For the people : an appraisal comparison of imagined communities in letters to two South African newspapers
- Authors: Smith, Jade
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Daily Sun (Johannesburg, South Africa) , Times (Johannesburg, South Africa) , Mass media and social integration -- South Africa , Language and languages -- Usage , Mass media and language -- South Africa , Mass media and culture -- South Africa , Belonging (Social psychology)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2385 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016264
- Description: This thesis reports on the bonds that unify imagined communities (Anderson 1983) that are created in 40 letters prominently displayed on the opinions pages of the Daily Sun, a popular tabloid, and The Times, a daily offshoot of the mainstream national Sunday Times. An APPRAISAL analysis of these letters reveals how the imagined communities attempt to align their audiences around distinctive couplings of interpersonal and ideational meaning. Such couplings represent the bonds around which community identities are co-constructed through affiliation and are evidence of the shared feelings that unite the communities of readership. Inferences drawn from this APPRAISAL information allow for a comparison of the natures of the two communities in terms of how they view their agency and group cohesion. Central to the analysis and interpretation of the data is the letters’ evaluative prosody, traced in order to determine the polarity of readers’ stances over four weeks. Asymmetrical prosodies are construed as pointing to the validity of ‘linguistic ventriloquism’, a term whose definition is refined and used as a diagnostic for whether the newspapers use their readers’ letters to promote their own stances on controversial matters. Principal findings show that both communities affiliate around the value of education, and dissatisfaction with the country’s political leaders, however The Times’ readers are more individualistic than the Daily Sun’s community members, who are concerned with the wellbeing of the group. The analysis highlights limitations to the application of the APPRAISAL framework, the value of subjectivity in the analytical process, and adds a new dimension to South African media studies, as it provides linguistic insights into the construction of imagined communities of newspaper readership.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Smith, Jade
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Daily Sun (Johannesburg, South Africa) , Times (Johannesburg, South Africa) , Mass media and social integration -- South Africa , Language and languages -- Usage , Mass media and language -- South Africa , Mass media and culture -- South Africa , Belonging (Social psychology)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2385 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016264
- Description: This thesis reports on the bonds that unify imagined communities (Anderson 1983) that are created in 40 letters prominently displayed on the opinions pages of the Daily Sun, a popular tabloid, and The Times, a daily offshoot of the mainstream national Sunday Times. An APPRAISAL analysis of these letters reveals how the imagined communities attempt to align their audiences around distinctive couplings of interpersonal and ideational meaning. Such couplings represent the bonds around which community identities are co-constructed through affiliation and are evidence of the shared feelings that unite the communities of readership. Inferences drawn from this APPRAISAL information allow for a comparison of the natures of the two communities in terms of how they view their agency and group cohesion. Central to the analysis and interpretation of the data is the letters’ evaluative prosody, traced in order to determine the polarity of readers’ stances over four weeks. Asymmetrical prosodies are construed as pointing to the validity of ‘linguistic ventriloquism’, a term whose definition is refined and used as a diagnostic for whether the newspapers use their readers’ letters to promote their own stances on controversial matters. Principal findings show that both communities affiliate around the value of education, and dissatisfaction with the country’s political leaders, however The Times’ readers are more individualistic than the Daily Sun’s community members, who are concerned with the wellbeing of the group. The analysis highlights limitations to the application of the APPRAISAL framework, the value of subjectivity in the analytical process, and adds a new dimension to South African media studies, as it provides linguistic insights into the construction of imagined communities of newspaper readership.
- Full Text:
Hungry but silent: a content analysis of media reporting on the 2011-2012 famine in Somalia
- Authors: Stupart, Richard
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Famines -- Political aspects -- Somalia Somalia -- In mass media Famines in mass media
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3500 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006054
- Description: This dissertation examines media coverage of the 2011- 2012 famine in Somalia by the websites of BBC News, CNN and Al Jazeera. Using both quantitative and qualitative content analyses, it asks why coverage of the famine began as late as it did, despite ample evidence of the coming famine. It further surveys the famine-related news reports for evidence of four paradigms through which the causes of famine can be understood; as a Malthusian competition between population and land, as a failure of food entitlements as conceived of by Sen (1981), as critical political event (Edkins, 2004), or as an issue of criminality (Alex de Waal, 2008). Findings include a dramatic silencing of victim’s accounts of famine, despite a reliance on their photographic images, as well as an overwhelming preference for Malthusian accounts of the famine. Late media coverage is explored via a new-values paradigm which links the sudden outburst of media coverage for the famine to a formal UN declaration, and suggests that this may have created a new elite-relevance to the event which did not exist before, and therefore making it of relevance to domestic publics.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Stupart, Richard
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Famines -- Political aspects -- Somalia Somalia -- In mass media Famines in mass media
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3500 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006054
- Description: This dissertation examines media coverage of the 2011- 2012 famine in Somalia by the websites of BBC News, CNN and Al Jazeera. Using both quantitative and qualitative content analyses, it asks why coverage of the famine began as late as it did, despite ample evidence of the coming famine. It further surveys the famine-related news reports for evidence of four paradigms through which the causes of famine can be understood; as a Malthusian competition between population and land, as a failure of food entitlements as conceived of by Sen (1981), as critical political event (Edkins, 2004), or as an issue of criminality (Alex de Waal, 2008). Findings include a dramatic silencing of victim’s accounts of famine, despite a reliance on their photographic images, as well as an overwhelming preference for Malthusian accounts of the famine. Late media coverage is explored via a new-values paradigm which links the sudden outburst of media coverage for the famine to a formal UN declaration, and suggests that this may have created a new elite-relevance to the event which did not exist before, and therefore making it of relevance to domestic publics.
- Full Text:
Investigating rural Ugandan women's engagement with HIV and AIDS-related programmes on community radio: a case study of Mama FM's Speak out and Listen
- Authors: Kigozi, James Musisi
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Community radio , AIDS (Disease) in women -- Research -- Uganda , AIDS (Disease) -- Research -- Uganda , AIDS (Disease) and mass media -- Research -- Uganda , AIDS (Disease) -- Social aspects -- Uganda
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3414 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001845
- Description: The purpose of this study was to investigate how rural Ugandan women engage with discussions of HIV and AIDS on community radio. It explored how this audience may relate such broadcast discussions to their own lived experience of HIV and AIDS. It is explained in the study that, while the Uganda government has an official policy of openly discussing matters of HIV and AIDS, health communication strategies still operate within a context where there is an underlying "culture of silence" that discourages openness about sexual matters. It is also pointed out that there are widespread gender disparities among rural communities, which severely limit women's ability to make use of health communication initiatives aimed at educating them. Against this backdrop, the study sets out to explore audience responses to a particular example of Speak Out and Listen, a weekly programme broadcast on Mama FM, a Kampala-based radio station managed by the Uganda Media Women's Association (UMWA). The study maps out responses to the programme by a particular group of rural women. It is argued that these research participants' comments confirm the importance, noted in literature dealing with health education, of drawing for content on what members of an audience have to say about their own lived context. It is proposed that, despite the existence of a 'culture of silence', the women's comments demonstrate an ability to speak with confidence about their experience of living with HIV and AIDS. Thcy are able, more particularly to discuss the constraints placed by gendered power relations on women's ability to draw on the educational content of programming that targets people living with HIV and AIDS. As such, the comments that such women offer represent a valuable resource for HIV and AIDS related programming. The principal conclusion of the study is that health communication initiatives such as Speak Out and Listen would benefit from facilitating conversations with their target audience about their lived experience of HIV and AIDS, and incorporating such discussion into their programmes
- Full Text:
- Authors: Kigozi, James Musisi
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Community radio , AIDS (Disease) in women -- Research -- Uganda , AIDS (Disease) -- Research -- Uganda , AIDS (Disease) and mass media -- Research -- Uganda , AIDS (Disease) -- Social aspects -- Uganda
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3414 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001845
- Description: The purpose of this study was to investigate how rural Ugandan women engage with discussions of HIV and AIDS on community radio. It explored how this audience may relate such broadcast discussions to their own lived experience of HIV and AIDS. It is explained in the study that, while the Uganda government has an official policy of openly discussing matters of HIV and AIDS, health communication strategies still operate within a context where there is an underlying "culture of silence" that discourages openness about sexual matters. It is also pointed out that there are widespread gender disparities among rural communities, which severely limit women's ability to make use of health communication initiatives aimed at educating them. Against this backdrop, the study sets out to explore audience responses to a particular example of Speak Out and Listen, a weekly programme broadcast on Mama FM, a Kampala-based radio station managed by the Uganda Media Women's Association (UMWA). The study maps out responses to the programme by a particular group of rural women. It is argued that these research participants' comments confirm the importance, noted in literature dealing with health education, of drawing for content on what members of an audience have to say about their own lived context. It is proposed that, despite the existence of a 'culture of silence', the women's comments demonstrate an ability to speak with confidence about their experience of living with HIV and AIDS. Thcy are able, more particularly to discuss the constraints placed by gendered power relations on women's ability to draw on the educational content of programming that targets people living with HIV and AIDS. As such, the comments that such women offer represent a valuable resource for HIV and AIDS related programming. The principal conclusion of the study is that health communication initiatives such as Speak Out and Listen would benefit from facilitating conversations with their target audience about their lived experience of HIV and AIDS, and incorporating such discussion into their programmes
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Language policy and planning in the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality: the challenges of implementation
- Seshoka, Keaobaka Omphile Precious
- Authors: Seshoka, Keaobaka Omphile Precious
- Date: 2013 , 2013-03-26
- Subjects: Language policy -- South Africa -- City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality Language planning -- South Africa -- City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality Community development -- South Africa -- Gauteng Local government -- South Africa -- Gauteng Municipal services -- South Africa --Gauteng
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3554 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001519
- Description: This study explores the challenges related to language policy and planning in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan municipality. The study sets to look at the at the challenges affecting successful implementation by the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality as a state organ charged with local development and service delivery for the communities. In terms of the Municipal Systems Act of 2000 municipalities are expected to respond to the language use and preferences of their local communities by making sure that their language policies are fully implemented. The researcher highlights that in instances where municipalities communicate information they are required to make special provision for the speakers of African languages in the communities that they serve in the languages they best understand. This work looks at various statutory language policy documents in South Africa in particular, that give the task of language policy implementation to municipalities as they are the local extension of the national government. This study also argues that municipalities are critical to implementation of language policy. It further notes that in order for the full social, economic and political transformation to take place in municipalities they have to be transformed linguistically in a radical way whereby all the official languages play a major role in all these spheres than before. This view is held by many scholars and researchers in the areas of language policy and planning. This study highlights that the challenges to successful language planning and policy in the government sectors are due to lack of commitment by the government, language practitioners and planners and increased monolingualism in the municipality. The study further explores the language policy and plan of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality and the the strategies that can contribute to successful optimization of language resources of the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality in order to give effect to the use of local languages as contained in policy documents and also establish how the city of Tshwane can better reinforce its strategies to implement this language plan and policy. The main focus area of this research is on the language policy and plan of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality and assesses whether the language practices in these institutions are reflective of their policy and plan. It is hoped that the study will be able to give policy makers and those tasked with implementation, especially at government municipalities’ strategies for improvement in the functionality and the implementation of their language policies and plans. It is also hoped that recommendations and challenges highlighted by this research will be of a better assistance on how to better reinforce strategies to implement the language plan and policy in the government sectors.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Seshoka, Keaobaka Omphile Precious
- Date: 2013 , 2013-03-26
- Subjects: Language policy -- South Africa -- City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality Language planning -- South Africa -- City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality Community development -- South Africa -- Gauteng Local government -- South Africa -- Gauteng Municipal services -- South Africa --Gauteng
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3554 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001519
- Description: This study explores the challenges related to language policy and planning in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan municipality. The study sets to look at the at the challenges affecting successful implementation by the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality as a state organ charged with local development and service delivery for the communities. In terms of the Municipal Systems Act of 2000 municipalities are expected to respond to the language use and preferences of their local communities by making sure that their language policies are fully implemented. The researcher highlights that in instances where municipalities communicate information they are required to make special provision for the speakers of African languages in the communities that they serve in the languages they best understand. This work looks at various statutory language policy documents in South Africa in particular, that give the task of language policy implementation to municipalities as they are the local extension of the national government. This study also argues that municipalities are critical to implementation of language policy. It further notes that in order for the full social, economic and political transformation to take place in municipalities they have to be transformed linguistically in a radical way whereby all the official languages play a major role in all these spheres than before. This view is held by many scholars and researchers in the areas of language policy and planning. This study highlights that the challenges to successful language planning and policy in the government sectors are due to lack of commitment by the government, language practitioners and planners and increased monolingualism in the municipality. The study further explores the language policy and plan of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality and the the strategies that can contribute to successful optimization of language resources of the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality in order to give effect to the use of local languages as contained in policy documents and also establish how the city of Tshwane can better reinforce its strategies to implement this language plan and policy. The main focus area of this research is on the language policy and plan of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality and assesses whether the language practices in these institutions are reflective of their policy and plan. It is hoped that the study will be able to give policy makers and those tasked with implementation, especially at government municipalities’ strategies for improvement in the functionality and the implementation of their language policies and plans. It is also hoped that recommendations and challenges highlighted by this research will be of a better assistance on how to better reinforce strategies to implement the language plan and policy in the government sectors.
- Full Text:
Like Katherine
- Authors: Morgan, Jane Mary Kathleen
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Creative writing , Fiction , South Africa , Creative writing (Higher education) , Short stories, South African (English) -- 21st century , South African fiction (English) -- 21st century , English language -- Writing
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:5964 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001814
- Description: Vicky, a thirty something English radio journalist, has moved to Cape Town to try and work out what it is that's missing from her life and to fill the gap. At first she thinks she's found what she's looking for, but a series of unsettling events makes her realise she has simply brought her problems with her. She goes back to England, ostensibly for work, where she is contacted by her stepbrother, Mark. They hardly know each other but he has a reason for wanting to find her. They meet and, for both of them, their encounters change the way they see themselves and their relationships. Vicky comes to understand more about her past and her family and, for the first time, to find a connection with her emotional life
- Full Text:
- Authors: Morgan, Jane Mary Kathleen
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Creative writing , Fiction , South Africa , Creative writing (Higher education) , Short stories, South African (English) -- 21st century , South African fiction (English) -- 21st century , English language -- Writing
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:5964 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001814
- Description: Vicky, a thirty something English radio journalist, has moved to Cape Town to try and work out what it is that's missing from her life and to fill the gap. At first she thinks she's found what she's looking for, but a series of unsettling events makes her realise she has simply brought her problems with her. She goes back to England, ostensibly for work, where she is contacted by her stepbrother, Mark. They hardly know each other but he has a reason for wanting to find her. They meet and, for both of them, their encounters change the way they see themselves and their relationships. Vicky comes to understand more about her past and her family and, for the first time, to find a connection with her emotional life
- Full Text:
Linguistic minorities in the South African context : the case of Tshivenda
- Authors: Luvhengo, Nkhangweleni
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Indigenous African languages , Apartheid , Tshivenda , Minority languages , Development , Status , Multilingualism , Sesotho , isiZulu , Perceptions , Linguistic minorities -- Research -- South Africa , Venda language -- Research -- South Africa , Language policy -- Research -- South Africa , Multilingualism -- Research -- South Africa , Linguistic rights -- Research -- South Africa , Language and languages -- Political aspects
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3558 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001862
- Description: After many years of the oppressive apartheid government, the new democratic era came into being in 1994. Lot of policy changes came into being, including language policy. This new language policy of the post-apartheid era recognises eleven official languages which include the nine indigenous African languages which were previously recognised as regional languages in the different homelands. The present study investigates the progress of Tshivenda in terms of status and development since it was accorded the official status in South Africa. Literature investigating the status of Tshivenda is generally sparse. This study investigates the status of Tshivenda in South Africa to explore how minority languages which are also recognised as official languages are treated. In most multilingual countries, there are issues which affect the development of minority languages, but the South African situation is interesting in that some of the minority languages are recognised as official languages. This study is a comparative in nature. Firstly, the study compares the level of corpus planning and development in Tshivenda and other indigenous South African languages. Secondly, it compares how people use Tshivenda in a rural area of Lukalo Village where the language is not under pressure from other languages and in Cosmo City, an urban area in Gauteng where Tshivenda speakers come into contact with speakers of more dominant languages such as isiZulu and Sesotho. Language use in different domains like, media, education, government and the home is considered in order to establish how people use languages and the factors which influence their linguistic behaviours. The study also establishes the perceptions and attitudes of the speakers of Tshivenda as a minority and those of the speakers of other languages towards Tshivenda’s role in the different domains such as education and the media. This study was influenced by previous research (Alexander 1989, Webb 2002) which found out that during the apartheid period Tshivenda speakers used to disguise their identity by adopting dominant languages like isiZulu and Sesotho in Johannesburg. Accordingly, the present research wanted to establish how the language policy change in the democratic era has impacted on the confidence of Tshivenda speakers regarding themselves and their language. This study establishes that although Tshivenda is now an official language in post-apartheid South Africa, it still has features of underdevelopment and marginalization that are typically of unofficial minority languages. Translation, lexicographic and terminological work in this language still lags behind that of other indigenous South African languages and there is still a shortage of school textbooks and adult literature in this language. As a result, using the language in education, the media and other controlling domains is still quite challenging, although positive developments such as the teaching of the language at university level can be noted. The Tshivenda speakers generally have a positive attitude towards their language and seem prepared to learn and use it confidently as long its functional value is enhanced, which is currently not happening. As a result, some Tshivenda speakers still regard English as a more worthwhile language to learn at the expense of their language
- Full Text:
- Authors: Luvhengo, Nkhangweleni
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Indigenous African languages , Apartheid , Tshivenda , Minority languages , Development , Status , Multilingualism , Sesotho , isiZulu , Perceptions , Linguistic minorities -- Research -- South Africa , Venda language -- Research -- South Africa , Language policy -- Research -- South Africa , Multilingualism -- Research -- South Africa , Linguistic rights -- Research -- South Africa , Language and languages -- Political aspects
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3558 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001862
- Description: After many years of the oppressive apartheid government, the new democratic era came into being in 1994. Lot of policy changes came into being, including language policy. This new language policy of the post-apartheid era recognises eleven official languages which include the nine indigenous African languages which were previously recognised as regional languages in the different homelands. The present study investigates the progress of Tshivenda in terms of status and development since it was accorded the official status in South Africa. Literature investigating the status of Tshivenda is generally sparse. This study investigates the status of Tshivenda in South Africa to explore how minority languages which are also recognised as official languages are treated. In most multilingual countries, there are issues which affect the development of minority languages, but the South African situation is interesting in that some of the minority languages are recognised as official languages. This study is a comparative in nature. Firstly, the study compares the level of corpus planning and development in Tshivenda and other indigenous South African languages. Secondly, it compares how people use Tshivenda in a rural area of Lukalo Village where the language is not under pressure from other languages and in Cosmo City, an urban area in Gauteng where Tshivenda speakers come into contact with speakers of more dominant languages such as isiZulu and Sesotho. Language use in different domains like, media, education, government and the home is considered in order to establish how people use languages and the factors which influence their linguistic behaviours. The study also establishes the perceptions and attitudes of the speakers of Tshivenda as a minority and those of the speakers of other languages towards Tshivenda’s role in the different domains such as education and the media. This study was influenced by previous research (Alexander 1989, Webb 2002) which found out that during the apartheid period Tshivenda speakers used to disguise their identity by adopting dominant languages like isiZulu and Sesotho in Johannesburg. Accordingly, the present research wanted to establish how the language policy change in the democratic era has impacted on the confidence of Tshivenda speakers regarding themselves and their language. This study establishes that although Tshivenda is now an official language in post-apartheid South Africa, it still has features of underdevelopment and marginalization that are typically of unofficial minority languages. Translation, lexicographic and terminological work in this language still lags behind that of other indigenous South African languages and there is still a shortage of school textbooks and adult literature in this language. As a result, using the language in education, the media and other controlling domains is still quite challenging, although positive developments such as the teaching of the language at university level can be noted. The Tshivenda speakers generally have a positive attitude towards their language and seem prepared to learn and use it confidently as long its functional value is enhanced, which is currently not happening. As a result, some Tshivenda speakers still regard English as a more worthwhile language to learn at the expense of their language
- Full Text:
New ways of understanding: a governmentality analysis of basic education policy in post-apartheid South Africa
- Authors: Prinsloo, Estelle Helena
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: South Africa -- Department of Basic Education , Basic education -- Government policy -- Research -- South Africa , Post-apartheid era -- Education -- South Africa , Educational change -- Research -- South Africa , South Africa -- Social conditions
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2751 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001384
- Description: Social problems that are identified by government policy are articulated in ways that confer the responsibility of their management onto the state. In this way, policy reform serves as a means to justify political rule, as the ‘answers’ to policy failures are located within the realm of state intervention. This role of policy is maintained by the traditional definition of policy as it enables policies to be presented as the outcome of ‘necessary’ actions taken by state institutions to better the wellbeing of citizens. Since 1994, mainstream research on basic education policy in South Africa has employed traditional understandings of policy and its function. In doing so, these inquiries have failed to question the very idea of policy itself. They have also neglected to identify the productive role played by policy in the practice of power. To illuminate the necessary limits of policy reform, an alternative approach to analyse basic education policy is necessary. This thesis premises policy as discourse and advances a governmentality analysis of basic education policy during the first fifteen years of democracy (1994-2009) in South Africa. By drawing on the work of Michel Foucault, the study argues that government – ‘those actions upon the actions of others’ – during this period in South Africa was informed by both a liberal and a neo-liberal mentality of rule. The tensions between these two rationalities contributed to the continuation of apartheid’s socio-economic inequalities in the postapartheid era; an outcome buttressed by the contradictory impulses within basic education policy. By considering policy as a productive translation of governmental reasoning, the boundaries of intervention for future policy reforms are highlighted. These show that the inequalities that were perpetuated during the first fifteen years of democracy justify policy responses similar to those responsible for their production
- Full Text:
- Authors: Prinsloo, Estelle Helena
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: South Africa -- Department of Basic Education , Basic education -- Government policy -- Research -- South Africa , Post-apartheid era -- Education -- South Africa , Educational change -- Research -- South Africa , South Africa -- Social conditions
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2751 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001384
- Description: Social problems that are identified by government policy are articulated in ways that confer the responsibility of their management onto the state. In this way, policy reform serves as a means to justify political rule, as the ‘answers’ to policy failures are located within the realm of state intervention. This role of policy is maintained by the traditional definition of policy as it enables policies to be presented as the outcome of ‘necessary’ actions taken by state institutions to better the wellbeing of citizens. Since 1994, mainstream research on basic education policy in South Africa has employed traditional understandings of policy and its function. In doing so, these inquiries have failed to question the very idea of policy itself. They have also neglected to identify the productive role played by policy in the practice of power. To illuminate the necessary limits of policy reform, an alternative approach to analyse basic education policy is necessary. This thesis premises policy as discourse and advances a governmentality analysis of basic education policy during the first fifteen years of democracy (1994-2009) in South Africa. By drawing on the work of Michel Foucault, the study argues that government – ‘those actions upon the actions of others’ – during this period in South Africa was informed by both a liberal and a neo-liberal mentality of rule. The tensions between these two rationalities contributed to the continuation of apartheid’s socio-economic inequalities in the postapartheid era; an outcome buttressed by the contradictory impulses within basic education policy. By considering policy as a productive translation of governmental reasoning, the boundaries of intervention for future policy reforms are highlighted. These show that the inequalities that were perpetuated during the first fifteen years of democracy justify policy responses similar to those responsible for their production
- Full Text:
Perceived usefulness of agricultural information sought on-line and broadcast in rural Mozambique: a case study of two Community Multimedia Centres (CMCs)
- Authors: Fuel, Isaias Carlos
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Radio in community development -- Mozambique Radio broadcasting -- Mozambique Radio stations -- Mozambique Digital media -- Mozambique Rural development -- Mozambique Agriculture -- Mozambique
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3505 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007240
- Description: The wealth of information available on the Internet holds the potential to aid development in Africa. In order to be effective, such information needs to be contextualised to respond to local needs and practices. The combination of old and new media can support uptake and improve acceptance of new technologies in developing countries. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the perceived usefulness of agricultural information sought on-line and broadcast via community radio in the two Community Multimedia Centres (CMCs) of Namaacha and Murrombene, in rural Mozambique. The data was generated from focus group discussion, individual interview, document analysis, and observation involving farmers and radio presenters. The study has shown that on-line agricultural information responds to the needs of the farmers because it contributes to eliminate pests and help farmers to make decisions about their activities. The study has also shown that there is a communication gap between farmers, extension workers, and volunteer reporters working at the community radios of the two CMCs. Volunteers have no agricultural knowledge. The problem this creates manifests itself primarily when they try to translate on-line agricultural information from Portuguese into local languages. Farmers have difficulties expressing their problems. Extension workers are not available to act as experts and mediators between volunteers and farmers. A collaborative website focusing on locally relevant content was suggested as a possible improvement.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Fuel, Isaias Carlos
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Radio in community development -- Mozambique Radio broadcasting -- Mozambique Radio stations -- Mozambique Digital media -- Mozambique Rural development -- Mozambique Agriculture -- Mozambique
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3505 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007240
- Description: The wealth of information available on the Internet holds the potential to aid development in Africa. In order to be effective, such information needs to be contextualised to respond to local needs and practices. The combination of old and new media can support uptake and improve acceptance of new technologies in developing countries. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the perceived usefulness of agricultural information sought on-line and broadcast via community radio in the two Community Multimedia Centres (CMCs) of Namaacha and Murrombene, in rural Mozambique. The data was generated from focus group discussion, individual interview, document analysis, and observation involving farmers and radio presenters. The study has shown that on-line agricultural information responds to the needs of the farmers because it contributes to eliminate pests and help farmers to make decisions about their activities. The study has also shown that there is a communication gap between farmers, extension workers, and volunteer reporters working at the community radios of the two CMCs. Volunteers have no agricultural knowledge. The problem this creates manifests itself primarily when they try to translate on-line agricultural information from Portuguese into local languages. Farmers have difficulties expressing their problems. Extension workers are not available to act as experts and mediators between volunteers and farmers. A collaborative website focusing on locally relevant content was suggested as a possible improvement.
- Full Text:
Planting season
- Authors: Ntabajyana, Sylvestre
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: South African poetry (English)--21st century , Creative writing (Higher education) , English language--Writing
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:5968 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002014
- Description: In this thesis I present a collection of semi-narrative poems about a rural Africa that is a place of folk-lore and tradition, but also a place of otherworldly, almost grotesque, incident. My characters are, similarly, range in type, from buskers, to guards, school-children, paupers and tycoons. Through the work a place that is both familiar and unknown, common-place and mysterious, emerge.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Ntabajyana, Sylvestre
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: South African poetry (English)--21st century , Creative writing (Higher education) , English language--Writing
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:5968 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002014
- Description: In this thesis I present a collection of semi-narrative poems about a rural Africa that is a place of folk-lore and tradition, but also a place of otherworldly, almost grotesque, incident. My characters are, similarly, range in type, from buskers, to guards, school-children, paupers and tycoons. Through the work a place that is both familiar and unknown, common-place and mysterious, emerge.
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Portfolio
- Hogge, Quentin Edward Somerville
- Authors: Hogge, Quentin Edward Somerville
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Poetry , Post-apartheid , Environment , South African poetry (English) -- 21st century , Creative writing (Higher education) , English language -- Writing
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:5963 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001813
- Description: My initial intention is to try to show how, as a poet in South Africa, I suffer from a creative identity crisis. I am a white English-speaking male. I live surrounded by isiXhosa-speaking people. Is my poetry, or will my poetry be, relevant in the ‘New’ South Africa? Is English, the language of the colonial oppressors, the appropriate medium in the post-apartheid milieu? Will my subject matter be relevant? These questions and my attempts at answering them, form the basis of the poetry and the portfolio that accompanies the poems. My absorption with finding a creative ‘voice’, my concerns with the environment and a questioning of what post-apartheid poetry should write about all seem a bit Quixotic, especially to me! But at another level, they are deeply serious. (p. 5.)
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- Authors: Hogge, Quentin Edward Somerville
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Poetry , Post-apartheid , Environment , South African poetry (English) -- 21st century , Creative writing (Higher education) , English language -- Writing
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:5963 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001813
- Description: My initial intention is to try to show how, as a poet in South Africa, I suffer from a creative identity crisis. I am a white English-speaking male. I live surrounded by isiXhosa-speaking people. Is my poetry, or will my poetry be, relevant in the ‘New’ South Africa? Is English, the language of the colonial oppressors, the appropriate medium in the post-apartheid milieu? Will my subject matter be relevant? These questions and my attempts at answering them, form the basis of the poetry and the portfolio that accompanies the poems. My absorption with finding a creative ‘voice’, my concerns with the environment and a questioning of what post-apartheid poetry should write about all seem a bit Quixotic, especially to me! But at another level, they are deeply serious. (p. 5.)
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Preliminary normative indications for Xhosa speaking unskilled workers on the Rey-Osterrieth complex figure test
- De Kock, Heinrich Karl Theodor
- Authors: De Kock, Heinrich Karl Theodor
- Date: 2013 , 2013-08-26
- Subjects: Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test Educational tests and measurements Xhosa (African people) -- Education Neuropsychological tests -- Cross-cultural studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3130 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006476
- Description: The aim of this study was to establish preliminary normative indications for Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure test administered in English on a non-clinical population of Xhosa, unskilled workers (N = 33). The population has a history of relatively poor quality education and has received no tertiary education. The sample was stratified into two age grouping (18 – 29 and 30 – 40 years). Both sex and level of education were equally distributed within these age groupings. Within-sample statistical comparisons indicated no significant sex effect was present for any of the trials (Copy, IR or DR). Similarly, no significant age effect was present in the Copy trial. Significant age effects were observed for both recall trials (IR and DR). The local sample’s mean performance was descriptively and statistically compared to demographically equivalent nonlocal normative studies. Excluding an illiterate Columbian sample’s performance, the local sample performed significantly lower than all other available normative populations. Lastly, the local sample performed significantly lower than scores derived from a meta-analysis of normative indications in respect of educationally advantaged westernized groups for all three trials (p = .000 in all instances). These results assert the indispensable need for, and use of, culturally appropriate normative datasets in contemporary South African psychological assessments. Equally, these findings serve to highlight the significant influence of quality of education on cognitive test performance, being a critical socio-cultural variable that needs to be taken into consideration for norming purposes.
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- Authors: De Kock, Heinrich Karl Theodor
- Date: 2013 , 2013-08-26
- Subjects: Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test Educational tests and measurements Xhosa (African people) -- Education Neuropsychological tests -- Cross-cultural studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3130 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006476
- Description: The aim of this study was to establish preliminary normative indications for Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure test administered in English on a non-clinical population of Xhosa, unskilled workers (N = 33). The population has a history of relatively poor quality education and has received no tertiary education. The sample was stratified into two age grouping (18 – 29 and 30 – 40 years). Both sex and level of education were equally distributed within these age groupings. Within-sample statistical comparisons indicated no significant sex effect was present for any of the trials (Copy, IR or DR). Similarly, no significant age effect was present in the Copy trial. Significant age effects were observed for both recall trials (IR and DR). The local sample’s mean performance was descriptively and statistically compared to demographically equivalent nonlocal normative studies. Excluding an illiterate Columbian sample’s performance, the local sample performed significantly lower than all other available normative populations. Lastly, the local sample performed significantly lower than scores derived from a meta-analysis of normative indications in respect of educationally advantaged westernized groups for all three trials (p = .000 in all instances). These results assert the indispensable need for, and use of, culturally appropriate normative datasets in contemporary South African psychological assessments. Equally, these findings serve to highlight the significant influence of quality of education on cognitive test performance, being a critical socio-cultural variable that needs to be taken into consideration for norming purposes.
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Psychodynamic case formulations : reflections of a neophyte therapist's experiences of how developing and using a psychodynamic formulation may have influenced treatment?
- Authors: Tebbutt, Hayley Lynne
- Date: 2013 , 2013-11-04
- Subjects: Psychodynamic psychotherapy Psychiatry -- Case formulation Eating disorders
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3133 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006812
- Description: Although it is generally acknowledged and accepted that case formulations are useful in psychotherapy treatment, there is significantly little research illustrating how case formulations are useful in treatment. Research also suggests that case formulations are seldom used in practice after initial training (Eells, 1997; Sim, Gwee, & Bateman, 2005). This research was premised on a particular case study which appeared to highlight shifts in psychotherapy treatment in the sessions directly after the writing or revising of the case formulation, thus prompting the inquiry into the influence of the case formulation on therapeutic work. The research utilised a qualitative methodology and focused on a single case which was a 19 year old university student who expressed a problem with binge eating. The data was drawn from five original and revised case formulations. The participant was seen for 27 therapy sessions, over which time five case formulations were developed and revised. The findings in this study highlight the process of how a psychodynamic case formulation can influence therapeutic work, as reflected in three broad themes of adherence to the case formulation, the confidence of the therapist, and using the formulation as an intervention. The study contributes to arguments for the revival of the case formulation as a necessary therapeutic tool. , KMBT_363 , Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in
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- Authors: Tebbutt, Hayley Lynne
- Date: 2013 , 2013-11-04
- Subjects: Psychodynamic psychotherapy Psychiatry -- Case formulation Eating disorders
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3133 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006812
- Description: Although it is generally acknowledged and accepted that case formulations are useful in psychotherapy treatment, there is significantly little research illustrating how case formulations are useful in treatment. Research also suggests that case formulations are seldom used in practice after initial training (Eells, 1997; Sim, Gwee, & Bateman, 2005). This research was premised on a particular case study which appeared to highlight shifts in psychotherapy treatment in the sessions directly after the writing or revising of the case formulation, thus prompting the inquiry into the influence of the case formulation on therapeutic work. The research utilised a qualitative methodology and focused on a single case which was a 19 year old university student who expressed a problem with binge eating. The data was drawn from five original and revised case formulations. The participant was seen for 27 therapy sessions, over which time five case formulations were developed and revised. The findings in this study highlight the process of how a psychodynamic case formulation can influence therapeutic work, as reflected in three broad themes of adherence to the case formulation, the confidence of the therapist, and using the formulation as an intervention. The study contributes to arguments for the revival of the case formulation as a necessary therapeutic tool. , KMBT_363 , Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in
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Self, family and society in Nadine Gordimer's Burger's Daughter, Rachel Zadok's Gem Squash Tokoloshe, and Doris Lessings's The Grass is Singing
- Authors: O'Brien, Lauren Leigh
- Date: 2013 , 2013-09-08
- Subjects: Gordimer, Nadine. Burger's daughter -- Criticism and interpretation Zadok, Rachel. Gem Squash Tokoloshe -- Criticism and interpretation Lessing, Doris May, 1919-- The grass is singing -- Criticism and interpretation South African fiction (English) -- 20th century -- History and criticism South African fiction (English) -- 21st century -- History and criticism South Africa -- In literature South Africa -- Social life and customs Identification (Psychology) in literature
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2271 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006771
- Description: This dissertation examines Nadine Gordimer’s Burger’s Daughter, Rachel Zadok’s Gem Squash Tokoloshe, and Doris Lessing’s The Grass is Singing. It focuses on the development of each of the protagonists’ identities in three realms: the individual, the familial and the societal. Additionally, it is concerned with the specific socio-political contexts in which the novels are set. It employs psychoanalytic and historical materialist frameworks in order to engage with the disparate areas of identity with which it is concerned. The introduction establishes the analytical perspective of the dissertation and explores the network of theoretical frames on which the dissertation relies. Additionally, it contextualises each of the novels, within their historical contexts, as well as in relation to the theory. The first chapter examines Nadine Gordimer’s Burger’s Daughter. It focuses on the protagonist’s assertion of an identity independent of her father’s role as a political activist, and her eventual acceptance of the universal difficulty in negotiating a life which is both private and political. The second chapter, on Rachel Zadok’s Gem Squash Tokoloshe, examines the relationship between the protagonist’s traumatic experiences as a child and her inability to assert an identity as an adult. The similarities between the protagonist’s attempts to address her traumas and thereby create herself anew and South Africa’s employment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as a means to acknowledge and engage with its traumatic history is of import. The third chapter which deals with Doris Lessing’s The Grass is Singing traces the life of its protagonist, whose identifications remain childish as a result of having witnessed her parents’ difficult relationship. Her understanding of the world is informed by a rigid, binary understanding, which is ultimately disrupted by her relationship with a black employee. She is incapable of readjusting her frame of reference, however, and ultimately goes mad. I conclude that, while my focus has been on personal, familial and social identifications, the standard terms in which identity is examined, namely, race, class, and gender, are present in each of the three tiers of identity with which I have been concerned.
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- Authors: O'Brien, Lauren Leigh
- Date: 2013 , 2013-09-08
- Subjects: Gordimer, Nadine. Burger's daughter -- Criticism and interpretation Zadok, Rachel. Gem Squash Tokoloshe -- Criticism and interpretation Lessing, Doris May, 1919-- The grass is singing -- Criticism and interpretation South African fiction (English) -- 20th century -- History and criticism South African fiction (English) -- 21st century -- History and criticism South Africa -- In literature South Africa -- Social life and customs Identification (Psychology) in literature
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2271 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006771
- Description: This dissertation examines Nadine Gordimer’s Burger’s Daughter, Rachel Zadok’s Gem Squash Tokoloshe, and Doris Lessing’s The Grass is Singing. It focuses on the development of each of the protagonists’ identities in three realms: the individual, the familial and the societal. Additionally, it is concerned with the specific socio-political contexts in which the novels are set. It employs psychoanalytic and historical materialist frameworks in order to engage with the disparate areas of identity with which it is concerned. The introduction establishes the analytical perspective of the dissertation and explores the network of theoretical frames on which the dissertation relies. Additionally, it contextualises each of the novels, within their historical contexts, as well as in relation to the theory. The first chapter examines Nadine Gordimer’s Burger’s Daughter. It focuses on the protagonist’s assertion of an identity independent of her father’s role as a political activist, and her eventual acceptance of the universal difficulty in negotiating a life which is both private and political. The second chapter, on Rachel Zadok’s Gem Squash Tokoloshe, examines the relationship between the protagonist’s traumatic experiences as a child and her inability to assert an identity as an adult. The similarities between the protagonist’s attempts to address her traumas and thereby create herself anew and South Africa’s employment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as a means to acknowledge and engage with its traumatic history is of import. The third chapter which deals with Doris Lessing’s The Grass is Singing traces the life of its protagonist, whose identifications remain childish as a result of having witnessed her parents’ difficult relationship. Her understanding of the world is informed by a rigid, binary understanding, which is ultimately disrupted by her relationship with a black employee. She is incapable of readjusting her frame of reference, however, and ultimately goes mad. I conclude that, while my focus has been on personal, familial and social identifications, the standard terms in which identity is examined, namely, race, class, and gender, are present in each of the three tiers of identity with which I have been concerned.
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The Accidental Prospector
- Authors: De Moor, Irene J
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Uncataloged
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:5961 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004214
- Description: While excavating an ant nest in the river gravels of the NW Cape Diamond fields, Amanda de Bruyn, an entomologist studying the aggressive Camponotus fulvopilosus,finds a diamond. She is torn between the necessity of handing it in to the authorities and the dream of making a quick buck. When a stroke of bad luck renders her current research project null and void she is faced with the prospect of losing her career and her research funding. She is forced to consider selling her diamond and embarks on an adventure that will carry herback into South Africa’s dark past and derail her marriage and career.
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- Authors: De Moor, Irene J
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Uncataloged
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:5961 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004214
- Description: While excavating an ant nest in the river gravels of the NW Cape Diamond fields, Amanda de Bruyn, an entomologist studying the aggressive Camponotus fulvopilosus,finds a diamond. She is torn between the necessity of handing it in to the authorities and the dream of making a quick buck. When a stroke of bad luck renders her current research project null and void she is faced with the prospect of losing her career and her research funding. She is forced to consider selling her diamond and embarks on an adventure that will carry herback into South Africa’s dark past and derail her marriage and career.
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The development of an arousal and anxiety control mental skills training programme for the Rhodes University archery club
- Authors: Chiweshe, Malvern Tatenda
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Anxiety , Arousal , Mental skills , Training , Sports -- Psychological aspects -- Research -- South Africa , Archers -- Training of -- Research -- South Africa , Archers -- Psychological aspects -- Research -- South Africa , Psychology, Applied
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2917 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002082
- Description: Research on the development of Mental Skills Training (MST) programmes in sport psychology has largely increased as sport has become more competitive. MST programmes have been seen to improve the performance of athletes. This particular research study focuses on the development of an anxiety and arousal control MST programme designed specifically for, and tailored exclusively to, the needs of four archers from the Rhodes Archery Club in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. The development of the programme was guided by the Organisational Development Process model as the research methodology design. Data from two quantitative measures (CSAI-2 and Sport Grid-R), a focus group, and an individual interview were integrated with currently existing mental skills literature and theory to devise this particular MST programme. The results of the assessment phase showed that individual archers have different experiences in how anxiety and arousal affect their performances. The results also showed that archers have different zones in which they feel their performance is good. These zones depend on their subjective interpretations of anxiety and arousal. The results also showed that other factors that include personality differences, level of experience and level of expertise also influence how anxiety and arousal affect performance. The archers had previous exposure to MST programmes although they had not received systematic training in mental skills training. The programme was developed in the form of MST workshops that would run over a three week period. As part of the programme the archers would be given a mental skills manual to aid in the mental skills training. It is recommended in future that more research in MST programmes be done as a way of improving the performance of athletes in South Africa
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- Authors: Chiweshe, Malvern Tatenda
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Anxiety , Arousal , Mental skills , Training , Sports -- Psychological aspects -- Research -- South Africa , Archers -- Training of -- Research -- South Africa , Archers -- Psychological aspects -- Research -- South Africa , Psychology, Applied
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2917 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002082
- Description: Research on the development of Mental Skills Training (MST) programmes in sport psychology has largely increased as sport has become more competitive. MST programmes have been seen to improve the performance of athletes. This particular research study focuses on the development of an anxiety and arousal control MST programme designed specifically for, and tailored exclusively to, the needs of four archers from the Rhodes Archery Club in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. The development of the programme was guided by the Organisational Development Process model as the research methodology design. Data from two quantitative measures (CSAI-2 and Sport Grid-R), a focus group, and an individual interview were integrated with currently existing mental skills literature and theory to devise this particular MST programme. The results of the assessment phase showed that individual archers have different experiences in how anxiety and arousal affect their performances. The results also showed that archers have different zones in which they feel their performance is good. These zones depend on their subjective interpretations of anxiety and arousal. The results also showed that other factors that include personality differences, level of experience and level of expertise also influence how anxiety and arousal affect performance. The archers had previous exposure to MST programmes although they had not received systematic training in mental skills training. The programme was developed in the form of MST workshops that would run over a three week period. As part of the programme the archers would be given a mental skills manual to aid in the mental skills training. It is recommended in future that more research in MST programmes be done as a way of improving the performance of athletes in South Africa
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The family in Shakespeare's plays: a study of South African revisions
- Authors: Hjul, Lauren Martha
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Parents , Parental bonds , Family , Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- In literature -- Research , Coetzee, J M, 1940-. Disgrace , Gordimer, Nadine. My son's story , Peteni, R L, 1915-. Hill of fools , English drama -- 17th century -- History and criticism , Families in literature , English literature -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2181 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001832
- Description: This thesis provides a detailed consideration of the family in Shakespeare’s canon and the engagement therewith in three South African novels: Hill of Fools (1976) by R. L. Peteni, My Son’s Story (1990) by Nadine Gordimer, and Disgrace (1999) by J. M. Coetzee. The study is divided into an introduction, three chapters each addressing one of the South African novels and its relationship with a Shakespeare text or texts, and a conclusion. The introductory chapter provides an analysis of the two strands of criticism in which the thesis is situated – studies of the family in Shakespeare and studies of appropriations of Shakespeare – and discusses the ways in which these two strands may be combined through a detailed discussion of the presence of power dynamics in the relationship between parent and child in all of the texts considered. The three chapters each contextualise the South African text and provide detailed discussions of the family dynamics within the relevant texts, with particular reference to questions of authority and autonomy. The focus in each chapter is determined by the nature of the intertextual relationship between the South African novel and the Shakespearean text being discussed. Thus, the first chapter, “The Dissolution of Familial Structures in Hill of Fools” considers power dynamics in the family as an inherent part of the Romeo and Juliet genre, of which William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is but a part. Similarly, the impact of a socio-political identity, and the secrecy it necessitates, is the focus of the second chapter, “Fathers, Sons and Legacy in My Son’s Story” as is the role of Shakespeare and literature within South Africa. These concerns are connected to the novel’s use of Shakespeare’s Sonnets, King Lear, and Hamlet. In the third chapter, “Reclaiming Agency through the Daughter in Disgrace and The Tempest”, I expand on Laurence Wright’s argument that Disgrace is an engagement with The Tempest and consider ways in which the altered power dynamic between father and daughter results in the reconciliation of the father figure with society. The thesis thus addresses the tension between parental bonds and parental bondage
- Full Text:
- Authors: Hjul, Lauren Martha
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Parents , Parental bonds , Family , Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- In literature -- Research , Coetzee, J M, 1940-. Disgrace , Gordimer, Nadine. My son's story , Peteni, R L, 1915-. Hill of fools , English drama -- 17th century -- History and criticism , Families in literature , English literature -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2181 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001832
- Description: This thesis provides a detailed consideration of the family in Shakespeare’s canon and the engagement therewith in three South African novels: Hill of Fools (1976) by R. L. Peteni, My Son’s Story (1990) by Nadine Gordimer, and Disgrace (1999) by J. M. Coetzee. The study is divided into an introduction, three chapters each addressing one of the South African novels and its relationship with a Shakespeare text or texts, and a conclusion. The introductory chapter provides an analysis of the two strands of criticism in which the thesis is situated – studies of the family in Shakespeare and studies of appropriations of Shakespeare – and discusses the ways in which these two strands may be combined through a detailed discussion of the presence of power dynamics in the relationship between parent and child in all of the texts considered. The three chapters each contextualise the South African text and provide detailed discussions of the family dynamics within the relevant texts, with particular reference to questions of authority and autonomy. The focus in each chapter is determined by the nature of the intertextual relationship between the South African novel and the Shakespearean text being discussed. Thus, the first chapter, “The Dissolution of Familial Structures in Hill of Fools” considers power dynamics in the family as an inherent part of the Romeo and Juliet genre, of which William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is but a part. Similarly, the impact of a socio-political identity, and the secrecy it necessitates, is the focus of the second chapter, “Fathers, Sons and Legacy in My Son’s Story” as is the role of Shakespeare and literature within South Africa. These concerns are connected to the novel’s use of Shakespeare’s Sonnets, King Lear, and Hamlet. In the third chapter, “Reclaiming Agency through the Daughter in Disgrace and The Tempest”, I expand on Laurence Wright’s argument that Disgrace is an engagement with The Tempest and consider ways in which the altered power dynamic between father and daughter results in the reconciliation of the father figure with society. The thesis thus addresses the tension between parental bonds and parental bondage
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The limitations and possiblilites of identity and form in selected recent memoirs and novels by white, female Zimbabwean writers : Alexandra Fuller, Lauren Liebenberg
- Authors: Eppel, Ruth
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Women, White -- Zimbabwe -- Biography Women, White -- Zimbabwe -- Fiction Zimbabwean fiction (English) -- 21st century Women, White -- Zimbabwe -- Autobiography Fuller, Alexandra, 1969- Liebenberg, Lauren St. John, Lauren,1966- Rheam, Bryony
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2185 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001985
- Description: This study examines selected works by four white female Zimbabwean writers: Alexandra Fuller, Lauren Liebenberg, Bryony Rheam and Lauren St John, in light of the controversy over the spate of white memoirs which followed the violent confiscation of white farms in Zimbabwe from 2000 onwards. The controversy hinges on the notion that white memoir writers exploit the perceived victimhood of white Zimbabweans in the international sphere, and nostalgically recall a time of belonging – as children in Rhodesia – which fails to address the fraught colonial history which is directly related to the current political climate of the country. I argue that such critiques are too generalised, and I regard the selected texts as primarily critical of the values and lifestyles of white Rhodesians/Zimbabweans. The texts I have selected include a range of autobiographical and fictional writing, or memoirs and pseudo-memoirs, and I focus on form as a medium enabling an exploration of identity. The ways in which these authors conform to and adapt particular narratives of becoming is examined in each chapter, with a particular focus on the transition from innocence to experience, the autobiography, and the Bildungsroman. Gender is a recurring point of interest: in each case the female selves/protagonists are situated in terms of the family, which, in reflecting social values, is a key site of conflict. In regard to trends in white African writing, I explore the white African (farm) childhood memoir and the confessional mode. Ultimately I maintain that while the texts may be classified as white writing, as they are fundamentally concerned with white identity, and therefore evince certain limitations of perspective and form, including clichéd tendencies, all the writers interrogate white identity and the fictional texts more self-reflexively deconstruct tropes of white writing.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Eppel, Ruth
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Women, White -- Zimbabwe -- Biography Women, White -- Zimbabwe -- Fiction Zimbabwean fiction (English) -- 21st century Women, White -- Zimbabwe -- Autobiography Fuller, Alexandra, 1969- Liebenberg, Lauren St. John, Lauren,1966- Rheam, Bryony
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2185 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001985
- Description: This study examines selected works by four white female Zimbabwean writers: Alexandra Fuller, Lauren Liebenberg, Bryony Rheam and Lauren St John, in light of the controversy over the spate of white memoirs which followed the violent confiscation of white farms in Zimbabwe from 2000 onwards. The controversy hinges on the notion that white memoir writers exploit the perceived victimhood of white Zimbabweans in the international sphere, and nostalgically recall a time of belonging – as children in Rhodesia – which fails to address the fraught colonial history which is directly related to the current political climate of the country. I argue that such critiques are too generalised, and I regard the selected texts as primarily critical of the values and lifestyles of white Rhodesians/Zimbabweans. The texts I have selected include a range of autobiographical and fictional writing, or memoirs and pseudo-memoirs, and I focus on form as a medium enabling an exploration of identity. The ways in which these authors conform to and adapt particular narratives of becoming is examined in each chapter, with a particular focus on the transition from innocence to experience, the autobiography, and the Bildungsroman. Gender is a recurring point of interest: in each case the female selves/protagonists are situated in terms of the family, which, in reflecting social values, is a key site of conflict. In regard to trends in white African writing, I explore the white African (farm) childhood memoir and the confessional mode. Ultimately I maintain that while the texts may be classified as white writing, as they are fundamentally concerned with white identity, and therefore evince certain limitations of perspective and form, including clichéd tendencies, all the writers interrogate white identity and the fictional texts more self-reflexively deconstruct tropes of white writing.
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The new Africans: a textual analysis of the construction of 'African-ness' in Chaz Maviyane-Davies' 1996 poster depictions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- Authors: Garman, Brian Donald
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Human rights , Posters , African perspective , Stereotypes , Black men , Maviyane-Davies, Chaz -- Criticism and interpretation , Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- Posters -- Research , Ethnicity -- Research -- Africa , Human rights -- Africa , Pan-Africanism
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3413 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001844
- Description: In 1996, Zimbabwean graphic designer Chaz Maviyane-Davies created a set of human rights posters which represent several articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, from what he calls an “African perspective”. In this study I investigate how Maviyane-Davies has constructed ‘African-ness’ and probe what he refers to as the “alternative aesthetic” that he is trying to create. I use a visual social semiotic approach to examine the discourses he draws on to re-image and re-imagine Africa and Africans in a manner that contests the stereotypical representations found in political, news and economic discourses about Africa, paying particular attention to the ways he uses images of the body. My analysis of the posters shows how complex and difficult it can be to contest regimes of representation that work to fix racialised and derogatory meanings. In response to the pejorative stereotypes of the black body, Maviyane-Davies uses images of strong, healthy, and magnificent people (mostly men) to construct a more affirmative representation of Africa and Africans. Significantly, he draws on sports, touristic, traditional and hegemonic discourses of masculinity in an attempt to expand the complexity and range of possible representations of African-ness. In so doing he runs the risk of reproducing many of the stereotypes that sustain not only the racialised and gendered (masculinist) representations of Africa, but also a sentimentalisation and romanticisation of a place, a people and their traditions. Apart from women in prominent positions, other conspicuous absences from these images include white people and hegemonic references to Western modernity. I do not believe he is discarding whites and modernity as un-African, but is rejecting the naturalisation of whiteness as standing in for humanity, and particular icons of Western modernity as significations of ‘modernity’ itself
- Full Text:
- Authors: Garman, Brian Donald
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Human rights , Posters , African perspective , Stereotypes , Black men , Maviyane-Davies, Chaz -- Criticism and interpretation , Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- Posters -- Research , Ethnicity -- Research -- Africa , Human rights -- Africa , Pan-Africanism
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3413 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001844
- Description: In 1996, Zimbabwean graphic designer Chaz Maviyane-Davies created a set of human rights posters which represent several articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, from what he calls an “African perspective”. In this study I investigate how Maviyane-Davies has constructed ‘African-ness’ and probe what he refers to as the “alternative aesthetic” that he is trying to create. I use a visual social semiotic approach to examine the discourses he draws on to re-image and re-imagine Africa and Africans in a manner that contests the stereotypical representations found in political, news and economic discourses about Africa, paying particular attention to the ways he uses images of the body. My analysis of the posters shows how complex and difficult it can be to contest regimes of representation that work to fix racialised and derogatory meanings. In response to the pejorative stereotypes of the black body, Maviyane-Davies uses images of strong, healthy, and magnificent people (mostly men) to construct a more affirmative representation of Africa and Africans. Significantly, he draws on sports, touristic, traditional and hegemonic discourses of masculinity in an attempt to expand the complexity and range of possible representations of African-ness. In so doing he runs the risk of reproducing many of the stereotypes that sustain not only the racialised and gendered (masculinist) representations of Africa, but also a sentimentalisation and romanticisation of a place, a people and their traditions. Apart from women in prominent positions, other conspicuous absences from these images include white people and hegemonic references to Western modernity. I do not believe he is discarding whites and modernity as un-African, but is rejecting the naturalisation of whiteness as standing in for humanity, and particular icons of Western modernity as significations of ‘modernity’ itself
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The protection of indigenous knowledge within the current intellectual property rights regime: a critical assessment focusing upon the Masakhane Pelargonium case
- Authors: Msomi, Zuziwe Nokwanda
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Intellectual property -- South Africa -- Case studies Cultural property -- Protection -- Law and legislation -- South Africa Indigenous peoples -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- South Africa Masakhane (South Africa) -- Trials, litigation, etc. Pelargoniums -- Therapeutic use Traditional ecological knowledge -- Law and legislation -- South Africa Pharmaceutical industry -- Law and legislation -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2871 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007744
- Description: The use of indigenous knowledge (IK) and indigenous bio-resources by pharmaceutical and herbal industries has led to concerns about the need to protect IK in order to prevent biopiracy and the misappropriation of indigenous knowledge and resources. While some commentators believe that intellectual property rights (IPR) law can effectively protect IK, others are more sceptical. In order to contribute to the growing debate on this issue, this study uses the relatively new and as yet largely critically unanalysed Masakhane Pelargonium case to address the question of whether or not IPR law can be used to effectively protect IK. It is argued here that discussion about the protection of IK is a matter that must be located within broader discussions about North-South relations and the continued struggle for economic and political freedom by indigenous people and their states. The Masakhane case suggests that IPR law in its current form cannot provide sufficient protection of IK on its own. Incompatibilities between IPR law and IK necessitate that certain factors, most important of which are land, organised representation, and what are referred as 'confidence and network resources', be present in order for IPR law to be used with any degree of success. The study also reveals various factors that undermine the possibility of using IPR law to protect IK. In particular, the study highlights the way in which local political tensions can undermine the ability of communities to effectively use IPR law to protect their knowledge. The thesis concludes with several recommendations that will enable indigenous communities and their states to benefit more substantially from the commercialisation of their bio-resources and associated IK.
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- Authors: Msomi, Zuziwe Nokwanda
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Intellectual property -- South Africa -- Case studies Cultural property -- Protection -- Law and legislation -- South Africa Indigenous peoples -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- South Africa Masakhane (South Africa) -- Trials, litigation, etc. Pelargoniums -- Therapeutic use Traditional ecological knowledge -- Law and legislation -- South Africa Pharmaceutical industry -- Law and legislation -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2871 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007744
- Description: The use of indigenous knowledge (IK) and indigenous bio-resources by pharmaceutical and herbal industries has led to concerns about the need to protect IK in order to prevent biopiracy and the misappropriation of indigenous knowledge and resources. While some commentators believe that intellectual property rights (IPR) law can effectively protect IK, others are more sceptical. In order to contribute to the growing debate on this issue, this study uses the relatively new and as yet largely critically unanalysed Masakhane Pelargonium case to address the question of whether or not IPR law can be used to effectively protect IK. It is argued here that discussion about the protection of IK is a matter that must be located within broader discussions about North-South relations and the continued struggle for economic and political freedom by indigenous people and their states. The Masakhane case suggests that IPR law in its current form cannot provide sufficient protection of IK on its own. Incompatibilities between IPR law and IK necessitate that certain factors, most important of which are land, organised representation, and what are referred as 'confidence and network resources', be present in order for IPR law to be used with any degree of success. The study also reveals various factors that undermine the possibility of using IPR law to protect IK. In particular, the study highlights the way in which local political tensions can undermine the ability of communities to effectively use IPR law to protect their knowledge. The thesis concludes with several recommendations that will enable indigenous communities and their states to benefit more substantially from the commercialisation of their bio-resources and associated IK.
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The talisman
- Authors: Reed, Graham Conan
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Fiction , Short stories , English , South Africa , Creative writing (Higher education) , Short stories, South African (English) -- 21st century , South African fiction (English) -- 21st century , English language -- Writing
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:5967 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001817
- Description: The Talisman is an adventure story set in a future where much of today's cultural memory and technology has been lost. Following a hunting accident, a young man named Forest survives a life-threatening wound and embarks on a quest for knowledge. Rising sea levels, bands of marauders, wild animals and the perils of survival in the broken world are not the only problems facing the survivors. The nature of the collapse of the society, what triggered it and its subsequent unfolding, bequeaths an existential quandary upon them that only Forest, and a rare text as old as the earth itself, can unravel
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- Authors: Reed, Graham Conan
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Fiction , Short stories , English , South Africa , Creative writing (Higher education) , Short stories, South African (English) -- 21st century , South African fiction (English) -- 21st century , English language -- Writing
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:5967 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001817
- Description: The Talisman is an adventure story set in a future where much of today's cultural memory and technology has been lost. Following a hunting accident, a young man named Forest survives a life-threatening wound and embarks on a quest for knowledge. Rising sea levels, bands of marauders, wild animals and the perils of survival in the broken world are not the only problems facing the survivors. The nature of the collapse of the society, what triggered it and its subsequent unfolding, bequeaths an existential quandary upon them that only Forest, and a rare text as old as the earth itself, can unravel
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