4. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - Faculties submissions

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The Monster in Disney’s Closet: Critiquing Queer Representation and Narrative in Luca
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Wessels, Sasha Lyn Dominique; Wittstock, Gillian
Queer bodies in animation have been a topic for discussion in many academic papers – particularly in their portrayal in children’s films. They are either considered problematic in their portrayal or made to be invisible to the eye by being pushed into the background (Tieszen 2017:2). In particular, queer characters are typically found in two situations in the history of Disney’s animated feature films: Either a character is queercoded and made the villain of the story – linking villainy to queer bodies, or is found in an interaction where same-sex desire is hinted at or shown, but is quickly shut down by a joke of disgust or awkwardness (Tieszen 2017:7). This dissertation will analyse to what extent the recent Disney Pixar film Luca (Enrico Casarosa: 2021) can be considered a progressive and/or regressive feature film regarding queer representation within the history of the Disney franchise. Since the release of Luca (Enrico Casarosa: 2021), there have been multiple discussions about how this film has been queercoded and is potentially queerbait – as noted by scholar Kodi Maier (2021). This dissertation will discuss firstly, how Luca (Enrico Casarosa: 2021) has improved the representation of the villain through not queercoding Ercole Visconti (the antagonist). Following this, how they portray male-on-male relationships and whether or not Luca (Enrico Casarosa: 2021) can be perceived as a step forward. Thirdly, I will dive deep into the narrative’s plot points, highlighting how Luca (Enrico Casarosa: 2021) has a clear underlying queer narrative, and how certain characters can be perceived as queer bodies, thus making it a queer film. Finally, I will discuss whether or not Luca (Enrico Casarosa: 2021) can be labelled as queerbait, and highlighting the outcry that came from Luca (Enrico Casarosa: 2021) and how it showed the need for more queer representation. This paper will make use of a multimodal qualitative analysis in order to achieve the aim of this paper due to its many unique components: a discourse analysis will be used to discuss the broader prospects of this paper such as the history and current socialization of imagery and narratives alongside its influence on the public, whilst a semiotic analysis will help dive deeper into characters and how they are projected and/or represented.
To What Extent Have Cyber Sabotage and Cyber Espionage Undermined the National Security of South Africa, Kenya and Ethiopia, 2016- 22
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Kinnes, Shaun; Mpofu-Walsh, Sizwe
The state of cyber security in Africa presents a diverse and evolving landscape, with the continent possessing pockets of resilience, instead of a common agreed upon and ratified framework. This research report aims to highlight the state of cyber security in Africa, delving into legislative frameworks, cyber protocols, and responses. The world is changing, and with this change comes disruption, and disruption ultimately needs planning, you’re either at the table or on the menu. The report utilises South Africa, Kenya, and Ethiopia as case study countries to drive analysis into the disruptions and threats posed to the cyber landscape. The sophistication of cyber threats, which include ransomware and fraud coupled with disparities in cyber security capabilities across sectors and countries persist across the continent. Cybercrimes and cyber sabotage in the case of South Africa draw upon the close correlation between macroeconomic stability and cyber security, while geo-political tensions such as in the case studies of Kenya and Ethiopia show how states have begun a flirtation with cyber tools with the objective of pursuing foreign policy objectives.
Teachers’ Perceptions of Personal Wellbeing during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Exploration of Job Demands and Job Resources
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Ganasen, Shenay; Amod, Zaytoon
Teachers are the frontline workers of the education system, and their wellbeing is important for several reasons. Firstly, it is a priority in and of itself. Secondly, it influences the wellbeing and learning of learners (Collie & Martin, 2020; Harding et al., 2019). Lastly, it contributes greatly to the quality of education delivered in schools and hence, the overall success of schools (Chen et al., 2020; Ozamiz-Etxebarria et al., 2021). Therefore, it is important to understand the way in which job characteristics of the teaching environment, such as job demands and job resources, influence teacher wellbeing. While previous literature has examined the influence of job demands and job resources on teacher wellbeing within the South African context, studies concerning the role of the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to teacher wellbeing are scarce. Therefore, this research aimed to explore teachers’ perceptions of wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic and the influence that job demands and job resources had on such perceptions. Interviews were conducted with eight teachers in the Johannesburg area to explore their perceptions and experiences of wellbeing, job demands and job resources during the pandemic. The findings of this research suggested that the teachers in this study perceived their wellbeing as compromised during the pandemic. Most of the participants found their job resources to be inadequate in meeting their job demands which seemed to bring about challenges with health, job performance and job satisfaction. The findings were supported by the JD-R Theory which shows the way in which a negative imbalance between job demands and job resources impacts health, satisfaction and hence, overall employee wellbeing. The implications and limitations of the study are discussed and recommendations for future research are made.
Giving voice: An analysis of the media’s reporting on the failed insurrection, looting and arson in July 2021 in South Africa.
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Masiza, Simphiwe
This dissertation explores what the dominant voices in the media coverage of the failed insurrection of July 2021 revealed about the ideologies at play? The research further probed what discourse and ideologies were revealed regarding the way the failed insurrection, looting, and arson that took place in July 2021 were covered. The dissertation provides a background discussion of the media landscape. It then discusses the relevant literature review focusing on issues of media voices, absence, representation, and underrepresentation of certain groups in the media. The research employed qualitative discourse analysis on forty (40) online articles. Furthermore, it tested the findings using a radical democratic, symbolic annihilation and a political economy of the media theoretical framework. The limitations of the research surfaced due to the reliance on daily publications such as the Daily Sun, Sowetan as well and the Independent Online articles (IOL) mainly because weekend publications such as the Sunday Times provided limited data as they reported on the events outside the focal dates. Dependence on mainstream data rather than a balance between community and national was a further limitation. The analysis pointed to media content that is classed and ideologically mediated, it also indicated that the plurality of voices encouraged by the main theoretical framework of radical democracy is highly compromised and some groups are more visible than others. As guided by the research questions the dissertation revealed various ideologies and discourses and concluded that those that were preferred by the media were mainly dominated by the elite or privileged members of society.
Towards a theatre of the fabulous - informed by a performative queer autoethnography on the stage of an all-boys’ school
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Kotze, Sophocles
As a queer teacher who felt discomfort in the homogeneousness of a traditional heteronormative space of an all-boys’ school, in this research, I explore the extent to which a performative queer autoethnography can inform the creation of a Theatre of the Fabulous (an embodied queer pedagogy), what it could look like and how it could be used as a queer pedagogical tool in the classroom through which to identify heteronormative practices and, ultimately, move towards a space which is safe for queerness. My strategy was to draw on queer theory and thinking about queer pedagogical writing. I hypothesised that heteronormativity, patriarchal and colonial practices are evident in all- boys’ schools (Connell, 2000; Pollack, 2006; Sullivan, 1995) and that, as a queer teacher, my movements are made queer. I used performance as research (PaR) as a methodology, with performative writing, in this work. Deeply exploring the personal, theoretical and practitioner’s journey, and understanding the narration itself as performance as research, this research is structured through six acts and different scenes rather than the traditional chapters and sections. As a Dramatic Arts teacher, I am programmed to see “all the [world as] a stage, and all the men and women [sic] merely players”3 and my queer reality as a linear theatre text filled with plot and intrigue. This format allowed me to express myself, stylistically and typographically, through not only academic/scholarly reading and writing, but also through the inclusion of interesting quotes I came across in my journey towards a Theatre of the Fabulous, musings and asides about my
Contested Subjectivities in Textual and Visual Representations of Jacob Zuma
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Makupula, Siwongiwe Chumani; Musila, Grace A.
This MA research report studies visual, textual and musical portrayals of former South African president, Jacob Zuma. The study was undertaken through an analysis of material categorised into three genres: biography, music, and visual culture. In the category of biography, I looked at Jeremy Gordin’s Zuma: A Biography (2006) and Redi Tlhabi’s Khwezi: The Remarkable Story of Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo (2017). I was particularly interested in the ways Zuma’s public rape trial is presented as an obstacle in Gordin’s Zuma and as a centripetal force in Tlhabi’s Khwezi. From this, I demonstrated the ways these representations of Zuma map gender constructions in South African politics. With music, I was interested in the ways the former president uses struggle songs to construct an image of victimhood while reminding the public about his personal sacrifices in South Africa’s armed struggle I further looked at the ways maskandi music, through ethnonationalist logics, endorsed a “militant” Zuma. Lastly, I looked at Zuma as a heroic figure in amapiano and the ways that communicates Black exigencies in peri-urban South Africa. In the last category, visual culture, I looked at the slipperiness of parody in a country overdetermined by a history of racial tension. I explore the strengths of the portraits and where they offer poignant criticism of the former president. Three of the four portraits are inspired by the predatory sexuality covered in the first chapter while one, “Umshini Wam” is inspired by opportunist and self-serving practices of Zulu culture explored in the chapter on music. I demonstrate that even with these conditions, the erect Black penis is inadvertently harmful. As this should suggest, the three chapters outline three different paradigms to conflicts of subjectivity in post-apartheid South Africa. The first chapter takes a gender studies approach to map violent masculinity performances while trying to locate the place of women in these spectacular displays of [ethno] nationalism. The second chapter, where we study visual portrayals, focuses on class and race as the guiding categories of analysis. We argue that with South Africa’s complicated and violent colonial then apartheid history, racialized exchanges are inevitably charged with a range of discourses. This chapter argues that the “rainbow-nation” narrative prevents South Africans from meaningful engagement with histories of racial and economic formations and this lack manifests itself in negative social exchanges that are inadvertently harmful and potentially retraumatizing. In the final chapter, our guiding paradigm is ethno-cultural codes of social organizing. These guiding or dominant paradigms do not exist 6 exclusively as is evident in the final chapter where gender is an operative category in tandem with ethnic and class subjectivities. As such, this report argues that these categories infuse each other and manifest as complicated mixtures in all three genres studied.
Exploring early-stage digital transformation in secondary mathematics education
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Mata, Songezo; Abrahams, Lucienne
Research problem: Digital transformation or technology integration in secondary mathematics education in South Africa is at an early stage. Technology integration can be used in either an enhanced manner (substitution or augmentation) or a transformational manner (modification or redefinition) as described by the substitution-augmentation-modification-redefinition (SAMR) model. The enhancement level is regarded as the early stage in this research study. Previous studies on South African schools have not thoroughly investigated the data and dimensions associated with shifting digital transformation in secondary mathematics education beyond the early stage. Hence, this study investigates the use of digital technologies for teaching mathematics in secondary schools, which are critical for the deep conceptual understanding needed for better education outcomes. Method/approach: Grounded in a social constructivist approach, this qualitative study undertook two complementary case studies. Western Cape Education Department (WCED) and Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) schools were examined via semi-structured interviews, participant observations, and document analysis to collect the necessary data. This was done to examine the study’s four dimensions, namely the digital skills of educators, digital leadership, digital infrastructure, and the digital teaching experience. The data were collected purposefully from key secondary mathematics stakeholders (teachers, district officials, academics, local development agency officials, and independent experts) in the Western Cape and Gauteng provinces. The study explored the early use of dynamic software applications – GeoGebra and Geometer’s Sketchpad, amongst others. Findings: The findings from the two case studies identified the need for (i) a holistic digital transformation in the secondary mathematics environment framework; (ii) an appropriate governance structure for digital education policy design, implementation, and monitoring; (iii) a continuous evolving technical architecture; and (iv) a focus on digital pedagogy for mathematics, to shift digital transformation in secondary mathematics beyond the early stage. Conclusions: The use of digital technologies such as Excel, GeoGebra, and Geometer’s Sketchpad in a transformational manner for teaching mathematics in secondary schools is linked to the promotion of deep conceptual understanding for the improvement of mathematics education outcomes. Based on the data analysis, the study proposed a digital transformation in secondary mathematics education 2022 (DT-SME 2022) framework as a theoretical and practice-oriented framework for South Africa. The study theorises that shifting digital transformation in secondary mathematics education beyond the early stage can be facilitated by applying the DT-SME 2022 framework, which advocates (i) the kinds of intermediate and advanced digital skills that are crucial for the successful implementation of digitally supported teaching of secondary school-level mathematics; (ii) attention to digital leadership, including the establishment of a formal governance structure for the participation of all stakeholders during the design, implementation, and monitoring of digital education policy; (iii) an effective technical architecture to address connectivity issues; and (iv) a constructive and enjoyable digital teaching experience that encourages learning-centred pedagogical approaches.
The Heart Experience: A Study of Poetry and Piety in Methodist Hymnody in the Eighteenth Century in Britain
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Worster, Starr Liane; Houliston, Victor
This study engages in an exploration of the poetics of Methodist hymnody of the eighteenth century in Britain focusing on Charles Wesley, William Williams and Ann Griffiths. Throughout, the reference point is that of the heart experience which shapes the hymns both in terms of poetic expression and theological belief. Methodism was – and is – above all, an experiential faith, a faith of not only knowing but also feeling God and it is in this confluence of knowledge and emotion that the hymnists of the eighteenth century gave voice to what was for all of them a spiritual pilgrimage. It is a confluence which inspired and informed the hymns, and which is brought to bear on the examination of what John Wesley calls the ‘Spirit’ of poetry and piety at the core of this study. The transforming power of Methodism on British society is universally accepted. John Wesley’s preaching, ministry and organisational abilities were key, but as much as hearing the spoken word played a major role in evangelisation so, too, did the sung hymns of Charles Wesley and others like him. Their poetic expressions of spirituality served to inspire, to encourage, to teach but, most of all, to bring people together in shared worship of their God. The hymns were both a personal articulation of Christian faith and the spiritual journey and an inclusive means of expression for all believers. Charles Wesley, a founder of Methodism along with his brother, John, gave to the movement an enduring channel of evangelism, testimony and testament to the power and love of God through the creative output of his hymns. They emerge out of the context of a spirituality that was focused and devotional; the poetry in his hymns became a means to express praise and reverence to God, and the communication of his faith and religious experience was underscored, in every instance, by his linguistic, thematic and stylistic choices. Charles Wesley was at the forefront of hymnody as it manifested in eighteenth- century Britain although certain figures, namely William Williams and, at the end of the century, Ann Griffiths, became the voices of a Welsh hymnic expression. While Charles Wesley and Williams were evangelists as well as poets, Griffiths wrote to convey her deeply personal and mystic experience of God; all three, nonetheless, used the hymn form to articulate poetically the experience and intensity of emotion in the journey of faith. Methodism’s religion of the heart is at the forefront of all its creeds, its mission, its ministry, but nowhere is this more evident than in its hymns. It is in the consideration of the manifestation and poetic functionality of that heart experience that the crux of this thesis lies.
Towards a theatre of the fabulous - informed by a performative queer autoethnography on the stage of an all-boys’ school
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Kotze, Sophocles; Kumarswamy, Manola-Gayatri
As a queer teacher who felt discomfort in the homogeneousness of a traditional heteronormative space of an all-boys’ school, in this research, I explore the extent to which a performative queer autoethnography can inform the creation of a Theatre of the Fabulous (an embodied queer pedagogy), what it could look like and how it could be used as a queer pedagogical tool in the classroom through which to identify heteronormative practices and, ultimately, move towards a space which is safe for queerness. My strategy was to draw on queer theory and thinking about queer pedagogical writing. I hypothesised that heteronormativity, patriarchal and colonial practices are evident in all- boys’ schools (Connell, 2000; Pollack, 2006; Sullivan, 1995) and that, as a queer teacher, my movements are made queer. I used performance as research (PaR) as a methodology, with performative writing, in this work. Deeply exploring the personal, theoretical and practitioner’s journey, and understanding the narration itself as performance as research, this research is structured through six acts and different scenes rather than the traditional chapters and sections. As a Dramatic Arts teacher, I am programmed to see “all the [world as] a stage, and all the men and women [sic] merely players”3 and my queer reality as a linear theatre text filled with plot and intrigue. This format allowed me to express myself, stylistically and typographically, through not only academic/scholarly reading and writing, but also through the inclusion of interesting quotes I came across in my journey towards a Theatre of the Fabulous, musings and asides about my
Studies on the chemistry and biochemistry of gold(III) carboxamide pincer chelates
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024-06) Razuwika, Rufaro; Nowakowska, Monika; Mathura, adhna
Cancer, a group of diseases characterised by the uncontrollable growth of abnormal or mutated cells within an organ, is a global concern. Metallodrugs have emerged as promising solutions to this pandemic, leading to intense research on different metal complexes. In this study, gold(III) carboxamide pincer complexes were evaluated as potential chemotherapeutic agents. The novel NNN-type carboxamide pincer molecules (ligands) effectively stabilising the gold(III) metal centre. The strong σ-donor properties of both the anionic and pyridine N groups further enhanced this stability. Ligands 1a-1f exhibited atropisomerism, a common feature in drug discovery, and containing special heterocycles such as quinolones, indazole, benzophenone, and phenanthroline, which are particularly relevant in drug development. Atropisomerism, however, was lost upon metalation of the ligands. Three complexes, 2d, 2e, and 2f, were successfully synthesised and isolated. Complex 2d was subjected to biochemical property testing and in vitro analysis due to its superior stability and solubility compared to 2e (poor stability) and 2f (poor solubility in the buffer solution used in the study). Speciation studies, combined with computational studies, suggested that 2d exists as a neutral complex under physiological conditions. This inert complex demonstrated stability against the reducing agent glutathione, indicating resilience to reduction under physiological conditions. DNA spectroscopic titration studies revealed that 2d exhibited intensive interaction with ct-DNA, with binding constants Ka1 = 1.48 x109 M-1 and Ka2 = 6.59 x105 M-1. This interaction resulted in a notable increase in the DNA melting point by 4 °C and an enhancement in viscosity in a dose-responsive manner. The DNA titrations, melting point, and viscosity studies suggested a dual binding mode of 2d to ct-DNA, involving base binding with a nearly equal preference for A, T, G, and C bases, and groove binding. Complex 2d exhibited a high affinity towards the transport protein HSA (Ka values were 1.57 x104 M-1), suggesting that it can be transported in the body by means of the HSA-mediated pathway, enhancing its efficacy and stability. In comparison to its affinity towards DNA, there is a significant difference allowing for the successful transfer of 2d from HSA to DNA. The poor solubility of complex 2d in aqueous environments may have hindered its cellular uptake, but binding to HSA could mitigate this, ensuring minimal interference with its cytotoxicity towards different cancer cell lines. MTT studies demonstrated that 2d has comparable cytotoxicity towards the breast cancer cell line MCF-7 with an IC50 of 9 µM. The IC50 for HT-29 was, however, too high to measure accurately (>100 µM). In conclusion, complex 2d exhibits promising anticancer properties based on its DNA binding studies and cytotoxicity evaluations. This suggests that this class of compounds can be applied in cancer treatments, with potential modifications to compounds 2e and 2f to improve their solubility and stability.

4. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - Faculties submissions

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