I did not die
- Authors: Mzamo, Tebello
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7246 , vital:21232
- Description: My novella is about a mine worker and his family. Set in both Lesotho and South Africa, it engages the effects of migrant labour on families in post-apartheid South Africa. Told through the eyes of the different family members, the narrative uses shifting points of view and moves fluidly through time to present an intimate but complex view of the lives of ordinary working class people. It incorporates witchcraft and ghosts to reveal the blurred lines between the realms of life and death. This collection is inspired by my own father who is a former mine worker. I am influenced by Joyce Carol Oates and Chibundu Onuzo's darkly realistic style, Veronique Tadjo’s explorations of migration and death, the family chronicles of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor. I am also inspired by female fantasy and horror writers such as those collected in Ann and Jeff VanderMeer’s anthology, Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Mzamo, Tebello
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7246 , vital:21232
- Description: My novella is about a mine worker and his family. Set in both Lesotho and South Africa, it engages the effects of migrant labour on families in post-apartheid South Africa. Told through the eyes of the different family members, the narrative uses shifting points of view and moves fluidly through time to present an intimate but complex view of the lives of ordinary working class people. It incorporates witchcraft and ghosts to reveal the blurred lines between the realms of life and death. This collection is inspired by my own father who is a former mine worker. I am influenced by Joyce Carol Oates and Chibundu Onuzo's darkly realistic style, Veronique Tadjo’s explorations of migration and death, the family chronicles of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor. I am also inspired by female fantasy and horror writers such as those collected in Ann and Jeff VanderMeer’s anthology, Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
I want to believe there is a girl here under the table
- Authors: Asfour, Fouad-Martin
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Creative writing (Higher education) South Africa , South African fiction (English) 21st century
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7190 , vital:21227
- Description: Written in non-linear fragments, my thesis is what Audre Lorde in her novel Zami calls a "biomythography" - the weaving together of myth, history and biography in epic narrative form, a style of composition that represents all the ways in which we perceive the world. Using repetition and shifting memories, I draw from my bicultural upbringing in Offenbach, a city in Germany populated mostly by migrants, as well as my experience of working in art and culture internationally, travelling and living in different countries. Interrogating objects, buildings, family photographs, books and movies, and listening to the silences of the unvoiced, I upset and play with experiences of othering, assumptions and expectations about identity and ask questions about home, belonging and migration, mother tongue and translation. I draw inspiration from Korean American artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha's use of texts, documents and images to explore dislocation and memory, as well as authors who engage language, translation and belonging such as Mikhail Shishkin, Yoko Tawada, Gloria Anzaldua and Mohammed Khair-Eddine.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Asfour, Fouad-Martin
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Creative writing (Higher education) South Africa , South African fiction (English) 21st century
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7190 , vital:21227
- Description: Written in non-linear fragments, my thesis is what Audre Lorde in her novel Zami calls a "biomythography" - the weaving together of myth, history and biography in epic narrative form, a style of composition that represents all the ways in which we perceive the world. Using repetition and shifting memories, I draw from my bicultural upbringing in Offenbach, a city in Germany populated mostly by migrants, as well as my experience of working in art and culture internationally, travelling and living in different countries. Interrogating objects, buildings, family photographs, books and movies, and listening to the silences of the unvoiced, I upset and play with experiences of othering, assumptions and expectations about identity and ask questions about home, belonging and migration, mother tongue and translation. I draw inspiration from Korean American artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha's use of texts, documents and images to explore dislocation and memory, as well as authors who engage language, translation and belonging such as Mikhail Shishkin, Yoko Tawada, Gloria Anzaldua and Mohammed Khair-Eddine.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Jah Hills
- Authors: Slasha, Unathi
- Date: 2017
- Language: English , Xhosa
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7157 , vital:21222
- Description: Jah Hills is alone in Kwaf Indoda bush, waiting for elders to come, burn ibhuma and deliver him home. Two weeks before he departs from his initiation period, he is seduced by igqwirha. When he fails to satisfy her appetite, he gets ‘abducted and turned into isithunzela. One night, he narrowly escapes and finds his way back. But the experience at home is gruesome; they drive him away and want his death. My novel is fast paced, accumulating speed as it proceeds. It is formally experimental, drawing on forms that have gone before and trying to usher in a new manner of writing and looking at the world. It is told through the eyes of isithunzela that Jah Hills has become. It makes use of Nguni folklore, reimagined and subverted so it fits the character’s unearthly vision. Certain characters and moments from Nguni folktales are borrowed and appear throughout the text. Stylistically I draw extensively from the work of Sony Lab’ou Tansi, Taban Lo Liyong, Dambudzo Marechera, D.O. Fagunwa and Amos Tutuola.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Slasha, Unathi
- Date: 2017
- Language: English , Xhosa
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7157 , vital:21222
- Description: Jah Hills is alone in Kwaf Indoda bush, waiting for elders to come, burn ibhuma and deliver him home. Two weeks before he departs from his initiation period, he is seduced by igqwirha. When he fails to satisfy her appetite, he gets ‘abducted and turned into isithunzela. One night, he narrowly escapes and finds his way back. But the experience at home is gruesome; they drive him away and want his death. My novel is fast paced, accumulating speed as it proceeds. It is formally experimental, drawing on forms that have gone before and trying to usher in a new manner of writing and looking at the world. It is told through the eyes of isithunzela that Jah Hills has become. It makes use of Nguni folklore, reimagined and subverted so it fits the character’s unearthly vision. Certain characters and moments from Nguni folktales are borrowed and appear throughout the text. Stylistically I draw extensively from the work of Sony Lab’ou Tansi, Taban Lo Liyong, Dambudzo Marechera, D.O. Fagunwa and Amos Tutuola.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Land, Church, Forced Removals and Community on Klipfontein Farm in the District of Alexandria, Eastern Cape c. 1872 - 1979
- Authors: Bezuidenhout, GJW
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Janse van Rensburg family , Klipfontein Farm (Alexandria, South Africa) , Alexandria (South Africa) -- History , Colored people (South Africa) -- History , Colored people (South Africa) -- Religion , Colored people (South Africa) -- Relocation , Black people -- Relocation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Family farms -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Church history -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Land tenure -- Law and legilstion -- South Africa , Land reform -- Law and legislation -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/161315 , vital:40615
- Description: This thesis is a case study of how church, land and dispossession of land has influenced identity formation of a coloured community in the Eastern Province, namely the Klipfontein community. Coloured history in the Eastern Province has largely been neglected. This study attempts to rectify such a lack of in-depth enquiry as it may lead to misinterpretations that may influence contemporary politics and identity formation. Through research based on primary sources, it is evident that the social landscape of Klipfontein Farm and the relationships between that community and surrounding black African and white communities have largely been shaped by the stipulations contained in the joint will of the community’s ancestors: Dirk and Sarah Janse van Rensburg. The land devolved into a trust and has been administered by trustees since the death of the first spouse in 1877. By keeping the land in a trust, it enabled the descendants to continue to live on the farm in perpetuity, without the risk of being forced off the land via financial restraints or racially-based legislation. But the usufructuaries could also never fully utilise Klipfontein as an agricultural concern due to a combination of a lack of equipment and skill, and the provisions of the will. These complications inevitably led to inter-familial disputes and tension. Before 1939 there had already been three court cases dealing with the interpretations of the Will. In that same year the Supreme Court ordered that tracts of the land, including a part of Boesmansriviermond village, be sold in order to pay off arrear rates and taxes. Although the responsibility for these sales lay with the trustees, the community has been suspicious of the usufructuaries ever since. A key element of the Klipfontein identity is their religion. The church legitimises their right to the farm - against those who wish to take that right away. Their claim to occupation is couched in scriptural discourse, viewing Klipfontein as 'their Garden of Eden' that God gave to the stamvader, Dirk Janse van Rensburg. This seemed to have been partially successful for the Klipfontein community in staving off harassment by authorities. It also caused friction between the community and the black African residents. Some usufructuaries and family members felt that such right was exclusively given to the coloured community and so they became increasingly annoyed by the black Africans who settled there. Other usufructuaries did not share this feeling. They allowed evicted black African farm labourers to settle on certain portions of Klipfontein until the late 1970s. The black African population rapidly increased due to misinformation and evictions from neighbouring farms. This only further exacerbated the inter-familial conflict between usufructuaries, flaring tensions between the black Africans and their reluctant hosts as well as animosity from the white community towards Klipfontein. In 1979, after a series of court cases, a decision was made to remove all the African settlers by force and relocate most of them to the ‘homeland’ of Ciskei. The rest, who were of ‘working-age’ were left behind in a ‘temporary emergency camp’ on the outskirts of Kenton-on-Sea. The effects of these removals still impact the relationships between the different racial groups in the area to this day.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Bezuidenhout, GJW
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Janse van Rensburg family , Klipfontein Farm (Alexandria, South Africa) , Alexandria (South Africa) -- History , Colored people (South Africa) -- History , Colored people (South Africa) -- Religion , Colored people (South Africa) -- Relocation , Black people -- Relocation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Family farms -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Church history -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Land tenure -- Law and legilstion -- South Africa , Land reform -- Law and legislation -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/161315 , vital:40615
- Description: This thesis is a case study of how church, land and dispossession of land has influenced identity formation of a coloured community in the Eastern Province, namely the Klipfontein community. Coloured history in the Eastern Province has largely been neglected. This study attempts to rectify such a lack of in-depth enquiry as it may lead to misinterpretations that may influence contemporary politics and identity formation. Through research based on primary sources, it is evident that the social landscape of Klipfontein Farm and the relationships between that community and surrounding black African and white communities have largely been shaped by the stipulations contained in the joint will of the community’s ancestors: Dirk and Sarah Janse van Rensburg. The land devolved into a trust and has been administered by trustees since the death of the first spouse in 1877. By keeping the land in a trust, it enabled the descendants to continue to live on the farm in perpetuity, without the risk of being forced off the land via financial restraints or racially-based legislation. But the usufructuaries could also never fully utilise Klipfontein as an agricultural concern due to a combination of a lack of equipment and skill, and the provisions of the will. These complications inevitably led to inter-familial disputes and tension. Before 1939 there had already been three court cases dealing with the interpretations of the Will. In that same year the Supreme Court ordered that tracts of the land, including a part of Boesmansriviermond village, be sold in order to pay off arrear rates and taxes. Although the responsibility for these sales lay with the trustees, the community has been suspicious of the usufructuaries ever since. A key element of the Klipfontein identity is their religion. The church legitimises their right to the farm - against those who wish to take that right away. Their claim to occupation is couched in scriptural discourse, viewing Klipfontein as 'their Garden of Eden' that God gave to the stamvader, Dirk Janse van Rensburg. This seemed to have been partially successful for the Klipfontein community in staving off harassment by authorities. It also caused friction between the community and the black African residents. Some usufructuaries and family members felt that such right was exclusively given to the coloured community and so they became increasingly annoyed by the black Africans who settled there. Other usufructuaries did not share this feeling. They allowed evicted black African farm labourers to settle on certain portions of Klipfontein until the late 1970s. The black African population rapidly increased due to misinformation and evictions from neighbouring farms. This only further exacerbated the inter-familial conflict between usufructuaries, flaring tensions between the black Africans and their reluctant hosts as well as animosity from the white community towards Klipfontein. In 1979, after a series of court cases, a decision was made to remove all the African settlers by force and relocate most of them to the ‘homeland’ of Ciskei. The rest, who were of ‘working-age’ were left behind in a ‘temporary emergency camp’ on the outskirts of Kenton-on-Sea. The effects of these removals still impact the relationships between the different racial groups in the area to this day.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Language and access in the public healthcare system in South Africa with a particular focus on primary public health facilities in Grahamstown and Cofimvaba in the Eastern Cape
- Authors: Mhlauli, Nonceba
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Health literacy -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Patient education -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Communication in medicine -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Health literacy -- Social aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Poor -- Medical care -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/56692 , vital:26817
- Description: The right to language and the right to healthcare services are human rights which are enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. Section 6 (5) of the Constitution and Section 1.3 (b) and (e) of the Eastern Cape Provincial Language Policy provide protection against unfair discrimination on the grounds of language; while sections 30 and 31 (1) of the Constitution refer to people’s rights in terms of cultural, religious and linguistic participation. Section 27 (a) states that ‘everyone has the right to access to healthcare services’. In accordance with the Constitution, in 2011 the National Department of Health passed a Policy on Language Services. This policy aims to facilitate equitable access to government services and information, as well as respect for language rights as spelled out in the Constitution. The Policy on Language Services further aims to promote multilingualism in the National Department of Health and to allow people to access information in a language of their choice, understand important messages and the language necessary for informed and participatory decision making (Department of Health 2011:1). Given the above policy and Constitutional provisions as far as policy commitment is concerned, the crucial issue remains the implementation of such policy to ensure that the right to access to health and language are realised. The study provides an analysis of the Policy on Language Services 2011 as it relates to language rights and the delivery of health services, focusing on the roll out and implementation process and the public awareness of the policy. This study primarily focuses on the role language plays in accessing public healthcare in primary healthcare facilities in the Grahamstown and Cofimvaba. The study looked at communication between patient and healthcare providers and whether healthcare services were provided in the language of the patient or the language the patient knows best. This study further assessed indications of patients’ comprehension of information such as medical instructions on packaged medicine, comprehension of posters, pamphlets and health education sessions in order to fully participate in the process of their health status. The data of this research was collected from healthcare providers and patients in primary healthcare facilities in Grahamstown and Cofimvaba in the Eastern Cape. The research methods used was in-depth interviews, non-participant observations as well as content analysis such as sign/direction posts, medical labels and information boards. These methods were used to determine whether language plays a role in accessing quality healthcare services in these facilities. The research found that the lack of implementation of language and health policy resulted in the perpetuation of language barriers in the healthcare sector. The study therefore argues that adequate healthcare can only be provided if and when healthcare providers and patients are able to communicate with each other in the language they know best or feel most comfortable in. Thus meaning the implementation of the current Constitutional and policy provisions is crucial to language and access to healthcare services.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Mhlauli, Nonceba
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Health literacy -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Patient education -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Communication in medicine -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Health literacy -- Social aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Poor -- Medical care -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/56692 , vital:26817
- Description: The right to language and the right to healthcare services are human rights which are enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. Section 6 (5) of the Constitution and Section 1.3 (b) and (e) of the Eastern Cape Provincial Language Policy provide protection against unfair discrimination on the grounds of language; while sections 30 and 31 (1) of the Constitution refer to people’s rights in terms of cultural, religious and linguistic participation. Section 27 (a) states that ‘everyone has the right to access to healthcare services’. In accordance with the Constitution, in 2011 the National Department of Health passed a Policy on Language Services. This policy aims to facilitate equitable access to government services and information, as well as respect for language rights as spelled out in the Constitution. The Policy on Language Services further aims to promote multilingualism in the National Department of Health and to allow people to access information in a language of their choice, understand important messages and the language necessary for informed and participatory decision making (Department of Health 2011:1). Given the above policy and Constitutional provisions as far as policy commitment is concerned, the crucial issue remains the implementation of such policy to ensure that the right to access to health and language are realised. The study provides an analysis of the Policy on Language Services 2011 as it relates to language rights and the delivery of health services, focusing on the roll out and implementation process and the public awareness of the policy. This study primarily focuses on the role language plays in accessing public healthcare in primary healthcare facilities in the Grahamstown and Cofimvaba. The study looked at communication between patient and healthcare providers and whether healthcare services were provided in the language of the patient or the language the patient knows best. This study further assessed indications of patients’ comprehension of information such as medical instructions on packaged medicine, comprehension of posters, pamphlets and health education sessions in order to fully participate in the process of their health status. The data of this research was collected from healthcare providers and patients in primary healthcare facilities in Grahamstown and Cofimvaba in the Eastern Cape. The research methods used was in-depth interviews, non-participant observations as well as content analysis such as sign/direction posts, medical labels and information boards. These methods were used to determine whether language plays a role in accessing quality healthcare services in these facilities. The research found that the lack of implementation of language and health policy resulted in the perpetuation of language barriers in the healthcare sector. The study therefore argues that adequate healthcare can only be provided if and when healthcare providers and patients are able to communicate with each other in the language they know best or feel most comfortable in. Thus meaning the implementation of the current Constitutional and policy provisions is crucial to language and access to healthcare services.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Lizalise Idinga Lakho [Honour Thy Promise]: The Methodist Church Women’s Manyano, the Bifurcated Public Sphere, Divine Strength, Ubufazi and Motherhood in Post-Apartheid South Africa
- Authors: Ngcobozi, Lihle
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/17717 , vital:22271
- Description: This study examines the socio-political role of the Christian church based women’s Manyano organisations in post-apartheid South Africa. Specifically, the study examines the ways in which the women’s Manyano organisations offer black women a site for the performance of citizenship. The study is based on life history interviews conducted with seventeen members of the Methodist Church Women’s Manyano of the Lamontville Circuit in Kwa-Zulu Natal. The study shows that dominant literature on Manyano women is primarily located in the historiography of the formation of Manyano groups within the historical development of the black church from the moment of missionary contact in South Africa. This literature shows that the missionaries used the coming together of black women in the church to promote ideas of devout domesticity that are based on Anglophone Victorian womanhood. This literature also shows that the structural constraints of colonisation and apartheid transformed the black church into a counterpublic space which focused largely on the liberation of the black majority from political, economic, and social exclusion from the colonial and apartheid public sphere. These constraints also transformed the role of women’s Manyano organisations to become an important space from which black women came to resist and defeat apartheid. This study shows that this historical framing of women’s Manyano groups has shaped their role in post-apartheid South Africa. Located in the African feminist theory, the study argues that Manyano women’s publicness is not limited to gendered expressions of the public and private sphere. Instead, Manyano women demonstrate that their publicness in post-apartheid South Africa ought to be understood through a combination of the varied identities that they straddle, such as those of a politically and culturally defined womanhood and communally based motherhood, which express their understanding and performance of citizenship. The thesis, therefore, argues that the contemporary role and functioning of Manyanos is located within both the hegemonic public sphere that is granted by the civil liberties of the new South Africa, and the historical black bifurcated counterpublic -which combined offer black women the ability to devise strategies to confront present-day socioeconomic challenges such as structural poverty that shapes the lives of the majority of black women in post-apartheid South Africa. The study contributes, therefore, to the reconstruction of the concept of the public sphere through the use of Manyano women’s dynamic position in post-apartheid South Africa. It shows that the dualist nature of Manyano women’s position and identity allows for a multifaceted approach in the understanding of citizenship for Manyano women today. Furthermore, and importantly, the study shows that the complex roles that Manyano women navigate within the different spheres complicate the interpretations of womanhood and motherhood as understood in dominant (white western) feminist theory in ways that often lead to the delegitimisation and erasure of Manyano women’s contributions to ideas about post-apartheid feminisms.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Ngcobozi, Lihle
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/17717 , vital:22271
- Description: This study examines the socio-political role of the Christian church based women’s Manyano organisations in post-apartheid South Africa. Specifically, the study examines the ways in which the women’s Manyano organisations offer black women a site for the performance of citizenship. The study is based on life history interviews conducted with seventeen members of the Methodist Church Women’s Manyano of the Lamontville Circuit in Kwa-Zulu Natal. The study shows that dominant literature on Manyano women is primarily located in the historiography of the formation of Manyano groups within the historical development of the black church from the moment of missionary contact in South Africa. This literature shows that the missionaries used the coming together of black women in the church to promote ideas of devout domesticity that are based on Anglophone Victorian womanhood. This literature also shows that the structural constraints of colonisation and apartheid transformed the black church into a counterpublic space which focused largely on the liberation of the black majority from political, economic, and social exclusion from the colonial and apartheid public sphere. These constraints also transformed the role of women’s Manyano organisations to become an important space from which black women came to resist and defeat apartheid. This study shows that this historical framing of women’s Manyano groups has shaped their role in post-apartheid South Africa. Located in the African feminist theory, the study argues that Manyano women’s publicness is not limited to gendered expressions of the public and private sphere. Instead, Manyano women demonstrate that their publicness in post-apartheid South Africa ought to be understood through a combination of the varied identities that they straddle, such as those of a politically and culturally defined womanhood and communally based motherhood, which express their understanding and performance of citizenship. The thesis, therefore, argues that the contemporary role and functioning of Manyanos is located within both the hegemonic public sphere that is granted by the civil liberties of the new South Africa, and the historical black bifurcated counterpublic -which combined offer black women the ability to devise strategies to confront present-day socioeconomic challenges such as structural poverty that shapes the lives of the majority of black women in post-apartheid South Africa. The study contributes, therefore, to the reconstruction of the concept of the public sphere through the use of Manyano women’s dynamic position in post-apartheid South Africa. It shows that the dualist nature of Manyano women’s position and identity allows for a multifaceted approach in the understanding of citizenship for Manyano women today. Furthermore, and importantly, the study shows that the complex roles that Manyano women navigate within the different spheres complicate the interpretations of womanhood and motherhood as understood in dominant (white western) feminist theory in ways that often lead to the delegitimisation and erasure of Manyano women’s contributions to ideas about post-apartheid feminisms.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Lurking or listening? an ethnographic study of online and offline student political participation through the #MustFall protests at Rhodes University
- Authors: Govender, Carissa Jade
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: #Feesmustfall , #Rhodesmustfall , Social media -- Political aspects -- South Africa , Social movements -- South Africa , Political participation -- South Africa , Online social networks -- Political aspects -- South Africa , Student movements -- South Africa , Rhodes University -- Students
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/35123 , vital:24330
- Description: The way media is created and consumed plays an important role in political participation as it provides information, guides thinking and allows citizens to make informed political choices. It can also interrogate the status quo and challenge existing systems or power relations. This thesis discusses the use of social media by Rhodes University students in the context of the 2015 #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall protests in South Africa. This thesis interrogates the concept of slacktivism, a term used to describe online or digital activism which is considered to be less active and not as effective as physical activism. Furthermore, the thesis acknowledges that even when digital political participation is recognised, the emphasis and value is placed on those who speak and create content. The thesis examines the notion of participation and what counts as active citizenship. In particular, the majority of social media users who merely lurk and never contribute to content creation or online discussions are further investigated. The qualitative methodological approach used for this thesis involved three parts which looked at student activity on Facebook, student engagement offline, and how students made sense of their online and offline involvement. Firstly, a cyberethnographic investigation was done in order to understand the cyber world in which students are present. Thereafter, a participant observation was carried out to immerse myself in the offline spaces that students engaged in politically, to get a better sense of how their online presence influenced or supplemented their offline activity. Finally, individual interviews were carried out with lurkers to determine why they did not participate in traditional ways, both online and offline. The findings suggest that lurkers are in fact doing more than just being passively present. The high levels of attention paid to content posted by others on social media, as well as the way that the content influences their offline lives suggest that the choice to lurk is far more active than assumed. Students are consciously deciding to lurk for a multitude of reasons, one of which is for the opportunity to learn. Social media is a fast developing; increasingly used form of communication and how political communication across social media platforms is framed affects what we consider to be active engagement. By using theories of listening and emotion talk, the thesis provides new ways of understanding lurking by Rhodes University students on social media, which in turn can lead to better listening, better understanding and greater political participation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Govender, Carissa Jade
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: #Feesmustfall , #Rhodesmustfall , Social media -- Political aspects -- South Africa , Social movements -- South Africa , Political participation -- South Africa , Online social networks -- Political aspects -- South Africa , Student movements -- South Africa , Rhodes University -- Students
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/35123 , vital:24330
- Description: The way media is created and consumed plays an important role in political participation as it provides information, guides thinking and allows citizens to make informed political choices. It can also interrogate the status quo and challenge existing systems or power relations. This thesis discusses the use of social media by Rhodes University students in the context of the 2015 #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall protests in South Africa. This thesis interrogates the concept of slacktivism, a term used to describe online or digital activism which is considered to be less active and not as effective as physical activism. Furthermore, the thesis acknowledges that even when digital political participation is recognised, the emphasis and value is placed on those who speak and create content. The thesis examines the notion of participation and what counts as active citizenship. In particular, the majority of social media users who merely lurk and never contribute to content creation or online discussions are further investigated. The qualitative methodological approach used for this thesis involved three parts which looked at student activity on Facebook, student engagement offline, and how students made sense of their online and offline involvement. Firstly, a cyberethnographic investigation was done in order to understand the cyber world in which students are present. Thereafter, a participant observation was carried out to immerse myself in the offline spaces that students engaged in politically, to get a better sense of how their online presence influenced or supplemented their offline activity. Finally, individual interviews were carried out with lurkers to determine why they did not participate in traditional ways, both online and offline. The findings suggest that lurkers are in fact doing more than just being passively present. The high levels of attention paid to content posted by others on social media, as well as the way that the content influences their offline lives suggest that the choice to lurk is far more active than assumed. Students are consciously deciding to lurk for a multitude of reasons, one of which is for the opportunity to learn. Social media is a fast developing; increasingly used form of communication and how political communication across social media platforms is framed affects what we consider to be active engagement. By using theories of listening and emotion talk, the thesis provides new ways of understanding lurking by Rhodes University students on social media, which in turn can lead to better listening, better understanding and greater political participation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Maimed bodies in George R.R. Martin’s A song of ice and fire
- Authors: Goodenough, Amy Caroline
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Martin, George R. R. -- Song of ice and fire , Violence in literature , Fantasy fiction -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7301 , vital:21240
- Description: George R.R. Martin’s fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire, has joined franchises like Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings at the forefront of popular culture. Unlike other popular fantasy franchises, however, Song is notably ‘gritty’ - inspired as much by the realism of historical fiction as it is by its fantastical predecessors. The novels focus on a massive struggle for power, and that struggle is a famously bloody one: the violence of the novel’s medieval-inspired world and of medieval warfare, is placed front and center. This thesis argues that Song portrays this excessive violence with a view to more than mere sensation. The body is central to Martin’s text, and since power is the object of Martin’s characters, he depicts the way in which power interacts with the body with sophistication. The use of capital and corporal punishment is foregrounded frequently in the text, and presented as central to the process of ruling, but horrifying in its potential for injustice. For all that these acts of maiming - public execution, public torture - may be presented as ceremonies of justice, Martin makes it evident that they are in fact rituals of power. The spectacular display of maimed bodies occurs frequently - so frequently that it is clearly ordinary to Martin’s characters - and nearly always with a view to creating a perception of power. Heads are spiked on castle walls, gibbets hung in town squares, and slaves crucified on road-signs, and these all speak not of the criminality of the victims, but of the power of those doing the punishing. While such displays may be successful, they usually signal weakness to the reader: Martin writes numerous characters whose acts of violence come as misplaced reactions to their own vulnerability. This dynamic comes to the fore most powerfully in the absurd performances of violence by Theon Greyjoy, and, later, in his torture by Ramsay Bolton.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Goodenough, Amy Caroline
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Martin, George R. R. -- Song of ice and fire , Violence in literature , Fantasy fiction -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7301 , vital:21240
- Description: George R.R. Martin’s fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire, has joined franchises like Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings at the forefront of popular culture. Unlike other popular fantasy franchises, however, Song is notably ‘gritty’ - inspired as much by the realism of historical fiction as it is by its fantastical predecessors. The novels focus on a massive struggle for power, and that struggle is a famously bloody one: the violence of the novel’s medieval-inspired world and of medieval warfare, is placed front and center. This thesis argues that Song portrays this excessive violence with a view to more than mere sensation. The body is central to Martin’s text, and since power is the object of Martin’s characters, he depicts the way in which power interacts with the body with sophistication. The use of capital and corporal punishment is foregrounded frequently in the text, and presented as central to the process of ruling, but horrifying in its potential for injustice. For all that these acts of maiming - public execution, public torture - may be presented as ceremonies of justice, Martin makes it evident that they are in fact rituals of power. The spectacular display of maimed bodies occurs frequently - so frequently that it is clearly ordinary to Martin’s characters - and nearly always with a view to creating a perception of power. Heads are spiked on castle walls, gibbets hung in town squares, and slaves crucified on road-signs, and these all speak not of the criminality of the victims, but of the power of those doing the punishing. While such displays may be successful, they usually signal weakness to the reader: Martin writes numerous characters whose acts of violence come as misplaced reactions to their own vulnerability. This dynamic comes to the fore most powerfully in the absurd performances of violence by Theon Greyjoy, and, later, in his torture by Ramsay Bolton.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Malawi’s foreign policy decision-making: the 2012 Malawi-Tanzania boundary dispute
- Kaunda, Mapopa Charles Martin Sazamleke
- Authors: Kaunda, Mapopa Charles Martin Sazamleke
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59225 , vital:27484
- Description: Expected release date-April 2019
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Kaunda, Mapopa Charles Martin Sazamleke
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59225 , vital:27484
- Description: Expected release date-April 2019
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Modern celebrity and inspiration in South Africa: an examination of the Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans
- Authors: Lishivha, Welcome
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Youth in mass media -- South Africa , Youth -- Social conditions -- South Africa , Mail & Guardian , Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/5165 , vital:20782
- Description: The postapartheid condition of a majority of young people in South Africa is substantially similar to the apartheid conditions under which their parents lived. This results in a dominant narrative in the media and everyday talk circulating in South African that the youth are a ‘lost generation’ and also that they represent a significant danger and risk for the stability of our democracy. Against this backdrop The Mail and Guardian, one of the South Africa’s most influential newspapers has chosen to celebrate a small number of young people every year as inspirational and extraordinary in their achievements. This investigation into this representation of a significant - although small - group of young South Africans employed content analysis of the 2015 edition of 200 Young South Africans, interviews with profiled individuals across the years, and a focus group of readers. The study aimed to unpack the complexity of constructing certain young people as exemplary given the structural conditions that constrain and prevent a majority from attaining the education and mobility they need to make a difference in their own lives. The study found through the content analysis that the Mail&Guardian is setting up these young people as exemplary citizens whose actions should inspire other young people to similarly ‘make a difference’. Through the interviews the study found that those featured on the list found both that there was significant social capital in being valorised this way, but that this position was also a complex one to negotiate given the structural limitations of poverty and lack of education for those out of whom they had been chosen. The readers in the focus group did find inspiration in reading about their exemplary peers but they too were conscious of how small a group this was in comparison to the majority of young South Africans. In conclusion the study found that the narrative of hope, inspiration and making a difference is an important message in relation to a generalised hopelessness about South African youth but that it runs the risk of ignoring the significant structural constraints that young, poor, undereducated, unskilled young South Africans face.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Lishivha, Welcome
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Youth in mass media -- South Africa , Youth -- Social conditions -- South Africa , Mail & Guardian , Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/5165 , vital:20782
- Description: The postapartheid condition of a majority of young people in South Africa is substantially similar to the apartheid conditions under which their parents lived. This results in a dominant narrative in the media and everyday talk circulating in South African that the youth are a ‘lost generation’ and also that they represent a significant danger and risk for the stability of our democracy. Against this backdrop The Mail and Guardian, one of the South Africa’s most influential newspapers has chosen to celebrate a small number of young people every year as inspirational and extraordinary in their achievements. This investigation into this representation of a significant - although small - group of young South Africans employed content analysis of the 2015 edition of 200 Young South Africans, interviews with profiled individuals across the years, and a focus group of readers. The study aimed to unpack the complexity of constructing certain young people as exemplary given the structural conditions that constrain and prevent a majority from attaining the education and mobility they need to make a difference in their own lives. The study found through the content analysis that the Mail&Guardian is setting up these young people as exemplary citizens whose actions should inspire other young people to similarly ‘make a difference’. Through the interviews the study found that those featured on the list found both that there was significant social capital in being valorised this way, but that this position was also a complex one to negotiate given the structural limitations of poverty and lack of education for those out of whom they had been chosen. The readers in the focus group did find inspiration in reading about their exemplary peers but they too were conscious of how small a group this was in comparison to the majority of young South Africans. In conclusion the study found that the narrative of hope, inspiration and making a difference is an important message in relation to a generalised hopelessness about South African youth but that it runs the risk of ignoring the significant structural constraints that young, poor, undereducated, unskilled young South Africans face.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Monolingualism and its meaning in two KwaZulu-Natal high schools
- Authors: Carlyle, Jacqui
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Monolingualism -- South Africa , Monolingualism -- South Africa -- Case studies , Language awareness -- South Africa , Language and education -- South Africa , School children -- South Africa -- Attitudes , School children -- South Africa -- Attitudes -- Case studies , African languages -- Study and teaching -- South Africa -- Attitudes
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/6543 , vital:21135
- Description: This study reports on the identity and attitudes of monolingual English speakers (MES) at two high schools in Durban, South Africa, in relation particularly to the role and meaning of monolingualism. Two bodies of data are used to investigate the attitudes of MES and are oriented towards four variables: English, African languages (particularly Zulu), monolingualism and plurilingualism. The attitudes to these variables reveal the impact on identity of language usage in Durban, and negotiations of the participants in trying to mitigate or justify attitudes that are counter to the embracing of diversity encouraged in modern South Africa. First, an attitude questionnaire provides quantitative data that is subjected to analysis, including a chi-squared test. Second, a narrative elicitation interview provides qualitative narrative data that is analysed in relation to APPRAISAL theory. Both analysis types are used to ascertain the presence of a monolingual mindset in the scholars’ responses, as well as to capture the ideological forces to which they are subjected as monolingual English speakers in the unique multilingual setting of Durban. In essence, the data points to a discourse of compromise and unease on the part of the participants - as they juggle with the effects of an English-centric monolingual mindset, and a more pervasive pluralism that embraces the Rainbowism of ‘the new South Africa’. This discourse of compromise is characterized on one side by insecurity and dissatisfaction with the language in education policy, and well as the monolingual upbringing of MES in Durban, and a lack of Language other than English (LOTE), in particular, Zulu. This side of the compromise also portrays a pro- plurilingual orientation, a positive valuation of knowing a LOTE and of plurilingual people. Here, however, the manifestation of the ‘other side’ of the compromise appears as the MES characterize plurilingualism as exceptional and too difficult, and language learning at school as having a negative impact on academic success. Alongside this is a normalization of English and othering of African languages in practical situation. English is also promoted as the language of unity and economic and academic progress or success, while the material value of African languages is questioned.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Carlyle, Jacqui
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Monolingualism -- South Africa , Monolingualism -- South Africa -- Case studies , Language awareness -- South Africa , Language and education -- South Africa , School children -- South Africa -- Attitudes , School children -- South Africa -- Attitudes -- Case studies , African languages -- Study and teaching -- South Africa -- Attitudes
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/6543 , vital:21135
- Description: This study reports on the identity and attitudes of monolingual English speakers (MES) at two high schools in Durban, South Africa, in relation particularly to the role and meaning of monolingualism. Two bodies of data are used to investigate the attitudes of MES and are oriented towards four variables: English, African languages (particularly Zulu), monolingualism and plurilingualism. The attitudes to these variables reveal the impact on identity of language usage in Durban, and negotiations of the participants in trying to mitigate or justify attitudes that are counter to the embracing of diversity encouraged in modern South Africa. First, an attitude questionnaire provides quantitative data that is subjected to analysis, including a chi-squared test. Second, a narrative elicitation interview provides qualitative narrative data that is analysed in relation to APPRAISAL theory. Both analysis types are used to ascertain the presence of a monolingual mindset in the scholars’ responses, as well as to capture the ideological forces to which they are subjected as monolingual English speakers in the unique multilingual setting of Durban. In essence, the data points to a discourse of compromise and unease on the part of the participants - as they juggle with the effects of an English-centric monolingual mindset, and a more pervasive pluralism that embraces the Rainbowism of ‘the new South Africa’. This discourse of compromise is characterized on one side by insecurity and dissatisfaction with the language in education policy, and well as the monolingual upbringing of MES in Durban, and a lack of Language other than English (LOTE), in particular, Zulu. This side of the compromise also portrays a pro- plurilingual orientation, a positive valuation of knowing a LOTE and of plurilingual people. Here, however, the manifestation of the ‘other side’ of the compromise appears as the MES characterize plurilingualism as exceptional and too difficult, and language learning at school as having a negative impact on academic success. Alongside this is a normalization of English and othering of African languages in practical situation. English is also promoted as the language of unity and economic and academic progress or success, while the material value of African languages is questioned.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Morphological awareness in readers of IsiXhosa
- Authors: Rees, Siân Angharad
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/4569 , vital:20694
- Description: This study focuses particularly on the development of four Morphological Awareness reading tests in isiXhosa and on the relationship of Morphological Awareness to reading success among 74 Grade 3 isiXhosa-speaking foundation-phase learners from three peri-urban schools. It explores in-depth why not all previously established Morphological Awareness tests for other languages suit the morphology of isiXhosa and how these tests have been revised in order to do so. Conventionally, the focus of Morphological Awareness literature has been on derivational morphology and reading comprehension. This study did not find significant correlations with comprehension, but rather with the children's ability to decode. Fluency and Morphological Awareness have not been given as much attention in the literature, but Morphological Awareness could be important for processing the agglutinating structure of the language in reading. This study also argues that it is not a specific awareness of derivational morphology over inflectional morphology, but rather a general awareness of one's language structure that is more important at this stage in their literacy development; specifically a general awareness of prefixes and suffixes. In addition, it was found that an explicit awareness of the morphological structure of the language related more to fluency and tests that accessed an innate and implicit Morphological Awareness had the strongest correlations overall with comprehension. The findings from this report have implications regarding how future curriculum developments for morphologically rich languages like isiXhosa should be approached. The positive and practical implications of including different types of Morphological Awareness tutoring in curricula is argued for, especially when teaching younger readers how to approach morphologically complex words in texts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Rees, Siân Angharad
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/4569 , vital:20694
- Description: This study focuses particularly on the development of four Morphological Awareness reading tests in isiXhosa and on the relationship of Morphological Awareness to reading success among 74 Grade 3 isiXhosa-speaking foundation-phase learners from three peri-urban schools. It explores in-depth why not all previously established Morphological Awareness tests for other languages suit the morphology of isiXhosa and how these tests have been revised in order to do so. Conventionally, the focus of Morphological Awareness literature has been on derivational morphology and reading comprehension. This study did not find significant correlations with comprehension, but rather with the children's ability to decode. Fluency and Morphological Awareness have not been given as much attention in the literature, but Morphological Awareness could be important for processing the agglutinating structure of the language in reading. This study also argues that it is not a specific awareness of derivational morphology over inflectional morphology, but rather a general awareness of one's language structure that is more important at this stage in their literacy development; specifically a general awareness of prefixes and suffixes. In addition, it was found that an explicit awareness of the morphological structure of the language related more to fluency and tests that accessed an innate and implicit Morphological Awareness had the strongest correlations overall with comprehension. The findings from this report have implications regarding how future curriculum developments for morphologically rich languages like isiXhosa should be approached. The positive and practical implications of including different types of Morphological Awareness tutoring in curricula is argued for, especially when teaching younger readers how to approach morphologically complex words in texts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
My Friend, the stranger: Somali spaza shop operators in the villages around Cofimvaba, Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Maselwa, Avuyile
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Immigrant business enterprises -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Somalis -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Somalis -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Public opinion , Somalis -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/41738 , vital:25127
- Description: This thesis presents a study of the relationships between Somali spaza operators and the villagers living in the villages around Cofimvaba. The Somali spaza operators are operating spazas in the villages around Cofimvaba in the Intsika Yethu District Municipality (IYDM) located in the Chris Hani District Municipality (CHDM). Spaza shops are general dealers selling daily consumption items, which usually operate in the informal sector, primarily in poorer black neighbourhoods, both urban and rural. Resentment of the very visible, post-apartheid, expansion of immigrant entrepreneurship - in the informal sector, notably in spazas- has been central to South African anti-immigrant sentiment, popularly dubbed “xenophobia,” which casts foreigners, mainly black or Asian, as stealing South African resources. Foreign spaza operators, many of them Somalis, have been subject to ongoing violence and looting for well over a decade, notably in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces. Yet in the deeply impoverished villages around Cofimvaba, in the former Transkei black homeland in the Eastern Cape, where Somalis play a central and growing role in spazas, such attacks are unknown. The aim of this thesis is to understand why. Careful qualitative research in several villages has indicated key reasons. These include the relative absence of South African, locally- owned spazas, and so, the lack of a local group driving xenophobic resentment; the convenience offered by Somali-owned spazas in these isolated villages, the affordability of the products offered, and the availability of systems of credit for villagers; the investment of the Somali entrepreneurs into the villages through acts like charity; and their social interaction with villagers. The Somalis have redefined the local spaza sector, to the benefit of the villagers, and there is a degree of “xenophilia” as a result. The research also found that the growing number of Somali spaza operators in the villages was a direct result of the xenophobia experienced by this group in the urban townships. The villages around Cofimvaba benefit the Somali operator, not in a financial sense as these are not where the most profits have been made, but as sites where the traders feel safest. But although the villages are a sort of refuge, they are isolated and isolating. The Somalis resident in these areas struggle to maintain the strong ethnic group consciousness based on a strong vision of the Somali homeland, and a sense of being sojourners, hoping to relocate elsewhere.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Maselwa, Avuyile
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Immigrant business enterprises -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Somalis -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Somalis -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Public opinion , Somalis -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/41738 , vital:25127
- Description: This thesis presents a study of the relationships between Somali spaza operators and the villagers living in the villages around Cofimvaba. The Somali spaza operators are operating spazas in the villages around Cofimvaba in the Intsika Yethu District Municipality (IYDM) located in the Chris Hani District Municipality (CHDM). Spaza shops are general dealers selling daily consumption items, which usually operate in the informal sector, primarily in poorer black neighbourhoods, both urban and rural. Resentment of the very visible, post-apartheid, expansion of immigrant entrepreneurship - in the informal sector, notably in spazas- has been central to South African anti-immigrant sentiment, popularly dubbed “xenophobia,” which casts foreigners, mainly black or Asian, as stealing South African resources. Foreign spaza operators, many of them Somalis, have been subject to ongoing violence and looting for well over a decade, notably in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces. Yet in the deeply impoverished villages around Cofimvaba, in the former Transkei black homeland in the Eastern Cape, where Somalis play a central and growing role in spazas, such attacks are unknown. The aim of this thesis is to understand why. Careful qualitative research in several villages has indicated key reasons. These include the relative absence of South African, locally- owned spazas, and so, the lack of a local group driving xenophobic resentment; the convenience offered by Somali-owned spazas in these isolated villages, the affordability of the products offered, and the availability of systems of credit for villagers; the investment of the Somali entrepreneurs into the villages through acts like charity; and their social interaction with villagers. The Somalis have redefined the local spaza sector, to the benefit of the villagers, and there is a degree of “xenophilia” as a result. The research also found that the growing number of Somali spaza operators in the villages was a direct result of the xenophobia experienced by this group in the urban townships. The villages around Cofimvaba benefit the Somali operator, not in a financial sense as these are not where the most profits have been made, but as sites where the traders feel safest. But although the villages are a sort of refuge, they are isolated and isolating. The Somalis resident in these areas struggle to maintain the strong ethnic group consciousness based on a strong vision of the Somali homeland, and a sense of being sojourners, hoping to relocate elsewhere.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
My madam: same race, different class: living and working conditions of undocumented, migrant BaSotho domestic workers employed in black middle class houshold
- Madonsela, Koketso Njabulo Gosiame
- Authors: Madonsela, Koketso Njabulo Gosiame
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Black women household empoyees -- South Africa , Black employers -- South Africa , Women household employees -- South Africa , Women, Sotho -- Employment -- South Africa , Businesspeople, Black -- South Africa , Migrant labor -- South Africa , Illegal aliens -- South Africa , Master and servant -- South Africa , Women, Black -- Employment -- South Africa , Industrial relations -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/35166 , vital:24337
- Description: Jacklyn Cock’s Maids and Madams is a study on domestic work in the Eastern Cape which places a focus on black domestic workers who work in white families. Cock’s study was ground-breaking research within labour development in South Africa (with regards to domestic service). The apartheid system regarded domestic work as that of social reproduction: domestic workers left their families to replenish and reproduce the labour power of white families, whose members were employed in a formal workplace. The contribution to this system, according to Cock (1989), was unbreakable because they did not earn enough money to disrupt the system. The respondents of this thesis are undocumented migrant Basotho domestic workers. These domestic workers have much in common with Cock’s respondents. For one, they leave their homes and families to replenish the labour power of black middle class families, whose members are employed in a formal workplace. The difference between this thesis and Cock’s study is that the respondents’ employers are members of the black middle class. Furthermore, the employees are undocumented Basotho domestic workers. Undocumented, migrant, Basotho domestic workers are in a similarly vulnerable position to that of Cock’s respondents. This dissertation engages with the extent to which Maids and Madams is still relevant to the living and working conditions of a new vulnerable workforce in the domestic sector: undocumented, female, Basotho domestic workers employed in black, middle-class households in Gauteng. The dissertation also finds that the relationship between the black migrant domestic worker and the black middle class employer is influenced cultural aspects of what domestic chores represent in black families, and the element of respect from employers (particularly to elderly domestic workers) or lack thereof. This dissertation underlines that the term “ousi” makes the Basotho domestic workers a collective, and not individuals. Thus the term “ousi” can be viewed as the term that takes away the identity of the domestic worker. The theoretical framework of the research is labour process theory (LPT). The new wave of labour process theorists are much more focused on the service industry. LPT is significant to this research because its focus is on the subjective experiences of the workers. This is the core purpose of the thesis. The focus of the new wave LPT involves a shift from understanding workers at a macro level to understanding the subjective experiences of the workers (in the service industry) at a micro level. This provides an appropriate framework to study the subjective working and living experiences of undocumented, migrant, Basotho domestic workers. The research design is based on qualitative research. The research made use of in-depth and semi-structured interviews. The selection of respondents was done through purposive sampling. They findings of this research highlighted the central themes in the relevant literature. However, the key findings of this research also reveal tensions and contradictions that are not explored in detail in the existing literature. For example, the relationship between the black middle class employer and the black domestic worker has tensions which originate from a cultural context. The respondents of this dissertation and their employers are of the same race, yet are of a different class.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Madonsela, Koketso Njabulo Gosiame
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Black women household empoyees -- South Africa , Black employers -- South Africa , Women household employees -- South Africa , Women, Sotho -- Employment -- South Africa , Businesspeople, Black -- South Africa , Migrant labor -- South Africa , Illegal aliens -- South Africa , Master and servant -- South Africa , Women, Black -- Employment -- South Africa , Industrial relations -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/35166 , vital:24337
- Description: Jacklyn Cock’s Maids and Madams is a study on domestic work in the Eastern Cape which places a focus on black domestic workers who work in white families. Cock’s study was ground-breaking research within labour development in South Africa (with regards to domestic service). The apartheid system regarded domestic work as that of social reproduction: domestic workers left their families to replenish and reproduce the labour power of white families, whose members were employed in a formal workplace. The contribution to this system, according to Cock (1989), was unbreakable because they did not earn enough money to disrupt the system. The respondents of this thesis are undocumented migrant Basotho domestic workers. These domestic workers have much in common with Cock’s respondents. For one, they leave their homes and families to replenish the labour power of black middle class families, whose members are employed in a formal workplace. The difference between this thesis and Cock’s study is that the respondents’ employers are members of the black middle class. Furthermore, the employees are undocumented Basotho domestic workers. Undocumented, migrant, Basotho domestic workers are in a similarly vulnerable position to that of Cock’s respondents. This dissertation engages with the extent to which Maids and Madams is still relevant to the living and working conditions of a new vulnerable workforce in the domestic sector: undocumented, female, Basotho domestic workers employed in black, middle-class households in Gauteng. The dissertation also finds that the relationship between the black migrant domestic worker and the black middle class employer is influenced cultural aspects of what domestic chores represent in black families, and the element of respect from employers (particularly to elderly domestic workers) or lack thereof. This dissertation underlines that the term “ousi” makes the Basotho domestic workers a collective, and not individuals. Thus the term “ousi” can be viewed as the term that takes away the identity of the domestic worker. The theoretical framework of the research is labour process theory (LPT). The new wave of labour process theorists are much more focused on the service industry. LPT is significant to this research because its focus is on the subjective experiences of the workers. This is the core purpose of the thesis. The focus of the new wave LPT involves a shift from understanding workers at a macro level to understanding the subjective experiences of the workers (in the service industry) at a micro level. This provides an appropriate framework to study the subjective working and living experiences of undocumented, migrant, Basotho domestic workers. The research design is based on qualitative research. The research made use of in-depth and semi-structured interviews. The selection of respondents was done through purposive sampling. They findings of this research highlighted the central themes in the relevant literature. However, the key findings of this research also reveal tensions and contradictions that are not explored in detail in the existing literature. For example, the relationship between the black middle class employer and the black domestic worker has tensions which originate from a cultural context. The respondents of this dissertation and their employers are of the same race, yet are of a different class.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Negotiating the line between information and panic: a case study of vanguard’s coverage of the ebola outbreak in Nigeria
- Authors: Akingbade, Olutobi Elijah
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Digital media -- Marketing , Marketing -- Technological innovations , Internet marketing , Carbonated beverages -- Marketing , Coca Cola (Trademark) -- Marketing , Social media -- Economic aspects , Soft drink industry -- Internet marketing , Health behavior in adolescence , Advertising -- Carbonated beverages , Obesity in adolescence , Drinking behavior
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/5903 , vital:20986
- Description: This study titled ‘Negotiating the line between information and panic: A case study of Vanguard’s coverage of the Ebola Outbreak in Nigeria’ investigates and evaluates Vanguard’s coverage of the 2014 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in Nigeria. This study was conducted to understand how Vanguard negotiated the line between the dissemination of actual EVD information and the possibility of creating panic and fear during the coverage of the outbreak. Using qualitative content analysis and interview embedded within a qualitative research design, the study was carried out against the backdrop of relevant literature that asserts that the mass media is an important carrier, prime mover and producer of tensions, anxieties, fears and panics while the print media specifically is argued to have as part of its history the business of irrational fear mongering and the creation of panic about social problems. Vanguard, rated as one of the ten largest newspapers in Nigeria, was purposively selected for this study. Vanguard did substantial reporting and dissemination of the 2014 EVD outbreak and it was possible to draw on the availability and accessibility of the electronic archives of the EVD articles. Using the theory of moral panic, the normative theories of the media and theories about essential constituents of journalism culture as a theoretical framework, the study reveals that Vanguard’s coverage of the 2014 EVD outbreak was challenging and more demanding compared to coverage of previous outbreaks of viral diseases in Nigeria by the print medium. The study shows that lack of sufficient understanding of the science that underlies EVD, the initial exclusion of the media from the national response to contain the outbreak, and the lack of sufficient proactive measures by government and the print medium were powerful factors in how the epidemic was reported. The study also shows an interesting dimension in Vanguard’s early and latter coverage of the EVD outbreak while it lasted in Nigeria. This dimension reveals a high number of EVD articles with the propensity to inspire fear and panic in the early days of the coverage compared to EVD articles with the propensity to douse fear and panic in the early and latter days of the outbreak. The study shows that while the challenges encountered stem from Ebola’s mode of transmission, lack of scientific and medically proven cure and early coverage amidst uncertainties, the inherent tensions and anxieties that characterised the outbreak coupled with Vanguard’s fire brigade approach led to the relatively high number of EVD articles with the propensity to inspire fear and panic. The study recommends the mass media’s inclusion in national responses to epidemics and ongoing training for health journalists to update their knowledge base about emerging and infectious diseases. The study also recommends for further study a reception analysis to enhance the socio-cultural understanding of how the EVD articles were received.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Akingbade, Olutobi Elijah
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Digital media -- Marketing , Marketing -- Technological innovations , Internet marketing , Carbonated beverages -- Marketing , Coca Cola (Trademark) -- Marketing , Social media -- Economic aspects , Soft drink industry -- Internet marketing , Health behavior in adolescence , Advertising -- Carbonated beverages , Obesity in adolescence , Drinking behavior
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/5903 , vital:20986
- Description: This study titled ‘Negotiating the line between information and panic: A case study of Vanguard’s coverage of the Ebola Outbreak in Nigeria’ investigates and evaluates Vanguard’s coverage of the 2014 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in Nigeria. This study was conducted to understand how Vanguard negotiated the line between the dissemination of actual EVD information and the possibility of creating panic and fear during the coverage of the outbreak. Using qualitative content analysis and interview embedded within a qualitative research design, the study was carried out against the backdrop of relevant literature that asserts that the mass media is an important carrier, prime mover and producer of tensions, anxieties, fears and panics while the print media specifically is argued to have as part of its history the business of irrational fear mongering and the creation of panic about social problems. Vanguard, rated as one of the ten largest newspapers in Nigeria, was purposively selected for this study. Vanguard did substantial reporting and dissemination of the 2014 EVD outbreak and it was possible to draw on the availability and accessibility of the electronic archives of the EVD articles. Using the theory of moral panic, the normative theories of the media and theories about essential constituents of journalism culture as a theoretical framework, the study reveals that Vanguard’s coverage of the 2014 EVD outbreak was challenging and more demanding compared to coverage of previous outbreaks of viral diseases in Nigeria by the print medium. The study shows that lack of sufficient understanding of the science that underlies EVD, the initial exclusion of the media from the national response to contain the outbreak, and the lack of sufficient proactive measures by government and the print medium were powerful factors in how the epidemic was reported. The study also shows an interesting dimension in Vanguard’s early and latter coverage of the EVD outbreak while it lasted in Nigeria. This dimension reveals a high number of EVD articles with the propensity to inspire fear and panic in the early days of the coverage compared to EVD articles with the propensity to douse fear and panic in the early and latter days of the outbreak. The study shows that while the challenges encountered stem from Ebola’s mode of transmission, lack of scientific and medically proven cure and early coverage amidst uncertainties, the inherent tensions and anxieties that characterised the outbreak coupled with Vanguard’s fire brigade approach led to the relatively high number of EVD articles with the propensity to inspire fear and panic. The study recommends the mass media’s inclusion in national responses to epidemics and ongoing training for health journalists to update their knowledge base about emerging and infectious diseases. The study also recommends for further study a reception analysis to enhance the socio-cultural understanding of how the EVD articles were received.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
New rules or no rules? a critical corpus analysis of gender in South African English televised-sport commentary
- Authors: Foster, Gordon
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Critical discourse analysis , Sportscasters -- Language , Masculinity in sports , Masculinity in mass media , Mass media and sports , Competition (Psychology)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/36116 , vital:24480
- Description: This research project makes use of multiple linguistic and sociological theories. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (as developed by Fairclough 2001, 2013, Wodak 1995, 1997, and van Dijk 2001), and corpus linguistics (following Baker 2012, Baker et al., 2008 and Xiao & McEnery, 2005 - see Website Reference 4), it attempts to critically discuss the language evident in a corpus constructed from transcribed sport broadcasts televised in South Africa, interrogated with the use of AntConc software, maintaining a particular focus on gender representation. It does this with the help of CMT (Contemporary Metaphor Theory) as developed by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) and Lakoff (1993), which allows for the deconstruction and categorisation of metaphorical mappings in the data. With the help of CMT I describe the cognitive mapping of competition through war terminology and uncover a diligent committal to discourses which support hegemonic masculinity, as well as an underlying ideology that purports that rules are breakable and rule infringement will not be significantly penalised (particularly for men). Special attention is paid to collocating language and the ability of these terms to infuse a subject with an evaluative aura. This involves, in particular: using wordlists to identify pertinent content words in the corpus, addressing collocates to reveal semantic prosodies in the text, and analysing concordance data to see how particular discursive strategies were used in context. Particular interest is paid to the depictions of masculinity seen in sport as a potential reflection of the views held in competitive sport playing societies at large, and to this end it focuses on language and imagery which is used in the discursive construction of the terms: men, women, champion, and physicality. The ideology of male hegemony is found to be dominant in the corpus data, seen in, among other things: the positioning of women, the inclusion of traditional discourses relating to the performance of masculinity and the construction of the 'new man'. White, heterosexual men are shown to be represented as exemplars of hegemonic masculinity, subordinating both black and homosexual men. Laughter is also seen as affirmation of the naturalised cheekiness of men and boys and their tendency to break rules in order to succeed, and betting is identified as a potentially destructive influence in sport.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Foster, Gordon
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Critical discourse analysis , Sportscasters -- Language , Masculinity in sports , Masculinity in mass media , Mass media and sports , Competition (Psychology)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/36116 , vital:24480
- Description: This research project makes use of multiple linguistic and sociological theories. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (as developed by Fairclough 2001, 2013, Wodak 1995, 1997, and van Dijk 2001), and corpus linguistics (following Baker 2012, Baker et al., 2008 and Xiao & McEnery, 2005 - see Website Reference 4), it attempts to critically discuss the language evident in a corpus constructed from transcribed sport broadcasts televised in South Africa, interrogated with the use of AntConc software, maintaining a particular focus on gender representation. It does this with the help of CMT (Contemporary Metaphor Theory) as developed by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) and Lakoff (1993), which allows for the deconstruction and categorisation of metaphorical mappings in the data. With the help of CMT I describe the cognitive mapping of competition through war terminology and uncover a diligent committal to discourses which support hegemonic masculinity, as well as an underlying ideology that purports that rules are breakable and rule infringement will not be significantly penalised (particularly for men). Special attention is paid to collocating language and the ability of these terms to infuse a subject with an evaluative aura. This involves, in particular: using wordlists to identify pertinent content words in the corpus, addressing collocates to reveal semantic prosodies in the text, and analysing concordance data to see how particular discursive strategies were used in context. Particular interest is paid to the depictions of masculinity seen in sport as a potential reflection of the views held in competitive sport playing societies at large, and to this end it focuses on language and imagery which is used in the discursive construction of the terms: men, women, champion, and physicality. The ideology of male hegemony is found to be dominant in the corpus data, seen in, among other things: the positioning of women, the inclusion of traditional discourses relating to the performance of masculinity and the construction of the 'new man'. White, heterosexual men are shown to be represented as exemplars of hegemonic masculinity, subordinating both black and homosexual men. Laughter is also seen as affirmation of the naturalised cheekiness of men and boys and their tendency to break rules in order to succeed, and betting is identified as a potentially destructive influence in sport.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
On the shop-floor: ten years at Ford
- Authors: Cilibe, Mpumelelo
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Creative writing (Higher education) South Africa , South African fiction (English) 21st century , Autobiographical fiction, South African (English) 21st century , Xhosa fiction 21st century , Short stories, Xhosa 21st century
- Language: English , Xhosa
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7257 , vital:21234
- Description: My autobiographical novella covers a period of my life between 1974 and 1984, when I worked at the Ford Motor company Struandale Assembly plant in Port Elizabeth. This period predated the formation of NUMSA (the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa) and COSATU - it was a time when automobile industry workers broke away from the race- based unions to form MACWUSA (Motor Assemblers and Component Workers Union of SA). Around the same time Rev Leon Sullivan was putting pressure on US companies, including Ford, to move away from apartheid labour practices. As quite an angry young man influenced by the Black Consciousness movement, I got deeply involved in union activities mainly for my own survival, and as a personal reaction to racism in the workplace. The story is told in a realist style, with many anecdotal detours giving the flavour of life in New Brighton in the 1980s. Important influences have been Bloke Modisane's autobiography, Blame Me on History and Studs Terkel's interviews of Ford plant workers and management in his book Working. , Growing up in New Brighton gave me so many stories that had never been written before but that were told person to person by the residents of my neighbourhood. Some of the tales in this collection are based on such stories. Others are stories that are reminiscent of childhood while growing up with an elder brother. I take the inspiration from different books that are in line with the stories that I am writing: collections of Extreme Fiction - Fabulists and Formalists that were edited by Robin Hemley and Michael Martone and The Best Bizarro Fiction of the Decade edited by Jeremy Robert Johnson and Cameron Pierce. Some stories by L.L. Ngewu and L.S. Ngcangata, and a novellette by P.T. Mtuze, Alitshoni Lingaphumi, also bring much influence as they reveal suffering in the lives of black people who endured forced removals, and other situations that are of interest to build my stories on. , Le ngqokolela yamabali iqulathe amabali asekelwe kumabali endandiweva ebaliswa ebuntwaneni bam ndisakhula. Amanye amabali angeenkumbulo zasebuntwaneni ngethuba ndandikhula nomkhuluwa wam ongasaphiliyo. Ifuthe lokuwaqamba ndilifumene kwiincwadi zababhali abanje ngabo bafumaneka kwiingqokolela ezihlelwe nguRobin Hemley no Michael Martone kwincwadi ethi Extreme Fiction - Fabulists and Formalists, noJeremy Robert Johnson enoCameron Pierce kwingqokolela ethi, The Best Bizarro Fiction of the Decade. Amanye amabali abenefuthe ndiwafumene kwiincwadi zooP.T. Mtuze, kwinovella yakhe ethi Alitshoni Lingaphumi, nakwezoL.L. Ngewu noL.S. Ngcangatha apho babalisa ngobomi basekuhlaleni ngexesha abantu babedudulwa befuduswa ngetshova ukususwa kwiindawo zabo zokuhlala. , This thesis is presented in two parts: English and isiXhosa
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Cilibe, Mpumelelo
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Creative writing (Higher education) South Africa , South African fiction (English) 21st century , Autobiographical fiction, South African (English) 21st century , Xhosa fiction 21st century , Short stories, Xhosa 21st century
- Language: English , Xhosa
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7257 , vital:21234
- Description: My autobiographical novella covers a period of my life between 1974 and 1984, when I worked at the Ford Motor company Struandale Assembly plant in Port Elizabeth. This period predated the formation of NUMSA (the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa) and COSATU - it was a time when automobile industry workers broke away from the race- based unions to form MACWUSA (Motor Assemblers and Component Workers Union of SA). Around the same time Rev Leon Sullivan was putting pressure on US companies, including Ford, to move away from apartheid labour practices. As quite an angry young man influenced by the Black Consciousness movement, I got deeply involved in union activities mainly for my own survival, and as a personal reaction to racism in the workplace. The story is told in a realist style, with many anecdotal detours giving the flavour of life in New Brighton in the 1980s. Important influences have been Bloke Modisane's autobiography, Blame Me on History and Studs Terkel's interviews of Ford plant workers and management in his book Working. , Growing up in New Brighton gave me so many stories that had never been written before but that were told person to person by the residents of my neighbourhood. Some of the tales in this collection are based on such stories. Others are stories that are reminiscent of childhood while growing up with an elder brother. I take the inspiration from different books that are in line with the stories that I am writing: collections of Extreme Fiction - Fabulists and Formalists that were edited by Robin Hemley and Michael Martone and The Best Bizarro Fiction of the Decade edited by Jeremy Robert Johnson and Cameron Pierce. Some stories by L.L. Ngewu and L.S. Ngcangata, and a novellette by P.T. Mtuze, Alitshoni Lingaphumi, also bring much influence as they reveal suffering in the lives of black people who endured forced removals, and other situations that are of interest to build my stories on. , Le ngqokolela yamabali iqulathe amabali asekelwe kumabali endandiweva ebaliswa ebuntwaneni bam ndisakhula. Amanye amabali angeenkumbulo zasebuntwaneni ngethuba ndandikhula nomkhuluwa wam ongasaphiliyo. Ifuthe lokuwaqamba ndilifumene kwiincwadi zababhali abanje ngabo bafumaneka kwiingqokolela ezihlelwe nguRobin Hemley no Michael Martone kwincwadi ethi Extreme Fiction - Fabulists and Formalists, noJeremy Robert Johnson enoCameron Pierce kwingqokolela ethi, The Best Bizarro Fiction of the Decade. Amanye amabali abenefuthe ndiwafumene kwiincwadi zooP.T. Mtuze, kwinovella yakhe ethi Alitshoni Lingaphumi, nakwezoL.L. Ngewu noL.S. Ngcangatha apho babalisa ngobomi basekuhlaleni ngexesha abantu babedudulwa befuduswa ngetshova ukususwa kwiindawo zabo zokuhlala. , This thesis is presented in two parts: English and isiXhosa
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Political correctness and freedom of expression
- Authors: Embling, Geoffrey
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Political correctness , Freedom of speech , Political correctness -- South Africa , Freedom of speech -- South Africa , Censorship , Censorship -- South Africa , South Africa -- Politics and government , Political satire, South African , Fanatacism , Toleration
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/40873 , vital:25035
- Description: A brief history of political correctness is discussed along with various definitions of it, ranging from political correctness being a benign attempt to prevent offense and avert discrimination to stronger views equating it with Communist censorship or branding it as "cultural Marxism". The aim of the research is to discover what political correctness is, how it relates to freedom of expression and what wider implications and effects it has on society. The moral foundations of rights and free speech in particular are introduced in order to set a framework to determine what authority people and governments have to censor others' expression. Different philosophical views on the limits of free speech are discussed, and arguments for and against hate speech are analysed and related to political correctness. The thesis looks at political correctness on university campuses, which involves speech codes, antidiscrimination legislation and changing the Western canon to a more multicultural syllabus. The recent South African university protests involving issues such as white privilege, university fees and rape are discussed and related to political correctness. The thesis examines the role of political correctness in the censorship of humour, it discusses the historical role of satire in challenging dogmatism and it looks at the psychology behind intolerance. Political correctness appeals to tolerance, which is sometimes elevated at the expense of truth. Truth and tolerance are therefore weighed up, along with their altered definitions in today's relativistic society. The last part of the thesis looks at South Africa's unique brand of political correctness, along with Black Economic Empowerment, colonialism and white guilt, and the research concludes that political correctness is a distinct form of censorship which has developed in modern democracies. The new forms of justice and morality seen in political correctness are distortions of left-wing liberalism, which appeal to different values to those of traditional liberalism.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Embling, Geoffrey
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Political correctness , Freedom of speech , Political correctness -- South Africa , Freedom of speech -- South Africa , Censorship , Censorship -- South Africa , South Africa -- Politics and government , Political satire, South African , Fanatacism , Toleration
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/40873 , vital:25035
- Description: A brief history of political correctness is discussed along with various definitions of it, ranging from political correctness being a benign attempt to prevent offense and avert discrimination to stronger views equating it with Communist censorship or branding it as "cultural Marxism". The aim of the research is to discover what political correctness is, how it relates to freedom of expression and what wider implications and effects it has on society. The moral foundations of rights and free speech in particular are introduced in order to set a framework to determine what authority people and governments have to censor others' expression. Different philosophical views on the limits of free speech are discussed, and arguments for and against hate speech are analysed and related to political correctness. The thesis looks at political correctness on university campuses, which involves speech codes, antidiscrimination legislation and changing the Western canon to a more multicultural syllabus. The recent South African university protests involving issues such as white privilege, university fees and rape are discussed and related to political correctness. The thesis examines the role of political correctness in the censorship of humour, it discusses the historical role of satire in challenging dogmatism and it looks at the psychology behind intolerance. Political correctness appeals to tolerance, which is sometimes elevated at the expense of truth. Truth and tolerance are therefore weighed up, along with their altered definitions in today's relativistic society. The last part of the thesis looks at South Africa's unique brand of political correctness, along with Black Economic Empowerment, colonialism and white guilt, and the research concludes that political correctness is a distinct form of censorship which has developed in modern democracies. The new forms of justice and morality seen in political correctness are distortions of left-wing liberalism, which appeal to different values to those of traditional liberalism.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Producing journalism about climate change for news and agricultural radio: a case study of Malawi's public broadcaster
- Authors: Kapiri, Francis
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Public radio -- Malawi , Climatic changes in mass media , Climatic changes in mass media -- Case studies -- Malawi , Radio in agriculture -- Malawi , Malawi Broadcasting Corporation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/6375 , vital:21100
- Description: This study investigates how radio journalists at the Malawian public broadcaster (MBC) experience the task of producing content that can help their audiences to engage with the local relevance of climate change. This study establishes terms of reference for this research by mapping out international histories of public engagement with the concept of climate change in the domains of science, politics and the media. It describes how contestations around climate change have evolved within these spheres and concludes that such contestation is shaped by relations of power that inform the international economic domain. The study then examines scholarly evaluations of journalism about climate change, concluding that such evaluation is grounded in distinct normative understandings of the social purpose of such journalism. It is argued that research about Malawian journalists’ experience of reporting on climate change should draw on knowledge of the role that norms play within this local environment. With this goal in mind, the study reviews tools for the analysis of the normative foundations of journalism within specific socio-historic contexts. It demonstrates the relevance of these tools for the identification of norms and their influence on journalism about climate change in the Malawian context. The empirical component of the study draws on this framework by means of a case study of the experiences of journalists working at the MBC. It examines how these journalists experience the task of producing content that enables their audiences to engage with the local relevance of climate change. It compares such experience as articulated by journalists working for agricultural and news programming. It is concluded that the participants have access to credible knowledge about climate change and its relevance to the Malawian context. Based on such knowledge, they articulate a shared understanding of climate change and its relevance to the Malawian context. However, the study identifies differences in the way that the two groups make sense of the practice of producing journalism about climate change that is of relevance to their audience. In particular, the agricultural journalists incorporate a more inclusive and diverse set of norms into their conceptualisation of such practice. At the same time, the two groups nevertheless respond similarly when commenting on institutional factors at MBC that constrain or enable them to produce journalism about climate change that is guided by such norms. They place emphasis on the need for MBC to provide opportunities for journalists to have access to training, facilitated by organisations that have expertise in climate change journalism. It is concluded that the participants recognise that, despite the entrenched culture of authoritarianism at MBC, such workshops can contribute fundamentally to the shaping of journalistic practice within this broadcaster.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Kapiri, Francis
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Public radio -- Malawi , Climatic changes in mass media , Climatic changes in mass media -- Case studies -- Malawi , Radio in agriculture -- Malawi , Malawi Broadcasting Corporation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/6375 , vital:21100
- Description: This study investigates how radio journalists at the Malawian public broadcaster (MBC) experience the task of producing content that can help their audiences to engage with the local relevance of climate change. This study establishes terms of reference for this research by mapping out international histories of public engagement with the concept of climate change in the domains of science, politics and the media. It describes how contestations around climate change have evolved within these spheres and concludes that such contestation is shaped by relations of power that inform the international economic domain. The study then examines scholarly evaluations of journalism about climate change, concluding that such evaluation is grounded in distinct normative understandings of the social purpose of such journalism. It is argued that research about Malawian journalists’ experience of reporting on climate change should draw on knowledge of the role that norms play within this local environment. With this goal in mind, the study reviews tools for the analysis of the normative foundations of journalism within specific socio-historic contexts. It demonstrates the relevance of these tools for the identification of norms and their influence on journalism about climate change in the Malawian context. The empirical component of the study draws on this framework by means of a case study of the experiences of journalists working at the MBC. It examines how these journalists experience the task of producing content that enables their audiences to engage with the local relevance of climate change. It compares such experience as articulated by journalists working for agricultural and news programming. It is concluded that the participants have access to credible knowledge about climate change and its relevance to the Malawian context. Based on such knowledge, they articulate a shared understanding of climate change and its relevance to the Malawian context. However, the study identifies differences in the way that the two groups make sense of the practice of producing journalism about climate change that is of relevance to their audience. In particular, the agricultural journalists incorporate a more inclusive and diverse set of norms into their conceptualisation of such practice. At the same time, the two groups nevertheless respond similarly when commenting on institutional factors at MBC that constrain or enable them to produce journalism about climate change that is guided by such norms. They place emphasis on the need for MBC to provide opportunities for journalists to have access to training, facilitated by organisations that have expertise in climate change journalism. It is concluded that the participants recognise that, despite the entrenched culture of authoritarianism at MBC, such workshops can contribute fundamentally to the shaping of journalistic practice within this broadcaster.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Red cotton
- Authors: Gantsho, Vangile
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Creative writing (Higher education) South Africa , South African poetry (English) 21st century , South African poetry (English) Black authors , Lesbians, Black Poetry
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7213 , vital:21229
- Description: My collection of poetry is a deeply personal exploration of what it means to be black, queer, and woman in modern-day South Africa. I interrogate being non-conformist in both a traditional-cultural upbringing and a more liberal yet equally-oppressive urban socialisation. I question what we are taught about the body and the feminine sexual space, while also addressing the mother-daughter relationship as the first and most constant reference of womanhood. The collection moves fluidly between the erotic, the uncomfortable and grotesque, what is painful, and what is beautiful and longed-for. Working promiscuously across forms, I employ prose poetry, interspersed with lyrical interludes, in an attempt at a narrative effect similar to what Claudia Rankine achieves in Don't Let Me Be Lonely. I also draw from writers such as Calixthe Beyala (Your Name Shall Be Tanga), and Janice Lee (Damnation), as well as sex guides, women's blogs, and feminist poetry.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Gantsho, Vangile
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Creative writing (Higher education) South Africa , South African poetry (English) 21st century , South African poetry (English) Black authors , Lesbians, Black Poetry
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7213 , vital:21229
- Description: My collection of poetry is a deeply personal exploration of what it means to be black, queer, and woman in modern-day South Africa. I interrogate being non-conformist in both a traditional-cultural upbringing and a more liberal yet equally-oppressive urban socialisation. I question what we are taught about the body and the feminine sexual space, while also addressing the mother-daughter relationship as the first and most constant reference of womanhood. The collection moves fluidly between the erotic, the uncomfortable and grotesque, what is painful, and what is beautiful and longed-for. Working promiscuously across forms, I employ prose poetry, interspersed with lyrical interludes, in an attempt at a narrative effect similar to what Claudia Rankine achieves in Don't Let Me Be Lonely. I also draw from writers such as Calixthe Beyala (Your Name Shall Be Tanga), and Janice Lee (Damnation), as well as sex guides, women's blogs, and feminist poetry.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017