Faculty of Humanities (ETDs)

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Start date: 1990Subject: search.filters.subject.SDG-4: Quality education

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    What is called literature? Heidegger, responsive figuration, and the aspect of be-ing
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Van Niekerk, Marthinus Christoffel; Williams, Merle
    From the metaphysical orientation of Western thinking, being is understood as presence, truth as correspondence, and language as representation. This understanding inclines reflections on the nature of literature towards the question “What is literature?”, and calls for responses that seek determinative commonalities between literary objects. In this thesis, I attempt a different approach to the being of literature, prompted by Heidegger’s thinking, which understands being dynamically and non-substantively as the self-withholding clearing which grants beings their appearance. Language does not unfold primarily in meaningful references between objects, but in dis-closure; it responds to the aspect of be-ing, showing beings in their being by showing the possibility of meaninglessness in every appearance. This is what clears and holds open a reach for referential play. Language therefore entails a response to the self-withholding of being, and in that sense itself speaks. In this light, “What is called literature?” becomes a question concerning how being calls on language to respond as literature, and human beings are called on to participate responsively in this dialogue. Two different but interconnected ways in which literature calls are investigated. On the one hand, literature promises a reach of discursive representability; it demands the disclosure of beings as orderable and immediately available. On the other hand, literature figures a rift, a drawing in the sense both of a meaningfully gathered marking, and of a drawing open which draws away. I read William Blake’s The First Book of Urizen to trace how it literalizes the tension between these callings of literature. It figures a rift, and puts into play a differencing relation between a poetic attunement to delay and non-arrival, and the demand for arrival arising from its positioning within the realm of discursive availability which characterizes the contemporary field of literature.
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    Core Academic Language Skills in Grade 6 South African Learners
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) MacFarlane, Marco Vincenzo William; Moonsamy, Sharon; Dison, Laura; Kern, Anwynne
    This research validates a construct that describes cross-disciplinary Core Academic Language Skills (CALS) for use in South African schools, and argues for its use as an underpinning instructional framework. The construct was derived from a novel instrument aimed at testing a constellation of school-relevant English language skills which was developed and validated for use in the United States. The unitary construct tested by this instrument was dubbed CALS and it aimed to describe the set of skills that comprise academic language proficiency. CALS has been described as “knowledge and deployment of a repertoire of language forms and functions that co-occur with oral and written schooling tasks across disciplines” (Uccelli et. al, 2015a, p. 1077). The overall aim of this research was to ascertain if the CALS construct can be used to validly assess learners from different linguistic backgrounds in South Africa, and further if the fully operationalised skillset can be used as a basis for instruction in the discrete academic language skills described. A range of national and international assessments have shown that South African learners perform at the lower end of the spectrum on language and mathematical skills, and it seems that the disparity between the language status of the population and the language of schooling is a core determinant of the poor scores attained by South African learners. This thesis was completed by publication, with four linked articles that addressed each of the related sub-questions. In order to determine if the CALS construct was appropriate for use in South Africa, the first article (Chapter 3) localised and piloted a version of the CALS instrument for use in South Africa – resulting in the CALS-I-ZA assessment instrument. The second article (Chapter 4) deals with the crucial question of whether the CALS construct is related to academic outcomes in South Africa – and this chapter shows the link between the 6 scores obtained on the CALS-I-ZA and the Gauteng provincial Common Examinations. The predictive relationship between CALS and Academic Results (as proxied by the Common Examinations) was shown to be robust. The final empirical part of the work (Chapter 5), investigates if the CALS-I-ZA instrument shows a different pattern of functioning when used to assess first-language English learners (L1) and non-first-language English learners (L2). Surprisingly, the CALS-I-ZA instrument showed robust functioning and a strong predictive relationship with school outcomes when used to assess both L1 and L2 learners. Chapter 6 represents the final article in this thesis which consists of a brief meta-analysis of the previous work on CALS detailed in this thesis as well as by other researchers working on this construct. This article makes the argument for a cautious use of CALS as the basis for a form of CALS-informed instruction that could be employed for use in South African classrooms, while retaining a critical awareness of the deeply problematic nature of the mismatch between the Language of Learning and Teaching (LoLT) and the linguistic profile of the majority of South African learners.
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    Seeking joy – Between Secrecy and Silence in a white Afrikaner Home
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Greyling, Marcia Elizabeth; Goliath, Gabrielle; Christopher, Natasha
    This mapping practice reveals how biomythography, theoretical enquiry and making can reveal a complex narrative of Afrikaner whiteness and its relationship to silence and secrecy. Themes of secrets and silences indicate the discomfort of witnessing discrimination and by virtue of speaking out, facing rejection and alienation along with those you defended. The image of the unhappy queer child speaking out at the dinner table against the “in group” is employed as visual metaphor. Self-portraiture finds expression in self-writing, performance and transgressive acts representing the tools acquired in my search for a self-affirming identity. My practice is an intentional repetition symbolising therapeutic disclosures; often repeated through voicing in order to work through trauma. A confessional divulges itself, both hidden yet exposed. A haunting insidiousness manifesting as what is not disclosed relates to concealment, protecting family secrets and the silencing repercussions of truth seeking and fearless speech. Opening up a conversation, this writing does not desire to suggest answers about changing whiteness as bad habit. Rather, I bring what is lurking in the background of white actions to the family table for an open disclosure. I am the source of the family’s dis-ease as I reveal a difficult, painful and uncomfortable conversation in which we must face our whiteness. In this explorative manner I keep open the force of this critical engagement and invite participation in this reparative work. I examine how we are stuck in the bad habit of whiteness as a study of self. Through this self-determined act, may I find joy.
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    Composing Speech: Investigation and Application of Musical Expression Embedded in Spoken Language
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Du Plessis, Marc; Harris, Cameron; Crossley, Jonathan
    This dissertation explores the musical potential of emotive expression in cut-up speech sounds. Cut-up is a twentieth-century technique with roots in Dadaism in which one cuts “pre-existing material into radical juxtapositions” (BBC, 2015), made popular in literature by William Burroughs in the 1950s and 60s. Speech is used primarily to communicate information relating to the world around us, but it operates sonically. Therefore, it has inherent parameters that can be manipulated to inform how information is received. The ability to manipulate the inherent sonic parameters of speech is one way in which it can be emotively coded. Sung vocals with lyrical content in music differ from speech in that the roles of information communication and the manipulation of the sonic parameters are reversed. Where speech relies on the manipulation of sonic parameters to augment or diminish the information being conveyed, sung vocals that utilise lyrical content rely on the semantic content to augment or diminish the sonic characteristics of the voice. Sung vocals could therefore be thought of as sonic utterances that are semantically coded. These inherent parameters are shared by music as it also operates in the sonic realm. The researcher used electronic music production techniques to isolate the shared parameters between music and speech (pitch, rhythm, timbre, and dynamics), and composed expressive, accessible, and engaging musical works based on these parameters. Digital music technology has the capacity to explore the limitations of sonic expression, due to its capacity to manipulate recorded sound waves. Therefore, it equipped the researcher with the necessary tools to manipulate cut-up speech sounds with compositional intent. The objective of this research was to compose musical works that drew from popular music styles, with an aesthetic focus on rich, timbrally expressive vocal material created from recordings of speech, to understand the expressive capabilities of the chosen raw material (speech sounds). The methodological procedure was to record speech from various sources, edit (cut-up) the phrases to create brief clips that were divorced from semantic signification, present the edited clips to an audience, and analyse their responses. The researcher used the insights from this analytical process to inform the use of the same speech sounds in the compositional practice. The researcher presented 26 examples (brief composed cut-ups of speech sounds) to 45 participants in a survey group and eight South African music industry professionals in one-on-one interviews. The responses yielded qualitative data that was analysed using thematic coding, followed by statistical analysis using Spearman’s rank v correlation (1904). The results provided vague answers to the primary research questions, but ultimately supplied the researcher with various qualitative interpretations of how the speech sounds expressed meaning in a cut-up context. This informed the researcher’s creative practice in the musical application of cut-up speech. Although the interpretation of the qualitative data did not result in definitive answers to the research questions, the aim of this research to explore the musical application of emotive expression in speech was achieved. The understanding that a listener experiences music in an inter-subjective and inter-contextual manner, combined with the expressive nature of the raw materials, liberated the researcher to compose expressive music without the need to know each listener’s subjective experience of expression.
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    An exploration into the verbal and non-verbal social use of the Sepedi language in the Pedi culture
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Mogolane, Mamaila Joyce; Neille, Joanne; Sher, Jenna
    Background: People of the Pedi culture place great value on their culture and maintaining their cultural ways. They specifically place great value and take pride in adhering to their culture in the manner in which they communicate verbally and non-verbally. Little is however documented about the ways in which verbal and non-verbal language is used socially, and the rules that govern social use of language especially across generations and genders in the Pedi culture. Methodology: This research study aimed to explore how verbal and non-verbal social communication is used in the home context by Pedi families. A qualitative research design was employed, underpinned by the principles of direct participant observations and semi-structured interviews. A total number of 22 participants from seven families were the sample size, and non-probability purposive sampling was utilised. The obtained data were analysed through thematic analysis. Results: The results showed how Pedi people engage in social communication in a variety of social contexts, and when practicing their beliefs, utilising norms dictated by their culture. The themes that emerged included respect as a form of communication in the Pedi culture, as well as how verbal language is used when initiating topics, providing input, and during conflict resolution. Pragmatics does exist in the Pedi culture, as they have cultural rules that govern their social execution of verbal and non-verbal communication, however, it is not termed pragmatics. Conclusion: The findings of this study contribute to the understanding of how verbal and non- verbal language is used in the Pedi culture, and are concerned with igniting further interest into how language is used verbally and non-verbally in other African cultures found within the South African context. Implications and recommendations: There is clear necessity for SLPs to develop a thorough understanding of how verbal and non-verbal language is used in African cultures, so as to apply this knowledge when providing services. The body of knowledge about pragmatics, particularly, what pragmatics is defined as in African languages is lacking. Research in this area is thus needed
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    Memory, Trauma and Narrative in Yvonne Vera’s The Stone Virgins and Delia Jarrett-Macauley’s Moses, Citizen &Me
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Mtongana, Lutho Siphe; Musila, Grace A.
    The notion of memory is a core fabric of identity and navigating human life both at individual level and collective levels. Therefore, when everyday life is disrupted by traumatic events such as wartime conflict, individual and shared memory becomes highly contested, especially when subaltern voices compete with dominant narratives. This thesis explores the role and power of memory in narrating trauma and violence in Yvonne Vera’s The Stone Virgins (2002) and Delia Jarrett-Macauley’s Moses, Citizen & Me (2005). By depicting how memory is at the centre of both texts, the study interrogates the ways in which the authors use memory as a narrative device to mediate healing, reconciliation and reintegration, or as a weapon of silencing survivors of traumatic wartime experiences. Using Sigmund Freud’s argument that trauma manifests both at the moment of distressing event and at the moment of recall of that event, the thesis interrogates the ways in which Vera and Jarrett-Macauley narrate trauma by cross mapping the representation of the Gukurahundi civil war in Zimbabwe and the decade-long civil war in Sierra Leone to the national politics of the respective countries. I argue that while the authors’ approaches to historical conflict differ — with Jarrett-Macauley utilising an expatriate narrator who takes on the role of mediation while Vera draws on history, art and landscape — both authors are concerned with inventing alternative routes to stitching together forms of multidirectional memory.
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    Social workers’ experiences of providing psychosocial support to learners in foster care in Merafong city, Gauteng during the covid-19 pandemic
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Balopedi, Karabo Mpho
    The South African government attempted to curb a second wave of COVID-19 by banning activities individuals used as their coping mechanisms during the peak of the pandemic. This created a period of heightened stress which resulted in the increase in need for psychosocial services. Social workers within the Department of Social Development, were part of the individuals tasked with rendering psychosocial services. The aim of the study was to explore social workers’ experiences of providing psychosocial support to learners in foster care during the COVID-19 pandemic in Merafong City, Gauteng. It was a qualitative study, that was exploratory in nature following an instrumental case study design. The ecological perspective guided the study. The method of data collection was semi-structured interviews using a semi- structured interview guide as the research tool. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the 10 social workers who meet the inclusion criteria. The collected data was analysed using thematic analysis. The findings revealed that there was lack of resources and no preparation or training to deal with the pandemic. There was also a fear of the virus being spread by social workers amongst themselves and to clients. The study also revealed that social workers needed to find alternative ways to provide services by being flexible, creative and adaptable to the new normal. The findings contribute to the South African knowledge base about the psychosocial support needs of social workers who render psychosocial services within traumatic circumstances like a pandemic. The identified gaps provide research opportunities for government and academics.
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    Exploring the Anti-Bildungsroman in Kopano Matlwa’s Coconut (2007) and Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani’s I Do Not Come to You by Chance (2009)
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Shirinde, Karabelo; Musila, G.A
    This study uses the term anti-bildungsroman to reference African post-colonial counter-discursive novels that reconfigure the conventions of the classical bildungsroman. The anti-bildungsroman allows post-colonial writers to ‘talk back’ to empire by claiming narrative forms and structures that have historically centred the bourgeois white male protagonist. This research study explores how the anti-bildungsroman centres post-colonial protagonists’ coming of age in environments deeply affected by colonialism. The study examined the extent to which the coming-of-age novels Coconut (2007) by Kopano Matlwa and I Do Not Come to You By Chance (2009) by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani reconfigure the traditional bildungsroman format to constitute an African counter discourse. The study examines themes tied to the protagonists’ social condition that influence their environment and shaped their daily experiences; the narrative structure and characterology which determined how the structural plots and goals of socialisation are reconfigured; and the historical, socio-political and cultural contexts in which the respective narratives are set, which take into consideration the history of colonialism, contemporary impacts of neoliberalism, and the struggles of nation-building within post-independent states. The study concludes that Coconut (2007) and I Do Not Come to You By Chance (2009) are forms of anti-bildungsroman which express the challenges associated with coming of age in countries stained by the ramifications of colonialism. Matlwa and Nwaubani reject the ideological premises of the classical bildungsroman genre which is tied to European bourgeois subjectivity. Instead, they reconfigure the classical coming of age story in the context of the aftermath of empire.
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    To regulate or not to regulate South African podcasts? A qualitative study on cultural expression
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Theledi, Kamogelo Tinyiko; Mavhungu, Johanna
    This research is a qualitative study that explores the grey area of podcast regulation in South Africa. Furthermore, this study assesses the role played by platform and government policies in the cultural expression of South African podcasts. The study undertakes the constructivism worldview as it looks at the podcast phenomenon through the lens of three podcasts. This research employs a qualitative multi-case study approach, and interviews are conducted with following case studies to achieve its objectives; Volume Africa, King David Studio and Nkululeko n Cultr podcasts. The aim of this research is to traverse to what extent has the influence of the non- regulation of South African podcasts had on cultural expression as well as to assess the role that government as well as platform policies play in the cultural expression of these podcasts. In the past 10 years podcasting has expanded rapidly as a popular cultural phenomenon, in particular, South African podcasts have allowed for the documenting and dissecting of cultural and societal issues (Mkhabela 2021). African podcasters use a variety of techniques and formats to showcase their shows ranging from diverse heritage, language, culture, and style. This study finds that the regulation of podcasts has become a mammoth task for South African broadcasting regulatory bodies. The study has also found that regulatory frameworks like those found in the Film and Publications Amendment Act of 2019 have become more reactive than proactive when regulating podcasts. Even though podcasts do not fall into the traditional broadcasting parameters, they still face some restrictions and regulations enforced by audiences, advertisers, and social media platforms.
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    Navigating Liminal Space: Embodied Knowledge within Performance Pedagogies in Archival Reconstruction
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Ramsay, Fiona
    I am a performing artist and actor existing in a liminal space because although I am African (in that I was born in, live, and work in Africa), I am caught in an in- between space, somewhere on a continuum straddling Western and African heritages. My practice developed in a culturally complicated context during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s in South Africa amid turbulent social tensions and complex, intricate and problematic interactions in a culturally divided society within a political system that legally prohibited cultural engagement. I revisit the archive of my work that emerged during my career to examine the methodology which developed and interrogated the shifts and attempts toward a decolonised practice. Awareness of cultures beyond our own can advance comprehensive views of humanity, promote cultural sensitivity and an appreciation of diversity, encourage rigorous critical thinking by questioning stereotypes, increase global connection and contribute to inclusive decolonised curricula. I am situated in this complicated space on a continuum between identities, and I acknowledge this has contributed to my practice. The premise of becoming or transforming into an ‘other’ is a fundamental principle and skill of acting in the tradition I was schooled in but less valued in others. Reflecting on the archive of my work, I examine the process that developed and analysed both broad liminal spaces and more focused liminal nodes that facilitate transformations to inhabit and perform various roles. I investigate the disruptions that occur in these when accessing unfamiliar cultural frames. Theatre, specifically, and the arts, more generally, are partly derived from borrowing or laying claim to previous discoveries, and my archive reflects the work out of which my practice has grown. I navigate this continuum and exist in and not independently from this Western and African complexity. I raise contemporary issues that share relationships with theories of identity and a complicated political history. I examine how these shape my practice and how the findings may be included and contribute to developing and refining teaching methods and curricula in the postcolony.