17 research outputs found
Between market, state and society : labour codes of conduct in the southern African garment industry
This paper compares the way garment factory workers in South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho
experience the interaction between mechanisms for inspecting labour codes of conduct and government
functions and trade unions. In South Africa and Swaziland there was little awareness
of the potential impact of such instruments on working conditions. In Lesotho, where there is a
high profile campaign, workers are more aware of the codes, but confusion over who visitors to
factories are, and corporate whitewash, limit the impact of instruments. In all three countries
workers perceived the impact of codes of conduct on labour rights as negligible. This differed
between firms, with workers in firms supplying to the higher end of the South African market
being more positive. Given the absence of coherent global governance of trade in the garment
industry, codes of conduct will remain an inadequate response to the abuse of workersâ rights,
worldwide and in southern Africa.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cdsa20gv201
Enclave Rustenburg : platinum mining and the post-apartheid social order
In the absence of a levelling out of income and resources, as well as arbitrary violence in
everyday life, the post-apartheid social order is characterised by the formation of various
enclaves. In the platinum mining town of Rustenburg, these enclaves are constructed on
the foundations of the apartheid categories âsuburbâ, âcompoundâ, âtownshipâ and
âhomelandâ. Such enclaves include security villages, converted compounds with
access control, and informal settlements with distinctive gender, linguistic and class
formations. The article draws on David Harveyâs formulation of absolute, relative and
relational space and the case of Rustenburg to elaborate the concept of enclave further.[Lâenclave Rustenburg : la mine de platine et lâordre social post-apartheid.] En lâabsence
dâun nivellement des revenus et ressources, en plus dâune violence arbitraire dans la vie
de tous les jours, lâordre social post-apartheid est caracte´rise´ par la formation de
diffe´rentes enclaves. Dans la ville des mines de platine de Rustenburg, ces enclaves
sont construites sur les fondations des cate´gories de lâapartheid ÂŤ suburb Âť (ou
banlieue), ÂŤ compound Âť (habitations dans un enclos), ÂŤ township Âť (bidonville) et ÂŤ
homeland Âť (bantoustans ou foyers nationaux). Ces enclaves comprennent des
villages se´curise´s, des compounds convertis avec un controËle dâacce`s, et des
implantations informelles avec des formations distinctives de genre, de langue et de
classe. Lâarticle se base sur la formulation de David Harvey de lâespace absolu, relatif
et relationnel et sur le cas de Rustenburg pour de´tailler davantage le concept de lâenclave.http://tandfonline.com/loi/crea202016-12-31hb2016Sociolog
The Garment Industry in its Economic, Political and Social Context
This special CBDS Working Paper originates from a longer-term collaboration between Associate Professors Søren Jeppesen, CBS and Andries Bezuidenhout, UFH. The collaboration started more than 10 years ago and will have its main output with the forthcoming book (preliminarily) titled, âEnclave Development: State, Market, And Society in Lesotho, South Africa and Swazilandâs Garment Manufacturing Industriesâ. The collaboration has benefitted from primary and secondary data from two research projects and support from our institutions. The first project was part of a large research project, titled âThe Outsourcing for Development projectâ, based at CBS and Aalborg University, Denmark. The project was funded by the Danish Development Research Council and investigated different aspects of the contemporary situation among firms from developing countries in an era of globalisation and outsourcing of production from North to South. As part of a sub-study on âCSR, Development and Outsourcingâ we undertook a comparative investigation of the impact of codes of conduct on working conditions in garment factories in different countries in Southern Africa. The second project was part of a large comparative study on the role of Labour movements in Southern Africa, anchored at the Sociology at Work Unit, Witwatersrand University, South Africa. The project also supported the comparative study of the impact on codes of conduct, with funding from the Norwegian Development Agency (Norad). Over the years, our respective institutions (Department of Intercultural Communication and Management, later renamed Department of Management, Society and Communication (MSC) at CBS and Sociology of Work, Wits University, Department of Sociology, University of Pretoria and lastly Department of Development Studies (DDS), University of Fort Hare (UFH)) have supported us collegially and with funds for travel, student assistance and more. We highly appreciate this. During the project, we have benefitted from the work of numerous student and research assistants. They include; Lasse B. Jensen, Alvin P. Ljosa, Sameer Azizi, Amanda Haarmaan, and Zartashia Ahmed (CBS), and Hamadziripi Tamukamoyo, Wits University (and other SA assistants). We would like to thank all for the great help
Erythrocyte, Platelet, Serum Ferritin, and P-Selectin Pathophysiology Implicated in Severe Hypercoagulation and Vascular Complications in COVID-19
CITATION: Venter, C. et al. 2020. Erythrocyte, Platelet, Serum Ferritin, and P-Selectin Pathophysiology Implicated in Severe Hypercoagulation and Vascular Complications in COVID-19. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21(21). doi:10.3390/ijms21218234The original publication is available at https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijmsProgressive respiratory failure is seen as a major cause of death in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2)-induced infection. Relatively little is known about the associated morphologic and molecular changes in the circulation of these patients. In particular, platelet and erythrocyte pathology might result in severe vascular issues, and the manifestations may include thrombotic complications. These thrombotic pathologies may be both extrapulmonary and intrapulmonary and may be central to respiratory failure. Previously, we reported the presence of amyloid microclots in the circulation of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Here, we investigate the presence of related circulating biomarkers, including C-reactive protein (CRP), serum ferritin, and P-selectin. These biomarkers are well-known to interact with, and cause pathology to, platelets and erythrocytes. We also study the structure of platelets and erythrocytes using fluorescence microscopy (using the markers PAC-1 and CD62PE) and scanning electron microscopy. Thromboelastography and viscometry were also used to study coagulation parameters and plasma viscosity. We conclude that structural pathologies found in platelets and erythrocytes, together with spontaneously formed amyloid microclots, may be central to vascular changes observed during COVID-19 progression, including thrombotic microangiopathy, diffuse intravascular coagulation, and large-vessel thrombosis, as well as ground-glass opacities in the lungs. Consequently, this clinical snapshot of COVID-19 strongly suggests that it is also a true vascular disease and considering it as such should form an essential part of a clinical treatment regime.https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/21/21/8234Publishers versio
Post-colonial workplace regimes in the engineering industry in South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe
This paper considers the nature of workplace regimes that are constructed on the ruins what has become known as the 'apartheid workplace regime' by analysing a sub-sector of the engineering industry as a case study. In the context of the breakdown of the racial division of labour in the workplace, wage and job colour bars still operate informally. With the racial structure of power in the workplace no longer supported by the state, the language of 'flexibility' and 'globalisation' reinforce the arbitrary exercise of power over a layer of contract workers. Migrant labour remains as a key characteristic of the labour market in Southern Africa as such, and this is reinforced by the segmentation of the labour market into 'permanent' and 'contract' employees. While the segregation of facilities according to 'race' is no longer sanctioned by the state, workers experience segregation along company lines of hierarchy as 'racial'. The location of the industry in the industrial geography of apartheid is replicated in the context of Southern Africa, specifically because of the state formation of Swaziland, and the resemblance this has to the former Bantustans under apartheid. The concept 'post-colonial workplace regime' is developed in order to describe and understand these transitions
Veelvuldige gebruike vir huishoudelike toestelle
Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die eerste gedeelte van hierdie tesis ondersoek die ruimtelike basis vir morele agentskap in
Gert Vlok Nel se digbundel om te lewe is onnatuurlik. As teoretiese raamwerk word daar van
die teoloog/letterkundige Wesley Kort, die letterkundige/sosioloog Irma du Plessis en die
radikale geograaf David Harvey se werk gebruik gemaak.
Kwessies soos die (i) wisselwerking tussen omvattende, sosiale en intieme ruimtes deur
narratiewe ruimtelikheid in poĂŤsie, (ii) die onstandvastigheid van die onderskeid tussen
private en openbare ruimtes en (iii) verkillende vorms van ruimtelikheid, soos absolute,
relatiewe en relasionele ruimtes, asook materiĂŤle ruimte, gerepresenteerde ruimte en ruimtes
van representasie kom aan die bod.
Daar word aangevoer dat Gert Vlok Nel se bewustelike plasing van homself as
randfiguurdigter binne die Afrikaanse literĂŞre sisteem as vorm van morele agentskap gesien
kan word. Verder word getoon dat, as om te lewe is onnatuurlik in geheel en as
familiekroniek gelees word, die onderskeid tussen private en openbare ruimtes waar geweld
en trauma plaasvind ondergrawe word en sodoende politieke magskwessies as persoonliketiese
kwessies herdefinieer. Laastens word argument gevoer dat, alhoewel die sprekerdigter
in die bundel (âGertâ, of âGertjieâ) op die oog af gebrekkige agentskap blyk te toon,
die besonderse tydruimtelike plasing van die spreker-digter die moontlikheid vir
verruiming van agentskap skep en sodoende die idee van versplinterde subjek uitdaag.
Hierdie akademiese opstel hou verband met die kreatiewe gedeelte van die tesis, digbundel
getiteld Veelvuldige gebruike vir huishoudelike toestelle, waarin huishoudelike ruimtes as
vertrekpunt gebruik word om kwessies soos morele verantwoordbaarheid, kreatiewe
aandadigheid, post-koloniale manlikheid, sosiale verandering en trauma te ondersoek.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The first part of this thesis investigates the spatial grounds for moral agency in Gert Vlok
Nelâs collection of poems om te lewe is onnatuurlik [âto live is unnaturalâ]. The works of
theologian/literary theorist Wesley Kort, literary theorist/sociologist Irma du Plessis and
radical geographer David Harvey are used as theoretical framing.
Matters such as (i) the interplay between encompassing, social and intimate spaces through
narrative spatiality in poetry, (ii) flawed distinctions between private and public space, and
(iii) different forms of spatiality, such as absolute, relative and relational space, as well as
material space, represented space and spaces of representation are explored.
It is argued that Gert Vlok Nelâs conscious positioning of himself as poetic outsider within
the Afrikaans literary system can be seen as a form of moral agency. Furthermore, it is
pointed out that a reading of om te lewe is onnatuurlik in its entirety, as family chronicle,
destabilises the distinction between private and public spaces where violence and trauma
occur, thereby recasting political power as questions of personal ethics. Finally it is argued
that, although the narrator-poet in die collection (âGertâ, or âGertjieâ) seems to lack agency,
the peculiar spatio-temporal placing of the narrator-poet nevertheless opens up room for the
possibility of agency and by doing this, challenges the idea of a splintered subject.
This academic essay is related to the creative part of this thesis, a collection of poems titled
Veelvuldige gebruike vir huishoudelike toestelle [âMultiple uses for domestic appliancesâ], in
which household space is used as a vantage point from which to interrogate issues such as
moral responsibility, creative complicity, postcolonial masculinities, social change and
trauma