Authors:Aletta J. Van As, Lorayne Excell, Naseema Shaik First page: 8 Abstract: This article explores parents’ perceptions of their children’s belongingness in early childhood care and education (ECCE) centres. It stems from the unexpected findings of a transformative ECCE pedagogy research project, which was characterised by multicultural, multiracial and varied economic conditions. As such, the authors expected controversial parental perceptions of the quality of the care and education their children experienced in these centres. However, this was not the case. Drawing on the theory of salutogenesis and its key concept, namely a sense of coherence, parents’ responses about their children’s early learning and well-being across diverse ECCE contexts were overwhelmingly positive. This prompted the question: what was it in these centres that allowed parents to experience a strong sense of belonging and such positive sentiments concerning their children’s sense of well-being' This phenomenological study was informed by the narratives of 19 parents, collected through the transformative pedagogy project, set in rural and urban situations, and at well-resourced and under-resourced centres. Findings reflected four identifiable themes. Firstly, parents favoured the diversity of influences at the centres, viewing these as rich opportunities for their children’s development and learning. Secondly, parents felt a strong conviction that the ECCE teachers were genuinely concerned about and sensitive towards their children. Thirdly, parents believed that their children were learning playfully in safe, loving spaces, and fourthly, parents were confident that their children were happy in the centres. These findings are particularly welcomed in the ECCE space, which is often demoralised and marginalised within the broader schooling system.Transdisciplinarity Contribution: The article shows that quality early childhood learning and teaching can take place across disparate contexts, be they urban or rural, well-resourced or under-resourced. This study identified factors that led to parents perceiving that their children experienced happiness and a sense of belonging in different centres. PubDate: 2023-05-17 DOI: 10.4102/td.v19i1.1225 Issue No:Vol. 19, No. 1 (2023)
Authors:Yakubu A. Yakubu, De Wet Schutte First page: 8 Abstract: Globally, there has been increasing interest in the study of caregiving. Female caregiver predictors or mediators and a multidimensional female caregiver burden (FCG burden) model that incorporates environmental hygiene factors such as toilet hygiene and kitchen are lacking, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This study evaluates caregiver burden predictors and provides a multidimensional model of unremunerated care burden for family practice and policy in two different population group communities in Cape Town, South Africa. A systematic random sampling (SRS) procedure was employed, and 100 black or African and 100 mixed race female caregivers in two different cultural communities were selected for a reliable cross-section. A questionnaire was used to solicit caregiver burden information. The average age of the female caregivers was 47.9 years (standard deviation [SD] = 11.7 years). About 49.0% of the selected participants were older than 50 years. There was a significant relationship between environmental health (kitchen hygiene and toilet hygiene). Social grant receipt and physical health status of care recipients were predictors of caregiver burden. The overall model explained the largest variation (43.4%) in caregiver burden. This study recommends an increase in the social grants given to caregivers. National health policies should reflect female caregivers’ circumstances.Transdisciplinarity Contribution: This article contributes to the improvement in community health.
Authors:Mark Rathbone First page: 11 Abstract: The purpose of this article is to argue that Adam Smith’s assessment of agrarian economics is based on the transdisciplinary engagement between moral theory and economics in An inquiry into nature and causes of the wealth of nations (first published in 1776). This assessment draws on recent scholarship that underscores that Smith’s earlier work The Theory of Moral Sentiments (first published in 1759) is not in conflict with Smith’s economic theory; it rather presents the moral point of departure of his economics. This transdisciplinary interaction derails the divergent perspectives of contemporary scholars that either view Smith as an agrarian economist or an antagonist of industrialisation. The reason for this view of Smith’s economics is due to the failure to emphasise the engagement between agrarian economic and Smith’s moral theory that championed liberty. Secondarily, this engagement between economics and moral theory highlights Smith’s contribution to sustainable economics that can play an influential role in contemporary society.Transdisciplinarity Contribution: The article highlights the transdisciplinary interaction between Adam Smith’s free market economic theory and his moral theory as a function of liberty with special reference to agrarianism. PubDate: 2023-05-03 DOI: 10.4102/td.v19i1.1317 Issue No:Vol. 19, No. 1 (2023)
Authors:Quatro Mgogo, Oluyinka Osunkunle First page: 11 Abstract: Immigration and emigration are inevitable however, some South Africans have shown a strong dislike of those coming from other countries, in the form of xenophobia. Several studies have attributed the prevalence of xenophobia in South African communities to socio-economic, sociopolitical and scapegoating issues, with some researchers highlighting the role of the media in perpetuating xenophobia-related violence. On the other hand, xenophobia in institutions of higher learning in South Africa, which are a microcosm of society, has been under-prioritised in exploring the prevalence of xenophobia. This article aims to explore students’ perceptions on the influence of media stereotypes of foreign nationals on xenophobia-related behaviours in selected higher education institutions. In part, it aims to explore students’ perceptions on the influence of media-perpetuated stereotypes that may be attributed to possible symbolic xenophobia among university students. Therefore, this article looked at three South African universities, namely the University of Fort Hare, Alice Campus in the Eastern Cape province; the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard Campus in KwaZulu-Natal province; and the University of Johannesburg, Soweto Campus in Gauteng province. To achieve the aims of this study, a qualitative case study approach, based on the interpretivist design, was adopted. A nonprobability sampling method, based on purposive sampling and the snowball sampling technique, was used to select participants in this study. Data were generated through focus group discussions and analysed through thematic analysis. The findings of this article revealed that xenophobic attitudes, behaviour and perceptions were prevalent among university students. The South African print media’s perpetuated negative stereotypes and its adoption of derogatory names – amakwerekwere, amagrigamba, aliens, illegal immigrants, ‘my friend’ – to represent immigrants (especially from other African countries) were highlighted as some of the contributing factors toward ongoing xenophobic violence. As part of the recommendations of this study, the Student Representative Council (SRC) and other student communities, together with students in general, have a role to play in promoting xenophobia-free university campuses through antixenophobia campaigns.Transdisciplinarity Contribution: Most xenophobic-related studies show that media reportage has an influence on xenophobic violence in South Africa. This study therefore shifts its focus toward South African universities to investigate the prevalence of xenophobia among students and explores students’ perceptions of the influence of media in perpetuating xenophobic-related violence PubDate: 2023-02-22 DOI: 10.4102/td.v19i1.1218 Issue No:Vol. 19, No. 1 (2023)
Authors:Judy van Biljon, Samwel Mwapwele First page: 12 Abstract: Collaboration among researchers and across disciplinary, organisational and cultural boundaries is essential for addressing the increasingly complex challenges and opportunities facing international development. Despite the known advantages and various incentives, research collaboration within Africa (specifically within South Africa) is lacking. To better understand the reasons for this lack of research collaboration, this study explored collaboration between students and supervisors in an information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) postgraduate student project in South Africa. South Africa, a country with major social inequalities and asymmetric power relations, provides an appropriate context. The students’ perspectives provided a space for investigating the collaboration factors by unpacking the capability inputs according to Robeyns’ representation of personal capabilities. Data were captured from a survey and focus groups (FG) with students and supervisors in ICT4D from different universities in South Africa. Thematic analysis was used to identify and link the participants’ expectations of research collaboration with their perceptions of the challenges of such collaborations. The contribution is a conceptualisation of the main components representing research collaboration viewed in terms of personal capabilities, including the factors that influence collaboration.Transdisciplinarity contribution: Research collaboration is fundamental to promoting multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary research. The novelty of this study lies in applying a theoretical lens from the field of human development to explore research collaboration in the transdisciplinary field of ICT4D. Given the research application context and the theoretical lens applied, the findings have implications for initiatives and policies on funding transdisciplinary research collaboration. PubDate: 2023-02-16 DOI: 10.4102/td.v19i1.1288 Issue No:Vol. 19, No. 1 (2023)
Authors:Anita Bosch, Georgina Pondayi First page: 8 Abstract: Men continue to outperform women in obtaining funding through research grants globally, in both science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and social science, in multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary fields. This article focuses on the role of research grant funding conditions in women’s lack of research grant funding. Grant conditions are the rules of participation and funding use set out by grant funders. This study aimed to answer the question: how do grant conditions limit women’s propensity to engage with research grant applications' Research grants from the Open 4 Research database were analysed. Research careers with a reproductive life-cycle perspective and four feminist concepts were deliberately gendered. These resulted in a theoretical framework. A content analysis on n = 270 multidisciplinary early career grants for those who already have a PhD was conducted. Grants were selected from both the social science and STEM disciplines. The findings suggest that, overwhelmingly, grant conditions are gender-neutral, assuming no differences between women and men. A comparison between STEM and social science grant conditions also show very little difference. The article provides a framework to guide multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary grant funders in crafting deliberately gendered grant conditions.Transdisciplinary contribution: A pre-application phase to the research grant application process by problematising gender neutrality in early-career researcher grant conditions is introduced. It is posited that grants’ gender neutrality is discouraging women to consider applying, resulting in self-exclusion early in the pre-application phase. PubDate: 2022-12-20 DOI: 10.4102/td.v18i1.1281 Issue No:Vol. 18, No. 1 (2022)
Authors:Travis M. Noake, David Bell, Timothy D. Noakes First page: 13 Abstract: The World Health Organization (WHO) has established a public research agenda to address infodemics. In these, ‘an overflow of information of varying quality surges across digital and physical environments’. The WHO’s expert panel has raised concerns that this can result in negative health behaviours and erosion of trust in health authorities and public health responses. In sponsoring this agenda, the WHO positioned itself as a custodian that can flag illegitimate narratives (misinformation), the spread of which can potentially result in societal harm. Such ‘post-truth’ moments are rife with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health emergency. It provides an opportunity for researchers to analyse divisions in knowledge labour, which can help explain when ‘post-truth’ moments arrive. The first COVID-19 example for this division foregrounds the development of knowledge in an academic context. Added to this is the infodemic or disinfodemic research agenda and personal health responsibility, whose academic contributors are similar. In contrast, the division of labour for messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccine research foregrounds the role of vaccine manufacturing pharmaceutical companies in driving and promoting related knowledge production.Transdiciplinary Contribution: This analysis focuses on intergroup contradictions between the interests of agencies and their contrasting goals and across different types of knowledge division. Many intergroup contradictions exist, and a few intergroup examples are also described. An overarching contradiction was identified where rushed guidance based on weak evidence from international health organisations may well perpetuate negative health and other societal outcomes rather than ameliorate them. PubDate: 2022-12-21 DOI: 10.4102/td.v18i1.1263 Issue No:Vol. 18, No. 1 (2022)
Authors:Mourine S. Achieng, Masike Malatji First page: 13 Abstract: The economic activities of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) drive much of the region’s economic growth and development. Despite their importance, SMEs tend to fail in their first two years of operation compared to macro enterprises. Digital transformation (DT) of organisations fosters resilience; however, DT of SMEs in SSA has been slow because of several impediments. The objective of this article is to establish how SMEs in the context of SSA can develop comprehensive strategies for integrating digital technologies into their operations to build resilience. Arksey and O’Malley’s systematic scoping review (SR) is used to identify and map articles over a 5 year period using inclusion and exclusion criteria. A total of 44 articles were included for in-depth analysis to address the issue under investigation. The results indicate toward economy-based, market-based and sociotechnical contextual factors emerging as themes that impede DT of SMEs in the SSA region. In the SSA context, SMEs face numerous regional constraints that create barriers in their operations, such as limited access to profitable and value-added markets.Transdisciplinarity Contribution: To develop strategies for integrating technologies, it is critical to have a thorough understanding of SMEs’ operational context. This is vital if SMEs in the SSA region are to fully realise the transformative potential of integrating digital technologies into their business operations and gain long-term resilience. Through digitally enabled resilience, SMEs can continue to play their critical role in the economic growth and development of the SSA region. PubDate: 2022-12-20 DOI: 10.4102/td.v18i1.1257 Issue No:Vol. 18, No. 1 (2022)
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