Using life histories to explore change: women's urban struggles in Cape Town,South Africa

This article shows how life histories can be useful in analyzing the impact of political and economic change on the lives of individuals and social groups in South Africa. Four case studies are presented to highlight the shared and individual experiences of four women who arrived in Cape Town in defiance of the pass laws, which prohibited such migration. Comparing the four stories, it is clear that certain aspects of South Africa's influx controls affected all the women as women. Women were the targets of most pass raids in the townships, hostels, squatter camps and held a much more precarious position in the city. Also, the age and stage in the life cycle determined their ability to make a living in their town in order to survive shocking outbreaks of violence in the Crossroads squatter camp in 1983 and to avoid arrest under the "pass laws" of the apartheid era.     

Family Ties and Young Fathers' Engagement in Cape Town,South Africa

Young South African fathers are often engaged in their children's lives even if they do not live together. Using longitudinal data on children (n = 1,209) from the Cape Town area, the authors show that although only 26% of young fathers live with their children, 66% of nonresidential fathers maintain regular contact, and 61% provide financial support. The father–child relationship, however, is embedded in broader family ties. The type of father–mother relationship is strongly associated with whether fathers coreside with their children but not with fathers' contact with nonresidential children. Close mother and maternal grandmother bonds reduce the likelihood that fathers live with their children, whereas close ties between fathers and paternal grandmothers increase the chance that fathers visit nonresidential children. Family ties do not affect fathers' financial contributions, which are driven by men's current economic situation. These findings illustrate that father–child relationships are best understood in the context of interacting family systems.     

Intimate partner violence: prevalence and risk factors for men in Cape Town, South Africa

This study examined the prevalence of and risk factors for intimate partner physical violence against women. Interviews were conducted with a sample of 1,378 men working in Cape Town municipalities. An average of 42.3% (95% CI: 39.6, 44.8) reported physical violence against a partner of the last 10 years, and 8.8% (95% CI: 7.3, 10.3) reported physical violence in the past year. After adjustment for age, occupational group, and race, the factors associated with use of violence against partners of the last 10 years were having no post-school training (OR = 2.10), witnessing parental violence in childhood (OR = 1.87), involvement in fights at work (OR = 2.73) and in communities (OR = 1.54), drug use (OR = 1.99), problem alcohol use (OR = 1.98), perceiving hitting women to be acceptable (OR = 4.54), frequent conflict (OR = 2.40), women's alcohol use (OR = 2.25), conflict about sex (OR = 2.16), and conflict about his infidelity (OR = 2.81). The study shows that ideas supportive of gender inequality and normative use of violence in different settings are major underlying factors for men's violence against partners.     

Gender attitudes,sexual violence,and HIV/AIDS risks among men and women in Cape Town,South Africa

This study examined gender attitudes and sexual violence‐supportive beliefs (rape myths) in a sample of South African men and women at risk for HIV transmission. Over 40% of women and 16% of men had been sexually assaulted, and more than one in five men openly admitted to having perpetrated sexual assault. Traditional attitudes toward women's social and gender roles, as well as rape myths, were endorsed by a significant minority of both men and women. Multivariate analyses showed that for men, sexual assault history and rape myth acceptance, along with alcohol and other drug use history, were significantly related to cumulative risks for HIV infection. In contrast, although we found that women were at substantial risk for sexually transmitted infection (STI), including HIV, women's risks were only related to lower levels of education and alcohol use history. We speculate that women's risks for STI/HIV are the product of partner characteristics and male‐dominated relationships, suggesting the critical importance of intervening with men to reduce women's risks for sexual assault and STI/HIV.     

Substance Use and Psychosocial Predictors of High School Dropout in Cape Town, South Africa

The aims of this study were to examine whether use of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs predicts dropout among secondary school students in Cape Town, South Africa. A self-report instrument was administered to 1,470 Grade 8 students. The proportion of students that dropped out of school between the onset of the study and 4 years later was 54.9%. After adjusting for a range of confounders, dropout was significantly predicted by absenteeism, poverty (as assessed by a possession index), and past month cigarette use, but not by past month alcohol use and lifetime illicit drug use. Contrary to findings from developed countries, alcohol and illicit drug use did not predict dropout. It is possible that predictors of dropout documented elsewhere may not be pertinent in developing countries.     

Physical Abuse in Early Childhood and Transition to First Sexual Intercourse among Youth in Cape Town,South Africa

This study examined the relationship of physical abuse in early childhood and timing of first sexual intercourse among young South Africans aged 14 to 22 in Cape Town. Using the Cape Area Panel Survey and applying log-normal models, time ratios were estimated to show how rapidly or slowly youth experience first sexual intercourse. Results indicated that boys who experienced physical abuse in early childhood had faster timing to first sex. Boys and girls with violent school environments had faster timing to first sex. Race moderated the effects of physical abuse. Compared to Blacks, Coloreds who experienced higher levels of physical abuse in early childhood had faster timing to first sex. Youth with greater knowledge about HIV/AIDS and those with greater risk perception of contracting HIV/AIDS delayed first sex. On the basis of these findings, policy makers are encouraged to consider the early childhood experiences of youth when designing policies toward HIV/AIDS prevention in South Africa.     

Physical abuse in early childhood and transition to first sexual intercourse among youth in Cape Town, South Africa

This study examined the relationship of physical abuse in early childhood and timing of first sexual intercourse among young South Africans aged 14 to 22 in Cape Town. Using the Cape area panel survey and applying log-normal models, time ratios were estimated to show how rapidly or slowly youth experience first sexual intercourse. Results indicated that boys who experienced physical abuse in early childhood had faster timing to first sex. Boys and girls with violent school environments had faster timing to first sex. Race moderated the effects of physical abuse. Compared to Blacks, Coloreds who experienced higher levels of physical abuse in early childhood had faster timing to first sex. Youth with greater knowledge about HIV/AIDS and those with greater risk perception of contracting HIV/AIDS delayed first sex. On the basis of these findings, policy makers are encouraged to consider the early childhood experiences of youth when designing policies toward HIV/AIDS prevention in South Africa.     

Rural women,development, and telecommunications: a pilot programme in South Africa

This article focuses on the impact of a telecenter program in Bamshela, South Africa, on women in the local community. The Government's telecenter initiative was conceived with an awareness of gender issues and the need to promote women's needs and rights in mind. However, as the center moves into its second year, many opportunities for the it to have a meaningful impact on the community from the start have already been lost. It has not generated enough income to keep prices at an affordable rate. Research has shown that many Bamshela women are using the telecenter as a phoneshop. Lack of knowledge, skills, and education among women is an obstacle to their use of computers at the center; however, center managers believe that rural women will become familiar with electronic methods of communication and may come to use these services. The telecenter has a long way to go before it can replace face-to-face communication and bring prestige to the community.     

Patterns in macroinvertebrate taxonomic richness and community assembly among urban wetlands in Cape Town,South Africa: implications for wetland management

Urbanization has significantly increased globally during the last century and has far-reaching consequences for biodiversity and their associated habitats, particularly wetland ecosystems. Previous studies have focused primarily on wetlands in non-urban areas, and urban wetland biodiversity patterns are currently not well understood, particularly across Africa. Here, we investigate two highly transformed urban wetlands in Cape Town, South Africa, and determine the relative importance and influence of local environmental variables as drivers of macroinvertebrate richness and community structuring. We also determine the influence of local environmental variables for patterns of species turnover and nestedness within and among these wetlands, and provide management recommendations based on our findings. We found that few macroinvertebrate species were associated with these wetlands, yet community variation was driven by a combination of local environmental variables. Our results also indicate that the turnover component of beta diversity, rather than nestedness, was responsible for most of the variation in the overall macroinvertebrate community. We identified two major problems regarding the current ecological state of the investigated wetlands. Firstly, high nutrient loads originating from the surrounding land uses which reduced wetland biodiversity, and secondly, the transformation of these wetlands from seasonal to perennial water bodies. We recommend local and regional scale approaches to limit urban waste from entering these systems, and management of water levels simulating natural Mediterranean-type climate dynamics more closely are required to ensure that the maximum possible diversity can be supported in these wetlands.

     

The lives of disabled women in Nepal: vulnerability without support

The study examines a broad range of problems faced by physically disabled women. Qualitative interviews with 30 women with physical disabilities (congenital and acquired) were administered to understand various aspects of their lives. The research explores the causes of disability, which include gender discrimination, poverty, an inactive state security system, inadequate family support, negative attitudes and a lack of commitment on the part of government. The available services from non-governmental organizations have been proved to be unsatisfactory and gender biased in terms of training and employment. The importance of disability and its relation to gender has not been recognized by the state.     

African studies at a crossroads: producing theory across the disciplines in South Africa

African studies in South Africa is currently at a crossroads – of making choices in the process of establishing itself institutionally and reconstituting itself as a discursive and epistemological field, including an interrogation of its histories and a decolonisation of its scholarly legacies. But being at a crossroads does not imply being at a loss; on the contrary, for African studies it means realising its potential of being a hub of critical thinking and a catalyst in the transformation of the humanities and the social sciences in the country and, possibly, internationally. Proceeding from this assumption, I will ask: what are the conditions of possibility for the emergence of African studies in South Africa as a space of transdisciplinary debate, one that is driven by a commitment to socially relevant issues and within which critical standpoints to be voiced by public intellectuals can crystallise? Some approaches critical for the development of such a field are present in South African scholarship, but – as it often happens in hierarchical academic structures – they are scattered across different disciplines or areas of expertise. Further, one of the main problems of African studies scholarship internationally – lying at the core of power inequalities of scholarship in Africa and the West – is the artificial split between “theory” and “(empirical) material” and the question of who is expected to produce what. This article starts with a discussion of the recent debates provoked by a restructuring of African studies and related disciplines at the University of Cape Town. To understand the resonance of these debates, beyond the context of one university and country, they will be placed, firstly, in the international context of African studies and, secondly, in the national context of debating the function and place of the humanities and the social sciences in South Africa. Both contexts highlight the importance of producing critical theory (instead of applying theory produced in the West). Hence, the following three subsections of this article will examine works by South African scholars that, produced within various disciplines (history, sociology and cultural studies), interrelate the insights of these disciplines and, in so doing, initiate new theoretical approaches. Using its crossroads position, African studies in South Africa can become a “laboratory” in which new critical approaches can be interrelated and debated. Opened up to dialogue with African studies in Africa and worldwide, it can become a theoretically invigorating space, nationally and internationally.     

Analysis of HIV Caregivers in South Africa: A South African Depression and Anxiety Group

ABSTRACT

The severity of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa is well documented. However, little is known regarding the well-being of caregivers of persons with HIV/AIDS in South Africa. This study sought to evaluate characteristics, similarities and differences between groups of HIV caregivers in rural, semi-rural, and urban areas of South Africa. Interesting trends were noticed in the areas of suicidality, alcohol abuse, and intimate trauma. Findings indicate a substantial need for further study in the area of suicidality, denial of or lack of desire to know HIV status and the accompanying diagnostic stigma, and the need for a support network within lay caregivers.     

Multicultural education: A new approach for a new South African dispensation

In a new South African dispensation, the reconstruction of a national education system necessitates fundamental change to existing educational policies and practices. Seen as a cultural kaleidoscope or ethnic mosaic of peoples, modern South African society can be characterised as being multicultural. It stands to reason, therefore, that multicultural education for a new multicultural South Africa has become a logical, outcomes-based necessity. The extent to which multicultural education will succeed depends largely on the knowledge, attitudes, views and conduct of the teacher as initiator, facilitator and manager of the educational and learning practice. Most teachers in this country have been trained in a monocultural context and are therefore not adequately prepared for implementing multicultural education. All educators in South Africa who are seriously concerned with the formal education of children will have to become equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to initiate and facilitate optimal learning in a multicultural context. What is needed is an innovative and studious predisposition, cultural reappraisal, and the acceptance of co-ownership in building a new democratic dispensation for South Africa. Teachers within multicultural school contexts need to bring about this conceptual paradigm shift in the hearts and minds of young people.     

Addressing multi-dimensional child poverty: The experiences of caregivers in the Eastern Cape,South Africa

This paper explores the experiences of caregivers in the Eastern Cape Province regarding the alleviation of child poverty, and presents a case for the expansion of monetary support to effectively address the multi-dimensional focus of child poverty in South Africa. The Social Development Approach (SDA)¹ was used together with the Child Focused Multi-dimensional Model (CFMDM)² to explore the research problem. A phenomenological research design was followed by conducting semi-structured interviews and a focus group discussion with 20 participants who were purposively drawn from four urban and rural areas in the Eastern Cape. The findings concur with the view that the Child Support Grant (CSG)³ monetary support should be increased to better accommodate the multi-dimensional child poverty needs of the CSG recipients.     

Corporate philanthropy in South Africa: lessons for local development initiatives

Beginning in the late 1970s, US multi-nationals and South African business both supported local development initiatives in Soweto. Comparison of two of these projects reveals significant differences in approach and effectiveness. American businesses supported a secondary school, Pace, which experienced critical problems related to organisational difficulties unforeseen by the donors. South African business supported an educational centre, the Funda Centre, which developed more gradually and was more deeply rooted in the community. Examination of these two cases produces some lessons that can be of use to other donors giving support to local development initiatives. This research was supported by a grant from the Aspen Nonprofit Sector Research Fund.     

Access to higher education for disabled students in South Africa: a contradictory conjuncture of benevolence, rights and the social model of disability

The structures of support services for disabled students in the South African higher education system find themselves in a contradictory conjuncture of rights, benevolence and the social model of disability. To elucidate this argument, this paper (a) outlines the status of support provisions for disabled students in South Africa; (b) compares the state of these support provisions with those of the UK and the USA; (c) compares the different paths taken by South Africa and the developed countries in general towards disability rights. It concludes that South Africa seems to be moving along a contradictory path and that it should make a commitment to prioritize equal access to higher education for disabled students.     

Inequities in health outcomes and access to health care in South Africa: a comparison between persons with and without disabilities

Health is a fundamental human right and if health care is to be universal and equitable it should not be less accessible to some sectors of society than to others. The objective of this study was to compare health outcomes and access to health care between persons living with disabilities and their non-disabled counterparts. The research was based on secondary data analysis of wave 1 of the National Income Dynamic Survey. Results from the study indicated that people with disabilities reported a higher incidence of communicable and non-communicable diseases, lower access to medical insurance and greater use of public health care than their non-disabled counterparts. In conclusion, the findings highlight the inequities in health outcomes and access to health services for people with disabilities and emphasise the need for disability-friendly health care policies that reduce barriers to accessing health care.