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From chisungu to the museum: A historical ethnography of the images, objects and anthropological texts of the chisungu female initiation ceremony in the Moto Moto Museum in Zambia, 1931 to 2016

This study examines the processes through which sacred cultural practices and people were made subjects of ethnological studies. It considers these histories through a renewed examination of the contexts under which the chisungu female initiation ceremony of the Bemba-speaking people of northern Zambia came to be studied, and how the sacred belongings of the ceremony were collected and turned into objects of ethnography in museums.

Deviant Healing Practices within Contemporary Religious Movements in ?hohoyan?ou, Limpopo: Towards a Post-Colonial African Practical Theology Perspective

The legacy of imperialism on Indigenous belief systems has imprinted an arguable influence on the identity and traditions of religiosity in the histories of Africa. The phenomenon of religion entails socio-political and cultural realities, some of which may overlap, correspond, or compete with different fields of study, which ultimately bears an impact on the conventional understanding of religious meaning, practice, and function.

The influence of topographical variability on wildfire occurrence and propagation

Wildfires have increasingly become a point of concern, especially with notable incidents like the 2017 Knysna fire. These naturally occurring phenomena, despite their disruptive nature, are crucial for the sustainability of certain ecosystems. At the heart of understanding wild-fires lies the relationship between climate, vegetation, topography, and human land use, with topography standing out as a significant determinant. This thesis delves into the fundamen-tal role of topography, emphasizing its effect on the ignition, propagation, and behaviour of wildfires.

The African Art Collection in the Iziko South African National Gallery: Past, Present and Possible Futures

This dissertation investigates acquisition and exhibition histories of parts of the Permanent African Art collection of the Iziko South African National Gallery. The ISANG, which is South Africa’s oldest state art museum, began growing its African art collection in 1967 at the height of the apartheid era. With an institutional life that spans from 1872 to the present, the ISANG has been shaped by legacies of settler colonialism, but also by the imperatives of the post-1994 cultural project of nation building.

Social Patterns of Loss to Follow-Up and Non-Adherence in the Limpopo Province Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission Programmes

Introduction: Though the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) programmes have been widely implemented with increased availability and improving coverage of services, there have been concerns of increasing numbers of mothers who are loss to follow-up (LTFU) and those who failed to adhere to treatment after giving birth. This has led to increasing new infections of Mother-to-Child Transmission (MTCT) during post-natal periods (UNAIDS 2017). Extensive research has focussed

A Study of African and Western Epistemic Intuitions and Implications for Decolonisation

Discussions surrounding decolonisation in academic spaces in South Africa took a turn in 2015 when student protests forced the academy or academic landscape to revisit its relationship with Eurocentrism. This had far reaching consequences, as institutions of higher learning began to interrogate different aspects of academic culture including knowledge production. My thesis looks at decolonisation from an epistemic lens by principally interrogating the use of epistemic intuitions and their relevance to the decolonisation project.

An analysis of official language policies and their relationship to everyday language use in multilingual bank settings in the free state province

This study intended to provide an analysis of the language use in the multilingual setting of banks in the Free State Province. The study further determined the status of African languages in the banking sector in relation to perceptions about the use of African languages when transacting and communicating in the banks. The study also highlighted the importance of language planning and policy in the banks.

A Qualitative Analysis of the Informal Social Networks of Street Traders in the Pretoria Central Business District, South Africa

The study investigates informal social networks’ role, contribution, and significance to street traders within the Pretoria Central Business District (CBD). This locale was considered ideal for this study because the City of Tshwane is the single-largest metropolitan municipality in South Africa. Furthermore, the metropolitan is centred around Pretoria, which is a capital city. As such, the city attracts a diverse and large amount of street traders, both local and foreign.

Economic complexity and inclusive growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: A cross country analysis

The concept of economic complexity is a relatively new term in economics literature, it is used to refer to the magnitude of productive knowledge or capabilities embedded in society. However, because of its potential impact on national prosperity, it is hypothesised that differen ces in the degree of economic complexity are major factors

‘Smoking Hot’: The Use of Ntsu as a Vaginal Sexual Stimulant among Women at KwaDabeka Township (Durban, South Africa)

This study probed the cultural influences on how women construct their femininity in society and examined sexuality through women’s perceptions of their body, sex, and sexual pleasure using an African Feminist lens. The complexities of women’s desire to assert an identity combined with the contestation of normative femininity, sex, gender, and power relations in a culturally saturated township community were unbundled.