Wits School of Arts (ETDs)

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Browsing Wits School of Arts (ETDs) by Department "Department of Cultural Policy and Management"

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    The Historical Contribution of Black Musicians to Orchestral Classical Music around Johannesburg and the Implications for Cultural Policy
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-07) Bokaba, Shadrack; Pyper, Brett
    This study documents the historical contribution of black musicians to classical music in Johannesburg. It places the spotlight on South Africa’s cultural policy (explicitly or implicitly) over the last century and provides ongoing reflections on this period. The thesis analyses the conditions, within and beyond the prevailing policy that enabled black orchestral musicians to practice this art form. By exploring the complex origins of these practices, the study suggests that the dichotomous thinking about culture as either Eurocentric or Afro-centric may be misplaced due to the possibility that Western classical music may have become part of black South African cultural life as a result of having been translated, transferred, hybridised or acculturated. In addition, the study places the government’s arm’s length funding model under scrutiny and finds this approach continues to be applied inconsistently since it was first presented in the White Paper on Arts, Culture and Heritage (1996). As both a classical musician and orchestral administrator, the author has lived part of the history described in the thesis and, through analysis, attempts to establish a dialogue between professional experience and what scholarly reflection can do to that practice. He presents narratives through insider lenses, with carefully selected interviewees, and interrogates situations and sites over a century-long period of the history of black orchestral music practice in South Africa.
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    Where Did Things Go Wrong? An Investigation of the Adoption of the Creative Industry and Creative Economy Concepts in the Malawi National Cultural Policy
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-07) Phiri, Yotam Alston Maweya; Joffe, Avril
    The enactment in 2015 of Malawi’s National Cultural Policy was heralded as providing the formalised guidelines that would bring together stakeholders in the arts and culture sector towards the attainment of a common set of goals and a unified vision. However, in the eight (8) years that have followed there is a perception amongst non-state actors that the National Cultural Policy contains a vision and goals that do not meet the realities on the ground, nor the needs of its intended beneficiaries. This research challenges the assumption that the failure of the National Cultural Policy is the result of the failure to reconcile the transition of Malawi’s arts and culture from the margins during the Single-Party era to its alignment more centrally in national development agendas in Democratic Malawi. The central argument of this study is that the failed attempt of the government to mimic the application of the creative industry and creative economy concepts utilised with much success in the Global North, in Malawi’s arts and culture sector is at the heart of the National Cultural Policy’s failure. This research study investigates the failure to mimic these Global North concepts without recontextualizing them to the Malawian arts and culture landscape in the early stages of the policy’s development as being the root cause for its subsequent failure. The study utilises a qualitative methodology in order to analyse the various disconnects within the National Cultural Policy and the impacts these have on the policy’s implementation.