Browsing by Subject "Culture"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    Open Access
    An Ethnographic Study on Heritage Preservation in Bo-Kaap
    (2020) Correia, Shannon; Haupt, Adam
    This research paper analyses the culture and community in Bo-Kaap, which is battling to preserve its heritage amid growing gentrification. Gentrification in this area is analysed as a special case in point, as although gentrification is happening in other neighbourhoods in Cape Town, Bo-Kaap is the home of Islam in South Africa, and is geographically set in a prime location of the city. This research paper includes an ethnographic study, as well as a photographic essay and a podcast series which supports the research in creative forms.The researcher interviewed several people from the area to discern the culture and the issues faced by the community. This paper examines the ethnographic lived experience of the researcher, as well as that of a local family. Three main events are examined to provide insight into the culture and community, namely an AirBnb traditional cooking experience, Eid AlAdha and the visit to the area by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The findings of this paper show that significant changes have and continue to occur, although the community is resilient in their efforts to preserve the culture. This research aims to provide additional and alternative records of the culture of the community as it stands in present day, in a holistic research effort. It also showcases the importance of the rich culture of the community which society needs to ensure is preserved.
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    Aspects of culture in South African psychiatry
    (1989) Swartz, Leslie; Foster, Don
    A review of the South African psychiatric literature reveals that the concept of culture is commonly reified. It is also used by the South African state to legitimate apartheid. The concept of cultural relativism, though often associated with liberal views internationally, is linked with state policies in South Africa. Some South African social scientists, therefore, strongly question the notion of relativism. This reaction unfortunately does not engage with the social reality of the widespread perception of cultural differences, in psychiatric settings and elsewhere. Issues of race and culture in psychiatric practice were explored in a psychiatry department of a liberal South African university. Observation of ward-rounds in a psychiatric casualty (emergency) facility over six months revealed that, as elsewhere in the world, a major cultural factor influencing clinicians is the relationship between psychiatry and general medicine. A cultural understanding of South African psychiatry must take account of this relationship. Ward-rounds in a facility treating Black psychiatric patients were observed over fifteen months. Black and white clinicians in these rounds were often in conflict over constructions of the concept of culture. Some appeared deeply ambivalent about cultural relativism. Psychiatric registrars (residents) attached to the department under study participated in loosely structured interviews exploring issues of race and culture in their work. They also responded to vignettes dealing with white, coloured and Black patients. Registrars felt uncomfortable about the role of the concept of cultural difference in affecting the welfare of Black patients, and in maintaining discrimination. Their own socialisation as practitioners in an individualising and medicalising discipline seems a major factor contributing to their ongoing reproduction of this discrimination. The study reveals the importance of exploring the views and experiences of practitioners. South African work focussing on the need for fundamental change in mental health care has generally glossed over details of extant practice. This dissertation shows, however, that a major site for mobilisation for change in South African mental health-care must be the psychiatric institution itself.
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    HIV risk perception and behavior among medically and traditionally circumcised males in South Africa
    (2016) Zungu, N P; Simbayi, L C; Mabaso, M; Evans, M; Zuma, K; Ncitakalo, N; Sifunda, S
    Abstract Background In South Africa, voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) has recently been implemented as a strategy for reducing the risk of heterosexual HIV acquisition among men. However, there is some concern that VMMC may lead to low risk perception and more risky sexual behavior. This study investigated HIV risk perception and risk behaviors among men who have undergone either VMMC or traditional male circumcision (TMC) compared to those that had not been circumcised. Methods Data collected from the 2012 South African national population-based household survey for males aged 15 years and older were analyzed using bivariate and multivariate multinomial logistic regression, and relative risk ratios (RRRs) with 95 % confidence interval (CI) were used to assess factors associated with each type of circumcision relative no circumcision. Results Of the 11,086 males that indicated that they were circumcised or not, 19.5 % (95 % CI: 17.9–21.4) were medically circumcised, 27.2 % (95 % CI: 24.7–29.8) were traditionally circumcised and 53.3 % (95 % CI: 50.9–55.6) were not circumcised. In the final multivariate models, relative to uncircumcised males, males who reported VMMC were significantly more likely to have had more than two sexual partners (RRR = 1.67, p = 0.009), and males who reported TMC were significantly less likely to be low risk alcohol users (RRR = 0.72, p < 0.001). Conclusion There is a need to strengthen and improve the quality of the counselling component of VMMC with the focus on education about the real and present risk for HIV infection associated with multiple sexual partners and alcohol abuse following circumcision.
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    A living customary law of commercial contracting in South Africa: some law related hypotheses
    (2017-10-01) Hutchison, Andrew; Sibanda, Nkanyiso
    Inspired by calls to ‘decolonise’ South African law and legal education, this paper will posit some hypotheses as to the nature of a living customary law of commercial contracting from the perspectives of two South African contract law teachers. An account of the commercial format of customary contracting is largely absent from the law reports and leading legal textbooks in this country. The dominant narrative in existing legal sources, however, (which may be stereotyped), is of African communalism prevailing in customary contract practice. This is reflected (for example) in the discourse on ‘ubuntu’, which is being used at present as a vehicle for the constitutional transformation of the South African common law of contract. Other existing empirical accounts from discourses such as economics and anthropology also suggest, however, that contracting in indigenous African communities rests on notions of trust and community. This is reinforced by the existence of informal township dispute resolution structures. We will thus posit a central hypothesis that customary commercial contracting is relational in nature, using an inter-disciplinary literature review and drawing on the lived experiences of the authors. Other related hypotheses will also be developed. Ultimate truth here is a matter for future empirical study.
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    Perceptions relating to body size, weight loss and weight-loss interventions in black South African women: a qualitative study
    (2016) Draper, Catherine E; Davidowitz, Kesiah J; Goedecke, Julia H
    Abstract Objective A higher tolerance for a larger body size has been associated with obesity in black South African (SA) women. The aim of the present study was to explore perceptions regarding body size and weight loss in a sample of black women from a low-income community in Cape Town, SA. Design Qualitative pilot study including five focus groups. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Setting Khayelitsha, Cape Town, SA. Subjects Twenty-one black SA women. Results The majority of participants had positive perceptions of overweight/obesity, which were influenced by community and cultural perceptions, but some inconsistencies were observed as overweight/obesity was also associated with ill health. Participants identified many benefits to weight loss, but due to the association with sickness, they were concerned about being stigmatised in their community. Although participants had knowledge about healthy eating, the main barrier to eating healthily included the perceived higher cost of healthier food and food insecurity. All participants saw exercise as a strategy to lose weight and improve health, and were interested in participating in a community-based exercise intervention, but negative community perceptions and conflicting views regarding who should lead the intervention were identified as barriers. Conclusions These findings highlight the complexities surrounding participants’ perceptions regarding body size, weight loss and weight-loss interventions, and emphasise low socio-economic status as a barrier to change. The study also highlights the strong influence of cultural ideals and community perceptions on personal perceptions. These findings underscore the necessity for culturally appropriate weight-loss interventions in low-income, transitioning communities.
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    Point-of-care detection of lipoarabinomannan (LAM) in urine for diagnosis of HIV-associated tuberculosis: a state of the art review
    (BioMed Central Ltd, 2012) Lawn, Stephen
    Detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens in urine is attractive as a potential means of diagnosing tuberculosis (TB) regardless of the anatomical site of disease. The most promising candidate antigen is the cell wall lipopolysaccharide antigen lipoarabinomannan (LAM), which has been used to develop commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Although highly variable diagnostic accuracy has been observed in different clinical populations, it is now clear that this assay has useful sensitivity for diagnosis of HIV-associated TB in patients with advanced immunodeficiency and low CD4 cell counts. Thus, this assay is particularly useful when selectively used among patients enrolling in antiretroviral treatment services or in HIV-infected patients requiring admission to hospital medical wards. These are the very patients who have the highest mortality risk and who stand to gain the most from rapid diagnosis, permitting immediate initiation of TB treatment. A recently developed low-cost, lateral-flow (urine 'dip-stick') format of the assay provides a result within 30 minutes and is potentially a major step forward as it can be used at the point-of-care, making the possibility of immediate diagnosis and treatment a reality. This paper discusses the likely utility of this point-of-care assay and how it might best be used in combination with other diagnostic assays for TB. The many further research studies that are needed on this assay are described. Consideration is particularly given to potential reasons for the variable specificity observed in existing field evaluations of LAM ELISAs. Whether this might be related to the assay itself or to the challenges associated with study design is discussed.
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    Zimbabwe culture before Mapungubwe: new evidence from Mapela Hill, South-Western Zimbabwe
    (Public Library of Science, 2014) Chirikure, Shadreck; Manyanga, Munyaradzi; Pollard, A Mark; Bandama, Foreman; Mahachi, Godfrey; Pikirayi, Innocent
    Across the globe, the emergence of complex societies excites intense academic debate in archaeology and allied disciplines. Not surprisingly, in southern Africa the traditional assumption that the evolution of socio-political complexity began with ideological transformations from K2 to Mapungubwe between CE1200 and 1220 is clouded in controversy. It is believed that the K2−Mapungubwe transitions crystallised class distinction and sacred leadership, thought to be the key elements of the Zimbabwe culture on Mapungubwe Hill long before they emerged anywhere else. From Mapungubwe (CE1220-1290), the Zimbabwe culture was expressed at Great Zimbabwe (CE1300-1450) and eventually Khami (CE1450-1820). However, new fieldwork at Mapela Hill, when coupled with a Bayesian chronology, offers tremendous fresh insights which refute this orthodoxy. Firstly, Mapela possesses enormous prestige stone-walled terraces whose initial construction date from the 11 th century CE, almost two hundred years earlier than Mapungubwe. Secondly, the basal levels of the Mapela terraces and hilltop contain élite solid dhaka (adobe) floors associated with K2 pottery and glass beads. Thirdly, with a hilltop and flat area occupation since the 11 th century CE, Mapela exhibits evidence of class distinction and sacred leadership earlier than K2 and Mapungubwe, the supposed propagators of the Zimbabwe culture. Fourthly, Mapungubwe material culture only appeared later in the Mapela sequence and therefore post-dates the earliest appearance of stone walling and dhaka floors at the site. Since stone walls, dhaka floors and class distinction are the essence of the Zimbabwe culture, their earlier appearance at Mapela suggests that Mapungubwe can no longer be regarded as the sole cradle of the Zimbabwe culture. This demands not just fresh ways of accounting for the rise of socio-political complexity in southern Africa, but also significant adjustments to existing models.