The Construction of Public Theology: An Ethnographic Study of the Relationship between the Theological Academy and Local Clergy in South Africa

2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 354-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie Day
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Theological Education ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Lay Leaders ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
Aids Epidemic ◽  
Local Experience ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis article presents findings of research conducted in the summer of 2006, and it focuses on how public theology is understood in the academy in relation to the realities encountered by clergy and lay leaders in a challenging ministry context. Through ethnographic research based in South Africa, I examined the relationship between congregations confronting the AIDS epidemic and widespread poverty, and the construction of public theology in the theological academy at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. The research asked: what is the nature of the correspondence between 'formal' public theology and the local, 'lived' theologies of those doing ministry in South Africa; how does local experience influence the ways that the academy prepares leaders for public ministry. The findings from this study, as discussed in this article, have implications for theological education, in terms of enhancing the public orientation of institutions and understanding the link between context and curriculum.

Pluralistic Tendencies in Healing Abantu Illness in the Contemporary South Africa

2020 ◽  
pp. 986-1005
Author(s):  
Kholekile Hazel Ngqila
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Traditional Healers ◽  
Causal Link ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
The Body ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Eastern Cape ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Biomedical Practitioners ◽  
Social Causes

Ukuhanjwa illness was used as an example to understanding abantu illnesses. With attributional theory ukuhanjwa illness is attributed to spiritual and social causes rather than biomedical causes, whereby causal link is socially constructed between ukuhanjwa illness and entry into the body by familiars. Issues explored included conceptualisation of ukuhanjwa illness. The focus of the chapter is on the reasons for continued pluralistic tendencies in healing regardless of the expectation by the West that people should be focusing on the use of the fast evolving biomedical healing methods. The ethnographic study took place among the Southern Nguni people of OR Tambo District Municipality (ORTDM) in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Data was collected using qualitative and ethnographic research methods amongst a sample group of 50 participants. The sample was composed of traditional healers, mothers of children who have experienced ukuhanjwa illness, elderly people (male and female), biomedical practitioners and nurses.

scholarly journals Workforce development in South Africa with a focus on public health nutrition

2008 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 792-800 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nelia P Steyn ◽  
Xikombiso G Mbhenyane
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Workforce Development ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Primary Health Care System ◽  
Public Health Nutrition ◽  
Mortality And Morbidity ◽  
The Public ◽  
Aids Epidemic ◽  
National Human

AbstractObjectivesThe present paper aims to review and report on the current and predicted future public health nutrition workforce in South Africa. Additionally, it examines ways in which the Department of Health (DOH) is striving to meet the increasing burden of nutrition-related diseases in South Africa.MethodsThe primary sources of data used for the review were reports from the Census office, South African health reviews, mortality and morbidity statistics, and documents from the Health Professions Council of South Africa.ResultsThere are fewer than 2000 registered dietitians in South Africa and fewer than 600 of them work in the public health sector. Furthermore, professional nurses – who are the backbone of the primary health-care system and deliver the rudiments of basic nutritional care – are not being trained in sufficient numbers to meet population growth; in 2004 there was only one nurse per 4000 persons. This situation is aggravated by the growing burden of conditions associated with both overnutrition and undernutrition, as well as the enormous demands of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The DOH is striving to meet these increasing needs by means of the Integrated Nutrition Programme as well as a National Human Resources Plan which includes numerous strategies to improve the quantity and quality of health professionals’ training, including dietitians and nutritionists. This plan includes the objective of increasing the public health nutrition workforce to more than 250 newly trained dietitians and nutritionists per annum by 2010.

scholarly journals Authentic leadership and organisational citizenship behaviour in the public health care sector: The role of workplace trust

2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynelle Coxen ◽  
Leoni Van der Vaart ◽  
Marius W. Stander
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Significant Influence ◽  
Indirect Effect ◽  
Authentic Leadership ◽  
Public Health Care ◽  
The Public ◽  
Workplace Trust ◽  
The Relationship

Orientation: The orientation of this study was towards authentic leadership and its influence on workplace trust and organisational citizenship behaviour in the public health care sector.Research purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of authentic leadership on organisational citizenship behaviour, through workplace trust among public health care employees in South Africa. The objective was to determine whether authentic leadership affects organisational citizenship behaviour through workplace trust (conceptualised as trust in the organisation, immediate supervisor and co-workers).Motivation for the study: Employees in the public health care industry are currently being faced with a demanding work environment which includes a lack of trust in leadership. This necessitated the need to determine whether authentic leadership ultimately leads to extra-role behaviours via workplace trust in its three referents.Research design, approach and method: A quantitative cross-sectional survey design was used with employees the public health care sector in South Africa (N = 633). The Authentic Leadership Inventory, Workplace Trust Survey and Organisational Citizenship Behaviour Scale were administered to these participants.Main findings: The results indicated that authentic leadership has a significant influence on trust in all three referents, namely the organisation, the supervisor and co-workers. Both trust in the organisation and trust in co-workers positively influenced organisational citizenship behaviour. Conversely, authentic leadership did not have a significant influence on organisational citizenship behaviour. Finally, authentic leadership had a significant indirect effect on organisational citizenship behaviour through trust in the organisation and trust in co-workers. Trust in the organisation was found to have the strongest indirect effect on the relationship between authentic leadership and organisational citizenship behaviour.Practical/managerial implications: The main findings suggest that public health care institutions would benefit if leaders are encouraged to be more authentic as this might result in increases in both trust among co-workers and in the organisation. Consequently, employees might be more likely to exert additional effort in their work.Contribution/value-add: Limited empirical evidence exists with regard to the relationship between authentic leadership, workplace trust in its three referents and organisational citizenship behaviour. This study aimed to contribute to the limited number of studies conducted.

scholarly journals Probing the “global Reformed Christ” of Nico Koopman: An African-Kairos perspective

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 495-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakub Urbaniak
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
Black African ◽  
The Public ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Economic Issues ◽  
Major Factors ◽  
The Church

This study seeks to probe Nico Koopman’s Christological approach through the lens of the theological framework spelled out in the Kairos Document (1985), and in particular its understandings of church theology and prophetic theology, critically re-appropriated in the current socioeconomic context of South Africa. Four essential aspects of Koopman’s Christological perspective are examined: (1) the Reformed view of the lordship of Christ as the basis for the public vocation of theology; (2) Trinitarian and Christological foundations of human dignity; (3) Jesus as the epitome of divine and human vulnerability, and (4) the organic connection between the threefold office of Christ and the public calling of the church. In conclusion, I argue that Koopman’s Christ, albeit displaying an African veneer, upon scrutiny, appears to be unfamiliar with and unconcerned about the problems faced by most South Africans today, and thereby fails to constructively engage with African (especially black African) contexts of our day. This is due to four major factors, namely (a) Koopman’s choices regarding theological references; (b) his cursory and un-nuanced treatment of African theological notions; (c) his a-pathetic mode of theologising; and (d) his inability (or lack of willingness) to engage with structural (especially macro-economic) issues. I further suggest that my conclusions concerning Koopman’s “global Reformed Christ” may be (at least tentatively) extrapolated into a number of approaches developed by South African theologians under the umbrella of “public theology”. I also point to some promising (prophetically-loaded) insights coming from the chosen public theologians, including Koopman himself, as a way of illustrating the tension between civic spirit and public anger, inherent in this mode of theologising.

Pluralistic Tendencies in Healing Abantu Illness in the Contemporary South Africa

2017 ◽  
pp. 375-394
Author(s):  
Kholekile Hazel Ngqila
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Traditional Healers ◽  
Causal Link ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
The Body ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Eastern Cape ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Biomedical Practitioners ◽  
Social Causes

Ukuhanjwa illness was used as an example to understanding abantu illnesses. With attributional theory ukuhanjwa illness is attributed to spiritual and social causes rather than biomedical causes, whereby causal link is socially constructed between ukuhanjwa illness and entry into the body by familiars. Issues explored included conceptualisation of ukuhanjwa illness. The focus of the chapter is on the reasons for continued pluralistic tendencies in healing regardless of the expectation by the West that people should be focusing on the use of the fast evolving biomedical healing methods. The ethnographic study took place among the Southern Nguni people of OR Tambo District Municipality (ORTDM) in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Data was collected using qualitative and ethnographic research methods amongst a sample group of 50 participants. The sample was composed of traditional healers, mothers of children who have experienced ukuhanjwa illness, elderly people (male and female), biomedical practitioners and nurses.

scholarly journals The influence of public procurement policies on the implementation of procurement best practices in South African universities

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Winnie Dlamini ◽  
Intaher M. Ambe
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
South African ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Related Literature ◽  
The Public ◽  
Environmental Development ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between public procurement policies and procurement best practices (PBPs) in higher education institutions is inevitable. Higher education institutions (HEIs) in South Africa play a crucial role in contributing to the economic, social and environmental development of the country. Hence the implementation of PBPs has a key role in creating a competitive advantage for higher education. The purpose of this article is to determine the influence of public procurement policies on the implementation of PBPs in the public HEIs in South Africa. The article employs a theoretical review of related literature on public procurement and PBPs. The article articulates that public procurement policies influence the implementation of PBPs in public HEIs in South Africa.

scholarly journals Proposing a competitive intelligence (CI) framework for Public Service departments to enhance service delivery

2012 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nisha Sewdass
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Competitive Intelligence ◽  
The Public ◽  
Service Departments ◽  
Tools And Techniques ◽  
Improve Service Delivery

Background: The aim of public service departments in South Africa is to improve service delivery through the transformation and improvement of human resources and the improvement of service delivery practices. Furthermore, it is important for the public service sector in South Africa to improve the quality of its service delivery, not only by comparing its performance with other sectors within South Africa but also by positioning itself amongst the best in the world. This can be achieved by benchmarking with other global industries and by implementing the most recent competitive intelligence strategies, tools and techniques. The environment of the public service organisations consists of competitive forces that impact the functioning of these organisations.Objectives: This article focuses on proposing competitive intelligence-related strategies, tools and techniques for gathering and analysing information in the public service departments in South Africa in order to enhance service delivery.Method: The study was qualitative in nature and was divided into two components, namely, (1) theoretical – through an extensive review of the literature and (2) empirical – an ethnographic study at the chosen public service department, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA). Ethnographic interviews with management-level staff, focus groups and document analysis were used to obtain adequate information to determine the current state of public service delivery in South Africa.Results: The results of the study was the development of a new competitive intelligencerelated framework for gathering and analysing information, and it represents a formal and systematic process of informing managers in public service departments about critical issues that these departments face or are likely to experience in future.Conclusion: The strategic planning tools and techniques of this framework will fill the gap that exists in public service departments. Once this framework has been implemented, it could assist these departments to improve service delivery to its citizens.

scholarly journals The limited public good of a confession. A public theological reflection on enhancing the (public) good of the Belhar Confession in the Reformed Church family of South Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
AR Brunsdon
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Public Good ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
Biblical Exegesis ◽  
Social Relevance ◽  
Native Land ◽  
The Public ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
The Social

Public theology takes on many forms, generally seeking some public good by interpreting Scripture, trying to reveal the social relevance of the theological truth concerned. In this framework the Belhar Confession can arguably be deemed a public theological tour de force as it spoke out against, amongst others, social injustices based on wrongful Biblical exegesis. Speaking to different “publics” over the last three decades, the good resulting from this confession, ironically, seems extremely limited – especially in the Reformed Church family (public) of its native land, South Africa. It would even be safe to allege that this confession has had a polarizing effect, rather than a unifying one. As public theology is regarded as an intra-disciplinary venture, this article will reflect critically on the limited good of this confession and will ponder the notion of enhancing its good as a form of public theology by means of a public-theological reflection. It is suspected that several possibilities reside within a public-theological reading whereby the good this confession is capable of can be enhanced.

scholarly journals Healthcare Innovation—The Epital: An Ethnographic Study of a Unique Way of Organizing Healthcare Innovation

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 82-99
Author(s):  
Louise Hesseldal ◽  
Lars Kayser
Keyword(s):  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Organizational Network ◽  
Michel Serres ◽  
Healthcare Innovation ◽  
The Relationship

There is an ongoing debate about how best to organize healthcare innovation. This article introduces and illustrates an alternative way of doing so by studying an emerging informal and inter-organizational network (IION) in practice. Taking an ethnographic research approach, the authors propose the concept of a potluck feast to de-scribe the nature of an IION and the dynamics within it. The relationship between the project and the actors is explored by introducing Steven Brown’s reading of Michel Serres’ concept of the parasite. The unique way of organizing healthcare innovation studied in the article involves an open, sharing approach, where everyone makes themselves an open resource for the project and where the contribution is determined by the actors’ own motivation rather than regulated by a formal setup and contracts. The article argues that the ethnographic research approach is useful to explore the emergence and dynamics of IIONs. In this way, this article contributes to the field of healthcare innovation and how to organize it, and may inspire those who are already in or intend to study this field.

scholarly journals Watching the watchers: conducting ethnographic research on covert police investigation in the United Kingdom

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 630-645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shane Mac Giollabhuí ◽  
Benjamin Goold ◽  
Bethan Loftus
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Law Enforcement Agencies ◽  
Police Investigation ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Relationship

It has long been claimed that the police are the most visible symbol of the criminal justice system (Bittner, 1974). There is, however, a significant strand of policing – covert investigation that relies routinely on methods of deception – that resists public revelation (Ross, 2008). The growing importance of covert police investigation has profound implications for the relationship between citizen and the state in a democratic society, but it is relatively unexplored by police researchers. In this article, we describe the methodology of the first ethnographic study of how the introduction of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (2000) – a piece of ‘enabling’ legislation that regulates the conditions under which law enforcement agencies can intervene in the privacy of individuals – has effected the conduct of covert police investigation in the United Kingdom. We describe our ethnographic experience in the ‘secret world’ of covert policing, which is familiar in many respects to ethnographers of uniformed officers, but which also differed significantly. We contend that the organizing principle of surveillance – the imperative to maintain the secrecy of an operation – had a marked impact on our ethnographic experience, which eroded significantly our status as non-participant observers and altered out reflexive experience by activating the ‘usefulness’ of our gender.

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