Challenging Biblical boundaries: Jeanette Winterson’s postmodern feminist subversion of Biblical discourse in Oranges are not the only fruit (1985) and Boating for beginners (1985)
- Authors: Erasmus, Shirley
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Winterson, Jeanette, 1959- -- Criticism and interpretation , Bible -- Feminist criticism , Bible -- Criticism, interpretation, etc , Postmodernism -- Religious aspects , Winterson, Jeanette, 1959- -- Oranges are not the only fruit , Winterson, Jeanette, 1959- -- Boating for beginners , Patriarchy in literature , Sex discrimination in literature
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59121 , vital:27430
- Description: This thesis investigates the subversion of Biblical discourse in Jeanette Winterson’s first two novels, Oranges are Not the Only Fruit and Boating for Beginners. By rewriting Biblical stories Winterson challenges traditional Western religious discourses and their rules for heteronormative social and sexual behaviours and desires. Winterson’s texts respond to the patriarchal nature of socially pervasive texts, such as the Bible, by encouraging her readers to regard these texts with suspicion, thus highlighting what can be seen as a ‘postmodern concern’ with the notion of ‘truth’. Chapter One of this thesis comprises a discussion of Biblical boundaries. These boundaries, I argue, are a process of historical oppression which serves to subjugate and control women, a practice inherent in the Bible and modern society. The Biblical boundaries within which women are expected to live, are carefully portrayed in Oranges and then comically and blasphemously mocked in Boating. Chapter One also argues that Winterson’s sexuality plays an important role in the understanding of her texts, despite her desire for her sexuality to remain ‘outside’ her writing. Chapter Two of this thesis, examines the mix of fact and fiction in Oranges, in order to create a new genre: fictional memoir. The chapter introduces the concept of the ‘autobiographical pact’ and the textual agreement which Winterson creates with her readers. In this chapter, I examine Winterson’s powerful subversion of Biblical discourse, through her narration of Jeanette’s ‘coming out’ within a Biblical framework. Chapter Three of this thesis examines Winterson’s second book, Boating, and the serious elements of this comic book. This chapter studies the various postmodern narrative techniques used in Boating in order to subvert Biblical and historical discourse. Chapter Three highlights Winterson’s postmodern concern with the construction of history as ‘truth’. Finally, Chapter Four compares Oranges and Boating, showing the texts as differing, yet equally relevant textual counterparts. This chapter examines the anti-feminine characters in both texts and Winterson’s ability to align her reader with a feminist or lesbian viewpoint. This thesis argues that Winterson’s first two texts deliberately challenge Biblical discourse in favour of a postmodern feminist viewpoint.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Erasmus, Shirley
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Winterson, Jeanette, 1959- -- Criticism and interpretation , Bible -- Feminist criticism , Bible -- Criticism, interpretation, etc , Postmodernism -- Religious aspects , Winterson, Jeanette, 1959- -- Oranges are not the only fruit , Winterson, Jeanette, 1959- -- Boating for beginners , Patriarchy in literature , Sex discrimination in literature
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59121 , vital:27430
- Description: This thesis investigates the subversion of Biblical discourse in Jeanette Winterson’s first two novels, Oranges are Not the Only Fruit and Boating for Beginners. By rewriting Biblical stories Winterson challenges traditional Western religious discourses and their rules for heteronormative social and sexual behaviours and desires. Winterson’s texts respond to the patriarchal nature of socially pervasive texts, such as the Bible, by encouraging her readers to regard these texts with suspicion, thus highlighting what can be seen as a ‘postmodern concern’ with the notion of ‘truth’. Chapter One of this thesis comprises a discussion of Biblical boundaries. These boundaries, I argue, are a process of historical oppression which serves to subjugate and control women, a practice inherent in the Bible and modern society. The Biblical boundaries within which women are expected to live, are carefully portrayed in Oranges and then comically and blasphemously mocked in Boating. Chapter One also argues that Winterson’s sexuality plays an important role in the understanding of her texts, despite her desire for her sexuality to remain ‘outside’ her writing. Chapter Two of this thesis, examines the mix of fact and fiction in Oranges, in order to create a new genre: fictional memoir. The chapter introduces the concept of the ‘autobiographical pact’ and the textual agreement which Winterson creates with her readers. In this chapter, I examine Winterson’s powerful subversion of Biblical discourse, through her narration of Jeanette’s ‘coming out’ within a Biblical framework. Chapter Three of this thesis examines Winterson’s second book, Boating, and the serious elements of this comic book. This chapter studies the various postmodern narrative techniques used in Boating in order to subvert Biblical and historical discourse. Chapter Three highlights Winterson’s postmodern concern with the construction of history as ‘truth’. Finally, Chapter Four compares Oranges and Boating, showing the texts as differing, yet equally relevant textual counterparts. This chapter examines the anti-feminine characters in both texts and Winterson’s ability to align her reader with a feminist or lesbian viewpoint. This thesis argues that Winterson’s first two texts deliberately challenge Biblical discourse in favour of a postmodern feminist viewpoint.
- Full Text:
Poem to be sung
- Authors: Ndyoko, Nomtha
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Creative writing (Higher education) -- South Africa , South African poetry (English) -- 21st century
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63592 , vital:28444
- Description: My collection of poems expresses the complexities that exist beneath the surface of my life – my tongue, our bleak country, the politics of having a dark skin, my ancestors who speak to me in unexplainable ways, and the speech of nature – the wind, the sea, death, birds. It is in writing poems and songs that I make a space to be alive, a space to meet my ancestors and to say the unsayable. The poems move between the ordinary, the magical, the abject, and the spiritual, often expressing the contradictions that exist within life. The main influence on my poetry has come from music, from African jazz musicians such as Zim Ngqawana, Thandiswa Mazwai and Msaki Mvana. Literary influences have come from Spanish poets such as Juan Ramón Jiménez, whose strong imagery and short lines capture profound emotion, and from ancient Chinese poetry that moves in a fluid and minimal way. I have also been inspired by the African spirituality expressed in Mazisi Kunene’s poetry and the down-to-earth associative poetry of Mangaliso Buzani and Mxolisi Nyezwa.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Ndyoko, Nomtha
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Creative writing (Higher education) -- South Africa , South African poetry (English) -- 21st century
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63592 , vital:28444
- Description: My collection of poems expresses the complexities that exist beneath the surface of my life – my tongue, our bleak country, the politics of having a dark skin, my ancestors who speak to me in unexplainable ways, and the speech of nature – the wind, the sea, death, birds. It is in writing poems and songs that I make a space to be alive, a space to meet my ancestors and to say the unsayable. The poems move between the ordinary, the magical, the abject, and the spiritual, often expressing the contradictions that exist within life. The main influence on my poetry has come from music, from African jazz musicians such as Zim Ngqawana, Thandiswa Mazwai and Msaki Mvana. Literary influences have come from Spanish poets such as Juan Ramón Jiménez, whose strong imagery and short lines capture profound emotion, and from ancient Chinese poetry that moves in a fluid and minimal way. I have also been inspired by the African spirituality expressed in Mazisi Kunene’s poetry and the down-to-earth associative poetry of Mangaliso Buzani and Mxolisi Nyezwa.
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Performing the township: pantsula for life
- Van Niekerk, Heather Elizabeth
- Authors: Van Niekerk, Heather Elizabeth
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Pantsula (Dance) South Africa Johannesburg , Pantsula (Dance) South Africa Makhanda , Dance Social aspects South Africa , Sophiatown (Johannesburg, South Africa)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/57874 , vital:26998
- Description: Pantsula dance is a performing art born from the townships of Johannesburg. It is a dance form performed across South Africa, in a variety of contexts; in theatres, music videos and competitions in community halls, on national and international stages and on television, and in the streets of townships, cities and suburbs across South Africa and abroad. Its performance is widespread, but it has its beginnings as a dance form born in areas created to marginalise and oppress. There is a scarcity of academic scholarship related to pantsula dance. This thesis aims to be a contribution to that pre-existing body of knowledge in the hope that there can be further engagement on this important, and increasingly mainstream, art form. I have focused my thesis on analysing pantsula dance as a performance of 'the township'. This has been attempted through an ethnographic engagement with pantsula dancers based in different township areas of Johannesburg and Graha mstown: various members of Impilo Mapantsula, Via Katlehong, Intellectuals Pantsula, Via Kasi Movers, Dlala Majimboz and the cast of Via Katlehong's Via Sophiatown. The research was conducted between 2013 and 2016 and serves to represent various moments within the ethnographic research process, while coming to understand various aspects of pantsula dance. An engagement with notions of 'the township', the clothing choices of the pantsula 'uniform', the core moves, inherent hybridity in the form itself, and the dedication to the dance form as a representation of the isipantsula 'way of life', are addressed throughout the thesis. As well as engaging with the memory and representation of Sophiatown as an important component to pantsula dance. Pantsula dance, an intrinsically South African dance form, provides a celebratory conception of 'the township' space and allows people from different backgrounds to engage in an important part of South Africa's past, present and future.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Van Niekerk, Heather Elizabeth
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Pantsula (Dance) South Africa Johannesburg , Pantsula (Dance) South Africa Makhanda , Dance Social aspects South Africa , Sophiatown (Johannesburg, South Africa)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/57874 , vital:26998
- Description: Pantsula dance is a performing art born from the townships of Johannesburg. It is a dance form performed across South Africa, in a variety of contexts; in theatres, music videos and competitions in community halls, on national and international stages and on television, and in the streets of townships, cities and suburbs across South Africa and abroad. Its performance is widespread, but it has its beginnings as a dance form born in areas created to marginalise and oppress. There is a scarcity of academic scholarship related to pantsula dance. This thesis aims to be a contribution to that pre-existing body of knowledge in the hope that there can be further engagement on this important, and increasingly mainstream, art form. I have focused my thesis on analysing pantsula dance as a performance of 'the township'. This has been attempted through an ethnographic engagement with pantsula dancers based in different township areas of Johannesburg and Graha mstown: various members of Impilo Mapantsula, Via Katlehong, Intellectuals Pantsula, Via Kasi Movers, Dlala Majimboz and the cast of Via Katlehong's Via Sophiatown. The research was conducted between 2013 and 2016 and serves to represent various moments within the ethnographic research process, while coming to understand various aspects of pantsula dance. An engagement with notions of 'the township', the clothing choices of the pantsula 'uniform', the core moves, inherent hybridity in the form itself, and the dedication to the dance form as a representation of the isipantsula 'way of life', are addressed throughout the thesis. As well as engaging with the memory and representation of Sophiatown as an important component to pantsula dance. Pantsula dance, an intrinsically South African dance form, provides a celebratory conception of 'the township' space and allows people from different backgrounds to engage in an important part of South Africa's past, present and future.
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Witches & villains: the nasty tales
- Authors: Dalldorf, Tamaryn
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: South African fiction (English) -- 21st century , Short stories, South African (English) -- 21st century , Fairy tales -- 21st century
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63087 , vital:28362
- Description: My thesis compromises a variety of short stories which are modern re-writes of dark fairy tales. Fairy Tales often explore the dark side of human nature and in these stories I focus on the voices of female villains and the strange psychology which drives them. I find Fairy Tales absorbing because they reveal the vulnerabilities, dreams and fears of the human consciousness. My stories contain some satirical expositions of human nature and society. My influences are the anthology of short stories, “My mother She Killed Me and My Father He Ate Me”, The Grimm Fairy Tales (original) and The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault as well as the writing of Horacio Moya, Angela Carter and Alissa Nutting for their dark satire and mockery of social eccentricities. Kate Bernheimer’s “Form is Fairy Tale and Fairy Tale is Form” is very influential in terms of the style it recommends in writing such as: “every day magic”, “flatness” (a form of narration), abstraction and intuitive logic.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Dalldorf, Tamaryn
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: South African fiction (English) -- 21st century , Short stories, South African (English) -- 21st century , Fairy tales -- 21st century
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63087 , vital:28362
- Description: My thesis compromises a variety of short stories which are modern re-writes of dark fairy tales. Fairy Tales often explore the dark side of human nature and in these stories I focus on the voices of female villains and the strange psychology which drives them. I find Fairy Tales absorbing because they reveal the vulnerabilities, dreams and fears of the human consciousness. My stories contain some satirical expositions of human nature and society. My influences are the anthology of short stories, “My mother She Killed Me and My Father He Ate Me”, The Grimm Fairy Tales (original) and The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault as well as the writing of Horacio Moya, Angela Carter and Alissa Nutting for their dark satire and mockery of social eccentricities. Kate Bernheimer’s “Form is Fairy Tale and Fairy Tale is Form” is very influential in terms of the style it recommends in writing such as: “every day magic”, “flatness” (a form of narration), abstraction and intuitive logic.
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A critique of multilingualism in South Africa’s post-democratic parliament with particular reference to the use of selected minority languages
- Authors: Masombuka, Elizabeth Lucy
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Multilingualism -- South Africa , Language policy -- South Africa , Language and languages -- Political aspects , Linguistic minorities -- South Africa , Linguistic rights -- South Africa , South Africa. Parliament (1994- ). Parliamentary Communication Services , Hansard Society Commission on the Communication of Parliamentary Democracy
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/61984 , vital:28092
- Description: Language is an essential tool in effecting transformation in a community, society as well as in a culturally diverse institution like the Parliament of South Africa. This study is undertaken to establish the progress made in the use of official languages in the Parliament of South Africa. This study critically looks at the use of eleven South African official languages by the Parliament of South Africa in its daily debates in ensuring transformation to a multilingual parliament. The focus of the study is on the publication of Hansard in all official languages, with specific reference to previously marginalised languages as declared by the Constitution. The study was done in the Language Service Section of the Parliament of South Africa. Firstly, the study looked at the History of Parliament and Hansard publications in relation to the sittings and debates of MP’s since the beginning of Parliament in South Africa. Secondly, a literature review was done on Language Policy implementation, monitoring and promotion of languages in South Africa. Review of legislative frameworks on language matters was undertaken in order to find out the compliance of parliament in using official languages in the publication of Hansard. The study evaluates the recognition of languages as well as the parliamentary in-House Language Policy (Operational Language Policy) in relation to the prescriptions of the Constitution. Findings of the study are indicated in chapter 5 of the thesis. The presentation of data comprises of the work experience of the languages practitioners in parliament, availability and critique of the Language Policy Operational Policy in Parliament, as well as findings in the published Hansard Volumes since the first parliament. The study further tries to look at challenges that hinder the use, and promotion of all languages in parliament, including the use of these languages in the publication of Hansard. The study focuses on minority languages and previously marginalised languages. Recommendations are provided as a means of helping to improve the situation regarding the implementation of the language policy that will assist parliament to transform in order to become truly multilingual. This will allow parliament to be in a position to develop previously marginalised languages.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Masombuka, Elizabeth Lucy
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Multilingualism -- South Africa , Language policy -- South Africa , Language and languages -- Political aspects , Linguistic minorities -- South Africa , Linguistic rights -- South Africa , South Africa. Parliament (1994- ). Parliamentary Communication Services , Hansard Society Commission on the Communication of Parliamentary Democracy
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/61984 , vital:28092
- Description: Language is an essential tool in effecting transformation in a community, society as well as in a culturally diverse institution like the Parliament of South Africa. This study is undertaken to establish the progress made in the use of official languages in the Parliament of South Africa. This study critically looks at the use of eleven South African official languages by the Parliament of South Africa in its daily debates in ensuring transformation to a multilingual parliament. The focus of the study is on the publication of Hansard in all official languages, with specific reference to previously marginalised languages as declared by the Constitution. The study was done in the Language Service Section of the Parliament of South Africa. Firstly, the study looked at the History of Parliament and Hansard publications in relation to the sittings and debates of MP’s since the beginning of Parliament in South Africa. Secondly, a literature review was done on Language Policy implementation, monitoring and promotion of languages in South Africa. Review of legislative frameworks on language matters was undertaken in order to find out the compliance of parliament in using official languages in the publication of Hansard. The study evaluates the recognition of languages as well as the parliamentary in-House Language Policy (Operational Language Policy) in relation to the prescriptions of the Constitution. Findings of the study are indicated in chapter 5 of the thesis. The presentation of data comprises of the work experience of the languages practitioners in parliament, availability and critique of the Language Policy Operational Policy in Parliament, as well as findings in the published Hansard Volumes since the first parliament. The study further tries to look at challenges that hinder the use, and promotion of all languages in parliament, including the use of these languages in the publication of Hansard. The study focuses on minority languages and previously marginalised languages. Recommendations are provided as a means of helping to improve the situation regarding the implementation of the language policy that will assist parliament to transform in order to become truly multilingual. This will allow parliament to be in a position to develop previously marginalised languages.
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The development and implementation of a psychoeducational programme: a case study on mental toughness in a novice triathlete
- Authors: Coertzen, Marlé
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Sports -- Psychological aspects , Triathletes -- Mental health , Toughness (Personality trait) , Triathlon -- Psychological aspects , Achievement motivation , Mental discipline , Sport Mental Toughness Questionnaire (SMTQ)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63010 , vital:28354
- Description: As an academic and applied discipline, sport psychology is interested in identifying, understanding, measuring and developing the various mental constructs that interact with physical factors, aiming to produce optimum performance and enhance athletes’ experience of sport participation. The programmes developed within sport psychology are not only applicable to sport, but have applicability within other areas, such as the performing arts, business and professions that are considered high risk, such as the military. Using a mixed methods approach and a triangulation of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis techniques, the goal of this research was to document the process of developing and implementing a psychoeducational mental toughness programme and to evaluate the programme through exploring the participant’s subjective experience of such a programme. The aim of the research was to contribute to the existing literature on mental toughness programmes. This was attained through administering the Sport Mental Toughness Questionnaire (SMTQ) and a semi-structured interview, which informed the development and implementation of a psychoeducational mental toughness programme relative to the idiosyncrasies of the participant and grounded in strengths-based approaches to mental toughness development. Results were obtained based on post-implementation data collected through a second administration of the SMTQ and a semi-structured interview. The participant experienced the programme as positive and results were indicative of changes in his experiences of self-confidence and control, related to the global themes of mindset, flexibility and mindfulness.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Coertzen, Marlé
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Sports -- Psychological aspects , Triathletes -- Mental health , Toughness (Personality trait) , Triathlon -- Psychological aspects , Achievement motivation , Mental discipline , Sport Mental Toughness Questionnaire (SMTQ)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63010 , vital:28354
- Description: As an academic and applied discipline, sport psychology is interested in identifying, understanding, measuring and developing the various mental constructs that interact with physical factors, aiming to produce optimum performance and enhance athletes’ experience of sport participation. The programmes developed within sport psychology are not only applicable to sport, but have applicability within other areas, such as the performing arts, business and professions that are considered high risk, such as the military. Using a mixed methods approach and a triangulation of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis techniques, the goal of this research was to document the process of developing and implementing a psychoeducational mental toughness programme and to evaluate the programme through exploring the participant’s subjective experience of such a programme. The aim of the research was to contribute to the existing literature on mental toughness programmes. This was attained through administering the Sport Mental Toughness Questionnaire (SMTQ) and a semi-structured interview, which informed the development and implementation of a psychoeducational mental toughness programme relative to the idiosyncrasies of the participant and grounded in strengths-based approaches to mental toughness development. Results were obtained based on post-implementation data collected through a second administration of the SMTQ and a semi-structured interview. The participant experienced the programme as positive and results were indicative of changes in his experiences of self-confidence and control, related to the global themes of mindset, flexibility and mindfulness.
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A critical discourse analysis of the Daily Nation and the Standard’s news coverage of the 2007/2008 Kenyan elections
- Authors: Bradfield, Sarah-Jane
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Elections -- Kenya Nairobi (Kenya) -- Newspapers Mass media -- Political aspects -- Kenya Kenya -- Politics and government , Discourse analysis Daily Nation (Nairobi, Kenya) Standard (Nairobi, Kenya)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63437 , vital:28411
- Description: This study investigates the Daily Nation and Standard’s news coverage of Kenya’s 2007/2008 general election and the unprecedented eruptions of violence which followed. This research responds to the question which came about as Kenyan print journalists and editors considered their role in possibly contributing to the violence, which took on an ethnic dimension. Vernacular radio has been fingered for having escalated longstanding ethnic tensions, but the role of the press has not been fully understood. In the aftermath of the violence, print journalists and editors met over a series of Round Table events in Nairobi to consider whether their conduct during the election could have encouraged violence. Although ten years have passed since this incidence, much of what happened within the Kenyan print media during and after the 2007/2008 general election remains unexplored and, largely, unexplained today. Although the pre- and post-election phases spanned months, my research is confined to purposive samples from a four-week period from 3 December 2007 to 4 January 2008. These four weeks were selected as they are roughly representative of the three phases of the national election which are considered significant to this study, namely the pre-election phase, the election, and the post-election violence. The research is concerned with analysing and understanding the coverage in the two dailies, the Daily Nation and Standard, and comparing the discursive work of the two, particularly in relation to identity and ethnicity. This study draws on cultural studies, critical discourse analysis and normative theories of the media to inform the research project. The critical discourse analysis explores the discourses articulated during and after the election, with a particular focus on issues of identity, ethnicity and incitement. Through this process the study found that both publications avoided references to ethnicity, despite this being an important factor in Kenyan politics and voter behaviour. In analysing these issues the study found that while the publications might claim to attempt to avoid fuelling tensions by not reporting on ethnicity, the disavowal comprised a silence which positioned the press in a collaborative role, in which it colluded with a powerful Kenyan state. Although a significant amount of time has gone by since the 2007/2008 elections, this study still considers the event significant in understanding the conduct of journalists during times of violence, and specifically for the future of journalism in Kenya.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Bradfield, Sarah-Jane
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Elections -- Kenya Nairobi (Kenya) -- Newspapers Mass media -- Political aspects -- Kenya Kenya -- Politics and government , Discourse analysis Daily Nation (Nairobi, Kenya) Standard (Nairobi, Kenya)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63437 , vital:28411
- Description: This study investigates the Daily Nation and Standard’s news coverage of Kenya’s 2007/2008 general election and the unprecedented eruptions of violence which followed. This research responds to the question which came about as Kenyan print journalists and editors considered their role in possibly contributing to the violence, which took on an ethnic dimension. Vernacular radio has been fingered for having escalated longstanding ethnic tensions, but the role of the press has not been fully understood. In the aftermath of the violence, print journalists and editors met over a series of Round Table events in Nairobi to consider whether their conduct during the election could have encouraged violence. Although ten years have passed since this incidence, much of what happened within the Kenyan print media during and after the 2007/2008 general election remains unexplored and, largely, unexplained today. Although the pre- and post-election phases spanned months, my research is confined to purposive samples from a four-week period from 3 December 2007 to 4 January 2008. These four weeks were selected as they are roughly representative of the three phases of the national election which are considered significant to this study, namely the pre-election phase, the election, and the post-election violence. The research is concerned with analysing and understanding the coverage in the two dailies, the Daily Nation and Standard, and comparing the discursive work of the two, particularly in relation to identity and ethnicity. This study draws on cultural studies, critical discourse analysis and normative theories of the media to inform the research project. The critical discourse analysis explores the discourses articulated during and after the election, with a particular focus on issues of identity, ethnicity and incitement. Through this process the study found that both publications avoided references to ethnicity, despite this being an important factor in Kenyan politics and voter behaviour. In analysing these issues the study found that while the publications might claim to attempt to avoid fuelling tensions by not reporting on ethnicity, the disavowal comprised a silence which positioned the press in a collaborative role, in which it colluded with a powerful Kenyan state. Although a significant amount of time has gone by since the 2007/2008 elections, this study still considers the event significant in understanding the conduct of journalists during times of violence, and specifically for the future of journalism in Kenya.
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A micro-ethnography: exploring relations between Somali and South African traders in Clarehill, Cape Town
- Authors: Solomon, Kelly Michelle
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Immigrants South Africa , Immigrants Social conditions , Xenophobia South Africa , Social capital (Sociology) South Africa , Somalis Migrations , Identity (Philosophical concept) , South Africa Race relations
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/61277 , vital:27999 , https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/61277
- Description: Xenophobia has become a dominant narrative in contemporary South Africa. In this thesis, I hone in on a micro, informal economic market that functions cohesively and convivially with both South African and Somali transmigrant traders in it. Religion is one of the key ways through which migrants are able to access social networks and social capital. Islam, the dominant practised religion in the market, thus forms a foundation for strong, emotionally supportive, caring relationships between Somali transmigrants and South Africans The relationships between South African traders and Somali transmigrants are mutually constitutive, as they lean on one another for stability during a time that is unstable for both groups. The closeness of their relationships is evident through the way in which they tease and joke with one another, and the many ways in which they offer intangible support to each other. This thesis illustrates that despite the dominant xenophobic narrative, a close social kinship is formed in the Roelof Street market between South Africans and Somali transmigrants.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Solomon, Kelly Michelle
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Immigrants South Africa , Immigrants Social conditions , Xenophobia South Africa , Social capital (Sociology) South Africa , Somalis Migrations , Identity (Philosophical concept) , South Africa Race relations
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/61277 , vital:27999 , https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/61277
- Description: Xenophobia has become a dominant narrative in contemporary South Africa. In this thesis, I hone in on a micro, informal economic market that functions cohesively and convivially with both South African and Somali transmigrant traders in it. Religion is one of the key ways through which migrants are able to access social networks and social capital. Islam, the dominant practised religion in the market, thus forms a foundation for strong, emotionally supportive, caring relationships between Somali transmigrants and South Africans The relationships between South African traders and Somali transmigrants are mutually constitutive, as they lean on one another for stability during a time that is unstable for both groups. The closeness of their relationships is evident through the way in which they tease and joke with one another, and the many ways in which they offer intangible support to each other. This thesis illustrates that despite the dominant xenophobic narrative, a close social kinship is formed in the Roelof Street market between South Africans and Somali transmigrants.
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Dangerous liaisons or critical alliances: student perceptions of community engagement at Rhodes University, South Africa
- Authors: Levy, Simone Arielle
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Rhodes University -- Students -- Public services , Community and college -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Education, Higher -- Social aspects -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/57411 , vital:26907
- Description: Community Engagement (CE) in South Africa is an increasingly important feature of the relationship between the university and a broader community, and may aid in bridging the entrenched social divisions of this nation. This will only be possible if CE succeeds in uniting the knowledge production interests of the university and the broader community. Through CE, knowledge production and dissemination from within the university should be made more relevant and applicable because it is based on a relationship or engagement with a community. Based on the perceptions of student volunteers in a CE programme at a South African university, this thesis set out to ask whether or not students are transformed through university-community collaboration. This research examines the perceptions and motivations of student volunteers entering community partnership programmes. More importantly, it asks whether these engagements are merely a “weekend special” consisting of shallow engagements, which last only a few hours a week that provide institutional window dressing; or well-intended engagements through which students build meaningful relationships and experience learning opportunities that prepare them for real world civic participation. As this thesis focuses on the student perspective, it explores whether or not CE has an impact, both personally and educationally or academically, on the lives of individual student volunteers. The literature on CE argues that students’ participation in CE opportunities should enhance academic learning, personal growth and promote a sense of citizenship or civic responsibility. Based on the perceptions of a small group of student volunteers at one university, this thesis identifies possible successes and limitations of CE volunteering programmes in order to see if what is promoted in the literature or institutional policies is being experienced or achieved in practice at universities. I argue that students are indeed transformed through processes of CE, often in unexpected ways, and despite many difficulties. Therefore, if CE provides students with more holistic learning opportunities while attending universities for academic ends, it is important to look at in what ways this is achieved.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Levy, Simone Arielle
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Rhodes University -- Students -- Public services , Community and college -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Education, Higher -- Social aspects -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/57411 , vital:26907
- Description: Community Engagement (CE) in South Africa is an increasingly important feature of the relationship between the university and a broader community, and may aid in bridging the entrenched social divisions of this nation. This will only be possible if CE succeeds in uniting the knowledge production interests of the university and the broader community. Through CE, knowledge production and dissemination from within the university should be made more relevant and applicable because it is based on a relationship or engagement with a community. Based on the perceptions of student volunteers in a CE programme at a South African university, this thesis set out to ask whether or not students are transformed through university-community collaboration. This research examines the perceptions and motivations of student volunteers entering community partnership programmes. More importantly, it asks whether these engagements are merely a “weekend special” consisting of shallow engagements, which last only a few hours a week that provide institutional window dressing; or well-intended engagements through which students build meaningful relationships and experience learning opportunities that prepare them for real world civic participation. As this thesis focuses on the student perspective, it explores whether or not CE has an impact, both personally and educationally or academically, on the lives of individual student volunteers. The literature on CE argues that students’ participation in CE opportunities should enhance academic learning, personal growth and promote a sense of citizenship or civic responsibility. Based on the perceptions of a small group of student volunteers at one university, this thesis identifies possible successes and limitations of CE volunteering programmes in order to see if what is promoted in the literature or institutional policies is being experienced or achieved in practice at universities. I argue that students are indeed transformed through processes of CE, often in unexpected ways, and despite many difficulties. Therefore, if CE provides students with more holistic learning opportunities while attending universities for academic ends, it is important to look at in what ways this is achieved.
- Full Text:
An interpretative phenomenological analysis of HIV positive individuals’ experiences of being in a support group
- Authors: Brink, Nicole
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: HIV-positive persons -- Social aspects Self-help groups AIDS (Disease) -- Patients -- Counseling of AIDS (Disease) -- Social aspects
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62988 , vital:28351
- Description: People who have been diagnosed HIV positive often experience distress and anxiety due to uncertainties pertaining to the implications of an HIV positive status. Research has shown that support groups have always been a way for people to cope with the distress and stressful circumstances associated with health conditions such as HIV. This research investigated the role of face to face support groups in the lives of those living with HIV. The primary focus of this research project is to provide an in-depth exploration of HIV positive individuals‟ experiences of being in a support group. The study aims to explore the positive and negative experiences of being in an HIV support group and aims to gain an understanding of the role support plays in the lives of those living with HIV. A qualitative research design was used to explore the above mentioned aim. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five individuals, (three women and two men) who had experienced HIV support groups. The interviews were transcribed and then analysed according to the principles of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). The findings of this study revealed five super-ordinate themes, which revealed not only the positive and negative experiences of being in a support group, but also the challenges that the participants‟ experienced before joining the group. Getting a sense of the participants‟ experience before joining the group allowed the researcher to get a better understanding of how useful or not the support group has been in helping them deal with the challenges of living with HIV. The themes included: „struggling to survive after diagnosis‟, „struggling to cope: adopting negative coping skills‟, „experiencing a turning-point: a will to survive‟, „attending support group: a sweet experience‟ and lastly, „attending support groups: a bitter experience‟. Findings suggest that for these participants, the advantages outweighed the disadvantages of being in a support group. Therefore this study suggests that face to face support groups are a viable and even necessary option for support. These findings support previous research and literature in regards to the importance of social support in the form of support groups in effectively assisting HIV positive people in their journey to adjust to the consequence of living with HIV.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Brink, Nicole
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: HIV-positive persons -- Social aspects Self-help groups AIDS (Disease) -- Patients -- Counseling of AIDS (Disease) -- Social aspects
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62988 , vital:28351
- Description: People who have been diagnosed HIV positive often experience distress and anxiety due to uncertainties pertaining to the implications of an HIV positive status. Research has shown that support groups have always been a way for people to cope with the distress and stressful circumstances associated with health conditions such as HIV. This research investigated the role of face to face support groups in the lives of those living with HIV. The primary focus of this research project is to provide an in-depth exploration of HIV positive individuals‟ experiences of being in a support group. The study aims to explore the positive and negative experiences of being in an HIV support group and aims to gain an understanding of the role support plays in the lives of those living with HIV. A qualitative research design was used to explore the above mentioned aim. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five individuals, (three women and two men) who had experienced HIV support groups. The interviews were transcribed and then analysed according to the principles of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). The findings of this study revealed five super-ordinate themes, which revealed not only the positive and negative experiences of being in a support group, but also the challenges that the participants‟ experienced before joining the group. Getting a sense of the participants‟ experience before joining the group allowed the researcher to get a better understanding of how useful or not the support group has been in helping them deal with the challenges of living with HIV. The themes included: „struggling to survive after diagnosis‟, „struggling to cope: adopting negative coping skills‟, „experiencing a turning-point: a will to survive‟, „attending support group: a sweet experience‟ and lastly, „attending support groups: a bitter experience‟. Findings suggest that for these participants, the advantages outweighed the disadvantages of being in a support group. Therefore this study suggests that face to face support groups are a viable and even necessary option for support. These findings support previous research and literature in regards to the importance of social support in the form of support groups in effectively assisting HIV positive people in their journey to adjust to the consequence of living with HIV.
- Full Text:
Teacher-in-role as a problem-posing method for learners in a special needs school in South Africa
- Authors: Hellemann, Phemelo Cordelia
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Special education -- Activity programs -- South Africa , Special education -- South Africa , Drama in education -- South Africa , Drama -- Therapeutic use -- South Africa , Children with mental disabilities -- Life skills guides , Kuyasa School (South Africa)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62549 , vital:28205
- Description: Paulo Freire’s problem-posing pedagogy urges for a creative and collaborative educational environment between learners and teachers that encourages critical thinking and engagement. This research explores how special needs pedagogical approaches in South Africa can transform their classroom practices to embrace creative and collaborative teaching methods such as drama. Drama-in-education (D-i-E) is an area where the learner and teacher relationship is characterised by creativity and engagement. This qualitative study considers the uses of drama as a teaching and learning method for learners in the Skills Phase class at Kuyasa Special School, Grahamstown. The research aimed to provide learners with intellectual barriers to learning with access to D-i-E. This was done through a series of practical drama lessons, which broadly aimed to enhance life skills and work environment competencies such as communication, problem-solving and interpersonal relations. The lessons followed a cross- curricular approach that integrated aspects of the Life Orientation (Grade 10-12) curriculum and the Drama (Creative Arts Grade 7-9) curriculum. This practice-led study reflects on how Dorothy Heathcote’s teacher-in-role (t-i-r) drama technique was implemented to teach topics and themes extracted and adapted from the Life Orientation learning area. This drama-based pedagogy employs three elements of Freire’s problem-posing education model, which are learner-centred, problem-posing and liberated pedagogy. The study discusses how these elements manifested in the lessons conducted, and how this approach benefited and improved the learners’ critical thinking skills, self-esteem and confidence. This study therefore provides a broad understanding of the possibilities of a drama-based pedagogy within a South Africa context of learning disability, proposing an alternative pedagogical approach in South African special schools. The findings contribute to the academic literature on D-i-E in South Africa and advocate for the inclusion of learners with learning disabilities within the performing arts education.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Hellemann, Phemelo Cordelia
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Special education -- Activity programs -- South Africa , Special education -- South Africa , Drama in education -- South Africa , Drama -- Therapeutic use -- South Africa , Children with mental disabilities -- Life skills guides , Kuyasa School (South Africa)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62549 , vital:28205
- Description: Paulo Freire’s problem-posing pedagogy urges for a creative and collaborative educational environment between learners and teachers that encourages critical thinking and engagement. This research explores how special needs pedagogical approaches in South Africa can transform their classroom practices to embrace creative and collaborative teaching methods such as drama. Drama-in-education (D-i-E) is an area where the learner and teacher relationship is characterised by creativity and engagement. This qualitative study considers the uses of drama as a teaching and learning method for learners in the Skills Phase class at Kuyasa Special School, Grahamstown. The research aimed to provide learners with intellectual barriers to learning with access to D-i-E. This was done through a series of practical drama lessons, which broadly aimed to enhance life skills and work environment competencies such as communication, problem-solving and interpersonal relations. The lessons followed a cross- curricular approach that integrated aspects of the Life Orientation (Grade 10-12) curriculum and the Drama (Creative Arts Grade 7-9) curriculum. This practice-led study reflects on how Dorothy Heathcote’s teacher-in-role (t-i-r) drama technique was implemented to teach topics and themes extracted and adapted from the Life Orientation learning area. This drama-based pedagogy employs three elements of Freire’s problem-posing education model, which are learner-centred, problem-posing and liberated pedagogy. The study discusses how these elements manifested in the lessons conducted, and how this approach benefited and improved the learners’ critical thinking skills, self-esteem and confidence. This study therefore provides a broad understanding of the possibilities of a drama-based pedagogy within a South Africa context of learning disability, proposing an alternative pedagogical approach in South African special schools. The findings contribute to the academic literature on D-i-E in South Africa and advocate for the inclusion of learners with learning disabilities within the performing arts education.
- Full Text:
Black woman you’re on your own
- Authors: Ngada, Unathi Ndlelantle
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Creative writing (Higher education) -- South Africa , South African fiction (English) -- 21st century , Short stories, South African (English) -- 21st century
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63110 , vital:28364
- Full Text:
- Authors: Ngada, Unathi Ndlelantle
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Creative writing (Higher education) -- South Africa , South African fiction (English) -- 21st century , Short stories, South African (English) -- 21st century
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63110 , vital:28364
- Full Text:
Slanting the light
- Authors: Marais, Shirley
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: South African poetry (English) -- 21st century , Creative writing (Higher education) -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63558 , vital:28440
- Description: Through my poetry I attempt to make sense of my encounters with myself by bringing to creative expression my experiences of and felt responses to people, places and situations. Among the poets who have had a significant influence on my work are Robert Berold, for his quiet assertion of intense, dramatic images; Frank O’Hara for his disciplined sense of mischief; Joan Metelerkamp for her meticulous attention to form and the way she makes a poem breathe; Robert Creeley for his ability to create free-floating meaning; and Mangaliso Buzani, for his fierce, honest poetics.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Marais, Shirley
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: South African poetry (English) -- 21st century , Creative writing (Higher education) -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63558 , vital:28440
- Description: Through my poetry I attempt to make sense of my encounters with myself by bringing to creative expression my experiences of and felt responses to people, places and situations. Among the poets who have had a significant influence on my work are Robert Berold, for his quiet assertion of intense, dramatic images; Frank O’Hara for his disciplined sense of mischief; Joan Metelerkamp for her meticulous attention to form and the way she makes a poem breathe; Robert Creeley for his ability to create free-floating meaning; and Mangaliso Buzani, for his fierce, honest poetics.
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Between blue and light
- Authors: Campbell, Jennifer
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: South African fiction (English) -- 21st century , Short stories, South African (English) -- 21st century
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63570 , vital:28441
- Description: My novella follows a narrator observing her life, as she struggles with what it is to live in a world that she finds simultaneously frightening and beautiful. The story touches on the limitations of human connection and with loss in various forms. Set in both Cape Town and small town South Africa, the story explores the inner life of a woman detached and adrift.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Campbell, Jennifer
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: South African fiction (English) -- 21st century , Short stories, South African (English) -- 21st century
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63570 , vital:28441
- Description: My novella follows a narrator observing her life, as she struggles with what it is to live in a world that she finds simultaneously frightening and beautiful. The story touches on the limitations of human connection and with loss in various forms. Set in both Cape Town and small town South Africa, the story explores the inner life of a woman detached and adrift.
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The changing face of Rhodes University: exploring aspects of visuality, sexuality and protest between the apartheid and postapartheid periods
- Authors: Stein, Jonathan Harry
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Rhodes University , Apartheid South Africa , Post-apartheid era South Africa , College students Attitudes , Student movements South Africa , Decolonization South Africa , Aesthetics Political aspects South Africa , Sex Political aspects South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60530 , vital:27790
- Description: This thesis seeks to provide an historical overview of changing trends within specific spheres of the institutional and student culture of Rhodes University between the apartheid and post-apartheid periods. In particular, this thesis seeks to examine changes and developments within the visual and aesthetic culture of the university, and within the sphere of sexual norms and relations within the Rhodes student community. The historical dimensions of these two spheres of the university’s culture will be explored in light of the #RhodesMustFall protest of 2015 and the #RUReferenceList protest of 2016, which drew attention to a perceived lack of institutional transformation related to these two areas.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Stein, Jonathan Harry
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Rhodes University , Apartheid South Africa , Post-apartheid era South Africa , College students Attitudes , Student movements South Africa , Decolonization South Africa , Aesthetics Political aspects South Africa , Sex Political aspects South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60530 , vital:27790
- Description: This thesis seeks to provide an historical overview of changing trends within specific spheres of the institutional and student culture of Rhodes University between the apartheid and post-apartheid periods. In particular, this thesis seeks to examine changes and developments within the visual and aesthetic culture of the university, and within the sphere of sexual norms and relations within the Rhodes student community. The historical dimensions of these two spheres of the university’s culture will be explored in light of the #RhodesMustFall protest of 2015 and the #RUReferenceList protest of 2016, which drew attention to a perceived lack of institutional transformation related to these two areas.
- Full Text:
Zooming in: an ethnographic study of visual journalism for smartphones - journalistic roles and routines at South Africa’s largest graphics unit, Graphics24
- Authors: Gouws, Andries Jacobus
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Journalism -- Technological innovations -- South Africa , Smartphones , Visual communication -- Digital techniques , News Web sites -- South Africa , Online journalism -- South Africa , Information visualization , Graphic arts , Graphics24 , Netwerk24
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63154 , vital:28368
- Description: This study examines the changing roles of graphics journalists in the digital era at Graphics24, the largest information graphics newsroom in South Africa, in the context of their work for Netwerk24, an online news site published in Afrikaans with a strong focus on mobile-first news. The study examines the discursive construction of these new journalistic roles in the digital era where even the core conceptualisation of what journalism is, is being re-examined. It considers external factors affecting the discourse of change, drawing on a hierarchy of influences analytical model, as well as norms specific to the creation of information graphics. Data for this study was gathered by using ethnographic immersion and semi-structured interviews. This study specifically looks at graphics journalists working in a mobile-first environment, and how the pressures of producing information graphics for consumption on smartphones affects their roles. Evidence of two widely differing discourses in the Graphics24 and Netwerk24 newsrooms was found. Visual journalists in this study have created a discourse around being distinct “service providers”, rather than mobile-first journalists, who do not see the need for full integration in the fast-paced mobile news environment of Netwerk24. Word-centric journalists have, by contrast, created a mobile-first discourse. They experience the separateness of the graphics team as a barrier that impedes the creation of good information graphics for mobile phone consumption. Although this is a very localised study in a very particular context, this study contributes to broader thinking in what is a very under-researched field: The changing roles of visual journalists in the digital era and the discursive construction of these roles. The study suggests that even in the digital era where the definition of newsrooms has become much more fluid and less fixed physically, ethnographic methods can still offer a meaningful way to explore journalistic roles.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Gouws, Andries Jacobus
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Journalism -- Technological innovations -- South Africa , Smartphones , Visual communication -- Digital techniques , News Web sites -- South Africa , Online journalism -- South Africa , Information visualization , Graphic arts , Graphics24 , Netwerk24
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63154 , vital:28368
- Description: This study examines the changing roles of graphics journalists in the digital era at Graphics24, the largest information graphics newsroom in South Africa, in the context of their work for Netwerk24, an online news site published in Afrikaans with a strong focus on mobile-first news. The study examines the discursive construction of these new journalistic roles in the digital era where even the core conceptualisation of what journalism is, is being re-examined. It considers external factors affecting the discourse of change, drawing on a hierarchy of influences analytical model, as well as norms specific to the creation of information graphics. Data for this study was gathered by using ethnographic immersion and semi-structured interviews. This study specifically looks at graphics journalists working in a mobile-first environment, and how the pressures of producing information graphics for consumption on smartphones affects their roles. Evidence of two widely differing discourses in the Graphics24 and Netwerk24 newsrooms was found. Visual journalists in this study have created a discourse around being distinct “service providers”, rather than mobile-first journalists, who do not see the need for full integration in the fast-paced mobile news environment of Netwerk24. Word-centric journalists have, by contrast, created a mobile-first discourse. They experience the separateness of the graphics team as a barrier that impedes the creation of good information graphics for mobile phone consumption. Although this is a very localised study in a very particular context, this study contributes to broader thinking in what is a very under-researched field: The changing roles of visual journalists in the digital era and the discursive construction of these roles. The study suggests that even in the digital era where the definition of newsrooms has become much more fluid and less fixed physically, ethnographic methods can still offer a meaningful way to explore journalistic roles.
- Full Text:
“Don’t forget to be awesome”: the role of social learning as a component of belonging in virtual communities: a case study of the Youtube fan community “Nerdfighteria”
- Authors: Steenkamp, Elri Colleen
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Nerdfighteria (Online) , Social learning , Online social networks , Belonging (Social psychology) , Communities of practice , YouTube (Firm)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63753 , vital:28484
- Description: The growth of the Internet has allowed fans who consume various media products, to interact and convene with other who share similar interests in online fan communities. Historically the study of fans has focused on pleasure and enjoyment as the main motivating factors why individual fans join, stay and participate in fan communities. This study, however, suggests that learning as a component of belonging has been underestimated within contemporary fan studies. Close examination of the literature of fan studies and the social practices of online fan communities reveal that these spaces may serve as fertile spaces for learning and the sharing of knowledge. Daily learning occurs within multiple spheres, including personal interests, peer culture, and academic content; all elements which can be found within fan communities. This study used the social learning theory “communities of practice” (CoP) model developed by Wenger (1998) to understand of this element of learning and knowledge sharing that seems to take places within fan communities. This study explores learning as a component of belonging to online fan communities by using the fan community of the YouTube personalities Vlogbrothers, which has named itself Nerdfighteria, as a case study. Through a qualitative research approach, which includes participation observation methods and qualitative interviews, this thesis has analysed the fan community Nerdfighteria, and used two Nerdfighter fan Facebook groups, the global NERDFIGHTEIRIA and local Nerdfighters South Africa, as case studies to evaluate whether the elements of learning taking place within these spaces serves as a motivating factor for belonging and participation. The results of this research support the idea that learning plays a role within the fan community Nerdfighteria and thus that it functions as a CoP. Fans within the global NERDFIGHTERIA Facebook group use this fan space to discuss and debate content related to their media of choice; thereby learning and acquiring knowledge as a CoP. The Nerdfighters South Africa Facebook group, despite the learning potential, fails to function as a CoP because it is no longer functionally allows for shared learning. Online fan communities, this research found, have the potential to serve as functioning communities of practice (CoP) only if they embody the characteristics and practicalities consistent with a learning space. Overall these fan groups may be categorised as communities of interests but sub-sections within these communities fit the criteria of a community of practice due to the kind of learning that is taking place. This research supports an alternative, yet promising, approach to the study of fan online communities which prioritises learning.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Steenkamp, Elri Colleen
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Nerdfighteria (Online) , Social learning , Online social networks , Belonging (Social psychology) , Communities of practice , YouTube (Firm)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63753 , vital:28484
- Description: The growth of the Internet has allowed fans who consume various media products, to interact and convene with other who share similar interests in online fan communities. Historically the study of fans has focused on pleasure and enjoyment as the main motivating factors why individual fans join, stay and participate in fan communities. This study, however, suggests that learning as a component of belonging has been underestimated within contemporary fan studies. Close examination of the literature of fan studies and the social practices of online fan communities reveal that these spaces may serve as fertile spaces for learning and the sharing of knowledge. Daily learning occurs within multiple spheres, including personal interests, peer culture, and academic content; all elements which can be found within fan communities. This study used the social learning theory “communities of practice” (CoP) model developed by Wenger (1998) to understand of this element of learning and knowledge sharing that seems to take places within fan communities. This study explores learning as a component of belonging to online fan communities by using the fan community of the YouTube personalities Vlogbrothers, which has named itself Nerdfighteria, as a case study. Through a qualitative research approach, which includes participation observation methods and qualitative interviews, this thesis has analysed the fan community Nerdfighteria, and used two Nerdfighter fan Facebook groups, the global NERDFIGHTEIRIA and local Nerdfighters South Africa, as case studies to evaluate whether the elements of learning taking place within these spaces serves as a motivating factor for belonging and participation. The results of this research support the idea that learning plays a role within the fan community Nerdfighteria and thus that it functions as a CoP. Fans within the global NERDFIGHTERIA Facebook group use this fan space to discuss and debate content related to their media of choice; thereby learning and acquiring knowledge as a CoP. The Nerdfighters South Africa Facebook group, despite the learning potential, fails to function as a CoP because it is no longer functionally allows for shared learning. Online fan communities, this research found, have the potential to serve as functioning communities of practice (CoP) only if they embody the characteristics and practicalities consistent with a learning space. Overall these fan groups may be categorised as communities of interests but sub-sections within these communities fit the criteria of a community of practice due to the kind of learning that is taking place. This research supports an alternative, yet promising, approach to the study of fan online communities which prioritises learning.
- Full Text:
Blue ring of fire
- Authors: O’Flaherty, Craig
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Creative writing (Higher education) -- South Africa , South African poetry (English) -- 21st century
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63615 , vital:28448
- Description: My poems are reflections of shape, colour and emotions expressed through imagery. Their unsentimental landscape-realism echo my own feelings as well as broader human dimensions of contradiction and uncertainty, without trying to resolve them. In the same way that photography is the art of 'painting with light', my poems seek a language that evokes light and darkness. They aspire to what Keats said when writing about ‘negative capability’: “Poetical character has no self, it is anything and nothing, it has no character and enjoys light and shade”. My poems explore what I have learned about form – how line-length, syntax and musicality can add grace and energy to language. Poets that have influenced me include the classical Chinese poets such as Du Fu and Li Po, and the Generation of 27 Spanish poets, such as Antonio Machado and Leon Felipe.
- Full Text:
- Authors: O’Flaherty, Craig
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Creative writing (Higher education) -- South Africa , South African poetry (English) -- 21st century
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63615 , vital:28448
- Description: My poems are reflections of shape, colour and emotions expressed through imagery. Their unsentimental landscape-realism echo my own feelings as well as broader human dimensions of contradiction and uncertainty, without trying to resolve them. In the same way that photography is the art of 'painting with light', my poems seek a language that evokes light and darkness. They aspire to what Keats said when writing about ‘negative capability’: “Poetical character has no self, it is anything and nothing, it has no character and enjoys light and shade”. My poems explore what I have learned about form – how line-length, syntax and musicality can add grace and energy to language. Poets that have influenced me include the classical Chinese poets such as Du Fu and Li Po, and the Generation of 27 Spanish poets, such as Antonio Machado and Leon Felipe.
- Full Text:
Pregnant women’s construction of social support from their intimate partners during pregnancy
- Authors: Bottoman, Phathiswa Esona
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Pregnant women -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Relations with men Pregnancy -- Psychological aspects Pregnant women -- Social conditions
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62560 , vital:28207
- Description: There is a growing body of research aimed at understanding social support during pregnancy in South Africa. Pregnancy is constantly referred to as one of the challenging and stressful periods affecting women’s physical and psychological well-being. Various research studies on social support argue that social support is paramount at this stage. Research on social support indicates that having adequate and quality social support impacts on how pregnant women experience pregnancy. My interest in social support comes in the wake of absent fathers in South Africa and with the emerging trend of “new” fathers. Although there is a volume of research on social support, it tends to be realist. Using a social constructionist framework, I explore other ways of talking about social support in an attempt to expand the discourse around social support. I explore how pregnant women talk about social support during pregnancy from their intimate partners in the small rural municipality of Elundini, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Intimate partner support was limited to heterosexual partners regardless of their marital status. The sampling procedure followed a non-probability sampling method. Participants of the study were between 24 and 32 years old. Their gestational age ranged between five and eight months. Fourteen in-depth interviews using photo-elicitation were conducted with seven participants and were analysed using a social constructionist informed thematic analysis. The major theme that emerged from the analysis was partner involvement and absence during pregnancy. The analysis of results suggests that expectant father presence translates to social support. Participants constructed his presence as reassurance in the context of possible abandonment. Absence was constructed in different ways: participants constructed absence as unjust and unfair, absence and marriage, temporary absence in the form of cultural phenomenon of ukwaliswa/ukubukubazana, absence as normal but burdening to the pregnant women’s social network. Participants reported that social support from the expectant father affected pregnancy wantedness.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Bottoman, Phathiswa Esona
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Pregnant women -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Relations with men Pregnancy -- Psychological aspects Pregnant women -- Social conditions
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62560 , vital:28207
- Description: There is a growing body of research aimed at understanding social support during pregnancy in South Africa. Pregnancy is constantly referred to as one of the challenging and stressful periods affecting women’s physical and psychological well-being. Various research studies on social support argue that social support is paramount at this stage. Research on social support indicates that having adequate and quality social support impacts on how pregnant women experience pregnancy. My interest in social support comes in the wake of absent fathers in South Africa and with the emerging trend of “new” fathers. Although there is a volume of research on social support, it tends to be realist. Using a social constructionist framework, I explore other ways of talking about social support in an attempt to expand the discourse around social support. I explore how pregnant women talk about social support during pregnancy from their intimate partners in the small rural municipality of Elundini, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Intimate partner support was limited to heterosexual partners regardless of their marital status. The sampling procedure followed a non-probability sampling method. Participants of the study were between 24 and 32 years old. Their gestational age ranged between five and eight months. Fourteen in-depth interviews using photo-elicitation were conducted with seven participants and were analysed using a social constructionist informed thematic analysis. The major theme that emerged from the analysis was partner involvement and absence during pregnancy. The analysis of results suggests that expectant father presence translates to social support. Participants constructed his presence as reassurance in the context of possible abandonment. Absence was constructed in different ways: participants constructed absence as unjust and unfair, absence and marriage, temporary absence in the form of cultural phenomenon of ukwaliswa/ukubukubazana, absence as normal but burdening to the pregnant women’s social network. Participants reported that social support from the expectant father affected pregnancy wantedness.
- Full Text:
Judging psycholegal reporting in civil court proceedings in the Eastern Cape
- Authors: Marais, Claire Anne
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Court proceedings -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Evidence, Expert -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Forensic psychology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Quality Rating Scale (QRS) , Psycholegal reporting -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62999 , vital:28352
- Description: Purpose: The primary purpose for this research was to evaluate the quality of psycholegal reports, and the qualification of the authors. Previous research had revealed generalised poor practices in psycholegal report writing and the authors seemed unqualified as expert witness. This negatively influenced the impression and usefulness of expert psychological opinion in South African courts. The secondary purpose was to compare the results to those determined by Ireland (2012), which was a useful benchmark study in the UK as her findings corresponded with the literature. Method: This archival research analysed a hand-search sample of 20 reports written by 20 psychologists based nationally. These reports were submitted as expert opinion in civil proceedings in the Grahamstown Division of the Eastern Cape High Court between 2011 and 2016. Ireland and Pinschof’s (2009) measure ‘Quality Rating Scale’ was adapted for a South African context and used to evaluate quantitatively the reports. Focus was on the reports’ contents (fact and opinion), methods, process and overall rating, and the qualification of the authors. Results: Overall, two-thirds of the reports were rated as ‘good’ and ‘very good’. The results were generally more positive than Ireland’s (2012) findings. However, there were practices in the report writing that were deemed detrimental to the quality of the expert’s opinion. This included vague referral questions and unclear basis for concluding opinions and diagnosis. There was also a lack of discussions surrounding the scientific trustworthiness of testing methods and absent ethical considerations. Lastly, the specialised expertise of the experts was not adequately documented. Conclusion: The findings painted a more positive picture of psycholegal reporting in South Africa than illustrated in previous research, which seemingly relied on anecdotes and subjective surveys. This study used a systematic and objective measure. The findings of this study, previous research and ethical Rules of Conduct were used to consider recommendations for psycholegal report writing, and the improvement of the field of psycholegal work. Lastly, the focus of future research was discussed.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Marais, Claire Anne
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Court proceedings -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Evidence, Expert -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Forensic psychology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Quality Rating Scale (QRS) , Psycholegal reporting -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62999 , vital:28352
- Description: Purpose: The primary purpose for this research was to evaluate the quality of psycholegal reports, and the qualification of the authors. Previous research had revealed generalised poor practices in psycholegal report writing and the authors seemed unqualified as expert witness. This negatively influenced the impression and usefulness of expert psychological opinion in South African courts. The secondary purpose was to compare the results to those determined by Ireland (2012), which was a useful benchmark study in the UK as her findings corresponded with the literature. Method: This archival research analysed a hand-search sample of 20 reports written by 20 psychologists based nationally. These reports were submitted as expert opinion in civil proceedings in the Grahamstown Division of the Eastern Cape High Court between 2011 and 2016. Ireland and Pinschof’s (2009) measure ‘Quality Rating Scale’ was adapted for a South African context and used to evaluate quantitatively the reports. Focus was on the reports’ contents (fact and opinion), methods, process and overall rating, and the qualification of the authors. Results: Overall, two-thirds of the reports were rated as ‘good’ and ‘very good’. The results were generally more positive than Ireland’s (2012) findings. However, there were practices in the report writing that were deemed detrimental to the quality of the expert’s opinion. This included vague referral questions and unclear basis for concluding opinions and diagnosis. There was also a lack of discussions surrounding the scientific trustworthiness of testing methods and absent ethical considerations. Lastly, the specialised expertise of the experts was not adequately documented. Conclusion: The findings painted a more positive picture of psycholegal reporting in South Africa than illustrated in previous research, which seemingly relied on anecdotes and subjective surveys. This study used a systematic and objective measure. The findings of this study, previous research and ethical Rules of Conduct were used to consider recommendations for psycholegal report writing, and the improvement of the field of psycholegal work. Lastly, the focus of future research was discussed.
- Full Text: