3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item The historical development of the commemoration of the June 16, 1976 Soweto students' uprisings: a study of re-representation, commemoration and collective memory(2015-09-02) Hlongwane, Ali KhangelaSouth Africa’s post-apartheid era has, in a space of nearly two decades, experienced a massive memory boom manifest in a plethora of new memorials, monuments, museums and the renaming of streets, parks, dams and buildings. This memorialisation process is intrinsically linked to questions of power, struggles and contestation in the making and remaking of the South African nation. The questions of power, struggle and contestation manifest as a wave of debates on the place of history, collective memory, identity and social cohesion in the inception as well as the functioning of the various memorialisation projects in society. This thesis concludes that debates concerning the meaning(s) as well as the way in which the June 16, 1976 uprisings have been memorialized, has been ongoing for the last three decades, and will continue into the future. This, as the findings bear out, is because the wider contextual situating of collective memory in its intangible and tangible form is intrinsically linked to complex experiences of the past; to ongoing experiments of a “nation” in the making, as well as pressing contemporary social challenges. The thesis also concludes that questions of power, struggle and contestation also manifest as a quest for relevant idioms and aesthetics of re-representation and memorialisation. Further, the thesis makes observations on the politics behind the assembling and the assembled archive as a toolkit in the fashioning of pasts and the making of collective memory. It reflects on the processes of re-thinking and remaking of the June 16, 1976 archive. These conclusions have been arrived at through an investigation of how the memory and meaning of the June 16, 1976 uprisings have been re-constructed, re-represented and fashioned over the last three decades. This was done by tracking and analysing the complex, diverse forms and character of its memorialisation. In the process, the study arrives at a conclusion that the memorialisation of the June 16, 1976 uprisings is characterised by the multiplicity of tangible and intangible features. The intangible features are characterised by forgetting, at one level, and are, on another level, animated through rituals of commemoration, counter- commemoration and memorial debate. The memorial debate on the uprisings is that of unity and diversity, division, contestation and counter-commemoration and essentially irresolvable, as history and memory are tools to address contemporary challenges.Item Negotiating memory and nation building in new South African drama(2010-11-19) Mekusi, BusutiABSTRACT This thesis examines the representation of trauma and memory in six post-Apartheid plays. The topic is explored through a treatment of the tropes of racial segregation, different forms of dispossession as well as violence. The thesis draws its inspiration from the critical and self-reflexive engagements with which South African playwrights depict the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The dramatists are concerned with the contested nature of the TRC as an experiential and historical archive. Others explore the idea of disputed and seemingly elusive notions of truth (from the embodied to the forensic). Through the unpacking of the TRC, as reflected in three of the plays, the thesis argues that apart from the idea of an absolute or forensic truth, the TRC is also characterised by the repression of truth. Furthermore, there is a consideration of debates around amnesty, justice, and reparations. Underpinning the politics and representations of trauma and memory, the thesis also interrogates the concomitant explorations and implications of identity and citizenship in the dramas. In the experience of violence, subjugation and exile, the characters in the dramas wrestle with the physical and psychological implications of their lived experiences. This creates anxieties around notions of self and community whether at home or in exile and such representations foreground the centrality of memory in identity construction. All these complex personal and social challenges are further exacerbated by the presence of endemic violence against women and children as well as that of rampart crime. The thesis, therefore, explores the negotiation of memory and identity in relation to how trauma could be mitigated or healing could be attained. The thesis substantially blurs the orthodox lines of differentiation between race and class, but emphasises the centrality of the individual or self in recent post-Apartheid engagements.Item Working memory in South Africa(2009-06-10T08:31:15Z) Fisher, KatharineWorking memory allows for continual updating and maintenance of information for cognitive and behavioural guidance. It provides continuity of experience and is integral to complex and adaptive human functioning. This study investigated performance on a selection of computer-based neuropsychological tests of working memory in a sample of 105 South African adults. The central aim was to examine whether demographic and computer performance variables affected performance on the computer-administered tests. Another key research question was whether commonly used tests of working memory measured domain-specific components of working memory, or tapped into domain-free executive attention. In particular, the study examined the n- Back Test, which had been used extensively in international research but was not sufficiently validated in the literature. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted to investigate the validity of this test. The study found that the ability to manipulate a computer mouse affected performance particularly on the timed computerised tests, and that computer ability was also related to prior experience using a computer, confidence using a computer, gender and home language. Computer mouse ability was subsequently partialed out of the analysis as a covariate. No significant main effects of computer experience, confidence, gender or home language were found when computer mouse ability was removed from the analysis. This suggested that the demographic differences in performance found on the tests may have been informed by experience and confidence using a computer rather than reflect true differences in performance between the groups. Once computer mouse ability had been partialed from the results the 2-Back condition of the n-Back Test correlated significantly with the backward condition of the Digit Span Test, the forward condition of the Spatial Span Test, and part B of the Trail Making Test around the use of complex executive attention, which provided some evidence for the n -Back Test as a measure of the executive component of working memory. However, the n-Back Test did not load onto the same factor as these tests, but it appeared that the n-Back and Digit Span Tests factored around the type of executive resource demanded by each test.Item "No" - Jose Saramago's subversive creativity from The History of the Siege of Lisbon to The Stone Raft: voyages into the idea of national identity(2009-02-19T10:58:44Z) Mihai, Corina M.Abstract This study outlines a reading of Saramago’s novels as tracing a reflective itinerary into history, questioning the modalities informing a contemporary consciousness, thus acknowledging and re–configuring the past. Through an interpretation of these narratives as ‘voyages into the idea of identity’ it is shown that they reveal a symmetrical pattern tracing the Portuguese national saga from its foundation myth in The History of the Siege of Lisbon to contemporary images of identity in The Stone Raft. In light of this, the analysis examines the subversive narrative strategies employed with regard to the interrogation of canonized historical facts that led to the construction of Portuguese cultural memory and identity. Although the discussion is particularly located within Portuguese texts, the issues raised are relevant within the broader context of Western civilization. It is argued that, within his fictional discourse, Saramago aims at a reformulation of the notion of identity, highlighting the importance of preserving and actively affirming one’s individuality. Drawing on the postmodern perspective of pluralism in the reconstruction of the past, this analysis explores the relationship between history, fiction, memory and identity as reflected in the narratives under discussion. The focus will be on the textual nature of historiography as well as on the relative character of memory, aspects suggesting the irretrievable nature of the past and the necessity of using various acts of supplementation, construction and invention when representing it. Furthermore, the dialogue between Saramago’s fictional canvass and the theoretical framework, drawing on the thinking of critics such as Hayden White, David Lowenthal, Tzvetan Todorov, Linda Hutcheon, is intended to situate Saramago’s stance viz–à-viz the truthfulness of historiography within the contemporary preoccupation with the representation and construction of the past with an eye to reflecting present needs.Item Exploring klezmer through fragments of memory and identity(2008-06-03T10:30:35Z) Richard, NicoletteABSTRACT This study delves into the notion of klezmer as both a link in the chain of Jewish continuity and a mirror to the multifarious variations of Jewish identification. It explores the music in relation to various events within the last century of Jewish history, such as the Jewish enlightenment movement, migration from Eastern Europe and the Holocaust, and draws on various discourses of memory and identity to frame and elucidate the music. It also proposes the theory that klezmer could indeed be an archetype, comprised of mnemonic and archetypal musical devices, that resides deep within the Jewish collective unconscious and rouses nostalgic yearnings to reclaim a cherished yet imperilled heritage. Embracing this notion of klezmer as archetype sheds light on the contemporary klezmer scene, particularly in Germany, Poland and the United States of America, and the many social, cultural and moral sensibilities that define it. Paving the way for the various avenues of Jewish, and often non-Jewish, memory work and identification klezmer not only sounds the synthesis of cultural, social and religious boundaries, but also emerges as a bastion of Jewish continuity.Item Effect of isolated facial feature transformations in a change blindness experiment involving a person as the object of change(2008-05-29T11:21:02Z) Kadosh, HadarResearch has shown that people often fail to notice changes to visual scenes. This phenomenon is known as change blindness. This study investigated the effect of facial feature transformations on change blindness using change detection tasks involving a person as the object of change. 301 participants viewed a photo-story comprised of a few still frames. In the final frame, a selected facial feature of a character in the story was altered. Four different photo-stories were used, each utilising a different alteration. Questionnaires designed to determine whether the change was detected were administered. Results showed that changes to facial features considered to be more salient produced higher levels of change detection. A flicker test using the same images from the photo-story was administered to a further 75 participants and showed a similar pattern of results. It was concluded that in order to detect change, the changing stimuli have to be both salient and meaningful.Item Inclusivity and the construction of memory in Mia Couto's 'Under the Frangipani'(2007-03-15T12:36:37Z) Ngoveni, LawrenceThis research report examines Mia Couto’s novel Under the Frangipani as an intervention into the problematic of memory in post-war Mozambique. It attempts to locate Couto’s narratives among contemporary writing in Africa. It argues that Couto’s narratives combine allegory and magic realism in their endeavor to highlight the complexity of the Mozambican past and the need to include a diversity of voices from different sources. It focuses primarily on the novel’s inclusive narrative approach which manifests through the coexistence of putative worlds. In doing so, I explore the tension between the ontological assumptions of officialdom and those of the weak.Item Imagery,cognition and memory: The influence of mental imagery on improving reading, writing, and spelling abilities of grade 4 children with learning disabilities(2006-02-09) Booth, LyndallA learning disability, by inhibiting learning, renders the scholastic years of a young child fraught with trying and frustrating experiences. Cases of learning disabilities that are being identified are however on the increase. Thus, with the prevalence rate growing and with the knowledge that learning disabilities in the areas of reading, writing and spelling account for a large majority of all diagnosed cases, it has become necessary to devise alternative teaching methods. The Targeted Revisualisation programme which is a high imagery based programme being one such programme that might ease the difficulties that such a child may experience. This research hence aimed to explore the link between mental imagery and memory and to further explore the effectiveness of the Targeted Revisualisation programme on reading, writing and spelling abilities of grade 4 children with learning disabilities. Using a primarily qualitative methodology, in particular the aggregative case-survey method, this aim was achieved. The sample - obtained from Japari Remedial School - constituted eight children in grade 4 who had been diagnosed as having learning disabilities in the areas the Targeted Revisualisation programme addresses. The sample strategy employed may thus be considered quota, non-probability sampling. The eight children in the sample were then assigned to either the experimental group - receiving tutoring using the programme - or to the contrast group that received traditional remedial tutoring, both of a six month duration. With the end analysis the sample illustrating that both groups benefited from their respective tutoring and that the Targeted Revisualisation programme proved an effective tool for the improving of reading, writing and spelling abilities of such children. Furthermore, it was found from this research that children with learning disabilities do use mental imagery as a learning aid for learning words and that there is indeed a strong link between mental imagery and memory.Item Intertextuality and memory in Yizo Yizo(2006-02-02) Andersson, F. B.Intertextuality is used to engage with the ‘already said’, which according to Umberto Eco is the hallmark of postmodernism. African popular culture in 2005 is frequently created through a dialogue between multiple partners. It is heteroglossic in expression, is capable of withstanding multifocal scrutiny and is fluent in the conventions of the form it chooses. It expresses itself by allusion to the ‘already said’ and through inclusion of increasingly sophisticated popular audiences. Intertextuality is generally used as a smart tool to express and comment upon hidden narratives relating to, for example, African identities, class relations, corruption and the taboo: abuse, incest, Aids, archaic traditional law practices as well as the not-so-hidden topics of necropower, global capitalism and so on. This study looks at the various uses of intertextuality, including the way it is used as a mechanism to access political memory, in the South African youth TV drama Yizo Yizo. It is argued that a text must be read in relation to the dynamic and interaction between the producer of the text, the text and the audiences of the text. To understand what producers bring to the text, one must understand the universe of the producers. In trying to understand why Yizo Yizo appears to depict “violence”, one needs to understand the experiences and ideologies of the producers in the physical space known as South Africa and reproduced as memory in the chronotope occupied by Yizo Yizo. In analysing the term “violence”, it becomes clear the word is inadequate if it is used in the singular only. What is explored here is rather, a hierarchy of violences. Violence is embedded in the very construct of the rainbow nation and returned as the political memory of violence in representation. The pecking order of these violences is identified as political violence, the relations of abuse, sexual violence, violence silence, dialogic violence, violence towards the self, traumatic violence revisited, lifestyle violence, criminal violence and retributive and restorative violence. Yizo Yizo works with the consequences of the apartheid past in the present and forces one male character after another to take a stand against the continuing violences of their present. Two characters (Papa Action and Chester) become the archetypes of criminal violence. Another two (Thulani and Gunman) answer reactionary and victimising and criminal violence with violence intended to free those it oppresses. But the proof of the pudding is in the audience tasting. We know from Henry Jenkins that fans rewrite texts in ten different ways—by recontextualisation, expanding the series timeline, refocalisation, moral realignment, genre shifting, cross overs, character dislocation, personalisation, emotional intensification and eroticisation. Using comments by fans, focus group results and media reports, the research looks at the way these rewrites take place in relation to Yizo Yizo. Ultimately it is suggested that the producers of this particular text are able to reach their audiences because they are also fans of movie and TV and of African popular culture. Moreover, they share a country in which a multitude of violences are experienced but invisible, hence the need for the development of a language and aesthetic of violence.