Theses and Dissertations (Interdisciplinary Arts and Culture Studies)
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Item "Patriotic blackness" and "liberal/anti-patriotic" whiteness: charting the emergence and character of an articulation of black/white racial subjectivity peculiar to post apartheid South Africa(2011-07-27) Ramphalile, MolemoThis research report offers a perspective in which to understand the emergence of two particular racialised subjectivities namely, the “patriotic black’’ subject and the “liberal/anti-patriotic” white subject, in post-apartheid South Africa. The argument is that the dislocatory experience of the country’s first democratically held elections in 1994 introduces the opportunity for different discourses of race to come forth. Particular racial discourses are then said to be productive of distinctly post-apartheid black and white subjects whose emergence, development and character are fundamentally connected to, and reliant on, each other. The “patriotic black’’ subject has the “liberal/anti-patriotic” white subject as its constitutive other and vice-versa, resulting in the existence of two oppositional subjectivities which threaten the realisation of post-apartheid South Africa’s ideals of non-racialismItem "Oral traditions not for archives: the case of lobolo": reflections on the draft Heritage Transformation Charter(2010-08-17) Mohale, GabrieleABSTRACT The orally transmitted tradition of Lobolo is a common and widely practiced cultural tradition and an established marriage institution within African societies in Southern Africa, differing only in terms and minor variations of practice. Lobolo therefore has the status of being an intangible heritage and is acknowledged as such by South Africa’s National Heritage Resource Act of 1999. Its role in society today on the one hand and its oral way of transmission on the other has placed it in the center of an ongoing post-colonial discourse, particularly around the standing of the African intangible heritage in post-1994 South Africa. The Heritage Transformation Charter, following its mandate by the National Heritage Council, intended to attend to and correct existing imbalances in the Heritage sector and its institutions. It also aimed to identify and establish ways for the preservation and continuation of African heritage. The study reviews the literature on Lobolo, highlighting the ways in which it has been described as a multifaceted cultural and social institution. In consideration of these findings it critically engages in a discussion of the Draft Heritage Transformation Charter, to assess its acknowledgement of the characteristics of living heritage. In doing so the study probes the ability of a policy guiding document such as the Heritage Transformation Charter, to accommodate and guide the survival of oral traditions such as Lobolo, as part of the intangible heritage of South Africa.Item "Mine is but a sincere narrative of a melancholy situation": Sol Plaatje, orality and the politics of culture(2009-11-16T13:24:56Z) Mpe, PhaswaneItem "Bakwena Arts": a case study of arts and culture policy and implementation in the Limpopo Province(2009-10-13T12:08:16Z) Franks, Daniel ZachariahAbstract: In this research I examine the legacy of Arts and Culture Administration in the Limpopo Province, specifically with the intention of bringing to light the ways in which the evolution of this administrative structure has been largely framed by a history of domination by manifold colonial states. This fact of history has been shown to have given life to unique phenomena that are the seeming birth right of the new dispensation: corruption, inequality, apologism, blamelessness and rural contempt. The research makes special reference to the difficulties encountered by the emergent Northern Transvaal / Northern Province / Limpopo Province in establishing arts infrastructure and basic delivery. These difficulties are shown to be due to the former Transvaal’s policy of centralized cultural structures, and further compounded by the implications of the transformation of Pretoria’s State Theatre. This specific instance will inform an examination of the disparities between rural and urban realities in postcolony SA. My own practical work is discussed in relation to the above as far as it deals with the everyday production of culture, represented by the intrusion of global modern media into highly disparate social contexts.Item "Distinctly African ": the representation of Africans in City Press.(2008-06-10T12:13:33Z) Gongo, KuselwaThis study examines the representation of Africans by fellow Africans in a South African Sunday paper, City Press, after the paper changed its motto from ‘The People's Paper’ to ‘Distinctly African’ in October 2004. This editorial repositioning of City Press coincided with some of the tenets of the African Renaissance and African nationalism. The representation of Africa in the media, both outside and inside the continent, has been problematic for centuries. This study examines whether the claim by City Press, of a representation that is “Distinctly African” is achieved or refuted. This is done through analysing the way in which Africa, Africans, and African issues are framed and represented over a period of two years. In analysing these representations of Africa, Africans and African issues, the study looks at whether or not the way in which City Press represents Africa conforms to the ideals of the African Renaissance and African nationalism.Item "100 papers": an anthology of flash fiction and prose poetry with a theoretical postscript(2008-05-30T07:24:40Z) Jobson, Liesl Karen[NO ABSTRACT PRESENT]