3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Brother Tarantino in the mosque: An analysis of the cultural and political instrumentality of satire in "The Lizard" (2004)(2008-12-02T13:17:16Z) Tavernaro-Haidarian, LeylaAgainst the backdrop of a possible US military attack on Iran, this report examines a film that advances the case for independent political reform from within Iran’s borders. The case study analyzes the cultural and political instrumentality of satire in Kamal Tabrizi’s film, The Lizard (2004). By determining the socio-political restrictions that inform Iran’s society and film industry, it demonstrates that The Lizard uses satire to transgress the value-system that the Iranian theocracy is upheld by. The study draws on narrative analysis to explore the film’s satiric devices of parody and masquerade and discusses their significance in creating new images of clergy that combine to build an alternative reality to the one portrayed in mainstream Iranian media. The report argues that this utopian space undermines the established order by redefining or rejecting the terms and dichotomies communicated through its official channels.Item The role of refugee established churches in the lives of forced migrants: a case study of Word of Life assembly in Yeoville, Johannesburg(2006-11-17T11:36:41Z) Nzayabino, Vedaste‘Making things our own’. This is one of the ultimate goals pursued in establishing churches within refugee communities. The refugee church has become both a channel of material support and spiritual factory where social and emotional fabrics are strongly rewoven among people linked together by a common culture and shared experience. This is a qualitative case-study of the Word of Life Assembly (WOLA), one of the independent churches established by forced migrants in Yeoville, Johannesburg. Established by a Congolese pastor, the church counts a total of about 450 members, mostly refugees (about 98%), predominantly from the Democratic Republic of Congo (more than 95%). The study seeks to explore the role of the church in the lives of refugees, and determine the ways forced migrants understand this role. More importantly, it was found that WOLA has been able to integrate refugees who could not otherwise integrate in local or domestic churches in Johannesburg. Language and spiritual problems have been identified as the major barriers to integration. In this respect, the study has revealed four levels of integration within WOLA church; that is, integration of a refugee into a refugee community, religious integration, and cultural integration. The fourth level of integration consists of integration of the refugee church itself. In this regard, it was revealed that, as far as refugee church is concerned, not only church members are to integrate into host community and/or churches, but the [refugee] church itself – labelled thus as a ‘foreign’ entity – is to seek its own integration into and approval from the South African community in general, and host faith-based institutions in particular. Moreover, the study revealed that, in an attempt to meet the diverse needs of its members, WOLA offers a wide range of special services and activities, notably material and social assistance, and pastoral counseling. Finally, WOLA has become a strategic place where religious and socio-cultural identities are easily built and maintained among members, and where social networks are interwoven among refugees themselves, and between refugees and their country of origin.