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Conflicting interests between public health and custodians of indigenous knowledge with regards to curation and dissemination of information about Xhosa initiation rites

This practice of traditional male circumcision among the Xhosa people in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa is accompanied by a high level of secrecy: details of the practice may not be shared with non-members such as women, uninitiated boys and strangers. To address the issue of injuries and...

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Main Author: Ngeh, Stella Emade
Other Authors: Higgs, Richard
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Library and Information Studies Centre (LISC) 2020
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access_status_str Open Access
author Ngeh, Stella Emade
author2 Higgs, Richard
author_browse Higgs, Richard
Ngeh, Stella Emade
author_facet Higgs, Richard
Ngeh, Stella Emade
author_sort Ngeh, Stella Emade
collection Thesis
description This practice of traditional male circumcision among the Xhosa people in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa is accompanied by a high level of secrecy: details of the practice may not be shared with non-members such as women, uninitiated boys and strangers. To address the issue of injuries and deaths resulting from poorly performed unhygienic circumcision by untrained practitioners, the Department of Public Health in the Eastern Cape passed the Application of Health Standards in Traditional Circumcision Act No 6 of 2001. In order to explore the conflicting interests between public health and custodians of indigenous knowledge of curation and dissemination of information about Xhosa initiation rites, sociocultural theory through a systematic review of literature is used. Meta-ethnography design and a qualitative research approach is also used, as well as NVivo 11 qualitative data analysis software to analyse the data. Eighteen databases were used, and searches were conducted on 9 June 2016 and 13 October 2018. Using the systematic review screening process and PRISMA checklist, articles were screened against inclusion criteria, resulting in nine articles being included in the final review. Apart from the aforementioned findings that the practice excludes non-members from participating and disseminating information, and that traditional practitioners lack basic skills and knowledge necessary for procedures, findings also showed that the establishment of the Circumcision Act was the major reason for the conflict that exists between public health and Xhosa people: Xhosa people do not want secret information about the practice to be disseminated to non-members. In conclusion it is recommended that the Xhosa-speaking community make some Traditional Male Circumcision (TMC) information available while still preserving the fundamental secret information for traditional purposes. For example, access to pertinent information should be given to public health officials to enable assistance in addressing botched circumcisions.
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language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:33:45.686Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2020
publishDateRange 2020
publishDateSort 2020
publisher Library and Information Studies Centre (LISC)
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spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/30847 Conflicting interests between public health and custodians of indigenous knowledge with regards to curation and dissemination of information about Xhosa initiation rites Ngeh, Stella Emade Higgs, Richard Xhosa initiation rites information dissemination curation This practice of traditional male circumcision among the Xhosa people in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa is accompanied by a high level of secrecy: details of the practice may not be shared with non-members such as women, uninitiated boys and strangers. To address the issue of injuries and deaths resulting from poorly performed unhygienic circumcision by untrained practitioners, the Department of Public Health in the Eastern Cape passed the Application of Health Standards in Traditional Circumcision Act No 6 of 2001. In order to explore the conflicting interests between public health and custodians of indigenous knowledge of curation and dissemination of information about Xhosa initiation rites, sociocultural theory through a systematic review of literature is used. Meta-ethnography design and a qualitative research approach is also used, as well as NVivo 11 qualitative data analysis software to analyse the data. Eighteen databases were used, and searches were conducted on 9 June 2016 and 13 October 2018. Using the systematic review screening process and PRISMA checklist, articles were screened against inclusion criteria, resulting in nine articles being included in the final review. Apart from the aforementioned findings that the practice excludes non-members from participating and disseminating information, and that traditional practitioners lack basic skills and knowledge necessary for procedures, findings also showed that the establishment of the Circumcision Act was the major reason for the conflict that exists between public health and Xhosa people: Xhosa people do not want secret information about the practice to be disseminated to non-members. In conclusion it is recommended that the Xhosa-speaking community make some Traditional Male Circumcision (TMC) information available while still preserving the fundamental secret information for traditional purposes. For example, access to pertinent information should be given to public health officials to enable assistance in addressing botched circumcisions. 2020-01-30T14:47:55Z 2020-01-30T14:47:55Z 2019 2020-01-30T14:46:46Z Master Thesis Masters Master of Arts http://hdl.handle.net/11427/30847 eng application/pdf Library and Information Studies Centre (LISC) Faculty of Humanities
spellingShingle Xhosa initiation rites
information dissemination
curation
Ngeh, Stella Emade
Conflicting interests between public health and custodians of indigenous knowledge with regards to curation and dissemination of information about Xhosa initiation rites
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Conflicting interests between public health and custodians of indigenous knowledge with regards to curation and dissemination of information about Xhosa initiation rites
title_full Conflicting interests between public health and custodians of indigenous knowledge with regards to curation and dissemination of information about Xhosa initiation rites
title_fullStr Conflicting interests between public health and custodians of indigenous knowledge with regards to curation and dissemination of information about Xhosa initiation rites
title_full_unstemmed Conflicting interests between public health and custodians of indigenous knowledge with regards to curation and dissemination of information about Xhosa initiation rites
title_short Conflicting interests between public health and custodians of indigenous knowledge with regards to curation and dissemination of information about Xhosa initiation rites
title_sort conflicting interests between public health and custodians of indigenous knowledge with regards to curation and dissemination of information about xhosa initiation rites
topic Xhosa initiation rites
information dissemination
curation
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/30847
work_keys_str_mv AT ngehstellaemade conflictinginterestsbetweenpublichealthandcustodiansofindigenousknowledgewithregardstocurationanddisseminationofinformationaboutxhosainitiationrites