Wits School of Arts (ETDs)
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Item Hip hop and Narrative Therapy in Drama Therapy: An Exploration of the ways in which Hip hop in Narrative Form can be used to Address issues of Displacement, Foster Cohesion and Conscientize a Sense of Self in Urban Adolescents(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Dlamini, Sanelisiwe; Busika, NonkululekoThis research explored how Hip hop therapy and narrative therapy within the drama therapy frame can be integrated for the purposes of a psychosocial intervention for adolescents in urban Johannesburg. The research was conducted with adolescents from Organisation X, ranging between the ages of 14-18 years. This research addressed issues of displacement, violence, xenophobia, social cohesion and self-awareness in the intervention. The research methodology used a qualitative approach that is practice-based and arts-based. The design included semi- structured interviews with the four care workers at organisation X, questionnaires and creative focus groups with ten selected adolescents. This was an eight-week intervention to investigate the various ways in which Hip hop and narrative therapy can be used in the drama therapy context to address psychosocial issues affecting the adolescents. The findings of the study reflect that self-esteem of more than half the participants increased during the course of the intervention, they grew a friendlier perception towards outsiders and their sense of belonging improved during the intervention.Item Researching the visual representation of Arab Muslim people and themes through Orientalism in Disney’s Aladdin (1992) and then using this research to develop a progressive retelling of the story(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Albertyn, Za’yaanah; Reid, KirstenThis paper aims to shed light onto the shadows cast by the creation of the animated characters and settings in Aladdin (1992), and questions how these depictions may have shaped perceptions and inadvertently perpetuated harmful stereotypes. By shedding light on these aspects, the paper contributes to a critical evaluation of the broader implications of animated content in shaping societal attitudes and reinforcing cultural stereotypes.Item Crafting Spaces: Exploring the Potential for a Queer(ed) Curatorial Practice through Zines(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Baia, TristanThis research report explores the potential of zines in creating and sustaining a decentralised, affective, and queer(ed) curatorial practice; viewed through a theoretical framework of Trans Care and queer communal action that draws on the writing of Hil Malatino, Harry Josephine Giles, and other queer, trans and feminist scholars. This research report is foregrounded by a discussion on the author’s experiences and discomfort with mainstream South African institutions, specifically relating to a perceived lack of care extended towards artists and curators and an overreliance on mainstream spaces. From there, focusing on the history of zines as small-scale, noncommercial, self-published print works, the research explores how zines have been (and continue to be) used to form communal connections, mobilise anti-institutional action, and disseminate subversive material that ordinarily would not be distributed by mainstream platforms. Additionally, the research report also examines archival examples of pre-1994 South African queer print media to examine historical evidence of how queer individuals have relied on print matter to provide communal support, share information relating to queer healthcare, and engage in activism. Finally, these concepts are actualised through a curatorial engagement in the form of a zine jam, where participants gather to produce zines and engage in the communal action of crafting together. By emphasizing the punk, communal nature of zine production and distribution, the research emphasises artistic and curatorial agency and encourages a movement towards more communal ways of working together to avoid an overreliance on institutional platforms and spaces.Item Exploring the efficacy of an audience-centred approach in establishing culturally sensitive art centres in Tshwane(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Mahlangu, Thato; Desando, MarcusNewly established art centres based in cities are probed by cultural policy discourses to engage with the surrounding public audiences through curating relatable art exhibitions that are socially inclusive. An increasing number of visitors at the Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria are finding it difficult to interpret and relate to art exhibitions. This explorative case study explores the efficacy of integrating an audience-centred approach in art centres such as the Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria. The study determines whether exhibitions curated by this cultural institution are socially and culturally relatable and how they could potentially foster cultural democracy for visiting audiences. The case study employs a purposive sampling method comprising of Javett-UP representatives, art specialists and Javett-UP visitors involved in focus-group interviews and in-depth semi-structured interviews to determine whether the Javett-UP fosters cultural democracy. The research results prove how the relationship between audience engagement, cultural sensitivity and cultural democracy is premised on social and cultural capital. Additional research findings highlight the importance of these capitals in establishing audience perception. Finally, research findings support a stronger engagement with surrounding communities using a culturally sensitive lens that begins with understanding audience needs to create a mutually beneficial value proposition. This research argues that the use of a culturally sensitive lens when engaging with audiences in art centres informs the curation of relatable and engaging exhibitions that foster cultural democracy for audience living in cities.Item The Voice of the Black Choir: Exploring the Sounds of Vernacular Language Singing in a Performance of Mzilikazi Khumalo’s UShaka(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Zungu, Thamsanqa; Olwage, GrantThis PhD thesis explores the phonetic attributes of one of South Africa’s dominant languages, isiZulu, and their sonic implications for choral singing. The research is located within the field of artistic research and explores all three categories of artistic research as set out by Henk Borgdorff. To this end, my creative work entails preparing, performing, and recording the epic choral work UShaka KaSenzangakhona by Mzilikazi Khumalo. This includes IPA transliteration and English language translation of UShaka’s chorus lyrics for preparation for rehearsals, choral sound experimentation and interpretation, which I document in Chapter 3 of the thesis. Chapter 2 is a micro-ethnography of contemporary general practices of training Black choirs. I describe the processes by which choirs learn to sing choral music, specifically examples of vernacular musics, and the criteria by which the resultant choral sound is judged. The ethnography of the choir employs fieldwork observation of choirs’ rehearsals and performances, interviews and focus group discussions with conductors and adjudicators, and draws on my experience as a Black choral conductor and adjudicator. My theoretical commitments integrate both decolonial and artistic research frameworks. By critically analysing existing literature and theories, I challenge the dominant Western narratives and practices of training the choral singing voice for the field of Black South African choralism. Performing the choral voice demonstrates the practical implications of decoloniality for Black choralism.Item Forum Theatre as a Form of Protest: A Practice-Based Investigation(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Chetty, Teakshania; Bhebhe, SibongileThis study examines Forum Theatre's (FT) impact within the Fees Must Fall (FMF) movement in South Africa, highlighting its role in protest and social change. Findings show FT empowers participants, promotes understanding of systemic injustices, and fosters solidarity and innovative strategies for activism. The research advocates for further investigation into FT's effects, collaboration between FT practitioners and social movements, and increased support for FT initiatives. Ultimately, FT is presented as a vital tool for social activism, enabling mobilization, education, and empowerment.Item Genre and Narrative in Adaptation: Romance in Heartstopper from comic to live-action series(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Odura, Twumwaa; Geyser, Hanli; Randle, OluwarotimiThis dissertation examines the impact of romance genre conventions on a comic narrative through utilising Heartstopper by Alice Oseman as an instrumental bound case study. This will be done by utilising the five-step “Transmedial Analysis Framework”, as set out by Bruhn and Schirrmacher in “Transmediation”. Through analysing how the narrative of the source media object, the webcomic Heartstopper, was transmediated and changed into the version in the target source media object, the Heartstopper Netflix show, we can see how various romance genre conventions have shifted and remained consistent. Due to Oseman's strong presence within both versions of Heartstopper, it is easier to understand her contributions. In the second step, we see how the transmedial shifts were done in a way that increases the presence of the side characters within the narrative by utilising Thomas Leitch's adjustment strategies. By contextualising what changes and similarities between both versions of Heartstopper are present due to medium-specific necessity, the larger presence of side characters in the Netflix show can be understood through the necessity of television storytelling. Even with medium-specific changes, we see how those changes work to take advantage of romance conventions, particular teen romance conventions, when expanding on the narrative. Genres are also understood by an audience through a perceived sense of expectations, meaning the ways in which a media object is marketed plays a large role in how it will be understood. As Heartstopper is a queer romance narrative, it is important to take into account how the teen romance tropes reflect on its existence as a queer story and how the Netflix show increases the presence of other side characters that also have queer identities. 6Item How can screen dance be used as a tool to reframe the black female body in South Africa?(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Setzin, Sasha-LeeScreendance can be used to explore and celebrate the diversity and complexity of the Black female body, highlighting the unique experiences and perspectives of Black women in South Africa. Through experimentation with movement, camera angles, and the manipulation of light and sound, Screendance can be used to create a new visual language that reframes the Black female body in a more nuanced and empowering way. This medium can be used as a tool to reframe the Black female body in South Africa by breaking stereotypes, giving agency to Black female dancers and choreographers, and exploring the diversity and complexity of the Black female experience. Screendance allows for greater creative control and representation of the Black female body, offering a platform for self-expression, experimentation, and the exploration of new perspectives. The research seeks to examine the ability to manipulate and reimagine the image of the Black female body, through digital media which can be a powerful tool in challenging dominant cultural narratives and re-centering the experiences and perspectives of Black women. Additionally, it explores how Screendance can bring attention to the embodied experiences of Black women, and the ways in which their bodies have been subject to historical, cultural, and societal oppression. By making the body visible, Screendance can create a space for resistance, healing, and empowerment for Black women.Item Seeming, being and becoming: an intimate, autoethnographic rasa-led performance art exploration(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Maharajh, Reshma; Khan, Sharlene; Munro, Allan; Andrew, DavidThis thesis focuses on the interplay of "Seeming," "Being," and "Becoming" as it relates to past experiences, present moments and future potentialities. In this project, I delve into the concept of my South African ‘Indianness’ from a personal perspective. As a researcher, I engaged performance art and the aesthetic theory of rasa from the Nātyashāstra a treatise on dramatic theory or the science of drama in Sanskrit (a language of scholarship and philosophy across ancient ‘India’) to explore this concept further. The research encompasses three interconnected practices: rasa, autoethnography, and practice-led research and how central living strategies and concepts are used to define body- mindedness as a life force as emergence in performance strategy. Rasa serves as a guiding metaphor, representing the emotional essence of the artmaking strategies and creative process. These pursuits were not merely cathartic but were about reaching a Transcendental Emotional Moment (TEM) in which "being" and "becoming" converged. Rasa has been proven to be an effective tool in exploring my own identity, subject formation and artmaking, with therapeutic benefits. The second line of inquiry delves into my lived experiences as a widow, mother and practising Hindu, highlighting the complexity of South African Indianness and seeks to bridge the gap between "seeming" and "being" while anticipating what might "become" through the lens of rasa. The third line of inquiry revolves around the practice of performance art (combined with autoethnographic reflection), exploring the tensions between two philosophic models of Integrity and Intimacy as proposed by Kasulis (2002). As the artist (both creator and subject), my life and body became the canvas upon which the artwork unfolded. Performance art allowed for a moment of being when the artwork and I came into existence for each other. This process required cognitive and creative engagement with the project’s content, drawing on past experiences, culture, relationships, politics and religion, guided by rasa. The goal created an environment in which the ‘Oneness of Being’ emerged, leading to a TEM in performance. This moment invited the potential for refreshed, emergent insights and meaning through autoethnography and practice-led research. The “Seeming, Being and Becoming” trajectory and the efficacy of the rasa roadmap is proposed as a cultural philosophy that promotes human flourishing, culminating in the moment of TEM.Item So, where to (So-we-to) with audiences? An explorative inquiry into audience development strategies at Soweto Theatre in the period 2019-2023(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Mogotsi, Ratanang; Mavhungu, JohannaTheatre does not exist without an audience; it is imperative that theatre’s find new and innovative strategies that will develop audiences as the sector continues to face a drop in theatre attendance. Through a qualitative inquiry and Soweto Theatre as the case study, this research explores audience development strategies implemented at Soweto Theatre between 2019 and 2023. This period saw the biggest decline in theatre audiences across the theatre sector in South Africa and abroad due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The findings reveal the necessity of organisational restructuring, improved internal and external communication among the staff, clear task allocation and role management, as well as strategic management alignment in order to improve its audience development strategies. Storytelling is introduced as one of the key concepts to audience development. Storytelling integrates more process-related content into marketing initiatives such as social media which allows for audiences to get a taste of what to expect and to be a part of the storytelling process. Soweto Theatre, symbolises a catalyst for cultural democracy, fostering social cohesion and community empowerment. This research report concludes that digital platforms such as social media can be used to disseminate information, for outreach, arts education and cultural inclusion. Furthermore, nurturing young talent, and forging sustainable partnerships is pivotal in democratising the arts and cultivating a more inclusive cultural space. Collaboration among arts organisations and youth development programs across various theatres can further enrich experiences and heighten opportunities for emerging artists, contributing to the growth of audiences in South Africa's dynamic creative and cultural industries.