scholarly journals Decoloniality in physiotherapy education, research and practice in South Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Saul Cobbing

Background: Historically, the profession of physiotherapy in South Africa has closely aligned itself with our former colonial master, the United Kingdom. Whilst efforts have been made in recent years to transform our profession, numerous challenges remain. An improved understanding of the topic of decoloniality is a useful and necessary way of beginning to address these challenges.Objectives: The aim of this opinion piece is to encourage further dialogue amongst South African physiotherapists working in all sectors – a dialogue that must focus on genuinely transforming our profession to be better suited to serving the majority of South Africans.Method: Global and local literature related to decoloniality is summarised for readers, followed by a closer scrutiny of how this topic relates to some of the challenges faced by the profession of physiotherapy in South Africa.Results: The evidence presented demonstrates that whilst some efforts have been made to transform South African physiotherapy, significant work and dialogue is required to bring about a true transformation of the profession.Conclusion: An honest and transparent conversation about decoloniality and transformation can assist in realising the potential of our profession, thereby improving the health and well-being of all South Africans.Clinical implications: Real engagement with this topic can assist in transforming who enters our profession, what we teach, where and why we conduct research and how we can ensure that physiotherapy practice contributes to real social justice by benefitting the majority of our population.

2005 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans De Witte

This article reviews the literature on job insecurity. After defining the concept and its components, the prevalence of job insecurity among workers is discussed. Next, various antecedents are charted, and the consequences of job insecurity for the health and well-being of individuals and for their attitudes and behaviours towards organizations are discussed. Finally, some practical suggestions are made in order to reduce the harmful effects of insecurity, and some suggestions for future research are formulated. The focus of this review article is on studies from Europe and the U.S. As such, it aims to introduce the field of job insecurity to South African researchers. Opsomming Die artikel gee ’n oorsig van die literatuur oor werksonsekerheid. Na die defineering van die konsep en die komponente, word die voorkoms van werksonsekerheid onder werknemers bespreek. Volgende word verskeie antesedente bespreek, en die gevolge van werksonsekerheid op die gesondheid en welstand van individue, hul gesindhede en hul gedrag teenoor die organisasie bespreek. Laastens word daar ’n paar praktiese voorstelle gemaak om die skadelike gevolge van onsekerheid te verminder, asook voorstelle vir toekomstige navorsing. Die fokus van hierdie oorsig artikel is op studies in Europa and die VSA gemaak, en as sulks beoog dit om die veld van werksonsekerheid aan Suid-Afrikaanse navorsers voor te stel.


AJIL Unbound ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 428-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Curtis A. Bradley ◽  
Laurence R. Helfer

Courts in the United Kingdom and South Africa have recently issued important rulings that have constrained the executive's authority to withdraw from treaties in those countries. This essay considers whether these rulings might offer insights for treaty exit issues in the United States. We first provide an overview of U.S. law and practice regarding the termination of international agreements. We next summarize the U.K. and South African decisions, which required parliamentary approval for pulling out of treaties establishing the European Union and the International Criminal Court (ICC), respectively. Finally, we consider the relevance of these rulings for treaty withdrawals in the United States. We conclude that they are unlikely to offer much guidance, both because of differences in the three countries' constitutions and because the reasoning of the U.K. and South African courts do not engage with the central arguments made in the United States concerning the President's unilateral authority to withdraw from treaties.


2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claude-Hélène Mayer ◽  
Rian Viviers ◽  
Louise Tonelli

Orientation: Shame has been internationally researched in various cultural and societal contexts as well as across cultures in the workplace, schools and institutions of higher education. It is an emotional signal that refers to experienced incongruence of identity goals and the judgement of others.Research purpose: The purpose of this study was to focus on experiences of shame in the South African (SA) workplace, to provide emic, in-depth insights into the experiences of shame of employees.Motivation for the study: Shame in the workplace often occurs and might impact negatively on mental health and well-being, capability, freedom and human rights. This article aims at gaining some in-depth understanding of shame experiences in SA workplaces. Building on this understanding the aim is to develop awareness in Industrial and Organisational Psychologists (IOPs), employees and organisations to cope with shame constructively in addition to add to the apparent void in the body of knowledge on shame in SA workplaces.Research design, approach and method: An interpretative hermeneutical research paradigm, based on Dilthey’s modern hermeneutics was applied. Data were collected through semistructured interviews of 11 employees narrating their experiences from various workplaces, including the military, consulting organisations and higher education institutions. Content analysis was used for data analysis and interpretation.Main findings: The major themes around which shameful experiences evolved included loss of face, mistreatment by others, low work quality, exclusion, lifestyle and internalised shame on failure in the workplace. Shame is experienced as a disturbing emotion that impacts negatively on the self within the work context. It is also experienced as reducing mental health and well-being at work.Practical/managerial implications: SA organisations need to be more aware of shame in the workplace, to address the potential negative effects of shame on employees, particularly if they are not prepared to reframe shame into a constructively and positively used emotion. Safe spaces should be made available to talk about shame. Strategies should be applied to deal with shame constructively.Contribution/value-add: This article expands an in-depth understanding of shame from emic and culture-specific perspectives within SA workplaces. The findings are beneficial to IOPs and organisations to understand what shame is from the perspective of SA employees across cultural groups. The article thereby adds value to theory and practice, offering IOPs a deeper understanding of shame in the work context.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon D'Alfonso ◽  
Jessica Phillips ◽  
Lee Valentine ◽  
John Gleeson ◽  
Mario Alvarez-Jimenez

UNSTRUCTURED The modern omnipresence of social media and social networking sites (SNSs) brings with it a range of important research questions. One of these concerns the impact of SNS use on mental health and well-being, a question that has been pursued in depth by scholars in the psychological sciences and the field of human-computer interaction. Despite this attention, the design choices made in the development of SNSs and the notion of well-being employed to evaluate such systems require further scrutiny. In this viewpoint paper, we examine the strategic design choices made in our development of an enclosed SNS for young people experiencing mental ill-health in terms of ethical and persuasive design and in terms of how it fosters well-being. In doing so, we critique the understanding of well-being that is used in much of the existing literature to make claims about the impact of a given technology on well-being. We also demonstrate how the holistic concept of eudaimonic well-being and ethical design of SNSs can complement one another.


Author(s):  
Riaz Ismail ◽  
Clarence Itumeleng Tshoose

The main objective of this article is to analyse the issue of onus emanating from the enforcement of unilateral changes to conditions of employment. At the heart of the controversy that has faced the Labour Appeal Court was how to interpret dismissals that appear to be based on operational requirements, and yet at the same time, such dismissals also appear to have the effect of compelling an employee to accept a demand in respect of a matter of mutual interest between the employer and the employee. The core section in the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 relating to disputes of this nature is section 187(1)(c) of the Act, and the central enquiry to such disputes is whether they are automatically unfair or operationally justifiable. The fine line that determines whether a dismissal is acceptable or not merits an analysis of the overall onus that faces an employer and employee. This analysis is the focus of the article, which deals predominantly with procedural issues. The issue relating to the promotion of collective bargaining will be assessed against the right to dismiss, based on an analysis of the situation in South Africa, and a brief comparison with the situations in the United Kingdom and Canada. Thereafter, recommendations are made to the South African legislature.


1999 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-5
Author(s):  
Katherine F. Shepard

This paper presents a brief description of some of the author’s perceptions of the land, of physiotherapy education and practice and of the struggle of the nation of South Africa acquired during a 4 week visit in late spring 1997. One week was spent in Cape Town participating in several venues at the International Congress of the South African Society of Physiotherapy. Three weeks were spent at the University of the Witswatersrand in Johannesburg presenting a course in qualitative research to health care colleagues representing the disciplines of physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology and occupational health. During the time in Johannesburg several health care facilities were visited including Baragwanath Hospital, Natal Hospital and the Wits Rural Facility and Tinswalo Hospital at Acornhoek.


2021 ◽  
pp. 46-65
Author(s):  
Bill Freund ◽  
Vishnu Padayachee

This chapter addresses the unfolding economic history of South Africa in the apartheid era (1948–94). The chapter is organized according to a periodization with 1971–73 as a marker of the break, and along specific thematic lines. These include a discussion of the way in which this history has been studied and through what theoretical lenses, before engaging with the main issues, including the impact of Afrikaner nationalism on economic growth, the way in which the minerals energy sector, which dominated early perspectives of South African economic history and perspectives, is impacted in this era of National Party rule. An analysis of the role of one major corporation (Anglo American Corporation) in shaping this economic history is followed by an assessment of the impact of the global and local crisis after c.1970 on the South African economy. An abiding theme is that of race and economic development and the way in which the impact of this key relationship of apartheid South Africa on economic growth has been studied.


1964 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 468-485

The Security Council considered the situation in the Republic of South Africa resulting from the apartheid policies of the South African government during its 1073rd–1078th meetings held from November 27 to December 11, 1963. The Council had before it the request made by 32 African and Asian states in a letter of October 23, 1963, addressed to the President of the Security Council; and the report by the Secretary-General submitted pursuant to the request made in the Security Council's Resolution of August 7, 1963, that he keep the situation in South Africa under observation and report to the Security Council by October 30, 1963. At the President's invitation Mrs. Pandit (India), Mr. Grimes (Liberia), Mr. Rakotomalala (Madagascar), Mr. Slim (Tunisia), and Mr. Karefa-Smart (Sierra Leone) took places at the Security Council table.


2020 ◽  
pp. 135481662093280
Author(s):  
Jen D Snowball ◽  
Geoff G Antrobus

Worldwide, the number and variety of cultural festivals have grown dramatically. Many areas see festivals as an important way to attract tourists, and their spending, to a region, resulting in a positive economic impact. While they offer important opportunities for artistic producers and audiences, there is growing pressure for festival organizers to demonstrate their value to society beyond their economic impact. Like many countries, South Africa has a strong focus on increasing diverse cultural participation, demonstrating the social, nonmarket values of events that receive public funding. Using data from two South African festivals, the article uses a valuation framework developed by the South African Cultural Observatory to demonstrate measures of audience diversity, the use of quality of life measures to gauge the impact of culture on well-being, and the use of community focus groups to assess the impact of participation on social cohesion and capacity building.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 141-160
Author(s):  
Anna Wilshire Jones Bornman ◽  
Carol Jean Mitchell

Purpose The purpose of this study was to explore children’s pathways through homelessness within the South African context, with particular attention paid to pathways out of homelessness. This study focusses on factors influencing children’s successful transitions out of homelessness. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative exploratory design was used, using interviews with nine children who had exited or were in the process of exiting homelessness. Interviews were conducted at a children’s shelter in Pietermaritzburg or in the children’s home environments. Interviews were analysed thematically. Findings An ecological framework was used to frame the factors influencing children’s pathways in, through and out of homelessness in the children’s narratives. These included institutions, relationships and intrapersonal strengths and resources. The study suggested that constructive relationships with shelter staff and parental figures, as well as intrapersonal strengths, were the most prominent factors in children successfully negotiating their way through their homelessness. The importance of a relationship with the paternal family within some African cultures was also a point of leverage. Research limitations/implications Implications for policy and practise include the need for systemic change, as well as greater support for shelters and shelter staff. The issue of rivalry in the shelter context and the role of the paternal family in the reintegration process require more research attention. The research is limited to homeless children in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Practical implications This study provided feedback to the shelter regarding their strategies for assisting homeless children off the streets. It further provided evidence for the importance of the work of the shelter, to strengthen advocacy efforts. This may be useful to others in similar circumstances. Social implications This study highlights the importance of macrosystemic interventions in the efforts to assist homeless children, while at the same time not ignoring the inter and intra, personal elements to enhancing their well-being. Originality/value This paper is singular in its exploration of factors influencing children’s successful transitions out of homelessness within the South African context.


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