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Item Open Access Towards a humanistic narrative about art: reflections on Emmanuel Levinas and Ernst Bloch(University of the Free State, 2007) Terreblanche, SalomonEnglish: This article explores the possibilities of a humanistic narrative about art with special reference to the thought of Emmanuel Levinas and Ernst Bloch. Throughout the article it is shown how Levinas’s and Bloch’s respective interpretations of art are connected with their theories of ontology. Levinas understands being as a neutral and indifferent manifestation of reality. In his phenomenological analysis of art Levinas appeals to examples from modern art in particular and emphasises that artworks withdraw from the ‘light’ of being, which is to say, artworks refuse intelligible description in language. For Bloch, by contrast, being essentially carries an unrealised promise in the germ. Bloch hermeneutically explores the ‘pre-appearance of utopia’ and human happiness that are portrayed and symbolised by religious, pre-modern and early modern art in particular. Towards the end of the article an interpretation of prophetic hope is put forward with reference to Levinas’s and Bloch’s work, in an attempt to overcome the limitations of both authors with respect to the possibilities of a humanistic narrative about art.Item Open Access The financial and environmental needs and problems of a group of students with impairments in higher education(University of the Free State, 2007) Crous, FaanEnglish: Many countries worldwide have legislation to prevent discrimination against students with disabilities and to integrate them into the general education system on secondary and tertiary levels. Moreover, the United Nations and the Commonwealth support and protect the rights of people with disabilities. However, despite legislation locally and abroad, it appears that many remaining barriers prevent people with impairments from full participation in their communities. Against this background, a survey was conducted to determine the environmental and financial needs and problems experienced by a selected group of South African students with impairments in higher education. The students with impairments from three institutions of higher education, who were included in this survey, expressed a need for direct financial support relating to special equipment, discounts on textbooks, part-time employment and decreased tuition fees. Furthermore, they had special requirements for parking space, buildings and lecture rooms.Item Open Access Vigilantism as a feature of political decay in the post-1994 South African dispensation(University of the Free State, 2007) Swanepoel, Lenie; Duvenhage, AndrèEnglish: Little research has been done on the phenomenon of vigilantism in South Africa. Vigilantism describes the action of citizens who take the law into their own hands, making use of violent methods, in the context of inadequate law enforcement by the state and the collapse of public order. In an environment of political instability, lack of public order and related security problems, groups such as People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD), Mapoga-a-Mathamaga and “people’s courts” have come into being as vigilante organisations. This article describes and analyses vigilantism in South Africa against the backdrop of disintegrating public order.Item Open Access Thinking militaries or military thinking: the need for education in armed forces(University of the Free State, 2007) Esterhuyse, AbelEnglish: The recently tabled parliamentary report on the South African Military Academy did not pose the most fundamental question concerning the existence of the Military Academy: why is it important that soldiers should become academically educated? Does sound military training not offer sufficient professional preparation for soldiers? This article attempts to explain why soldiers need to be academically educated, while considering the influence of the “military mind” on the education of armed forces. The underlying argument is that soldiers need to be empowered by acquiring a thorough academic understanding of three particular environments: the higher order politicosecurity environment, the defence environment, and the military environment.Item Open Access Pre-Hippocratic Greek medicine and its influence on the Hippocratic Corpus(University of the Free State, 2007) Retief, Francois; Cilliers, louiseEnglish: The origins of the Hippocratic Corpus, traditionally held to herald the birth of empirical medicine, are traced in the works of the “pre-Socratic” philosopher-physicians. Although it retained many of the earlier, factually incorrect hypotheses on human physiology and pathology, and consequently proposed largely ineffectual therapies, the Corpus was a decisive milestone in that it described clinical disease patterns objectively, it prescribed medication on the basis of rational argument (as understood at the time) unadulterated by considerations of religion or superstition, and it was underpinned by an ethical code which has largely withstood the test of time.Item Open Access Section twenty-one status and school governing bodies in rural schools(University of the Free State, 2007) Jan, Heystek; Nyambi, MandrewEnglish: Awarding section twenty-one status to schools in South Africa was hailed as a significant milestone towards the democratisation and functioning of schools in South Africa. The purpose of the study was to examine the influence on the school governing bodies in rural schools of the allocation of the section twenty functions by the provincial government’s member of the Executive Committee (MEC). A case study involving three types of schools, for instance a moving school, a stationary school as well as a promenading school, was conducted in Bushbuckrigde. It emerged from the findings of the case study that many SGBs were not coping with the functions thrust upon them because of lack of skills and involvement. As a result the bulk of the duties and responsibilities that they are supposed to carry out are performed by the principals and educators.Item Open Access Burnout and its correlates in South African clinical and counselling psychologists(University of the Free State, 2007) Jordaan, Ilse; Spangenberg, Judora; Watson, Mark; Fouché, PaulEnglish: This article explores burnout and its correlates among South African psychologists. A random sample of 238 clinical and counselling psychologists completed internet surveys that included a biographical questionnaire, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and the Brief Coping Orientations to Problems Experienced. Results indicated that approximately half of the participants showed moderate to high levels of burnout. Different combinations of coping strategies predicted the three components of burnout. The biographical variables of age, gender, weekly client hours, years in practice, and medical aid payment difficulties were significant predictors of burnout. Recommendations are made to improve the emotional well-being of South African psychologists.Item Open Access Action research: a wonderfully uncomfortable mode of creating knowledge(University of the Free State, 2007) Beylefeld, Andriana; Bitzer, Elias; Hay, HenrietteEnglish: Changed views on the nature and purpose of knowledge production provide the backdrop for the authors’ demonstration of the ways in which action research on the development of general skills transformed their values into a living theory. This paper recounts how action research was used to integrate general skills into a medical curriculum. It also presents evidence of the critical scrutiny to which the first author’s educational practice was subjected. The distinctive features of action research provide an analytical framework for arguing that an action researcher can produce useful knowledge and so certainly can have a “scientific message”.Item Open Access Women, knowledge and gardens in John Capgrave’s Life of Saint Katherine of Alexandria(University of the Free State, 2007) Geldenhuys, KatharineEnglish: Saint Katherine was one of the most popular saints of the Middle Ages and was renowned for her exceptional education. John Capgrave wrote his Life of Saint Katherine of Alexandria in East Anglia in the 1440s. The episode in Capgrave’s text in which Katherine is converted to Christianity is set in a private garden. While Capgrave attempts to associate Katherine with the Virgin Mary, the setting encourages associations with the Garden of Eden, Eve and the Fall. Eve’s sin was seen as prime evidence for the rightness of the subjection of women and of preventing them from preaching, teaching and speaking in public. The underlying tensions regarding women alluded to by means of the garden setting are explored.