ResearchSpace
ResearchSpace is the institutional repository of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, unlocking knowledge, empowering impact, and preserving UKZN's research legacy.
Communities in DSpace
Select a community to browse its collections.
Recent Submissions
Racial discrimination among high school learners: a case of a selected high school, Durban.
(2025) Munguambe, Fernanda.; Sibisi, Nomakhosi Nomathemba.
In South Africa, many parents choose to enrol their children in multiracial schools where they believe that they will learn more about diversity and celebrate the freedom to study where they desire. However, this study was conceptualized in the belief that the Rainbow Nation is facing an undesirable occurrence among learners in such schools, as various reports and studies have claimed that racial discrimination continues to persist in high schools. Media reports have also affirmed that this widespread issue is prevalent across the country in multiracial schools. This means that learners are suffering because there are persistent incidences of racial discrimination among them. Schools are meant to be a secondary home for learners where they feel safe and learn more about the rich history of South Africa, and here they are educated not to make the same mistakes that our forefathers did. This study explored the extent, causes, and effects of racial discrimination among learners in a selected high school located on the Bluff in Durban. A qualitative research approach was adopted to understand the causes of racial discrimination in the 21st century, and data were collected using semistructured one-on-one interviews. The study recruited eighteen (18) participants: 6 teachers and 12 learners. The social learning, the ecological systems, and the racial trauma theories were used to support the research questions. The findings in this study show that Black learners are not the only race facing racism as White learners are equally exposed to racial discrimination. The study exposed what is commonly referred to as ‘reverse racism’, and the White learners found it hard to raise their concerns. Most scholarly works and the literature support the notion that it is Black learners, or learners of colour, who are exposed to racist slurs, while White learners are the perpetrators. Furthermore, the learners were more outspoken than the teachers. When the teachers were asked to comment on cases of racism in the school, most of them said they had not witnessed any such incidents. However, the learners confidently said that racial discrimination was everywhere and that it was not only prevalent among learners. They argued that teachers discriminated against learners when they said, “I see no colour”. This made them feel invisible and unrecognised. It is evident that racial integration and tolerance should be encouraged among learners and teachers alike.
Optimizing citric acid production through sugarcane molasses: detoxification strategies and evaluation of fermentation inducer.
(2024) Bishop, Bryce Delron Carter.; Gueguim Kana, Evariste Bosco.; Sanusi, Adeyemi Isaac.
Abstract available in PDF.
Religion as agency: the impact of curriculum structure and teaching approaches on student learning in introductory religion modules.
(2025) Vencatsamy, Beverly.; Matisonn, Heidi Leigh.
The approach to teaching Religious Studies (RS) in South African higher education has long been shaped by the World Religions Paradigm (WRP), a framework that categorises religious traditions into distinct, albeit often static entities. However, this pedagogical approach has been widely critiqued for its Eurocentric biases, lack of contextual relevance, and reinforcement of essentialist understandings of religion (Smith, 1978; Masuzawa, 2005; Owen, 2011; Fujiwara, 2016; Alberts, 2017). This study critically examines how RS is taught at tertiary level, specifically whether it fosters the students’ ability to engage critically with religious diversity, and explores alternative pedagogical approaches that may enhance and support student learning in a decolonial context. Drawing on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) and framed within a constructivist pedagogical perspective, this research employs a mixed-methods approach to investigate the impact of different teaching methodologies on student engagement and learning outcomes. A comparative analysis of two consecutive cohorts of students—one taught using the WRP and the other through a thematic approach—highlights the pedagogical limitations of the former and the benefits of contextually relevant, student-centred learning. The study also incorporates insights
from academics at various South African universities, examining broader disciplinary trends and the challenges exposed through the process of curriculum transformation within RS.
The findings indicate that transitioning from the WRP to a thematic, comparative approach enhances student engagement, critical thinking, and religious literacy by enabling students to contextualise religious traditions within idiosyncratic historical, social, and lived experience frameworks. Moreover, this shift also aligns with broader decolonial imperatives, challenging dominant epistemologies and developing a more inclusive, reflexive, and dynamic study of religion. This study contributes to ongoing debates on curriculum transformation, pedagogical innovation, and the role of SoTL in RS. The study argues that the thematic approach not only facilitates student agency and intellectual growth but also offers a more sustainable and equitable model for teaching religion in South Africa’s diverse and often fragmented educational landscape.
The impact of fire and land use on the Kwazulu-Natal Sandstone Sourveld.
(2025) Nelisi, Londiwe Bulelwa.; Nkuna, Sindiso Charlotte.; Tedder, Michelle Jennifer.
The KwaZulu-Natal Sandstone Sourveld (KZNSS) is one of the most prominent South African grassland types and has undergone large-scale transformation through the years. This endangered, species-rich grassland is endemic to KwaZulu-Natal. Much of the KZNSS remains in patches within the eThekwini Municipality area (EMA), many of which are in communal areas and some in nature reserves. These remnants are under-conserved and under-researched. Fire and land use are focal when conducting research and implementing management and conservation practices in these grasslands. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the effect of long-term burning history on species composition and structure in protected and communal agricultural land in KZNSS grassland remnants within the eThekwini Municipality area. The objectives were to examine fire regime variations over 20 years (2002 – 2022) in reserves and communal agricultural areas found in KZNSS remnants within the EMA using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing. Additionally, to determine: 1) the effect of land use; 2) the effect of fire and 3) the effect of the interaction between fire and land use on grassland plant species composition, richness, evenness, and diversity; veld condition and tree density in the burnt and unburnt patches of the study areas. Remote sensing was used to obtain fire records for the last 20 years, of these remnant patches. Within the selected reserves and communal area study sites, one area with a high fire frequency (burnt five or more times in the last 20 years) and one with a low frequency (two or three times over 20 years) or which had not burnt in these 20 years were sampled. Quadrat sampling was utilised to quantify grassland composition in four communal areas (KwaCele, Qadi, Zwelibomvu, and Toyane) and four reserves (Silverglen, New Germany, Roosfontein, and Krantzkloof). A veld condition assessment (VCA) was conducted in these sites. Additionally, tree density was assessed to account for the woody encroachment in these areas. Over the past 20 years, the communal agricultural areas had a higher fire frequency than protected areas. It was also observed from the fire records that the season of burning was consistent over the years, both communal agricultural and protected areas burning mostly in the dry season. However, the percentage area burnt in these grassland patches fluctuated, with the proportion of areas burnt being highest in earlier years. Overall, fire, land use, and their interaction influenced the plant species (grasses and forbs) composition. Land use had an effect on plant species richness, evenness, and diversity. Fire, nor the interaction of fire and land use, had a significant effect on these variables. Communal agricultural areas had the highest plant species richness, evenness, and diversity. This could be explained by the fact that over 20 years, communal agricultural areas had a higher fire frequency than nature reserves. This higher frequency of fire encourages diversity as fire removes dominant vegetation, thereby allowing other plant species to grow, which prevents there just being one dominant species that outcompetes the others. For the veld condition assessments, unburnt patches in the protected areas had greater veld condition scores due to overgrazing and stocking rates being low. However, fire and land use, as well as their interaction, did not affect the tree density observed in the study areas. For the KZNSS to remain healthy and functional, land use and fire, as well as their interaction, are essential aspects. Therefore, to maintain biodiversity, effective management necessitates a balanced strategy that considers both ecological needs and human activities.
The meaning of healing in the gospel of Mark vs the testimony of Hadebe: a correlation and comparison.
(2024) Thinane, Pheko Matthwes.; Masondo, Sibusiso.
This thesis compares and correlates the function of healing in the Gospel of Mark (8:22–26) and in Gunner (2002:189c–191a). Healing, an important discourse in the Gospel of Mark and regarded
as the cornerstone of Shembe’s Church in Gunner (2002), and the growth of Shembe’s church among the African Initiated Churches (AICs), is inclined to have many functions, both literary and symbolic. The type of healing referred to in these two religions are namely the illnesses that affect African people (ukufa kwabantu) and somatisation, an expression of psychological or emotional
factors manifesting as physical (somatic) symptoms; stress can cause some people to develop headaches, chest pains, backache, nausea and fatigue, similar to the illnesses researched in the
Gospel of Mark. The thesis discourses on this symbolism – particularly in (Mk 8:22–26, exposing its function in the healing narratives. The texts that discuss the cases of illness in the Gospel of
Mark are discussed and compared with those found in the AICs from the early twentieth-century isiZulu setting. However, due to the influence of the bible and the African Traditional Religions
on the AICs, the study intends to investigate the degree of the presence of these influences in the healing system as per the testimony of Hadebe in Gunner (2002). Similarly, the influence of other
healing traditions of the first-century Mediterranean region in the Gospel of Mark is also reviewed. The literature review on the anthropological and socio-cultural illness and traditional healerphysician distinctions leads the discussion to a comparison between Jesus and Shembe as belonging to the same sect in the traditional healers’ enclave, particularly where Jesus is compared
to a [Galilean] Shaman. A verse-by-verse exegesis of Mark’s healing of blindness is presented where the similarities between symbolic illness and the characters in other texts in the Gospel are
examined. The two-stage attempts of Jesus in healing blindness with saliva and prayer and its symbolic meaning are also debated on. The symbolic nature of the narrative presented in (Mk 8:22-
26) promotes the search for and insight into the comparative significance of the tourniquet, song and dance in the testimony of Hadebe. (Gunner, 2002:189c-191a). A pursuit of the notion of the
function of healing, where the healing of the blind man of Bethsaida (Mk 8:22-26) is discussed, compared and correlated with that of Shembe’s healing of Mqhanganyi, a young woman who was
bitten by snake in Hadebe’s narrative in Gunner (2002:189c- 191a). The study presents an analysis of the appropriation of Scripture by both Mark and Hadebe, providing the reader with an in-depth understanding of the structure of the work of both authors in relation to their theology. The study concludes with a comparison on the conversion of candidates in both Shembe and Mark churches.