Research Publications (Academic Support)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://ir-dev.dut.ac.za/handle/10321/211

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Characteristics and policies of community-based tourism in the case of Jamaica
(2015-01) Giampiccoli, Andrea; Jugmohan, Sean; Mtapuri, Oliver
The aim of the article is to investigate the relationship between relevant Community-based Tourism (CBT) characteristics and the Jamaican Community Tourism Policy and Strategy (CTPS) and to discuss its value in community development. This article makes a contribution towards the understanding of the role of government in the development CBT. It argues that while the Jamaican CTPS has many positive strategies, they seem to be skewed in favor of the well established and market ready Community Tourism Enterprises (CTEs). It argues that such a state of affairs risks increasing the inequality gap between the rich CTEs and the poor ones and the members involved. By inference, it also risks developing ‘elite’ CTEs. As such, the article also argues that support should be given to all CTEs in the various tiers depending solely on need. The article also posits that it is critically important to develop community tourism partnerships with government ministries and other agencies, the private sector and NGOs for the establishment of standards, assessments, branding, marketing, financing and legal issues and capacity building. The article argues that the forms and modes of capacity building and empowerment which it advocates should make communities independent in the interest of social justice. While Jamaica’s CTPS has numerous feasible strategies, it is their prioritization which is highly contestable.
Community-based and pro-poor tourism: Initial assessment of their relation to community development
(UIC, 2016) Saayman, Melville; Giampiccoli, Andrea
Alternative forms of tourism development from its conventional approach such as community-based tourism (CBT) and pro-poor tourism (PPT) are proposed to be specifically relevant to alleviate poverty and facilitate the development of disadvantaged community members. The intention of this review paper is to show, despite an apparent similarity, that there are indeed substantial differences between CBT and PPT. While CBT is an alternative to conventional mass tourism and it prioritises control by disadvantaged community members and the benefits of the tourism sector within a social justice perspective with redistributive aims, PPT originated, sustained and is sustained by the neoliberal system and its work does not offer great possibilities of changing the status quo. This, in effect, increases the inequality gap. The paper concludes that the tourism sector properly and holistically fosters social justice and redistributive measures to decrease the inequality gap and further proposes PPT strategies needed to take a CBT direction guiding the tourism sector as a whole.
Community-based tourism and pro-poor tourism: dissimilar positioning in relation to community development
(CUT Free State, 2015) Saayman, M.; Giampiccoli, Andrea
This paper proposes community-based tourism (CBT) as an alternative to conventional and pro-poor tourism (PPT) as a means to alleviate poverty and facilitating the development of disadvantaged (poor) community members. The substantial differences between CBT and PPT are examined. The CBT is an alternative to mass tourism and is controlled by disadvantaged community members in order to benefit from a social justice approach to tourism that is characterised by redistributive aims. The PPT, on the other hand, originated in and is sustained by the neoliberal system, thereby precluding change to the status quo.
Community-based tourism in rich and poor countries : towards a framework for comparison
(African Journals Online, 2015-12) Giampiccoli, Andrea; Jugmohan, Sean; Mtapuri, Oliver
This article is conceptual based on a perusal of academic journal articles and books on matters related to Community-based Tourism (CBT). It contends that CBT is a very important tool for local economic development, community development, empowerment and the attainment of social justice. It observes disparities between rich and poor countries in terms of endowments and how the multiple dimensions of poverty can confound how tourism can be experienced in different contexts. It posits an eight Es model which represents the fundamental pillars upon which to judge a CBT for purposes of support, monitoring and evaluation. The eight E are Endogenous (emphasising a reliance on local resources); Environment – (reflecting the importance of caring for the environment, and broader environmental conditions and infrastructure); Education – (to advance skills and education); Empowerment – (which embraces economic, psychological, social and political empowerment); Equity – (for equitable distribution and re-distribution of both benefits and resources); Evolving – (always improving and changing to take advantage of dynamic opportunities); Enduring – (for long term sustainability) and supporting Entrepreneurship – (for innovation, creativity and viability). The framework/model is also significant as it provides a common ground upon which the understanding of CBT could be carried at international and national level. The model can be customised to take into account local conditions; it is flexible and all-encompassing with potential to be used for rating facilities.
A consensus-based corporate governance paradigm for Islamic banks
(Emerald Insight, 2014) Abdel-Baki, Monal A.; Sciabolazza, Valerio Leone
Purpose - Islamic banking is a viable sustainable banking model that has shown resilience to financial crises. The aim of this research is to design a consensus-based ethical and market-driven corporate governance index (CGI) to boost financial performance and ensure compliance with Islamic rulings. Design/methodology/approach – The design of the CGI is the outcome of the feedback obtained from a cross-country survey to measure bank efforts in enhancing corporate governance (CG) throughout the ten-year period of 2001-2011. The CGI is divided into six core CG themes and 40 sub-themes. Findings – First, the results of the multiple regression analysis show a consistent positive relationship between CG and ﬁnancial performance metrics. Second, the authors detect misaligned compensation structures for directors. Third, poor governance leads to higher risk exposures. Research limitations/implications – CG in Islamic banks is yet an evolving discipline and infant practice. This research aims to introduce a CGI that should be updated and improved as the discipline evolves. Practical implications – The research concludes by proposing a CG paradigm. The outcome of the research could also be of use to both Islamic banks and to the rapidly growing sustainable banking sector in designing a similar CGI and CG model incorporating the ethical features of sustainable ﬁnance. Social implications - The core ethos of Islam are: avoiding the exploitation of the needy, avoiding excessively risky transactions, avoiding unethical transactions and justice, equity and income redistribution. If properly applied, Islamic banking will display all features of sustainable finance as well as enhance social welfare. Originality/value – To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the ﬁrst CGI that is based on an ethical and all-inclusive input of all stakeholders.
Evaluating black women's participation, development and success in doctoral studies : a capabilities perspective
(Stellenbosch University, 2016-01-01) Loots, S.; Ts'ephe, Lifutso; Walker, M.
Although black women show an increased presence in doctoral study, the probability of intersecting gendered and racial disadvantage is often overlooked through relying on separate numerical transformation progress indicators for gender and race. To take a more active approach to furthering social justice for this marginalised group, we need to explore more holistic ways of mapping transformation. In this sense, we argue for the application of the capabilities approach as an evaluative framework which allows for an assessment of freedoms or capabilities students are able to make use of in pursuing the lives they have reason to value. Furthermore, factors impacting on students’ capability formation are also considered, thus providing a multidimensional, ethically individualistic exploration of lives. The experiences of seven black women speak of barriers they have experienced throughout their doctoral journeys, but the data also create a sense of optimism as the potential of capability expansion is addressed.
Genopolitics : the dormant niche in political science curriculum in South African universities
(AOSIS, 2018) Hlatshwayo, Mlamuli N.; Fomunyam, Kehdinga George
South African higher education institutions have been grappling with the challenges of transformation and decolonisation as a result of the 2015–2016 student protests calling into focus issue of access (both formal and epistemological), belonging, social justice, transformation and others. One of the key sites for this struggle for transformation has been curriculum and the notion of relevance in responding to the development of social reality. Political Science as a discipline has increasingly been confronted with an ‘existential crisis’ with scholars in the field asking critical questions on whether the discipline has reached a point of irrelevance to social reality. Three key critiques of political science as a discipline are discussed in this article – firstly, the critique that political science is obsessed with what has been termed ‘methodological fetishism’ in being unable to embrace new knowledge. Secondly, that political science tends to construct universal theories and concepts that assume global homogeneity and de-emphasise the importance of context and locality in knowledge, knowledge production and its experiences. Thirdly, and the central point of this article, the social disconnection between political science as a field and its [in]ability to make a socio-economic contribution to society. This article suggests that genopolitics allows us to critically reflect on and respond to the above notions of relevance in political science by looking at the role of genes played in political behaviour and genetic dispositions to see and analyses how people, communities and societies behave in the ways that illuminate our understanding of social reality.
Integrating quality and cost of surface raw water : upper and middle Vaal water management areas South Africa
(IWA Publishing, 2010) Dzwairo, Bloodless; Otieno, Fredrick Alfred O.
The user-pays principle encourages use of a water tariff structure that incorporates pollution and/or depletion of a water resource because that water represents a capital resource base. Development of a tool that models variability of surface raw water quality in order to predict cost of treatment thus makes economic sense. This paper forms the backbone for an on-going doctoral study in South Africa's Upper and Middle Vaal Water Management Areas (U&MVWMAs) of the Vaal River (VR). Specific objectives of the overall research are; to carry out pollutant tracer hydrochemistry of specific reaches of the U&MVWMAs including producing an integrated ecological functionality for the whole study area, and to develop a tool that models the variability of surface raw water quality using surface raw water tariffs and water quality data for years 2003–2008. This paper concluded that downstream water boards (WBs) paid a higher water resources management charge (WRMC) for more polluted raw water than upstream WBs. It was recommended that a quality-cost model be incorporated at tier1 of the cost chain for water services to ensure fairness of service delivery and spread of burden to consumers.
Sputnik from below : space science and public culture in cold war southern Africa
(Routledge, 2016) Waetjen, Thembisa
The global space race of the Cold War has largely been written as a drama between state bodies of the northern hemisphere. This essay decentres that narrative by considering the production of popular meanings and local responses of Southern African publics to the 1957 launching of the Sputnik satellites, as articulated in a selection of mostly South African newspapers targeting various linguistic and cultural readerships. Newspapers were the most important points of contact between experts and laypersons, but were also the primary medium through which the authority of expertise could be contested and appropriated. The circulation of space science news occasioned debates about modernity and progress in relation to the issues of rights and racial politics. Cold war science innovations, aligned to projects of state, presented opportunities for publics to challenge discriminatory practices, yet could also be leveraged in local practices of social differentiation, to mark out and delegitimize certain groups or ideas as ‘backward’.
Theorising the #MustFall student movements in contemporary South African higher education : a social justice perspective
(University of Pretoria - ESI Press, 2019) Hlatshwayo, Mlamuli Nkosingphile; Kehdinga, George Fomunyam
A significant amount of literature on the student movement in South Africa is characterised by two limitations. Firstly, a significant amount of this literature is found in un‑academic and non‑peer‑reviewed sources, such as social media, online newspapers, blog posts and other platforms. Secondly, some of this literature is characterised by an absence of theory in offering us critical analysis of the emergent conditions of the student movement as a phenomenon in South African higher education (SAHE). In this article, we respond to the above gaps by contributing to the scholarly development and critical analysis of the student movement in SAHE. In order to respond to the above two gaps, we firstly provide a brief historical and contextual environment that has contributed to the emergence of the student movement phenomenon in SAHE. Secondly, we introduce Nancy Fraser’s social justice perspective, in offering us the theoretical and conceptual tools we need to look at the struggles and challenges that confront student movements, focusing in particular on the challenges that frustrate them in relating and interacting as peers on an equal footing in society. Using Fraser’s social justice framework to look at the #MustFall movements will allow us to better understand them as complex phenomena in SAHE and allow us to properly understand their emergence.
Violence at the end of the rainbow
(Taylor and Francis, 2013-02-26) Hemson, Crispin
South Africa presents contradictory images—that of a miracle of reconcilia- tion, the Rainbow Nation, and that of societal decay, evidenced by the police shooting of thirty-six mineworkers at Marikana in 2012. It is important to explore how these threads are connected in South African society, where structural violence is replicated under conditions of major and democratic political change. While the speciﬁc case is South African, the interactions are typical of other societies. This case illustrates, however, the nature of what Tani Adams refers to as the “chronic violence” that afﬂicts certain societies, in which multiple factors—such as racism, social inequality, environmental damage, the migrant labor system, and what Tani Adams refers to as “disjunctive democratization”—work to ensure both the continued reproduction of vio- lence and its role in enabling the enrichment of corrupt elites.
Water security in South Africa: perceptions on public expectations and municipal obligations, governance and water re-use
(Creative Commons Attribution Licence, 2016-07-03) Sershen, S.; Rodda, N.; Stenström, Thor-Axel; Schmidt, S.; Dent, M.; Bux, Faizal; Hanke, N.; Buckley, C. A.; Fennemore, C.
South Africa is a water-scarce country with increasing pressure on its water resources. Urgent interventions are needed to protect water security within this rapidly developing country. This paper reports on an interdisciplinary Water Security Colloquium, convened by the South African Young Academy of Science in 2014. A selected group of water professionals from academia, civil society and local government was brought together to discuss water security under three focus themes: ‘public expectations and municipal obligations’, ‘water security and governance: challenges and advances’, and ‘water re-use: health and infrastructural considerations’. Participant perceptions were generated using a focus group methodology, combined with participatory data collection methods. Under each theme, inputs were categorised as ‘challenges’, ‘gaps in knowledge’, and ‘solutions/recommendations’ and these inputs were thereafter ranked in order of importance via a ‘voting’ process. Major challenges perceived included a lack of both skills and political will in government, a need to restore citizen trust in government intention and capability to deliver water-related services, and a failure to up-scale existing water re-use technology. Participants identified understanding of the process and implications of the Green and Blue Drop Programmes, knowledge transfer to the public, and the role of educators as major knowledge gaps. The top suggestions proposed included creating public awareness around and buy-in to initiatives to improve water security, accessible and user-friendly conversion of research results to implementation, and ensuring an active role for educators in creating awareness around water security. In view of the concerns identified, participants suggested as potential solutions: improving government and public understanding around water issues, incentivising water re-use and conservation, introducing rising block tariffs and improving human capacity development in the water sector. Developing the ecological infrastructure that protects both quantity and quality of water and building strong partnerships among all stakeholders were also recognised as key.