The African Peer Review Mechanism : towards Africa's governance audit
- Authors: Molete, Nathan Teboho
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: African Peer Review Mechanism New Partnership for Africa's Development Peer review -- Africa Auditing -- Africa Africa -- Politics and government -- 1960-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2867 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007681
- Description: The concept of accountability has grown to become an integral part of a broader political and socio-economic transformation. Closely associated to it is the concept of "auditing" which has established itself as a main driving force of accountability and a core means of delivering it. The extent of the rise and expansion of "auditing" has subsequently come to influence every aspect of modern life and this has led to a situation in which practices have had to adapt to the principles of "auditing" processes. Auditing has become prevalent in both the public and private spheres and this impact has far reaching consequences. The concept of "auditing" is evident in the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and is central to its review process. This thesis focuses on the concept of "auditing" in order to illustrate how the APRM has borrowed and applied insights from other disciplinary practices so as to enhance an understanding of accountability and transparency as features of "good governance" and to explicate how these concepts are conceived within the framework of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). It also clarifies the relationship that exists between "peer review" and "auditing" and argues that rather than being considered as two poles marked by distance from each other "auditing" and "peer review" are closely related and mutually constitutive.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Molete, Nathan Teboho
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: African Peer Review Mechanism New Partnership for Africa's Development Peer review -- Africa Auditing -- Africa Africa -- Politics and government -- 1960-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2867 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007681
- Description: The concept of accountability has grown to become an integral part of a broader political and socio-economic transformation. Closely associated to it is the concept of "auditing" which has established itself as a main driving force of accountability and a core means of delivering it. The extent of the rise and expansion of "auditing" has subsequently come to influence every aspect of modern life and this has led to a situation in which practices have had to adapt to the principles of "auditing" processes. Auditing has become prevalent in both the public and private spheres and this impact has far reaching consequences. The concept of "auditing" is evident in the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and is central to its review process. This thesis focuses on the concept of "auditing" in order to illustrate how the APRM has borrowed and applied insights from other disciplinary practices so as to enhance an understanding of accountability and transparency as features of "good governance" and to explicate how these concepts are conceived within the framework of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). It also clarifies the relationship that exists between "peer review" and "auditing" and argues that rather than being considered as two poles marked by distance from each other "auditing" and "peer review" are closely related and mutually constitutive.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Microfinance sustainability versus development objectives: an assessment of the South African environment
- Authors: Hoskinson, Brenda
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Microfinance -- South Africa South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1991- Poor -- Finance, Personal Microfinance -- South Africa Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2782 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002992
- Description: In a world where almost half of the population lives in poverty, the alleviation of poverty is a serious developmental challenge for many states. Microfinance has grown in popularity as a means for achieving poverty reduction all over the world. Due to the success of microfinance institutions, such as the Grameen Bank, in achieving self-sufficiency and improving the lives of its clients, the expectations for similar institutions are high. MFIs attempt to find a balance between business and development goals. It is not necessarily a contradiction to be a business seeking profit as well as being an institution committed to development. However, the values coupled with these two objectives are sometimes conflicting. Thus it is important to see how equilibrium can be achieved and to note what sacrifices must be made in order to reach a balance. This thesis will focus on examining and assessing the challenges faced by South African MFIs in balancing development goals while at the same time having to be self-sufficient. The Small Enterprise Foundation will be used as a case study to consider the particular experiences of a South African MFI. The evaluation of the unique challenges that the South African landscape presents will provide a context in which to understand microfinance operations and a clearer understanding of the particular problems and challenges faced by the South African micro-finance industry in balancing the achievement of development goals against the imperative to be self sustainable in providing services to the poor. Through that understanding the common conception of what makes a “successful” MFI will also be challenged.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Hoskinson, Brenda
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Microfinance -- South Africa South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1991- Poor -- Finance, Personal Microfinance -- South Africa Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2782 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002992
- Description: In a world where almost half of the population lives in poverty, the alleviation of poverty is a serious developmental challenge for many states. Microfinance has grown in popularity as a means for achieving poverty reduction all over the world. Due to the success of microfinance institutions, such as the Grameen Bank, in achieving self-sufficiency and improving the lives of its clients, the expectations for similar institutions are high. MFIs attempt to find a balance between business and development goals. It is not necessarily a contradiction to be a business seeking profit as well as being an institution committed to development. However, the values coupled with these two objectives are sometimes conflicting. Thus it is important to see how equilibrium can be achieved and to note what sacrifices must be made in order to reach a balance. This thesis will focus on examining and assessing the challenges faced by South African MFIs in balancing development goals while at the same time having to be self-sufficient. The Small Enterprise Foundation will be used as a case study to consider the particular experiences of a South African MFI. The evaluation of the unique challenges that the South African landscape presents will provide a context in which to understand microfinance operations and a clearer understanding of the particular problems and challenges faced by the South African micro-finance industry in balancing the achievement of development goals against the imperative to be self sustainable in providing services to the poor. Through that understanding the common conception of what makes a “successful” MFI will also be challenged.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
'The Most Amazing Show': performative interactions with postelection South African society and culture
- Authors: Scholtz, Brink
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Performing arts , Drama -- Study and teaching , Recreational activities
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/57538 , vital:26962
- Description: This research investigates contemporary South African performance within the context of prominent social and cultural change following the political transition from an apartheid state to democracy. Specifically, it looks at the relationship between a popular comic variety show The Most Amazing Show (TMAS), and aspects of contemporary South African society and culture, particularly relating to prominent efforts to affect post-election transformation of South African society and culture through the construction of a South African 'rainbow nation'. By analysing TMAS in terms of broader historical, performative and discursive contexts, it engages a relational reading of the performance. The study argues that TMAS both challenges and participates in the manner in which rainbow nation discourse constructs South African society and culture. Firstly, it considers the performance's construction of hybrid South African identities, including white Afrikaans, white English and white masculine identities. It argues that these reconstructions undermine the tendency within rainbow nation discourse to construct cultural hybridity in terms of stereotypically distinct identities. Secondly, it considers TMAS' construction of collective experience and social integration, which subvet1s the often glamorised and superficial representations of social healing and integration that are constructed within rainbow nation discourse. The analysis makes prominent reference to the notion of 'liminality' in order to describe the manner in which TMAS constructs significance within the tension that it establishes between oppositional, and often contradictory, positions. Furthermore, it attempts to establish a link between this notion of liminality and no6ons of theatrical syncretism that are prominent in contemporary South African theatre scholarship, and emphasise processes of signification that are constantly shifting and unstable.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Scholtz, Brink
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Performing arts , Drama -- Study and teaching , Recreational activities
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/57538 , vital:26962
- Description: This research investigates contemporary South African performance within the context of prominent social and cultural change following the political transition from an apartheid state to democracy. Specifically, it looks at the relationship between a popular comic variety show The Most Amazing Show (TMAS), and aspects of contemporary South African society and culture, particularly relating to prominent efforts to affect post-election transformation of South African society and culture through the construction of a South African 'rainbow nation'. By analysing TMAS in terms of broader historical, performative and discursive contexts, it engages a relational reading of the performance. The study argues that TMAS both challenges and participates in the manner in which rainbow nation discourse constructs South African society and culture. Firstly, it considers the performance's construction of hybrid South African identities, including white Afrikaans, white English and white masculine identities. It argues that these reconstructions undermine the tendency within rainbow nation discourse to construct cultural hybridity in terms of stereotypically distinct identities. Secondly, it considers TMAS' construction of collective experience and social integration, which subvet1s the often glamorised and superficial representations of social healing and integration that are constructed within rainbow nation discourse. The analysis makes prominent reference to the notion of 'liminality' in order to describe the manner in which TMAS constructs significance within the tension that it establishes between oppositional, and often contradictory, positions. Furthermore, it attempts to establish a link between this notion of liminality and no6ons of theatrical syncretism that are prominent in contemporary South African theatre scholarship, and emphasise processes of signification that are constantly shifting and unstable.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2008
The impact of the broadcast legislative reforms on the newsroom staff's perceptions of the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC)'s editorial operations and news content
- Authors: Hamasaka, Clayson
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation Public broadcasting -- Zambia Mass media -- Management -- Zambia Broadcasting -- Law and legislation -- Zambia Broadcasting -- Political aspects -- Zambia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3432 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002886
- Description: The 1980s and 1990s saw major changes in the political landscape of the media in many countries that were either reverting or emerging from repressive nondemocratic regimes. Among the notable changes in media industry was the opening up of the national airwaves, which had been a state monopoly, to private sector and community participation. The democratic dispensation also put state broadcasters in the spot-light regarding their editorial content which was previously ‘institutionalised’ as belonging to the ruling regimes. This study set out to investigate the extent to which broadcasting reform legislation meant to address the unfair coverage of contending voices on Zambia’s public broadcaster has had an impact in reversing the situation in the newsroom. Using qualitative methods of investigation, the study established that while the ZNBC staff understand aspects of their role in their newsroom in relation to the principles of public service broadcasting and in line with the enacted legislation, they perceive that, in practice, they have to ensure that the news content still remains a reserve of a few voices in favour of the ruling regime. This was evidenced by testimonies from the news staff’s complaints of continued editorial interference in their work by government leaders and government appointed gatekeepers, as well as selfcensorship. The study recommends, among other things, the full implementation of the recently enacted laws on the operations of ZNBC in order to achieve some minimum levels of being a public broadcaster. It further recommends a serious re-orientation of the ZNBC newsroom and management staff to the current legislative requirements so as to shift their mindset away from their traditionally-held views of thinking that news at that station is only for the ruling regime.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Hamasaka, Clayson
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation Public broadcasting -- Zambia Mass media -- Management -- Zambia Broadcasting -- Law and legislation -- Zambia Broadcasting -- Political aspects -- Zambia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3432 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002886
- Description: The 1980s and 1990s saw major changes in the political landscape of the media in many countries that were either reverting or emerging from repressive nondemocratic regimes. Among the notable changes in media industry was the opening up of the national airwaves, which had been a state monopoly, to private sector and community participation. The democratic dispensation also put state broadcasters in the spot-light regarding their editorial content which was previously ‘institutionalised’ as belonging to the ruling regimes. This study set out to investigate the extent to which broadcasting reform legislation meant to address the unfair coverage of contending voices on Zambia’s public broadcaster has had an impact in reversing the situation in the newsroom. Using qualitative methods of investigation, the study established that while the ZNBC staff understand aspects of their role in their newsroom in relation to the principles of public service broadcasting and in line with the enacted legislation, they perceive that, in practice, they have to ensure that the news content still remains a reserve of a few voices in favour of the ruling regime. This was evidenced by testimonies from the news staff’s complaints of continued editorial interference in their work by government leaders and government appointed gatekeepers, as well as selfcensorship. The study recommends, among other things, the full implementation of the recently enacted laws on the operations of ZNBC in order to achieve some minimum levels of being a public broadcaster. It further recommends a serious re-orientation of the ZNBC newsroom and management staff to the current legislative requirements so as to shift their mindset away from their traditionally-held views of thinking that news at that station is only for the ruling regime.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
A study of professionalism and the professionalisation of journalists in Uganda from 1995 to 2008
- Authors: Mayiga, John Bosco
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Journalists -- Uganda Journalism -- Political aspects -- Uganda Mass media -- Political aspects -- Uganda Journalism -- Sociological aspects -- Uganda Journalism, Commercial -- Uganda
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3461 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002916
- Description: This study seeks to examine how Ugandan journalists’ and politicians’ views on journalism professionalisation in Uganda relate to the broad theoretical arguments about professionalism within sociology and media studies. It also seeks to examine how such views impact on the democratic role of the media. The study finds out that there are two sets of distinct ideas on journalism professionalisation. The idea espoused by politicians is statutory professionalisation in which the state plays a major role through regulation and control, hence professionalisation is seen primarily as a control system. On the other hand, journalists perceive professionalisation as nurtured by voluntarily and socially inculcated professional values, hence as a value system. The study however, finds that both sets of understandings have their own complexities. While the statutory approach has complexities like how core elements of professionalism such as professional values can be imposed through legislation, the voluntary approach to professionalism also exhibits tensions within, especially stemming from the relationship between the professional and the news organisation regarding what constitutes professionalism. The study concludes that both sets of ideas have implications for the democratic role of the media, with both perceptions of professionalism curtailing this role. Statutory professionalisation in the Ugandan political context where the state is the dominant institution brings media institutions within its control, which leads to suppression of content of democratic value through a number of means. On the other hand, the self-regulatory perception does not protect media professionalism from the assault of commercial imperatives, especially when fused with state patronage in regard to broadcasting licences and placement of advertising.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Mayiga, John Bosco
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Journalists -- Uganda Journalism -- Political aspects -- Uganda Mass media -- Political aspects -- Uganda Journalism -- Sociological aspects -- Uganda Journalism, Commercial -- Uganda
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3461 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002916
- Description: This study seeks to examine how Ugandan journalists’ and politicians’ views on journalism professionalisation in Uganda relate to the broad theoretical arguments about professionalism within sociology and media studies. It also seeks to examine how such views impact on the democratic role of the media. The study finds out that there are two sets of distinct ideas on journalism professionalisation. The idea espoused by politicians is statutory professionalisation in which the state plays a major role through regulation and control, hence professionalisation is seen primarily as a control system. On the other hand, journalists perceive professionalisation as nurtured by voluntarily and socially inculcated professional values, hence as a value system. The study however, finds that both sets of understandings have their own complexities. While the statutory approach has complexities like how core elements of professionalism such as professional values can be imposed through legislation, the voluntary approach to professionalism also exhibits tensions within, especially stemming from the relationship between the professional and the news organisation regarding what constitutes professionalism. The study concludes that both sets of ideas have implications for the democratic role of the media, with both perceptions of professionalism curtailing this role. Statutory professionalisation in the Ugandan political context where the state is the dominant institution brings media institutions within its control, which leads to suppression of content of democratic value through a number of means. On the other hand, the self-regulatory perception does not protect media professionalism from the assault of commercial imperatives, especially when fused with state patronage in regard to broadcasting licences and placement of advertising.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
The "other" Africans : re-examining representations of sexuality in the work of Nicholas Hlobo and Zanele Muholi
- Authors: Makhubu, Nomusa
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Hlobo, Nicholas Muholi, Zanele Women in art Photography, Artistic Homosexuality in art Sex in art Performance art Art, African
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2410 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002206
- Description: Nicholas Hlobo, a sculptor and performance artist, and Zanele Muholi, a photographer and activist, explore different ways of representing sexuality, particularly homosexuality. It is extremely difficult to discuss African sexuality in light of the stain of colonial attitudes that have exoticised and ascribed hypersexuality to African bodies. Moreover, sexuality is often not discussed in the construction of so-called African traditions and this has contributed to rendering African-ness as an exclusive identity. Tensions within and between categories of African-ness are compounded by constituted regulations. For example, Hlobo investigates the obligation of circumcision which seems to contrast the lifestyle and contexts in which he works and resides, and Muholi represents the existence of homosexual and transgender relations, even within conservative categories. The visual imagery of these two artists investigates the boundaries set by different social constructs. These set boundaries have also affected crimes against bisexual, transgender and homosexual individuals, which are reaching an alarming rate. Hlobo questions the validity of structures that marginalise homosexual individuals through drawing attention to the ambivalence of certain statutes. Muholi seeks to publicise the injustices imposed upon homosexual individuals in order to demonstrate the weight of that crisis. Although the South African legal system condones liberated expressions of sexual identity, due to social prejudices homosexual individuals are still treated as if they are not entitled to basic human rights. As a result, hate-crimes are not reported, and when they are they are not taken seriously. Hlobo and Muholi not only bring these issues to light, but also point out the dilemma inscribed in the social and political history of (South) Africa with regards to collective and individual identities. This thesis seeks to provide an analysis of the visual language used by Hlobo and Muholi to subvert the notion that homosexuality is “un-African” and to complicate concepts of gender, sexuality and identity.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Makhubu, Nomusa
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Hlobo, Nicholas Muholi, Zanele Women in art Photography, Artistic Homosexuality in art Sex in art Performance art Art, African
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2410 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002206
- Description: Nicholas Hlobo, a sculptor and performance artist, and Zanele Muholi, a photographer and activist, explore different ways of representing sexuality, particularly homosexuality. It is extremely difficult to discuss African sexuality in light of the stain of colonial attitudes that have exoticised and ascribed hypersexuality to African bodies. Moreover, sexuality is often not discussed in the construction of so-called African traditions and this has contributed to rendering African-ness as an exclusive identity. Tensions within and between categories of African-ness are compounded by constituted regulations. For example, Hlobo investigates the obligation of circumcision which seems to contrast the lifestyle and contexts in which he works and resides, and Muholi represents the existence of homosexual and transgender relations, even within conservative categories. The visual imagery of these two artists investigates the boundaries set by different social constructs. These set boundaries have also affected crimes against bisexual, transgender and homosexual individuals, which are reaching an alarming rate. Hlobo questions the validity of structures that marginalise homosexual individuals through drawing attention to the ambivalence of certain statutes. Muholi seeks to publicise the injustices imposed upon homosexual individuals in order to demonstrate the weight of that crisis. Although the South African legal system condones liberated expressions of sexual identity, due to social prejudices homosexual individuals are still treated as if they are not entitled to basic human rights. As a result, hate-crimes are not reported, and when they are they are not taken seriously. Hlobo and Muholi not only bring these issues to light, but also point out the dilemma inscribed in the social and political history of (South) Africa with regards to collective and individual identities. This thesis seeks to provide an analysis of the visual language used by Hlobo and Muholi to subvert the notion that homosexuality is “un-African” and to complicate concepts of gender, sexuality and identity.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
WISC-IV performance of South African grade 7 English and Xhosa speaking children with advantaged versus disadvantaged education
- Authors: Van Tonder, Phia
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Intelligence tests -- South Africa Educational tests and measurements -- South Africa Psychological tests -- Cross-cultural studies Educational psychology -- South Africa Language and languages -- Ability testing Educational evaluation -- South Africa Education, Elementary -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3098 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003920
- Description: Research reveals that the level as well as the quality of education plays a role in the determination of an individual's intellectual capacity. Substantial differences in quality of education for black and white individuals were experienced in South Africa due to Apartheid. Compared to the traditionally white Private and Model C schools, Township/ DET schools had limited resources, as well as a separate syllabus and examination system, a situation that has not improved substantially since democratisation in 1994. Research on black South African adults with the WAIS-III has confirmed significant influences on IQ in association with exposure to either such advantaged (Private/Model C) schooling, or disadvantaged (Township/DET) schooling. However to date there has been no published research on the use of the Wechsler intelligence tests on a black South African child population similarly stratified for quality of education. Therefore, for the purposes of this study, the latest Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV) was administered to a sample of 36 Grade 7 learners between the ages of 12-13 (mean 13.01 years), stratified for quality of education to form three comparative groups. Data analyses revealed significant differences on the WISC-IV Factor Indices and Full Scale IQ with the English speaking Private/Model C school group performing the best, followed by the Xhosa speaking Private/ Model C school group, and the Xhosa speaking Township/ DET school group performing the worst. This continuum of lowering is understood to occur abreast of a continuum of decreased exposure to relatively advantaged education. These normative indications are considered to have vital implications for the use of the WISC-IV in the South African cross-cultural situation where vastly differential educational opportunities continue to exist.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Van Tonder, Phia
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Intelligence tests -- South Africa Educational tests and measurements -- South Africa Psychological tests -- Cross-cultural studies Educational psychology -- South Africa Language and languages -- Ability testing Educational evaluation -- South Africa Education, Elementary -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3098 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003920
- Description: Research reveals that the level as well as the quality of education plays a role in the determination of an individual's intellectual capacity. Substantial differences in quality of education for black and white individuals were experienced in South Africa due to Apartheid. Compared to the traditionally white Private and Model C schools, Township/ DET schools had limited resources, as well as a separate syllabus and examination system, a situation that has not improved substantially since democratisation in 1994. Research on black South African adults with the WAIS-III has confirmed significant influences on IQ in association with exposure to either such advantaged (Private/Model C) schooling, or disadvantaged (Township/DET) schooling. However to date there has been no published research on the use of the Wechsler intelligence tests on a black South African child population similarly stratified for quality of education. Therefore, for the purposes of this study, the latest Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV) was administered to a sample of 36 Grade 7 learners between the ages of 12-13 (mean 13.01 years), stratified for quality of education to form three comparative groups. Data analyses revealed significant differences on the WISC-IV Factor Indices and Full Scale IQ with the English speaking Private/Model C school group performing the best, followed by the Xhosa speaking Private/ Model C school group, and the Xhosa speaking Township/ DET school group performing the worst. This continuum of lowering is understood to occur abreast of a continuum of decreased exposure to relatively advantaged education. These normative indications are considered to have vital implications for the use of the WISC-IV in the South African cross-cultural situation where vastly differential educational opportunities continue to exist.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
'The Most Amazing Show': performative interactions with postelection South African society and culture
- Authors: Scholtz, Brink
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Performing arts , Drama -- Study and teaching , Recreational activities
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/57527 , vital:26963
- Description: This research investigates contemporary South African performance within the context of prominent social and cultural change following the political transition from an apartheid state to democracy. Specifically, it looks at the relationship between a popular comic variety show The Most Amazing Show (TMAS), and aspects of contemporary South African society and culture, particularly relating to prominent efforts to affect post-election transformation of South African society and culture through the construction of a South African 'rainbow nation'. By analysing TMAS in terms of broader historical, performative and discursive contexts, it engages a relational reading of the performance. The study argues that TMAS both challenges and participates in the manner in which rainbow nation discourse constructs South African society and culture. Firstly, it considers the performance's construction of hybrid South African identities, including white Afrikaans, white English and white masculine identities. It argues that these reconstructions undermine the tendency within rainbow nation discourse to construct cultural hybridity in terms of stereotypically distinct identities. Secondly, it considers TMAS' construction of collective experience and social integration, which subverts the often glamorised and superficial representations of social healing and integration that are constructed within rainbow nation discourse. The analysis makes prominent reference to the notion of 'liminality' in order to describe the manner in which TMAS constructs significance within the tension that it establishes between oppositional, and often contradictory, positions. Furthermore, it attempts to establish a link between this notion of liminality and notions of theatrical syncretism that are prominent in contemporary South African theatre scholarship, and emphasise processes of signification that are constantly shifting and unstable.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Scholtz, Brink
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Performing arts , Drama -- Study and teaching , Recreational activities
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/57527 , vital:26963
- Description: This research investigates contemporary South African performance within the context of prominent social and cultural change following the political transition from an apartheid state to democracy. Specifically, it looks at the relationship between a popular comic variety show The Most Amazing Show (TMAS), and aspects of contemporary South African society and culture, particularly relating to prominent efforts to affect post-election transformation of South African society and culture through the construction of a South African 'rainbow nation'. By analysing TMAS in terms of broader historical, performative and discursive contexts, it engages a relational reading of the performance. The study argues that TMAS both challenges and participates in the manner in which rainbow nation discourse constructs South African society and culture. Firstly, it considers the performance's construction of hybrid South African identities, including white Afrikaans, white English and white masculine identities. It argues that these reconstructions undermine the tendency within rainbow nation discourse to construct cultural hybridity in terms of stereotypically distinct identities. Secondly, it considers TMAS' construction of collective experience and social integration, which subverts the often glamorised and superficial representations of social healing and integration that are constructed within rainbow nation discourse. The analysis makes prominent reference to the notion of 'liminality' in order to describe the manner in which TMAS constructs significance within the tension that it establishes between oppositional, and often contradictory, positions. Furthermore, it attempts to establish a link between this notion of liminality and notions of theatrical syncretism that are prominent in contemporary South African theatre scholarship, and emphasise processes of signification that are constantly shifting and unstable.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Conceptualisations of 'the community' and 'community knowledge' among community radio volunteers in Katutura, Namibia
- Authors: Ellis, Hugh
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Katutura Community Radio Community radio -- Namibia Radio broadcasting -- Namibia Radio stations -- Namibia Radio journalism -- Namibia Volunteers -- Namibia Radio in community development -- Namibia Mass media -- Social aspects -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3428 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002882
- Description: Community radio typically relies on volunteers to produce and present stations’ programming. Volunteers are generally drawn from stations’ target communities and are seen as “representatives” of those communities. It is with such volunteers and their role as representatives of stations’ target communities that this study is concerned. It poses the question: “what are the central concepts that typically inform volunteers’ knowledge of their target community, and how do these concepts impact on their perception of how they have gained this knowledge, and how they justify their role as representatives of this community?” The dissertation teases out the implications of these conceptualisations for a volunteer team’s ability to contribute to the establishment of a media environment that operates as a Habermasian ‘critical public sphere’. It argues that this can only be achieved if volunteers have detailed and in-depth knowledge of their target community. In order to acquire this knowledge, volunteers should make use of systematic ways of learning about the community, rather than relying solely on knowledge obtained by living there. In a case study of Katutura Community Radio (KCR), one of the bestknown community radio stations in Namibia, the study identifies key differences in the way in which different groups of volunteers conceptualise “the community”. The study focuses, in particular, on such difference as it applies to those who are volunteers in their personal capacity and those who represent non-governmental and community-based organisations at the station. It is argued that two strategies would lead to significant improvement in such a station’s ability to serve as a public sphere. Firstly, the station would benefit from an approach in which different sections of the volunteer team share knowledge of the target community with each other. Secondly, volunteers should undertake further systematic research into their target community. It is also argued that in order to facilitate such processes, radio stations such as KCR should recognise the inevitability of differences between different versions of “community knowledge”.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Ellis, Hugh
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Katutura Community Radio Community radio -- Namibia Radio broadcasting -- Namibia Radio stations -- Namibia Radio journalism -- Namibia Volunteers -- Namibia Radio in community development -- Namibia Mass media -- Social aspects -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3428 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002882
- Description: Community radio typically relies on volunteers to produce and present stations’ programming. Volunteers are generally drawn from stations’ target communities and are seen as “representatives” of those communities. It is with such volunteers and their role as representatives of stations’ target communities that this study is concerned. It poses the question: “what are the central concepts that typically inform volunteers’ knowledge of their target community, and how do these concepts impact on their perception of how they have gained this knowledge, and how they justify their role as representatives of this community?” The dissertation teases out the implications of these conceptualisations for a volunteer team’s ability to contribute to the establishment of a media environment that operates as a Habermasian ‘critical public sphere’. It argues that this can only be achieved if volunteers have detailed and in-depth knowledge of their target community. In order to acquire this knowledge, volunteers should make use of systematic ways of learning about the community, rather than relying solely on knowledge obtained by living there. In a case study of Katutura Community Radio (KCR), one of the bestknown community radio stations in Namibia, the study identifies key differences in the way in which different groups of volunteers conceptualise “the community”. The study focuses, in particular, on such difference as it applies to those who are volunteers in their personal capacity and those who represent non-governmental and community-based organisations at the station. It is argued that two strategies would lead to significant improvement in such a station’s ability to serve as a public sphere. Firstly, the station would benefit from an approach in which different sections of the volunteer team share knowledge of the target community with each other. Secondly, volunteers should undertake further systematic research into their target community. It is also argued that in order to facilitate such processes, radio stations such as KCR should recognise the inevitability of differences between different versions of “community knowledge”.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
The male novelist and the 'woman question' George Meredith's presentation of his Heroines in The Egoist (1879) and Diana of the Crossways (1885)
- Authors: Bell, Alan Nigel
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Meredith, George, 1828-1909 -- Criticism and interpretation Meredith, George, 1828-1909. Egoist Meredith, George, 1828-1909. Diana of the Crossways English fiction -- 19th century -- History and criticism English fiction -- Male authors -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2203 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002245
- Description: Focusing on four early works, then three from his middle period and three from the 1890s, this dissertation explores Meredith’s role as a novelist in the unfolding of a social and literary paradox, namely, that with the death of George Eliot in 1880, the dominant writers of fiction were male, and this remained the case until the advent of Virginia Woolf, while at the same time the woman’s movement for emancipation in all spheres of life—domestic, commercial, professional and political—was gathering in strength and conviction. None of the late nineteenth-century male novelists—James, Hardy, Moore and Gissing, as well as Meredith—was ideologically committed to the feminist cause; in fact the very term ‘feminist’ did not begin to become current in England until the mid-1890s. But they were all interested in one aspect or another of the ‘Woman Question’, even if James was ambivalent about female emancipation, and Gissing, on the whole, was somewhat hostile. Of all these novelists, it was Meredith whose work, especially in its last two decades, most copiously reveals a profound sympathy for women and their struggles to realize their desires and ambitions, both inside and outside the home, in a patriarchal world. The dissertation therefore concentrates on his presentation of his heroines in their relationships with the men who, in one way or another, dominate them, and with whom they must negotiate, within the social and sexual conventions of the time, a modus vivendi—a procedure that will entail, especially in the later work, some transgression of those conventions. Chapter 1 sketches more than two centuries of development in female consciousness of severe social disadvantage, from literary observations in the mid-seventeenth century to the intensifying of political representations in the writings of Mary Wollstonecraft, and the rise of the woman’s movement in the course of the Victorian century. The chapter includes an account of the impact on Meredith of John Stuart Mill’s The Subjection of Women (1869), and an examination of some of his female friendships by way of illuminating the experiential component of his insights into the ‘Woman Question’ as reflected in his fiction and letters. His unhappy first marriage is reserved for consideration in Chapter 2, as background to the discussion of The Ordeal of Richard Feverel (1859). This early novel, Meredith’s first in the realist mode, is widely accepted as being of high quality, and is given extended treatment, together with briefer accounts of three other early works, The Shaving of Shagpat (1855), Evan Harrington (1861), and Rhoda Fleming (1865), and one from Meredith’s middle period, Beauchamp’s Career (1876). Two more novels of this period, The Egoist (1879) and Diana of the Crossways (1885), are generally considered to be among his best works, and their heroines are given chapters to themselves (3 and 4). Chapter 5 provides further contextualization for the changing socio-political circumstances of the 1880s and 1890s, with particular reference to that heightening of feminist consciousness represented by the short-lived ‘New Woman’ phenomenon, to which Diana of the Crossways had been considered by some to be a contribution. Brief discussion of some other ‘New Woman’ novels of the 80s and 90s follows, giving literary context to the heroines of Meredith’s three late candidates in the genre, One of Our Conquerors (1891), Lord Ormont and His Aminta (1894), and The Amazing Marriage (1895). The dissertation concludes with a glance at Meredith’s influence on a few early twentieth-century novelists.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Bell, Alan Nigel
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Meredith, George, 1828-1909 -- Criticism and interpretation Meredith, George, 1828-1909. Egoist Meredith, George, 1828-1909. Diana of the Crossways English fiction -- 19th century -- History and criticism English fiction -- Male authors -- History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2203 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002245
- Description: Focusing on four early works, then three from his middle period and three from the 1890s, this dissertation explores Meredith’s role as a novelist in the unfolding of a social and literary paradox, namely, that with the death of George Eliot in 1880, the dominant writers of fiction were male, and this remained the case until the advent of Virginia Woolf, while at the same time the woman’s movement for emancipation in all spheres of life—domestic, commercial, professional and political—was gathering in strength and conviction. None of the late nineteenth-century male novelists—James, Hardy, Moore and Gissing, as well as Meredith—was ideologically committed to the feminist cause; in fact the very term ‘feminist’ did not begin to become current in England until the mid-1890s. But they were all interested in one aspect or another of the ‘Woman Question’, even if James was ambivalent about female emancipation, and Gissing, on the whole, was somewhat hostile. Of all these novelists, it was Meredith whose work, especially in its last two decades, most copiously reveals a profound sympathy for women and their struggles to realize their desires and ambitions, both inside and outside the home, in a patriarchal world. The dissertation therefore concentrates on his presentation of his heroines in their relationships with the men who, in one way or another, dominate them, and with whom they must negotiate, within the social and sexual conventions of the time, a modus vivendi—a procedure that will entail, especially in the later work, some transgression of those conventions. Chapter 1 sketches more than two centuries of development in female consciousness of severe social disadvantage, from literary observations in the mid-seventeenth century to the intensifying of political representations in the writings of Mary Wollstonecraft, and the rise of the woman’s movement in the course of the Victorian century. The chapter includes an account of the impact on Meredith of John Stuart Mill’s The Subjection of Women (1869), and an examination of some of his female friendships by way of illuminating the experiential component of his insights into the ‘Woman Question’ as reflected in his fiction and letters. His unhappy first marriage is reserved for consideration in Chapter 2, as background to the discussion of The Ordeal of Richard Feverel (1859). This early novel, Meredith’s first in the realist mode, is widely accepted as being of high quality, and is given extended treatment, together with briefer accounts of three other early works, The Shaving of Shagpat (1855), Evan Harrington (1861), and Rhoda Fleming (1865), and one from Meredith’s middle period, Beauchamp’s Career (1876). Two more novels of this period, The Egoist (1879) and Diana of the Crossways (1885), are generally considered to be among his best works, and their heroines are given chapters to themselves (3 and 4). Chapter 5 provides further contextualization for the changing socio-political circumstances of the 1880s and 1890s, with particular reference to that heightening of feminist consciousness represented by the short-lived ‘New Woman’ phenomenon, to which Diana of the Crossways had been considered by some to be a contribution. Brief discussion of some other ‘New Woman’ novels of the 80s and 90s follows, giving literary context to the heroines of Meredith’s three late candidates in the genre, One of Our Conquerors (1891), Lord Ormont and His Aminta (1894), and The Amazing Marriage (1895). The dissertation concludes with a glance at Meredith’s influence on a few early twentieth-century novelists.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
The originating impulses of Ankoku Butoh: towards an understanding of the trans-cultural embodiment of Tatsumi Hijikata's dance of darkness
- Authors: Truter, Orlando Vincent
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Hijikata, Tatsumi, 1928-1986 , Butō , Modern dance -- Japan , Dancers -- Japan , Choreographers
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2153 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004454
- Description: From Introduction: Ankoku Butoh is a performing art devised in Japan in the wake of the Second World War by the dancer and choreographer Tatsumi Hijikata (born Akita, 1928; died Tokyo, 1986). A highly aesthetic and subversive performing art, Butoh often evokes "images of decay, of fear and desperation, images of eroticism, ecstasy and stillness." Typically performed with a white layer of paint covering the entire body of the dancer, Butoh is visually characterized by continual transformations between postures, distorted physical and facial expressions, and an emphasis on condensed and visually slow movements. Some of the general characteristics of Butoh performance include "a particular openness to working with the subtle energy in the body; the malleability of time; the power of the grotesque."
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Truter, Orlando Vincent
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Hijikata, Tatsumi, 1928-1986 , Butō , Modern dance -- Japan , Dancers -- Japan , Choreographers
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2153 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004454
- Description: From Introduction: Ankoku Butoh is a performing art devised in Japan in the wake of the Second World War by the dancer and choreographer Tatsumi Hijikata (born Akita, 1928; died Tokyo, 1986). A highly aesthetic and subversive performing art, Butoh often evokes "images of decay, of fear and desperation, images of eroticism, ecstasy and stillness." Typically performed with a white layer of paint covering the entire body of the dancer, Butoh is visually characterized by continual transformations between postures, distorted physical and facial expressions, and an emphasis on condensed and visually slow movements. Some of the general characteristics of Butoh performance include "a particular openness to working with the subtle energy in the body; the malleability of time; the power of the grotesque."
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Rhodes University during the segregation and apartheid eras, 1933 to 1990
- Authors: Greyling, Sean Andrew
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Rhodes University -- History Post-apartheid era -- South Africa -- History College students -- South Africa -- Political activity South Africa -- Race relations -- History -- 20th century South Africa -- Politics and government -- 20th century
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2545 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002397
- Description: In 2004 Rhodes University celebrated its centenary. At a Critical Tradition Colloquium opportunity was given to explore the university’s past. In particular, its liberal image was questioned and its role during apartheid brought under scrutiny. This thesis investigates the questions raised at the Colloquium. It aims to cover the whole apartheid era in one coherent narrative by addressing the history of Rhodes during that era and how it handled issues of race and politics. It begins in 1933, when the first black student applied to Rhodes, and ends in 1990, when apartheid was drawing to a close.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Greyling, Sean Andrew
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Rhodes University -- History Post-apartheid era -- South Africa -- History College students -- South Africa -- Political activity South Africa -- Race relations -- History -- 20th century South Africa -- Politics and government -- 20th century
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2545 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002397
- Description: In 2004 Rhodes University celebrated its centenary. At a Critical Tradition Colloquium opportunity was given to explore the university’s past. In particular, its liberal image was questioned and its role during apartheid brought under scrutiny. This thesis investigates the questions raised at the Colloquium. It aims to cover the whole apartheid era in one coherent narrative by addressing the history of Rhodes during that era and how it handled issues of race and politics. It begins in 1933, when the first black student applied to Rhodes, and ends in 1990, when apartheid was drawing to a close.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
A critical inquiry into the absence of a gender equality discourse in the coverage of the land redistribution issue in two Zimbabwean newspapers, The Daily News and The Herald, between 01 February and 30 June 2000
- Authors: Mawarire, Jealousy Mbizvo
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: The Daily News (Zimbabwe) The Herald (Zimbabwe) Journalism -- Zimbabwe Mass media -- Social aspects -- Zimbabwe Sex in mass media -- Zimbabwe Discourse analysis -- Social aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3460 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002915
- Description: The media, which help define what we think and our roles in the society, have a crucial role to project both men and women’s issues so as to change people’s perceptions and stereotypes about the role men and women play in the society. There is need, therefore, to ensure gender equality in the operations of the media so that issues to do with both men and women get adequate and equal coverage. This study on the reportage of the land redistribution exercise in Zimbabwe has, however, exposed the gendered nature of the operations of the media, particularly in the news production process. It provides that, overally, the news discourse is a masculine narrative whose androcentric form is a result of, and is protected by, claims to ‘objectivity,’ ‘professionalism’, ‘impartiality’ and the pursuit of a journalistic routine system that hegemonically prioritises men’s issues over those of women. The situation, as the research shows, has not been helped by journalists’ incapacity to do thematic appreciation of issues and their over-inclination towards a simplistic event-based journalism that fails to question policies as they are enacted and implemented in gender-skewed processes. The lack of gender policies, the operations of patriarchy and the pursuit of a journalistic routine system that sees nothing wrong with the ostracisation of women issues are very fundamental findings that the research uses in its attempts to explain why the gender equality discourse was left out of the news reports about the land reform exercise in Zimbabwe.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Mawarire, Jealousy Mbizvo
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: The Daily News (Zimbabwe) The Herald (Zimbabwe) Journalism -- Zimbabwe Mass media -- Social aspects -- Zimbabwe Sex in mass media -- Zimbabwe Discourse analysis -- Social aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3460 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002915
- Description: The media, which help define what we think and our roles in the society, have a crucial role to project both men and women’s issues so as to change people’s perceptions and stereotypes about the role men and women play in the society. There is need, therefore, to ensure gender equality in the operations of the media so that issues to do with both men and women get adequate and equal coverage. This study on the reportage of the land redistribution exercise in Zimbabwe has, however, exposed the gendered nature of the operations of the media, particularly in the news production process. It provides that, overally, the news discourse is a masculine narrative whose androcentric form is a result of, and is protected by, claims to ‘objectivity,’ ‘professionalism’, ‘impartiality’ and the pursuit of a journalistic routine system that hegemonically prioritises men’s issues over those of women. The situation, as the research shows, has not been helped by journalists’ incapacity to do thematic appreciation of issues and their over-inclination towards a simplistic event-based journalism that fails to question policies as they are enacted and implemented in gender-skewed processes. The lack of gender policies, the operations of patriarchy and the pursuit of a journalistic routine system that sees nothing wrong with the ostracisation of women issues are very fundamental findings that the research uses in its attempts to explain why the gender equality discourse was left out of the news reports about the land reform exercise in Zimbabwe.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Cross-cultural normative indicators on the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) associate learning and visual reproduction subtests
- Authors: Fike, Lauren
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Wechsler Memory Scale -- Cross-cultural studies Memory -- Testing Memory -- Cross-cultural studies Memory Assessment Scales Short-term memory -- Testing Long-term memory -- Testing
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2975 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002484
- Description: A comprehensive battery of commonly used neuropsychological tests, including the WMS Associate Learning and Visual Reproduction subtests, forming the focus of this study, were administered to a southern African sample (n = 33, age range 18-40). This sample composed of black South African, IsiXhosa speakers with an educational level of Grade 11 and 12, derived through DET and former DET schooling. The gender demographics were as follows; females n = 21 and males n = 12. This sample was purposefully selected based on current cross-cultural research which suggests that individuals matching these above-mentioned demographics are significantly disadvantaged when compared to available neuropsychological norms. This is due to the fact that current norms have been created in contexts with socio-cultural influences; including culture, language and quantity and quality of education distinctly dissimilar to individuals like that composed in the sample. Hence the purpose of this study was fourfold namely; 1) Describe and consider socio-cultural factors and the influence on test performance 2) Provide descriptive and preliminary normative data on this neuropsychologically underrepresented population 3) Compare test performance between age and gender through stratification of the sample and finally to 4) Evaluate the current norms of the two WMS subtests and assess their validity for black South Africans with DET and former DET schooling with comparisons to the results found in the study. Information derived from the statistical analyses indicated that a higher performance in favour of the younger group over the older age range was consistently found for both WMS subtests. With regards to gender, some higher means were evident for the male population in the sample than was produced by the female group. Lastly, due to the fact that most scores derived from the sample were considerably lower when compared to the available norms, it is felt that socio-cultural factors prevalent to this population are a significant cause of lower test performance and thus warrant the development of appropriate normative indicators.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Fike, Lauren
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Wechsler Memory Scale -- Cross-cultural studies Memory -- Testing Memory -- Cross-cultural studies Memory Assessment Scales Short-term memory -- Testing Long-term memory -- Testing
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2975 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002484
- Description: A comprehensive battery of commonly used neuropsychological tests, including the WMS Associate Learning and Visual Reproduction subtests, forming the focus of this study, were administered to a southern African sample (n = 33, age range 18-40). This sample composed of black South African, IsiXhosa speakers with an educational level of Grade 11 and 12, derived through DET and former DET schooling. The gender demographics were as follows; females n = 21 and males n = 12. This sample was purposefully selected based on current cross-cultural research which suggests that individuals matching these above-mentioned demographics are significantly disadvantaged when compared to available neuropsychological norms. This is due to the fact that current norms have been created in contexts with socio-cultural influences; including culture, language and quantity and quality of education distinctly dissimilar to individuals like that composed in the sample. Hence the purpose of this study was fourfold namely; 1) Describe and consider socio-cultural factors and the influence on test performance 2) Provide descriptive and preliminary normative data on this neuropsychologically underrepresented population 3) Compare test performance between age and gender through stratification of the sample and finally to 4) Evaluate the current norms of the two WMS subtests and assess their validity for black South Africans with DET and former DET schooling with comparisons to the results found in the study. Information derived from the statistical analyses indicated that a higher performance in favour of the younger group over the older age range was consistently found for both WMS subtests. With regards to gender, some higher means were evident for the male population in the sample than was produced by the female group. Lastly, due to the fact that most scores derived from the sample were considerably lower when compared to the available norms, it is felt that socio-cultural factors prevalent to this population are a significant cause of lower test performance and thus warrant the development of appropriate normative indicators.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
The devil in disguise a comparative study of Thomas Mann's "Doktor Faustus" (1947) and Klaus Mann's "Mephisto" (1936), focussing on the role of art as an allegory of the rise and fall of Nazi Germany
- Authors: French, Rebecca S C
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Mann, Thomas, 1875-1955 Doktor Faustus Mann, Klaus, 1906-1949 Mephisto Arts, German -- 20th Century Art, Germany -- 20th Century National socialism in art National socialism in literature
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3582 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002157
- Description: This thesis compares the novels Doktor Faustus: das Leben des deutschen Tonsetzers Adrian Leverkühn, erzählt von einem Freunde (Thomas Mann) and Mephisto: Roman einer Karriere (Klaus Mann), insofar as they are portrayals of the situation in Germany during the Third Reich. Essentially a comparative study, I explore similarities and differences – thematic and conceptual – by situating both novels in their socio-historical moment (Chapter 1), exploring their conceptions of German national identity (Chapter 2), tracing intertextual connections to other works (Chapter 3), and, finally, examining their understanding of and reliance on art as insofar as it provides the allegorical framework for their respective portrayals of Nazi Germany (Chapter 4).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: French, Rebecca S C
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Mann, Thomas, 1875-1955 Doktor Faustus Mann, Klaus, 1906-1949 Mephisto Arts, German -- 20th Century Art, Germany -- 20th Century National socialism in art National socialism in literature
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3582 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002157
- Description: This thesis compares the novels Doktor Faustus: das Leben des deutschen Tonsetzers Adrian Leverkühn, erzählt von einem Freunde (Thomas Mann) and Mephisto: Roman einer Karriere (Klaus Mann), insofar as they are portrayals of the situation in Germany during the Third Reich. Essentially a comparative study, I explore similarities and differences – thematic and conceptual – by situating both novels in their socio-historical moment (Chapter 1), exploring their conceptions of German national identity (Chapter 2), tracing intertextual connections to other works (Chapter 3), and, finally, examining their understanding of and reliance on art as insofar as it provides the allegorical framework for their respective portrayals of Nazi Germany (Chapter 4).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
A critical edition of the poems of Henry Vaux (c. 1559-1587) in MS. Folger Bd with STC 22957
- Hacksley, Timothy Christopher
- Authors: Hacksley, Timothy Christopher
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Vaux, Henry, ca. 1559-1587 -- Criticism and interpretation Vaux, Henry, ca. 1559-1587 Latin poetry, Medieval and modern -- History and criticism English poetry -- Early modern, 1500-1700
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2200 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002242
- Description: This thesis offers an edition of the English and Latin poems found in MS. Folger bd with STC 22957, attributed to Henry Vaux (c. 1559—1587), a recusant, priest-smuggler, and child prodigy. THE TEXT of the edition is preceded by an introduction comprising three parts: a GENERAL INTRODUCTION describing Vaux‘s socio-historical and biographical context; a CRITICAL INTRODUCTION describing the Medieval and Early Modern literary contexts of Vaux‘s poems and the forms, traditions, topoi, and conventions adhered to in them; and a TEXTUAL INTRODUCTION describing the seventeenth-century manuscript copy of the poems used as the source text and explaining and justifying the editorial decisions made. Textual variants and instances of doubtful authorship are also discussed. THE TEXT itself is presented in the original spelling of the MS. and is a diplomatic edition: the scribe‘s use of characters that are now defunct (such as long ‗s‘ and ‗=‘ for ‗-‘) has not been modernised. A critical apparatus is provided with THE TEXT. THE TEXT is followed by an extensive COMMENTARY, which glosses un-usual or archaic words and phrases, points out allusions and their likely sources, discusses literary forms and conventions which inform the reading of the po-ems, and observes peculiarities in poetic metre. Translations and commentary are offered for Vaux‘s Latin poems. The five appendices following the COMMEN-TARY comprise a MODERNISED TEXT of the poems, a FACSIMILE OF THE FOLGER MS., a SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF THE VAUX FAMILY after Henry Vaux‘s death, a text JOHN OF PECHAM‘S PHILOMENA PRAEVIA (a text which informs the reading of Vaux‘s ―A complaint to the Nightingale‖) along with a parallel translation by me, and transcriptions of TEXTUAL VARIANTS. A BIBLIOGRAPHY of works cited, re-ferred to or consulted follows the appendices. A comprehensive GENERAL INDEX of subjects, people, places, and literary works and forms follows this, and an IN-DEX OF FIRST LINES AND TITLES of Vaux‘s poems completes the edition.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Hacksley, Timothy Christopher
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Vaux, Henry, ca. 1559-1587 -- Criticism and interpretation Vaux, Henry, ca. 1559-1587 Latin poetry, Medieval and modern -- History and criticism English poetry -- Early modern, 1500-1700
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2200 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002242
- Description: This thesis offers an edition of the English and Latin poems found in MS. Folger bd with STC 22957, attributed to Henry Vaux (c. 1559—1587), a recusant, priest-smuggler, and child prodigy. THE TEXT of the edition is preceded by an introduction comprising three parts: a GENERAL INTRODUCTION describing Vaux‘s socio-historical and biographical context; a CRITICAL INTRODUCTION describing the Medieval and Early Modern literary contexts of Vaux‘s poems and the forms, traditions, topoi, and conventions adhered to in them; and a TEXTUAL INTRODUCTION describing the seventeenth-century manuscript copy of the poems used as the source text and explaining and justifying the editorial decisions made. Textual variants and instances of doubtful authorship are also discussed. THE TEXT itself is presented in the original spelling of the MS. and is a diplomatic edition: the scribe‘s use of characters that are now defunct (such as long ‗s‘ and ‗=‘ for ‗-‘) has not been modernised. A critical apparatus is provided with THE TEXT. THE TEXT is followed by an extensive COMMENTARY, which glosses un-usual or archaic words and phrases, points out allusions and their likely sources, discusses literary forms and conventions which inform the reading of the po-ems, and observes peculiarities in poetic metre. Translations and commentary are offered for Vaux‘s Latin poems. The five appendices following the COMMEN-TARY comprise a MODERNISED TEXT of the poems, a FACSIMILE OF THE FOLGER MS., a SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF THE VAUX FAMILY after Henry Vaux‘s death, a text JOHN OF PECHAM‘S PHILOMENA PRAEVIA (a text which informs the reading of Vaux‘s ―A complaint to the Nightingale‖) along with a parallel translation by me, and transcriptions of TEXTUAL VARIANTS. A BIBLIOGRAPHY of works cited, re-ferred to or consulted follows the appendices. A comprehensive GENERAL INDEX of subjects, people, places, and literary works and forms follows this, and an IN-DEX OF FIRST LINES AND TITLES of Vaux‘s poems completes the edition.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Commodity fetishism and domination: the contributions of Marx, Lukács, Horkheimer, Adorno and Bourdieu
- Authors: Lloyd, Gareth
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Marx, Karl, 1818-1883 Lukács, György, 1885-1971 Horkheimer, Max, 1895-1973 Adorno, Theodor W., 1903-1969 Bourdieu, Pierre, 1930-2002 Commodity fetishism Capitalism Consumption (Economics) Marxian economics
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2795 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003005
- Description: This thesis seeks to trace domination theory back to the influential work done by Marx on commodity fetishism. Marx's work proves to be an original account of domination that explains how the dominated many accept the rule of the privileged few. The theory of commodity fetishism develops the idea that individuals come to adopt beliefs that bolster and reproduce the status quo of capitalism. For Marx, the way that individuals experience capitalism is different from the way that it actually works because, in fact, lived experience is actually false. Oppression, inequality and exploitation are thus hidden and the main source of conflict between the oppressed many and the privileged few is obscured. I seek to develop this insight of Marx's into a more comprehensive account of how dominating capitalism self maintains. Lukács' theory of reification explains how capitalism has become all-embracing because capitalism has developed its own type of rationality. This specific rationality shapes thought, which in turn, generates false beliefs that favour the continuation of the status quo. Horkheimer and Adorno argue that capitalism extends its influence by means of its deep involvement in modern culture. Today, culture has become an massive industry which inculcates the logic and principles of capitalism into individuals. For these theorists, capitalism has penetrated all areas of life; experience, knowledge and thought have become extensions of capitalism itself. Marx, Lukács, Horkheimer and Adorno give accounts of how false beliefs are put into practice. Hence the importance of the work of Bourdieu. Bourdieu's theory of distinction describes how the status quo in capitalism is maintained by the behaviour of individuals through their daily acts of consumption. I argue that the consumption of commodities reproduces the status quo in two ways: firstly, establishing an upper-class which takes the lead in patterns of consumption, and, secondly, by creating a middle class that follows its example. Finally, I relate Bourdieu's insights to the theories of Marx, Lukács, Horkheimer and Adorno and Bourdieu in order to arrive at a more inclusive account of how.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Lloyd, Gareth
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Marx, Karl, 1818-1883 Lukács, György, 1885-1971 Horkheimer, Max, 1895-1973 Adorno, Theodor W., 1903-1969 Bourdieu, Pierre, 1930-2002 Commodity fetishism Capitalism Consumption (Economics) Marxian economics
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2795 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003005
- Description: This thesis seeks to trace domination theory back to the influential work done by Marx on commodity fetishism. Marx's work proves to be an original account of domination that explains how the dominated many accept the rule of the privileged few. The theory of commodity fetishism develops the idea that individuals come to adopt beliefs that bolster and reproduce the status quo of capitalism. For Marx, the way that individuals experience capitalism is different from the way that it actually works because, in fact, lived experience is actually false. Oppression, inequality and exploitation are thus hidden and the main source of conflict between the oppressed many and the privileged few is obscured. I seek to develop this insight of Marx's into a more comprehensive account of how dominating capitalism self maintains. Lukács' theory of reification explains how capitalism has become all-embracing because capitalism has developed its own type of rationality. This specific rationality shapes thought, which in turn, generates false beliefs that favour the continuation of the status quo. Horkheimer and Adorno argue that capitalism extends its influence by means of its deep involvement in modern culture. Today, culture has become an massive industry which inculcates the logic and principles of capitalism into individuals. For these theorists, capitalism has penetrated all areas of life; experience, knowledge and thought have become extensions of capitalism itself. Marx, Lukács, Horkheimer and Adorno give accounts of how false beliefs are put into practice. Hence the importance of the work of Bourdieu. Bourdieu's theory of distinction describes how the status quo in capitalism is maintained by the behaviour of individuals through their daily acts of consumption. I argue that the consumption of commodities reproduces the status quo in two ways: firstly, establishing an upper-class which takes the lead in patterns of consumption, and, secondly, by creating a middle class that follows its example. Finally, I relate Bourdieu's insights to the theories of Marx, Lukács, Horkheimer and Adorno and Bourdieu in order to arrive at a more inclusive account of how.
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- Date Issued: 2008
An analysis of local level development in South Africa: a case study of Uitenhage
- Authors: Meyer, Sarah
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Local government -- South Africa -- Uitenhage -- Case studies Economic development -- South Africa -- Case studies Municipal corporations -- South Africa -- Case studies Community development -- South Africa -- Case studies Cities and towns -- South Africa -- Case studies Social responsibility of business -- South Africa Small business -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:4813 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005487
- Description: Development backlogs, in terms of unemployment and poverty, plague many developing countries. Countries have established and implemented various policies and plans to address these challenges. In response to these development backlogs, South Africa has instituted the notion of decentralisation and developmental local government, whereby local governments are largely responsible for initiating and facilitating development in the area under their jurisdiction. Furthermore, the potential role the private sector can play in development is being increasingly recognised by government, politicians, academics and developers alike. Uitenhage has a strong corporate presence and therefore this sector has the potential to contribute towards development in the town. However the concept of using corporate social responsibility (CSR) to promote development in South Africa is relatively new and, as will be revealed in the case study, definitions and underlying motivation for undertaking CSR vary. Local Economic Development (LED) and, more recently, CSR, have been recognised as major drivers of development and are being implemented throughout the country. As this thesis illustrates, they often merge and can work hand-in-hand to promote local development. Although the private sector, through CSR has the potential to contribute to development, they often do not have the available human resources to implement development initiatives. As is evident in the case study, partnerships between the private and public sectors often emerge as a result. Development institutions play a key role in development and often assist in bridging the gap between citizens, the state and the market. The development institutions in Uitenhage often act as instigators and facilitators on behalf of the larger corporations. The case study in Uitenhage, is a locality where there is a strong automotive industrial cluster and several major firms which are active in the development process. Furthermore, development institutions are committed to the socio-economic development of the town and the promotion of small micro medium enterprises (SMMEs), through various support services. The development institutions, often in partnership with the local government and the public sector, have initiated various local developmental projects in the town, of which three will be discussed in the case study. In this thesis, case study research reveals that corporations often do not meet their potential developmental role and their CSR actions are often considered as ‘window-dressing’ aimed at boosting their corporate image. Similarly, with regard to the development institutions, their development and job creation results look impressive at first glance, but further investigation reveals a collapse of a large number of projects. Despite the potential of LED and CSR to be major drivers of local development, there are still a number of hindering factors, which will be revealed in this thesis and lessons to be learnt which can help to inform future local development projects
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Meyer, Sarah
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Local government -- South Africa -- Uitenhage -- Case studies Economic development -- South Africa -- Case studies Municipal corporations -- South Africa -- Case studies Community development -- South Africa -- Case studies Cities and towns -- South Africa -- Case studies Social responsibility of business -- South Africa Small business -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:4813 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005487
- Description: Development backlogs, in terms of unemployment and poverty, plague many developing countries. Countries have established and implemented various policies and plans to address these challenges. In response to these development backlogs, South Africa has instituted the notion of decentralisation and developmental local government, whereby local governments are largely responsible for initiating and facilitating development in the area under their jurisdiction. Furthermore, the potential role the private sector can play in development is being increasingly recognised by government, politicians, academics and developers alike. Uitenhage has a strong corporate presence and therefore this sector has the potential to contribute towards development in the town. However the concept of using corporate social responsibility (CSR) to promote development in South Africa is relatively new and, as will be revealed in the case study, definitions and underlying motivation for undertaking CSR vary. Local Economic Development (LED) and, more recently, CSR, have been recognised as major drivers of development and are being implemented throughout the country. As this thesis illustrates, they often merge and can work hand-in-hand to promote local development. Although the private sector, through CSR has the potential to contribute to development, they often do not have the available human resources to implement development initiatives. As is evident in the case study, partnerships between the private and public sectors often emerge as a result. Development institutions play a key role in development and often assist in bridging the gap between citizens, the state and the market. The development institutions in Uitenhage often act as instigators and facilitators on behalf of the larger corporations. The case study in Uitenhage, is a locality where there is a strong automotive industrial cluster and several major firms which are active in the development process. Furthermore, development institutions are committed to the socio-economic development of the town and the promotion of small micro medium enterprises (SMMEs), through various support services. The development institutions, often in partnership with the local government and the public sector, have initiated various local developmental projects in the town, of which three will be discussed in the case study. In this thesis, case study research reveals that corporations often do not meet their potential developmental role and their CSR actions are often considered as ‘window-dressing’ aimed at boosting their corporate image. Similarly, with regard to the development institutions, their development and job creation results look impressive at first glance, but further investigation reveals a collapse of a large number of projects. Despite the potential of LED and CSR to be major drivers of local development, there are still a number of hindering factors, which will be revealed in this thesis and lessons to be learnt which can help to inform future local development projects
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Tripping over our own feet : a critical discussion of Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) with specific reference to their impact on South Africa's ability to combat HIV and AIDS
- Authors: Brennan, Jade
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, (1994) Trade regulation -- South Africa Intellectual property -- South Africa HIV (Viruses) -- South Africa AIDS (Disease) -- South Africa Patients -- Civil rights -- South Africa Human rights -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2850 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006316
- Description: This thesis aims to look at the agreement on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) with specific reference to their impact on South Africa's ability to combat HIV and AIDS. It begins by looking at the history of patents and intellectual property rights and illustrates why and how the TRIPS Agreement came into existence. The TRIPS Agreement exemplifies the disparities between developed and developing countries and this can clearly be seen with regard to the provision of anti-HIV and AIDS drugs. The developing world deals with the bulk of the HIV and AIDS epidemic whilst the developed world holds most of the patents on the medication needed to treat those living with HIV and AIDS. This situation lends itself to a rift between patient rights on the one hand, and patent rights on the other. Traditionally the state has been the provider of rights such as health, but TRIPS alters this to include strong patent protection that is in line with neo liberal doctrine. The thesis examines these tensions with specific reference to South Africa's ability successfully to implement programmes to combat HIV and AIDS.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Brennan, Jade
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, (1994) Trade regulation -- South Africa Intellectual property -- South Africa HIV (Viruses) -- South Africa AIDS (Disease) -- South Africa Patients -- Civil rights -- South Africa Human rights -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2850 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006316
- Description: This thesis aims to look at the agreement on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) with specific reference to their impact on South Africa's ability to combat HIV and AIDS. It begins by looking at the history of patents and intellectual property rights and illustrates why and how the TRIPS Agreement came into existence. The TRIPS Agreement exemplifies the disparities between developed and developing countries and this can clearly be seen with regard to the provision of anti-HIV and AIDS drugs. The developing world deals with the bulk of the HIV and AIDS epidemic whilst the developed world holds most of the patents on the medication needed to treat those living with HIV and AIDS. This situation lends itself to a rift between patient rights on the one hand, and patent rights on the other. Traditionally the state has been the provider of rights such as health, but TRIPS alters this to include strong patent protection that is in line with neo liberal doctrine. The thesis examines these tensions with specific reference to South Africa's ability successfully to implement programmes to combat HIV and AIDS.
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- Date Issued: 2008
Reading nonsense : a journey through the writing of Edward Lear
- Authors: Pendlebury, Kathleen Sarah
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Lear, Edward, 1812-1888 Lear, Edward, 1812-1888 Criticism and interpretation English poetry -- 19th century -- Criticism and interpretation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2206 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002249
- Description: In this thesis I have addressed some of the problems that have arisen in critical approaches to the nonsense works of Edward Lear from the late nineteenth century. I have entitled it “Reading Nonsense” because my central concern is with how best to apprehend the paradoxes inherent in literary nonsense, which inevitably raises interpretative questions. Because nonsense is a “basic type of communication” whose essence is “unresolved tension between [the] presence and absence of meaning” (Tigges, Anatomy 51), we are called upon either to “make sense of” that which claims to offer up no meaning or to surrender ourselves to meaninglessness. Broadly, critical approaches to nonsense fall into two classes: those that maintain that nonsense is not, in fact, “not sense”, but rather a kind of symbolic language that can be reconciled into meaning; and those which uphold the nonsensicality of nonsense, maintaining that certain ambiguities and paradoxes cannot be accounted for, and it is inappropriate to try to do so. In addition, Lear’s texts are situated in various traditions of writing for children and adults and in the distinctive setting of the Victorian era; and these cultural and literary influences play an important role in the interpretation and misinterpretation of nonsense. My first chapter comprises a mise en scène of the genre of literary nonsense; while in Chapter 2 I turn to the cultural backdrop of Lear’s nonsense in particular, and examine one of the claims frequently made in nonsense criticism: that Lear’s literary nonsense is distinctively “Victorian”. Chapter 3, “How to Read a Learian Limerick”, rests on the exegesis of nonsense that appears in Chapter 1, for here I propose a technique for reading Lear’s limericks that preserves both their “sensical” and nonsensical elements in contrast to critical analyses that attempt to reconcile the nonsense into a code. In Chapter 4 I examine Lear’s songs from the critical perspectives of nonsense and of romanticism. Finally, in conclusion, I consider the role and significance of humour in nonsense, and gesture towards further possible explorations, including in the appendix my essay on the nonsense poetry of South African writer Philip de Vos.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Pendlebury, Kathleen Sarah
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Lear, Edward, 1812-1888 Lear, Edward, 1812-1888 Criticism and interpretation English poetry -- 19th century -- Criticism and interpretation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2206 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002249
- Description: In this thesis I have addressed some of the problems that have arisen in critical approaches to the nonsense works of Edward Lear from the late nineteenth century. I have entitled it “Reading Nonsense” because my central concern is with how best to apprehend the paradoxes inherent in literary nonsense, which inevitably raises interpretative questions. Because nonsense is a “basic type of communication” whose essence is “unresolved tension between [the] presence and absence of meaning” (Tigges, Anatomy 51), we are called upon either to “make sense of” that which claims to offer up no meaning or to surrender ourselves to meaninglessness. Broadly, critical approaches to nonsense fall into two classes: those that maintain that nonsense is not, in fact, “not sense”, but rather a kind of symbolic language that can be reconciled into meaning; and those which uphold the nonsensicality of nonsense, maintaining that certain ambiguities and paradoxes cannot be accounted for, and it is inappropriate to try to do so. In addition, Lear’s texts are situated in various traditions of writing for children and adults and in the distinctive setting of the Victorian era; and these cultural and literary influences play an important role in the interpretation and misinterpretation of nonsense. My first chapter comprises a mise en scène of the genre of literary nonsense; while in Chapter 2 I turn to the cultural backdrop of Lear’s nonsense in particular, and examine one of the claims frequently made in nonsense criticism: that Lear’s literary nonsense is distinctively “Victorian”. Chapter 3, “How to Read a Learian Limerick”, rests on the exegesis of nonsense that appears in Chapter 1, for here I propose a technique for reading Lear’s limericks that preserves both their “sensical” and nonsensical elements in contrast to critical analyses that attempt to reconcile the nonsense into a code. In Chapter 4 I examine Lear’s songs from the critical perspectives of nonsense and of romanticism. Finally, in conclusion, I consider the role and significance of humour in nonsense, and gesture towards further possible explorations, including in the appendix my essay on the nonsense poetry of South African writer Philip de Vos.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008