a picture of life filled with abundance. However, the collapse of racial-Fordism, de-industrialisation, the end of racial-based governance and the neo-liberal economic framework in South Africa has re-introduced the poor Whites back into the dreaded reality of White poverty. While it is historically acknowledged that Whites dominated the social landscape in the South African context through the processes of colonialism, settlement and apartheid, thereby leaving a large foot print in the economy and politics, a section of Whites (not so privileged) has continued to exist alongside the mainstream White communities. I therefore argue that in contemporary South Africa the experiences of poor Whites who have been dispossessed through economic fluctuations and changes in socio-political make-up of South Africa have not been fully explored. In the case of East London, the contemporary experiences of poor Whites have overridden the dreams of coastal Whiteness driven by the previous industrial expansion and accumulation of White difference and privilege, and have pushed poor Whites into renegotiating their lives within the rapidly integrating poor sections of previously mono White suburbs. The poor Whites who are mainly working-class casualties have had to adjust and invent creative ways of existing within the informal sections of the economy. It is noted in this dissertation that little pity is given to poor Whites; in fact their condition carries shame. As such, poor Whites have been marked as ‘different’ and referred to as the ‘Other’. The deliberate social exclusion of poor Whites from normal life processes is also a reflection of the boundaries that have been created by the formation of social and cultural fences targeted at keeping out perceived ‘social deviants’. Those excluded from participating in what is considered to be ‘normal’, such as having a job and money and subscribing to middle-class values, have negative labels affixed to them and they therefore carry an identity of rejection, and are the new wounded citizens. Wacquant (2008) in his theory of advanced marginality explains that this state of affairs is common in many urban areas that have or are de-industrialising. I argue that the term ‘poor White’ indicates that its existence is in opposition to the normal/middle-class values and that attracts castigation and despise. This study also seeks to close the literature gaps on poor Whites. Anthropological research that links White poverty to deindustrialisation and neo-liberalism is limited, and smaller cities like East London have not drawn much inquiry. The main aim of this work has, therefore, been to explore and understand the marginal voices of the poor Whites within a context where their very existence is questionable. Drawing from empirical data gathered through ethnography, in-depth interviews and observations, I have constructed a narrative of poor Whites, detailing their experiences in contemporary South Africa. There is an untold story of White poverty which this study seeks to highlight. The dissertation concludes by discussing the paradoxes of citizenship as reflected in the lives of poor Whites.Item Spirit possession and social panic: Amakhosi possession and behaviour among learners in selected schools in Mdantsane Township(University of Fort Hare, 2014) Meveni, Siphiwo DouglasThis research sought to investigate the phenomenon of strange behaviour related to spirit possession called amakhosi in Mdantsane Township in East London in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. This spirit phenomenon has recently been prevalent in Township schools in the Eastern and Western Cape Provinces where school children were said to be possessed by a spirit which caused them to demonstrate a strange kind of destructive behaviour. These occurrences were also reported in the newspapers and community radio stations. All these media communications reported that teachers, parents and community leaders were increasingly concerned over a growing trend wherein children purchase muti called amakhosi which makes them to behave mysteriously and at times climbed school walls with their bear hands and at time becoming violent to the extent of threatening other learners and educators. The informants included community members, learners and educators. In a mainly qualitative research method, empirical data was collected from five selected high schools by means of observations, individual interviews and group discussions. The main aim of this study was to better understand this amakhosi phenomenon and to determine whether it is a spiritual, drug related or a social phenomenon. The findings of the study suggested that amakhosi possession is partly a spiritual phenomenon and should not be overlooked as it can result into serious crimes leading to death just like in the recent cases of satanic killing reported among the youth in South Africa. Secondly, there is also a strong element of drug abuse among the youth associated with amakhosi rituals. Lastly, amakhosi is more than just a spiritual issue. It is a socio-economic problem which mostly involves the youth who are struggling in identifying their roles and positions in the post apartheid South Africa. The main recommendation is that the amakhosi phenomenon needs a „wholistic‟ approach and not to just intervention by involvement of prayers and traditional healers.