Search results

Title: “WE ARE THE BAD POOR” : GENRE AND WHITE TRASH IDENTITY IN GRIT LIT
Creator: Ploskonka, Mitchell
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: This project explores the Southern white trash’s fraught relationship with difference through Grit Lit—literature by and about the white trash. In a historical moment where poor whites have been (sometimes rightfully) scapegoated as key cogs in Trump’s demagoguery characterized by hateful speech and reactionary rhetoric, Grit Lit is a coming-to-terms with its whiteness and trashiness. It is an ongoing search for a usable, unshameful identity amidst a centuries-old construction of the white...
Show moreThis project explores the Southern white trash’s fraught relationship with difference through Grit Lit—literature by and about the white trash. In a historical moment where poor whites have been (sometimes rightfully) scapegoated as key cogs in Trump’s demagoguery characterized by hateful speech and reactionary rhetoric, Grit Lit is a coming-to-terms with its whiteness and trashiness. It is an ongoing search for a usable, unshameful identity amidst a centuries-old construction of the white trash as racially, economically, and regionally as waste people. As this project articulates, to reckon with an inherently liminal and marginalized community, one long associated with (again, sometimes rightfully) assumptions of racism, homophobia, xenophobia, and misogyny, Grit Lit is only able to come to that identity through a sometimes painful acknowledgment of difference. One key way Grit Lit accomplishes this is through its experimentations with and reconceptualizations of genre. Beginning with Harry Crews and progressing chronologically to the present (through Larry Brown, Dorothy Allison, Rick Bragg, and Tom Franklin, among others), foundational Grit Lit authors, are studied in relation to their generic choices (ranging from autobiographical realism and literary naturalism to revisionist westerns and detective fiction) and their impact on the literature’s identity politics (including race, gender, sexuality, and disability). As the “Rough South” aesthetic continues to expand beyond the South and into new mediums—comics, television, film—a theoretical basis for understanding white trash identity from the inside provides much-needed (and perhaps unlikely) allyship in a cultural moment marked by racial and social injustice.
Show less

Title: Local perceptions of environmental insecurity and wildlife conservation in the Mnisi Tribal Authority, Mpumalanga, South Africa
Creator: Banas, Parker Daniel
Date: 2020
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Environmental insecurity is a relatively new expression within the broader space of security. Many contributors to local and global insecurity are also threats to environmental security which represent the interconnectedness and complexity of environmental insecurity. Local perceptions from local areas such as the Mnisi Tribal Authority (MTA) are often useful to decision-makers working to reduce harm from environmental insecurity. In order to understand the local perceptions of the MTA, I set...
Show moreEnvironmental insecurity is a relatively new expression within the broader space of security. Many contributors to local and global insecurity are also threats to environmental security which represent the interconnectedness and complexity of environmental insecurity. Local perceptions from local areas such as the Mnisi Tribal Authority (MTA) are often useful to decision-makers working to reduce harm from environmental insecurity. In order to understand the local perceptions of the MTA, I set three objectives for this research: i) explore local perceptions of environmental insecurity and its perceived relationships with other forms of insecurity; ii) compare and contrast local perceptions of risk associated with environmental and other forms of insecurity; iii) explore relationships between factors influencing and being influenced by environmental insecurity. Data were collected with face to face interviews (N = 211) with residents of the Mnisi Tribal Authority in Mpumalanga, South Africa, in 2019. Variables including village location, age, children in the household, land ownership status, and gender had a significant influence on residents' risk perception to various insecurities including environmental, food, and water. Among study residents, environmental insecurity is influenced and affected by a range of variables. Local perceptions from the MTA and other local areas are crucial to understanding this relationship. Interpreting and analyzing the perceived risks at all levels can be a key to designing policies that aid in insecurity reduction at local, regional, and global levels.
Show less

Title: Popular expressions of Southern African nationalism(s : convergences, divergences, and reconciliations in South Africa and Zimbabwe
Creator: Mavima, Blessing Shingirirai
Date: 2019
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Popular Expressions of Pan-Africanism and Southern African Nationalism(s): Convergences, Divergences, and Reconciliations in South Africa and Zimbabwe is a dissertation study that traces the transformations, reveals the tensions, and critically analyzes diverging and converging trajectories of different manifestations of African nationalism, including ethnic nationalism, state nationalism, and Pan-Africanism using contemporary South Africa and Zimbabwe as sites of analyses. Focusing on the...
Show morePopular Expressions of Pan-Africanism and Southern African Nationalism(s): Convergences, Divergences, and Reconciliations in South Africa and Zimbabwe is a dissertation study that traces the transformations, reveals the tensions, and critically analyzes diverging and converging trajectories of different manifestations of African nationalism, including ethnic nationalism, state nationalism, and Pan-Africanism using contemporary South Africa and Zimbabwe as sites of analyses. Focusing on the metropolitan provinces of Gauteng and Harare respectively, I use the study to interrogate how popular expressions of African nationalism have emerged and evolved in the neighboring nations during their anti-colonial/anti-apartheid struggles throughout the 20th century, and how they exist today. Presenting a thesis that I call nationalisms from below, the research study reveals how these manifestations of nationalism are imagined, practiced, and represented by the initiatives and actions of different members of the civil society including artists, activists, laborers, and migrants in the two countries' contemporary politics and society. My findings lead to a nuanced determination of the factors that influence the intersections, divergences, and convergences of what I refer to in the study as Africa's tripartite nationalist expressions and identities-ethnicism, African Nationalism, and Pan-Africanism. Critically, the study also aims to disrupt traditional elitist conceptualizations of these phenomena by employing a critical bottom-up approach that gives agency to oft-marginalized participants in the manifestation of nationalism in its various incarnations: the general populace along with its multiple identities and contradictions.The study interrogates the interrelations among ethnic nationalism, state and national nationalism, and Pan-Africanism, using South Africa and Zimbabwe as case studies that both represent the larger postcolonial region, yet also bear distinct dynamics birthed out of the histories of settler colonialism and the late advent of majority rule. In so doing, I demonstrate the relevance and manifestations of nationalism and Pan-Africanism in the everyday lives of Black South Africans and Zimbabweans. While using the two countries as a window into the general condition of postcolonial Africa, the research also interrogates how their distinct history of settler colonialisms, racialism, and delayed transitions to democracy have shaped the ways in which the populace in the two countries engage with Pan-Africanism and African nationalism.
Show less

Title: African American athletes, actors, singers, peformers, and the anti-apartheid movement, 1948-1994
Creator: Jackson, Ronald L., 1970-
Date: 2018
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: “African American Athletes, Actors, Singers, Performers and the Anti-Apartheid Movement, 1948-1994” is the first study to explore the multiple roles African American artists and athletes in the global struggle against apartheid in South Africa. As a transnational study, this dissertation pays attention to the multiple trans-Atlantic dialogues that occurred for over a century between African American entertainers and the people of South Africa. Based on archival sources in the United States...
Show more“African American Athletes, Actors, Singers, Performers and the Anti-Apartheid Movement, 1948-1994” is the first study to explore the multiple roles African American artists and athletes in the global struggle against apartheid in South Africa. As a transnational study, this dissertation pays attention to the multiple trans-Atlantic dialogues that occurred for over a century between African American entertainers and the people of South Africa. Based on archival sources in the United States and South Africa, it argues that many Black Americans in the popular culture industry used their celebrity status to galvanize support for a free South Africa, while others chose paths of accommodation, and, in some cases, collaborated with the Pretoria regime. African American singers, actors, musicians, boxers, golfers, and tennis players were often motivated, both intrinsically and extrinsically, by pan-African connections forged by an empathetic sense of a shared history of racial oppression endured by blacks in both the United States and South Africa during similar time periods. This study addresses questions about the African Diaspora that have not fully been addressed in previous studies. What factors prompted black American entertainers to join the anti-apartheid movement? Did anti-apartheid activists in South Africa consider the support of black American entertainers an essential component of the struggle? Why did some black American entertainers elect to ignore the cultural boycott and tour South Africa?
Show less

Title: Above below : the hierarchy of labor in South African mines
Creator: Unite, Jeannette
Date: 2017-10-10
Collection: G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
Description: Jeannette Unite, South African artist and instructor at the University of Cape Town, delivers a talk entitled "Above below : the hierarchy of labor in South African mines." Unite says that the goal of her art is to document the working conditions of South African miners in a visual format. She goes on to describe the hardships which South African miners face on a daily basis. She answers questions from the audience. The event is convened by John P. Beck, professor, Michigan State University...
Show moreJeannette Unite, South African artist and instructor at the University of Cape Town, delivers a talk entitled "Above below : the hierarchy of labor in South African mines." Unite says that the goal of her art is to document the working conditions of South African miners in a visual format. She goes on to describe the hardships which South African miners face on a daily basis. She answers questions from the audience. The event is convened by John P. Beck, professor, Michigan State University School of Human Resources and Labor Relations.
Show less

Title: Unapologetically Black : transnational diasporic consciousness in the United States and South Africa
Creator: Walton, David Mathew
Date: 2017
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Since the 1990s, “Black Power Studies” has expanded dramatically. Similarly, in the last two decades, a significant body of historical scholarship on the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa has been published. Still, the historiography of both fields is lacking an exploration of the development of a transnational diasporic consciousness and activism. Contributing to these two distinct, yet overlapping, bodies of scholarly intrigue, this study seeks to explore the contributions of...
Show moreSince the 1990s, “Black Power Studies” has expanded dramatically. Similarly, in the last two decades, a significant body of historical scholarship on the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa has been published. Still, the historiography of both fields is lacking an exploration of the development of a transnational diasporic consciousness and activism. Contributing to these two distinct, yet overlapping, bodies of scholarly intrigue, this study seeks to explore the contributions of important, yet under-acknowledged and under-researched, black liberation organizations in the United States and South Africa that were active during the turbulent decades between the mid-1960s and the early 1980s. Unapologetically Black sheds light on the black South African and black American cross fertilization and evolution of “black power” and “blackness” as a modern diasporic concept and identity. This study unearths how they defined and interpreted issues and agenda setting. Using four case studies, this work critically examines how they sought to address the plight and ameliorate the status of African descendants. With a focus on student activists and labor organizers, Unapologetically Black expands the tassel work of other scholars concerning the development of a shared global ‘Black’ identity and movement. The thrust of this study is the scrutinizing of documents produced by the four organizations in the case studies to distill commonly shared themes, strategies, and philosophers. This method, although comparative in nature, is a transnational approach to tracing shared ideas and the common identity construction project of Black Power and Black Consciousness by using these four specific case studies. In this sense, Unapologetically Black is transnational in orientation and a project in black global history. Unapologetically Black identifies and unpacks the perspective of ‘Blackness’ in these movements, analyzes the notion of ‘Black’ identity (or identities), and reveals how BP and BC adherents translated these identities into action. Pressing questions that are addressed in Unapologetically Black include: How do we explain the emergence and development of “black power” and “black consciousness” in these transnational locales? What are the deeper meanings and implications of “black power” and “black consciousness?” How did the members of the organizations conceptualize “black” and “blackness?” How did these organizations formulate and construct their political identities as well as use these identities in the broader global black freedom struggle? My argument is that based upon prior contact, a shared philosophical canon, and facing similar racialized oppression; Black Power and Black Conciousness adherents endeavored to create a new identity and culture to assert a personhood to seize self-determination. ‘Black’ and ‘Blackness’ were conceptualized as a militant revolutionary personhood and culture rooted in self-reliance and self-defense. To those ends, Black Power and Black Conciousness adherents created organizations and independent institutions to replace the state and/or fill the human and civil service needs the state was unwilling or incapable of filling. Unapologetically Black, in short, is about the evolution of ‘Black’ as an identity, political consciousness, cultural framework, and organizing tool.
Show less

Title: Traditional terrain : land, gender, and cultural biodiversity preservation in Venda, South Africa
Creator: Ross, Kimberly Bernita
Date: 2017
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: This study examines the colonial and apartheid frameworks manifest in South Africa's land act legacies and the specific impact on land administration, gender, and the environment in the former apartheid homeland of Venda, South Africa. These historical forces shape present-day neocolonialism and globalization in the region which challenge the rights and citizenship of Black South African women within traditional leadership structures--concurrent with the country's democracy. In Venda,...
Show moreThis study examines the colonial and apartheid frameworks manifest in South Africa's land act legacies and the specific impact on land administration, gender, and the environment in the former apartheid homeland of Venda, South Africa. These historical forces shape present-day neocolonialism and globalization in the region which challenge the rights and citizenship of Black South African women within traditional leadership structures--concurrent with the country's democracy. In Venda, politicians, traditional leaders, and multinational corporations reinforce colonial and apartheid gender ideologies which undermine Vhomakhadzi roles and eco-cultural knowledge practices. Vhomakhadzi are women who have historically played a central role in their clans by advising Vhamusanda (chiefs) on community affairs and presiding over customs that connect with environmental sustainability. Yet today, leaders and politicians ignore Vhomakhadzi warnings that development projects threaten biodiversity and food and water security in the region-- instead commencing with deals to establish foreign coal mines, commercial farms, casinos, and tourist resorts. This empirical study in particular investigates the environmental and community activism and cultural biodiversity preservation strategies of Vhomakhadzi of the community-based organization Dzomo La Mupo. Through ethnographic-style interviews, participant observation, and archival research, this scholarship analyzes the historical and present-day gender politics that have diminished cultural biodiversity. The study reveals that colonial social formations historically confronted the role of makhadzi and continues to undermine her authority today in a globalized, post-apartheid era.
Show less

Title: New routes to the African diaspora(s : locating 'Naija' identities in transnational cultural productions
Creator: Nwabara, Olaocha Nwadiuto
Date: 2017
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Nigerian American Yvonne Orji–star of HBO Series Insecure–shared her self-defined expressions of her Nigerian Diaspora aka 'Naija' identity at a Breakfast Club online interview. She demonstrated her negotiation of her Nigerian and Black American identity, and in doing so reveals the multiplicity of her Black identity. The Nigerian Diaspora is increasingly producing normalized tropes in global Black popular culture, such as formulations of the Nigerian film industry, Nollywood, and...
Show moreNigerian American Yvonne Orji–star of HBO Series Insecure–shared her self-defined expressions of her Nigerian Diaspora aka 'Naija' identity at a Breakfast Club online interview. She demonstrated her negotiation of her Nigerian and Black American identity, and in doing so reveals the multiplicity of her Black identity. The Nigerian Diaspora is increasingly producing normalized tropes in global Black popular culture, such as formulations of the Nigerian film industry, Nollywood, and transnational music in the Afrobeat and Naija Mix genres. Cultural productions that come from these and other Nigerian cultural industries are being created and represented by members of the Nigerian "cultural" Diaspora all over the world. These cultural representations are mapped onto cultural artifacts (e.g. film, music, literature, television, food, clothing) are reflected back into diasporic communities when accepted by its members as having meaning and telling stories of their everyday experiences. Works like these are constitutive of a growing cohort and body of cultural productions emerging from the African Diaspora in the post-colonial era. Examples examined in the current dissertation study include the now famous Nigerian Diaspora representations conveyed in cultural productions such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah, rapper Wale's "My Sweetie" and "The God Smile," Yewande Omotoso's Bom Boy, Akin Omotoso's Man on Ground, and Adze Ugah's Jacob's Cross to name a few. This dissertation is situated within the growing scholarly discourse about new African Diasporas through the prism of cultural diasporas. To guide the study theoretically, I draw from African Diaspora theorists such as Kim Butler, Isidore Okpewho, Paul Zeleza, Juan Flores, and Ruth Simms Hamilton as well as from Cultural Studies theorists Stuart Hall and Pierre Bourdieu to examine select Nigerian artists, their productions, and subsequent representations in the Nigerian Diaspora as cultural diasporas. I present these cultural productions of Nigerian diasporas as a way of examining the transformative and transnational identities (i.e. racial, ethnic, cultural) and community formations that are forged in the dialectical relationship between African homelands (Nigeria) and African Diaspora hostlands (the US and South Africa). In this dissertation, I argue that the social construction of the core identity formation of Nigerian Diasporas (Naija) has a purposeful and useful function for Nigeria in the world through its migrants Diaspora hostlands. The study shows the Nigerian Diaspora identity in this regard acknowledges and unifies Nigerians wherever they may be in the world and allows them to asserts an emotional attraction and belonging to the Nigerian homeland. The social construction of 'Naija' is used in this study as prism for interrogating issues facing Nigerian people in their respective diasporas, while also revealing the distinctive cultural life-styles that Nigerian Black immigrants bring and contribute to their hostlands. The research design focuses in on those primary components of the cultural diasporas–the experiences of the cultural producers (interviews and public talks) and the analysis of their cultural productions (literature, film, television, YouTube, music)–in order to extrapolate cultural representations of the Nigerian Diaspora communities in the United States and South Africa. The study aims to use this data to significantly contribute perspectives of how Nigerian Diasporic cultural identities and experiences are self-represented and exerted in global Diasporic communities, specifically in the racially and ethnic diverse nations of the United States and South Africa. Further, the dissertation examines how representations of self and community becomes decolonial tools for defining and asserting complex Black Diasporic identities and cultural formations.
Show less

Title: Why not academia?---The streamlined career choice process of Black African women engineers : a grounded theory study
Creator: Mlambo, Yeukai Angela
Date: 2017
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Black African women are grossly underrepresented as academic staff in engineering programs at South African universities. The problem is exacerbated at historically White institutions (HWI) where Black women are simply absent as engineering research and teaching staff. The absence of Black African women in the academy occurs despite Black African women enrolling and graduating with engineering postgraduate degrees making them eligible for academic jobs. Furthermore, despite Black African...
Show moreBlack African women are grossly underrepresented as academic staff in engineering programs at South African universities. The problem is exacerbated at historically White institutions (HWI) where Black women are simply absent as engineering research and teaching staff. The absence of Black African women in the academy occurs despite Black African women enrolling and graduating with engineering postgraduate degrees making them eligible for academic jobs. Furthermore, despite Black African women representing the largest population in South Africa at 41% of the population overall, and affirmative action policies in place, engineering academic spaces remain predominantly White and male, not representative of the country's population. In fact White women are overrepresented in engineering academe and in some cases White women are the only female presence in engineering higher education employment. If Black African women are graduating with engineering degrees why are they not equally represented in engineering academe as their White female counterparts? How can the absence of Black African women engineering academics be explained? I use Charmaz's constructivist grounded theory (CGT) to understand the career choice processes of Black African engineering alumni women in South Africa to explain why their career choices thus far have not included the academy. Approaching the research from a social constructivist paradigm, loosely guided by a conceptual framework of African feminism(s) and CGT, and borrowing from life history interview methods this study addresses the underrepresentation of Black African women in engineering academe. Findings indicate Black African women's career choices in engineering are driven by prospects of socio-economic mobility and family/community responsibilities, a product of historical circumstances during apartheid that created social inequalities with Black families relegated to lower socio-economic statuses. In this study career choices were heavily influenced by teachers in pre-tertiary schooling, student academic competencies in mathematics and science, and industry practices that included providing bursary funds to only support engineering higher education endeavors, thereby dictating to students from low income households which careers to pursue especially in cases where the absence of such funding meant one would not be able to afford university costs. The academy was not viewed as a place of work seen instead as a transitory space. The image of the academy as made up of older White males also created the perception that it was not a place for Black women. The combination of the factors influencing career choices in school and the image of the academy as an unwelcoming space for Black women explains Black women's absence in South African engineering academia. Postsecondary institutional leaders should work on changing the image of the academy and marketing it as a career option for students in pre-tertiary and postsecondary education. Institutional culture and representation needs to reflect the diverse student population while actively working to ensure all students, academic and administrative staff feels welcome and valued. More importantly financial resources need to be made available and leveraged to support Black African women's education in a bursary-style format to encourage more Black women to follow academic career pathways.
Show less

Title: On the waterfront in Durban and San Francisco : longshoremen and social movement unionism, 1934-1994
Creator: Cole, Peter, 1969-
Date: 2015-04-24
Collection: G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
Description: Dr. Peter Cole, professor of history at Western Illinois University, delivers a talk entitled, "On the waterfront in Durban and San Francisco : longshoremen and social movement unionism, 1934-1994." Dr. Cole discusses the relationship between South Africa and the U.S. along with the evolution of the city-ports Durban and San Francisco. He is introduced by Michigan State University Professor John P. Beck. Part of the "Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives" Brown Bag series co-sponsored by the MSU...
Show moreDr. Peter Cole, professor of history at Western Illinois University, delivers a talk entitled, "On the waterfront in Durban and San Francisco : longshoremen and social movement unionism, 1934-1994." Dr. Cole discusses the relationship between South Africa and the U.S. along with the evolution of the city-ports Durban and San Francisco. He is introduced by Michigan State University Professor John P. Beck. Part of the "Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives" Brown Bag series co-sponsored by the MSU School of Human Resources and Labor Relations and the MSU Museum. Held in the MSU Museum Auditorium.
Show less

Title: Adverse drug reactions and resultant health-related quality of life during multidrug-resistant tuberculosis treatment in South Africa
Creator: Kelly, Ana Maria
Date: 2015
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: ABSTRACTADVERSE DRUG REACTIONS AND RESULTANT HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE DURING MULTIDRUG-RESISTANT TUBERCULOSIS TREATMENT IN SOUTH AFRICAByAna Maria KellyBackground/Significance: The incidence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is on the rise globally. MDR-TB takes a minimum of 2 years to treat and the treatment regimen produces many adverse drug reactions (ADRs). The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for further research on the treatment of community-based MDR-TB...
Show moreABSTRACTADVERSE DRUG REACTIONS AND RESULTANT HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE DURING MULTIDRUG-RESISTANT TUBERCULOSIS TREATMENT IN SOUTH AFRICAByAna Maria KellyBackground/Significance: The incidence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is on the rise globally. MDR-TB takes a minimum of 2 years to treat and the treatment regimen produces many adverse drug reactions (ADRs). The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for further research on the treatment of community-based MDR-TB patients as care is being decentralized to outpatient settings. In the WHO’s TB progress report for 2015, they note there is a dearth of literature about anti-TB drug-induced mortality, morbidity and loss in quality of life, particularly in low-resource settings. Purpose: This study directly addresses this gap in knowledge by examining the effect of ADRs from MDR-TB treatment on heath-related quality of life (HRQOL) for patients in a low-resource, high HIV-burden population in South Africa. Methods: A cross-sectional, observational study design was used to: 1) describe patient and clinical characteristics of community-based MDR-TB patients; 2) examine the relationship between Aim 1 characteristics and ADRs; and 3) examine the effect of each ADR on HRQOL, controlling for Aim 1 characteristics. MDR-TB patients in the initial intensive phase of treatment were recruited using convenience sampling from an outpatient MDR-TB clinic in South Africa. Patient interviews were conducted in English or isiZulu and included questions on individual characteristics (age, sex, education, employment, relationship status, alcohol/smoking, stigma, and adherence) and environmental characteristics (housing status, food insecurity, social support and discrimination). ADRs and symptom bother over the past month of treatment were collected using a symptom checklist and HRQOL was collected using the EQ-5D. A medical chart data abstraction was conducted to capture MDR-TB treatment, HIV/AIDS status and treatment, co-morbidities, BMI, and laboratory values. Results: Aim 1: The majority of participants (n=121) were co-infected with HIV (75%), female (51%), and did not have enough food to eat everyday (51%). Aim 2: All but two participants reported at least one ADR (98%) with an average of 8.6 per person. In the multivariable analysis, being female and starting MDR-TB treatment with elevated liver enzymes were significantly related to an increase in total ADRs. There was no significant difference in ADRs by HIV status. Aim 3: An increase in total ADRs was significantly related to a decrease in HRQOL. Of the 18 ADRs assessed, six were associated with a decrease in HRQOL in the final model: tinnitus, gastrointestinal symptoms: nausea/vomiting and diarrhea, and symptoms affecting movement: myalgia, arthralgia, and peripheral neuropathy. Patient and clinical characteristics that remained significant were the loss of relationship and hospitalization during treatment, with past hospitalization associated with increased HRQOL. Implications: This study helps fill the knowledge gap on the effect of ADRs from MDR-TB treatment on HRQOL. For clinicians, findings reinforce the need to improve detection, documentation and management of ADRs. Further research is needed to determine effective ADR management techniques to improve HRQOL outcomes for patients on this lengthy and challenging treatment.
Show less

Title: Provocative parallels : the libertaion struggle and the U.S. civil rights movement--a special Project 60/50 brown bag lunch conversation
Date: 2014-03-31
Collection: G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
Description: Dr. C. Kurt Dewhurst, Michigan State University Director of Arts and Cultural Initiatives for University Outreach and Engagement, MSU Museum Curator, and Museum Director Emeritus, hosts a panel discussion titled, "Provocative Parallels: The Liberation Struggle and the U.S. Civil Rights Movement - A Special Project 60/50 Brown Bag Lunch Conversation." The conversation compares and contrasts the Liberation Struggle in South Africa with the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Participants explore the...
Show moreDr. C. Kurt Dewhurst, Michigan State University Director of Arts and Cultural Initiatives for University Outreach and Engagement, MSU Museum Curator, and Museum Director Emeritus, hosts a panel discussion titled, "Provocative Parallels: The Liberation Struggle and the U.S. Civil Rights Movement - A Special Project 60/50 Brown Bag Lunch Conversation." The conversation compares and contrasts the Liberation Struggle in South Africa with the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Participants explore the connections as part of the MSU Project 60/50 thematic year linking exploration and study with public commemoration and remembrance, intertwined with many cultural expressions focused on civil and human rights. Panelists are: Dr. Peter Alegi, MSU Professor of History, Dr. Joe T. Darden, MSU Professor of Geography and African and African-American Studies, MSU Professor Kristi L. Bowman, College of Law, and Dr. Peter Limb, MSU Librarian and Professor of History. The session is held in conjunction with new exhibitions on Ahmed "Kathy" Kathrada and Ruby Bridges at the MSU Museum and "The Greater Lansing Sites of Conscience Project". Held in the MSU Museum Auditorium.
Show less

Title: Domains of influence on academics' careers : narratives from Black African, Coloured, and Indian women academics in post-apartheid South Africa
Creator: Roy, Pamela
Date: 2014
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: "This research study examined a specific group of academics in South Africa who work in a nation that is striving for equity, inclusion and equality among its citizenship as it attempts to redress the legacies of colonial history and apartheid... " -- Abstract.

Title: U.S. President Barack Obama speaks on the death of Nelson Mandela
Creator: Obama, Barack
Date: 2013-12-05
Collection: G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
Description: President Obama, speaking on the death of Nelson Mandela, says Mandela "no longer belongs to us; he belongs to the ages." Obama reflects on Mandela's legacy, his journey from prisoner to President of South Africa, describes Mandela's influence on his own life, and says Mandela bent the arc of the moral universe toward justice.

Title: Non-state security, state legitimacy and political participation in South Africa
Creator: Carter, Danielle
Date: 2013
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: This dissertation explores the political consequences of non-state security provision in the context of South Africa. In the developed and developing world alike, many individuals rely on various forms of non-state security including commercial security companies, voluntary associations, and faith and community-based organizations to meet their security needs. This reliance is especially pronounced in developing countries where the state's capacity to provide security is often weak. Though...
Show moreThis dissertation explores the political consequences of non-state security provision in the context of South Africa. In the developed and developing world alike, many individuals rely on various forms of non-state security including commercial security companies, voluntary associations, and faith and community-based organizations to meet their security needs. This reliance is especially pronounced in developing countries where the state's capacity to provide security is often weak. Though reliance on non-state security is quite widespread in South Africa (and the developing world more generally), little is known about the political consequences of this reliance. This dissertation therefore seeks to probe the attitudinal and behavioral consequences of non-state security reliance. I begin by testing the effect of non-state security reliance on individuals' perceptions of state legitimacy. Using original survey data collected in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg, South Africa, I find that individual reliance on non-state security may strengthen or undercut perceptions of state legitimacy, depending on how individuals view the state's normative role in service delivery. Where individuals feel the state should be responsible for the direct, day-to-day production of security, individual reliance on non-state security decreases perceptions of a legitimate state. But where individuals feel that the state should play more of a facilitative role in security provision, individual reliance on non-state security increases perceptions of a legitimate state. I then test the effect of non-state security reliance on political participation using Afrobarometer survey data. I examine five types of political participation including joining, collective action, contacting, protesting and voting. I argue that non-state security reliance should increase most forms of political participation (except protest), but only when the state is viewed as legitimate. I find that those who rely on non-state security and see the state as legitimate, are less likely to vote, but more likely to engage in non-electoral forms of participation such as protest and collective action. These results suggest that non-state security provision is key to shaping individual political attitudes and behavior in South Africa and other sub-Saharan African countries.
Show less

Title: The causes and consequences of electoral administrative reform in Africa
Creator: Kerr, Nicholas N.
Date: 2013
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: In emerging democratic settings, scholars and policy experts regard electoral management bodies (EMBs) as one of the most important institutions in guaranteeing that political actors adhere to the rules of the electoral contest and that the substantive outcome of elections is not predetermined. Unfortunately, systematic and thorough assessment of EMBs has largely escaped the spotlight of democracy scholars.My dissertation probes two critical questions concerning the important, yet...
Show moreIn emerging democratic settings, scholars and policy experts regard electoral management bodies (EMBs) as one of the most important institutions in guaranteeing that political actors adhere to the rules of the electoral contest and that the substantive outcome of elections is not predetermined. Unfortunately, systematic and thorough assessment of EMBs has largely escaped the spotlight of democracy scholars.My dissertation probes two critical questions concerning the important, yet understudied role of electoral management bodies in emerging democracies. First, what factors influence the design of electoral administration in Africa? Second, what are the consequences of electoral administrative design and performance on the quality of elections in Africa?To answer the first question, I propose a theoretical framework, grounded in historical institutionalism, which attributes election administrative reform to the strategic interactions of domestic and international actors along with the path dependency of institutional legacies during different stages of democracy. Through a comparative analysis of election administrative reforms in a cross-section of African countries, I emphasize the complexity of the reform process and highlight various models of institutional reform. I argue, however, that incumbents are more likely to enact reforms that enhance the autonomy and capacity of electoral administration when they face credible and enduring pressure from a coalition of opposition parties, civil society groups and international actors.In subsequent chapters, I turn my attention to the consequences of electoral administrative design and performance. Primarily, I consider how EMB design and performance may shape the incentives and behaviors of political elite and regular citizens. Using cross-national data on election administrative design and performance in Africa from 1990 to 2008 and data on elites' and citizens' perspectives of election quality, I find EMB performance has the greatest impact on electoral attitudes and behavior. That is, EMBs that display higher levels of actual autonomy and capacity are more likely to enhance electoral integrity by reducing opportunities for electoral fraud, lowering the incidence of procedural irregularities and enhancing citizens' quality of participation in electoral processes. In the penultimate chapter of the dissertation, I rely on survey data from the 2007 and 2011 Nigerian elections to consider whether citizens' personal evaluations of electoral administrative autonomy and capacity are positively associated with their perceptions of election quality. The findings confirm my expectations, even after accounting for Nigerians' experience with electoral irregularities and their political preferences.I use a variety of methods in my dissertation. These include large-n statistical analysis of survey data and other data, as well as small-n comparative analysis of election management in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe using process tracing and content analysis. This multi-method approach also includes collecting original cross-national data on election administrative design in Africa, conducting elite interviews in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe, and observing elections in Ghana (2008) and Nigeria (2011).
Show less

Title: Professor David Wiley, former Director of the Michigan State University African Studies Center, is interviewed by MSU Librarian Peter Limb and John Metzler, MSU Professor of Education
Creator: Wiley, David, 1935-
Date: 2012-11-20
Collection: G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
Description: Professor David Wiley, former Director of the Michigan State University African Studies Center, is interviewed by MSU Librarian Peter Limb and John Metzler, MSU Professor of Education. Wiley reflects on his youth in Harrisburg, Illinois and an upbringing of manual labor and familiarity with rural life which he says prepared him for his career studying Africa. Wiley describes attending Yale Divinity school and going to Africa on an internship to work on race issues. He talks about life in...
Show moreProfessor David Wiley, former Director of the Michigan State University African Studies Center, is interviewed by MSU Librarian Peter Limb and John Metzler, MSU Professor of Education. Wiley reflects on his youth in Harrisburg, Illinois and an upbringing of manual labor and familiarity with rural life which he says prepared him for his career studying Africa. Wiley describes attending Yale Divinity school and going to Africa on an internship to work on race issues. He talks about life in Rhodesia and Southern Africa, Apartheid, poverty, education, religion, and class. Wiley also explains why he came to MSU after teaching at the University of Wisconsin, appreciating the activism at MSU, and his relations with other faculty associated with the African Studies Center. Wiley describes a number of MSU initiatives in Africa, his activity in the anti-Apartheid movement and finally visiting a free South Africa. Part of the African Studies Interview Series sponsored by the MSU Libraries and the MSU African Studies Center.
Show less

Title: Taming the shop floor in South Africa : Black workers in the struggle against apartheid, 1973-1985
Creator: Lichtenstein, Alexander C.
Date: 2012-09-21
Collection: G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
Description: Alex Lichtenstein, professor of history at Indiana University, delivers a talk entitled, "Taming the Shop Floor in South Africa: Black Workers in the Struggle Against Apartheid, 1973 - 1985". Lichtenstein reflects on the history of labor struggles during Apartheid and ties them to a strike by miners in August of 2012 under the ANC government. He describes oppression and attempts to resolve the 1973 strikes and compares this with the ANC's brutal reaction to the current mine strike....
Show moreAlex Lichtenstein, professor of history at Indiana University, delivers a talk entitled, "Taming the Shop Floor in South Africa: Black Workers in the Struggle Against Apartheid, 1973 - 1985". Lichtenstein reflects on the history of labor struggles during Apartheid and ties them to a strike by miners in August of 2012 under the ANC government. He describes oppression and attempts to resolve the 1973 strikes and compares this with the ANC's brutal reaction to the current mine strike. Lichtenstein comments on white union member resistance to blacks joining unions and a move by the government to expand the "works committees" to control the blacks and temper their aspirations. A question and answer session follows. Lichtenstein is introduced by Michigan State University Professor John P. Beck. Part of the "Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives" Brown Bag series sponsored by the MSU School of Human Resources and Labor Relations and the MSU Museum. Held at the MSU Museum.
Show less

Title: Desegregation in a former "whites only" school in South Africa
Creator: Grootboom, Nomalanga P.
Date: 2012
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: AbstractDesegregation in former white schools of South AfricabyNomalanga P. GrootboomAfter decades of racially segregated education under apartheid in South Africa, the process of school desegregation commenced in 1990's with the view equalize education for all, and fostering better relationships and making available equal opportunities for all learners. The process of desegregation not has been without problems as it is apparent with race related incidents of racial conflicts and tension in...
Show moreAbstractDesegregation in former white schools of South AfricabyNomalanga P. GrootboomAfter decades of racially segregated education under apartheid in South Africa, the process of school desegregation commenced in 1990's with the view equalize education for all, and fostering better relationships and making available equal opportunities for all learners. The process of desegregation not has been without problems as it is apparent with race related incidents of racial conflicts and tension in certain desegregated schools. Despite the intentions of policy makers, educators, parents and the success of desegregated schooling needs to be seen through the experience of learners in such schools. This study examines cross racial interaction of learners in a formerly "whites only" high school in South Africa and seeks to explore their day to day school life over a period of six months. Data were obtained from several sources including interviews with students, teachers, and administrators, focus group discussions, and observations. Key findings from the study revealed critical factors that impact the educational experiences of learners in this school, and how these can inform the process of educational change, as well as serve as useful indicators for planning and decision making. Lessons learned from this study provide an opportunity for further comparative studies with respect to the diverse aspects of the teaching-learning for diverse and monoculture learner in different settings of the new (post-apartheid) South African school system.
Show less

Title: Restoring human dignity and building self-reliance : youth, woman, and churches and Black consciousness community development, South Africa, 1969-1977
Creator: Hadfield, Leslie Anne
Date: 2010
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations

MSU Libraries

Digital Repository

Enabled Filters

Pages

Pages

MSU Libraries

Digital Repository

You are here

Search results

Pages

Pages