Between past and future: memory and mourning in the stories of Okwiri Oduor and Ndinda Kioko
- Authors: Awuor, Nicholas Amol
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Oduor, Okwiri -- Criticism and interpretation , Oduor, Okwiri -- The plea bargain , Oduor, Okwiri -- My father's head , Oduor, Okwiri -- Rag doll , Kioko, Ndinda -- Criticism and interpretation , Kioko, Ndinda -- Sometime Before Maulidi , Kioko, Ndinda -- Some Freedom Dreams , Authors, Kenyan -- Criticism and interpretation , Kenyan fiction (English) -- History and criticism , Kenyan literature (English) -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/163168 , vital:41015
- Description: This study investigates the literary activities of two emerging female Kenyan writers, Claudette Okwiri Oduor and Jacqueline Ndinda Kioko, both of whom are award-winning authors. Oduor won the 2014 Caine Prize for African Writing while Kioko bagged the Wasafiri New Writing Fiction Award 2017. It examines specifically how the writers deal with memory and mourning in negotiating between the past and future. I explore how their fictional and non-fictional narratives assist individuals and groups to confront loss, reconstruct new identities, and renegotiate belonging amidst personal and social upheaval. The fictional narratives at the centre of this research are Oduor’s “The Plea Bargain” (2011), “My Father’s Head” (2013) and “Rag Doll” (2014), and Kioko’s “Sometime Before Maulidi” (2014) and “Some Freedom Dreams” (2017). The study explores the themes of mental illness, existential crisis, and fragmentation, and considers bereavement, queer relationships, cultural freedom, and social recognition. The research further considers the active participation of these two writers in Kenya’s contemporary literary-cultural conversations, which span different genres and various media platforms, including blogs, YouTube clips, online magazines, and social media networks in dialogue with other writers. I trace the significance of the literary-cultural link these authors have with their local, continental, and global counterparts in countries like Uganda, Nigeria, and South Africa. The link finds expression through their (in)direct association with some of the new online publishing outlets in Kenya like Jalada Africa, Enkare Review, and Kikwetu. More importantly, their shared participation in and association with such international awards and scholarships as the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, Kwani Trust Manuscript Project, and Miles Morland Foundation is integral in apprehending contemporary literary exchanges and multidirectional flows of publishing in Africa and beyond. I equally illustrate how mentorship of younger writers through local writers’ organisations and collectives like AMKA and Writivism help in the formation of an alternative canon other than the mainstream. The study affirms that the authors seem to transcend the boundaries of production and circulation by fluidly moving between electronic and non-electronic platforms, thus mimicking the memory production of remembering, repeating, and working through.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Awuor, Nicholas Amol
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Oduor, Okwiri -- Criticism and interpretation , Oduor, Okwiri -- The plea bargain , Oduor, Okwiri -- My father's head , Oduor, Okwiri -- Rag doll , Kioko, Ndinda -- Criticism and interpretation , Kioko, Ndinda -- Sometime Before Maulidi , Kioko, Ndinda -- Some Freedom Dreams , Authors, Kenyan -- Criticism and interpretation , Kenyan fiction (English) -- History and criticism , Kenyan literature (English) -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/163168 , vital:41015
- Description: This study investigates the literary activities of two emerging female Kenyan writers, Claudette Okwiri Oduor and Jacqueline Ndinda Kioko, both of whom are award-winning authors. Oduor won the 2014 Caine Prize for African Writing while Kioko bagged the Wasafiri New Writing Fiction Award 2017. It examines specifically how the writers deal with memory and mourning in negotiating between the past and future. I explore how their fictional and non-fictional narratives assist individuals and groups to confront loss, reconstruct new identities, and renegotiate belonging amidst personal and social upheaval. The fictional narratives at the centre of this research are Oduor’s “The Plea Bargain” (2011), “My Father’s Head” (2013) and “Rag Doll” (2014), and Kioko’s “Sometime Before Maulidi” (2014) and “Some Freedom Dreams” (2017). The study explores the themes of mental illness, existential crisis, and fragmentation, and considers bereavement, queer relationships, cultural freedom, and social recognition. The research further considers the active participation of these two writers in Kenya’s contemporary literary-cultural conversations, which span different genres and various media platforms, including blogs, YouTube clips, online magazines, and social media networks in dialogue with other writers. I trace the significance of the literary-cultural link these authors have with their local, continental, and global counterparts in countries like Uganda, Nigeria, and South Africa. The link finds expression through their (in)direct association with some of the new online publishing outlets in Kenya like Jalada Africa, Enkare Review, and Kikwetu. More importantly, their shared participation in and association with such international awards and scholarships as the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, Kwani Trust Manuscript Project, and Miles Morland Foundation is integral in apprehending contemporary literary exchanges and multidirectional flows of publishing in Africa and beyond. I equally illustrate how mentorship of younger writers through local writers’ organisations and collectives like AMKA and Writivism help in the formation of an alternative canon other than the mainstream. The study affirms that the authors seem to transcend the boundaries of production and circulation by fluidly moving between electronic and non-electronic platforms, thus mimicking the memory production of remembering, repeating, and working through.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Institutional culture and internationalisation: a study of Black African academics’ experiences at Rhodes University
- Authors: Wambua, Lloyd M
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Corporate culture -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Universities and colleges -- South Africa -- Makhanda -- Sociological aspects , Discrimination in higher education -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Rhodes University , College teachers, Black -- South Africa -- Makhanda -- Social conditions , College teachers, Foreign -- South Africa -- Makhanda -- Social conditions , Globalization -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Educational change -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Sex discrimination in higher education -- South Africa -- Makhanda , South Africa -- Race relations , Intersectionality (Sociology) , Pan-Africanism , Belonging (Social psychology) , Alienation (Social psychology)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146607 , vital:38541
- Description: This research sets out to examine institutional culture and internationalisation in higher education in contemporary South Africa, by analysing the experiences of black foreign academics at Rhodes University. Much has been written on the adaptation processes of foreign students in South African universities (Ayliff and Wang, 2006; Dzansi and Monnapula-Mapesela, 2012; Mudhovozi, 2011). There is also a host of literature on the black South African experience of adaptation and (non) belonging at historically white universities (HWU) (Akoojee and Nkomo, 2007; Cornell and Kessi, 2017; Soudien, 2008). Comparatively less is written on whether there are any unique pressures regarding institutional culture that black foreign African academics face at historically white institutions such as Rhodes University. The black experience may be misrepresented as a homogenous one by much of the literature on higher education transformation (Batsai, 2019). But there are a host of factors that could change your experience of being ‘black’, such as your class, and gender and quite recently there has been a push to further examine the effect that one’s nationality has on their experience of being ‘black’ in the academy (Batsai, 2019). Institutional culture refers to the “behaviours and values that make up the unique psychological and social environment of a certain institution” (Toma et al., 2005). Internationalisation of higher education in the context of Africa, particularly South Africa refers to “the intentional or unintentional process to integrate intercultural, international and global dimensions in higher education” (Draft Policy Framework for the Internationalisation of Higher Education in South Africa, 2017). In analysing the experiences of international African academics, this research is trying to give a voice to an often-overlooked group of individuals. This research is also meant to portray the black experience in South African higher education as an experience that is not homogenous but reliant on a host of unique identity factors such as gender, class and also their nationality.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Wambua, Lloyd M
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Corporate culture -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Universities and colleges -- South Africa -- Makhanda -- Sociological aspects , Discrimination in higher education -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Rhodes University , College teachers, Black -- South Africa -- Makhanda -- Social conditions , College teachers, Foreign -- South Africa -- Makhanda -- Social conditions , Globalization -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Educational change -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Sex discrimination in higher education -- South Africa -- Makhanda , South Africa -- Race relations , Intersectionality (Sociology) , Pan-Africanism , Belonging (Social psychology) , Alienation (Social psychology)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146607 , vital:38541
- Description: This research sets out to examine institutional culture and internationalisation in higher education in contemporary South Africa, by analysing the experiences of black foreign academics at Rhodes University. Much has been written on the adaptation processes of foreign students in South African universities (Ayliff and Wang, 2006; Dzansi and Monnapula-Mapesela, 2012; Mudhovozi, 2011). There is also a host of literature on the black South African experience of adaptation and (non) belonging at historically white universities (HWU) (Akoojee and Nkomo, 2007; Cornell and Kessi, 2017; Soudien, 2008). Comparatively less is written on whether there are any unique pressures regarding institutional culture that black foreign African academics face at historically white institutions such as Rhodes University. The black experience may be misrepresented as a homogenous one by much of the literature on higher education transformation (Batsai, 2019). But there are a host of factors that could change your experience of being ‘black’, such as your class, and gender and quite recently there has been a push to further examine the effect that one’s nationality has on their experience of being ‘black’ in the academy (Batsai, 2019). Institutional culture refers to the “behaviours and values that make up the unique psychological and social environment of a certain institution” (Toma et al., 2005). Internationalisation of higher education in the context of Africa, particularly South Africa refers to “the intentional or unintentional process to integrate intercultural, international and global dimensions in higher education” (Draft Policy Framework for the Internationalisation of Higher Education in South Africa, 2017). In analysing the experiences of international African academics, this research is trying to give a voice to an often-overlooked group of individuals. This research is also meant to portray the black experience in South African higher education as an experience that is not homogenous but reliant on a host of unique identity factors such as gender, class and also their nationality.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Diteng tsa ditlhopha tsa maina a Bantu: ntlhathakanelo e le mo Setswanang : “The semantics of Bandu noun classes: a focus on Setswana
- Authors: Tladi, Oboitshepo
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Tswana language , Tswana language -- Grammar , Tswana language -- Noun , Noun , Bantu languages , Bantu languages -- Noun , Bantu languages -- Grammar
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/167654 , vital:41500
- Description: The present study investigated the semantic classification of the Setswana noun class system. This enquiry falls under the broad area of the noun classification system in Bantu languages, psycholinguistics and lexicogrpahy. Specifically it explores the basis of noun classification in Setswana making indications that Setswana noun classification is based on a partial semantic classification. Data for the study was drawn from the Setswana Oxford Dictionary. Sixty Setswana nouns, from class 1, 3, 5, and 7, were selected and analysed and then grouped into semantic categories (i.e., PERSON, DEROGATION, TRANSPORATION and so forth). The study adopted Kgukutli’s (1994) semantic classification in performing the dictionary analysis. The rest of the data was drawn from the intuitions of thirty-nine contemporary speakers of Setswana, with the aid of a linguistic test which was fashioned according to Selvik’s (2001) psycholinguistic test. The language test required participants to match the predetermined Setswana definitions with hypothetical Setswana nouns with selected class prefixes attached to them. The results from the empirical study showed that speakers were associating prefixes to certain semantic values, suggesting that each noun class had specific semantic content that was unique to that class. The semantic categories created through the dictionary analysis were then compared to those given by the thirty-nine Setswana speakers, to analyse whether there were any similaritires in the semantic classification of the noun classes. The findings of the dictionary analysis and linguistic test revealed that there were certain semantic characteristics that each class was associated with that seemed to be unique to the class. However, there were various semantic overlaps in the semantic categories associated with the different noun classes, which brings into question whether a semantic classification is viable in the classing of nouns. The study suggests that prior classification of Setswana nouns are not precise enough and that additional semantic categories are needed to offer a more precise classification of nouns in this language.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Tladi, Oboitshepo
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Tswana language , Tswana language -- Grammar , Tswana language -- Noun , Noun , Bantu languages , Bantu languages -- Noun , Bantu languages -- Grammar
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/167654 , vital:41500
- Description: The present study investigated the semantic classification of the Setswana noun class system. This enquiry falls under the broad area of the noun classification system in Bantu languages, psycholinguistics and lexicogrpahy. Specifically it explores the basis of noun classification in Setswana making indications that Setswana noun classification is based on a partial semantic classification. Data for the study was drawn from the Setswana Oxford Dictionary. Sixty Setswana nouns, from class 1, 3, 5, and 7, were selected and analysed and then grouped into semantic categories (i.e., PERSON, DEROGATION, TRANSPORATION and so forth). The study adopted Kgukutli’s (1994) semantic classification in performing the dictionary analysis. The rest of the data was drawn from the intuitions of thirty-nine contemporary speakers of Setswana, with the aid of a linguistic test which was fashioned according to Selvik’s (2001) psycholinguistic test. The language test required participants to match the predetermined Setswana definitions with hypothetical Setswana nouns with selected class prefixes attached to them. The results from the empirical study showed that speakers were associating prefixes to certain semantic values, suggesting that each noun class had specific semantic content that was unique to that class. The semantic categories created through the dictionary analysis were then compared to those given by the thirty-nine Setswana speakers, to analyse whether there were any similaritires in the semantic classification of the noun classes. The findings of the dictionary analysis and linguistic test revealed that there were certain semantic characteristics that each class was associated with that seemed to be unique to the class. However, there were various semantic overlaps in the semantic categories associated with the different noun classes, which brings into question whether a semantic classification is viable in the classing of nouns. The study suggests that prior classification of Setswana nouns are not precise enough and that additional semantic categories are needed to offer a more precise classification of nouns in this language.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Satire in J.J. R. Jolobe's literary works : a critique in relation to contemporary South Africa
- Authors: Benayo, Xolela
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Jolobe, James J. R. , Xhosa literature -- History and criticism , Xhosa poetry -- History and criticism , Humor in literature , Xhosa literature -- Humor , Xhosa language
- Language: English , Xhosa
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/161762 , vital:40667
- Description: J.J.R. Jolobe is regarded as one of the individuals who made a valuable contribution to the development of isiXhosa literature through his works, notably in his poetry (Ilitha, Umyezo; Jolobe 1936). His poetry ranges from abstract subjects to more philosophical matters. This study is aimed at decoding the manner in which he employs satire to conscientise African people of the then horrible situation that they were facing. With that said, poetry will not be the only work that this thesis analyses in the process of evaluating Jolobe’s satire; his essays will also be examined (Amavo; Jolobe 1940). Based on the writings of various authors specialising in the subject, satire has been deemed to be a style of literary writing, one which involves invective satire. For the researcher, that statement will be rebutted, as it will be argued that the mode of satire need not be wholly invective. Jolobe’s light-hearted satire not only showcases the amusing side of his writings, but also indicates the seriousness with which they were intended. Themes covered in Jolobe’s satire have inspired the researcher to evaluate these literary texts in relation to modern contexts, especially when it comes to the relationship between the lines of the author’s experience and the public. With that said, the social role of satire is something that one cannot deny. One could therefore say that there is an urgent need for African satirists to face the existing social and economic reality as authentically as possible. The voice of a satirist should also echo the voice of their society as a whole. Satirical study in post-colonial Africa, in South Africa in particular, is useful due to the idea that the works of the likes of Jolobe may diminish in significance due to neo-colonialism. In fact, this is the point which is considered in this study of Jolobe’s satire. This study also examines stages afforded to the development of satire in Africa, especially in the post-colonial era. The purpose is to identify the effects of satire that are related to socio-political as well as religious factors. These factors are often seen as those that play a vital role is one’s personal morals, and those that are meant to shape the whole community. Jolobe addresses imperialism and the class struggle, which speaks to the society’s loyalties regarding the mobilization toward realizing the dream of being independent. This speaks to the works analysed, revealing protests against oppression and exploitation by imperialists; such works show how inhumane people could be against those who they deem to be beneath their standards. Researchers like Mahlasela (1973), Sirayi (1985), Kwetana (2000) and Khumalo (2015) are amongst those who have made it a point to study Jolobe to ensure that these works are kept alive, along with their significance. Other prospective researchers can follow suite in researching the great Jolobe. In ensuring that the aims of this study come to light, the researcher will be using socialist realism as a way of seeing that the works of Jolobe are realistic in nature. With that said, there will be an exploration of allegoric satire. Satiric allegory will be evaluated with regard to the view that it represents a unique slant on satire, whereby it deems satire to be more than just a supportive method of literary criticism. This allows the researcher to hold the view that satire should not be a restrictive framework when dealing with African literature. Satire as a modern form of criticism can be viewed as having an element of humanism, which would result in the satirist doing all he can to make sure that what is satirized is not isolated from the struggle of the community. It is for the above-mentioned reasons that we see a big challenge in the future development of satiric discourse in African literature.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Benayo, Xolela
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Jolobe, James J. R. , Xhosa literature -- History and criticism , Xhosa poetry -- History and criticism , Humor in literature , Xhosa literature -- Humor , Xhosa language
- Language: English , Xhosa
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/161762 , vital:40667
- Description: J.J.R. Jolobe is regarded as one of the individuals who made a valuable contribution to the development of isiXhosa literature through his works, notably in his poetry (Ilitha, Umyezo; Jolobe 1936). His poetry ranges from abstract subjects to more philosophical matters. This study is aimed at decoding the manner in which he employs satire to conscientise African people of the then horrible situation that they were facing. With that said, poetry will not be the only work that this thesis analyses in the process of evaluating Jolobe’s satire; his essays will also be examined (Amavo; Jolobe 1940). Based on the writings of various authors specialising in the subject, satire has been deemed to be a style of literary writing, one which involves invective satire. For the researcher, that statement will be rebutted, as it will be argued that the mode of satire need not be wholly invective. Jolobe’s light-hearted satire not only showcases the amusing side of his writings, but also indicates the seriousness with which they were intended. Themes covered in Jolobe’s satire have inspired the researcher to evaluate these literary texts in relation to modern contexts, especially when it comes to the relationship between the lines of the author’s experience and the public. With that said, the social role of satire is something that one cannot deny. One could therefore say that there is an urgent need for African satirists to face the existing social and economic reality as authentically as possible. The voice of a satirist should also echo the voice of their society as a whole. Satirical study in post-colonial Africa, in South Africa in particular, is useful due to the idea that the works of the likes of Jolobe may diminish in significance due to neo-colonialism. In fact, this is the point which is considered in this study of Jolobe’s satire. This study also examines stages afforded to the development of satire in Africa, especially in the post-colonial era. The purpose is to identify the effects of satire that are related to socio-political as well as religious factors. These factors are often seen as those that play a vital role is one’s personal morals, and those that are meant to shape the whole community. Jolobe addresses imperialism and the class struggle, which speaks to the society’s loyalties regarding the mobilization toward realizing the dream of being independent. This speaks to the works analysed, revealing protests against oppression and exploitation by imperialists; such works show how inhumane people could be against those who they deem to be beneath their standards. Researchers like Mahlasela (1973), Sirayi (1985), Kwetana (2000) and Khumalo (2015) are amongst those who have made it a point to study Jolobe to ensure that these works are kept alive, along with their significance. Other prospective researchers can follow suite in researching the great Jolobe. In ensuring that the aims of this study come to light, the researcher will be using socialist realism as a way of seeing that the works of Jolobe are realistic in nature. With that said, there will be an exploration of allegoric satire. Satiric allegory will be evaluated with regard to the view that it represents a unique slant on satire, whereby it deems satire to be more than just a supportive method of literary criticism. This allows the researcher to hold the view that satire should not be a restrictive framework when dealing with African literature. Satire as a modern form of criticism can be viewed as having an element of humanism, which would result in the satirist doing all he can to make sure that what is satirized is not isolated from the struggle of the community. It is for the above-mentioned reasons that we see a big challenge in the future development of satiric discourse in African literature.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
“How can you build a nation without telling its stories?”: Transgressive, Testimonial Fiction in Post-TRC South Africa
- Authors: Collett, Keenan
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: South African fiction (English) , Violence in literature , South Africa -- In literature , AIDS (Disease) in literature , Duiker, K Sello -- Thirteen cents , Moele, Kgebetli -- The book of the dead , Staggie, Jason -- Risk
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147092 , vital:38592
- Description: Transgressive fiction refers to works of literature that are fundamentally concerned with the provocation of their reader. This effect is typically accomplished by authors crafting novels that feature upsetting content: extreme violence, taboo sex acts, and drug abuse – often narrated by protagonists who are either the recipients or enactors of violence and trauma. Given their rootedness in familiar social settings, these works of fiction manage to relay critiques of their particular societies. Over the past three decades, transgressive fiction has amassed a small critical reception with focus predominantly directed toward texts from the United States and the United Kingdom. In an attempt to build on existing scholarship, this thesis explores recent and disturbing works of South African literature in order to gauge whether the markers of transgressive fiction are as easily applicable in a new national setting. K. Sello Duiker’s Thirteen Cents, Kgebetli Moele’s The Book of the Dead and Jason Staggie’s Risk form the basis of the discussion. Each novel exposes a concern with social developments within a ‘post-apartheid’ South Africa, and codes its respective critique in narratives concerned with the violation of consent, as depicted in profoundly unsettling ways. The spread of publication dates across the three novels also allows for an examination of morphing social critique from 2000-2013.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Collett, Keenan
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: South African fiction (English) , Violence in literature , South Africa -- In literature , AIDS (Disease) in literature , Duiker, K Sello -- Thirteen cents , Moele, Kgebetli -- The book of the dead , Staggie, Jason -- Risk
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147092 , vital:38592
- Description: Transgressive fiction refers to works of literature that are fundamentally concerned with the provocation of their reader. This effect is typically accomplished by authors crafting novels that feature upsetting content: extreme violence, taboo sex acts, and drug abuse – often narrated by protagonists who are either the recipients or enactors of violence and trauma. Given their rootedness in familiar social settings, these works of fiction manage to relay critiques of their particular societies. Over the past three decades, transgressive fiction has amassed a small critical reception with focus predominantly directed toward texts from the United States and the United Kingdom. In an attempt to build on existing scholarship, this thesis explores recent and disturbing works of South African literature in order to gauge whether the markers of transgressive fiction are as easily applicable in a new national setting. K. Sello Duiker’s Thirteen Cents, Kgebetli Moele’s The Book of the Dead and Jason Staggie’s Risk form the basis of the discussion. Each novel exposes a concern with social developments within a ‘post-apartheid’ South Africa, and codes its respective critique in narratives concerned with the violation of consent, as depicted in profoundly unsettling ways. The spread of publication dates across the three novels also allows for an examination of morphing social critique from 2000-2013.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
A q-metholological approach to audience reception of public awareness messages on sexual violence
- Authors: Bennie, Rachel
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Psychology -- Research -- Methodology , Psychology -- Research , Communication in social action -- South Africa , Psychology -- Research -- South Africa , Women -- Violence against -- South Africa , Women -- Violence against -- South Africa -- Prevention
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140805 , vital:37920
- Description: Public awareness poster campaigns are an often-used method for raising awareness about, and engaging audiences on the topic of rape and other forms of sexual violence (Potter, 2012). However, poster campaigns, as social artefacts, operate in a public arena in which numerous discourses about a phenomenon are produced, reproduced and interact with each other, with sometimes unintended/unanticipated discursive consequences (Böhmke, Bennie, Minnie, Moore, Pilusa & Pollock, 2015). How messages aimed at raising awareness of sexual violence are framed has the potential to reproduce dominant social narratives and gendered subject positions in ways that reinforce notions of men as active sexual agents and potential perpetrators, and women as sexually passive and potential victims (Gavey, 2005). Other approaches, such as bystander intervention, seek to move away from a focus on victims and perpetrators to emphasise the role that community members can play in risk detection, safety promotion and the prevention of sexual violence (McMahon & Banyard, 2012). Since a range of possible messages about sexual violence can be communicated through poster campaigns, it is important to critically examine the content and orientation of campaign material. This study focused on intended audience views regarding messages about sexual violence contained in anti-sexual violence poster materials. The purpose was to collaborate with a selected audience to better understand which messages are effective and which strategies of communication are perceived to be less so. Through the use of Q-methodology, volunteer participants were invited to express their opinions in relation to messages about sexual violence from a range of posters from several international campaigns. The analysis focused on uncovering the discursive subject positions that participants’ express in their attitudinal responses to the poster messages, providing not only a description of these positions, but also illustrating the level of resonance that the poster messages may find with intended audiences. The aim of the study is to potentially inform the development of more focused campaign material, tailored to the specific context from which participants were drawn. Analysis shows clear patterns of audience resistance towards stereotypical representations of sexual violence and messages that are geared towards the simple prohibition of behaviours. The findings highlight the need for the development of alternative strategies of engagement that focus on specific engagement with understandings of sexual violence in the context of intimate and/or acquaintance relationships and which are aimed at inviting audiences to take up a position in relation to sexual violence phenomena that troubles the reproduction of received notions of gendered subjectivities and (hetero) sexuality
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Bennie, Rachel
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Psychology -- Research -- Methodology , Psychology -- Research , Communication in social action -- South Africa , Psychology -- Research -- South Africa , Women -- Violence against -- South Africa , Women -- Violence against -- South Africa -- Prevention
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140805 , vital:37920
- Description: Public awareness poster campaigns are an often-used method for raising awareness about, and engaging audiences on the topic of rape and other forms of sexual violence (Potter, 2012). However, poster campaigns, as social artefacts, operate in a public arena in which numerous discourses about a phenomenon are produced, reproduced and interact with each other, with sometimes unintended/unanticipated discursive consequences (Böhmke, Bennie, Minnie, Moore, Pilusa & Pollock, 2015). How messages aimed at raising awareness of sexual violence are framed has the potential to reproduce dominant social narratives and gendered subject positions in ways that reinforce notions of men as active sexual agents and potential perpetrators, and women as sexually passive and potential victims (Gavey, 2005). Other approaches, such as bystander intervention, seek to move away from a focus on victims and perpetrators to emphasise the role that community members can play in risk detection, safety promotion and the prevention of sexual violence (McMahon & Banyard, 2012). Since a range of possible messages about sexual violence can be communicated through poster campaigns, it is important to critically examine the content and orientation of campaign material. This study focused on intended audience views regarding messages about sexual violence contained in anti-sexual violence poster materials. The purpose was to collaborate with a selected audience to better understand which messages are effective and which strategies of communication are perceived to be less so. Through the use of Q-methodology, volunteer participants were invited to express their opinions in relation to messages about sexual violence from a range of posters from several international campaigns. The analysis focused on uncovering the discursive subject positions that participants’ express in their attitudinal responses to the poster messages, providing not only a description of these positions, but also illustrating the level of resonance that the poster messages may find with intended audiences. The aim of the study is to potentially inform the development of more focused campaign material, tailored to the specific context from which participants were drawn. Analysis shows clear patterns of audience resistance towards stereotypical representations of sexual violence and messages that are geared towards the simple prohibition of behaviours. The findings highlight the need for the development of alternative strategies of engagement that focus on specific engagement with understandings of sexual violence in the context of intimate and/or acquaintance relationships and which are aimed at inviting audiences to take up a position in relation to sexual violence phenomena that troubles the reproduction of received notions of gendered subjectivities and (hetero) sexuality
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Enabling violence: the ethics of writing and reading rape in South Africa
- Authors: Lloyd Dylan Reumen
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Rape -- South Africa , Rape -- Fiction , Rape in literature , Rape in literature -- South Africa , Psychic trauma in literature , Post-traumatic stress disorder in literature , Dystopias in literature , Coetzee, J. M., 1940- Disgrace , South African fiction (English) -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/166173 , vital:41335
- Description: This thesis is concerned with describing the stakes of reading, writing and criticising fictional depictions of rape in a country plagued by high levels of sexual violence. I consider the capacity of rape representations to cause harm to women and rape survivors, and worsen the various injuries suffered by survivors as a direct or indirect consequence of rape. The possibility of such harm prompts me to examine the role and responsibilities of readers and critics in facilitating or preventing such harm. I further discuss the potential strategies of harm prevention that readers of novelistic portrayals of rape might adopt as well as the positive outcomes that such reading strategies make possible, and which might balance out the risks that accompany them. My description of the potential harm of rape representations combines postmodern critical feminist analysis with Miranda Fricker’s work on epistemic justice and Judith Herman’s work on trauma in order to illustrate the way that these representations shape our conception of rape in a manner that affects everything from how it is enacted to our treatment of survivors to the possibility of their recovery from posttraumatic stress disorder. In order to situate my analysis in the context of South African literature and to explore the notion of responsibility in relation to the writing of scenes of rape, I utilise a close reading of J.M. Coetzee’s Disgrace. Furthermore, I discuss the utility and limits of the critical feminist strategy of using a normative critical approach to rape representations in order to prevent harm. Ultimately, I argue that the use of such a strategy, along with the development of a purpose-honed adaptive critical style, is essential to the fulfilment of our responsibilities as readers and to the prevention of further suffering.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Lloyd Dylan Reumen
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Rape -- South Africa , Rape -- Fiction , Rape in literature , Rape in literature -- South Africa , Psychic trauma in literature , Post-traumatic stress disorder in literature , Dystopias in literature , Coetzee, J. M., 1940- Disgrace , South African fiction (English) -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/166173 , vital:41335
- Description: This thesis is concerned with describing the stakes of reading, writing and criticising fictional depictions of rape in a country plagued by high levels of sexual violence. I consider the capacity of rape representations to cause harm to women and rape survivors, and worsen the various injuries suffered by survivors as a direct or indirect consequence of rape. The possibility of such harm prompts me to examine the role and responsibilities of readers and critics in facilitating or preventing such harm. I further discuss the potential strategies of harm prevention that readers of novelistic portrayals of rape might adopt as well as the positive outcomes that such reading strategies make possible, and which might balance out the risks that accompany them. My description of the potential harm of rape representations combines postmodern critical feminist analysis with Miranda Fricker’s work on epistemic justice and Judith Herman’s work on trauma in order to illustrate the way that these representations shape our conception of rape in a manner that affects everything from how it is enacted to our treatment of survivors to the possibility of their recovery from posttraumatic stress disorder. In order to situate my analysis in the context of South African literature and to explore the notion of responsibility in relation to the writing of scenes of rape, I utilise a close reading of J.M. Coetzee’s Disgrace. Furthermore, I discuss the utility and limits of the critical feminist strategy of using a normative critical approach to rape representations in order to prevent harm. Ultimately, I argue that the use of such a strategy, along with the development of a purpose-honed adaptive critical style, is essential to the fulfilment of our responsibilities as readers and to the prevention of further suffering.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
A five year comparative analysis of annual baseline neurocognitive test scores for South African high school athletes
- Reichling, Marcelle Antoinette
- Authors: Reichling, Marcelle Antoinette
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: High school athletes -- Intelligence testing , Sports -- Psychological aspects , Neuropsychological tests , Brain -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychology , Sports injuries -- Psychological aspects , Brain -- Concussion , Head -- Wounds and injuries
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145863 , vital:38473
- Description: The primary objective of this study was to assess the pattern of change in neurocognitive performance for adolescent athletes on baseline measures of the Immediate Post Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) test, over five consecutive years, with a view to providing an indication of the optimal interval for repeat baseline testing of high school athletes. Participants were non-clinical, predominantly South African high school athletes in the overall age range 13 to 18 years (N = 108), divided into five groups (Grades 8,9, 10, 11 and 12), and tested at five test intervals. Repeated-measures ANOVA analyses examined differences in score performance across the test intervals for each of the five composite scores of the ImPACT test (Verbal Memory, Visual Memory, Visual Motor Speed, Reaction Time, Impulse Control). For the Verbal Memory, Visual Memory, Visual Motor Speed and Reaction Time composites there were significant neurocognitive score changes between several test intervals. Taking these results into account, in conjunction with substantial variability in performance, it is concluded that there is a need for annual baseline testing throughout the high school years. The secondary objective was to generate normative tables (Means and Standard Deviations) on the ImPACT test for the five participant groups at each of the five test intervals, including data for: the five composite scores (Verbal Memory, Visual Memory, Visual Motor Speed, Reaction Time, Impulse Control); for the twelve subtest scores test that go to make up the composite scores; and for four additional memory subcomponent scores (Word Memory immediate recall, Word Memory delayed recall, Design Memory immediate recall, Design Memory delayed recall). The results provide a clinical and heuristic normative platform for future use with brain injured individuals, which can be used to facilitate clinical interpretations of postconcussion assessments.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Reichling, Marcelle Antoinette
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: High school athletes -- Intelligence testing , Sports -- Psychological aspects , Neuropsychological tests , Brain -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychology , Sports injuries -- Psychological aspects , Brain -- Concussion , Head -- Wounds and injuries
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145863 , vital:38473
- Description: The primary objective of this study was to assess the pattern of change in neurocognitive performance for adolescent athletes on baseline measures of the Immediate Post Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) test, over five consecutive years, with a view to providing an indication of the optimal interval for repeat baseline testing of high school athletes. Participants were non-clinical, predominantly South African high school athletes in the overall age range 13 to 18 years (N = 108), divided into five groups (Grades 8,9, 10, 11 and 12), and tested at five test intervals. Repeated-measures ANOVA analyses examined differences in score performance across the test intervals for each of the five composite scores of the ImPACT test (Verbal Memory, Visual Memory, Visual Motor Speed, Reaction Time, Impulse Control). For the Verbal Memory, Visual Memory, Visual Motor Speed and Reaction Time composites there were significant neurocognitive score changes between several test intervals. Taking these results into account, in conjunction with substantial variability in performance, it is concluded that there is a need for annual baseline testing throughout the high school years. The secondary objective was to generate normative tables (Means and Standard Deviations) on the ImPACT test for the five participant groups at each of the five test intervals, including data for: the five composite scores (Verbal Memory, Visual Memory, Visual Motor Speed, Reaction Time, Impulse Control); for the twelve subtest scores test that go to make up the composite scores; and for four additional memory subcomponent scores (Word Memory immediate recall, Word Memory delayed recall, Design Memory immediate recall, Design Memory delayed recall). The results provide a clinical and heuristic normative platform for future use with brain injured individuals, which can be used to facilitate clinical interpretations of postconcussion assessments.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
A tribute to you
- Ndlebe-September, Thobeka Veronica
- Authors: Ndlebe-September, Thobeka Veronica
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: South African fiction (English) -- 21st century , South African fiction (English) -- History and criticism , Short stories, South African (English) -- 21st century , Xhosa fiction -- 21st century , Xhosa fiction -- History and criticism , Short stories, Xhosa -- 21st century , Diaries -- Authorship
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/144989 , vital:38398
- Description: My collection of short stories reflects my interest in narrative biblical fiction, allegorical stories about people and nature that resonate with our daily lives. I have been greatly influenced by writers such as Joel Matlou, Flannery O’Connor, Barry Gifford, Miriam Tladi and Leah Harris amongst others. I have also been captivated by fairy tales and folk tales, and also the work of isiXhosa writers such as S. E. K. Mqhayi, Madiponi Masenya, and Hulisani Ramantswana. I have discovered that I can borrow certain styles and forms of writing to enhance my own stories which are situated within ‘local’ contexts such as education, poverty, employment, the body, life and death.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Ndlebe-September, Thobeka Veronica
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: South African fiction (English) -- 21st century , South African fiction (English) -- History and criticism , Short stories, South African (English) -- 21st century , Xhosa fiction -- 21st century , Xhosa fiction -- History and criticism , Short stories, Xhosa -- 21st century , Diaries -- Authorship
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/144989 , vital:38398
- Description: My collection of short stories reflects my interest in narrative biblical fiction, allegorical stories about people and nature that resonate with our daily lives. I have been greatly influenced by writers such as Joel Matlou, Flannery O’Connor, Barry Gifford, Miriam Tladi and Leah Harris amongst others. I have also been captivated by fairy tales and folk tales, and also the work of isiXhosa writers such as S. E. K. Mqhayi, Madiponi Masenya, and Hulisani Ramantswana. I have discovered that I can borrow certain styles and forms of writing to enhance my own stories which are situated within ‘local’ contexts such as education, poverty, employment, the body, life and death.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Hope in a small town
- Authors: Ngubelanga, Xolisa
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: South African fiction (English) -- 21st century , South African fiction (English) -- History and criticism , Short stories, South African (English) -- 21st century
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145089 , vital:38407
- Description: Writing has always experienced as the elite relative in the family of arts, especially among African artists and art consumers. Somehow writing has in past and to a great extent still is in the present been referred more than song, storytelling and dancing. Interrogating the past of colonization of African narratives I could point that this is the case because African expression had always packaged in a ‘come see the Africans are dancing, singing or storytelling. Listen to their clicks.’ Writing, however, could only be executed by those Africans of white assimilation with higher social status and missionary education. Among amaXhosa, the disparity of socially lesser African arts and that of the educated has been termed the narrative of Amaqaba and Amagqobhoka. Amaqaba being those whose stories have taken longer to be documented in modern means of writing but have been enriched through years of live telling. Amagqobhoka on the other hand who easily documented their narrative after having been trained in writing have enjoined the audience of readers and access into literary space longer.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Ngubelanga, Xolisa
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: South African fiction (English) -- 21st century , South African fiction (English) -- History and criticism , Short stories, South African (English) -- 21st century
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145089 , vital:38407
- Description: Writing has always experienced as the elite relative in the family of arts, especially among African artists and art consumers. Somehow writing has in past and to a great extent still is in the present been referred more than song, storytelling and dancing. Interrogating the past of colonization of African narratives I could point that this is the case because African expression had always packaged in a ‘come see the Africans are dancing, singing or storytelling. Listen to their clicks.’ Writing, however, could only be executed by those Africans of white assimilation with higher social status and missionary education. Among amaXhosa, the disparity of socially lesser African arts and that of the educated has been termed the narrative of Amaqaba and Amagqobhoka. Amaqaba being those whose stories have taken longer to be documented in modern means of writing but have been enriched through years of live telling. Amagqobhoka on the other hand who easily documented their narrative after having been trained in writing have enjoined the audience of readers and access into literary space longer.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
“Womxn like me are made”: politics and poetics in Claudia Rankine’s Citizen
- Authors: Wilken, Chelsey
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Rankine, Claudia, 1963- Citizen , Putuma, Koleka -- Collective amnesia , Black people -- Race identity , Black people in literature
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145735 , vital:38462
- Description: This thesis utilises an interdisciplinary approach to understand the political significance of the experimental poetics used by Claudia Rankine in Citizen: An American Lyric and Koleka Putuma in Collective Amnesia. Rankine and Putuma offer contemporary reflections on what it means to occupy marginalised spaces in society. These artists experiment with formal and conventional aspects of literature to explore and create new definitions of what it means to be Black in society. Their works and techniques allow for thinking outside of dominant ideologies of race and posit alternative Black identities that are not found within canonical theory on Blackness. This project reflects on existing theories of Black subjectivity as evident in Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks and Aimé Césaire’s Notebook on the Return to My Native Land. While these theorists did not reject the role of Black women in Western civilisation, they should be read as a moment in a series of counter-discourse to the Black Other rather than the finite canon of Black subjectivity. The emergence of Rankine and Putuma’s experimental poetics works to disrupt the conflation of the Black subject with the Black heteronormative male. Using Michelle M. Wright’s Physics of Blackness as its primary theoretical framework, this project advocates alternative and disruptive readings of Blackness that potentially shift Blackness away from its conflation with nationalism, masculinity and heteronormativity. This thesis uses a dialogical approach between political theory and literature which allows for Citizen and Collective Amnesia to be read as acts of resistance to epistemological erasure and as articulations of the politics relevant to the poets’ lived experiences. Both the United States and South Africa have a history of institutionalised racial segregation, which allows Rankine and Putuma to be read in relation to one another. Where the Civil Rights movement and the anti-apartheid struggle were both foregrounded as male-lead liberation movements contemporary social movements including #blacklivesmatter and #feesmustfall have initiated a return to the androcentric philosophies of Malcom X and Steve Biko, for example. As such Rankine and Putuma’s literature and art marks a reclamation of female empowerment and visibility in the face of a political rhetoric that continues to be masculine and nationalist in nature. In the absence of a space where Black female and queer bodies are adequately recognised, the poetry they write creates a space of self-representation and recognition.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Wilken, Chelsey
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Rankine, Claudia, 1963- Citizen , Putuma, Koleka -- Collective amnesia , Black people -- Race identity , Black people in literature
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145735 , vital:38462
- Description: This thesis utilises an interdisciplinary approach to understand the political significance of the experimental poetics used by Claudia Rankine in Citizen: An American Lyric and Koleka Putuma in Collective Amnesia. Rankine and Putuma offer contemporary reflections on what it means to occupy marginalised spaces in society. These artists experiment with formal and conventional aspects of literature to explore and create new definitions of what it means to be Black in society. Their works and techniques allow for thinking outside of dominant ideologies of race and posit alternative Black identities that are not found within canonical theory on Blackness. This project reflects on existing theories of Black subjectivity as evident in Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks and Aimé Césaire’s Notebook on the Return to My Native Land. While these theorists did not reject the role of Black women in Western civilisation, they should be read as a moment in a series of counter-discourse to the Black Other rather than the finite canon of Black subjectivity. The emergence of Rankine and Putuma’s experimental poetics works to disrupt the conflation of the Black subject with the Black heteronormative male. Using Michelle M. Wright’s Physics of Blackness as its primary theoretical framework, this project advocates alternative and disruptive readings of Blackness that potentially shift Blackness away from its conflation with nationalism, masculinity and heteronormativity. This thesis uses a dialogical approach between political theory and literature which allows for Citizen and Collective Amnesia to be read as acts of resistance to epistemological erasure and as articulations of the politics relevant to the poets’ lived experiences. Both the United States and South Africa have a history of institutionalised racial segregation, which allows Rankine and Putuma to be read in relation to one another. Where the Civil Rights movement and the anti-apartheid struggle were both foregrounded as male-lead liberation movements contemporary social movements including #blacklivesmatter and #feesmustfall have initiated a return to the androcentric philosophies of Malcom X and Steve Biko, for example. As such Rankine and Putuma’s literature and art marks a reclamation of female empowerment and visibility in the face of a political rhetoric that continues to be masculine and nationalist in nature. In the absence of a space where Black female and queer bodies are adequately recognised, the poetry they write creates a space of self-representation and recognition.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
“Workers’ strikes and collective bargaining: a study of the SAMWU municipal worker strike of 2018, Port Elizabeth, South Africa”
- Authors: Gumbo, Eugene
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: South African Municipal Workers Union , Strikes and lockouts -- Municipal government -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Collective bargaining -- Municipal employees -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Philosophy, Marxist , Labor unions -- South Africa , Labor unions -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Industrial relations -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146916 , vital:38576
- Description: The focus of this study centered on investigating the perceptions and opinions surrounding the eruption of strike action and its effectiveness during a collective bargaining process. The case study employed was the 2018 municipal strike in Port Elizabeth, organised by the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU). A Marxist theoretical framework was chosen for this study. It argues that strike action is a means through which workers communicate their dissatisfaction or enforce particular demands, with trade unions playing a protagonist’s role. Strike action, generally, is caused by a plethora of reasons ranging from disciplinary issues and conditions and hours of work, to be mention a few. However, the major force behind strike eruption is the wage agenda, as workers are always striving to get better wages while employers, on the other hand, attempt to reduce them so as to increase profits. South Africa has had its fair share of municipal strike action ever since the apartheid period, the early stages of democracy up to the contemporary times of the 21st century with various strategies, successes and losses being experienced. Democracy in South Africa also saw some developments in the labour sphere in relation to statutes surrounding strike action. The LRA and the Constitution of South Africa inform the right to strike and offer guidelines as well as consequences that steer strike action in a direction that does not jeopardize the workers, employers and the general public. The research found that workers do understand what strike action is, its causes and its various implications. Furthermore, it was discovered that this worker tool has been successful in putting pressure on the negotiation process as well as luring employers back to the negotiation table, for example. However, it was also uncovered that there are present, factors that hampered the impact of strike action during the bargaining procedure in focus. These are namely, the political institutionalization of trade unions, ill-equipped union leaders, a reluctance to implement strike agreements by employers, the use of violence by municipal workers during the strike, to mention but a few. Therefore, when looking at the strike in question, the effectiveness of strike action during the collective bargaining process was found to be easily contestable.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Gumbo, Eugene
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: South African Municipal Workers Union , Strikes and lockouts -- Municipal government -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Collective bargaining -- Municipal employees -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Philosophy, Marxist , Labor unions -- South Africa , Labor unions -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Industrial relations -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146916 , vital:38576
- Description: The focus of this study centered on investigating the perceptions and opinions surrounding the eruption of strike action and its effectiveness during a collective bargaining process. The case study employed was the 2018 municipal strike in Port Elizabeth, organised by the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU). A Marxist theoretical framework was chosen for this study. It argues that strike action is a means through which workers communicate their dissatisfaction or enforce particular demands, with trade unions playing a protagonist’s role. Strike action, generally, is caused by a plethora of reasons ranging from disciplinary issues and conditions and hours of work, to be mention a few. However, the major force behind strike eruption is the wage agenda, as workers are always striving to get better wages while employers, on the other hand, attempt to reduce them so as to increase profits. South Africa has had its fair share of municipal strike action ever since the apartheid period, the early stages of democracy up to the contemporary times of the 21st century with various strategies, successes and losses being experienced. Democracy in South Africa also saw some developments in the labour sphere in relation to statutes surrounding strike action. The LRA and the Constitution of South Africa inform the right to strike and offer guidelines as well as consequences that steer strike action in a direction that does not jeopardize the workers, employers and the general public. The research found that workers do understand what strike action is, its causes and its various implications. Furthermore, it was discovered that this worker tool has been successful in putting pressure on the negotiation process as well as luring employers back to the negotiation table, for example. However, it was also uncovered that there are present, factors that hampered the impact of strike action during the bargaining procedure in focus. These are namely, the political institutionalization of trade unions, ill-equipped union leaders, a reluctance to implement strike agreements by employers, the use of violence by municipal workers during the strike, to mention but a few. Therefore, when looking at the strike in question, the effectiveness of strike action during the collective bargaining process was found to be easily contestable.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Power in Africa: a comparison of selected South African and Nigerian dystopian fiction
- Authors: Simelane, Smangaliso
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Dystopias in literature , Africa -- In literature , South African fiction (English) -- History and criticism , Nigerian fiction (English) -- History and criticism , Beukes, Lauren -- Moxyland , Herne, Lily -- Deadlands , Bandele-Thomas, Biyi, 1967- The Sympathetic Undertaker and Other Dreams , Bandele-Thomas, Biyi, 1967- The Man Who Came in from the Back of Beyond
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/148171 , vital:38716
- Description: Dystopias have frequently been explored in literature to better understand the present and imagine the effects of certain elements of society if taken to a logical extreme. In this way, dystopian fiction can act as both cautionary tales and a form of social commentary. This can be explored within the context of African dystopian fiction where power is a recurring theme, highlighting the anxiety and turbulent history several countries on the continent continue to face. To demonstrate this, I compare selected South African and Nigerian Dystopian texts. With regards to South Africa, I analyse novels by South African science fiction authors Lauren Beukes and Lily Herne, namely Moxyland (2008) and Deadlands (2011) respectively, to investigate how South Africa’s past under Apartheid shapes the segregated societies presented. Nigerian dystopian texts by Biyi Bandele-Thomas, namely The Sympathetic Undertaker And Other Dreams (1993) and The Man Who Came in from the Back of Beyond (1992), are discussed with regards to the way Nigeria’s colonial past and several military juntas have contributed to the kinds of corruption that are depicted. I argue that all four texts warn of the dangers of power, albeit in ways that pertain specifically to their countries of origin. With regards to the South African texts, readers are shown the ways in which those in power can manipulate the desire to survive to keep those they subjugate dependent and, consequently, obedient through what Judith Butler terms ‘passionate attachments’. In the case of the Nigerian dystopias, I argue that Bandele-Thomas’s texts warn of tyranny and effects of the corruption that result from misused power strategies. While the dire settings of dystopian fiction may be grim enough, on their own, to motivate change in the real world, this may not be enough to prevent the texts from becoming pessimistic and fatalistic outlooks. Hence, I seek to understand how the selected novels maintain hope and, consequently, convince readers that the depicted dystopias are ones that can be avoided. Typically, dystopian literature fosters hope by setting the narratives in the future, giving readers hope that they may take steps today to protect their societies from becoming like the damned worlds described by dystopian authors. However, the selected texts are not set in the future. Hence, I explore three literary techniques that might foster hope within the selected African dystopian texts in lieu of temporal distancing. They are, namely: identification with the protagonist, defamiliarization and cognitive estrangement.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Simelane, Smangaliso
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Dystopias in literature , Africa -- In literature , South African fiction (English) -- History and criticism , Nigerian fiction (English) -- History and criticism , Beukes, Lauren -- Moxyland , Herne, Lily -- Deadlands , Bandele-Thomas, Biyi, 1967- The Sympathetic Undertaker and Other Dreams , Bandele-Thomas, Biyi, 1967- The Man Who Came in from the Back of Beyond
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/148171 , vital:38716
- Description: Dystopias have frequently been explored in literature to better understand the present and imagine the effects of certain elements of society if taken to a logical extreme. In this way, dystopian fiction can act as both cautionary tales and a form of social commentary. This can be explored within the context of African dystopian fiction where power is a recurring theme, highlighting the anxiety and turbulent history several countries on the continent continue to face. To demonstrate this, I compare selected South African and Nigerian Dystopian texts. With regards to South Africa, I analyse novels by South African science fiction authors Lauren Beukes and Lily Herne, namely Moxyland (2008) and Deadlands (2011) respectively, to investigate how South Africa’s past under Apartheid shapes the segregated societies presented. Nigerian dystopian texts by Biyi Bandele-Thomas, namely The Sympathetic Undertaker And Other Dreams (1993) and The Man Who Came in from the Back of Beyond (1992), are discussed with regards to the way Nigeria’s colonial past and several military juntas have contributed to the kinds of corruption that are depicted. I argue that all four texts warn of the dangers of power, albeit in ways that pertain specifically to their countries of origin. With regards to the South African texts, readers are shown the ways in which those in power can manipulate the desire to survive to keep those they subjugate dependent and, consequently, obedient through what Judith Butler terms ‘passionate attachments’. In the case of the Nigerian dystopias, I argue that Bandele-Thomas’s texts warn of tyranny and effects of the corruption that result from misused power strategies. While the dire settings of dystopian fiction may be grim enough, on their own, to motivate change in the real world, this may not be enough to prevent the texts from becoming pessimistic and fatalistic outlooks. Hence, I seek to understand how the selected novels maintain hope and, consequently, convince readers that the depicted dystopias are ones that can be avoided. Typically, dystopian literature fosters hope by setting the narratives in the future, giving readers hope that they may take steps today to protect their societies from becoming like the damned worlds described by dystopian authors. However, the selected texts are not set in the future. Hence, I explore three literary techniques that might foster hope within the selected African dystopian texts in lieu of temporal distancing. They are, namely: identification with the protagonist, defamiliarization and cognitive estrangement.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Whose Wakanda is it anyway? A reception analysis of Black Panther among young black urban Africans
- Authors: Muzenda, Makomborero
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Motion picture audiences , Youth, Black -- Africa -- Attitudes , Popular culture – Africa , Motion pictures -- Social aspects , Youth, Black -- Race identity -- Africa , Identity politics in motion pictures , Identity (Psychology) and mass media , Mass media and youth -- Africa , Mass media and culture -- Africa , Mass media -- Social aspects -- Africa , Postcolonialism and the arts , Representation (Philosophy) , Black Panther (Motion picture : 2018) -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/144311 , vital:38330
- Description: As a writer and as an academic, I have long been interested in young black Africans. As a demographic group, we are heralded as the future of Africa and a vital resource, but not much is known about us, what we think, and how we make sense of things. As an African youth myself, I know that we are a diverse group with different backgrounds, perspectives and beliefs. I am interested in exploring our identities, how we express ourselves and how we make sense of ourselves, each other, the continent and the world. I want to learn more about how we see the world, and what we think of how media narratives and messages represent us. This research project is an extension of this personal curiosity. It focuses on Black Panther, a film that received particularly strong responses from young black Africans. I want to explore why this film in particular prompted such a strong reaction, and what the imagining of an uncolonised, technologically advanced African nation that Black Panther offers means for the young black Africans born after the official end of apartheid and colonisation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Muzenda, Makomborero
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Motion picture audiences , Youth, Black -- Africa -- Attitudes , Popular culture – Africa , Motion pictures -- Social aspects , Youth, Black -- Race identity -- Africa , Identity politics in motion pictures , Identity (Psychology) and mass media , Mass media and youth -- Africa , Mass media and culture -- Africa , Mass media -- Social aspects -- Africa , Postcolonialism and the arts , Representation (Philosophy) , Black Panther (Motion picture : 2018) -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/144311 , vital:38330
- Description: As a writer and as an academic, I have long been interested in young black Africans. As a demographic group, we are heralded as the future of Africa and a vital resource, but not much is known about us, what we think, and how we make sense of things. As an African youth myself, I know that we are a diverse group with different backgrounds, perspectives and beliefs. I am interested in exploring our identities, how we express ourselves and how we make sense of ourselves, each other, the continent and the world. I want to learn more about how we see the world, and what we think of how media narratives and messages represent us. This research project is an extension of this personal curiosity. It focuses on Black Panther, a film that received particularly strong responses from young black Africans. I want to explore why this film in particular prompted such a strong reaction, and what the imagining of an uncolonised, technologically advanced African nation that Black Panther offers means for the young black Africans born after the official end of apartheid and colonisation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Khoekhoe lexical borrowing in Namaqualand Afrikaans
- Authors: Christie, Camilla Rose
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Code switching (Linguistics) , Afrikaans language -- Foreign elements -- Nama , Nama language -- Foreign elements -- Afrikaans , Afrikaans language -- Phonology , Nama language -- Phonology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/168385 , vital:41576
- Description: Although several languages in the Khoekhoe branch were historically spoken alongside Afrikaans in bilingual speech communities throughout the Western and Northern Cape, the last century has seen abrupt and catastrophic language loss, resulting in a shift from a bilingual to a monolingual paradigm. However, a number of ethnobotanical surveys conducted in the Namaqualand region of the Northern Cape over the last forty years have recorded the retention of Khoekhoe-branch plant names by monolingual Afrikaans speakers. Such surveys make no attempt to source these loanwords to their Khoekhoe-branch targets, do not make use of the standardised Namibian Khoekhoe orthography, and often resort to transcribing loaned click consonants using only ‘t’. This study undertakes a sociohistorical linguistic investigation into the etymological origins and contemporary usage of these loaned plant names in order to develop a clearer understanding of language contact and lexical borrowing in the Namaqualand region. Following the lexicographical compilation of a representative corpus of loanwords, this study conducts a series of semi-structured interviews with monolingual speakers of Namaqualand Afrikaans. Qualitative sociolinguistic analysis of these interviews reveals that, although loanwords are perceived to be of Nama origin, they are semantically opaque beyond pragmatic reference. Preliminary phonological observations identify a loss of phonemic contrastivity in loaned clicks coupled with a high incidence of variability, and suggest epenthetic stop insertion and epenthetic nasalisation as two possible strategies facilitating click loan. Synthesising these ob servations, this study speculates that the use of loanwords hosting clicks may enjoy a degree of covert prestige in Namaqualand Afrikaans, which may in turn shed light on historical sociolinguistic processes of click diffusion. It recommends that urgent and immediate attention be focused on the usage, sociolinguistic status, and regional variation of Nama within the Northern Cape, and advocates strongly for cooperation and improved communication between linguists and ethnobotanists.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Christie, Camilla Rose
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Code switching (Linguistics) , Afrikaans language -- Foreign elements -- Nama , Nama language -- Foreign elements -- Afrikaans , Afrikaans language -- Phonology , Nama language -- Phonology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/168385 , vital:41576
- Description: Although several languages in the Khoekhoe branch were historically spoken alongside Afrikaans in bilingual speech communities throughout the Western and Northern Cape, the last century has seen abrupt and catastrophic language loss, resulting in a shift from a bilingual to a monolingual paradigm. However, a number of ethnobotanical surveys conducted in the Namaqualand region of the Northern Cape over the last forty years have recorded the retention of Khoekhoe-branch plant names by monolingual Afrikaans speakers. Such surveys make no attempt to source these loanwords to their Khoekhoe-branch targets, do not make use of the standardised Namibian Khoekhoe orthography, and often resort to transcribing loaned click consonants using only ‘t’. This study undertakes a sociohistorical linguistic investigation into the etymological origins and contemporary usage of these loaned plant names in order to develop a clearer understanding of language contact and lexical borrowing in the Namaqualand region. Following the lexicographical compilation of a representative corpus of loanwords, this study conducts a series of semi-structured interviews with monolingual speakers of Namaqualand Afrikaans. Qualitative sociolinguistic analysis of these interviews reveals that, although loanwords are perceived to be of Nama origin, they are semantically opaque beyond pragmatic reference. Preliminary phonological observations identify a loss of phonemic contrastivity in loaned clicks coupled with a high incidence of variability, and suggest epenthetic stop insertion and epenthetic nasalisation as two possible strategies facilitating click loan. Synthesising these ob servations, this study speculates that the use of loanwords hosting clicks may enjoy a degree of covert prestige in Namaqualand Afrikaans, which may in turn shed light on historical sociolinguistic processes of click diffusion. It recommends that urgent and immediate attention be focused on the usage, sociolinguistic status, and regional variation of Nama within the Northern Cape, and advocates strongly for cooperation and improved communication between linguists and ethnobotanists.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Understanding popular resistance to xenophobia in South Africa: ‘people think’ and the possibility of alternative politics
- Authors: Parker, Jemima
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Xenophobia -- South Africa , Nationalism -- South Africa , Lazarus, Sylvain -- Political and social views , Political culture -- South Africa , Social change -- South Africa -- Political aspects , Discourse analysis -- South Africa -- Political aspects , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994- , Political science -- Philosophy , Political sociology -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/115006 , vital:34069
- Description: This thesis is concerned with the crisis of xenophobia in South Africa. It argues, firstly, that xenophobia itself is not primarily a reaction to poverty, inequality, or any other set of social conditions. Rather, xenophobia must be considered to be a collective political discourse which has arisen in post-apartheid South Africa from an exclusionary conception of state nationalism. Where this work may be distinguished from the majority of research on xenophobia in South Africa is in the fact that its particular focus is on instances where ‘ordinary’ South Africans have challenged and resisted xenophobic violence in their communities through collective political mobilisation. I suggest that these sites of resistance deserve careful consideration in their own right. I argue that they may demonstrate a subjective break with the oppressive politics of state nationalism through the affirmation of alternative political conceptions. Drawing on the political theory of Sylvain Lazarus, and his principal thesis that people are capable of thinking politics in ways which can subjectively think beyond the social and the extant (underscored by his political and methodological axiom, people think), this thesis argues that these sites of resistance show that people – and especially those who are considered to be marginalised from the domain of legitimate politics – can and do think politically, and it is in the thought of people that new and potentially emancipatory visions of politics may emerge.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Parker, Jemima
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Xenophobia -- South Africa , Nationalism -- South Africa , Lazarus, Sylvain -- Political and social views , Political culture -- South Africa , Social change -- South Africa -- Political aspects , Discourse analysis -- South Africa -- Political aspects , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994- , Political science -- Philosophy , Political sociology -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/115006 , vital:34069
- Description: This thesis is concerned with the crisis of xenophobia in South Africa. It argues, firstly, that xenophobia itself is not primarily a reaction to poverty, inequality, or any other set of social conditions. Rather, xenophobia must be considered to be a collective political discourse which has arisen in post-apartheid South Africa from an exclusionary conception of state nationalism. Where this work may be distinguished from the majority of research on xenophobia in South Africa is in the fact that its particular focus is on instances where ‘ordinary’ South Africans have challenged and resisted xenophobic violence in their communities through collective political mobilisation. I suggest that these sites of resistance deserve careful consideration in their own right. I argue that they may demonstrate a subjective break with the oppressive politics of state nationalism through the affirmation of alternative political conceptions. Drawing on the political theory of Sylvain Lazarus, and his principal thesis that people are capable of thinking politics in ways which can subjectively think beyond the social and the extant (underscored by his political and methodological axiom, people think), this thesis argues that these sites of resistance show that people – and especially those who are considered to be marginalised from the domain of legitimate politics – can and do think politically, and it is in the thought of people that new and potentially emancipatory visions of politics may emerge.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Ingqumbo yomthondo kukuzika kohlanga
- Authors: Mtirara, Zodwa
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Women and literature , Feminism and literature , Gender identity in literature , Masculinity in literature , Sex role in literature , Xhosa poetry , South African poetry (English) , Sex discrimination against women
- Language: Xhosa, English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/154095 , vital:39562
- Description: Le yingqokelela yemibongo ebhentsisa ukutyeshelwa kobuntu nobuchule bamanina yinkolo yobuKrestu, kunye nenkolo yemveli okanye inkolo yesiNtu. Ikwenza oku ngokwaphula imithetho nemigaqo siseko yenkolo yobuKrestu nesiNtu sakwaXhosa malunga nokufanelekileyo ukuba owasetyhini akuthethe okanye akwenze. Ikwabhentsisa nokuhlukunyezwa kwabasetyhini, ibuza nemibuzo ngesimo esizifumana sikuso mva-nje. Ichukunyiswe bubomi bam kanye nobamanye amanina endiphila nawo ekuhlaleni. Ikubhentsisa ke oku ngokungenalusini njengoko imbongi uLesego Rampolokeng esenza. Izeka mzekweni ezibhalweni zooNtozakhe Shange, Diane Di Prima, Lidia Yuknavitch, noWame Molefhe. Iphikisa indlela ekubhalwe ngayo ngamanina ngooMema nooJolobe, isenza oko uNontsizi Mgqwetho angazange ade afikelele ukukwenza njengombhali wasetyhini.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Mtirara, Zodwa
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Women and literature , Feminism and literature , Gender identity in literature , Masculinity in literature , Sex role in literature , Xhosa poetry , South African poetry (English) , Sex discrimination against women
- Language: Xhosa, English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/154095 , vital:39562
- Description: Le yingqokelela yemibongo ebhentsisa ukutyeshelwa kobuntu nobuchule bamanina yinkolo yobuKrestu, kunye nenkolo yemveli okanye inkolo yesiNtu. Ikwenza oku ngokwaphula imithetho nemigaqo siseko yenkolo yobuKrestu nesiNtu sakwaXhosa malunga nokufanelekileyo ukuba owasetyhini akuthethe okanye akwenze. Ikwabhentsisa nokuhlukunyezwa kwabasetyhini, ibuza nemibuzo ngesimo esizifumana sikuso mva-nje. Ichukunyiswe bubomi bam kanye nobamanye amanina endiphila nawo ekuhlaleni. Ikubhentsisa ke oku ngokungenalusini njengoko imbongi uLesego Rampolokeng esenza. Izeka mzekweni ezibhalweni zooNtozakhe Shange, Diane Di Prima, Lidia Yuknavitch, noWame Molefhe. Iphikisa indlela ekubhalwe ngayo ngamanina ngooMema nooJolobe, isenza oko uNontsizi Mgqwetho angazange ade afikelele ukukwenza njengombhali wasetyhini.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
“When the rainbow is enuf”: black postgraduate women’s experiences and perceptions of higher education and institutional culture – a case study of Rhodes University
- Authors: Gamedze, Ayanda
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Rhodes University , College students, Black -- South Afrca , Women college students, Black -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147215 , vital:38605
- Description: This thesis sets out to investigate the perceptions which Black postgraduate students hold of the present-day toward Historically White Universities (hereafter referred to as HWUs) in South Africa as unique sites from which to investigate institutional culture and the legacy of educational marginalisation. Black women are of particular focus because of the interlocking nature of social inequalities that uniquely influence their comparable experience in the academy. Rhodes University, a top-ranked traditional university provides the institutional site for this investigation into HWUs. This thesis seeks to further explore the suggestion that desegregation of South Africa's institutions of higher learning have meant access, but not always acceptance. The paper explores what Black women students perceive to be Rhodes University's institutional culture and its impact on their lived realities. Subsequently, these women have learned who they are, and what place they occupy in South Africa today, through navigating a space not necessarily accommodating to Blackness and difference. There exists a plethora of literature on the issues which Black women scholars systematically encounter daily in the academy, in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. Nonetheless, there needs to be a further inquiry on the question of belonging of Black womanhood in HWU post the student-led movements of the past few years that have renewed the challenge to South Africa's colonial past, its neoliberal present, and its scourge of gender-based violence. This paper captures an ongoing conversation around the role of Black women in addressing transformation in HWU. As a Black woman in an HWU, I found myself wondering whether there are certain experiences students like me have in common – realities with nuances we call to identify with to some extent. I collected data from six Black women with whom I conducted interviews, and used it to compile this report and its analysis. I believe that the social significance of this study speaks to the importance of hearing the stories of subaltern groups that are positioned in spaces of privilege, yet continue to be defined by the disadvantage of their gender, race, and various other factors.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Gamedze, Ayanda
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Rhodes University , College students, Black -- South Afrca , Women college students, Black -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147215 , vital:38605
- Description: This thesis sets out to investigate the perceptions which Black postgraduate students hold of the present-day toward Historically White Universities (hereafter referred to as HWUs) in South Africa as unique sites from which to investigate institutional culture and the legacy of educational marginalisation. Black women are of particular focus because of the interlocking nature of social inequalities that uniquely influence their comparable experience in the academy. Rhodes University, a top-ranked traditional university provides the institutional site for this investigation into HWUs. This thesis seeks to further explore the suggestion that desegregation of South Africa's institutions of higher learning have meant access, but not always acceptance. The paper explores what Black women students perceive to be Rhodes University's institutional culture and its impact on their lived realities. Subsequently, these women have learned who they are, and what place they occupy in South Africa today, through navigating a space not necessarily accommodating to Blackness and difference. There exists a plethora of literature on the issues which Black women scholars systematically encounter daily in the academy, in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. Nonetheless, there needs to be a further inquiry on the question of belonging of Black womanhood in HWU post the student-led movements of the past few years that have renewed the challenge to South Africa's colonial past, its neoliberal present, and its scourge of gender-based violence. This paper captures an ongoing conversation around the role of Black women in addressing transformation in HWU. As a Black woman in an HWU, I found myself wondering whether there are certain experiences students like me have in common – realities with nuances we call to identify with to some extent. I collected data from six Black women with whom I conducted interviews, and used it to compile this report and its analysis. I believe that the social significance of this study speaks to the importance of hearing the stories of subaltern groups that are positioned in spaces of privilege, yet continue to be defined by the disadvantage of their gender, race, and various other factors.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Shoutfighting and other fiction
- Authors: Rasmenike, Nonqubela Evelyn
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: South African fiction (English) -- 21st century , Xhosa fiction -- 21st century
- Language: English , Xhosa
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/144500 , vital:38351
- Description: This document consists of three parts: Part A: English Half Thesis (Creative Work) ; Part B: IsiXhosa Half Thesis (Creative Work) ; Part C: Portfolio.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Rasmenike, Nonqubela Evelyn
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: South African fiction (English) -- 21st century , Xhosa fiction -- 21st century
- Language: English , Xhosa
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/144500 , vital:38351
- Description: This document consists of three parts: Part A: English Half Thesis (Creative Work) ; Part B: IsiXhosa Half Thesis (Creative Work) ; Part C: Portfolio.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
The Islamic Bloc at the United Nations Human Rights Council
- Authors: Rist, Duncan Graham
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: United Nations Human Rights Council , Organisation of Islamic Cooperation , International relations , International relations -- Moral and ethical aspects , Political leadership -- Moral and ethical aspects , Power (Social sciences) -- United States , Human rights -- International cooperation , Liberalism -- International cooperation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142759 , vital:38114
- Description: Uncertainty as to the future of the liberal international order and the position of the United States within an international system in which it is not the hegemon remains a topic of debate amongst scholars of International Relations (Acharya: 2017; Duncombe and Dunne: 2018; Ikenberry: 2009, 2011, 2014; Nye: 2012 and Monteiro: 2011/2012). Fukuyama’s (1989: 4) “end of history” has not happened and a resurgence of populist leaders within established liberal democratic countries has contributed to a rapid decline of moral and ethical leadership and has further compromised the future of the liberal international order (Duncombe and Dunne, 2018: 27). As the relative power of the United States declines and the future of the liberal international order becomes increasingly uncertain, support for its future must be sought from outside the West (Duncombe and Dunne, 2018: 25 and Ikenberry: 2009). This thesis seeks to locate where potential non-Western support for the future liberal international order may be found. It does so through an analysis of how Islamic states who are part of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation vote on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). The OIC has a significant presence at the UNHRC and can influence the direction of the liberal international human rights regime. The evidence examined in this research project suggests that the future liberal international order and human rights regime can indeed expect some form of cooperation from the OIC. However, the OIC, and by extension Islamic states, would likely offer more support at least for human rights, if a more common understanding were to be found.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Rist, Duncan Graham
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: United Nations Human Rights Council , Organisation of Islamic Cooperation , International relations , International relations -- Moral and ethical aspects , Political leadership -- Moral and ethical aspects , Power (Social sciences) -- United States , Human rights -- International cooperation , Liberalism -- International cooperation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142759 , vital:38114
- Description: Uncertainty as to the future of the liberal international order and the position of the United States within an international system in which it is not the hegemon remains a topic of debate amongst scholars of International Relations (Acharya: 2017; Duncombe and Dunne: 2018; Ikenberry: 2009, 2011, 2014; Nye: 2012 and Monteiro: 2011/2012). Fukuyama’s (1989: 4) “end of history” has not happened and a resurgence of populist leaders within established liberal democratic countries has contributed to a rapid decline of moral and ethical leadership and has further compromised the future of the liberal international order (Duncombe and Dunne, 2018: 27). As the relative power of the United States declines and the future of the liberal international order becomes increasingly uncertain, support for its future must be sought from outside the West (Duncombe and Dunne, 2018: 25 and Ikenberry: 2009). This thesis seeks to locate where potential non-Western support for the future liberal international order may be found. It does so through an analysis of how Islamic states who are part of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation vote on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). The OIC has a significant presence at the UNHRC and can influence the direction of the liberal international human rights regime. The evidence examined in this research project suggests that the future liberal international order and human rights regime can indeed expect some form of cooperation from the OIC. However, the OIC, and by extension Islamic states, would likely offer more support at least for human rights, if a more common understanding were to be found.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020