VOLUNTEERING AND DEMOCRATIZATION IN SOUTHERN AFRICA: A STRUCTURAL AND CULTURAL ANALYSIS

This dissertation examines the practices and social constructions of volunteering in Southern Africa. Grounded in structural and cultural theory, I focus on volunteering as the product, rather than the raw material, of political processes. My approach stresses the volunteers’ perspectives, yet centers on critiques of dominance. In doing so, I destabilize the view of volunteering as inherently pro-social behavior, or as intrinsically characteristic of deepening democratic systems. Combining evidence from Afrobarometer surveys and twelve months of ethnographic fieldwork in South Africa and Zambia I show how meanings and practices, not just resources and capital, shape the socially constructed nature of volunteering given specific historic, economic and political conjunctures. The findings reveal that contemporary practices of volunteering in Southern Africa are a consequence of poverty, paternalistic exchange relationships, and state-civil society partnerships undergirded by foreign development aid. The dissertation is structured around four empirical points. The first concerns who volunteers. I identify characteristics of Africans who are most likely to actively belong to voluntary groups, and pinpoint the role of foreign development aid and poverty in shaping the volunteer landscape. The second highlights the positive connection between civic culture and active voluntary group membership in Africa, but I argue that this association does not inherently translate into greater democratic gains for a country. The third emphasizes “why” people volunteer. I document the exchange nature of volunteering, revealing its practical function for maintaining social cohesion and augmenting social capital, while simultaneously entrenching social hierarchies and paternalistic inequalities. The fourth point offers a theory linking three orientations to volunteering with activities in three different types of civil society. These view can be “allegiant,” “opportunistic,” or “challenging” and steer people toward volunteer activities that match their inclinations to enhance, confront, or preserve given social systems. Throughout this dissertation I illustrate how volunteerism aids residents of complex, diverse societies to define new social relations, craft compatible identities, and make meaning of social change. I present an effort in doing a sociology of volunteerism from Africa, rather simply in Africa, which increases the generalizability of existing theories of volunteerism to post-colonial, developing country contexts

Tuberculosis discourse in South Africa : a case study

This study examines tuberculosis discourse in order to understand the ideological factors surrounding the disease. It reveals that a dominant focus on biomedical issues and HIV/AIDS has undermined existing perceptions of the social causes of tuberculosis disease. The effect is an individualising of tuberculosis and its removal from a social context. This together with a hegemonic neo-liberal paradigm of development and state spending dictates that the biomedical reductionist treatment for certain diseases – like tuberculosis – is most “cost-effective” and thus is advocated for disease control. Consequently, the state is required to merely provide health-care in a manner that ignores the social context of disease. The responsibility for the outcome of health care (i.e. health) is therefore deferred to the individual. The unintended consequence is that as private organisations (both for- and not-for-profit) take up the state’s responsibility, citizens become disempowered by their limited ability to hold the state accountable, or to engage in meaningful ways that bring about structural change. As such, an environment that further disenfranchises the poor and defeats the purposes of health care in general is perpetuated and diseases like tuberculosis continue their deadly campaign.Dissertation (MSocSci)--University of Pretoria, 2008.Sociologyunrestricte

Life- and worldview: development and transformation – the case of the Lamba of the Masaiti region in Zambia

This article reports on a case study regarding the development and educational transformation of a subgroup of the Lamba living in the Masaiti region of the Copper Belt Province of Zambia, where the Foundation for Cross-Cultural Education in Zambia (FCE) has been serving for the past thirteen years. It was concluded that the current life- and worldview of a community such as the one living in the Masaiti region can be transformed to a truly Christ-centred life- and worldview by firstly taking cognisance of how the community currently expresses itself in terms of each of the universals or components of a lifeand worldview, and secondly by subjecting each of those universals or components to a process of life- and worldview transformation. It was furthermore found that life- and worldview transformation should be seen as a prerequisite for the developmental transformation of such communities

Religion and Episodic Volunteering

Connections between religion and volunteering have been widely documented. Religion is a key motivating factor for volunteering in religious settings and elsewhere. Episodic volunteering is one of the fastest-growing forms of volunteering, but literature on episodic volunteering and religion is scarce. In this article, we analyse connections between religion and religiosity, and episodic volunteering. First, we identify types of episodic volunteers at religious events. Second, we use a set of three independent variables (declared religious denomination, importance of religion and spiritual motivation) to understand episodic volunteering participation. Third, we examine whether those who volunteer both episodically and regularly are more religious. Finally, we identify differences across religious affiliations. Using data from a cross-national survey, we apply different data segments in each area of our study. Our findings suggest that episodic volunteers are influenced by religion and religiosity, with especially strong connections among Protestants. We conclude with suggestions for future research.Peer reviewe

Meeting challenges in rural African education: a Zambian case study

Private initiatives can contribute to the eradication of many of the educational problems of developing countries, specifically in rural Africa. This article explores the crippling education problems of several developing countries. It argues that many of these problems can be addressed by non-governmental organisations making use of privately funded mini-education systems. In particular, an analysis and discussion of the Foundation for Cross-Cultural Education shows that a private educational initiative, acting as a mini-education system itself, can make a substantial contribution towards the pedagogical upliftment of a community in a rural area, such as that of the Masaïti area of Zambia

Meeting challenges in rural African education: a Zambian case study

Private initiatives can contribute to the eradication of many of the educational problems of developing countries, specifically in rural Africa. This article explores the crippling education problems of several developing countries. It argues that many of these problems can be addressed by non-governmental organisations making use of privately funded mini-education systems. In particular, an analysis and discussion of the Foundation for Cross-Cultural Education shows that a private educational initiative, acting as a mini-education system itself, can make a substantial contribution towards the pedagogical upliftment of a community in a rural area, such as that of the Masa�ti area of Zambia

'n Ondersoek na Scheherazade as moontlike voorganger in 'n vroulike verteltradisie in enkele Afrikaanse literêre tekste

Thesis (MA (Afrikaans and Dutch))—University of Stellenbosch, 2005.The aim of this study is to investigate the position that has been allocated to women authors by literary theorists. Some literary theorists are of the opinion that the action of writing can be compared to fatherhood, ownership and being a creator, all of which are male dominated images. Women writers have historically been marginalized by literary theorists, since there is a perception that women cannot write because they are not male. Harold Bloom has postulated that a male writer looks to a precursor in order to write and find his own voice. Before the writer can claim his own, original voice, he must enter into an Oedipal battle with the precusor, and, figuratively speaking, ‘kill’ him in his writing. According to Gilbert & Gubar, who serve here as representatives of the feminist literary theorists, women writers make use of monsterlike figures which serve as metaphors for the inner battle they have to endure to put pen to paper. The problem, however, is that women writers have no (female) precursors to look to. Elaine Showalter postulates 4 models that women writers may use in search of a female precursor or female body of writing, but she does not offer a clear solution. I am of the opinion that women writers can identity with a female figure or role model. The figure that I propose is Scheherazade, a storytelling character from the Thousand and One Nights, who told stories for a thousand and one nights in order for escape death. I identify a few texts from international literature that make use of this figure, whether as a character in the text, a metaphor for the female character who tells stories or as a metaphor for the author herself. This study focuses on texts from 3 genres in Afrikaans literature, namely children’s stories, short stories and a novel. It appears from the analysis of the texts that women writers have successfully made use of the Scheherazade character, to address issues concerning the social role and position allocated to women by a patriarchial society. Along with this women writers’ search and longing for a voice of their own and their own identity gets highlighted with the use of a Scheherazade-like female character who tells stories. Lastly it became clear that this figure is also being used by women writers to contemplate the dynamics of writing and to contextualise the role that self-doubt and self-actualisation play in telling and writing stories. Scheherazade thus becomes a vehicle for finding a voice as well as agency

The Joiners: Active Voluntary Association Membership in Twenty African Countries

To what extent do sub-Saharan Africans actively participate in voluntary groups, and how does development aid influence this involvement? This paper presents a baseline assessment of membership predictors for secular and religious voluntary groups across 20 sub-Saharan African countries. Using Afrobarometer survey data, I adopt an asset-based resources approach in which development aid is seen to mobilize local resources and increase incentives to join voluntary groups. The theory is tested with multilevel, cross-national logistic regression models, including both individual-level and country-level variables to predict active membership. At the individual level, I find that membership in voluntary groups is most likely among those who are well educated, rural-dwelling, male, black, and middle aged—a reflection of social advantage. However, poorer Africans are also likely to join such groups, as are those with a strong religious affinity. At the national level, development aid is positively tied to voluntary group membership, but democratic and economic progresses have little to no consequence on this behavior

Die doel en aard van liggaamlike opvoeding vanuit 'n christelike perspektief

Verhandeling (M. in Menslike Bewegingskunde) -- Universiteit van Stellenbosch, 1994.Een kopie mikrofiche.Full text to be digitised and attached to bibliographic record