Browsing by Subject "Xhosa"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Predictors of consent to cell line creation and immortalisation in a South African schizophrenia genomics study
    (BioMed Central, 2018-07-11) Campbell, Megan M; de Vries, Jantina; Mqulwana, Sibonile G; Mndini, Michael M; Ntola, Odwa A; Jonker, Deborah; Malan, Megan; Pretorius, Adele; Zingela, Zukiswa; Van Wyk, Stephanus; Stein, Dan J; Susser, Ezra
    Background Cell line immortalisation is a growing component of African genomics research and biobanking. However, little is known about the factors influencing consent to cell line creation and immortalisation in African research settings. We contribute to addressing this gap by exploring three questions in a sample of Xhosa participants recruited for a South African psychiatric genomics study: First, what proportion of participants consented to cell line storage? Second, what were predictors of this consent? Third, what questions were raised by participants during this consent process? Methods 760 Xhose people with schizophrenia and 760 controls were matched to sex, age, level of education and recruitment region. We used descriptive statistics to determine the proportion of participants who consented to cell line creation and immortalization. Logistic regression methods were used to examine the predictors of consent. Reflections from study recruiters were elicited and discussed to identify key questions raised by participants about consent. Results Approximately 40% of participants consented to cell line storage. The recruiter who sought consent was a strong predictor of participant’s consent. Participants recruited from the South African Eastern Cape (as opposed to the Western Cape), and older participants (aged between 40 and 59 years), were more likely to consent; both these groups were more likely to hold traditional Xhosa values. Neither illness (schizophrenia vs control) nor education (primary vs secondary school) were significant predictors of consent. Key questions raised by participants included two broad themes: clarification of what cell immortalisation means, and issues around individual and community benefit. Conclusions These findings provide guidance on the proportion of participants likely to consent to cell line immortalisation in genomics research in Africa, and reinforce the important and influential role that study recruiters play during seeking of this consent. Our results reinforce the cultural and contextual factors underpinning consent choices, particularly around sharing and reciprocity. Finally, these results provide support for the growing literature challenging the stigmatizing perception that people with severe mental illness are overly vulnerable as a target group for heath research and specifically genomics studies.
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    Some sociolinguistic aspects of second language teaching and learning of Xhosa
    (1987) Zotwana, S Z; Mr Derek Gowlett
    I start this chapter by quoting two different utterances made by a character in George Eliot's Mill on the Floss. When Mr Tulliver uttered the above he was, unconsciously though it may have been, making a statement about how language operates in society. This, of course, is putting it in a nutshell. In fact, what Mr Tulliver was saying, was that: (i) language can serve as a mirror of social strata; (ii) language is of great importance in human relations; l (iii) language has variations and that some variations enjoy higher status than others; (iv) people can do many things with words. Also reflected in the above utterances is one of the misconceptions about language which has, fortunately I think, been successfully disproved, namely, that those who are linguistically disadvantaged cannot "see into things quick". Because Mr Tulliver made the utterances in the context of justifying his wish to give his son, Tom, what he called "a good eddication; an eddication as'll be bread to him" was (1980:8), that an it can be said that what he also was saying educational institution should equip the language learner with linguistic skills for living. "Living'' here is used not in the sense of being able to land a job which will enable one to make a decent living, but rather in the sense of being able comfortably to interact with the speakers of the language one has learnt irrespective of the variety of communication situations in which one may find oneself. Put differently, what Mr Tulliver was saying was that he, as a member of society, had observed an inalienable relation between language, society and education. Therefore he was making an utterance which had sociolinguistic undertones. 2 In the following paragraphs I shall attempt to explore what sociolinguistics is and what relation there is between sociolinguistics and the teaching and learning of language. The ultimate aim is to give a theoretical background which will help in the understanding and analysis of the practical problems that will be dealt with later.
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    Xhosa in 45 minutes
    (2014-08-22) Dowling, Tessa
    For anyone interested in taking their first steps towards learning the Xhosa language. This was a free lunch-time event at UCT Summer School, offering participants a chance to learn the basics of the Xhosa phonology and grammar. At the end of the lecture you will be able to: * click with ease * talk about present, future and past events in Xhosa * ask questions * reply to questions. The method is simple. You will be given the grammatical building blocks and told where they go; in Xhosa it is extremely regular and predictable. You can learn vocabulary on your own but in this lecture you will learn some English and Afrikaans words that have been absorbed into Xhosa. Here are just a few to whet your appetite: redi (ready), rayithi (right), rongo (wrong), snaaks (funny), swit (sweet), jimisha (do gym), stak-ile (stuck) and depresed-ek-ile (depressed). As we progress from one concept to another you will be given small translation exercises to do in class. You will be hugely impressed with your ability to construct meaningful, fairly complex sentences in Xhosa in such a short time. The link to this resource includes a podcast, PowerPoint slides and a link to a video of the lecture on YouTube.