Browsing by Author "Tjiramanga, Alexandra"

Now showing 1 - 12 of 12
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    An analysis of English errors made by NUST students.
    (NUST, Department of Communication, 2010) Krishnamurthy, Sarala; Kangira, Jairos; Tjiramanga, Alexandra; Beukes, Bronwen
    The focus of this study is errors made by students using English at the NUST. An investigation into errors and their causes peculiar to Namibia is significant insofar as it enables the researchers to develop a methodology in teaching to help students avoid committing mistakes that they make normally. This study, therefore, has far reaching implications in English language teaching and pedagogy in the country.
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    An analysis of the strategies used to communicate human rights to women in the informal settlement of Greenwell Matongo in Windhoek
    (Namibia University of Science & Technology, Faculty of Human Sciences, 2017-06) Tjiramanga, Alexandra; Newaka, I M
    This paper examines the communication of human rights by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare to women. It presents the communication channels used and assesses the women's knowledge and awareness level of human rights in the community of the informal settlement Greenwell Matongo in Windhoek, Namibia. Namibia's statistics regarding violation of women in Africa are high. Therefore, the violation of human rights of women in marginalised areas has become a major concern. We argue that it is important for every woman to know their basic human rights regardless of where they live and their level of formal education. As such, it is important that the most appropriate media of communication be engaged in order to disseminate the messages effectively to its intended audience. The study posits that relevant communication channels and information are vital in addressing and subsequently combating violation of human rights. This necessitates the need to educate the victims about where to go and what action to take should one be violated. Finally, this study advocates the best approaches to communicate issues on human rights to the most marginalised in an effort to reach and educate every citizen.
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    Exploring Herero Genocide Survivor Narratives
    (2019-07-14) Krishnamurthy, Sarala; Tjiramanga, Alexandra
    Contemporary post-colonial writers are increasingly, through their fiction, delineating suppressed and occluded histories which do not form a part of the dominant “Grand Narratives” of a nation. Such writing has been facilitated due to the collapse of the rigid binaries of the colonial past, both literal and ideological derived from Post colonialism and Post modernism which allow for the plurality of divergent voices. Thus, multiple competing discourses and histories provide for the excavation of hidden narratives. The German Herero war (1904-08), also called the “Herero Genocide” or the “first holocaust”, forms a part of the troubled history of Namibia leading to collective amnesia and silence on the part of the Germans on the one hand and extensive debate, discussion and demands of reparation by the Namibians on the other. There are several stories of the German-Herero war which are in the communal memory of the Herero people, but are neither recorded nor preserved for posterity. It is imperative that the narratives are collected and preserved, because the elders of the community, who are the repositories of knowledge, are dying. Our research has solicited personal narratives to provide for empirical evidence about the cause, trajectory and effects of genocide on the Herero communities in order to critically explore cultural sites where genocide is most crudely felt from an interdisciplinary perspective with a view to adding to the body of literature of this period, for purposes of preservation and analysis. Research in Genocide studies in Namibia remains Euro-centric and fragmentary. We hope to problematize Trauma theory as we examine transgenerational trauma in these narratives.
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    Integrating an online component using a Computer Mediated Communication system to enhance the learning of English communication skills.
    (NUST, Department of Communication., 2007) Tjiramanga, Alexandra
    This paper examines a variety of activities used in the online component of an English Communication course taught to exit level students at the NUST. The study concentrates on the tasks that were given to students using the computer mediated communication system “Moodle”. The tasks under examination were part of the online component of the hybrid course taught in 2005. These tasks related to study material presented in the face-to-face classroom. They involved activities such as practice, revision, reflection, reading, writing, evaluation, collaboration and cooperation, among others. The tasks under investigation show how face-to-face teaching can be supplemented by online activities to enhance learning as well as students’ engagement and personal development in the learning process.
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    An Investigation into the Efficiency of Work Integrated Learning for the Bachelor of Communication at the Namibia University of Science and Technology
    (2018-11-06) Tjiramanga, Alexandra
    This paper examines the industrial attachment course Work-Integrated-Learning (WIL) offered in the Bachelor of Communication programme at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) from a managerial and academic perspective to assess its efficacy. In 2011 the first group of students enrolled for WIL which is a course offered in the first semester of the final year of the programme. Before students start their journey as an intern several matters have to be attended to in the previous semester already, such as placement, administrative issues and a general orientation session about the course. This study looks into the processes, organization and administration of the course. It also reveals the nature of organization, structure, communication and monitoring strategies of the academic supervisor and examines the management by the academic supervisor who fosters the tripartite relationship among the main players (student, academic and industry supervisors) and how it promotes the flow of information and, subsequently, influences the performance of the students. In this study, I argue that the success of the course lies in the organization, management and commitment of the three parties involved, the student, the academic and industry supervisors. Therefore, the paper presents an analysis of Bachelor of Communication students success rates according to a number of variables of the enrolled students. Furthermore, the study displays a synopsis of comments about the course made by industry partners. The paper concludes with a critical commentary on the observations and makes recommendations for the way forward.
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    Kulturelle Sensibilität und interkulturelle Kommunikationskompetenz
    (2018-12) Tjiramanga, Alexandra
    The guest lecture presents theory and practical aspects for successful application of intercultural communication competency in a diverse working environment.
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    The oppression of women in selected narratives by Namibian female authors.
    (NUST, Department of Communication, 2014) Andima, Liicka; Tjiramanga, Alexandra
    The oppression of women, especially in African narratives, has been attributed to many factors, culture being the dominant amongst others. Culture and tradition have a variety of notable aspects to offer and there is much to appreciate, cherish and preserve. There are, however, some cultural practices and beliefs that are harmful. They disrespect, devalue, suppress and destroy human dignity. Harmful gender practices such as widow cleansing, girls’ initiation and others that marginalize women, are the focus of this study. This paper examines various cultural practices that oppress women as they are reflected in selected narratives of Namibian female writers. After gaining its independence in 1990, Namibia passed laws protecting the rights of women against various forms of oppression. With its history traced and rooted in the old and strong patriarchal norms, beliefs and practices, the notion that men are superior to women still affects women in the modern world. Cultural practices which marginalize women are still in existence, enforced by some of those that feel that they are important and superior. Through different women organizations, Namibian women demand and take the right to speak about those practices. Some have voiced them in writing or speaking out and breaking through the debilitating silencing. In the more formalized political and social field, this can be seen in women’s networking through women’s movements and solidarity groups, which are working towards equality in civil societies. It is therefore against this background that this study looks at female oppression; on how cultural practices enhanced or fuelled women oppression as well as various forms of oppression as highlighted in the selected narratives by Namibian female authors. They are from the book entitled, We must choose life (2008), compiled by Elizabeth !Khaxas, a Namibian feminist. These narratives are a testimony of the courage of Namibian women who express their agony and suffering in their own words.
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    Poster presentations
    (Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), 2008-05-23) Tjiramanga, Alexandra
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    Presentation: FH Joanneum
    (2018-12) Tjiramanga, Alexandra
    This presentation was part of a guest lecture on culture and diversity in the workplace at NUST given in December 2018 at FH Joanneum University of Applied Science, Graz, Austria.
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    Review of the book Professional communication: How to deliver written and spoken messages by Jane English et al.
    (NUST, Department of Communication., 2007) Tjiramanga, Alexandra
    The article reviews the book "Professional communication: How to deliver written and spoken messages", by Jane English et al.
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    Thanatographical narration in Jane Katjavivi’s memoir Undisciplined Heart
    (Otjivanda Presse, 2016-12-14) Tjiramanga, Alexandra; Pasi, Juliet
    Autobiographical writing is the narration of one’s own life. This simple act which entails the retrospective narrative in prose has become one of the most contested issues in written discourses. Using Jane Katjavivi’s memoir Undisciplined Heart, this paper explores dying and death and the ways culture impacts care for the dying, the overall experience of dying and how the dead are remembered. In the memoir, life writing is often entwined with stories of death and bereavement. As such, the paper argues that thanatographical and autothanatographical narration are approaches used for therapy purposes. It also posits that life writing is not about resurrecting the dead through language or burying them in a mass of words; rather, it seeks to interpret the myriad of interrelations and interactions that exist between death and culture. Thus, culture operates as a vehicle and medium through which the meaning of death is communicated and understood. This paper concludes that thanatographical narration in Undisciplined Heart, allows Katjavivi to contemplate the loss of her friends, chronicles her struggle with grief and also, supposedly provides conso lation for her loss.
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    Thanatographical narration in Jane Katjavivi’s memoir Undisciplined Heart
    (Journal of Namibian Studies: History Politics Culture, 2016) Tjiramanga, Alexandra; Pasi, Juliet
    Autobiographical writing is the narration of one’s own life. This simple act which entails the retrospective narrative in prose has become one of the most contested issues in written discourses. Using Jane Katjavivi’s memoir Undisciplined Heart, this paper explores dying and death and the ways culture impacts care for the dying, the overall experience of dying and how the dead are remembered. In the memoir, life writing is often entwined with stories of death and bereavement. As such, the paper argues that thanatographical and autothanatographical narration are approaches used for therapy purposes. It also posits that life writing is not about resurrecting the dead through language or burying them in a mass of words; rather, it seeks to interpret the myriad of interrelations and interactions that exist between death and culture. Thus, culture operates as a vehicle and medium through which the meaning of death is communicated and understood. This paper concludes that thanatographical narration in Undisciplined Heart, allows Katjavivi to contemplate the loss of her friends, chronicles her struggle with grief and also, supposedly provides consolation for her loss.