3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions

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    Newtown: a cultural precinct - real or imagined
    (2011-07-06) Shand, Kate
    The Newtown Cultural Precinct came about as one of government’s interventions to turn around Johannesburg’s Inner City degeneration as a result of big business’s migration to the North in the nineties when urban management and land use controls collapsed. Government’s approach to culture-led urban regeneration was by means of large public sector capital development. The research covers the history of the concept of Newtown as a cultural precinct and how it came into being. It explores the criteria for cultural precincts in terms of international best practice and whether Newtown meets these requirements. It determines whether what was planned for Newtown by government has been achieved, and is being implemented. A review of strategies, business plans, projects and activities related to the development of Newtown as a cultural precinct was undertaken, as were interviews with key stakeholders, in order to establish why the notion of a cultural precinct took root when it did, and whether it is a success or not.
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    The multiple formations of identity in selected texts by William Faulkner and Tennessee Williams
    (2009-09-18T11:56:26Z) Malan, Morne
    ABSTRACT This project compares and contrasts the ways in which selected texts by William Faulkner and Tennessee Williams render their fictional figures as modern subjects engaged in the complex processes of identity-formation and transformation. These processes are deeply rooted within the context of the American South. The interrelatedness of identity and language is explored by investigating how these texts dramatize selfhood not as an essential or homogenous state, but as a perpetual process of self-fashioning and play amid multiple positionings. The central hypothesis is that identity manifests itself necessarily and continuously as a textual discourse in and through language, and that self-fashioning gives rise to ethical questions, because identity involves not only the subject’s relation to the self, but also his or her relationships with others in closely interwoven personal, familial and communal-cultural bonds. This ethical dimension underscores the relational aspects of selfhood, that is, the notion that the individual is always situated inextricably within the social, and that the fashioning of the self is thus inconceivable without a consideration of the other. The following pairs of texts are compared: As I Lay Dying and The Glass Menagerie; The Sound and the Fury and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof; Light in August and A Streetcar Named Desire.
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    Mythologising music: identity and culture in the Italian prisoner of war camps of South Africa
    (2009-05-29T12:06:30Z) Somma, Donato Andrew
    This thesis investigates the idea of music-making as mode of cultural expression among Italian prisoners of war imprisoned in South Africa during the Second World War. In addition to readings of some of the music performed, there are accounts of the prominence of music as a theme in the mythology generated by the prisoners. Viewing music as a framing mechanism for the narration of experience is central to understanding the resulting group identity of these prisoners. This in turn leads into an examination of the continuing function of the myths as markers of identity; highlighting cultural production as a defining characteristic of Italian South African identity in the present. Through the investigation of various forms of archive, analyses of a variety of non-musical cultural products are included for their ability to articulate some specific Italian cultural values promoted in the mythology.
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    Identity and culture in architecture: SA Institute of Trade & Cultural Relations
    (2008-10-07T10:55:27Z) Patel, Dipen Ramesh
    No abstract.
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    Johannesburg as world city: Arts and culture policy in The Urban African context
    (2007-03-01T13:06:47Z) Preston, Lara
    This paper investigates contemporary world city discourse, specifically in regards to the role of arts and culture, and with a focus on the implications of this discourse and policy in the urban African context. The historical legacies of colonial policies and thinking are explored in order to understand the current status of African cities within the world system. These dominant narratives are critiqued and some alternative modes of understanding Africa within the global context are explored. These various discourses are used to investigate the implications in a specific context - that of the current urban regeneration project taking place in Newtown, Johannesburg. This paper will contextualise the language and policy relating to arts and culture from a national government to a city level, in order to unpack some the assumptions that underpin these policies and the impacts that this language and policy have on the arts within a uniquely African urban context.
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    Approaches to transferring South African culture-bound elements into German: Zazah Khuzwayo’s Never Been At Home (2004)
    (2007-02-22T13:21:41Z) Breuer, Kerstin
    This study examines various approaches to the translation of a South African culturally bound novel, Never Been At Home (2004) by Zazah Khuzwayo. The purpose of this research is to combine theoretical concepts with a practical translation and make a valid contribution to the research that has been undertaken so far with regard to the translation of the South African postcolonial novel into German. In order to contextualise the current situation of the translation business, the status of translators as defined by copyright law as well as the increasing trend towards the commoditisation of translation is clarified. The concept of invisibility/visibility of the translator plays n important role in this research. Various models for understanding culture including the domesticating and the foreignising translation strategies are presented and emphasis is put on the role of the translator as a cultural mediator. The notion of postcolonial texts, also referred to as ‘hybrids’ or ‘métisses’, are explicated and the space ‘in-between’ of postcolonial authors is analysed. Aspects of Nord’ Skopostheorie, Hewson and Martin’s Variational Approach, Chesterman’s Memetics and Baker’s theories about equivalence in translation serve as a fundamental basis for the theoretical framework of this study. The findings include challenges in translating this postcolonial text, as well as a presentation of the translation solutions. The conclusion investigates the overall approach applied in the translation of the text and finally discusses aspects of this particular field in Translation Studies that would be worth addressing in future projects.
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    The evaluation of the reliability of the motor-free visual perceptual test (Third Edition) when translated into Afrikaans, on an Afrikaans first language urban population (East of Pretoria, South Africa) aged 8 years 0 months to 8 years 11 months
    (2007-02-16T10:32:07Z) Eksteen, Trudie
    A comparative study was undertaken to assess the reliability of the MVPT-3 when the instructions were translated into Afrikaans and the scores were then compared to the normative data obtained during the standardization process on a normal population of American children. The study was undertaken by testing 80 randomly selected, normally distributed, Afrikaans first language speaking eight year old children from the eastern suburbs of Pretoria, South Africa. The study confirmed that the MVPT-3 is reliable when the instructions are given in Afrikaans with a Chonbach’s alpha score of 0.79 compared to 0.83 obtained for the American population. The item analysis revealed some anomalies that suggest that the test may have a cultural bias as many items had a negative sign in the item analysis. Afrikaans girls and boys performed differently on the test, suggesting that the test may need to be adjusted for differing skills in the visual perception. There were a high number of non-contributing items that suggest that some items in the test may not be valid for South African Children.
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    Teaching and Learning in Racially/Culturally Diverse Classrooms in a Post-Apartheid South Africa
    (2006-11-16T12:20:31Z) Pather, Ethel Una
    As the title implies, this research concerned the convergence of race and culture in school settings. How the two categories are related is a complex matter, especially in the context of South Africa where race has played, and continues to play, a critical role in the formation of culture. The study aimed to investigate the dynamics of teaching and learning in racially diverse classrooms in three historically white former Model C Schools in Ekhuruleni East District of Gauteng Department of Education (GDE). To this end I conducted a multiple case study with Grade 8 pupils and their teachers, with a primary intention of illuminating the challenges, attitudes and emotions experienced by teachers and pupils, as well as the dynamics between teachers and pupils, and among pupils. Eight questions guided the data collection through extended on-site observation and interviews: (i) What are the experiences and challenges of teachers and pupils in racially/culturally diverse classrooms? (ii) How do teachers and pupils respond to these experiences and challenges? (iii) What preparation if any, have teachers had in order to face these challenges in racially/culturally diverse classrooms? (iv) How do teachers and pupils and pupils and pupils from diverse race groups interact? (v) What are teachers and pupils opinions about racially diverse classrooms?(vi) What is the significance of race to pupils at the three schools? (vii) How is race conceptualised and lived at school? (viii) What is the impact of the discourse of race on the lives of black pupils? The theoretical framework of this research is situated in the field of teaching and cultural diversity. In order to place the research questions and findings in the context of international and local research and debate on cultural diversity in education, I consulted a wide range of both international and local literature. The thesis presents the main research findings, in terms of four broad themes that cut across the research questions: Change, Subjective Reality and Assimilation; Discourse of Blame and Cultural Deficit Discourse; Home Culture versus School Culture; Perceived Racism or Racism as a Consequence of Change. The analysed data revealed that teachers’ were frustrated and it was evident from their subjective reality that they were not dealing well with change. Pupils preferred homogeneous groups rather than integrated groups thus there was little interaction between racial groups. Hostility was evident and in some cases resulted in fights between black and white pupils. Black pupils perceived the presence of racism among some white teachers and pupils This study could, despite its limitations, pave the way for far more elaborate studies to be conducted.. Since statutory racial integration in South Africa is only ten years old the discourse of racial diversity needs to be illuminated through extensive and intensive research. Teachers need to address both social and educational aims simultaneously as the findings suggest that unless teachers acknowledge and understand diversity in their classrooms and understands the backgrounds of their pupils; these pupils are likely to remain marginalised and desegregated schools run the risk of not contributing to social change.
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