Faculty of Arts and Design

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Acquisition of agricultural knowledge and negotiation of gender power relations by women commercial farmers in Zimbabwe : implications for adult education training and development
(2018) Kaziboni, Tabeth; Preece, Julia; Mukeredzi, Tabitha
This study examined how women commercial farmers who got land during the Zimbabwe Fast Track Land Reform Programme (ZFTLRP) accessed new farming knowledge, applied and integrated it with their traditional knowledge. The study also analysed how these women farmers managed traditional gender power dynamics in the process of accessing knowledge and utilising their farm land. Kolb’s experiential learning theory was used to illuminate this study in terms of how the women acquired new farming knowledge and how indigenous knowledge and modern farming knowledge could illustrate farmer learning as experiential and/or self-directed. Foucault’s post-structuralist theory was used as a lens to explore how the women managed issues of gender and power relations during the process of owning and managing land. The study was qualitative and employed a life history research design. It relied on focus group discussions, individual interviews and observation for data collection from ten women farmers who were purposively sampled. Data were collected during an eight-month agricultural season from January 2016 to August 2016. The study revealed that the women went through Kolb’s experiential learning cycle in the process of acquiring knowledge. The women’s learning cycle, however, included a fifth stage of social interaction at some point, which Kolb did not emphasize. Social interaction is often referred to as a core feature of learning in African contexts (Ntseane, 2011) and it reflects the way in which Indigenous Knowledge (IK) had traditionally been learned. Women experienced non-formal and informal learning, with most of the latter being self-directed in nature. The range of learning sources included friends, neighbours, experts and media. Women complemented indigenous knowledge with modern farming methods and adopted more modern methods and fewer indigenous methods as soon as they had knowledge and resources. Occasionally they used indigenous knowledge when it was affordable, readily available and sustainable. Women farmers were happy to own land, but their husbands and males in the community did not support them and resisted the new discourse of women empowerment. The clash between the traditional discourse that women are not expected to be autonomous and the new discourse created gender power tensions. Women employed a variety of power techniques to enable them to farm. Initially they used the strategy of ‘reverse discourse,’ negotiating and manipulating people into accepting their new status. The women also used accepted power differentials to accommodate their own subjugated status through using a third party to resolve conflicts. Women also exhibited different forms of agency and self-determination to get accepted. This included employing ‘resistant discourse’ whereby the women demanded what was theirs and asserted their authority, especially with their workers. The use of economic rationales was another discursive strategy used by women, whereby they used their farm income to support other community members, and demonstrated financial outcomes that acted as a persuasive force for acceptance of their new status and role. A third form of agency was exhibited by working hard to achieve good yields and profits from their farms. Women demonstrated success stories which in turn helped them to improve the life styles of their families and re-invest into their farming business. They thus managed to create an autonomous identity for themselves. Women showed that they had progressed from the initial ‘disciplinary power’ behaviours in which they were passive and submissive, moving to a process of ‘reverse discourse’ where they achieved what they wanted through manipulation. But the women then showed agency and determination. Some did this through resistant discourse and others through demonstrating they could work hard. The success stories have seen them creating a new ‘regime of truth’ that women are capable people, although this achievement took several years. These findings demonstrated that making land available to these women was a positive act, but in order to help them succeed more effectively and quickly they needed gender-sensitive training. The study’s training recommendations include the need for both access to agricultural and business knowledge, and also the management of gender power relations.
An investigation into management skills required by junior primary school principals of the Amanzimtoti district in the implementation of curriculum 2005
(1999) Made, Ntokozo Harriet Beryl; Prosser, Julia Judith
In 1992 the National Education Co-ordinating Committee published a National Education Policy Investigation (NEPI) report in which emerging curriculum alternatives for South Africa were discussed. In 1994 the National Department of Education sponsored discussions which led to the introduction of Curriculum 2005, a curriculum based on outcomes (OBE). OBE represents a paradigm shift from a system emphasising syllabus and content to one where prescribed outcomes are of critical importance. Workshops were conducted by the National and Provincial Departments of Education and NGOs to introduce and train Grade 1 teachers in OBE. Some principals reported that they were invited to one-day workshops on OBE. This study is an investigation into the management skills required by Junior Primary school (Foundation Phase) principals in the Amanzimtoti District in the implementation of Curriculum 2005. This is an exploratory study of the role of the principal in the implementation of
Microfinance as a pathway for smallholder farming in Zimbabwe
(Business Perspectives, 2016) Mago, Stephen; Hofisi, Costa
Microfinance has been viewed as a pathway for smallholder farming. This paper aims to investigate the impact of microfinance on smallholder farming. It examines the role of microfinance in the development of smallholder farming. This paper employs the integrated view of microfinance study, as opposed to the ‘credit only’(minimalist) view. Using qualitative research methodology, the paper relies on literature review and primary data. Household level data (primary) were collected from a rural district (Masvingo Rural District) of Masvingo province in Zimbabwe. Data were collected from 250 microfinance participants (household heads) using questionnaires and face-to-face interviews. The findings show that microfinance had positive effects on accumulation of agricultural assets, income from agriculture, agricultural education, agricultural productivity, agri-business, consumption and health. However, the impact is limited due to lack of finance. Basic financial services are essential for the management of their smallholder farming activities. The practical implications are that the study results could be used by the government and development agencies for policy making. The paper recommends that microfinance should be harnessed as a useful intervention that can be employed to economically empower the smallholder rural agricultural sector.
The psychosocial effects of poverty on the academic performance of secondary school learners from child-headed households in Manicaland Province, Zimbabwe
(2023-11) Chidhumo, Vincent; Abraham, Jose; Kufakunesu, Moses
ABSTRACT This phenomenological study, which was based on an interpretive research paradigm, was conducted in Zimbabwe's Chimanimani District in the Manicaland Province with the purpose of examining the psychosocial effects of poverty on the academic performance of secondary school learners from child-headed homes. The psychological theory of Erikson and the ecological systems theory of Bronfenbrenner were used as the theoretical frameworks. Data collection methods included focus groups, interviews, and document analysis. Participants were carefully chosen, and there were 32 secondary school learners, teachers, administrators, and members of the School Development Committees. In the data analysis, themes and content were looked at. The study established that a large number of learners from child-headed homes lacked access to a healthy diet, high-quality education, school uniforms, fees, knowledgeable staff, resources, and support from the school, which had a detrimental effect on their health as well as their psychological growth and academic success. It is suggested that stakeholders help kids from childheaded homes to lessen the psychosocial effects of poverty on their academic performance based on the findings of the current study. To help learners from low-income households, the government ought to prioritize financing for BEAM expansion. The Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development must examine the curriculum offered by teachers' colleges to train guidance and counseling school instructors. The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education should adequately staff and resource the School Psychological Services in order for it to effectively fulfill its mandate of treating learners with psychological, social, and emotional issues. In addition, school administrators should give priority to incomegenerating initiatives that would help disadvantaged populations, particularly learners from families with secondary school learners. The study created a diamond child-headed home intervention model based on the literature review and research findings, which can be used in the development and implementation of programs to address the welfare and educational help of learners from child-headed households.
The role of education in land restitution, redistribution and restrictions as individual, group and national empowerment through land reform
(2013) Yeni, Clementine Sibongile; Conolly, Joan Lucy; Sienaert, Edgard
This study is focused on the role of education to improve awareness of two critically important aspects of the South African situation 19 years after the first democratic elections in 1994. In the first instance, the study aims to augment the grades 10-12 Life Orientation curriculum to promote understanding and appreciation of land rights as human rights for every citizen in South Africa to address the social injustices of the past. In the second instance, the study focuses on grades 10-12 Agricultural Sciences curriculum to ensure that every learner who leaves school is in a position to care for land responsibly, and to use land productively for his or her own benefit and the benefit of others in the future. These foci have been informed by numerous interactions with people in four small communities on the Southern KwaZulu-Natal coast, who have been victims of landless as a result of the Group Areas act of 1960, and are claiming restitution for the land lost, and are required by law to make the restituted land productive. The study records first hand stories told about land ownership, landless, land claims, land restitution, and land (ab)use stories, in the form of narratives, such as autobiographies, auto-ethnographies, accounts of action research and self study. My research participants and I are the authors of our land stories. We tell our stories as a way of making the private public in the interests of a fair and just society. The forms of presentation include narratives, dialogues, playlets, literary references and critical reflections. The perspectives used include the native worldview, rurality as a dynamic, generative and variable milieu, the orality-literacy interface, the effect of oppression, and values and beliefs, customs and mores which (in)form a civil and civilised society. During the course of the study, the role of stories to reveal what is happening in the lives of those people most affected by unjust laws, and to empower them to take action in their own best interests became evident. The major role of education in land reforms cannot be overemphasized, which is why I have used what I have discovered from the many interactions with many people to inform two grades 10-12 school curricula: the grades 10-12 Life Orientation curriculum and the grades 10-12 Agricultural Sciences curriculum .
Surname dynamics in avian nomenclature
(NISC (Pty) Ltd, 2017) Koopman, Adrian
This article begins by explaining the roles surnames play in formal scientific nomenclature, where surnames may appear in both the vernacular names (Wahlberg’s Eagle) and the scientific names (Aquila walbergi) of birds, as well as in the descriptions of the formal naming process found in ornithological publications. The article explains the former usage as honouring someone in the ornithological world, while the latter usage refers to the person who first identified and named a new species of bird. The article goes on to note that both those who do the naming of new species of birds and they who are honoured for their contribution to ornithology by having new species of birds named after them belong to the same closed world, with the result that often the same surnames crop up in both onomastic roles: honouree and namer. Looked at diachronically, such surname usage creates distinct dynamics. The second half of the article looks at other types of surname dynamics: immigrants changing their surnames on arriving in a new country, the rebranding of film stars and singers, the use of noms-de-plume, and surname change (or exchange) on marriage. The article concludes by situating surname usage in avian nomenclature within a wider context of surname dynamics, and suggests that ornithologists and onomasticians see these surnames from considerably different perspectives.
Visualising the oral and performative heritage of Ghanaian culinary arts
(2024-08) Faniyan, Betty; Olalere, Folasayo Enoch; Gaede, Rolf Joachim
The Fantes, whose territories constitute the Central Region of Ghana, are reputed for their culinary ingenuity. Being the first point of contact with the Europeans in presentday Ghana, the culinary heritage of the Fantes of Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) municipality offers an interesting testament to the resilience of culture amidst acculturation. This study explores the potential of digital technology to visualise the oral heritage of the traditional culinary arts for digital preservation. The study isframed by the indigenous standpoint theory and draws upon the 7Cs model of digital preservation of indigenous knowledge developed by Maasz et al. (2020) to co- create the knowledge of the traditional culinary heritage from the standpoint of one specific generation of the knowledge holders. The fieldwork component of the study employed ethnography for an immersive experience of the culinary heritage being co-created. Using a purposive sampling technique, data was collected from experienced and respected knowledge holders of the traditional culinary heritage to ensure the authenticity and ownership of the outcome of the study. By repositioning the knowledge holder as co-creator and employing photography as a documentary tool, a fuller account of the culinary heritage is generated to offer a culturally respectful and accurate representation of the cherished traditions and practices that are orally transmitted and performed daily at home in the third decade of the 21st century. The study underscores the relevance of photo documentation to visualize both the tangible and intangible aspects of cultural heritage for digital preservation. The elements that constitute the notion of authenticity of culinary heritage are identified and the means of maintaining culinary identity in the face of acculturations are highlighted. As a new contribution to knowledge, a revised model for the digitalization of culinary heritage is proposed to offer holistic documentation of a community’s lived experiences and collective memory.