3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Waking the White Goddess: a novel(2010-08-25) Nudelman, JillAbstract (Jill Nudelman) This dissertation presents a novel that charts the progress of the white protagonist, Rose, whose mysterious origins have rendered her disconnected and alienated. In addition, moulded by her sheltered and privileged lifestyle she experiences guilt faced with the suffering and poverty that she encounters in post-apartheid South Africa, but lacks the strength to act. The novel opens with Rose, now 30, bereft and alone. When she discovers a box of mysterious objects which hint at her origins, she is lead to Oberon, a fictional village in the southern uKhahlamba-Drakensberg. Here, Rose’s search becomes more than a search for her biological parents as she experiences events that lead her to an identity beyond whiteness and help her to find rootedness in African soil. A reflexive essay follows. The essay is a personal reflection of the writing process, and includes the inspiration and development of the story line, problems encountered around the narrative voice and the contribution of the Masters programme workshops to the project. It also explores and expounds on the theoretical underpinnings of the novel, such as white identity in post-apartheid South Africa, the use of Western mythologies in an African context, and a discussion of San culture, including concerns around its inclusion in the text. The use of the heavily-loaded signifier, “White Goddess” as in the title, is also touched upon.Item Still life - a novel and reflexive essay(2008-09-12T11:19:59Z) Myburgh, PierABSTRACT The largest part of this thesis is a novel called Still Life, which explores the mourning process of a mother who loses her baby, and the effect it has on her life and her marriage. The novel alternates between the present and the past (which is 23 years before) so that it illustrates the mother’s reaction to the death of her baby at the time of the death, and her personal development (or lack thereof) many years on.The second part of the thesis is an essay, which reflects on grieving in general and the expression of grief through literature, as well as some of the aspects of the writing process, with particular consideration given to the development of plot,the choice of point-of-view, symbolism, the ending and the choice of writing in a second language.Item Characterization of the novel domain with no name gene in colon cancer(2006-03-23) Rupnarain, CharleenNormal colonic epithelium bombarded by a range of molecular changes, affecting cell proliferation and apoptosis, result in the initiation of an adenoma and consequently an invasive carcinoma, which is usually lethal. One of the main characteristics of tumour progression is the loss of regulation between the cell cycle and apoptosis. Under normal circumstances, these processes are strictly controlled by a number of regulators and inhibitors. Previous studies have implicated the novel Domain With No Name gene in apoptosis. This study aimed to characterize the expression patterns and levels of the gene in colon cancer and to determine its role in apoptosis. In situ hybridisation, immunocytochemistry and quantitative PCR localised the gene and its products in cancerous and normal colon tissue. Combined with apoptosis detection studies, proliferation assays and Bcl-2 assays, the results suggest that the gene is involved in promoting apoptosis in cancerous cells i.e. the targeting of undesirable cells. Helicobacter pylorus was implicated in the progression of noninvasive colon cancer to the invasive state. From this study DWNN is proposed to be a pro-apoptotic participant in programmed cell death and classification studies such as these allow for potential manipulation of the apoptotic system to serve as a therapeutic corridor.