Browsing by Author "Sichone, Owen"

Now showing 1 - 11 of 11
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    Afrikanerdoom? : negotiating Afrikaner identity in post-apartheid South Africa
    (2000) Vestergaard, Mads; Sichone, Owen
    The apartheid regime monopolised Afrikanerdom and institutionalised a specific Christian-nationalist Afrikaner identity. In post-apartheid South Africa this identity is no longer sanctioned by the state, and central elements of the identity have become illegitimate - most importantly the racial aspect. It is now up to the individual Afrikaner to negotiate this new space of identifications opened up by the end of apartheid order. Through different kinds of post-structuralist theory this thesis investigates some of the ways in which white Afrikaans-speakers position themselves in this new context. For some the new South Africa means exciting new possibilities but others experience it as a loss of freedom. The analysis pivots around the separatist 'volkstaat town' of Orania, where we find some of the central problems facing Afrikaners in general in terms of identity formation. It is argued that although Orania is radical in its claims, it is nonetheless one of the actors in the discursive battles of redefining Afrikaner identity. However, in the context of radical change and indecision, it is but one among many other attempts of redefining Afrikanerdom, many competing voices are heard and boundaries of identity are constantly contested and redrawn.
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    From policy to practice : the anthropology of condom use
    (1999) Da Cruz, Claudia Cristina B R; Sichone, Owen
    AIDS and HIV infection rates are climbing amongst young people in South Africa in the last decades, despite various intervention initiatives by National Government and Non-governmental organisations alike. This dissertation explores the knowledge, beliefs and attitudes towards condom use amongst young people in the Northern and Western Cape in an attempt at understanding some of the cultural factors that inform sexual behaviour. It aims to explore issues of knowledge and the institutional culture of the clinic that invariably impacts on the sexual practices of individuals being targeted by such policies. It also hoped to investigate and offer an insight into the persistence of high-risk sexual practices amongst young people despite their having access to barrier contraceptive methods, condoms. I illustrate my argument through the analysis of data acquired in fieldwork earned out in two government clinics through the use of multi-faceted methodologies. The research applied anthropological, qualitative and quantitative research methods including focus group discussions, participant observation and in-depth follow-up interviews through the use of a detailed questionnaire. The questionnaire lent itself to the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data, through its structured, semi structured and open-ended questions. The overall findings of this research show that firstly, young men chose to use condoms selectively and the type of relationship they find themselves in appears to impact directly on this selection process. Secondly, younger women in this study seem to use condoms more regularly than their older counterparts and there appears to be a general dis-use of condoms within 'stable' relationships. Thirdly, lack of empowerment amongst women has a direct impact on their ability to negotiate condom use within sexual relationships. This research has also shown that there are some real and perceived challenges and constraints facing intervention strategies in terms of condom procurement and overall access to reproductive health services. Lastly, the overall aims of this research attempts to highlight the important contributions applied anthropology can make to the understanding of the various beliefs, practices and culture of condom use so as to better inform existing policies in the field of AIDS and HIV.
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    Gender, self, multiple identities, violence and magical interpretations in lovolo practices in Southern Mozambique
    (2005) Bagnol, Brigitte; Honwana, Alcinda; Sichone, Owen
    Includes bibliographical references (p. 237-273).
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    Imifino yasendle, imifino isiZulu : the ethnobotany, historical ecology and nutrition of traditional vegetables in KwaZulu-Natal
    (1999) Myer, Landon; Sichone, Owen
    Traditional wild or weedy leafy green vegetables are an important food source in many parts of Africa, and there have been several recent calls across the continent for interventions promoting the use of these resources for their nutritional values. In South Africa relatively little research attention has been paid to traditional vegetables, known in Zulu as imifino. However it is widely thought that these plants are falling into disuse as food preferences change and exotic vegetables such as spinach or cabbage become more commonly available. This report aims to provide basic understandings to inform the promotion of traditional vegetables in South Africa by exploring their ethnobotanical, ecological and nutritional dynamics. Interdisciplinary methods incorporating anthropology, ecology, nutrition and history are required to present holistic insights into the processes of imifino use and disuse. These techniques are focused on the community of Nkonisa, a forced relocation settlement in rural KwaZulu-Natal. A total of 36 imifino species are known across Nkonisa. Most participants know only a core group of 4-6 species which are locally available and are used frequently within the households. When seasonally available, these plants are harvested by women or children and occasionally sold in local markets. There also is a scattered body of knowledge of lesser known species which are rarely used. Many of these can not be recognised in the field by most participants and are generally thought to be locally unavailable.
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    Local powers and decentralization in Southern Mozambique : the case of the administrative post of Mocumbi
    (2004) Goncalves, Euclides; Sichone, Owen
    This dissertation is about the emergence of old and new political actors such as régulos, returnees and NGOs in Mocumbi, Southern Mozambique and the local appropriateion of a neo-liberal democratic discourse. It explores local power dynamics in the context of post-war democratization and decentralization policies in Mozambique and provides historical evidence that suggests the centrality of family elders in local politics in Mocumbi. Due, in part, to the predominace of scattered settlements and abundance of land in this part of the country, colonial and post colonial administrative structures have respectively proved ineffective in extending Portuguese control, promoting rural development or democratising the socialist party state, instead - all external power structures have been reshaped and appropriated locally.
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    Masibambane-lets stick together' : contentions on the role of urban vegetable gardens in the Cape Flats
    (2007) Bourne Amanda; Sichone, Owen
    Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-106).
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    "Nothing changes in the Kalahari" : Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, the Ae!Hai Kalahari Heritage Park Agreement and the effects of difference, discourse and the past
    (2005) Hughes, Catherine; Sichone, Owen; Frankental, Sally
    Khomani San with access to 26,000 hectares of land in the national park for "symbolic and cultural uses", and is entitled a "Heritage Park". National parks have, in recent years, been required by legislation, popular opinion, and SANP policies to change how they interact with local communities. However, both staff in Kgalagadi and local residents consistently reiterate that "nothing changes in the Kalahari", and this is a dominant discourse in the Park. Experience of living in the region (including the National Park) has demonstrated to residents that little does change in their material social reality. Based on the experience of nine months in the Park as a volunteer with South African National Parks, complemented by a month of fieldwork, this study gauges the interpretation of a "Heritage Park" and co-management by the authority implementing the Agreement. Through interview and survey data this study argues that the power of discursive modes of communication and their control of knowledge and differing uses of and interpretations of the past limit the conceptualization of possible change. The emphasis placed by residents on racial difference restricts possible subject- positions and therefore, the possibility of multiple types of relations beyond apartheid-era categorization. While experience within the place creates its own set of limitations on social life. The Kalahari, I argue, is internalized by its residents and stifles a sense of possibility through a particular sense of the passage of time, the past, and different conceptions of its effect on the present. These factors combine as restrictions on any meaningful social change for the residents of Kgalagadi. I argue that it is the social dynamics within the Park that curb the success of the Ae!Hai Kalahari Heritage Park Agreement. The social world inside Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park can by extension, be seen as a microcosm of the larger South African picture; a nation scored by differences of race, access to information and meaning in knowledge, and influential but ambiguous discourses.
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    Socio-cultural beliefs concerning sexual relations, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV
    (2001) Mapolisa, Siphelo; Sichone, Owen
    Bibliography: leaves 66-69.
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    Tribesmen or hustlers? : tourism, cultural imperialism and the creation of a new social class in Zanzibar
    (2001) Sumich, Jason; Sichone, Owen; Levine, Susan
    Bibliography: leaves 71-76.
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    Ukusebenza nethongo (Working with Spirit): the role of sangoma in contemporary South Africa
    (2005) Wreford, Jo Thobeka; Sichone, Owen; Field, Sean
    This thesis represents a typically boundary-crossing ethnographic experience and an unconventional anthropological study, its fieldwork grounded in the author's personal experience of ukuthwasa - initiation, training and graduation - to become a sangoma, a practitioner of traditional African medicine, in contemporary South Africa. The study is contextualized within the contemporary health dispensation in South Africa in which two major paradigms, traditional African healing, considered within the spiritual environment of sangoma, and biomedicine, operate at best in parallel, but more often at odds with one another. Given the unprecedented challenge of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the country, the thesis suggests that this situation is unhelpful and proposes first, that a more collaborative relationship between medical sectors is vital. Secondly, the thesis suggests that anthropologists can play an important role in achieving an improved dialogue, by producing research grounded in the spiritual aetiology of sangoma but comprehensible to academic science and applicable within collaborative medical interventions. The thesis introduces 'sacred pragmatics' to embody the disarmingly matter-of-fact quality of sangoma healing which is nevertheless always underpinned by the authority of ancestral spirit solicited in terms that are reverent. Ancestral authority in sangoma is advanced as a credible near equivalent to Jung's 'collective unconscious', and the contemporary phenomenon of white sangoma is proposed as a potential source of social and political healing. In the light of the spiritual foundation of sangoma, the absence of spirituality in biomedicine is discussed and its effect on relationships between medical sectors analysed. The umbilical and ambiguous connection of sangoma and witchcraft is acknowledged, a relationship theorised as having transformative potential within kin and community. The theoretical arguments are set against the evidence of fieldwork which is characterised as experiential and described reflexively. The thesis constitutes a start in what the author hopes will develop into an ongoing conversation between traditional African healing, academe and biomedicine in South Africa.
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    Why do African migrants with a tertiary education do menial jobs in Cape Town?
    (2008) Bamanayi, Mbikayi Alexis; Sichone, Owen; Lincoln, David
    This research considers the reasons for the position of African migrants with a tertiary education in menial jobs in Cape Town. Until recently, mainstream migration literature on South Africa has tended to universalise xenophobia and to treat migrants as innocent people for their situation. To what extent does xenophobia explain the position of skilled migrants in menial work in Cape Town bearing in mind that i) South Africa suffers a shortage of skills needed to spur economic growth and development, ii) xenophilia (love and support for foreigners) is part and parcel of the interactions between South Africans and foreigners? Using an in-depth, qualitative, face-to-face interview schedule instrument and a convenience sampling method to select twelve skilled migrants from five African countries, this research provides a 'thick' and comprehensive understanding of the reasons for the position of African skilled migrants in menial jobs in Cape Town. It establishes a system of antecedent and immediate reasons which explain this position. The antecedent reasons are deprivation in home countries, reliance on superficial information and/or emotions to find out about opportunities in South Africa, the imperative of survival, reliance on limited social capital to find jobs, limited English skills, low entry requirements characterising menial jobs, and the fact that the migrants saw menial jobs as a temporary measure and exploited this facet of such jobs. Immediate reasons consist of limited knowledge of Xhosa and Afrikaans languages, xenophobia, racism, and the temporary nature of asylum seeker permit identity document. This research challenges the sketchy finding of earlier studies which has implicitly suggested that xenophobia is omnipresent in South Africa. It throws doubt into the extent to which the Government and businesses are informed about and willing to tackle the skills shortage in this country. It shows that the value of education is not forgone even though highly educated migrants do menial jobs. Such migrants are likely to and do secure professional jobs in the long-term.