maria kaundjua | University of Namibia (original) (raw)
Papers by maria kaundjua
Humanities and social sciences, 2013
From a policy perspective, the most useful information about child mortality is its determinants.... more From a policy perspective, the most useful information about child mortality is its determinants. Hence, during the 20 th and 21 st centuries, researchers have increasingly turned their attention to identifying factors associated with low child mortality in developing countries. The identification of factors that account for variations in childhood mortality is essential in the formulation of policies and programs that aim to reduce child mortality. This paper analyses and compares the determinants of child mortality in Namibia, nationally, and in the two rural regional health directorates (RHDs), namely the Northeast and Northwest, using the 2006-07 Namibia Demographic and Health Survey. The Cox proportional hazard model is applied to assess the relative effects of the independent variables on child mortality. The results show that short birth intervals and widowed or divorced mothers had the highest risk of child mortality (p < 0.001) in Namibia as a whole as well as in the two...
Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies, 2016
North-central Namibia is more vulnerable to effects of climate change and variability. Combined e... more North-central Namibia is more vulnerable to effects of climate change and variability. Combined effects of environmental degradation, social vulnerability to poverty and a changing climate will compromise subsistence farming in north-central Namibia (NCN). This will make subsistence and small-scale farmers in the region more vulnerable to projected changes in the climate system. Thus, the aim of this article was to examine factors contributing to subsistence farmers’ vulnerability to impacts of climate change. The article further discusses different aspects of human vulnerability and existing adaptation strategies in response to impacts of climate related disasters experienced over the past three to four decades in NCN. Qualitative and quantitative research approaches and methodology were employed to obtain information from subsistence farmers in north-central Namibia. The sociodemographic characteristics of Ohangwena, Oshana and Omusati Region reveals high levels of unemployment, h...
Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences
Springer International Publishing eBooks, 2023
The links between climate change, social and economic development, health, and environmental sust... more The links between climate change, social and economic development, health, and environmental sustainability have become a dominant and urgent global concern. Understanding community perceptions leads to successful adaptation to climate change. This paper analyses community perceptions of climate change in selected Namibian regions. The study applied the qualitative research approach using the focus group discussion method. The data collection was conducted within a Socio-economic and Gender Analysis framework. The study has revealed that the communities are aware that the climate is changing due to changes observed in the past three to four decades. However, the study concluded that the communities do not have an adaptive capacity to respond to catastrophic natural disaster events such as the recurrent floods of 2009, ww & 2011. The study recommends a programme on community awareness regarding climate variability and change and its implications. The government in collaboration with ...
The Journal of Pan-African Studies, 2016
IntroductionTraditionally fieldwork involved journeys to the "field" far from home, pos... more IntroductionTraditionally fieldwork involved journeys to the "field" far from home, possibly picturesque, probably small and rural, and very likely inhabited by people who bore little relation to home society, class, profession, or employing institution (Forsythe 2001). Although with the end of colonialism, with the reduction in funding for academic institutions, with increases in student enrolments and with difficulties in accessing the fields, there has been an increase in fieldwork at home (Munthali 2001), the notion of the "field" has been resilient. Fieldwork has been defined as the laborious agricultural tasks, though it has also come to designate the act of inquiring into the nature of phenomena by studying them at first hand in the environment, in which they naturally exist or occur (Georges et al 1980). Moreover, the notion of fieldwork also conjures up adventures (Gerber et al 2000) with the primary task being to "gather", to "collect&quo...
Humanities and social sciences, 2019
As of the 21st century, Koreans are struggling to achieve an advanced society. Material abundance... more As of the 21st century, Koreans are struggling to achieve an advanced society. Material abundance may be a prerequisite for advanced society, but what is more important and essential is transparent and just society implementation in which an equal opportunity is given to all members of society and fair competition is ensured by fair rules. Unfortunately, in the Korean society, almost in all the layers of it, corruption and injustice/ immorality are still rampant. I believe that such a phenomenon comes from the weak sense of the rule of law in Korean society compared with the other developed countries. Therefore, this paper considers the structure of consciousness of Koreans, which makes such things possible and makes it harder to eradicate, centered on Confucianism which emphasizes humanism or paternalism rather than the rule of law, and the mindset/ consciousness of Korean shamanism which does not actively try to fight against evil.
Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies, Jan 13, 2016
North-central Namibia is more vulnerable to effects of climate change and variability. Combined e... more North-central Namibia is more vulnerable to effects of climate change and variability. Combined effects of environmental degradation, social vulnerability to poverty and a changing climate will compromise subsistence farming in north-central Namibia (NCN). This will make subsistence and small-scale farmers in the region more vulnerable to projected changes in the climate system. Thus, the aim of this article was to examine factors contributing to subsistence farmers’ vulnerability to impacts of climate change. The article further discusses different aspects of human vulnerability and existing adaptation strategies in response to impacts of climate related disasters experienced over the past three to four decades in NCN. Qualitative and quantitative research approaches and methodology were employed to obtain information from subsistence farmers in north-central Namibia. The sociodemographic characteristics of Ohangwena, Oshana and Omusati Region reveals high levels of unemployment, h...
From a policy perspective, the most useful information about child mortality is its determinants.... more From a policy perspective, the most useful information about child mortality is its determinants. Hence, during the 20 th and 21 st centuries, researchers have increasingly turned their attention to identifying factors associated with low child mortality in developing countries. The identification of factors that account for variations in childhood mortality is essential in the formulation of policies and programs that aim to reduce child mortality. This paper analyses and compares the determinants of child mortality in Namibia, nationally, and in the two rural regional health directorates (RHDs), namely the Northeast and Northwest, using the 2006-07 Namibia Demographic and Health Survey. The Cox proportional hazard model is applied to assess the relative effects of the independent variables on child mortality. The results show that short birth intervals and widowed or divorced mothers had the highest risk of child mortality (p < 0.001) in Namibia as a whole as well as in the two...
Humanities and social sciences, 2019
Health is a crucial aspect in an individual’s life as it enables people to enjoy their potential ... more Health is a crucial aspect in an individual’s life as it enables people to enjoy their potential as human beings. Consequently there has been an enormous emphasis on equity in access to health care. Just like anybody else, Deaf people have a right to access health information and services and should not be discriminated against in any way. Unfortunately Deaf people are usually marginalised within society and as such their experiences with health care systems across the world are not readily understood (Scheer, Kroll, Neri & Beatty, 2003). For example, it is assumed that everyone who seeks health service hears and can communicate in a spoken language to receive a standard quality of health care. This study explored the barriers experienced by the Deaf community when accessing health information and health care services in Namibia. The study applied a qualitative approach, and conducted semi-structured interviews with Deaf learners, teachers and other employees in purposefully selecte...
Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences
Modern Africa: Politics, History and Society
African development will remain intractable in a world where Africans are conceived as constituti... more African development will remain intractable in a world where Africans are conceived as constituting disorganised data subject to the supposedly organising gaze of knowledgeable Others. African people are increasingly datafied dehumanised and denied self-knowledge, self-mastery, self-organisation and data sovereignty. Arguing for more attention to questions of data sovereignty, this paper notes that the Internet of Things and Big Data threaten the autonomy, privacy, data and national sovereignty of indigenous Africans. It is contended that decolonial scholars should unpack ethical implications of theorising indigenous people in terms of relational theories that assume absence of distinctions between humans and nonhumans. Deemed to be indistinct from nonhumans/animals, Africans would be inserted or implanted with remotely controlled intelligent tracking technological devices that mine data from their brains, bodies, homes, cities and so on. Key words: relationality, Big Data, Internet...
International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies
This paper examines conceptions of gender identity and gender relations among youth in rural nort... more This paper examines conceptions of gender identity and gender relations among youth in rural northern Namibia to see whether or not real life practices are meeting the requirements of legislation that supports gender equality including the right to work in all spheres for equal pay and benefits, discouragement of gender-based violence and marginalization, and equality with regard to property inheritance. More specifically, we describe the attitudes and behaviour regarding sex and male/female relationships among these youth. Qualitative research methods based on focus group discussions (FGD) were the core of the data collection techniques in this exploratory study. Our findings indicate that male respondents feel that males are superior to females. Both 15-to 19-year old and 20-to 24-year-old boys confirmed this. Girls affirm this finding but feelings of inferiority were more marked among girls aged 15 to 19 than among 20 to 24 year olds. All these groups regard sexual intercourse as normal, contributing to a sense of powerlessness when girls are in the presence of boys. Males initiate sexual behaviour (as it is culturally unacceptable for females to do so) and seem to have many more partners than girls. The gap between existing laws and what is culturally desirable (in sex practices) seems real and must be addressed in extended sex education forums whose curriculum challenges long held cultural beliefs about masculinity and femininity.
Humanities and social sciences, 2013
From a policy perspective, the most useful information about child mortality is its determinants.... more From a policy perspective, the most useful information about child mortality is its determinants. Hence, during the 20 th and 21 st centuries, researchers have increasingly turned their attention to identifying factors associated with low child mortality in developing countries. The identification of factors that account for variations in childhood mortality is essential in the formulation of policies and programs that aim to reduce child mortality. This paper analyses and compares the determinants of child mortality in Namibia, nationally, and in the two rural regional health directorates (RHDs), namely the Northeast and Northwest, using the 2006-07 Namibia Demographic and Health Survey. The Cox proportional hazard model is applied to assess the relative effects of the independent variables on child mortality. The results show that short birth intervals and widowed or divorced mothers had the highest risk of child mortality (p < 0.001) in Namibia as a whole as well as in the two...
Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies, 2016
North-central Namibia is more vulnerable to effects of climate change and variability. Combined e... more North-central Namibia is more vulnerable to effects of climate change and variability. Combined effects of environmental degradation, social vulnerability to poverty and a changing climate will compromise subsistence farming in north-central Namibia (NCN). This will make subsistence and small-scale farmers in the region more vulnerable to projected changes in the climate system. Thus, the aim of this article was to examine factors contributing to subsistence farmers’ vulnerability to impacts of climate change. The article further discusses different aspects of human vulnerability and existing adaptation strategies in response to impacts of climate related disasters experienced over the past three to four decades in NCN. Qualitative and quantitative research approaches and methodology were employed to obtain information from subsistence farmers in north-central Namibia. The sociodemographic characteristics of Ohangwena, Oshana and Omusati Region reveals high levels of unemployment, h...
Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences
Springer International Publishing eBooks, 2023
The links between climate change, social and economic development, health, and environmental sust... more The links between climate change, social and economic development, health, and environmental sustainability have become a dominant and urgent global concern. Understanding community perceptions leads to successful adaptation to climate change. This paper analyses community perceptions of climate change in selected Namibian regions. The study applied the qualitative research approach using the focus group discussion method. The data collection was conducted within a Socio-economic and Gender Analysis framework. The study has revealed that the communities are aware that the climate is changing due to changes observed in the past three to four decades. However, the study concluded that the communities do not have an adaptive capacity to respond to catastrophic natural disaster events such as the recurrent floods of 2009, ww & 2011. The study recommends a programme on community awareness regarding climate variability and change and its implications. The government in collaboration with ...
The Journal of Pan-African Studies, 2016
IntroductionTraditionally fieldwork involved journeys to the "field" far from home, pos... more IntroductionTraditionally fieldwork involved journeys to the "field" far from home, possibly picturesque, probably small and rural, and very likely inhabited by people who bore little relation to home society, class, profession, or employing institution (Forsythe 2001). Although with the end of colonialism, with the reduction in funding for academic institutions, with increases in student enrolments and with difficulties in accessing the fields, there has been an increase in fieldwork at home (Munthali 2001), the notion of the "field" has been resilient. Fieldwork has been defined as the laborious agricultural tasks, though it has also come to designate the act of inquiring into the nature of phenomena by studying them at first hand in the environment, in which they naturally exist or occur (Georges et al 1980). Moreover, the notion of fieldwork also conjures up adventures (Gerber et al 2000) with the primary task being to "gather", to "collect&quo...
Humanities and social sciences, 2019
As of the 21st century, Koreans are struggling to achieve an advanced society. Material abundance... more As of the 21st century, Koreans are struggling to achieve an advanced society. Material abundance may be a prerequisite for advanced society, but what is more important and essential is transparent and just society implementation in which an equal opportunity is given to all members of society and fair competition is ensured by fair rules. Unfortunately, in the Korean society, almost in all the layers of it, corruption and injustice/ immorality are still rampant. I believe that such a phenomenon comes from the weak sense of the rule of law in Korean society compared with the other developed countries. Therefore, this paper considers the structure of consciousness of Koreans, which makes such things possible and makes it harder to eradicate, centered on Confucianism which emphasizes humanism or paternalism rather than the rule of law, and the mindset/ consciousness of Korean shamanism which does not actively try to fight against evil.
Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies, Jan 13, 2016
North-central Namibia is more vulnerable to effects of climate change and variability. Combined e... more North-central Namibia is more vulnerable to effects of climate change and variability. Combined effects of environmental degradation, social vulnerability to poverty and a changing climate will compromise subsistence farming in north-central Namibia (NCN). This will make subsistence and small-scale farmers in the region more vulnerable to projected changes in the climate system. Thus, the aim of this article was to examine factors contributing to subsistence farmers’ vulnerability to impacts of climate change. The article further discusses different aspects of human vulnerability and existing adaptation strategies in response to impacts of climate related disasters experienced over the past three to four decades in NCN. Qualitative and quantitative research approaches and methodology were employed to obtain information from subsistence farmers in north-central Namibia. The sociodemographic characteristics of Ohangwena, Oshana and Omusati Region reveals high levels of unemployment, h...
From a policy perspective, the most useful information about child mortality is its determinants.... more From a policy perspective, the most useful information about child mortality is its determinants. Hence, during the 20 th and 21 st centuries, researchers have increasingly turned their attention to identifying factors associated with low child mortality in developing countries. The identification of factors that account for variations in childhood mortality is essential in the formulation of policies and programs that aim to reduce child mortality. This paper analyses and compares the determinants of child mortality in Namibia, nationally, and in the two rural regional health directorates (RHDs), namely the Northeast and Northwest, using the 2006-07 Namibia Demographic and Health Survey. The Cox proportional hazard model is applied to assess the relative effects of the independent variables on child mortality. The results show that short birth intervals and widowed or divorced mothers had the highest risk of child mortality (p < 0.001) in Namibia as a whole as well as in the two...
Humanities and social sciences, 2019
Health is a crucial aspect in an individual’s life as it enables people to enjoy their potential ... more Health is a crucial aspect in an individual’s life as it enables people to enjoy their potential as human beings. Consequently there has been an enormous emphasis on equity in access to health care. Just like anybody else, Deaf people have a right to access health information and services and should not be discriminated against in any way. Unfortunately Deaf people are usually marginalised within society and as such their experiences with health care systems across the world are not readily understood (Scheer, Kroll, Neri & Beatty, 2003). For example, it is assumed that everyone who seeks health service hears and can communicate in a spoken language to receive a standard quality of health care. This study explored the barriers experienced by the Deaf community when accessing health information and health care services in Namibia. The study applied a qualitative approach, and conducted semi-structured interviews with Deaf learners, teachers and other employees in purposefully selecte...
Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences
Modern Africa: Politics, History and Society
African development will remain intractable in a world where Africans are conceived as constituti... more African development will remain intractable in a world where Africans are conceived as constituting disorganised data subject to the supposedly organising gaze of knowledgeable Others. African people are increasingly datafied dehumanised and denied self-knowledge, self-mastery, self-organisation and data sovereignty. Arguing for more attention to questions of data sovereignty, this paper notes that the Internet of Things and Big Data threaten the autonomy, privacy, data and national sovereignty of indigenous Africans. It is contended that decolonial scholars should unpack ethical implications of theorising indigenous people in terms of relational theories that assume absence of distinctions between humans and nonhumans. Deemed to be indistinct from nonhumans/animals, Africans would be inserted or implanted with remotely controlled intelligent tracking technological devices that mine data from their brains, bodies, homes, cities and so on. Key words: relationality, Big Data, Internet...
International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies
This paper examines conceptions of gender identity and gender relations among youth in rural nort... more This paper examines conceptions of gender identity and gender relations among youth in rural northern Namibia to see whether or not real life practices are meeting the requirements of legislation that supports gender equality including the right to work in all spheres for equal pay and benefits, discouragement of gender-based violence and marginalization, and equality with regard to property inheritance. More specifically, we describe the attitudes and behaviour regarding sex and male/female relationships among these youth. Qualitative research methods based on focus group discussions (FGD) were the core of the data collection techniques in this exploratory study. Our findings indicate that male respondents feel that males are superior to females. Both 15-to 19-year old and 20-to 24-year-old boys confirmed this. Girls affirm this finding but feelings of inferiority were more marked among girls aged 15 to 19 than among 20 to 24 year olds. All these groups regard sexual intercourse as normal, contributing to a sense of powerlessness when girls are in the presence of boys. Males initiate sexual behaviour (as it is culturally unacceptable for females to do so) and seem to have many more partners than girls. The gap between existing laws and what is culturally desirable (in sex practices) seems real and must be addressed in extended sex education forums whose curriculum challenges long held cultural beliefs about masculinity and femininity.