Search

This paper explores the complexities of language and identity in contemporary South Africa. The on-going English-Afrikaans debate points to broader issues of power and identity. Several scholars have convincingly shown Afrikaans as inextricably linked to Afrikaner nationalism. During apartheid, Afrikaans was contentious as the language of the ruling elite and tool for Black oppression. This paper investigates how Afrikaans-speaking Coloured learners are caught in the debates around language and racial hierarchies. Results of the study show some scepticism about learning English in a predominantly Afrikaans-speaking Coloured township community. While a "progressive" part of the community strongly associates English with elitism and power, a more "conservative" part views English as a threat to the preservation of Coloured identity. The study concludes that in spite of Afrikaans' awkward position in South Africa's linguistic historiography as the language of the oppressor and the oppressed, it should be considered a marker of Coloured identity. Finally, this study adds to our understanding of racialized identities and in-betweenness as regards language (and cultural) identities in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Quebec Studies is the property of Liverpool University Press / Journals and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Alexandra township in Johannesburg is the most densely populated and one of the poorest in South Africa. Women living in the township are economically marginalised, having rare economic opportunities for employment or selfemployment. This study examined the entrepreneurial challenges marginalised women in Alexandra face in making souvenirs for the tourism trade. The study adopted a qualitative approach based on a four-stage sequential design. The data was collected through focus groups, semi-structured in-depth interviews, and non-participant observations with the 24 women actively involved in souvenir-making. It was found that entrepreneurial challenges facing women making souvenirs in Alexandra include lack of access to funding, competition from mass-produced Chinese crafts, lack of availability of essential resources (i.e., electricity, machinery, safe working spaces), lack of access to tourism markets, and crime and corruption. The research findings are expected to assist the South African government, Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs), and various women initiatives to develop more effective ways of supporting marginalised women in townships in overcoming identified business challenges, ultimately leading to their empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines by way of exploratory study the perceptions of residents and police on the effects of crime on township tourism. The study was conducted in Gugulethu, Khayelitsha and Nyanga townships in Cape Town. Using a qualitative research approach, three focus group interviews, one in each township (a total of 18 participants), and semi-structured interviews with eleven police officials in the Cape Town townships yielded information to address the research aim. Thematic data analysis captured police officials’ and residents’ perceptions on which more conclusive research can be done. Residents and police perceive Cape Town townships as unsafe for tourism. Despite this, the study found that tourism does not contribute to crime but rather becomes a casualty of crime in these townships. High unemployment, lack of education, drug and alcohol abuse were identified as contributors to crime in the townships. One of the recommendations in this study is that the local tourism offices in Cape Town should encourage the unemployed towhship youths to go through an entrepreneurship training process such as business incubation to help them create and manage their own tourism businesses. Sponsorship to this effect, in terms of financial and technical support can be provided by private tourism sector companies in collaboration with local municipalities and public institutions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering how Black People are often seen/unseen as a monolith of 'Black Bodies' in township spaces in South Africa, I attempt to unpack what it looks like for Black People to blend into or stand out from contradictory, collective-led definitions of who/what Black people are in these spaces. By exploring where the individual Black Self meets the collective and how this delineation is blurred, I aim to delve further into notions of individuality and how these seep into a real or imagined whole. What does it take to be 'kasi'? Who wants to be known as 'kasi'? Who is 'uDarkie ekasi'? As an arts practitioner developing an interdisciplinary praxis, I'm keen to explore these kinds of identity politics through the lens of translanguaging and township-based experiences and expressions. My aim is for this text to offer alternative insights into the intersection of 'Black Bodies,' the various notions associated with how 'Black People' are perceived, and their self-perceptions within township spaces.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Research on History Didactics, History Education & History Culture (JHEC) is the property of Wochenschau Verlag GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Rather than framing the South African youth unemployment debate in deficit terms, highlighting a lack of skills, educational and economic growth, this study focuses on creative practices and aspirations of Black youth in the Johannesburg tour- ism industry. This group's activities included tours of former migrant hostels, derelict buildings and township bicycle tours. These young entrepreneurs were placed at a fault line between township and mainstream economies, hustling capitals from various spaces to generate an income. Life histories of four young male entrepreneurs are described in detail. Their knowledge of and access to the inner-city and townships was desirable to certain tourists, creating a demand for "raw" or "authentic" experiences in informal settings. However, their origins in marginalised spaces, the operations of the main- stream capitalist economy and limited financial capital produced structural barriers to their rising too high. Johannesburg therefore mediated the acquisition and use of different forms of capital that Black youth tried to accumulate and use for income generation opportunities in the tourism sector. The inner-city and townships formed both a ceiling and a "dance floor," enabling them to create innovative livelihoods, but these sites simultaneously and paradoxically pre- scribed limits to their upward social mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies a dimension of protest largely overlooked in the literature: protest scope, that is, whether protests seek large, structural, changes for a large share of the population or focus on small-scale improvements for small groups. We argue that this protest dimension is relevant for understanding the political consequences of protests. We show empirically that protests vary substantially in scope and that scope is not collinear with other protest dimensions, such as size, motive, or tactics. We explore drivers of individual preferences for protest scope with a survey experiment in two South African townships. We find that respondents made to feel more efficacious tend to support protests of broader scope. This effect operates via a social psychology channel whereby efficacy leads people to assign blame for their problems to more systemic causes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the history of the 'Butleng' commonage in the Free State, South Africa. Commonage is municipally owned land available for public use. The post-apartheid government provided grants for the purchase of commonage to assist poor township residents and to provide a 'stepping stone' for emerging Black farmers. This article outlines how plans for collective control and use of the commonage have been overwhelmed by individual accumulation strategies, which illustrate tensions within the township, notably class differentiation and gendered claims to economic resources. An emerging township elite, centred on the batho ba sebeletsang mmuso (those who work for government), quickly prevailed over attempts by the baruri ba kgale (old rich/influential) township residents and White officials to implement a managed commonage programme. Plans for managed grazing were scuppered when fences across much of the area were cut, allowing uncontrolled access. Competition for land saw women pushed aside, with land allocated for horticultural projects overrun by cattle owners. An occupation of commonage land for stands (allocated spaces for residential buildings), primarily by backyard shack dwellers, posed a direct challenge to the authority of the African National Congress-run municipality and the squatters were evicted. Some parts of the commonage have, for complex reasons, remained fenced and are therefore assets available for individual farming. Attempts to maintain public control over these fields or camps have also failed, with occupational titles/rights opaque and linked to connections within the local state. The failure to manage or develop the commonage collectively has resulted in a process of creeping privatisation. Attempts to democratically organise communities for sustainable development have proved no match for individualistic accumulation strategies championed by interest groups formed around new configurations of power. The article underlines how the transformation of South African society, including land reform, needs to take cognisance of the sociological terrain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the importance of historical memory in galvanising constructions of masculinity in Wentworth, a formerly 'coloured' township in South Durban. Semi-structured focus group discussions and individual interviews with 28 coloured men uncovered a tradition of activist masculinities in the community and also revealed the complex ways in which the apartheid project continues to shape masculinity and family life in Wentworth. We explore the intergenerational nature of masculinity by considering how two generations of men (ages 30–45 and 45–65) use memories of apartheid in their processes of identity formation. We illustrate how memories of gender under apartheid modulate across time, contributing to masculinised performances of race and identity in a post-apartheid climate. We argue that a more nuanced understanding of coloured masculinities is necessary within the literature on race and gender in South Africa, as popular perceptions of coloured men as violent, aggressive and heterosexist loom large in the South African imagination. Such stereotypes obscure the complex history of gender and race in southern Africa and disregard the diverse expressions of masculinities in coloured communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the late 19th century, and especially during apartheid (1948–1994), Afrikaans became inextricably tied with white people, white domination and apartheid. This association has persisted after 1994, and calls to preserve Afrikaans are often derided with claims that the preference for Afrikaans is also a preference for racial segregation. In such anti-Afrikaans views, Afrikaans is seen as synonymous with white people and apartheid despite the fact that Afrikaans was never exclusively spoken by white people. This prejudice towards Afrikaans is also shown towards the Afrikaanse Taalmonument, which was unveiled in 1975 to commemorate this language.Using machine learning and a large dataset of social media posts from Instagram, we show that not only white people visit this monument to Afrikaans, but also take pictures here and post about it on one of the largest social media platforms. As such, we show that the interest in this monument – just like the language itself – is not exclusively tied to one race. We also make suggestions for further research, such as using machine learning for image recognition using social media datasets that could illuminate how other South African monuments are seen in the contemporary world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The end of the apartheid era in South Africa inaugurated an increased mobility and accessibility to previously prohibited spaces. Although African migrant populations are still highly regulated in South Africa, their presence has also profoundly transformed the country's present-day sociolinguistic and cultural landscape. The textual construction of the literary text in this study draws attention to the post-structuralist perspective which argues that languages are not closed entities but rather open systems utilised for expressive purposes in specific social contexts. Most significantly, recent sociolinguistic studies show that languages are no longer regarded as discrete systems in communication because they form expansive linguistic repertoires in contact spaces. Such an understanding of multilingual use facilitates communication across cultural, linguistic and national borders, thereby subverting exclusionary normative practices. The present article draws from translingual perspectives to examine communicative practices in literary discourse. A close textual analysis is adopted to identify how translingual practices make languaging a contested terrain meant to project multi-voiced and multi-perspectival discourses with transformative capacities in the context of the 'rainbow nation' metanarrative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to explore the spaces created by practitioners of the Taiwanese-Chinese religious movement Yiguandao ("Way of Pervading Unity") in urban South Africa. Drawing on ethnographic data from fieldwork conducted in Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Cape Town in late 2017 as well as on published Yiguandao materials, this contribution analyses how these spaces are created, maintained, and charged with meaning. It investigates the uses of these spaces as well as how and why various actors engage in them. By proposing a preliminary typology that is based on the location, function, and mobility of these spaces, this contribution argues that Yiguandao religious spaces represent more intense arenas of transcultural interaction than most other - and predominantly economic - Chinese spaces in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designed at South Africa's National Building Research Institute in 1951, the Witwatersrand township of KwaThema and its NE51 housing models profoundly influenced apartheid's subsequent housing for black Africans. Its schematic layout and many of its physical dimensions were replicated through the medium of the Minimum Standards of Accommodation document that governed later townships. Yet, despite its significance as a model, there is scant documentation of KwaThema as a specific project embedded with design intentionality. Its houses referenced colonial and modernist precursors but transcended these types, as the young NBRI architect–researchers, drawing on experiences of indigenous space and subjects, considered other-than-modern spatiality and its capacity for change. By retrieving marginal evidence from their parallel research projects, this narrative of the first stage of the township's design considers Barrie Biermann's interest in hybrid Cape housing vernaculars, Betty Spence's documentation of indigenous spatial cultures, and Douglas Calderwood's consideration of labour and landscape. Given the spatial potentials latent in these references, it suggests that the generic and specific design histories of KwaThema should be restored and brought into conversation with each other and with the subsequent lived realities of the township that they informed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explore how townships and prison are linked in South Africa among criminalised populations. While the two are often described - also by residents - as belonging to radically different moral worlds, the article shows how they are entangled in often awkward and difficult, yet necessary ways. We show this by paying acute attention to kinship structures and how kin are disavowed, allowed and sometimes denied as residents find their way to prison and out again. The empirical basis of the article is long-term fieldwork in and engagement with Cape Town's townships and their residents, many of who have experiences with prison as (former) inmates, as family to inmates, or through constant circulation of prison stories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the role of effective entrepreneurial education in township communities, to address some of the economic challenges facing poor township communities. Effective entrepreneurial education has the potential to ignite economic transformation in township communities. This effective entrepreneurial enterprise should be based on the understanding of whole education principles. This article also explores the role of the social missional entrepreneurial church by applying effective enterprises that would run entrepreneurial activities in township communities. The social missional entrepreneurial church understands that it should approach its mission holistically; 'holistic' here referring to the spiritual, physical, mental, social, emotional and economic spheres. This explorative study aims at understanding how to implement the social missional entrepreneurial enterprises in township communities. It explores effective entrepreneurial programmes that could be an engine in transforming the township communities. It focuses on the definition of education, specifically entrepreneurship education, and how can it be implemented effectively. This entrepreneurship education should resonate with those who live in township communities. It should address the needs and challenges that face township communities. The article will also explore the meaning of the township economy. It will examine the role of Churchpreneur, which refers to the social missional entrepreneurial church in the spotlight, and how this kind of church can be a place where entrepreneurial education is promoted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examined the effectiveness of Social Protection as means of alleviating poverty in the Townships of Tsakane, Kwa-Thema and Duduza of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality of Gauteng Province in South Africa. The study was expected to contribute to the body of knowledge in social protection services as a way of alleviating poverty. Stratified random sampling with a proportional representation method was employed to select 200 respondents. The data collection tool used was simple closed-ended questionnaires. Interviews were conducted face-to-face with respondents. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse the data. Both descriptive (percentage, frequency et.c) and inferential statistics (binary logistic regression) were employed to analyze the collected data. The descriptive result reveals that secondary education was the highest (59, 5%) form of education among the respondents while 42 percent of the respondents have no income. Also the results revealed that 61, 5% of the respondents thought that government assistance made a difference in their welfare while 38, 5% thought otherwise. The binary regression analysis result revealed that the significant variables that had an effect on social protection were: the location of the respondents,their gender,their level of education,the type of dwelling of the respondents,and their income outside farming. The study concluded that assess to social protection is a good panacea to poverty alleviation in the study areas. The study therefore recommends that the significant variables that had an effect on social protection be considered when measures of social protection are implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SMMEs in townships are countlessly overlooked as an important sector contributing to the economic growth and development of a country. Many SMMEs, however, fail within the first few years of starting their business. Hence, this research article argues that more has to be done to assist these SMMEs to become sustainable in their particular townships. It would be valuable to obtain some insight into township SMMEs in order to assist these businesses. Therefore, the main purpose of this research article was to examine the perceived sustainability of township SMMEs. The research study endeavoured to examine the perceptions of SMMEs in terms of the type of businesses considered to be feasible in townships,the impact of township size on the sustainability of SMMEs,and perceptions with regards to keeping current businesses operational in townships. An exploratory research approach was adopted for this research study and data was collected from 498 SMME owners across South Africa by means of a survey questionnaire. The main factors that contribute to the sustainability of SMMEs in townships were identified in the study. Moreover, the study found that respondents perceive the sustainability of SMMEs in townships across South Africa in a positive light. For that reason, it is suggested that institutions harness this positivity and assist these SMMEs to expand and grow their businesses. It is furthermore suggested that a dedicated approach is required to make township businesses viable and relevant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study was to examine and gain insight into the level of skills and training and subsequent needs among SMMEs in the township environment. Against the backdrop of investment support from government, the question is what is the current status of training and training needed among SMMEs in the South African township environment. An exploratory study was conducted by means of a survey questionnaire directed towards various SMMEs across South Africa. Questions were formulated to elicit information pertaining to training and qualifications of respondents in townships. Based on the findings, SMME owners in the township areas experienced a greater need for marketing, financial and management training, indicating that government should collaborate with other institutions to provide the required training. In particular, support is required from financial and training institutions in collaboration with government departments to provide the relevant resources that the SMMEs need in order to flourish. In addition, there are specific unique challenges that SMMEs experience in the township areas due to the unique setting of townships. Provides key areas where government and organisations can contribute different, urgently needed resources to SMMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explicate how newly independent nations combined local and international resources to plan and build large engineering projects aimed at enhancing economic development. It discusses the key factors and issues related to the planning and building of the Akosombo Dam and related townships from 1962 to 1967.Design/methodology/approach The assessment is based on the archival information from the Volta River Authority together with other archival government data and interview transcripts before, during and after the completion (from the 1950s to the 1960s) of the Volta River Project (VRP).Findings The paper presents insights from the VRP in newly independent Ghana and demonstrates how multiple international firms combine with host country stakeholders to usher in one of the most important engineering projects in post-colonial Africa. It also highlights how poor bargaining power and weak integration of the project outcome to future development objectives, with negligence by succeeding political actors, could inhibit the full achievement of intended long-term project outcomes.Research limitations/implications Most of the conclusions are drawn from a single project within one country and would need to be supported by additional multi-country research. The study also presents an opportunity to explore how lessons learnt could influence policymaking in new, large and complex infrastructure projects.Originality/value The paper reviews antecedents, processes and outcomes of a major post-independence infrastructure project in a sub-Saharan African country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the role of a missional social entrepreneurial church in the community. This kind of church exists in the community to be the light and the salt as stated in Matthew 5:13, 14, which says, 'you are the salt of the earth ...' and 'you are the light of the world ...' These two metaphors might teach us more about the role of the church in all communities. The missional social entrepreneurial church has to play a role in bringing a holistic transformation in the world. Holistic transformation should affect the human spirit, mind, and emotional, physical, social, political and economic spheres as the word 'holistic' suggests. The church should influence the community in a comprehensive way. The author is convinced that if the church can play its role, then a holistic transformation is truly possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the city of Johannesburg in South Africa.

This article investigates using social entrepreneurship as a way of developing sustainable township economies, so that poverty can be eradicated from the townships of South Africa and township dwellers can begin to play a role in the economic development of the country. The author also thinks it is God’s purpose for people to enjoy life, free from economic hardship. A reduction in poverty would also bring down the crime rate and other social ills. It starts by defining and clarifying the concepts of ‘entrepreneur’ and ‘social entrepreneurship’. It continues by looking in more depth into township life and its challenges. This is done through reviewing the literature and observations obtained through participant observation research. Post-foundationalist practical theology believes in interdisciplinary dialogue as a means of allowing the concept of social entrepreneurship to bring about a sustainable township economy. From the author’s observations, it became apparent that to see the attainment of a sustainable township economy, training and development should start with a strong emphasis on personal identity and interpersonal and business skills. The author, therefore, proposes a holistic approach to social entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cross-sectional study explored the presence and power of developmental assets in a sample of youth from rural South African townships. Learners (female = 58%; Mage  = 17.1; N = 505) attending three township high schools completed self-report measures of developmental assets and thriving outcomes. Participants reported contextual assets (e.g., family, school, community) in the vulnerable ranges, with gender, family structure, and school type accounting for some differences. Correlation and regression analyses revealed that five asset contexts (family, school, community, personal, social) were uniquely predictive of thriving outcomes. Discussion focuses on contextual expressions of positive youth development among Zulu township youth in challenging environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present a case study of the perceptions of self-regulated learning (SRL) of 14 secondary township schoolteachers and their teaching behaviour to develop SRL strategies in their learners. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive research design was used. Semi-structured interviews and lesson observations were conducted with 14 purposively selected secondary school teachers. Specifically, this study explores how participants use teaching strategies to promote various SRL strategies such as goal-setting and planning, time management, peer learning, and self-evaluation. Findings indicate that participants' teaching behaviour differ in terms of opportunities to encourage learners to become conscious of their learning processes as they use SRL strategies in different subjects across Grades 8-12 in the two township schools. Discrepancies have been noted between some lesson observations and teachers' perceptions of how they integrate strategies to develop SRL. The findings underline the importance of developing teachers' knowledge and the use of SRL teaching strategies to foster SRL learning and, hence, academic success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa, like many developing countries, is heavily burdened by high dropout and unemployment rates and an undersupply of skilled workers. Grade retention is a common practice when learners do not meet the specific requirements - especially in countries with limited socio-economic resources. In South Africa, 52% of the learners are retained at least once before they reach Grade 10. However, the results of this study clearly suggest that the policy of repeated scholastic retention does not contribute positively to the academic achievement or to career maturity of Grade 11 and Grade 12 learners in township schools in South Africa. This study emphasises the importance of improving learner performance, starting in the Foundation Phase (Grade 0/R to Grade Three) and the need for accessible career guidance and counselling for all learners. By guiding these at-risk learners into vocation-oriented or technically oriented directions before the career maturity and academic achievement decline emerges, a decrease in dropout and an increase in the outflow of skilled people in the short term and unemployment in the long term may be addressed. The latter can be regarded as the cornerstone of socio-economic development and enhanced social capital in all developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One feature of Nelson Mandela's legacy in South Africa is his concept of post-apartheid society as a cosmopolitan space. Sadly, recent developments in the country suggest a return to nativist and bigoted world views and cast a dark shadow over his legacy. There is an urgent necessity to review this aspect of Mandela's vision. In so doing, this paper highlights the ethical advantages of cosmopolitanism, and argues that what sets Mandela's cosmopolitanism apart from others is his emphasis on empathy. I therefore suggest that empathetic cosmopolitanism is a particularly South African worldview. In support of this idea of empathetic cosmopolitanism, I discuss such recent theories as 'incompleteness', 'multiple identity', and 'entanglement', suggested by South African thinkers, as registers of Mandela's global citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigated the influence of four economic factors, namely education, health, income level and household size on the life satisfaction of township residents in South Africa. The sample consisted of 985 individuals drawn from three townships located in the southern part of Gauteng Province. The association between each economic factor and life satisfaction was analysed using regression analysis. Education, health, and household size predicted life satisfaction, which validates traditionally acknowledged relationship trends. However, income was not statistically significant, which contradicts conventional perspectives. Education was the strongest predictor of life satisfaction when compared to other economic factors. Overall, the results of the study confirm the complexity of the association between economic factors and life satisfaction. Governments in developing countries may refer to the results of the study in their quest to develop and implement economic initiatives and policies aimed at improving the well-being of poor communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I explore the representation of South Africa’s transition after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in Jacob Dlamini’sNative Nostalgia, a provocative account of the author’s childhood in a Johannesburg township during apartheid. I argue that Dlamini’s engagement with recent South African history and his (re)construction of black identity can be understood in counter-discursive ways as having the potential to subvert some of the official historical narratives that underpin the dominant political structures. Furthermore, I foreground how Dlamini uses his peculiar historiographical method to articulate strong scepticism towards, and anxieties about, the post-TRC socio-political order in which nostalgia for the past, disenchantment with the present and trepidation for the future all co-exist simultaneously in a state of nervous tension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional and Western medicine are both commonplace in South Africa, and are often consulted in conjunction with each other. The article aims to fill critical knowledge gaps in understanding how women as caregivers decide on medication when experiencing illness in the home. In order to achieve valid and rich in-depth understanding about the types of medicine that individuals opt for, a narrative study was conducted. The research participants are women from Bloemfontein's townships. Analysis of the participants' narratives suggests that there are social-economic, traditional, and cultural trajectories associated with negotiating medical treatment. The findings indicate that the context in which individuals give meaning to, diagnose, and treat illness influences their remedial choices. Accordingly, many individuals constantly shift between different types of remedies, as they believe that they yield different, but unique possibilities and solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sex education and conversations about intimate relationships are generally regarded to be important and can contribute to young women's positive or negative reproductive health development and general well-being. The findings contained in this article suggest that in a resource poor South African township, mothers and their daughters struggle to initiate and conduct meaningful discussions about sex. These discussions are often framed in terms of possible negative consequences of intimate relationships, such as unplanned pregnancy, dropping out of school, or possible Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection. However, these discussions are clearly not altogether effective as several young research participants had an unplanned baby. Emotional aspects that are normally associated with intimate relationships are missing from the mother-daughter conversations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African family life in South Africa's post-apartheid context is shaped by the socio-political history of the country. Despite various attempts to address the remnants of poverty, unequal distribution of resources and the lack of livelihood services still exist. African families from resource poor areas of townships in South Africa are still faced with poverty and deprivation. Black African women, often with minimum schooling, suffer the most from these scourges. This article aims to explore the everyday life narratives of precarity at various levels and the manner in which women from Mangaung Township in Bloemfontein cope with this. They talk about the fragile relationships within the family, about the gendered dynamics of the household, and about the importance of support networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are one of the major global health challenges in developed countries and are rapidly increasing globally. Perception of self-efficacy is important for complex activities and long-term changes in health behavior. This study aimed to determine whether self-efficacy mediates the effect of individual beliefs (perceived severity, susceptibility, benefits and barriers) among informal settlement residents' health behavior in relation to the prevention and management of NCDs. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a closed-ended questionnaire among informal settlement residents in Diepsloot, Johannesburg. The proposed model was tested using structural equation modeling (AMOS software). Results: A total of 2,277 participants were interviewed during this survey, consisting of 1,236 (54.3%) females, with the majority of them aged between 20 and 29 years. All constructs in the questionnaire had a good reliability with a Cronbach's alpha of >0.7. Perceived benefits and perceived barriers were the strongest predictors of self-efficacy, with the highest beta values of 0.14 and 0.15, respectively. Once associated with perceived self-efficacy, the direct effect of perceived susceptibility and perceived benefits on health behavior was statistically nonsignificant (P=0.0894 and P=0.2839, respectively). Perceived benefits and perceived susceptibility were totally mediated by self-efficacy. The indirect effects of perceived severity and perceived barriers (through self-efficacy) on health behavior were significant. Thus, perceived severity and perceived barriers were partially mediated by self-efficacy. Conclusion: Perceived susceptibility and perceived benefits did not affect health behavior unless associated with self-efficacy. In contrast, individual perception of the seriousness of NCDs and perceived barriers might still have a direct influence on health behavior even if the person does not feel able to prevent NCDs. However, this influence would be more significant when perceived severity and perceived barriers of NCDs are associated with self-efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supporting the development of small tourism businesses has been seen by policy-makers as a valuable means of alleviating poverty in South African townships. This perspective has been endorsed by several “responsible” tourism businesses and academics. Following a literature review, this paper reports the findings of an empirical study that examined the practices of 80 micro-business owners and the factors that shape their behaviour in two South African townships. In spite of significant visitor numbers, it finds that their narrow social networks, the imbalances of power between them and intermediaries such as travel agencies and tour operators, ideas of Ubuntu and Umona, and complex family and ethnic ties all represent barriers that prevent them from developing their businesses and sharing in the material gains available through tourism. This analysis has important implications for local policy-makers and those advocating responsible tourism. For the former, it suggests a cessation of current initiatives in favour of greater regulation and alternative forms of investment. For the latter, it implies a need to reassess the utility of advocating responsible tourism to consumers in a context where they do not understand the dynamics which fashion what is on offer or the implications of their choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We draw on a translanguaging perspective in this paper to examine teaching in schools where heteroglossic languaging practices in classrooms encounter less fluid language ideologies in educational policy and assessment practices. In an ethnographic-style case study in a Khayelitsha school, the teachers’ languaging in classroom teaching is shown to be fluid, mixing language resources, often in creative and helpful ways. One typical discourse pattern is that of ‘complementary translanguaging’, where resources are meshed without translation from one named language to another. On the other hand, ‘reproductional translanguaging’ also occurs, where meaning is first made using one set of language resources and then made again using another set. We find that teachers apply the language resources at their disposal with some skill to make learners engage with subject content. However, the institutional language ideologies that materialise in the school’s language policy and in testing regimes, turn such skilful language practices from an asset into a relative disadvantage. While aware that they are transgressing the principal’s language policy as well as knowing that their students are struggling with monoglossic examination requirements, teachers continue to translanguage for the pedagogic advantages this brings, despite the rigid, separatist language ideologies that inform school management. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Using the television drama seriesIntersexionsas the point of departure, this study examined the township home as a context of viewing. The study was conducted in Ginsberg township, King Williams Town, South Africa. The central question was whether the township household, and its extended traditional Xhosa mores, influences the interpretation of an entertainment education (EE) programme that depicts promiscuous sexual behaviour. Following insights from audience studies that maintain that viewers are ‘ready formed’ and ‘shaped as subjects’ by ideological discourses encountered before contact with a particular text or message, the study examined how the lived experiences and context of township viewers shape reception. The study contends that the majority of previous research that examined EE programmes focussed on popularity and individual behavioural change resulting from exposure, while neglecting social context. As a counter measure, the current research delved into the situational township context in which media are used and interpreted, in order to analyse television audiences in ‘cultural and historic specific’ sites. The study was guided by the rich tradition of reception study which proffers that the meanings audiences derive from media messages are a combination of the text and environments. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Conventional mass tourism shortcomings have facilitated the origin of alternative forms of tourism such as community-based tourism (CBT). Lately, another form of tourism known as 'Albergo Diffuso' (AD) has also been mentioned as a possible strategy to revive depressed specific local contexts, such as townships, villages and small towns. This article's aim is twofold: first to contextualise the concept of AD in the South African milieu and secondly to investigate the possible relationship and role that CBT and AD could have. In this context, specific characteristics and similarities between CBT and AD are explored. The article's main contribution concerns the exploration of the AD concept as an alternative form of tourism related to local community development. This is the first time that this concept has been presented in a South African context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is ANC hegemony stable or in decline? The 2014 election provided support for both interpretations, as the ANC registered its fifth consecutive victory but with a declining share of the vote, especially in urban areas. In what ways and among which groups is the ANC maintaining its hegemony? This study draws on an exit survey of 3,782 voters in sixteen communities in and around Gauteng Province, with a particular focus on impoverished and protest-affected urban townships. The results show that while the ANC continues to derive power from its role as the party of national liberation, pluralistic party competition is deepening. This competition centres on the quality of governance and material provision such as houses and social grants, and is refracted through divisions based on age, gender, race, and ethnicity. Evidence also suggests that protests in communities and workplaces are translating into support for opposition parties such as the EFF, implying a broader challenge to ANC hegemony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study adopts the Capability Approach (CA) as a theoretical framework to evaluate community networks established by the White Door Centers of Hope (WDC). WDC are safety sites, staffed by community members and located in seven townships (Wentworth, Merebank, Umlazi, Welbedacht, Bayview, Umbumbulu and Folweni) in KwaZulu‑Natal, South Africa. The housemothers who staff the safety sites provide 24‑hour support to survivors of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). The South African Government and the KZN Network on Violence initiated this pilot project in 2014. This article provides a narrative of the opportunities and challenges experienced by the WDC and its community networks, when providing services, to create well‑being and agency freedom for survivors of IPV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The obesity epidemic is associated with rising rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD) among adults, particularly in countries undergoing rapid urbanisation and nutrition transition. This study explored the perceptions of body size, obesity risk awareness, and the willingness to lose weight among adults in a resource-limited urban community to inform appropriate community-based interventions for the prevention of obesity.Method: This is a descriptive qualitative study. Semi-structured focus group discussions were conducted with purposively selected black men and women aged 35-70 years living in an urban South African township. Weight and height measurements were taken, and the participants were classified into optimal weight, overweight and obese groups based on their body mass index (Kg/m(2)). Participants were asked to discuss on perceived obesity threat and risk of cardiovascular disease. Information on body image perceptions and the willingness to lose excess body weight were also discussed. Discussions were conducted in the local language (isiXhosa), transcribed and translated into English. Data was analysed using the thematic analysis approach.Results: Participants generally believed that obesity could lead to health conditions such as heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and hypertension. However, severity of obesity was perceived differently in the groups. Men in all groups and women in the obese and optimal weight groups perceived obesity to be a serious threat to their health, whereas the overweight women did not. Obese participants who had experienced chronic disease conditions indicated strong perceptions of risk of obesity and cardiovascular disease. Obese participants, particularly men, expressed willingness to lose weight, compared to the men and women who were overweight. The belief that overweight is 'normal' and not a disease, subjective norms, and inaccessibility to physical activity facilities, negatively influenced participants' readiness to lose weight.Conclusion: Low perception of threat of obesity to health particularly among overweight women in this community indicates a considerable challenge to obesity control. Community health education and promotion programmes that increase awareness about the risk associated with overweight, and improve the motivation for physical activity and maintenance of optimal body weight are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study examined the effects of the Couples Health CoOp intervention on heavy drinking, condom use, and HIV incidence.Methods: Thirty neighborhoods from one South African township were cluster randomized into three intervention arms: Couples Health CoOp (CHC), Women's Health CoOp/Men's Health CoOp (WHC/MHC), or a comparison arm. We recruited 290 men from informal drinking establishments who reported drinking alcohol regularly. We also recruited their main heterosexual sex partners.Results: At 6-month follow-up, men in the CHC arm were less likely to report heavy drinking (OR 0.47, 95% CI: 0.25, 0.90) and were more likely to report consistent condom use during the past month (OR 2.66, 95% CI: 1.23, 5.76) than men in the comparison arm. At baseline, 26% of women and 13% of men were HIV-infected; at 6-month follow-up, 16 females and 5 males had seroconverted. HIV incidence was significantly lower among women in the CHC arm (IRR 0.22, 95% CI: 0.04, 1.01) than in the WHC/MHC arm.Conclusions: A couples-based intervention focusing on intersecting risks for HIV can improve biobehavioral outcomes, underscoring the importance of engaging couples together in HIV prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]