OpenUCT :: Browsing by Subject "History"

Browsing by Subject "History"

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A brief history of marine bio-invasions in South Africa
(2009) Griffiths, C L; Mead, A; Robinson, T B
Marine species have been introduced continuously into South Africa for more than 400 years, since the arrival of the first European explorers. Various waves of introduction can be identified over this period, each associated with a different mix of vectors. Early wooden vessels carried specialized wood-boring species, a rich external fouling community, plus semi-terrestrial species associated with dry ballast. Modern steel vessels continue to import fouling species, despite the use of anti-fouling paints, and may ply new routes, bringing additional introductions from novel locations. More modern waves of introduction are associated with use of ballast water and with marine aquaculture. Research on marine bio-invasions in South Africa has a short history, marked by a rapid rate of discovery of introductions. Some 86 marine species are currently regarded as introduced to the region, with a further 39 considered cryptogenic, but this number is increasing rapidly. Moreover, many taxa and regions still remain inadequately explored, indicating that the current list remains far from complete. The reasons for under-reporting of introduced populations are discussed and include lack of sample coverage, misidentification of aliens as native species and erroneous redescriptions of aliens as new, indigenous species. However, the lack of taxonomic expertise across large sections of the biota remains the greatest impediment to progress.
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A collection of discrete essays with the common theme of gender and slavery at the Cape of Good Hope with a focus on the 1820s
(1993) Van der Spuy, Patricia; Worden, Nigel
This is a collection of discrete essays, each embodying original research and bearing on the theme of gender and slavery at the Cape of Good Hope. Amelioration at the Cape profoundly altered gendered perceptions of slaves, both on the part of slaveholders, and of the slaves themselves. The amelioration regulations entailed a redefinition of the gender of female slaves, which was resisted by slaveholders and transformed by slave women, while slave men began to redefine their own gendered identities in this light. Slaveholders' traditional patriarchal self-concepts were severely threatened in this context, as they progressively lost power and authority, both to the new paternalist colonial state and to those who had formerly been subsumed within the patriarchal family. There are five papers, the first an introduction to the theoretical framework of the collection and an outline of the general argument as outlined above. The second paper provides a critique of existing Cape slave historiography from a gendered perspective. It examines the problems of this literature methodologically and theoretically, focusing on the implications of the slave sex ratio for the history of slave women. The final three papers are based on empirical research. The third paper examines the structural constraints on slave family formation in Cape Town from the perspective of slave women. The fourth and fifth papers explore issues related to infanticide and slave reproduction, and slave resistance in relation to the Bokkeveld rebellion of 1825, respectively.
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An economic history of the Ciskei, 1848-1900
(1984) Lewis, Jack
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Arms production and war supply in Southern Africa 1939-1945 : limitations of the industrial war effort of South Africa and Zimbabwe during the second world war
(2000) Mlambo, Norman; Phimister, IR; Nasson, Bill
This thesis will discuss the production of munitions of war in South Africa and Zimbabwe as a contribution to the study of the effects of the Second World War on Africa. The thesis will argue that South Africa was not well prepared for the industrial war effort mainly because there were few large factories which could be readily converted to munitions production. Such factories had to be built from scratch. Machinery for these factories had to be imported or made locally at the expense of quality.
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Aspects of popular culture and class expression in inner Cape Town, circa 1939-1959
(1990) Jeppie, Shamil
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Border dialogues : race, class and space in the industrialization of East London, c1902-1963
(1994) Minkley, Gary; Phimister, Ian
This dissertation explores the local path of industrialization in the port City of East London from its emergence as the urban commercial axis of the Border Region of the Eastern Cape, to the dominance of manufacturing capitalism in its material life. The trajectory of this process between c1902 and 1963 was hesitant, uneven and contradictory, and its local economy remained marginal within South Africa, if not within the Region it critically served to help define. From the space of this marginality, a profound edge on the multiple possible routes, and ambiguities to, and in industrialization are demonstrated, and a cautionary critique of dominant 'national' and 'Randcentric' explanations offered. Employing concerns of spatiality, and of the analysis and local constructions of class and race, the separate, and inter-connected relations between the Workplaces, the Council and Municipal Administration and the Location/s are detailed. Framed within these concerns, local industrialization patterned a distinctive periodization that did not necessarily follow existing explanation, but neither did it determine alIloca1ized processes of continuity and change. These tensions between colonial, racial and class social and material spatialities and histories sedimented industrialization in a context that would remain simultaneously narrowly enabled, and dependently constrained. In this, local forms of power and knowledge, subaltern capacities and agency, and the distinct forms of space intersected in a complex web of relations of domination and subordination, and of solidarity and co-operation. These are traced through the four key periods highlighted. The dissertation can be seen to fall into these four periods tracked across the three material and social terrains, and analysed through the combined, separate and uneven racial and class forces patterned, and re-shaped in East London's process of industrialization. It concludes with the period of its transition onto the national terrains of the apartheid state's secondary phase of systemic and inclusive restructuring. Thereafter, local industrialization became integrated into a new 'national' dynamic of intervention and contradiction.
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Brits-Kaffraria, 1853-1866
(1926) Steyn, Hendrik P
In die behandeling van Brits-Kaffraria van 1853 tot 1866 (dit wil sê vanaf Cathcart se skikkinge tot by die bekendmaking van die anneksasie van Brits-Kaffria) is die bedoeling nie gewees om 'n volledige opgawe te gee van al die besonderhede in verband daarmee nie, omdat dit die perke van 'n skripsie te ver sou oorskry. Daar is alleenlik 'n poging aangewend om 'n duidelike beeld te gee van die belangrikste geskiedkundige gebeurtenisse en ontwikkelinge in Brits-Kaffraria tydens daardie periode. Die gevolge van die anneksasie moes onaangetas gelaat word daar ruimte dit nie toegelaat het nie, en ook omdat sommige van die gevolge hulle waarskynlik lank daarna eers laat geld het en dit sou my te ver van die eientlike gekose tydperk wegvoer.
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Colonialism, dysfunction and dysjuncture : the historiography of Sarah Bartmann
(2000) Abrahams, Yvette; Nasson, Bill
This thesis is the first book-length study of the history of Sarah Bartmann. Its aim is to contribute to the writing of an Africanist history of an African. The thesis grapples with the question of identity. It approaches the study of Sarah Bartmann unconventionally, by investigating the triple identity African/native/slave.
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The Coon Carnival in the 1940's: An expression of culture within a changing political environment
(2001) Rahman, Zarin; Bickford-Smith, Vivian
The 1940's saw tremendous change in the state of the world starting with the Second World War and culminating with the formation of several new independent nation states such as Pakistan, India and Israel. The growing nationalist trend became more apparent over the following decades as African states gained their independence from their European colonizers. The ravaged state of the world recovering from War also saw the formation of an international mediating body in the form of the United Nations Organisation. The world was consequently repositioning itself in political and social terms to deal with the implementation of these changes
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Crime, community and police in Cape Town, 1825-1850
(1986) Elks, Katherine Dawn; Worden, Nigel; Bickford-Smith, Vivian
This thesis is primarily an examination of petty crime and law enforcement in Cape Town in the period 1825 -1850. This period was one of fundamental change in terms of the spatial and demographic growth of Cape Town, the diversifying economy and the changing legal status of firstly the Khoi and subsequently the slaves. These developments had significant ramifications on the level and nature of crime, and perceptions of crime and criminals. The creation of a technically 'free' population and the transition from slave to wage labour engendered a great deal of alarm among Cape Town's dominant classes. That they felt their dominance and hegemony threatened by the potentially challenging White, Khoi and Black under classes, entailed a re-assertion of their power. Control mechanisms instituted in response to this included the abortive Vagrancy Ordinance of 1834, the Masters and Servants' Ordinance of 1841, a revamped police force in 1840 and varying social control stratagems. These were all designed to bolster the power of the dominant classes and mould a pliable labour force inculcated with the morality of the dominant classes. The under classes proved very adept at side stepping the imposition of control. In this they were often unwittingly aided by the grossly unprofessional and incompetent police. The ascendancy of the dominant classes, however, was temporarily frustrated but never totally checked. Similar studies of crime and law enforcement in 19th Century Britain have greatly informed the manner in which this thesis was tackled, but the nature of the source material in Cape Town has necessitated a somewhat different approach. The incomplete nature of the Court Record Books meant that a statistical analysis was impossible. More fruitful data were the letter books of personnel and institutions involved in the running of Cape Town; the Superintendent of Police, the Attorney-General, Resident Magistrate and the Municipality. For more general attitudes letters to and editorials in the local press proved to be an invaluable key to an understanding of the mores and perceptions of the dominant classes.
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The development of the coloured community Genadendal under the influence of the missionaries of the Unitas Fratrum 1792 - 1892
(1953) Raum, Johannes William
Object of this thesis has been to underline a small facet of the influence of the Missionaries on the Coloured people at the Cape in the nineteenth century; to describe the impact of Christianity on Single social unit, which was a fusion of primitive Hottentot and slave elements, subject to strung Euro-pean (white) pressure, both economic and otherwise. WhaT was intended as a modest exploitation of the information available has resulted in a perhaps too lengthy treatise. But it is felt that the period of a century covered, warrants as full a discussion as possible. it is hoped that this thesis has succeeded not merely in telling the story of the missionat Genadendal, but has emphasised the signficant interplay of religious, economic and social contacts, ideas and problems in the development of Coloured society at the station. For Genadendal is an example of the growth of a Christian Mission in a colony of settlement. the sources on which the thesis is based are in the main the periodical publications of the Unitas Fratrum. the English accounts are valuable for letters and contemporary articles by the missionaries, while those in the German language contain an almost complete set of annual reports from the Brethren on the st at i ons . the v a luabl e diar i es, extant on the maj or i ty of the Moravian mission stat ions all over the world, as well as the correspondence at Genadendal had to be ignored for the purpose of this thesis because of their length. .his material, kept at Genadendal, is invaluable for the hist ory of the missions in South Africa. It should be housed in a place where it will not be lout to posterity. I am sincerely indebted to Rev. L.A. Schmidt, Rev. P.4. Schaberg, Mr. and Mrs. E. Weder and Berw. D. Wessels whose 'encouragement and assitance were invaluable to me in finding and selecting the material on which the thesis is based.+
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The development of the port and harbour of Table Bay with special reference to the period 1825-1860.
(1974) Soonike, Hans Erik
Cape harbour and port developments have, until recently, been a largely neglected field of study. In Die Nederlandse Kommisarisse and Die 18-de Eeuwee Samelewing aan die Kaap, Dr A BoÃ«seken referred only briefly to harbour developments under the Dutch East India Company, while Professor Marous Arkin's work on the English East India Company, John Company at the Cape, a history of the agency under Pringle (1794-1815) based on a study of the Cape of Good Hope Factory Records, gave no attention to the development of Table Bay, and C.J. de Villier's study of Die Britse Vloot aan die Kaap, 1795-1803, did not advert to the subject.
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Die Kaapkolonie, 1899-1902 : skadevergoeding en die rebelle in ere herstel
(1932) Strydom, Christiaan Johannes Scheepers; Walker, Eric
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Exploring the prevalence of developmental reading difficulties in Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders
(2009) Bromley, Katie Rachael; Meintjes, Ernesta M
Background. As part of a large ongoing research programme concerned with the teratogenic effects prenatal alcohol exposure has on the developing brain, this study investigated whether developmental reading difficulties are present in school-going children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). Whereas the diagnostic facial anomalies associated with FASD are well documented, cognitive deficits remain largely unexplored. Some neuropsychological reviews include deficits in reading as part of the FASD cognitive profile; however, the extant empirical research investigating reading abilities in children with FASD is limited. Therefore, the specific objectives of the current study were to explore the prevalence and characteristics of developmental reading skill deficits in a sample of children with FASD. Methods. Participants were 46 children (9-13 years) who had previously been diagnosed as either prenatally exposed or non-exposed. Of the 32 exposed children, 7 met the criteria for fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), 3 met the criteria for partial FAS (pFAS) and 22 did not meet the criteria for diagnosis of FAS/pFAS but were still heavily exposed (and were thus characterized as &amp;acirc;other heavily exposed&amp;acirc;, or OHE). All participants were administered the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability (NARA; a measure of reading speed, accuracy, and comprehension) and the Phonological Assessment Battery (PhAB; a measure of phonological awareness, processing speed and fluency). Independent samples t-tests and one-way analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs) were performed to determine if there were statistically significant between-group differences in a two-group (exposed versus non-exposed) or three-group (FAS/pFAS versus OHE versus control) comparison. Multiple regression-based analyses were performed to determine if a relationship existed between a continuous measure of prenatal alcohol exposure and the outcome measures. Within each of these analyses an estimate of IQ was used to determine if the effects seen were present even with that covariate taken into account. Results. None of the two- or three-group analyses showed any statistical significance on the PhAB or NARA outcome variables. Participants in the FAS/pFAS and OHE groups performed significantly differently on the PhAB non-phonological fluency performance measure; this between-group difference was not in the predicted direction, however, and probably resulted from artifactual factors. Results from the multiple regression-based analyses showed that associations between the predictor variable (level of prenatal alcohol exposure) and two outcome variables (phonological production speed and reading rate abilities) approached, but did not reach, statistical significance. 7 Conclusion. Overall, the data suggest that impairments in phonological awareness, phonological processing speed, verbal fluency, and developmental reading difficulties are not characteristic of the cognitive profile of children with FASD. These findings are not conclusive, however, due to several limitations in the current study. These limitations are discussed and provide interesting insight into the process of assessing phonological abilities and reading skills in this population. Further research, using a broader range of assessment tools and a larger sample size, is necessary in order to provide a more detailed and definitive analysis of these abilities. Nonetheless, the current study shows that the evaluation of reading and phonological disorders in FASD is an important and worthwhile endeavour.
Open Access
Frances Ellen Colenso, 1849-1887 : her life and times in relation to the Victorian stereotype of the middle class English woman
(1980) Merrett, Patricia Lynne; Webb; Colin de Berri
The stereotype of the Victorian middle class woman, which generally characterised her as a passive, ornamental, helpless and dependent creature, has been one of the most popular caricatures of the nineteenth century. Recent research into this hitherto largely ignored social class has begun to re-adjust this image. The stereotyped distressed gentlewoman who emigrated to Australia and New Zealand for instance has recently been critically examined, but so far the female emigrant and settler in colonial South Africa has been ignored. It is only since the early 1970s that academic research into feminism began to appear. The influence of the women's liberation movement and of the increasing interest in social history, while stimulating research into Victorian women in England and her colonies, has only penetrated historical research within South Africa in the last decade.
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Frances Ellen Colenso,(1849-1887): Her life and times in relation to the Victorian stereotype of the middle class English woman.
(1980) Merrett,Patricia Lynne; Webb, C de B
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General elections in the Cape Colony, 1898-1908
(1980) Smith, Alan John Charrington; Davey, A M
A history of parliamentary general elections can be approached in a number of different ways, but this work concentrates its attention on the results of the voting in the elections. For that reason, the Corpus has been divided into two parts. The first part deals with party politics and the elections while the second part is devoted to the systems of voting in the upper and lower house elections, the distribution of seats in the two houses of parliament, an analysis of the results of the voting in the elections and the trends in voter-support for the two major parties. The principle aim of the thesis is to provide an insight into the birth and the initial development of two-party elections in South Africa. Although the Cape Colony was only one of four British colonies which formed the Union in 1910, it was the first to evolve a system of two-party politics, and the six parliamentary general elections in the Cape Colony between 1898 and 1908 illustrate the origin and early evolution of two-party elections in South Africa. Considerable problems were encountered because the political parties in the Cape Colony were less rigid than their counterparts after 1910 and the systems of voting did not lend themselves readily to a yield of estimates of party support directly from the voting figures. Nevertheless, whilst an overall picture of the electoral trends during this crucial decade was relatively simple to ascertain, justification of the actual estimates of party support in each constituency was a different matter. Consequently, statistical appendices have been used to indicate the derivations of those figures.
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The Glen Grey Act and its effects upon the native system of land tenure in Cape Colony and the Transkeian Districts
(1929) Wiggins, Ella
The first object of this essay is to trace any tendency of the Natives in the Cape Colony to modify their own communal system of land occupation in favour of any system more approximating to the Western ideal of individual tenure or ownership. The significance of any such tendency need not be emphasised. The communal occupation of land is one of the most essential bases of tribal organisation. It is closely linked up with the organisation of the family as an economic unit, as well as with the tribe in that aspect. It is, indeed, at the very roots of the Native family and tribal system. To trace any changes from communal to individual occupation mu.st be a part, therefore, of a larger study, viz., of the development of tribal life so as to admit of free economic action by individuals untrammelled by the bonds of tribal custom.
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The guerrilla war in the Cape Colony during the South African War of 1899-1902 : a case study of the republican and rebel commando movement
(1996) Constantine, Rodney James; Nasson, Bill
This dissertation examines the nature and extent of armed conflict in country areas of the Cape Colony, between 1900 and 1902. The relationship between invasion and rebellion is explored, as are the tactics and strategies of the Boer commando movement. Only republican and rebel military activity is examined, not the counterresistance of the imperial army, the colonial state, or of black agrarian communities. A general uprising in the Cape Colony was regarded by many Boer leaders as the key to their success in the South African War. This case study reveals the reasons why this general uprising did not occur during the second Cape invasion. In 1901 a general uprising did take place in certain Cape regions (notably west of the Cape Town-Johannesburg railway) but these regions were either strategically unimportant, in which case events within them could not decisively influence the course of the war, or else they were regions such as the Midlands, where a unique combination of geographical features, Boer command problems, lack of access to the lines of communication, in combination with other factors suppressed the uprising just when it was beginning to exhibit popular and universal features. The Cape guerrilla war was subject to moderating and constraining influences for much of its course, despite being characterized by rebellion and executions. Extremism and moderation were both freely exhibited by the Boers in the conflict. But ultimately it was the moderation and restraint of the senior Boer commanders in the Cape (as elsewhere in South Africa) which emerged as the defining feature of the war there. Features of total war were rarely present, and the peace treaty concluded at Vereeniging represented a defeat for the irreconcilable and extremist elements of the Boer forces.
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HI in group interactions: HCG 44
(2017) Hess, Kelley M; Cluver, M E; Yahya, Sahba; Leisman, Lukas; Serra, Paolo; Lucero, Danielle M; Passmoor, Sean S; Carignan, Claude
Extending deep observations of the neutral atomic hydrogen (H I) to the environment around galaxy groups can reveal a complex history of group interactions which is invisible to studies that focus on the stellar component. Hickson Compact Group 44 (HCG 44) is a nearby example, and we have combined H I data from the Karoo Array Telescope, Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, and Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA survey, in order to achieve high column density sensitivity (N _{H {I}}