Search

This paper presents findings from a study on blindness discourses found in South African non-profit organisations that provide rehabilitation services to visually impaired adults. The paper investigates what the public relations materials of these organisations communicate about blindness. It also considers the ideological assumptions that blindness discourses reinforce and embed in rehabilitation practice. The primary focus is a discourse analytic review conducted on a sample of organisation public facing material. The findings comprise three clusters of assumptions, with concomitant enactments in practice. These are i) third-person alliances around the blind subject and a resulting objectification of service users ii) 'journey discourse' which prohibits the expression of complex disability experiences and iii) polarised blindness fantasies which promote othering and prescribe acceptable ways of being for blind subjects. This paper questions what might be imparted to blind persons at a symbolic level through rehabilitative practices. This article explores the ways that blindness and blind persons are represented on the websites of organisations that provide visual impairment rehabilitation services in South Africa. These representations affect the way that society views visually impaired people, and the way that visually impaired people feel about themselves. Organisation websites describe visually impaired people in ways that make it seem as though they play little active role in the rehabilitation process. The idea that rehabilitation is a journey from dependence and depression to independence and self-acceptance might make it difficult for rehabilitation service users to express ongoing feelings of grief and loss. There is a need for more focus on interdependence in rehabilitation services. Rehabilitation organisations must think carefully about what their public relations materials communicate to society about blindness and blind persons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than six and half million people have died as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic till Dec 2022. Vaccination is the most effective means to prevent mortality and infection attributed to COVID-19. Identifying public attitudes and perceptions on COVID-19 vaccination is essential to strengthening the vaccination programmes. This study aims to identify attitudes and perceptions of twitter users towards COVID-19 vaccinations in four different countries. A sentiment analysis of 663,377 tweets from October 2020 to September 2022 from four different countries (i.e., India, South Africa, UK, and Australia) was conducted. Text mining using roBERTA (Robustly Optimized Bert Pretraining approach) python library was used to identify the polarity of people's attitude as "negative", "positive" or "neutral" based on tweets. A sample of 2000 tweets (500 from each country) were thematically analysed to explore the people's perception concerning COVID-19 vaccines across the countries. The attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines varied by countries. Negative attitudes were observed to be highest in India (58.48%), followed by United Kingdom (33.22%), Australia (31.42%) and South Africa (28.88%). Positive attitudes towards vaccines were highest in the United Kingdom (21.09%). The qualitative analysis yielded eight themes namely (i) vaccine shortages, (ii) vaccine side-effects, (iii) distrust on COVID-19 vaccines, (iv) voices for vaccine equity, (v) awareness about vaccines, (vi) myth busters, (vii) vaccines work and (viii) vaccines are safe. The twitter discourse reflected the evolving situation of COVID-19 pandemic and vaccination strategies, lacunae and positives in the respective countries studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Female accessibility to the mosque as a social institution invokes gendered subject positions and power dynamics. In the holy month of Ramadan in 2018, a group of Muslim women in Johannesburg resisted their exclusion from a mosque space, which led to diverse reactions expressed on social media. Facebook posts between May 16 and June 14, 2018 were analysed using Foucauldian discourse analysis to map discursive constructions of the Muslim women's resistance. Subject positions, ranging from women as sexual temptation to women as holistic, spiritual beings, emerged from the analysis. Different action orientations were promoted, ranging from submission to the mosque leadership to equating the women's activism to the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Implications for reformative theological scholarship and positionalities of resistance are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discourse of mastery is prominent in applied linguistics. The idea of mastery, however, does not remain only on the discourse level: curricula and policies are meant to be implemented, and therefore mastery and all that is associated with it (near perfection, dominance over something, etc.) is also practiced. In this paper, I argue that we might survive mastery by recuperating other ways of being, thinking, and learning. By drawing on examples from the South African higher educational context, I show glimpses of other ways of doing and thinking about language. Drawing inspiration from decolonial theory, I extend the notion of linguistic citizenship by showing that, for applied linguists, vulnerability, relationality, and failure could be points of focus as productive as mastery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides a discourse analysis of the perspectives of the Democratic Alliance, African National Congress, and the Economic Freedom Fighters on the role of the church and clergypersons in the political process. The paper also analyses the role of Christian political parties in the democratic dispensation. Our analyses cover 1994 to 2022. The aim of the article is to provide an analysis of the pastor-politician and the role of the church in politics. The article brings clarity, in part, by assessing the church and clergypersons as role players in the South African political setup. There seems to be a knowledge gap in political science and related social sciences regarding the role of pastor-politicians and the church in politics. Using a qualitative method of desktop reviews of relevant topical issues relating to the subject, the article intends to contribute to body of knowledge pertaining to the church as an institution in the political context. Our central thesis is: South Africa is a maturing secular state and clarity is required on the position of the church in the architecture of democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to engage with Mokoko Piet Sebola's publication titled "Critiquing scientific writing for knowledge development in South African public administration scholarship: Selected reviews in South African articles and books". Based on the blend of critical analysis and interdisciplinary discourse analysis, this article argues that 'self-hatred, fear of the new, and anger against the young scholars' have robbed the author of an opportunity to learn in preparation for making a meaningful contribution to the debate, whether real or imagined. Instead of educating and informing his audience, the author has exposed himself to self-inflicted intellectual wounds that have the potential to produce nothing but epistemic madness or confused knowledge. While Afrocentric therapy (also read as theory) does not provide a guarantee for lifelong healing of terminal epistemic madness, it wields the potential for intellectually stabilising the ageing professoriate whose line of thought has been inherently compromised by Westernised consciousness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than six and half million people have died as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic till Dec 2022. Vaccination is the most effective means to prevent mortality and infection attributed to COVID-19. Identifying public attitudes and perceptions on COVID-19 vaccination is essential to strengthening the vaccination programmes. This study aims to identify attitudes and perceptions of twitter users towards COVID-19 vaccinations in four different countries. A sentiment analysis of 663,377 tweets from October 2020 to September 2022 from four different countries (i.e., India, South Africa, UK, and Australia) was conducted. Text mining using roBERTA (Robustly Optimized Bert Pretraining approach) python library was used to identify the polarity of people's attitude as "negative", "positive" or "neutral" based on tweets. A sample of 2000 tweets (500 from each country) were thematically analysed to explore the people's perception concerning COVID-19 vaccines across the countries. The attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines varied by countries. Negative attitudes were observed to be highest in India (58.48%), followed by United Kingdom (33.22%), Australia (31.42%) and South Africa (28.88%). Positive attitudes towards vaccines were highest in the United Kingdom (21.09%). The qualitative analysis yielded eight themes namely (i) vaccine shortages, (ii) vaccine side-effects, (iii) distrust on COVID-19 vaccines, (iv) voices for vaccine equity, (v) awareness about vaccines, (vi) myth busters, (vii) vaccines work and (viii) vaccines are safe. The twitter discourse reflected the evolving situation of COVID-19 pandemic and vaccination strategies, lacunae and positives in the respective countries studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radio remains the most important information and entertainment medium in translingual South Africa. Subject to digitalization, it underwent major technical and structural transformation processes known as media convergence to maintain and to broaden audiences. These transformations have significant effects on the pragmatic realization of interactive talk and knowledge transfer. The study is based on an empirical multimodal discourse analysis of a Facebook video by the isiXhosa radio station Umhlobo Wenene. It observes dynamics of media convergence on the communicative situation. The example from a multilingual and mediated setting highlights impacts of conversation conventions externally imposed by promotional obligations. Furthermore, it examines how material affordances affect the conversation. The analysis shows that radio convergence has some enabling as well as some restrictive effects for realizing translingual knowledge transfer in mediated expert interviews. • Multimodal settings complexify membership in radio talk. • Visual dimension adds level of understanding in translingual radio communication. • Converged radio changes communicative and pragmatic affordances. • Radio genre conventions change through fusion with social media. • Public radio talk commodifies through convergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the Farlam Commission of Inquiry's official discourse on violence within the context of the Marikana mine massacre. The commission was established in 2012 to investigate the killing of 34 mine workers during a wage strike at the Lonmin platinum mine in South Africa. The commission was tasked with scrutinising the actions of the police, mine management and labour unions involved in the incident. By employing the concept of legalism, this paper analyses the commission's report and argues that it adopted a legalist perspective on violence, which served to legitimise the prevailing legal framework for collective bargaining while delegitimising the strike action itself. The study highlights Phase Two of the commission's investigation, which was aimed at examining the underlying sociological causes of the conflict within the mining sector. This phase provided an opportunity to delve into the structural factors that fuelled the dispute. However, despite the potential for a more nuanced exploration of structural violence, the final report of the Farlam Commission ultimately embraced a narrative form and simulacrum of legality that reflected implicit moral and political biases concerning specific forms of violence and social action. The commission struggled to assimilate critiques of the collective bargaining framework into its report, instead maintaining a fidelity to legalism, with practical implications for the type of "truth" and "justice" the commission could promote. The paper contributes to a broader understanding of the complex dynamics between legal frameworks, violence and social justice in contexts of labour disputes and collective action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article used a critical discourse approach to understand how linguistic practices in the South African media construct international immigrants of African origin. We created an 88 000-word corpus of online South African news articles on immigrants from 2008 to 2020, which we then uploaded onto a corpus analysis software, Sketch Engine. Through the software, we were able to generate patterns of language use in the construction of immigrant identity and subject position in the media. While most literature on South Africa has focused on the violence associated with xenophobia, this paper zeroes in on 'the language of xenophobia' to provide a good reflection of the sociological construction of 'self' and 'other' in the country. By examining the discursive practices of the media on foreign nationals, the paper maps out not only the circulation but also the reproduction of power, social relations and other sociologies behind the prejudices that inform xenophobia in all its various forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses Zulu constructions of mental illness, as according to Zulu Psychology Masters Students from universities in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, by means of Foucauldian Discourse analysis. Analysis of qualitative interviews highlighted the complexity surrounding mental illness and psychology within the Zulu culture in South Africa, and revealed various cultural constructions of the mentally ill and psychopathology that have not previously been researched. Elucidated cultural constructions of the mentally ill included constructions of the ill as a contagious diseased state; a threat to peace; a deviant; a vagrant; and a non-social being and non-functional. These constructions placed the mentally ill at the lowest strata level within society. Historically rooted discourses of the black South African's fight to be resilient, and the philosophical idea of 'Ubuntu', intersect with these constructions of the mentally ill. Furthermore, the constructions of the mentally ill are impacted by rural and urban geographic location. Also explored is the discourse of the Zulu mentally ill's oppressed subject position as the 'mad' and black. These elicited constructions and discourses of the mentally ill within Zulu communities, in South Africa, provide a basis for vital future research into the cultural relativity and nosologies of mental illness within the South African context, and wider African context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Media is a crucial factor in shaping public opinion and setting policy agendas. There is limited research on the role of media in health policy processes in low- and middle-income countries. This study profiles South Africa as a case example, currently in the process of implementing a major health policy reform, National Health Insurance (NHI). Methods: A descriptive, mixed methods study was conducted in five sequential phases. Evidence was gathered through a scoping review of secondary literature; discourse analysis of global policy documents on universal health coverage and South African NHI policy documents; and a content and discourse analysis of South African print and online media texts focused on NHI. Representations within media were analysed and dominant discourses that might influence the policy process were identified. Results: Discourses of 'health as a global public good' and 'neoliberalism' were identified in global and national policy documents. Similar neoliberal discourse was identified within SA media. Unique discourses were identified within SA media relating to biopolitics and corruption. Media representations revealed political and ideological contestation which was not as present in the global and national policy documents. Media representations did not mirror the lived reality of most of the South African population. The discourses identified influence the policy process and hinder public participation in these processes. They reinforce social hierarchy and power structures in South Africa, and might reinforce current inequalities in the health system, with negative repercussions for access to health care. Conclusions: There is a need to understand mainstream media as part of a people-centred health system, particularly in the context of universal health coverage reforms such as NHI. Harmful media representations should be counter-acted. This requires the formation of collaborative and sustainable networks of policy actors to develop strategies on how to leverage media within health policy to support policy processes, build public trust and social cohesion, and ultimately decrease inequalities and increase access to health care. Research should be undertaken to explore media in other diverse formats and languages, and in other contexts, particularly low- and middle-income countries, to further understand media's role in health policy processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we show how male peer talk about menstruating women may be used to discursively bolster hegemonic masculinities and denigrate women. Focus group discussions among 37 young isiXhosa-speaking men from two South African schools were facilitated by two young men; statements garnered from a sexuality education class about menstruation conducted in the same schools were used as cues. Data were analyzed using discourse analysis. The interactive talk constructed a bifurcation: "disgusting" menstruating women versus "reasonable" non-menstruating women who abide by idealized feminine behavior and are available sexually. We argue that as the non-menstruating woman cyclically become the other (menstruating woman) in women of particular ages, the trace of disgust inhabits the signifier "woman" for these men. Menstruation also disrupted a core identity strategy of local hegemonic masculinities: virile (hetero)sexuality. Given this, discursive distancing of the self from the very topic of menstruation is necessary. Small moments of resistance to these constructions were quickly closed down, and caring masculinity emerged only in the context of negotiating sex during menstruation. Involving men in menstrual hygiene management programs may provide spaces for resistance to denigrating discourses about menstruation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Processes of blame-attribution can be conceptualised as socially-situated and discursively-mediated events that feature attempts to assign meaning to harmful (or at least potentially harmful) occurrences. Part of the process involves the search for culprits and subsequent argumentation as to the blameworthiness of those singled out for blame. This study conducts a discourse analysis of blame-attribution in 33 online opinion pieces, posted on the website of the civil society organisation: ACTIVATE! Change Drivers. It concentrates on arguments that address the nexus between youth activism, active citizenship, the legacy of Apartheid and blame for the numerous problems afflicting the South African youth. The most recurring arguments hinged on constructions of the South African government as responsible to supporting the capacity of the contemporary youth to participate effectively in democracy, particularly since the youth continue to endure the repercussions of Apartheid. My analysis details the discursive repertoires through which this proposition is made, and considers its implications for research into contemporary online youth cultures and democratic argumentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critical whiteness studies (CWS) holds that challenging systemic racism in higher education must include scholarly attention to the everyday conditions under which students engage and produce knowledge about racism. This study examines the context of tutorials on postcolonial literature in a historically-white South African Department of English. Using individual interviews with contractually-employed Tutors, I map how these Tutors assign meaning to discomforting experiences and how they manage their own intersectional subjectivities while engaging undergraduates on systemic racism via postcolonial literature. Specifically, many students attempted to explore marginalization by grounding their essays in lived experiences of material deprivation. How Tutors' responses might be read within CWS is a core concern of this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant public health concern. Much research on the topic has focused on heterosexual relationships where men are frequently perpetrators and woman the victims of IPV as a function of systemically gendered inequality embedded in pervasive forms of patriarchy. However, IPV is also a concern in same-sex relationships. While the forms and functions of sexuality and gender in talk about IPV in heteronormative relationships are well documented, research on the ways that these key social categories feature in accounts of Same-Sex Intimate Partner Violence (SSIPV) has been limited. The current study advances this important area of violence scholarship by exploring the ways in which self-identified gay men describe violence in their intimate relationships. Our critical discourse analysis of accounts of IPV elicited through in-depth, semi-structured interviews demonstrates the ways in which the participants framed violence as unintimidating, tolerable, natural, erotic or even actively sought-after as part of an overarching strategy aimed at making claims on agency and resisting victimhood. The analysis suggests that researchers and policymakers should take cognisance of the local meanings and range of moral positions used by gay men to account for IPV when setting scholarship agendas and developing interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The WHO estimates 58 million people experienced one or more TB disease episodes between 2000 and 2018. These 'former TB patients' are at greater risk of future TB infection and death than TB naïve people. Additionally, former TB patients experience social, psychological, and physiological difficulties after microbiological cure. Drawing on semi-structured interviews collected with 28 people from communities in Zambia (n = 8) and South Africa (n = 2) between October 2018 and March 2019, we describe their perceptions of having two or more TB episodes. Utilising a discursive analytic approach, we interrogated how participants conceptualise their risk of disease recurrence. Despite being surprised by subsequent TB episodes, participants utilised their bodily experiences of TB signs and symptoms alongside their experiential knowledge of health systems processes to procure timely diagnosis and care. Yet, many participants were unable to resume social and economic participation. Experiences of multiple TB episodes and correlating social, economic, and physiological vulnerabilities, challenged participants biomedical understanding of TBs curability. Through notions of dirt and 'staining', participants conceptualise TB as a sinister, malicious presence they are bound to encounter time and again. Health providers should discuss the risk of TB recurrence with patients and promote prevention, early detection, and diagnosis of TB disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyses xenophobic narratives on Twitter in South Africa and Zimbabwe during the Covid-19 pandemic from March 2020 to July 2021. The study uncovers the politics of representation through discourse analysis of purposively sampled tweets. The article argues that xenophobic views perpetuated on Twitter during the Covid-19 pandemic period had the potential to influence negative attitudes towards Zimbabwean and other immigrants in South Africa. I show that Twitter was used as a platform to disseminate negative representations of Zimbabwean and other immigrants in South Africa. Political leaders on both sides of the border also utilised these representations to maintain their power. On the other hand Twitter played a critical part in mending the rift between Zimbabwean immigrants and some South Africans as it opened up communication between mainstream culture and other cultures. Regardless of this, social media platforms such as Twitter must be monitored and researched to understand the dynamics of representation of others, registering the need to respect and honour the constitutionally recognised freedom of expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported online in Psychology of Men & Masculinities on Mar 18 2021 (see record 2021-36790-001). In the article, the authors have drawn on the literature review of Shuttle worth et al., 2012, to formulate the introduction as well as the conclusion sections of the article. Therefore, the authors felt it important to adequately acknowledge their contributions with additional in-text references. All versions of this article have been corrected.] The past 3 decades have seen researchers increasingly examine masculinity within the context of disability. However, there remains a gap in impairment-specific research. The present study seeks to examine the discourses of masculinities among young adult men in Western Cape Province who stutter. Semistructured interviews and focus groups were used to collect data from 15 men who stutter. In analyzing the data, a combination of discursive and applied psychological perspectives was used. Specific attention was given to the emotional processes that men experience ascribing to, resisting and challenging hegemonic ideals of masculinity. The findings revealed that men predominantly drew on hegemonic norms to construct their masculinities, emphasizing the importance of occupying a position of power and control, especially when interacting with other heterosexual men and potential dating and sexual partners. Men at times also presented contrary and competing subject positions, simultaneously accepting and rejecting certain practices of dominant masculinity in their daily lives, specifically in relation to female figures (such as mothers and friends) and homosexual men. It was evident that the process of negotiating these multiple versions of masculinity was not easy. At times, men indicated struggling to negotiate their stutter with dominant masculine ideals, which led to reduced self-esteem and self-confidence and negative emotions and feelings of shame, weakness, emasculation, and inadequacy. In instances where participants resisted hegemonic ideals, they formulated affirmative masculinities in line with, and accepting of, their impairment. Implications for future masculinities research in the context of disability are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presently, limited studies have explored how disabled Muslim men construct their masculinities. The present article examines how five young adult Muslim men in the Western Cape, who stutter, talk about their masculinities. A series of semi-interviews were conducted with these men. These semi-structured interviews were analyzed according to Edley's guide to discourse analysis. The findings showed that Islam played an instrumental role in men's discourses of masculinities. At the same time, participants indicated experiencing disablism as men who stutter, which resulted in them either resisting or reformulating dominant forms of masculinities. Implications for future research is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nigeria's claim as the giant of Africa is evident in her foreign policy articulation of African Centre Piece. From 1960, Nigeria has championed the project of Africa through different diplomatic engagements across the continent of Africa most especially under President Olusegun Obasanjo's civilian administration. Nigeria's unwavering support against the apartheid regime in South Africa led to the termination of apartheid government in 1994. However, the post- apartheid politics in Africa as well as the post-Cold War politics changed the dynamics of African politics. Nigeria's claim as the giant of Africa became more contested and hypothetical with the emergence of notable countries such as Ethiopia and South Africa posing serious challenges to Nigeria's hegemony in the continent. The most viable and notable threats came from South Africa following the end of apartheid regime in South Africa and coupled with its good governance rating, which had heightened the status of the country as a notable continental leader. This article attempts to explain the leadership roles of Nigeria and South Africa in a peripheral region of Africa with the view of analysing who has the sway to lead the affairs of Africa to the path of prosperity. Through the secondary method of data collection and qualitative method of data analysis (discourse analysis), the study concludes that Nigeria and South Africa roles in Africa were motivated by realist considerations. The study, however, recommends concerted efforts between Nigeria and South Africa in addressing socio-economic challenges in the African continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa is known for having the highest number of sexual violence cases in the world. In response to these reports, the government has declared rape as a priority crime, and various measures have been put in place to address this scourge. Despite these measures, rape statistics have continued to escalate. It is against this background that this study sought to explore accounts of sexual offences, particularly reports of rape, from a sample of sex offenders. Data were drawn from five Correctional Centres in the Limpopo province. Nineteen sex offenders were selected through a purposive sampling approach and interviewed face-to-face. Discourse analysis was used to identify and analyse the patterns of talk that sex offenders drew upon to account for their sex offences. Findings revealed that 'blame' was the most dominant discourse cited. The 'rhetoric of blame' revolved around uncontained sexual desires, sexual entitlement, absent mothers, provocative dress code by women, and unfair laws that discriminated men when they asserted their sexual power in relationships with women. Multi-sectoral intervention strategies are recommended for deconstructing blame discourses that perpetuate rape offences in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the use of populist discourse in South African politics. We investigate speeches of leaders from the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and opposition parties, the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). We find that the EFF consistently employs populist appeals, while both the incumbent ANC and official opposition DA largely refrain. Our longitudinal analysis allows an examination of fluctuation across party leaders and electoral cycles, and illustrates that neither the ANC nor the DA have modified their political discourses in light of a rising populist challenger. However, there is some evidence that the two most dominant parties have reformed their programmatic offerings and behaviour in an attempt to compete with the EFF's popular appeal. The South African case offers important insights into the study of oppositional populism on the African continent, and a window into how major political parties may respond to emerging populist contenders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the relationship between sexual health and religion among young, Pentecostal Christian women navigating the transition to adulthood in Khayelitsha township, in the City of Capetown, South Africa. Between February and August 2019, eleven semi-structured interviews and three focus group discussions were conducted. Thematic analysis and discourse analysis were used to analyse the data collected. The study found that the relationship between sexual health and religion was complex and multifaceted, shaped by the religious dichotomisation of "right" and "wrong", socio-economic constraints and culture. Despite the perceived decline of religious influence on the sexual and social lives of youth, religion continues to play an instrumental role in shaping the dreams, aspirations and lifestyles of young people, especially as they transition to adulthood. We argue therefore, that religion is a significant spiritual and cultural resource that young women use to develop their sexual and social identities, although it cannot always be equated with their sexual practice or decision-making related to sexual health. In the light of this, churches should still be seen as key partners in the fight against HIV as their involvement can act as a stabilising force for young people dealing with poverty and uncertainty. Church engagement with young people should offer programmes that include but are not limited to sexual health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faction is an old age phenomenon world over. The democratic consolidation in South Africa post 1994 is close to three decades but did not escape factionalism. Does faction phenomenon bring about havoc, conflicts, splits, and instability corollaries or strengthen party politics in response to fulfilling the general will? In responding to this question, South African party politics and factional battles within the ruling party and other political formations are discussed as a case study to explore the merits and demerits of factions and factionalism. In doing this, a discourse analysis was undertaken to understand how faction phenomenon brings about complots or a positive change. The discourse analysed arrived to the conclusion that whilst factions are blatantly criticised for rearing havoc and instability in party politics as well as signs of split-offs and threats as demerits in South Africa, there are also inevitable trade-offs to be welcomed as merits to create opportunities to drive positive change within the broader party-political spectrum to strengthen participatory democracy and the multi-party system in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we examine the operation of shame in the alcohol use habits of pregnant women and the responses of their families and associated institutions. Using a narrative–discursive approach, we interviewed 13 women, living in a low-resource setting in South Africa, who had consumed alcohol while pregnant. Narratives showed how both the act of drinking and "inappropriately" timed pregnancy (early and out of wedlock) were judged to be unacceptable. Women who engaged in these activities were positioned as bad mothers or promiscuous. Their actions were seen as resulting in the suffering of others—the future child, the family, and even the community. These narratives were underpinned by cultural and religious discourses. Women managed the shame accruing to them through avoidance and concealment; families instructed women to self-exclude or distanced themselves from the women's behavior; and institutions subtly or overtly excluded women. The shaming of these women, and the mechanisms by which such shame was managed, did little to decrease drinking or to increase maternal health and welfare. Overall, this article demonstrates how the shame of drinking alcohol during pregnancy produces avoidance behavior, concealment, and exclusion, which are not constructive in terms of maternal health and well-being. The implications for a feminist narrative approach to drinking during pregnancy are outlined: moving beyond a focus on individual behavior change to locating personal stories within the meta-narratives and social discourses that shape pregnant women's lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa is increasingly offering screening, diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis (TB), and especially drug-resistant TB, at the primary care level. Nosocomial transmission of TB within primary health facilities is a growing concern in South Africa, and globally. We explore here how TB infection prevention and control (IPC) policies, historically focused on hospitals, are being implemented within primary care facilities. We spoke to 15 policy actors using in-depth interviews about barriers to effective TB-IPC and opportunities for improving implementation. We identified four drivers of poor policy implementation: fragmentation of institutional responsibility and accountability for TB-IPC; struggles by TB-IPC advocates to frame TB-IPC as an urgent and addressable policy problem; barriers to policy innovation from both a lack of evidence as well as a policy environment dependent on 'new' evidence to justify new policy; and the impact of professional medical cultures on the accurate recognition of and response to TB risks. Participants also identified examples of TB-IPC innovation and described conditions necessary for these successes. TB-IPC is a long-standing, complex health systems challenge. As important as downstream practices like mask-wearing and ventilation are, sustained, effective TB-IPC ultimately requires that we better address the upstream barriers to TB-IPC policy formulation and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that, in similar ways that scholars such as Kaye (1987) and Apple (1990) have respectively demonstrated how post 1970s America and Britain fused the neo-liberal discourse of free markets with the neo-conservative Christian discourse of moral rightness to found a New Right, we can apply this analytical model in post-apartheid/neo-apartheid South Africa. The aim of this analytical comparison is to support the broad claim that the article makes about the rise of the New Right in contemporary South Africa as directly related to the fusion of neo-Pentecostal Christianity with neoliberal economics in very salient ways. Using discourse analysis, the article demonstrates how the New Right in South Africa also draws from the language of crisis to justify a response that brings together the interlocking of race, religion, and neoliberalism. The paper's main argument is that, a different type of New Right is emerging in current day South Africa, one that is not simply the purview of whitenationalism, but has main appeal also within the black middle-class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little research tackles healthcare providers' experiences in conducting pre-abortion counselling sessions in circumstances where pregnant persons may request an abortion. We report on a study conducted in South Africa, in which two nurses and two counsellors were asked about how they conduct these counselling sessions. Using a synthetic narrative approach, we present these health workers' micro-narratives about their motivations for providing abortion services, the purpose of the counselling, their information-giving practices, and whether and how third parties are included in the counselling. We highlight how these micro-narratives are premised on discursive resources that problematise unintended pregnancy and abortion. These resources enable and justify directive counselling that undermines pregnant peoples' reproductive autonomy. We locate such directiveness within dominant anti-abortion discourse and call for training to reframe normative understandings of abortion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informal settlements intersect with spatial planning when they are placed on a trajectory towards permanent upgrading. In South Africa, the law requires this intersection to be as non-disruptive as possible. However, this is difficult to secure, as the Slovo Park informal settlement case in Johannesburg exemplifies. This article demonstrates the conceptual relevance of Henri Lefebvre's writing on the right to the city and his closely associated theory on differential space for the informal settlement and planning question. The article notes that the planning theory discourse has engaged with what occurs outside of statutory planning. This skirts Lefebvre's radical critique of statutory planning and its direct implication for spontaneous urban spatial practice. Lefebvre's critique of planning is open-ended, providing pointers towards an alternative, namely transduction. The article shows the relevance of this for the transformation of planning and urban space in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Violence against children, particularly sexual violence continues to threaten South African society. Whilst severely under-reported, the perpetration of child sexual abuse (CSA) against boys and girls is a significant societal concern, underpinned by adverse childhood familial instability, childhood abuse in particular sexual abuse, violence, inequality and wider structural forces. The research base is growing, despite low disclosure rates and significant barriers to access. In order to better understand unique trajectories of perpetration of CSA, particular to the South African context, we conducted an in-depth qualitative study with twelve male child sex offenders who were attending a therapeutic, rehabilitation programme. They provided open discourse on the forms of enticement, exploitation or entrapment of child victims, including threats of harm, used to elicit compliance into sexual activities. They disclosed trauma dictated fantasy, and that they felt powerful and in control, when they sexually abused their victims. Most of the offenses took place in their own home. By delving into the strategies and mind set of the offender who sexually abuse children, this study provides evidence of a distinct and deliberate, 'grooming process' used by offenders; and emphasizes the cyclic patterns of offending. Understanding these truths explores its potential for the prevention of the CSA. In its entirety, the research deconstructs the strategies of the offender and examines their actual role in the onset of sexually offending behavior against children; in order to draw out the implications of these complexities for policy, practice, crime prevention, particularly in terms of the prevention of CSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is based on a discourse analysis of official COVID-19 addresses by South African national government ministers with a focus on linguistic choices. While access to healthcare is an obvious issue of social justice during the pandemic, language plays a covert role in processes of access and inequality. Linguistic understanding influences social participation and during an epidemic crisis, access to language plays a significant role in improving responses of affected individuals. Although English is widely accepted as a common lingua franca in the country, it excludes those who are not proficient in the language. In this article, we analyse code-switching practices, translanguaging, and increasing African language usage among ministers of parliament during official COVID-19 speeches and briefings. We argue that the growing use of multilingual resources among South African politicians carries ramifications on language politics, i.e. a shift away from an unquestioned monolingual discourse purporting English as 'the' lingua franca which has in the past characterised most national speeches. From this new multilingual perspective, the pandemic has effected an inward orientation rather than the previously dominating concern with international relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professional training in Psychology in South Africa is focussed extensively on developing the knowledge and skills required for professional practice. However, although attaining the required levels of knowledge and skills is a necessary condition for professionalism, it is not sufficient. Professionalism requires agential action beyond knowledgeable and skilful behaviour. The aim of this study was to explore how and to what extent the practical placements of student psychometrists contributed to the development of professionalism. Using purposive sampling, the portfolios and supervisor reports of 12 students were selected for analysis. A hybrid model of analysis was employed using thematic analysis, discourse analysis, and positioning theory. Thematic analysis confirmed the discursive context as one of knowledge and skill development, which manifested as an expert–novice discourse within the texts. The discourse offered four subject positions, hierarchically related in mentor–mentee and insider–outsider configurations, supporting an apprenticeship model of increased socialisation into professional practice. However, the outsider position warranted a student–client positioning in a democratic relationship that resisted and disrupted the hierarchical relationships of the expert–novice discourse, demonstrating the presence of agential actions characteristic of professionalism. In conclusion, it is argued that such disruptions of mentor–mentee and insider–outsider positioning should be tolerated and accommodated in practical training settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of the politics of knowledge is not uniformly understood by both scholars and practitioners. Much work in this regard is based on Northern angled perspectives, which are deficient in abilities to capture the essence of African reality. On the basis of qualitative materials and interdisciplinary discourse analysis, this article's focus is on the politicisation of university administration in South Africa. Taking cue from my previous works on this subject, I have identified and discussed additional three central factors which impair scientific knowledge generation and development in South Africa and Africa as a whole. Among others, these factors include bureaucratisation of academic administration, academic jealousy and gangsterism and shortage of academic role models. Theoretically and in order to foster epistemic justice, this study has drawn from Afrocentricity as an alternative contextual lens to paint a qualitatively rich picture of the phenomena under study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

History tells us that the United States of America (US)'s hegemonic predomination materialized from a very long‐ideological battle and/ Cold War, sometimes referred to as the war of words lasted for about five decades from the mid‐1940s to 1989, and consequently stopped after the fragmentation of the Soviet Union Empire. Thus, in contemporary times, it is lamentably regrettable that USA has come to face oligopolistic challenge in the context of both political and economic dominion. The international system is slowly but surely experiencing the emergence of brand new political and economic power patterns vis‐à‐vis China, European Union (EU) and Brazil, Russian, India, China, South Africa (BRICS). In light of the aforementioned, this article assesses the symptoms of US hegemonic decline and how this helps shape the current global academic and/ scholarly debates on the strategic environment. Equally important is the adoption and application of Afrocentricity as the theoretical framework in the quest for "relocation from the knowledge production margins" and the spirit of the anticipation of the DE‐colonial Political contemplation in South Africa's life‐time. As a theory, it is employed to answer the central question: Is it a reality or a myth that USA's dominion over the international system is coming to an end? Methodologically, this article relied on interdisciplinary discourse analysis and thematic content prevailing documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The low enrolment, lack of interest, exacerbated by the general poor performance in physical science in South Africa paints a gloomy picture about the status of physical science in the country. Despite the fact that there might be other factors at play, one factor which cannot be ignored is the discourse about the use of language in the science classroom as viewed by physical science teachers. In the study reported on here a quantitative methodology was followed in which a closed-ended questionnaire survey was used as data collection tool. In the study we examined South African physical science teachers' perceptions about the language use in science classrooms, and the study was informed by the Vygotskian socio-cultural theory (SCT). The target population from which a sample size of 37 physical science teachers was systematically sampled was high school classroom teachers and learners in Grades 10, 11 and 12 in the Ngaka Modiri Molema district of the North West province of South Africa. The study revealed that physical science teachers encountered difficulties with meanings of non-technical words used in science context. The conclusion drawn was that many physical science teachers were not proficient in the discourse of the science classroom and this often compromised their effectiveness in the teaching and learning of science. The main difficulty was confusion in differentiating between technical and non-technical words and the lack of convincing explanations of meanings of these words in teaching and learning. Key among the recommendations of this study was the need to address teachers' challenges with regard to the language use and the implications thereof. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is the most prevalent form of interpersonal violence experienced by women in South Africa. A study conducted with young women from South Africa, aged 13 to 23 years, estimated that 42% experienced physical violence from their intimate partners. The subtle and nuanced social dynamics of IPV are less understood owing to little qualitative research on this subject. This study qualitatively explored how young women perceive and experience IPV. Participants were recruited through snowballing from townships in Soweto, outside Johannesburg. In-depth, face-to-face, and semistructured interviews were conducted with seven young women aged 15 to 20 years. The discourse analysis was implemented to understand participants' construction of IPV. Participants reported direct experiences of IPV and indirect through exposure to interparental and interpersonal violence. Findings indicate a progressive shift of perceptions from absolute tolerance of relationship violence to rejection. However, victim blaming and relegating relationship violence to the private realm still existed. Essentialisation of masculine qualities such as anger was used to construct and understand men's use of violence. Young women highlighted infidelity, pregnancy, and sex demands from their partners as reasons for them being subjected to IPV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been an increasing focus on developing a human rights approach to ensure that disabled people have equitable access to their rights. A number of policies have been developed, which are intended to meet the needs of disabled people and to provide frameworks within which services should be rendered. This article explores the narratives of disabled adults living in a rural South African community, with a specific focus on the ways in which rights-based discourses are internalized and used in the construction of identity. A total of 103 references to rights emerged within 22 of the interviews. Eight of the interviews did not include rights-based discourses, yet this was juxtaposed by observations of extreme violations of human rights. Suggestions are made for adopting an ethic of care approach to policy implementation and evaluation, with the need for context specific adaptations to be made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employability development is a focus of contemporary engineering education, both abroad and in South Africa, from where this study emanates. However, pedagogic initiatives in service of this goal may fail to take into consideration the ideological underpinnings of this emphasis on employability, as well as of the curricula developed in its service. This study utilises discourse analysis as a tool to analyse texts relating to a final-year course pairing offered to electrical engineering students, which explicitly aims to develop employability skills. Drawing on Fairclough's three-dimensional conception of discourse, the texts, which include faculty handbook extracts, course handouts, timetables, and additional teaching materials, provide insight into the ideological underpinnings of the courses as well as the context of their creation. The findings of the study reveal the neoliberal foundation of the course-pairing in general and, more specifically, three discourses that interact throughout the courses: the 'entrepreneur of self' discourse, the discourse of 'inevitability' and the 'one-size-fits-all' discourse. The study concludes by suggesting that perpetuating these discourses will lead to replication within the engineering industry, as opposed to transformation and innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study conducted with Grade 11 learners as participants, in four public high schools in a rural district of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The central objective was to investigate the mathematical discourses of Grade 11 learners related to the word, algebraic and graphic representations of asymptotes of the hyperbola and exponential functions. Commognition and social learning theories were referred to, with particular emphasis on the characteristics of the mathematical discourse, that is, word use, visual mediators, endorsed narratives and routines. The study adopted a qualitative research design, with exploratory, descriptive and interpretive elements complementing both its data collection and analysis processes. A purposive sampling strategy was opted for in the study. Data was collected by means of a test administered to a total of 112 Grade 11 participants from the selected four high schools. Data was thematically analysed by means of a developed Discourse Profile of the Hyperbola and Exponential Function adapted from the Arithmetic Discourse Profile. The study's findings revealed that, while there was evidence of learning functions, for these leareners, the process of de-ritualisation was not yet complete. There were also challenges in linking different representations of a function. Learners could work efficiently on procedure tasks, but struggled on action-oriented tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2014 Ebola outbreak in three African states transformed the virus into a social reality in which media representations contributed to globalised hysteria and had rhetorical effects. This study investigated representations of the Ebola virus/disease in South African news reports (March 2014–June 2015). Four discourses were found to operate within the globalised social context: threat to humanity, predation, invasion, and conspiracy. The South African reportage framed Ebola as a predator and criminal rather than using stock warfare imagery. Representations indicated alignment with phobic high-income countries and colonial hegemony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on a study conducted to establish if academic practice in a university designated as Azania is aligning or diverting from the expectations of the rising knowledge society in South Africa. The paper is motivated by the emerging national needs specific to the production, dissemination and application of knowledge as the country takes steps towards knowledge led development. The general assumption is that academic practice in universities is spontaneously responding to the needs of its changing environment. Thus, to establish the position of academic practice in Azania, institutional and national documents were examined from a neo-institutional perspective through qualitative discourse analysis. The results showed that research, teaching and outreach at the University was responding to national needs. Thus, academic practice in Azania is aligning more than diverting from the expectations of the rising knowledge society. However, considering that the study based on only document analysis a focus on other data sources is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the basis of the Afrocentric perspective, this article uses South Africa as a test case to critique Mokoko Piet Sebola's piece titled "Peer review, scholarship and editors of scientific publications: the death of scientific knowledge in Africa," which appeared in Koers ‐ Bulletin for Christian Scholarship, Volume 83 (1): 1–13. I argue that Sebola's piece provides a partial guide to understanding the state of the knowledge industry in Africa, particularly in South Africa. Safe to say that Sebola's work deepens scholarly and public discourse on the politics of scholarship in Africa and the world at large. However, I do not intend to blatantly praise Sebola's contribution to this academic area, which remains under researched due to the reasons that are beyond the scope of this article. In particular, the current article aspires to identify scholarly weaknesses in Sebola's work with a view to correcting them by offering an alternative view. This correction deserves the attention of all scholars and practitioners especially because it is interdisciplinary in nature, and it is poised to undo the misinformation disseminated in Sebola's piece. Such misinformation has a potential to overshadow the few truths advanced in his article. Methodologically, this article is based on document review, conversations, and interdisciplinary discourse analysis in its broadest form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Healthiness is constructed, in Western culture, as a moral ideal or supervalue. This paper will interrogate the assumption that health and the pursuit of healthiness is always and unquestionably positive, by exploring how discourses of health and freedom interact to reinforce the current inequalities and detract from social transformation. Method: Twenty young South African adults were interviewed about their understandings and experiences of health. These discussions were analysed using Foucauldian discourse analysis. Results: Participants constructed healthiness as facilitating the experience of freedom, while at the same time being dependent on a personal orientation towards freedom (as opposed to merely submitting to dominant health authorities). Freedom discourses also played a role in connecting health to neoliberal discourses idealizing economic productivity and hard work. Participants were able to construct a self that is active, productive, valuable, hopeful, and self-assured when talking about health using discourses of freedom. However, these discourses also functioned to moralise and idealise healthiness, which contributed to blaming poor health on its sufferers. Conclusion: Health/freedom discourses can further reinforce the neoliberal value of individual responsibility by constructing self-improvement and self-work as the solution to ill-health, thereby contributing to victim-blaming and weakening support for public health interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite South Africa's transition to democracy and policy vocabularies of co-governance, inclusivity and fairness in decision making that underpin both the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and national coastal policy – the White Paper on Sustainable Coastal Development – these principles remain elusive in the day-to-day governance of coastal risk and vulnerability. A basic quantitative investigation into the representation of civil society on government-led 'collaborative' forums and the application of an Argumentative Discourse Analysis (ADA) reveals that a state-centric mode of governance dominates. This mode of governance is being stimulated and reinforced by isolationistic provisions contained within South Africa's principal coastal legislation and policy instrument: the Integrated Coastal Management Act (No. 36 of 2014 as amended). This mode of governance is, in return, amplifying coastal risk and vulnerability in South Africa more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the interlocking concepts of power, knowledge and discourse, this article focuses on how counter normative sexualities are discursively constructed in the sexuality education classroom and with what effects. Drawing on in-depth interviews with teachers and classroom observation, the evidence highlights the presence of specific discourses about the teaching and learning of sexuality diversity. First, while many teachers argued for the inclusion of counter-normative sexualities, in their teaching and responses they privileged heterosexuality as legitimate and natural and same-sex sexualities as deviant and Other. Second, teachers' discourses construct queer youth not only as innocent and childlike but also as hypersexual and rebellious – requiring discipline and intervention. These constructions link closely to discourses of pity and tolerance, or blame when counter-normative sexualities were expressed. Finally, despite heterosexuality being privileged in the classroom, teachers' and pupils' questions about gender and sexuality diversity suggest the need for a more defined and inclusive curriculum sexuality education curriculum. Findings justify concern about how counter-normative sexualities are addressed in the sexuality education classroom and advocate for improvement in teaching and learning about counter-normative sexualities in South African secondary education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study explored constructions of sexuality among young people of Venda in Limpopo, South Africa, and cultural practices that can be used to develop context-specific HIV prevention programmes. HIV prevention can be promoted by including some cultural practices in prevention programmes and changing some aspects of culture that may contribute negatively to health. Six focus group discussions were held with school-going young people (Grades 10 to 12) in urban and rural areas to explore their constructions of sexuality and HIV risk. Four focus group discussions were held with community leaders in the same areas to explore their constructions of young people's sexuality and cultural practices relevant to HIV prevention. Through discourse analysis, the following dominant discourses that influence young people's sexual risk behaviour were identified: rite of passage, the male sexual drive discourse (sex is natural and unavoidable); discourse of hegemonic masculinity (sex to prove masculinity); sex as a commodity; non-adherence to cultural practices; and HIV is normalised (AIDS is like flu). Some alternative constructions and shifts in gender norms were noticed, especially among female participants. The constructions of young people were not culture-specific but similar to those identified in other South African cultures. Community leaders identified a few cultural practices that could be considered in HIV prevention, for example, reinstating the rite of passage to provide age-appropriate sex and HIV education (behavioural intervention), and promoting traditional male circumcision (biological intervention). Cultural practices that contribute negatively to health should be challenged such as current constructions of gender roles (masculinity and femininity) and the practice that parents do not talk to young people about sex (both structural interventions). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how shame is constructed in working-class "coloured" men's talk about their violence against women partners in Cape Town, South Africa. It examines how men who are violent toward their partners attempt to dissociate from their shamed identities and their perpetration of violence at the intersection of their gender, race and class identities, and how these processes allow men to produce subjectivities as "respectable coloured" men. Ten individual interviews were conducted with men who had perpetrated violence against their partner(s) residing in a predominantly working-class "coloured" community on the peripheries of Cape Town, South Africa. A Foucauldian discourse analysis tracks the complicated processes followed by men in dissociating from shamed subjectivities towards ones that encompass pride. The men talk about the battle for subjectivity in their pursuit for a "respectable", "good" masculinity, which is commended in specific pro-feminist spaces while being reportedly questioned or denounced by their fellow community members. The article concludes by considering the usefulness of shame in this sample of South African "coloured" men, and its capacity to mobilise men towards a pro-feminist politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The white wedding is a traditional ritual, governed by heteronormative conventions, which (re)produces stereotypical and patriarchal gender norms. In this study 10 white, South African, middle-class, heterosexual, newlywed couples were interviewed about their wedding ceremonies. The interviews were analysed using Parker's (2005) framework for discourse analytic reading. This helped us analyse two related discourses, the "fairy-tale" and "bride's day" discourse that allowed couples to justify gender unequal practices. The findings suggest that wedding discourses encourage (1) the objectification of women and their treatment in a benevolently sexist manner, (2) the unequal distribution of wedding labour between the bride and groom and, ultimately, (3) the perpetuation of women's subordination in heterosexual relationships. Participating in the rituals of the white wedding maintains taken-for-granted heteronormative discourses that undermine gender equality and, ultimately, women's emancipation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indigenous cultural as well as institutional social work practices often contribute towards the perpetuation and creation of inequalities. This article explores the experiences of South African foster care adolescents regarding participatory decision-making and the role of indigenous culture and social work practices. The theoretical framework adopted in this article is the developmental social welfare approach augmented by selected elements of the systems theory. A phenomenological study was conducted, and a major finding concluded that the cultural value system of foster adolescents, the institutional social work practices and the developmental approach are in conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]