Standing Out and Blending In: Contact-Based Research, Ethics, and Positionality

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Carolyn E. Holmes
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Research Ethics ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Ethical Training ◽  
Research Outcomes ◽  
Different Populations ◽  
The Way

ABSTRACT This article explores the ethical difficulties that arise because of the interaction between fieldwork practitioners and their sites, in terms of the positionality of the researcher. What are the ethics of blending in or of standing out? This question stems from my experience of 12 months of fieldwork in South Africa in two distinct locales and among two different populations, one in which I could “pass” and another in which I was marked as various degrees of “outsider.” Drawing on this fieldwork, as well as an overview of the literature in political science on positionality, I argue that our discipline—because of the way it shapes interactions and research outcomes—must take positionality seriously in ethical training and practice.

La Traviata Affair

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilde Roos
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Racial Boundaries ◽  
Cultural Organization ◽  
Colored People ◽  
Art Forms ◽  
Group A ◽  
La Traviata ◽  
Apartheid Regime ◽  
Opera Production ◽  
The Way

Opera, race, and politics during apartheid South Africa form the foundation of this historiographic work on the Eoan Group, a so-called colored cultural organization that performed opera in the Cape. The La Traviata Affair: Opera in the Time of Apartheid charts Eoan’s opera activities from its inception in 1933 until the cessation of its work by 1980. By accepting funding from the apartheid government and adhering to apartheid conditions, the group, in time, became politically compromised, resulting in the rejection of the group by their own community and the cessation of opera production. However, their unquestioned acceptance of and commitment to the art of opera lead to the most extraordinary of performance trajectories. During apartheid, the Eoan Group provided a space for colored people to perform Western classical art forms in an environment that potentially transgressed racial boundaries and challenged perceptions of racial exclusivity in the genre of opera. This highly significant endeavor and the way it was thwarted at the hands of the apartheid regime is the story that unfolds in this book.

scholarly journals Truth and reconciliation in South Africa: Hindu experiences and concerns

2004 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
P.G.J. Meiring
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Faith Communities ◽  
The South ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Hindu Community ◽  
The Way

The author who served on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), focuses on the Hindu experience in South Africa during the apartheid years. At a special TRC Hearing for Faith Communities (East London, 17-19 November 1997) two submissions by local Hindu leaders were tabled. Taking his cues from those submissions, the author discusses four issues: the way the Hindu community suffered during these years, the way in which some members of the Hindu community supported the system of apartheid, the role of Hindus in the struggle against apartheid, and finally the contribution of the Hindu community towards reconciliation in South Africa. In conclusion some notes on how Hindus and Christians may work together in th

scholarly journals Metabolomic Analysis of The Chemical Diversity of South Africa Leaf Litter Fungal Species Using an Epigenetic Culture-Based Approach

Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (14) ◽  
pp. 4262
Author(s):  
Rachel Serrano ◽  
Víctor González-Menéndez ◽  
Germán Martínez ◽  
Clara Toro ◽  
Jesús Martín ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Genome Mining ◽  
Fungal Species ◽  
Chemical Diversity ◽  
Fermentation Conditions ◽  
Metabolite Profiles ◽  
Different Populations ◽  
Fungal Genomes ◽  
Microbial Natural Products ◽  
Fermentation Media

Microbial natural products are an invaluable resource for the biotechnological industry. Genome mining studies have highlighted the huge biosynthetic potential of fungi, which is underexploited by standard fermentation conditions. Epigenetic effectors and/or cultivation-based approaches have successfully been applied to activate cryptic biosynthetic pathways in order to produce the chemical diversity suggested in available fungal genomes. The addition of Suberoylanilide Hydroxamic Acid to fermentation processes was evaluated to assess its effect on the metabolomic diversity of a taxonomically diverse fungal population. Here, metabolomic methodologies were implemented to identify changes in secondary metabolite profiles to determine the best fermentation conditions. The results confirmed previously described effects of the epigenetic modifier on the metabolism of a population of 232 wide diverse South Africa fungal strains cultured in different fermentation media where the induction of differential metabolites was observed. Furthermore, one solid-state fermentation (BRFT medium), two classic successful liquid fermentation media (LSFM and YES) and two new liquid media formulations (MCKX and SMK-II) were compared to identify the most productive conditions for the different populations of taxonomic subgroups.

Research Ethics Committees’ Oversight of Biomedical Research in South Africa: A Thematic Analysis of Ethical Issues Raised During Ethics Review of Non-Expedited Protocols

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blessing Silaigwana ◽  
Douglas Wassenaar
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Research Ethics ◽  
South African ◽  
Biomedical Research ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Ethics Committees ◽  
Financial Contracts ◽  
Scientific Validity ◽  
Participant Selection ◽  
Education And Awareness

In South Africa, biomedical research cannot commence until it has been reviewed and approved by a local research ethics committee (REC). There remains a dearth of empirical data on the nature and frequency of ethical issues raised by such committees. This study sought to identify ethical concerns typically raised by two South African RECs. Meeting minutes for 180 protocols reviewed between 2009 and 2014 were coded and analyzed using a preexisting framework. Results showed that the most frequent queries involved informed consent, respect for participants, and scientific validity. Interestingly, administrative issues (non-ethical) such as missing researchers’ CVs and financial contracts emerged more frequently than ethical questions such as favorable risk/benefit ratio and fair participant selection. Although not generalizable to all RECs, our data provide insights into two South African RECs’ review concerns. More education and awareness of the actual ethical issues typically raised by such committees might help improve review outcomes and relationships between researchers and RECs.

Woolworths and Wales: A Multi-Dimensional Analysis of the Loss of a Local Brand

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin James Smith ◽  
Jesse Heley ◽  
Ian Stafford
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Dimensional Analysis ◽  
General Public ◽  
High Street ◽  
The Way

In this paper we present a multi-dimensional analysis of the closure of Woolworths in Wales and the way in which the loss of this familiar high-street brand can be accounted for at a number of levels and within different social arenas. Primarily, the paper demonstrates how Woolworths is positioned as a symbol of a previous era of consumption centred upon community and place based notions of nostalgia and community. What is striking in the analysis is the similarities in the way in which Woolworths is mobilised as a symbol by the general public and elites; albeit with varying outcomes and affects. In presenting the analysis the paper demonstrates a processual framing as providing a fruitful approach to the combination of different approaches and fields of inquiry (sociology, geography, and political science) without diminishing their distinct contributions.

scholarly journals Review: Van den Heuvel-Panhuizen M, Kuehne C & Lombard A-P. 2014. Learning Pathway for Number in the Early Primary Grades. South Africa.

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Mike Askew
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Primary Grades ◽  
The Social ◽  
Early Primary ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Way

<p>I cringe at the fashion of reducing everything to a set of discrete points – ‘the five keys to eternal happiness’, ‘twenty-seven ways to beat procrastination’ – yet find myself attracted to the 4 E’s model of cognition: that cognition is embodied, embedded, enactive, and extended. Far yet from being a coherent model in the sense of general agreement over what each of these terms means, and despite sounding reductionist, the model seems to have traction through bringing together differing theoretical positions and suggesting that cognition cannot be accounted for by just one of them.<br />For example, Lakoff &amp; Núñez (2000) argue for embodied origins of mathematics, but the power of mathematics also resides in the way that it extends our ‘natural’ understandings. And while the Vygotskian position of cognition arising from the move from the interpersonal – the embedded and enactive – to the intrapersonal is popular, it seems to lack explanatory power about how it is that what originates between people comes to be located within the individual. The proprioceptor emphasis of embodied theories (that cognition originates through our literal, common senses of position and the movement of our bodies in space) has, I think, potential to unlock this connection between the social and individual.</p>

Constitutional Rights and Social Welfare: Exploring Claims-Making Practices in Post-Apartheid South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-48
Author(s):  
Whitney K. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Neighborhood Context ◽  
The State ◽  
Constitutional Rights ◽  
The Law ◽  
Material Conditions ◽  
Do So ◽  
The Way

When do individuals choose to advance legal claims to social welfare goods? To explore this question, I turn to the case of South Africa, where, despite the adoption of a "transformative" constitution in 1996, access to social welfare goods remains sorely lacking. Drawing on an original 551-person survey, I examine patterns of legal claims-making, focusing on beliefs individuals hold about the law, rights, and the state, and how those beliefs relate to decisions about whether and how to make claims. I find striking differences between the factors that influence when people say they should file a legal claim and when they actually do so. The way that individuals interpret their own material conditions and neighborhood context are important, yet under-acknowledged, factors for explaining claims-making.

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