Shattering the Binary: Teaching Critical Thinking Through John Okadas No-No Boy

In this article, I share the philosophical stance that I have developed in relationship to my teaching of U.S. Ethnic Literature and examine the rewards and pitfalls of this path by reflecting on my own experiences teaching John Okadas No-No Boy in undergraduate American literature courses. By illuminating why texts (especially texts by Ethnic American authors) matter intellectually, emotionally, and politically, this discussion will provide a model for critical and self-reflexive pedagogy at the beginning of the twenty-first century

Where rape does not exist: tracing the unsettled position of marital rape in South Africa through women's recourse-seeking journeys

Through a feminist and interpretivist lens, this dissertation addresses the present dearth of research on marital rape in contemporary South Africa by exploring contradictory institutional responses to marital rape in legal, policy, and social contexts. Drawing from an array of academic traditions spanning law, the social sciences and the humanities, as well as empirical research with women’s rights organisations undertaken by the author, my research question asks: Since the criminalisation of marital rape in 1993, in what ways is marital rape in South Africa rendered (in)visible in and through the institutions where women seek protection from violence? The dissertation argues that despite the criminalisation of marital rape and an emergent women’s rights consciousness within the law, formal and informal institutions that survivors seek help from are complicit in fostering conditions that allow for marital rape to persist. These hindrances arise in both overt and subtle forms. Concurrently, the dissertation draws out the kinds of circumstances through which marital rape is revealed, acknowledged and addressed within institutional environments. Tracing women’s endeavours to seek protection, the research captures the manner in which Black women are compelled to carry disquieting levels of violence, while also discovering the forms of recourse that eventually do provide them relief. The research findings unearth an interplay of factors that preclude recognition of the scale of sexual violence in marriage, and stifle survivors’ ability to find recourse. Amidst this web of barriers, local women’s rights civil society organisations play a critical role in assisting survivors and bringing the sexual abuse to light. Through the range of local services offered by these organisations, survivors are progressively empowered to enact changes in their lives and find means of freeing themselves from abuse

Government size and economic growth:A review of international literature

In this paper, we survey the existing literature on the causal relationship between government size and economic growth, highlighting the theoretical and empirical evidence from topical work. Although some previous studies have endeavoured to conduct a survey on the existing research on the causal relationship between government size and economic growth, the majority of these studies have focused on the impact of the two macroeconomic variables and failed to provide coverage on the causality aspect of their relationship. To our knowledge, this may well be the first study of its kind to survey, in detail, the existing literature on the causal relationship between government size and economic growth – in all the countries, whether developing or developed. By and large, our study shows that direction of causality between these two variables has four possible outcomes; and that all the outcomes have found empirical support, based on variations in the country or region under study, methodology, proxies, data set used and time frame considered. However, of the four, the most prominent is the second view, which validates unidirectional Granger-causality from economic growth to government size, followed by the bidirectional Granger-causality category. The study, therefore, concludes that the causal relationship between government size and economic growth is not clear-cut.Economic

Does remittance inflow granger-cause economic growth in South Africa? A dynamic multivariate causality test

In this study we examine the dynamic causal relationship between remittances and economic growth in South Africa during the period from 1970 to 2017. Although South Africa is well known for being a source of cross-border remittances to various countries, especially in the African continent, remittance inflows to South Africa have grown in the recent past. The growth in remittances on the one hand, and the need to fight against poverty and inequality in South Africa and ultimately improve economic growth, on the other hand, prompted the need for this study. The study uses the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach within a multivariate Granger-causality setting to examine the remittance-growth causal link – in an effort to address the variable omission bias. The empirical findings of the study show that remittances and economic growth are not causally related in South Africa, irrespective of whether the estimations are done in the long run or in the short run. This finding, though contrary to the expectation, is not surprising, given the level of financial sector development South African.Economic

Remittances and economic growth : Empirical evidence from South Africa

In this paper, we have empirically examined the impact of remittances on economic growth in South Africa over the period from 1970-2017. The study was motivated by the conflicting empirical findings that have emerged in the literature on the impact of remittance on economic growth in various countries. The study was also motivated by the need to find an empirical backing on the assertion that remittances are good for economic growth and can play a key role in lowering the inequality levels in developing countries. Using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach, the empirical results, contrary to expectations, have revealed that in South Africa, remittances have a negative impact on economic growth, irrespective of whether the regression analysis is conducted in the long run, or in the short run. The study, therefore, cautions policy makers when it comes to policies related to harnessing remittances for economic growth. The study argues that it is not only remittance inflows that matter, but also how the remittances are utilised to influence economic growth.Economic

Analysis of the dynamic power requirements for controllable energy storage on photovoltaic microgrid

A dissertation submitted to the Facaulty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand in ful lment of the requirements of the degree of Master of science in Engineering September 2016Standalone microgrid studies are being done because an expansion of the existing utility grids to supply power to remote communities is not feasible. Standalone microgrids can be considered as one of the solutions for remote communities because power can be generated close to these communities and it minimizes cost related to power transmission. Renewable energy sources with large uctuations are frequently the source of power for these standalone microgrids. The uctuating nature of these renewable sources can often lead to frequent blackouts. This research is aimed at minimizing power uctuations using controllable energy storage systems. This MSc focuses on the analysis of the ramp rate and delay time requirements for controllable energy storage system used in standalone PV microgrids. Measured insolation data and recorded load demand data for typical domestic appliances are used in this study to analyze ramp rates present. The ramp rates are then used to determine the range of energy storage ramp rate and delay time required to maintain the microgrid voltage within the standardized range of 1pu 5%. From the recorded data it has been observed that PV power can be sampled from at least 1-second intervals without losing important information. The 1 second averaged ramp rates obtained from the insolation data measurements have been found to have the highest value of 0.12pu/sec. However, this ramp rate increases to 0.3pu/sec when the allowable microgrid voltage band is narrow (1pu 5%). These insolation ramp rates are very low compared to the ramp rates of typical loads that can be connected to a microgrid. This means that, if the energy storage system is speci ed to meet the load ramp rate requirements, it will be able to respond to the uctuating PV power. The results obtained from the simulations con rm that energy storage system ramp rate plays an important role in the stability of a standalone microgrid. The minimum allowable energy storage ramp rate was found to be 8.15pu/sec for load transients with a ramp time of 20ms. This value is 28 times the energy storage ramp rate required to cancel out insolation uctuations. This further con rms that energy storage system ramp rates must be speci ed using the load demand data. The maximum allowable delay time was also found to be 0.53s to maintain the microgrid voltage within the standardized range of 1pu 5%. This delay time is applicable when canceling out only the insolation uctuations. To cancel out load transient power uctuations, there should be no delay time.MT201

The effects of climate change on short-term insurance claims in South Africa

Climate change has become one of the most debated environmental risks. The world is faced with the threat of weather variability. There has been an increase in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events. There is rising concern that weather losses might affect the sustainability of insurance businesses. The primary obective of the study was to ascertain the significance of changes in temperature, precipitation and wind speeds in explaining changes in weather-related claims.Furthermore the reseach had three key secondary objectives, firstly to find if changes in annual average temperature levels lead to changes in weather-related claims. Secondly to determine if average annual wind speeds lead to changes in weather-related loss .Thirdly to establish if the average changes in annual rainfall or precipitation levels lead to changes in weather-related claims. Quantitatively this study explored the relationship between climate change and weather losses in South Africa. Temperature, rainfall, and wind speed were the main weather variables analysed. Lack of properly recorded insured weather losses was the major challenge. Nonetheless, total economic weather losses were used as a proxy for insured weather losses.The analysis employed regression, cointegration and vector error correction models. Study findings showed that climate change is influencing weather losses. The existence of correlation and causality between weather variables and losses was also affirmed. Thus the insurance industry should comprehensively incorporate climate change into its business strategy to minimise exposure.Business ManagementM. Com. (Business Management

Using spatial multi-criteria analysis as an appraisal tool for bus rapid transit trunk and feeder routes: a case study in the City of Tshwane, South Africa

Private car use around the world has grown increasingly over the last decades. One effect of this is traffic congestion, which results in various detrimental environmental, economic and social impacts. Public transport has been identified as an effective solution to congestion. In South Africa, investment into public transport has led to the implementation of full and partial Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems. The policy and implementation measures of these BRT systems have been modelled, to varying degrees, according to Colombia’s TransMilenio BRT. However, BRT systems in South Africa have not been as successful as TransMilenio. Failures of South African BRTs can be traced back to many reasons, one of which is an inadequate conduction of an ex ante appraisal. This dissertation intended to close a literature gap on the use of ex ante appraisal in South African transport projects. At the time of composing this thesis (February 2017), South Africa did not have a standard appraisal tool for the selection of appropriate transport projects and road-based public transport routes. This resulted in systems that were not designed in context and, hence, underperformed for the context in which they were implemented. The contextually insensitive design of BRTs and the effects thereof constituted the conceptual departure point for this research. Accordingly, this dissertation aimed to explore Spatial MultiCriteria Analysis (SMCA) as a viable appraisal tool for BRT routes. The City of Tshwane formed the study area of the investigation. SMCA is a decision-support tool that combines multi-criteria analysis (MCA) and geographic information systems for evaluating decision problems whose criteria and alternatives have spatially explicit dimensions. This method was chosen over traditional appraisal tools such as MCA and cost-benefit analysis as it is more suited to routing problems. Suitable evaluation criteria were identified from five themes that were chosen from international and local trends: equity, transport efficiency and economic, social and environmental impact. Ultimately, composite suitability maps were generated according to the aforementioned themes, and optimal trunk and feeder routes were extracted by means of a vector-based network analysis. Four trunk and four feeder routes were quantitatively and qualitatively analysed. The quantitative analysis of the route involved determining the average impedance, route length and travel time of a route. The qualitative analysis involved determining if the optimal routes had changed to current or planned city routes. On average, trunk routes obtained a higher average impedance than feeder routes. All optimal routes differed to some degree from planned city routes. Following the determination of optimal routes, an uncertainty analysis showed that trunk routes were more sensitive than feeder routes. The sensitivity analysis also showed that the transport efficiency theme criteria were the most sensitive criteria, causing the highest mean average impedance change of all criteria. Transport efficiency criteria are thus the most important criteria in finding optimal routes. The method of research adopted in this study can be reproduced in any contemporary South African city with plans for BRT. Furthermore, the method of research can be improved upon by investigating standard evaluation criteria to be included in an SMCA routing problem to ensure a uniform appraisal standard