Pula: Botswana Journal of African Studies

Policy and lived realities: Women’s cattle ownership in Botswana

Erin Must — 2022-12-07

This article aims to facilitate a dialogue on effective and targeted gender mainstreaming policy in Botswana that can simultaneously fulfill other national development goals. An examination of the circumstances and lived experiences of women cattle owners in Ngamiland demonstrates the importance of cattle to women’s lives as both a subsistence strategy and a means of personal and collective empowerment. This indicates cattle can further gender equality measures while simultaneously supporting rural livelihoods. Policies and programmes seeking to assist women with livestock acquisition are timely in terms of the Government of Botswana’s concurrent gender mainstreaming mandate and their development focus on both agriculture and sustainable livelihoods. Importantly, findings indicate an emphasis on improving communication and service delivery would help to achieve policy uptake by women in all other areas.

Through the eyes of the editor: Ethics in research and publication-the case of the University of Botswana journals

Rose Letsholo-Tafila — 2022-12-07

The aim of this study was to determine the ethics principles that guide the University of Botswana editors and authors who submit articles to the University of Botswana-based journals, and the ethical challenges encountered by editors in the articles that are submitted to the journals. The study investigated ethical practices related to (a) authorship, (b) conflict of interest, (c) plagiarism, (d) simultaneous submission, (e) research fraud, and (f) salami slicing. The data were collected through a survey where a questionnaire was sent out to the editors via email. The data were analyzed and interpreted following the Aristotelian school of thought of ‘moral virtue’ as presented in Duffy (2017). The study determined that authorship, conflict of interest, and research fraud were not a serious problem in the submissions made to some of the University of Botswana journals. However, plagiarism, simultaneous submissions and salami slicing were reported to be a problem in some of the journals. The study also determined that some editors did not always practice due diligence, such as requiring authors to declare order of authorship, conflict of interest, and checking manuscripts for plagiarism, research fraud (data falsification and fabrication), and salami slicing. The findings of this study are important as they indicate areas in which editors need to focus on for improved quality of publications. In addition, the article recommends measures that can influence the University’s publication policy for UB journals

Women’s representation and environmental sustainability in the Niger Delta: A critique of two Nigerian novels

Charles Tolulope Akinsete — 2022-12-07

This article examines the discourse of environmental degradation in the Niger Delta region with a focus on the representation of women and their roles in environmental renaissance and sustainability in the Niger Delta. Women have traditionally been portrayed as victims of environmental degradation in contemporary Nigerian fiction. The objective of this article is to deconstruct the perception of female victimology by investigating the roles women in environmental sustainability, ecological regeneration and the development of African societies, especially in the Niger Delta. This article therefore attempts to foreground firm resolutions of women characters in May Ifeoma Nwoye’s Oil cemetery and Vincent Egbuson’s Love my planet in relation to human and environmental regeneration. This study employs eco-feminism, an aspect of Eco-criticism, to critique issues of women and environmental sustainability arising in the Niger Delta environment, their awareness of and responses to the ecological damage in the region.

Clicks in Eastern Khoe languages: The case of Tsua

Andy Chebanne — 2022-12-07

This paper discusses clicks in Tsua, an endangered Khoisan language spoken in the south-western parts of the Central District of Botswana. Tsua is situated in the Eastern Kalahari Khoe zone where languages show a systematic attrition of clicks in their phonology albeit Tsua presents an elaborate consonant system made up of non-click and click inventory. The paper seeks to respond to the question, ‘What is the nature of the phonology of Tsua? ‘The paper goes on to account for the phonological characteristics of this language. The discussion seeks to demonstrate that while clicks in this language remain fully phonemic as in other related languages, they are fewer and have less complex accompaniments when compared to those of related languages to the west. The paper further gives an account of the retention of preferred clicks. Furthermore, the paper gives an account of the phonetic mechanisms involved in the replacement and loss of clicks. The paper is an important contribution to the sub- fields of Khoisan phonology and typology. In addition, the paper contributes to the dynamics of language endangerment and loss. It shows that language loss processes may be observed among the Eastern Kalahari Khoe languages to which Tsua belongs and argues that this is what sets these languages apart from the Western Kalahari Khoe languages

Multilingual dialogue in a post-Apartheid television drama in South Africa: More than a rhetorical function

Shole J. Shole — 2022-12-07

This paper examines the use of multiple languages in the television dramas of post-Apartheid South Africa that are broadcast in the state-owned South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), with special reference to a single scene selected from an episode of the popular soap opera Generations: The Legacy (GTL) which is a sequel to Generations. Multilinguality is not a new phenomenon in creative verbal art, nor is it peculiar to South African fictional television. Given the country’s separatist political history, the sudden change in the late 1990s from exclusively monolingual to multilingual dialogue in the SABC soap operas is of socio-political significance. The subject is considered within the frameworks of Communication Context and Code of Realism, inter alia, and the article argues that Rainbowism is the main motivation behind the multilingual switch. Promoting the Rainbowism agenda through TV drama constitutes a reliance on the mass media to influence society, a reliance which finds resonance among Cultivation as well as Social Cognitive theorists.

Ubuntu/Unhu philosophy in Brian Chikwava’s Harare North as a Zimbabwean diaspora text

Ivy Musekiwa — 2022-12-07

The paper examines how the human dignity, ubuntu/unhu, and identity of Zimbabweans in the diaspora are depicted in fiction, with particular focus on Brian Chikwava’s novel Harare North (Chikwava, 2009). A significant number of Zimbabweans were dispersed into the diaspora in the post-2000 era due to political and socio-economic instability in the country. These people went on a quest for better quality of life and economic opportunities outside their native country but encountered frustrations and insecurities that affected their human dignity in the host countries. Since the dispersion, there has been much research and critical work on Zimbabwe covering the period from 2000 to date. This paper adds to the scholarship by examining fictional representations of Zimbabweans in the Diaspora in the selected novel. The paper further investigates various coping mechanisms of migrants in the diaspora and argues that if the survival chances of a people are threatened, their human dignity is also threatened.

Political instability in Lesotho: Causes and possible remedies

Mokete Pherudi — 2022-12-07

Lesotho presents one of the more unusual political complexities in Southern Africa. It became independent on 4 October 1966 and since then, it has been characterized by a deep constitutional crisis, lack of popular elected governments, dawn of coup d’états, schisms within the political parties, and rejection of the election outcomes. In 2002, the country adopted a Mixed Member Proportion (MMP) model from the First-Past-the-Post. However, the MMP model complicated the situation as it produced hung parliaments, which resulted in coalition governments, snap elections, and the use of the army to cling to power. This paper attempts to dig deeper into how these causes of instability manifested themselves. They are sub-divided into internal causes such as socio- economic, politics and governance, politicization, and polarization of the public service, and regional causes. The paper concludes by suggesting possible remedies to the country’s instability.