Browsing by Author "Boonzaaier, Emile"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Experiencing 'independence' : local responses in a Transkeian village
    (1986) Segar, Anne Julia; Boonzaaier, Emile
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Persistent paternalism : an ethnography of social change in a post-apartheid village
    (1997) Sandell, Janet Mary; Boonzaaier, Emile
    This ethnographic study of Nieu Bethesda, a village in the Eastern Cape district of South Africa, is the product of a total of five months of fieldwork. The research was conducted between 1993 and 1995, a period that spanned the first democratic elections in South Africa in 1994. The ethnography explores the effects of apartheid on life in Nieu Bethesda. It traces the dynamic interactions between social life and worldviews as these were manifested in the village. Geographically isolated, and to a large extent cut off from mainstream politics, the processes and effects of apartheid in this village have taken an idiosyncratic form. The research suggests that racial stratification has been remarkably resilient throughout the history of the village. Such stratification must be understood in terms of ideas shaped both during and before the apartheid era, rather than solely in terms of state action or the violence of apartheid. Ideologies of segregation have found their expression in paternalistic practices on the part of Whites, and the relations of dependence thus generated may account for the apparent lack .of overt opposition to apartheid. However, the thesis acknowledges the multiplicity of voices in the village, and negates the notion of a shared set of ideas and values sanctioned by the population of Nieu Bethesda. Subtle change has taken place in the 1990s, only some of which is attributable to the demise of apartheid. In addition, factors such as the provision of electricity and a dramatic increase in tourism have reduced the isolation of the village, and networks of mutual support link the people of Nieu Bethesda with other parts of South Africa. It is suggested that change in the foreseeable future is more likely to originate from the increased communication that such networks make possible, than from changes in legislation, or improvements in material conditions, resulting from development projects.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    The problem of non-compliance amongst breast cancer patients : a study of the high rate of absconding by African women diagnosed as having breast cancer
    (1996) Wright, Sonya Vivien; Boonzaaier, Emile
    In South Africa at present, one in 32 women develop breast cancer during their lives. Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among females. The biomedical prognosis for breast cancer patients is good provided that the cancer is detected early and that patients comply to biomedical treatments. However, over 80% of African breast cancer patients abscond from the Oncology and Radiotherapy Departments at Groote Schuur Hospital each year. These patients are usually only seen again in the terminal stages, when they seek pain control from the hospital. The biomedical literature refers to this phenomenon of absconding but does not explore the cultural and social factors that may determine African women's decision to abscond. This study looks at the variables effecting absconding, by focusing on the cultural, social and economic contexts, in which African breast cancer patients choose to abscond · from biomedical treatments. The research was conducted within the methodological framework of social anthropology.