AA 2004 Volume 36 Issue 1

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http://hdl.handle.net/11660/6730

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    The application of Inglehart’s materialism/postmaterialism index in non-industrialised countries: a critique
    (University of the Free State, 2004) Müller, Hans
    English:This article makes three central claims. The first is that the operationalisation of Ronald Inglehart’s “materialist/postmaterialist dimension” cannot be transported unchanged from the industrialised western context of its origin to the non-industrialised world. The second claim is that an important dimension of the current values analysis strategy of Taylor, Kotzé and others in South Africa is theoretically incoherent. These theorists expanded Inglehart’s dimension to include a “pre-materialist” cluster of values in order to deal with values which they find important but which are not covered in the materialist/postmaterialist dimension. However, this is intended to be a universal dimension and cannot be adapted in this way. The third claim is that one can learn much from the South African attempt to adapt the materialist/postmaterialist dimension. In fact, it points to the need for an analytical strategy appropriate to the socio-economic conditions of developing nations. Both minimal and more comprehensive changes are proposed.
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    An instrument for assessing the quality of local government translations
    (University of the Free State, 2004) Botha, Suzette; Naudé, Jacobus
    English: An instrument for assessing the quality of local government translations has been sorely needed within LOGTIS, a local government translation and interpreting service which has been instituted in several Free State municipalities. Texts have had to be translated on a regular basis, without any means of assessing the quality of the translations. This article describes the development of an instrument to assess a translation that differs from its source text in form, function and purpose. The instrument incorporates textual and translation principles at all levels of language and can also serve as a checklist for the writing of local government texts.
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    African diviner-healers and oral performance: a perspective on Sepedi divination
    (University of the Free State, 2004) Masoga, Mogomme; Nel, Phillip; Moleleki, Mohlomi
    English: Divination is receiving ever more attention in the media. Communities, groups of people and individuals are asking questions, voicing opinions, and making judgements on the function of this important branch of African life and philosophy. This paper investigates African oracle-speech as a typical genre of oral poetry. In short, it argues that the African diviner-healer (ngaka) becomes an oral performer, employing some of his or her clan praises (among other dynamics of orality) during the divinatory process. The data on African divination oracles drawn from interviews with diviners is provided and analysed in terms of theories of orality.
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    Four critical causes of underachievement in township secondary schools
    (University of the Free State, 2004) Masitsa, Gilbert
    English: Underachievement is a problem that can affect every learner and no education institution is immune to it. Potential does not guarantee performance, therefore a student possessing the potential to achieve well in school must still work hard, otherwise s/he will not achieve according to that potential. This article examines four critical determinants of underachievement among township secondary school learners: media of instruction, overcrowding, truancy and shortages of textbooks. The study has found these factors to have a telling negative influence on learners’ performance, which must be countered
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    Mariama Ba’s So long a letter and the educational empowerment of Muslim women
    (University of the Free State, 2004) Latha, Rizwana
    English: A discussion of So long a letter by the West African woman writer, Mariama Ba, is used as a basis for highlighting the empowering and disempowering effects of particular types of education for women in the traditional African-Muslim context of Senegal. An examination of this issue in the novella would seem to indicate that the marginalization of Muslim women in this and other countries could be alleviated by a religious education which would investigate the differences between Islamic principles and cultural practices as one of its key focus areas. Combined with a secular education taking cognisance of present-day hybrid identities in postcolonial and other states, this approach has the potential to empower Muslim women to become socially and politically active and thereby to reconstruct their status in societies in which the forces of traditionalism often overpower both basic Islamic principles and state legislation designed to promote women’s rights.
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    Theatre as social critique in the South African political context: the plays of Zakes Mda
    (University of the Free State, 2004) Uwab, Chijioke
    English: In the past few years, especially after independence, South African theatre has not been as critical of the political process as one would have expected, given its critical attitude towards the apartheid system. Zakes Mda’s plays, however, have to an extent fulfilled this role. This article investigates the critical nature of some of Zakes Mda’s plays produced before and after independence.
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    Wat sê die swyende Kubaan vandag vir ons? Oor konflikliteratuur
    (University of the Free State, 2004) Weideman, George
    English:The escalation of conflict and its representation in the media have an overwhelming effect on society. Re-reading Etienne van Heerden’s seminal short story, “My Kubaan”, may help rectify negative responses to violence, including enforced silence, as portrayed in literature and related art forms. The term “literature of conflict”, the historiographical aspects of the text, the relevance of this kind of text and the eroticism of violence are investigated and illustrated by texts showing that in a war situation there are only victims, and that writers write in solidarity with those manipulated into silence. Possible explanations for the Cuban’s “silence” are given. The universality of “My Kubaan” is echoed in recent texts depicting the futility of war and the culture of violence.
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    Substantialisation and the plurality of the self
    (University of the Free State, 2004) Heyns, Michael
    English: This paper focuses on two broad categories of amenders of the classical self, namely Kenneth Gergen’s abolition of the self and Charles Taylor’s transformation of the self. After the heyday of behaviourism it became fashionable again to speak of “intentions” as a cause of human action. Recent manifestations of this sometimes emphasise a holistic view and more often posit a coreless pluralism as the self. In the case of Gergen, this attempt lapses into a monistic substantialisation of the relational side of the self; in the case of Taylor, into a moderate dualism with the interpretative capacity of the self taking the substantialised position. As an alternative I propose a dimensional anthropology that sees the self as consisting of a coherent plurality of dimensions of equal agency.
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    The preservation of nineteenth century industrial buildings near historical city centres: the case of Ghent
    (University of the Free State, 2004) Vanneste, Dominique
    English: Many nineteenth-century industrial buildings in Flanders in general and in Ghent in particular are still waiting for (permanent) users and functions. At the same time, renewed economic and residential interest represents a threat to the built-up heritage as well as to the structure of the traditional working-class social fabric of such areas. Additionally, little is known about the expectations of the residents of such neighbourhoods or the extent to which they identify with this industrial heritage. Ghent, with its strong industrial past, resulting in many nineteenth-century textile factory buildings and characteristic working-class housing (including cités and alleys), can thus offer interesting insights as a case study. However, field work about the relationship between the industrial heritage, identity and preservation as well as about the attitude of local authorities revealed that practice sometimes differs from theory.