2024-03-29T09:23:10Zhttps://uir.unisa.ac.za/oai/requestoai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/173342018-11-17T13:05:31Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
A study of the presentation of women in the novels of Barbara Pym
Blair, Cairn Fiona
Byrne, D. C. (Deirdre C.)
Presentation of women
Pym's novel's
Women characters
Pym's heroines
Excellent women
Pym's spinsters
Formidable and fallen women
In this dissertation I attempt an evaluation of Barbara Pym as a feminist writer. I study
the central protagonists in Pym's twelve novels in the context of British society in the
1950s, 1960s and 1970s. I have drawn on feminist critical paradigms in my reading of
Pym's novels in order to highlight my insights into her women characters.
Chapter One examines Pym 's use of comedy and subversion in relation to her main
protagonists.
Chapter Two explores the 'Excellent Woman' figure in Pym's fiction and the issue of
spinsterhood.
Chapter Three scrutinises Pym's use of satire and tragedy in relation to her heroines.
Chapter Four investigates the emergence of the 'fallen' and 'formidable' women figures in
Pym's novels, and analyses the ageing spinster figure.
My conclusion is that Barbara Pym is a humanist feminist of some importance, who
succeeds in illuminating her heroines' struggles against patriarchy in the context of a
changing British society.
2015-01-23T04:25:02Z
2015-01-23T04:25:02Z
2015-01-23T04:25:02Z
1996-11
Dissertation
Blair, Cairn Fiona (1996) A study of the presentation of women in the novels of Barbara Pym, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/17334>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/17334
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/226062018-11-17T13:06:48Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
The effect of using DVD subtitles in English second-language vocabulary recognition and recall development
Carstens, Miranda
Lephalala, M. M. K.
Makina, Blandina Tabitha
Multimedia
Vocabulary recall and recognition
ESL
Subtitles
DVD's
The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of DVDs in enhancing student
vocabulary development in second-language contexts. To this end the study sought students’
perceptions of DVD subtitles and their level of vocabulary knowledge. It also examined the
extent to which watching a DVD with or without intralingual subtitles can improve students’
vocabulary recognition and recall. The literature review included a discussion on the variables
operant in second-language acquisition; the use of visual media on vocabulary learning; and
the effects of subtitling practices as a didactic tool for vocabulary recall and recognition. The
study adopted a mixed-method approach and data were collected through a survey and openended
questionnaire; a Vocabulary Levels Test; a Vocabulary Knowledge Scale Test; and
vocabulary intervention activities. The findings indicate that DVDs can enhance students’
vocabulary in second-language teaching and learning contexts. More importantly the study
confirms audio-visual images create greater sensory input that is, “words associated with actual
objects or imagery techniques, are learned more easily than those without” (Chun and Plass,
1996:183).
2017-05-29T09:57:48Z
2017-05-29T09:57:48Z
2017-05-29T09:57:48Z
2016-02
Dissertation
Carstens, Miranda (2016) The effect of using DVD subtitles in English second-language vocabulary recognition and recall development, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/22606>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/22606
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/98452021-01-15T06:35:42Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Tiyo Soga : man of four names
Davis, Joanne Ruth
Rabinowitz, Ivan Arthur
Rev. Tiyo Soga
South African literary theory
Nineteenth century writing
United Presbyterian church
Rev John Aitken Chalmers
Rev John Whittle Appleyard
Xhosa bible
Black consciousness theory
Proto Pan-Negroism
African missionary studies
Missionary studies South Africa
Transculturation
Ventriloquism
This study finds its place in a global resurgence of interest in the Reverend Tiyo 'Zisani' Soga's and nineteenth century black political activism. It attempts to deepen our inderstanding od Soga's global milieu and identity, providing an assessment of scholarship on Soga's life and commenting on the major critical works on Soga provided by Williams, de Kock and Attwell and addressing the question of his multiple identities. The thesis explores Soga's relationship with textuality to reveal the struggles he encountered during his career as an author, most especially as the translator of the Bible.
2013-06-10T12:06:36Z
2013-06-10T12:06:36Z
2013-06-10T12:06:36Z
2012-02
Thesis
Davis, Joanne Ruth (2012) Tiyo Soga : man of four names, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/9845>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/9845
en
University of South Africa
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/170612018-11-17T13:06:27Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Insubstantial pageants fading : a critical exploration of epiphanic discourse, with special reference to three of Robert Browning's major religious poems
Keep, Carol Julia
Harty, Edward Ronald
'Christmas-Eve'
'Easter-Day'
Epiphanic
Epiphany
Religious
Romantic
'La Saisiaz'
Robert Browning
'The Two Poets of Croisic'
Victorian
This dissertation examines the nature of epiphanic discourse in
three of Robert Browning's religious poems, namely, 'Christmas-
Eve', 'Easter-bay' and 'La Saisiaz'.
Chapter 1 investigates epiphany from religious, historical
and theoretical perspectives, followed by a discussion of
Browning's developing Christian beliefs. Chapters 2 and 3
explore the epiphanic moment in the companion poems, 'Christmas-
Eve' and 'Easter-Day'. Chapter 4 explores how the double epiphany
initiated from Browning's personal experience recounted in 'La
Saisiaz', finds its resolution in 'The Two Poets of Croisic'.
Browning's 'good minute' or 'infinite moment' originates
in Romanticism and reverberates into the twentieth century mainly
in the writing of James Joyce, who first used the word 'epiphany'
in its literary sense.
Because Browning's faith allowed continual interrogation of
Christian doctrine, his experience and reading of epiphanic
moments avoid any attempt at closure. Thus they offer the reader
both a human image for recognition and a coded legend for
individual interpretation
2015-01-23T04:24:52Z
2015-01-23T04:24:52Z
2015-01-23T04:24:52Z
1994-11
Dissertation
Keep, Carol Julia (1994) Insubstantial pageants fading : a critical exploration of epiphanic discourse, with special reference to three of Robert Browning's major religious poems, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/17061>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/17061
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/298652023-06-13T12:06:05Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Intergrating project-based learning and mobile technology to enhance first-year students' writing in English second language contexts: a case study of the University of Limpopo, South Africa
Choshi, Morongwa Adolphina
Lephalala, M. M. K.
Integration
Project-based learning
Mobile technology
English second language
Online collaborative learning
Mobile learning
Collaboration
Cellphones
Internet
Academic essay writing also known as student writing, tends to be a challenging task for first-year students in most universities worldwide and in particular for first-year students in English second language contexts in South Africa. This study sought to explore how an integrated project-based learning and mobile technology model can enhance student essay writing in an English second language context. This case study employed a qualitative research approach, and it is underpinned by the Online Collaborative Learning Theory which purports that collaborative learning and knowledge building using technology can promote effective learning. The sampling was purposive, and the data was collected through focus group interviews, observations, and student essays. The findings from the first phase of the study revealed that in general, the first-year English second language students found it difficult and challenging to write English academic essays. The findings from the second and third phases showed that while some students found the integrated project-based learning and mobile technology model challenging because they had very little experience of working collaboratively on a writing project, others, however, found the experience enriching. These students benefitted from the collaboration which involved, interacting, and sharing ideas in their groups, using mobile phones to search for sources as they debated on the relevance of the various sources before agreeing and deciding on the most appropriate and relevant information, then deciding on the best way to approach the essay writing task. To that end, because the students were actively engaged, justifying, and learning from each other, the group essays showed more depth, and the quality of writing was enhanced. The study recommends that the academic essay writing course should be compulsory for first-year English second language students, and it should incorporate the integrated project-based learning and mobile technology model because the students are required to not only focus on the essay writing, but they are also consciously and unconsciously expected to think about, rethink and justify their decisions and actions. This will entail the university amending its policies to allow the students to use their mobile phones in the classroom. In addition, the first-year English lecturers must be trained on how to effectively incorporate the integrated project-based learning and mobile technology model in their teaching to enhance the students’ academic essay writing competencies.
2023-03-08T08:01:20Z
2023-03-08T08:01:20Z
2023-03-08T08:01:20Z
2022-02
Thesis
https://hdl.handle.net/10500/29865
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/16512018-11-17T13:05:12Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Confrontations with the Anima in The Dispossessed, The Left Hand of Darkness, and Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin
Barrett, Mary Sarah
Byrne, D. C.
Journey
Collective unconscious
Jungian psychology
Ursula K. Le Guin
Fantasy
Science fiction
Individuation
Anima
Archetypes
Gender studies
This dissertation analyses the protagonists in The Dispossessed, The Left Hand of Darkness, and Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin, and looks at the extent to which they confront the Jungian archetype of the anima. I demonstrate that individuation and wisdom are not achieved in these characters until they confront the anima archetype within their individual psyches. I analyse the experiences and behaviour of each protagonist in order to identify anima confrontation (or lack thereof), and I seek to prove that such confrontation precipitates maturity and wisdom, which are goals of the hero's journey. The essential qualities of the anima archetype are wisdom, beauty and love. These qualities require acceptance of vulnerability. I argue that the protagonist is far from anima integration when he displays hatred and fear of vulnerability, and conclude that each protagonist is integrated with the anima when wisdom, beauty and love are evident in his character.
2009-08-25T10:55:16Z
2009-08-25T10:55:16Z
2009-08-25T10:55:16Z
2005-11
Dissertation
Barrett, Mary Sarah (2005) Confrontations with the Anima in The Dispossessed, The Left Hand of Darkness, and Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/1651>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/1651
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/221652018-11-17T13:06:57Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Face orientations in Athol Fugard's The road to Mecca, My Children! My Africa and Valley Song
Kikamba, Simao Luyikumu
Keuris, Marisa, 1958-
Adjacency pairs
Athol Fugard
Face
Facework
Face-threatening-acts (FTAs)
Implicatures
Politeness
Turn-taking
This dissertation seeks to address the multiple ways face or one’s public self-image is attacked, supported and maintained in Athol Fugard’s The Road to Mecca, My Children! My Africa! and Valley Song, and through this discussion demonstrate how the notion of face can make a contribution to the study and understanding of Athol Fugard’s work. In the pursuit of their goals/objectives, interactants perform speech acts which may threaten the face of other participants. The choice of strategies available to participants in the performance of these face-threatening acts (FTAs) includes going on record, off record (indirectly) or avoiding the FTA altogether (saying nothing). Each text offers a fresh perspective from which face can be analysed: rebelliousness against conformism (The Road to Mecca); the perspective of the cross-racial, cross-cultural relationships (My Children! My Africa!); and the context of a closely-knit family relationship (Valley Song).
2017-03-16T14:40:27Z
2017-03-16T14:40:27Z
2017-03-16T14:40:27Z
2016-10
Dissertation
Kikamba, Simao Luyikumu (2016) Face orientations in Athol Fugard's The road to Mecca, My Children! My Africa and Valley Song, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/22165>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/22165
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/22672018-11-17T13:05:21Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Inventions and transformations : an exploration of
mythification and remythification in four contemporary novels
Slabbert, Mathilda
Viljoen, L. (Prof.)
kakolwk@unisa.ac.za
Election and initiation
Shamanism
Sin and guilt
Scapegoats
Ritual
Fantasy
Sacred and ancient myth
Theory of ideology
Political myth
Christian mythology
Peltic pagan mythology
Myth criticism
Mythopoesis
Remythification
Mythification
Myth transformation
The reading of four contemporary novels, namely: Credo by Melvyn Bragg, The Catastrophist by Ronan Bennett, Everything You Need by A.L. Kennedy and American Gods by Neil Gaiman explores the prominent position of mythification and remythification in contemporary literature. The discussion of Bragg's novel examines the significance of Celtic mythology and folklore and to what extent it influenced Christian mythology on the British Isles and vice versa. The presentation of the transition from a cyclical, pagan to a linear, Christian belief system is analysed. My analysis of Bennett's novel supports the observation that political myth as myth transformed contains elements and qualities embodied by sacred myths and investigates the relevance of Johan Degenaar's observation that "[p]ostmodernism emphasises the fact that myth is an ambiguous phenomenon" and practices an attitude of "eternal vigilance" (1995: 47), as is evident in the main protagonist's dispassionate stance. My reading of Kennedy's novel explores the bond that myth creates between the artist and the audience and argues that the writer as myth creator fulfils a restorative function through the mythical and symbolic qualities embedded in literature. Gaiman's novel American Gods focuses on the function of meta/multi-mythology in contemporary literature (especially the fantasy genre) and on what these qualities reveal about a society and its concerns and values. The thesis contemplates how in each case the original myths were substituted, modulated or transfigured to be presented as metamyth or myth transformed.
The analysis shows that myth can be used in various ways in literature: as the data or information that is recreated and transformed in the creative process to establish a common matrix of stories, symbols, images and motifs which represents a bond between the author and the reader in terms of the meaning-making process; to facilitate a spiritual enrichment in a demythologized world and for its restorative abilities. The study is confirmed by detailed mythical reference.
2009-08-25T11:02:01Z
2009-08-25T11:02:01Z
2009-08-25T11:02:01Z
2009-08-25T11:02:01Z
Thesis
Slabbert, Mathilda (2009) Inventions and transformations : an exploration of
mythification and remythification in four contemporary novels, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/2267>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/2267
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/10622018-11-17T13:05:18Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Ancient quarrels and current perspectives in the relationship between poetry and philosophy
Verwey, Len
Weinberg, Alan M. (Alan Mendel)
Poetry
Philosophy
Representation
Metaphor
Concept
Post-structuralism
Reference
Language-game
Meaning
Use
Beginning with Plato's expulsion of the poets in the Republic, this dissertation
looks at the often hostile, yet also symbiotic, relationship between poetry and
philosophy. Aristotle's 'response' to Plato is regarded as a significant origin of
literary theory. Nietzsche's critique of Western philosophy as being an attempt to
suppress its own metaphoricity, leads to a revaluation of truth and consequently
of the privileging of philosophy over poetry. Post-structuralism sometimes
overemphasizes this constitutive force of metaphoricity, at the expense of
conceptual modes. However, Derrida's notion of philosophy as play retains a
balance between concept and metaphor: there is no attempt to transcendentally
ground philosophy, but neither is it reduced to a merely metaphorical discourse.
Finally, Wittgenstein's notion of meaning as determined by use can help us
distinguish pragmatically between poetry and philosophy by looking at the
contexts in which they function.
2009-08-25T10:49:16Z
2009-08-25T10:49:16Z
2009-08-25T10:49:16Z
2009-08-25T10:49:16Z
Dissertation
Verwey, Len (2009) Ancient quarrels and current perspectives in the relationship between poetry and philosophy, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/1062>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/1062
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/158482018-11-17T13:04:56Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
The odyssey of Dune : epic, archetype and the collective unconscious
Rafala, Carmelo
Byrne, D. C. (Deirdre C.)
Epic literature
Epic impressions
Comparative literary studies
Homer
Classical heroes
Science fiction
Frank Herbert
Jung's archetypes
Collective unconscious
Feminism
This thesis examines epic impressions between two disparate literary genres, the classical
Homeric epic and the science fiction novel, Frank Herbert's Dune in particular. This is done by
applying Jung's archetypes and his notion of the collective unconscious to both literary works.
This thesis argues that, through intertextual dialogue, continuities can be seen to exist between
the Homeric epic and Dune and other science fiction texts of a similar nature.
Chapter one examines epic impressions through a study of the classical heroic
superhuman. This superhuman, his birth, divine attributes and heroic adventures shall be
isolated and applied to both the classical hero and the hero of Herbert's narrative. Chapter two
will examine the relationship between prescience ("hyperawareness") and the divine oracle of
the classical epic. Chapter three will examine the archetype of the "Terrible Mother" and the
masculine fear of feminine powers that works to keep the feminine subordinate.
2015-01-23T04:24:08Z
2015-01-23T04:24:08Z
2015-01-23T04:24:08Z
2001-09
Dissertation
Rafala, Carmelo (2001) The odyssey of Dune : epic, archetype and the collective unconscious, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/15848>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/15848
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/268752020-11-19T09:38:29Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Shifting identities: representations of Shona women in selected Zimbabwean fiction
Muganiwa, Josephine
Vambe, Maurice Teonezvi
Postcolonialism
Representation
Identity
Shona women
Hybridity
Multiculturalism
Construction of identity
Patriarchy
Spirit possession
Sexuality
Feminism
Stereotypes
This thesis uses a postcolonial framework to analyse the construction and representation of identities of Shona women in selected black and white Zimbabwean-authored fiction in English published between 1890 and 2015. The study traces meanings associated with Shona women’s identities as ascribed by dominant powers in every epoch to create narratives that reflect the power dynamics. The thesis argues that identities are complex, characterized by various intersections such as race, gender, class and ethnicity. Shona women have to negotiate their identities in various circumstances resulting in shifting multiple identities. The thesis focuses on how such identities are represented in the selected texts. Findings reveal that the colonial project sought to write the Shona women out of existence, and when they appeared negative images of dirt, slothfulness and immorality were ascribed to them. These images continued after independence to justify male dominance of women. However, the lived experience of women shows they have agency and tend to shift identities in relation to specific circumstances.
Shona women’s identities are dynamic and multifarious as they aim at relevance in their socioeconomic and political circumstances. Representations of Shona women’s identities are therefore influenced by the aim of the one representing them. All representations are therefore arbitrary and must be interrogated in order to deconstruct meaning and understand the power dynamics at play. The works analysed are Olive Schreiner’s Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland (1897), Doris Lessing’s The Grass is Singing (1950), Yvonne Vera’s Nehanda (1993), Cythia Marangwanda’s Shards (2014), Valerie Tagwira’s The Uncertainty of Hope (2006), Violet Masilo’s The African Tea Cosy (2010), Eric Harrison’s Jambanja (2006), Dangarembgwa’s The Book of Not (2006), Christopher Mlalazi’s Running with Mother (2012) and Brian Chikwava’s Harare North (2009).
2020-11-17T08:23:32Z
2020-11-17T08:23:32Z
2020-11-17T08:23:32Z
2018-06
Thesis
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/26875
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/137682020-08-19T09:53:53Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_2876com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_2877col_10500_507
English-medium instruction in China's universities : external perceptions, ideologies and sociolinguistic realities
Botha, Werner
Barnes, Lawrence Andrew, 1947-
Bolton, Kingsley, 1947-
English in China
English-medium instruction
Globalisation
Language contact
Language and ideology
Language policy
Language worlds
Linguistic worlds
Mobility
This thesis examines the results of a large-scale sociolinguistic study on the use of English in two universities in China. The aim of the thesis is to determine the sociolinguistic realities of the use of English in higher education in China. The universities were selected on the basis of their unique status in China’s higher education hierarchy. One university was a private institute reliant on student fees for its income, and the other a state-funded university under the supervision of the Chinese Ministry of Education. A sociolinguistic survey was conducted involving some 490 respondents at these universities between early 2012 and mid-2013. It was specifically aimed at describing the use of the English language in the formal education of students. The study reports on the status and functions of English at the universities, as well as the attitudes of various stakeholders towards English (and other languages). It also examines their beliefs about English. English is considered in a number of contexts: first, the context of language contact, of English alongside other languages and language varieties on the two university campuses; second, of English as part of the linguistic worlds of Chinese students who switch between languages in their daily lives, both in their education as well as their private lives; and third, of the spread and use of English in terms of the physical and virtual movement of people across spaces. The findings of the study indicate that the increasing use of English in the formal education at these universities is having an impact on the ways in which Chinese students are learning their course materials, and even more notably in the myriad ways these students are using multiple languages to negotiate their everyday lives. As university students in China become increasingly bilingual, their ability to move across spaces is shown to increase, both in the ‘real’ world, as well as in their Internet and entertainment lives.
2014-08-11T07:02:06Z
2014-08-11T07:02:06Z
2014-08-11T07:02:06Z
2013-11
Thesis
Botha, Werner (Nove) English-medium instruction in China's universities : external perceptions, ideologies and sociolinguistic realities, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/13768>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/13768
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/278022021-08-12T14:39:37Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Academic literacy development in an English curriculum : the case of Ho West district
Akrong, Brian Senyo
Chaka, Chaka, 1960-
Van der Walt, C. (Christa)
The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the curriculum and supplementary materials for the teaching and learning of English in five junior high schools in Ghana to ascertain the extent to which the curriculum promotes academic literacy in the pupils. Hence, five schools were selected by purposive sampling. Four poorly performing schools and a relatively well performing school were selected for the study. Thus, the problem investigated in this study was academic literacy development, with particular reference to English language teaching. The study area was the Ho West district of the Volta Region of Ghana. The study adopted a mixed methods approach which
investigated academic literacy development by evaluating the syllabus and textbooks, and by interviewing English teachers in the selected schools. The interview schedule contained both open ended questions for qualitative analysis as well as multiple choice questions based on a four-item Likert scale for quantitative analysis. The study found that the various aspects of the curriculum had shortcomings in adequately supporting the development of academic literacy in the junior high
school pupils in Ghana. Moreover, the factors required for critical language awareness were not present in the textbooks.
2021-08-12T12:57:16Z
2021-08-12T12:57:16Z
2021-08-12T12:57:16Z
2021-05
Thesis
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/27802
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/199972018-11-17T13:03:59Zcom_10500_23650com_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_23651col_10500_175col_10500_507
Modulations of hybridity in Abodunrin's It would take time:
Harawa, Albert Lloyds Mtungambera
Kalua, F.A.
Identity
Colonialism
Sell-outs
Eurocentric approach
Self discovery
African literature
Languages
Epic poetry
In this study I identify and argue for hybridity as a common feature in four postcolonial texts, namely Femi Abodunrin’s It Would Take Time, Edward Kamau Brathwaite’s Masks, Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Matigari and Mvona’s An Arrow from Maraka. The study advances that when two or more cultures encounter one another hybridity affects the new emergent culture socially, linguistically, historically and politically. Employing Homi Bhabha’s interrelated terms, notably ambivalence, mimicry, liminality, the third space, in-between space and interstitial space —all of which gesture towards the concept of hybridity, the study explains the emergence of corresponding and equally complex identities in the postcolonial world. With a specific reference to Africa, the study establishes that postcolonial discourse is not as transparent because hybridity does not necessarily mean coming up with completely new aspects of Africa but it implies coming up with mixed cultures since different histories and cultures affect each other in order to come up with a new brand. As such the study concludes that hybridity is opposed to cultural purity and the assumed status quo. In this dissertation I therefore argue for hybridity as a solution to identity crisis because the new personality displays different traces which, in the words of Homi Bhabha, are called “transcultural identities” and such a plurality of identities leads to the production of hybrid personalities and cultures. Such transcultural forms within the contact zone, which Bhabha calls the “in-between space,” carry the burden and meaning of the new cultures that emerge in the postcolonial condition.
2016-03-02T09:59:54Z
2016-03-02T09:59:54Z
2016-03-02T09:59:54Z
2015-10
Dissertation
Harawa, Albert Lloyds Mtungambera (2015) Modulations of hybridity in Abodunrin's It would take time:, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/19997>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/19997
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/201912018-11-17T13:04:06Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
The role of self-efficacy and atttribution theories in writing perfomance
Yayie, Wondwossen Demissie
Ndlangamandla, Sibusiso (Cliff)
Self-efficacy
Attribution
Writing perfomance
Writing self-efficacy
Self-efficacy scale
Attribution scale
Achievement
Achievement attribution
Motivation
Integrative motivation
Instrumental motivation
In the last 20 years, various investigators have contributed valuable insights that shed light on the interconnected matrix of self-efficacy and attribution theories of motivation in instilling confidence and desire for academic achievement. However, these two areas of beliefs and their effects on students‟ achievement have rarely been researched together with writing performance here in Ethiopia.
Both quantitative and qualitative methodologies have been integrated in the analysis of the data gathered from two secondary schools. The quantitative method was employed where participants were involved in taking composition test, filling out the self-efficacy scale and a questionnaire on attribution so as to investigate the relationships among the variables. The qualitative method was also used to examine the teachers‟ role in boosting students‟ motivation towards effecting goal-oriented striving at success in English writing performance
The findings of this study indicated that there is a positive and strong relationship between
writing self-efficacy beliefs and awareness and effective performance in writing tasks. It was also found that the learners who attributed their success to their ability and effort rather than to external causes achieved better results. Moreover, the findings of the qualitative data indicated that teachers‟ interest and motivation to teach writing can play a crucial role so as to raise the learners‟ feelings of self-worth and self-efficacy to do the writing activity. In other words, teachers need to capitalise on their learners‟ fervent desire for success and achievement in whatever line of endeavour, and the vital role effective writing skills play in the realisation of life goals.
2016-05-17T13:35:54Z
2016-05-17T13:35:54Z
2016-05-17T13:35:54Z
2016
Dissertation
Yayie, Wondwossen Demissie (2016) The role of self-efficacy and atttribution theories in writing perfomance, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/20191>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/20191
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/60512021-01-13T05:20:11Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Action research on the implementation of writing approaches to improve academic writing skills of Namibian foundation programme students
Du Plessis, Karoline
Spencer, B.
Foundation programme (FP) students
Academic writing
Modelling approach
Academic essays
Laboratory reports
Process approach
Genre approach
Focused instruction
Foundation Programme (FP) students at the University of Namibia (UNAM) Oshakati Campus display inadequate academic writing abilities. As their aim is to gain admittance to UNAM main campus science-related courses, it is vital to have effective academic writing skills. This action research (AR) study is a comparison of three writing programmes, the process approach, the modeling approach, and the process genre approach which were implemented separately to three different class groups in 2008 and 2009 to improve the writing skills of students and the teaching practice of the researcher. The effects of the interventions were examined using a combination of the quantitative and qualitative research methods. Data were collected using questionnaires, pre- and post-intervention essays and laboratory reports and interviews. The findings indicate that all three approaches improved the academic writing skills of FP students. The process genre approach had a higher rate of effect than the other two approaches.
2012-07-24T12:17:18Z
2012-07-24T12:17:18Z
2012-07-24T12:17:18Z
2012-01
Dissertation
Du Plessis, Karoline (2012) Action research on the implementation of writing approaches to improve academic writing skills of namibian foundation programme students, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/6051>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/6051
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/269352020-12-15T12:46:19Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Validation of a rating scale for distance education university student essays in a literature-based module
Ward-Cox, Maxine Welland
Spencer, Brenda
Validity
Validation
Assessment
Rating scale
Distance education
Open distance learning (ODL)
Open distance e-learning (ODeL)
Academic writing skills
South African students
This thesis reports on the findings of a study to validate an assessment scale for writing
in an Open Distance Learning (ODL) context by first-year students in their responses to
English literary texts. The study involved the interrogation of an existing scale, adapted
from Jacobs et al. (1981), which was being used for the Foundations in English Literary
Studies (ENG1501) module at the University of South Africa. Despite the credibility of
the original scale, the modified version had been used in language- and literature-based
courses in the English Studies Department since 1998 and had not been updated or
empirically tested in the context of the target group. Thus, the gap that this current study
addressed was the need for a valid rating scale that takes into account the complexities
of literature teaching and ODL in the current South African university environment.
This thesis includes a review of the debate on validity and the validation of rating scales
both internationally and in South Africa, the ODL environment, and the assessment of assignments based on literary texts, particularly in the multicultural South African
context. The methodology included research of both a quantitative and a qualitative
nature. The outcome was an empirically-validated scale that should contribute to the
quest for accuracy in assessing academic writing and meet the formative and summative assessment needs of the target group
2020-12-02T14:50:19Z
2020-12-02T14:50:19Z
2020-12-02T14:50:19Z
2020-01
Thesis
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/26935
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/180382018-11-17T13:05:18Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Mobilities of presence : the motifs of time and history in the novels of Peter Ackroyd
Baker, Hendia
Ryan, P. D.
After a brief contextualisation, time and history are examined in
Ackroyd's novels.
Chapter 1 examines postmodernism.
Chapter 2 explores history perceived as fact and as construct.
Chapter 3 investigates the dissolution of the distinction between
history and fiction.
Chapter 4 analyses the development of 'originality' and the futile
search for origin.
Chapter 5 examines the interchangeability of fiction and reality.
Chapter 6 studies theories on time, focusing on Einstein's theory of
relativity.
Chapter 7 analyses the coexistence of the past and present, and the
relativity of time.
Chapter 8 scrutinises the myth of 'mobilities of presence', which
facilitates rejuvenation.
Chapter 9 considers the relation between time and space necessary for
rejuvenation.
Chapter 10 looks at simultaneity and the eternal present.
It is clear that Ackroyd explores the mobilities of presence of
historical and fictional characters, objects, and texts, thus showing
that time is a web of simultaneously existing present moments.
2015-01-23T04:24:41Z
2015-01-23T04:24:41Z
2015-01-23T04:24:41Z
1992-11
Dissertation
Baker, Hendia (1992) Mobilities of presence : the motifs of time and history in the novels of Peter Ackroyd, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/18038>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/18038
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/157272018-11-17T13:04:53Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Changing social consciousness in the South African English novel after World War II, with special reference to Peter Abrahams, Alan Paton, Es'kia Mphahlele and Nadine Gordimer
Paasche, Karin Ilona Mary
Lloyd, D. W.
Pereira, Ernest
The changing social consciousness in South Africa during the twentieth century falls within a
political-historical framework of events: amongst others, World Wars I and II; the institution of the
Apartheid Laws in 1948; the declaration of a South African Republic in 1960; Nelson Mandela's release in
1992. The literary social consciousness of Abrahams, Paton, Mphahlele and Gordimer spans the time
before and after 1948. Their novels reflect the changing reality of a country whose racial and social
problems both pre-date and will outlive the apartheid ideology. These and other novelists' changing social
consciousness is an indication of the development of attitudes and reactions to issues which have their
roots in the human and in the economic spheres, as well as in the political, cultural and religious. Their
work interprets the history and the change in the South African social consciousness, and also gives some
indication of a possible future vision.
2015-01-23T04:24:03Z
2015-01-23T04:24:03Z
2015-01-23T04:24:03Z
1992-11
Dissertation
Paasche, Karin Ilona Mary (1992) Changing social consciousness in the South African English novel after World War II, with special reference to Peter Abrahams, Alan Paton, Es'kia Mphahlele and Nadine Gordimer, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/15727>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/15727
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/209812018-11-17T13:07:00Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Head of darkness : representations of "madness" in postcolonial Zimbabwean literature
Chigwedere, Yuleth
Murray, Jessica (Professor of English)
Madness
Insanity
Trauma
Depression
Identity
Postcolonial literature
Existential psychoanalysis
Imperialism
Colonialism
Ontological insecurity
Subversion
Gender
Zimbabwean literature
This study critically explores the numerous strains of “madness” that Zimbabwean authors represent in their postcolonial literature. My focus is on their reflection of “madness” as either an individual state of being, or as symptomatic of the socio-political and economic condition in the country. I have adopted insights from an existential psychoanalytic framework in my literary analysis in order to bring in an innovative dimension to this investigation of the phenomenon. I consider this an appropriate stance for this study as it has enriched my reading of the literary texts under study, as well as played a crucial role in providing me with effective conceptual tools for understanding the manifestations of “madness” in the texts. The literary works that I critique are Shimmer Chinodya’s Chairman of Fools (2009), Mashingaidze Gomo’s A Fine Madness (2010), Brian Chikwava’s Harare North, Petina Gappah’s An Elegy for Easterly (2009), Tsitsi Dangarembga’s The Book of Not (2006) and Yvonne Vera’s Without a Name (1994) and Butterfly Burning (1998). These selected texts offer me an opportunity to analyse the gender dynamics and discourses of “madness”, which I do from a peculiarly indigenous and feminist perspective. My study reveals that these authors’ representations are located in and shaped by very specific temporal and spatial contexts, which, in turn, shed light on the characters’ existential reality, revealing aspects of their relationship with the world around them. It demonstrates that their notions of “madness” denote different markers of identity, such as race, class, gender, and religion, amongst others. Significantly, my literary analysis illustrates the varied permutations of “madness” by exposing how these authors characterise the phenomenon as trauma, as alienation, as depression, as insanity, as subversion, as freedom, and even as a sign of the
state of affairs in Zimbabwe. This investigation also reveals that because “madness” in these authors’ fiction is intricately linked to the question of identity, it manifests in situations where the characters’ sense of ontological security is compromised in some way. What emerges is that “madness” can either signify a grapple with identity, a loss of it, or a struggle for its redefinition
2016-07-11T14:42:32Z
2016-07-11T14:42:32Z
2016-07-11T14:42:32Z
2015-09
Thesis
Chigwedere, Yuleth (2015) Head of darkness : representations of "madness" in postcolonial Zimbabwean literature, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/20981>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/20981
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/178412018-11-17T13:05:11Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
From EADHREDIG to GYNG : a feminist re-evaluation of the Legend of St Juliana
Walsh, Arlene
Saycell, K. J. (Kenneth John), 1951-
St Juliana is a legendary saint, whose actual existence is most improbable, although
relics purportedly existed. The approximate date of her martyrdom is c. 305-310. According
to the Bollandist Acta Sanctorum , the facts of her story are very briefly as follows: her
legend is set in the time of the Diocletian persecutions, when Juliana, daughter of Affricanus
(a pagan) lived in Nicomedia. She was betrothed to Eleusius, an official ofNicomedia and a
cohort of Maximian the emperor. When Eleusius enquired about the wedding, Juliana
(already a convert) refused to marry him until he became a prefect When he had achieved
this promotion, Juliana now required his conversion to Christianity. First her father and then
Eleusius tortured her. Upon being imprisoned, a demon attempted to trick her, but she foiled
him and miraculously escaped further harm as an angel appeared to assist her. The tortures
meant for her harmed many of Eleusius' soldiers, and others, impressed by her example,
converted to Christianity and were immediately beheaded. Juliana, impervious to whatever
hideous tortures had been devised for her, was beheaded. Sephonia/Sophia, a devout
Christian woman of some material wealth, carried her body to Puzzeoli in Italy and buried it
with ceremony. Meanwhile Eleusius and his soldiers drowned at sea and their bodies were
eaten by beasts.
Cynewulf makes a number of emendations to this story, some in order to improve the
character of the heroine, but he was clearly reliant upon the common source, which certainly
ante-dated AD 568, when Juliana's remains were removed from Puzzeoli, an event which the
source does not mention.
The first reference to her legend is found in a martyrology ascribed to Jerome (d. 420)
entitled Martyrologium Vetustissium. Bede includes a very short version in his Latin
Martyrology, but the first vernacular English version of her tale is Cynewulf's Juliana, which
was written in the ninth century. It is generally agreed that the source for Cynewulf's version
is either the first of two Latin lives of St Juliana published in the Acta Sanctorum for
February 16 by Bolland in the seventeenth century, or a version very close to it. Although
Bolland's compilation is a seventeenth-century work, the sources which he used were very
inuch older. (Her tale is omitted from Aldhelm's De Virginitate, as well as from Aelfric's
Lives of the Saints.) The Liflade is a twelfth-century early Middle English version. Seyn
Julien is a fourteenth-century ScDttish version which is based on the Legenda Aurea, but the
version from the South English Legendary is not
Versions of the tale of St Juliana appear in Anglo-Norman, Irish, Italian (Peter,
Archbishop ofNaples 1094-1111), Swedish, Greek (Symeon Metaphrastes (d. 965). Jacobus
de Voragine's Legenda Aurea, prepared in the thirteenth century by a Dominican, is the basis
for many of the versions, most certainly of Caxton's translation of 1483.
Her day is remembered on 16 February.
2015-01-23T04:24:29Z
2015-01-23T04:24:29Z
2015-01-23T04:24:29Z
1998-11
Dissertation
Walsh, Arlene (1998) From EADHREDIG to GYNG : a feminist re-evaluation of the Legend of St Juliana, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/17841>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/17841
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/47072022-01-18T11:16:14Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Narrating gender and danger in selected Zimbabwe woman's writing on HIV and AIDS
Chitando, Anna
Vambe, Maurice Taonezvi
HIV/AIDS
Patriachy
Negative danger
Positive danger
Human agency
Womanism
Feminism
Stigma
Sexuality
This thesis investigates how selected Zimbabwean female writers narrate HIV and AIDS. It argues that, generally, the prevailing images of women in Zimbabwean society and literature are incapacitating. Male authors have been portraying women in disempowering ways as loose, dangerous, weak and dependent on men. This unjust portrayal of women has been worsened by the prevalence of HIV and AIDS. Women have been depicted as vectors in the spread of HIV, thus perpetuating sexist ideologies. Presuming that women authors can do better in their depiction of female characters, this research investigates whether female authors differ in their representation of female characters in contexts of HIV and AIDS. The works critiqued are Virginia Phiri’s Desperate (2002), Sharai Mukonoweshuro’s Days of Silence (2000), Valerie Tagwira’s The Uncertainty of Hope (2006), Tendayi Westerhof’s Unlucky in Love (2005) and Lutanga Shaba’s Secrets of a Woman’s Soul (2006). The study further explores the extent to which Zimbabwe female authors sanction, conform, undermine, assess critically or do away with unconstructive images of women in contexts of HIV and AIDS. This study emphasized the possibility of literature to offer a platform for the liberation of women, or a counter- platform for reactionary politics. Predicated on the notion of gender and danger, the study questions whether female authors perpetuate the stereotypes of women’s roles as destructive, or whether some view ‘dangerous’ images of women in literature as liberating. Overall, this thesis argued that contrary to the postulation of female authors being similar in their understanding and depiction of the concept of gender and danger, they are not. It is at this juncture that this study breaks new ground by utilizing the concept of agency to show how different female writers interpret and narrate gender and danger in contexts of HIV and AIDS. This study applies the notion of agency as a means of evaluating the extent to which women employ nonconformist acts in order to undercut patriarchy and other oppressive socially constructed ideologies.
2011-08-15T09:33:51Z
2011-08-15T09:33:51Z
2011-08-15T09:33:51Z
2011-09
Thesis
Chitando, Anna (2011) Narrating gender and danger in selected Zimbabwe woman's writing on HIV and AIDS, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/4707>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/4707
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/48932023-04-12T07:31:05Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Error analysis : investigating the writing of ESL Namibian learners
Mungungu, Saara Sirkka
Makina, Blandina Tabitha
Lephalala, M. M. K.
Error analysis
English Second Language
First language
Language acquisition
Language learning
Grammatical errors
Frequency of occurrence
Tenses
Prepositions
Articles and spelling
This study investigated common English language errors made by Oshiwambo, Afrikaans and Silozi First Language speakers. The study examined errors in a corpus of 360 essays written by 180 participants. Errors were identified and classified into various categories. The four most common errors committed by the participants were tenses, prepositions, articles and spelling. The study is important to educators and study material developers who should become aware of the kind of errors that their target learners make, so that they are in a better position to put appropriate intervention strategies into place. For learners, error analysis is important as it shows the areas of difficulty in their writing. The limitations and some pedagogical implications for future study are included at the end of this research paper.
2011-10-05T08:04:08Z
2011-10-05T08:04:08Z
2011-10-05T08:04:08Z
2010-11
Dissertation
Mungungu, Saara Sirkka (2010) Error analysis: investigating the writing of ESL Namibian learners, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/4893>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/4893
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/18862018-11-17T13:04:36Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
The collapse of certainty: contextualizing liminality in Botswana fiction and reportage
Kalua, Fetson Anderson
Ryan, P.D.
Liminality
In-betweenness
Intersubjectivity
Postcolonial theory
Colonial discourse
Modernity
African identity
Shifting identity
Botswana
Reportage
This thesis deploys Homi Bhabha's perspective of postcolonial literary theory as a critical procedure to examine particular instances of fiction, as well as reportage on Botswana. Its unifying interest is to pinpoint the shifting nature or reality of Botswana and, by extension, of African identities. To that end, I use Bhabha's concept of liminality to inform the work of writers such as Unity Dow, Alexander McCall Smith, and instances of reportage (by Rupert Isaacson and Caitlin Davies), from the 1990s to date. The aims of the thesis are, among other things, to establish the extent to which Homi Bhabha's appropriation of the term liminality (which derives from Victor Turner's notion of limen for inbetweenness), and its application in the postcolonial context inflects the reading of the above works whose main motifs include the following: a contestation of any views which privilege one culture above another, challenging a jingoistic rootedness in one culture, and promoting an awareness of the existence of several, interlocking or even clashing realities which finally produce multiple meanings, values and identities. In short, it is proposed that identity is not a given but rather a product of a lived reality and therefore a social construct, something always in process.
The thesis begins by theorizing liminality in Chapter 1 within the context of Homi Bhabha's understanding and interrogation of the colonial discourse. This is followed by the contextualization of liminality through the reading of, firstly, the fiction of Unity Dow in Chapters 2 and 3, and then the "detective" fiction of Alexander McCall Smith in Chapters 4 and 5. In the discussion of these works, I also touch on instances of reportage which relate to the lives of the authors. In the case of Smith's "detective" fiction, for example, reportage refers to his incorporation of actual historical events and personages whose impact, I argue, suggests the liminality of culture. In Chapter 6, the idea of reportage varies slightly to denote works of fiction in which there is a great deal of historical fact. Thus Rupert Isaacson's The Healing Land: A Kalahari Journey and Caitlin Davies' Place of Reeds are treated as works of reportage in line with Truman Capote's application of that term. What comes out most evidently in this study is the shifting idea of (Botswana/African) identity. It should be noted that rather than present an all-embracing account of the fiction on Botswana, the study only looks at the selected examples of writing and reportage.
2009-08-25T10:57:42Z
2009-08-25T10:57:42Z
2009-08-25T10:57:42Z
2009-08-25T10:57:42Z
Thesis
Kalua, Fetson Anderson (2009) The collapse of certainty: contextualizing liminality in Botswana fiction and reportage, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/1886>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/1886
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/190092019-09-04T09:16:32Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Language proficiency and reading ability as predictors of academic performance of Grade 7 English second language students in submersion contexts
Lendrum, Julie-Ann
Nchindila, Bernard Mwansa
English Second Language students
Academic performance
English language proficiency
English reading ability
Submersion contexts
Primary school learners
Content and language integrated learning
Bilingualism
Multilingualism
Linguistic interdependence
Bilingual teaching
Multilingual teaching
In South Africa learners do not achieve as well as their international counterparts on
tests of literacy, and language proficiency is often blamed for their poor academic
performance. In this study, the relationship between English language proficiency,
reading ability and the academic performance of Grade 7 students in submersion
contexts was investigated using quantitative methods. The participants of the study
were Grade 7 students based in a former Model C school in the South African city of
Johannesburg. Their English language proficiency and reading ability were measured
by means of The Proficiency test English Second Language: Intermediate level and
the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability tests respectively. The students’ performance
on these tests was correlated with the students’ average summative assessment
results using the Pearson-product moment correlation. Results showed that both
English language proficiency and reading ability were significantly correlated with
academic performance, with language proficiency having the most robust correlation.
These findings indicate that teachers should aim at improving language proficiency
by using multilingual teaching strategies that support home language as a cognitive
tool.
2015-08-27T10:22:10Z
2015-08-27T10:22:10Z
2015-08-27T10:22:10Z
2014-11
Dissertation
Lendrum, Julie-Ann (2014) Language proficiency and reading ability as predictors of academic performance of Grade 7 English second language students in submersion contexts, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/19009>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/19009
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/218972018-11-17T13:06:52Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Romancing the vernacular : Sammy Cahn and the enactment of request
Holloway, Marilyn June
Rabinowitz, Ivan Arthur
Sammy Cahn
Vitaphone
Vernacular
Vaudeville
Parody
Jule Styne
Jimmy van Heusen
Frank Sinatra
Song lyrics
Rhyme
The lyrics of Sammy Cahn played a dominant role in shaping the Golden Age of American light music.
He remains the most successful lyricist in cinema history, in terms of Academy Awards and Nominations, yet he has received little acclaim for his achievements. This thesis explores the diverse constituents of his
creative genius, focusing on his ability to “romance the vernacular”, and write “bespoke” material on request. The argument follows a chronological path, tracing the major influences on Cahn’s life:
vaudeville and musical theatre, the growth of the film industry, and the collaborators and performers who helped him achieve a level of mastery that he sustained for nearly fifty years. Particular emphasis is placed on his relationship with Frank Sinatra, on both a personal and professional level. Cahn had an acute awareness of the human condition and his ability to convey a range of emotions to match mood and moment displayed consummate craft and intellect, with a self-confidence that bordered on bravado. His contemporaries in the Golden Age of popular song have received due recognition, yet little has been written about Cahn, whose appreciation of the interaction between spontaneity and creativity remains unsurpassed by fellow lyricists. He had an intuitive understanding of the vernacular and an instinctive ability to write to order. The imagistic texture of the lyrics coupled with the prosodic intonation
demonstrate an intimate correlation between personality and composition which is supported by biographical content. The argument, augmented by an audio-documentary, develops systematically through a study of the lyrics, focusing on the cultural and musicological significance of Cahn’s oeuvre.
The material for both the written text and the two accompanying CDs are from personal archives and the Margaret Herrick Library in Los Angeles, which is the repository for the Sammy Cahn Collection, bequeathed to that institution after the death of Cahn in 1993.
2017-01-04T08:56:34Z
2017-01-04T08:56:34Z
2017-01-04T08:56:34Z
2016-04
Thesis
Holloway, Marilyn June (2016) Romancing the vencacular : Sammy Cahn and the enactment of request, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/21897>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/21897
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/168522018-11-17T13:05:20Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Cultural nationalism and colonialism in nineteenth-century Irish horror fiction
Glisson, Silas Nease
Byrne, D. C.
Irish literature
Victorian literature
Horror literature
Romanticism
Postcolonial literary theory
Imperialism
Myth
Ireland
Political and social history
Language and literature
Nineteenth-century British Empire
This thesis will explore how writers of nineteenth-century Irish horror fiction,
namely short stories and novels, used their works to express the social, cultural, and political
events of the period. My thesis will employ a New Historicist approach to discuss the effects
of colonialism on the writings, as well as archetypal criticism to analyse the mythic origins of
the relevant metaphors. The structuralism of Tzvetan Todorov will be used to discuss the
notion of the works' appeal as supernatural or possibly realistic works. The theory of
Mikhail Bakhtin is used to discuss the writers' linguistic choices because such theory focuses
on how language can lead to conflicts amongst social groups.
The introduction is followed by Chapter One, "Ireland as England's Fantasy." This
chapter discusses Ireland's literary stereotype as a fantasyland. The chapter also gives an
overview of Ireland's history of occupation and then contrasts the bucolic, magical Ireland of
fiction and the bleak social conditions of much of nineteenth-century Ireland.
Chapter Two, "Mythic Origins", analyses the use of myth in nineteenth-century horror
stories. The chapter discusses the merging of Christianity and Celtic myth; I then discuss the
early Irish belief in evil spirits in myths that eventually inspired horror literature.
Chapter Three, "Church versus Big House, Unionist versus Nationalist," analyses
how the conflicts of Church/Irish Catholicism vs. Big House/Anglo-Irish landlordism, proBritish
Unionist vs. pro-Irish Nationalist are manifested in the tales. In this chapter, I argue
that many Anglo-Irish writers present stern anti-Catholic attitudes, while both Anglo-Irish
and Catholic writers use the genre as political propaganda. Yet the authors tend to display
Home Rule or anti-Home Rule attitudes rather than religious loyalties in their stories.
The final chapter of the thesis, "A Heteroglossia of British and Irish Linguistic and
Literary Forms," deals with the use of language and national literary styles in Irish literature
of this period. I discuss Bakhtin's notion of heteroglossia and its applications to the Irish
novel; such a discussion because nineteenth-century Ireland was linguistically Balkanised,
with Irish Gaelic, Hibemo-English, and British English all in use. This chapter is followed by
a conclusion.
2015-01-23T04:24:44Z
2015-01-23T04:24:44Z
2015-01-23T04:24:44Z
2000-11
Thesis
Glisson, Silas Nease (2000) Cultural nationalism and colonialism in nineteenth-century Irish horror fiction, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/16852>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/16852
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/196592018-11-17T13:04:07Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
The cohesion factor : a study of Japanese junior high school writing
Coombe, Deneys Laurence
Scheepers, R. A.
Cohesion
High school
Writing
Japanese
Cohesive devices
Elementary level
EFL
This study compared cohesive devices in texts written by Japanese second-year junior high school learners with those in texts that appeared in the textbook they were studying. The purpose of the study was to determine which cohesive devices were being used in the textbook and which were used in the learners’ writing. The study used both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The quantitative analysis began by determining whether there was any significant difference between the textbook readings and the learners’ writing in terms of the frequency of cohesive devices. It then examined the kinds of devices that were used by both groups of texts. The qualitative analysis compared the patterns of reiteration in two textbook readings with those in a sample of six student texts of different levels of success. The results showed no significant differences between the student texts and the textbooks in terms of the overall frequency of cohesive devices. Among the individual devices, however, there was a significantly higher frequency of ellipsis and synonyms in the textbook readings than in the student texts. There was also a significantly higher frequency of conjunction and reference in the student texts relative to the textbook readings. In all other devices, there was no significant difference between the textbook readings and the student texts. The qualitative study revealed the importance of strong opening sentences, reinforcement of the main topic through repetition, as well as of linking new topics with the main topic in the textbook readings. However, the presence of these features varied in the selected student texts. Accordingly, stronger texts contained all these features, average texts contained some of them, and weaker texts contained few or none. This study consequently supports other studies that have shown that the way in which cohesive devices are used is far more important in determining text quality than the number of devices used. The findings of this study showed the strengths and weaknesses in the students’ writing, and highlighted the need for a greater awareness of cohesion by focusing more on sentence building, and the use of a greater variety of cohesive devices
2015-10-30T14:30:06Z
2015-10-30T14:30:06Z
2015-10-30T14:30:06Z
2015-06
Dissertation
Coombe, Deneys Laurence (2015) The cohesion factor:, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/19659>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/19659
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/57022022-03-08T07:00:33Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Academic writing in english second language contexts : perceptions and experiences
Chokwe, Matlou Jack
Lephalala. M. M. K.
The study sought to examine first year students‟ conceptions of writing and the extent to which these conceptions influence their academic writing; explore tutors‟ expectations and understandings of student writing and how they respond to it; and suggest guidelines that can inform effective teaching and learning of writing in ESL contexts. The study is underpinned by the academic literacies model.
The study adopted a qualitative research methodology and used a case study approach as research design. Participants included ESL first year students and their tutors. Questionnaires, focus group interviews and marked student writing samples were employed as data collection instruments. Though students claimed that they subscribed to the ideologies of the academic literacies model, and that the first year level course improved their academic writing, the findings show that, on the contrary, students were underprepared for engaging in the academic writing activities required at university level. Moreover, the findings showed that although students categorised their writing skills as average, tutors had a different perspective. The findings reveal that tutors found that students still struggle with aspects of writing including, for instance, grammar, spelling, the structuring of essays, coherence and cohesion in paragraphs as well as arguing a point convincingly. However, although the findings show that students valued feedback highly, in some instances tutors did not provide adequate, understandable and useful feedback.
2012-05-18T10:11:12Z
2012-05-18T10:11:12Z
2012-05-18T10:11:12Z
2011-11
Dissertation
Chokwe, Matlou Jack (2011) Academic writing in english second language contexts : perceptions and experiences, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/5702>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/5702
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/53042022-02-04T07:44:55Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
The fortifying and destructive power of love in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series
Gani, Safiyyah
Pridmore, J. T.
Fantasy
Children's literature
Concepts of love
Romance
Friendship
Parental love
J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter novels
Harry Potter movies
The aim of this study is to explore the importance of love in its various manifestations in
the lives of the Harry Potter characters and its power to consequently influence the
paths that they eventually choose to walk. Love is investigated as the reason behind the
choice between good and evil as well as paradoxically both a fortifying as well as a
destructive force. Furthermore, it attempts to examine the importance that love plays in
the healthy or dysfunctional development of the characters.
Numerous philosophies and theories that span two different eras will form the
theoretical framework of this research paper. There will be a constant interplay between
the theories and the main text, that is, the seven Harry Potter books that together
represent the Harry Potter series. Additionally, the author‟s opinion acquired from
invaluable fan interviews will be utilized in order to improve the understanding of the
characters motivations.
The introduction is a brief explanation of key terms and theories that are essential to the
exploration of love in the Harry Potter series. The study comprises five chapters. The
first three chapters are concerned with the three main manifestations of love
represented in the series, namely; parental love, friendship and romance respectively.
Chapter Four focuses on the adaptation of the novels into movies and the subsequent
result that this has on the depiction of love. Chapter Five highlights the finding of the
study conducted.
2012-01-31T12:28:35Z
2012-01-31T12:28:35Z
2012-01-31T12:28:35Z
2011-03
Thesis
Gani, Safiyyah (2011) The fortifying and destructive power of love in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/5304>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/5304
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/171652018-11-17T13:05:26Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Finishing the hat, where there never was a hat : a critical analysis of the words and music of Stephen Sondheim and their relationship to the development of musical theatre as an art form
Lambert, Josephine Gay
Ferguson, Ian
Scott, Geoffrey
This dissertation develops the premise that, whilst conceding the difficulties inherent in the medium,
musical theatre should be regarded as an art form, worthy of serious critical evaluation. This view is
supported by a detailed examination of four works, chosen from different periods of Sondheim's career:
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962); Sweeney Todd (1979); Into the Woods
(1988) and Assassins (1991). The argument develops through the application of accepted literary
critical procedures and systematically examines the thematic and prosodic content of the lyrics, as well
as their dramatic potentiality, growing in Sondheim's more mature works, which suggests a seriousness
of intent manifest in other forms of the dramatic arts. The emotional and dramatic contribution of the
music is examined, in the way it creates mood and atmosphere and modifies or comments on action
and character, promoting a musical vocabulary that accommodates a dramatic function.
2015-01-23T04:24:55Z
2015-01-23T04:24:55Z
2015-01-23T04:24:55Z
1998-11
Dissertation
Lambert, Josephine Gay (1998) Finishing the hat, where there never was a hat : a critical analysis of the words and music of Stephen Sondheim and their relationship to the development of musical theatre as an art form, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/17165>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/17165
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/156832018-11-17T13:06:27Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
A dialogue of two selves : themes of alienation and African humanism in the works of Es'kia Mphahlele
Obee, Ruth, 1941-
Holloway, M. K.
Es'kia Mphahlele
South Africa
South African literature
African humanism
Alienation
African nationalist vision
Black Consciousness
Colonial
Negritude
Apartheid
Criticism
Autobiography
African aesthetics
Es'kia Mphahlele's concept of African humanism was a seminal influence on Black Consciouness thought and provided the philosophical basis for a landmark body of South African criticism and aesthetics wilh roots in Africa. African humanism as a black ethos, combined with rich metaphoric speech, symbols, values and myths resurrected from the deep African past, afforded the author a powerful cultural weapon with which to criticize centuries of colonialism, racism, and state apartheid, related western industrial forces of economic
exploitation and alienation. Moreover, the counterweights of African humanism and alienation in the dialogue of two selves -- one that is Western-educated and colonized and the other African -- contribute key elements of realism, vitality, humour, insight, cultural identity, and characterization to Mphahlele's most effective protest writing which, in turn, has helped to shape a black nationalist vision which has surprising relevance to South Africa in the 1990s.
2015-01-23T04:24:01Z
2015-01-23T04:24:01Z
2015-01-23T04:24:01Z
1994-11
Dissertation
Obee, Ruth, 1941- (1994) A dialogue of two selves : themes of alienation and African humanism in the works of Es'kia Mphahlele, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/15683>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/15683
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/169682018-11-17T13:05:22Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
White skin under an African Sun : (white) women and (white) guilt in J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace, Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible and Doris Lessing's The Grass is Singing
Horrell, Georgina Ann
Ryan, P D.
Postcolonial
Whiteness
Women
Guilt
Power
Literary
Bodies
Retribution
Reconciliation
In the aftermath of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa
J.M.Coetzee writes of the "system" of guilt and shame, debt and retribution which
operates throughout society. He and writers like Doris Lessing and Barbara
Kingsolver tell stories which traverse and explore the paths tracked by society's quest
for healing and restitution. (White) women too, Coetzee's protagonist (in Disgrace)
muses, must have a place, a "niche" in this system. What is this "niche" and what role
do the women in these texts play in the reparation of colonial wrong? How is their
position dictated by discourses which acknowledge the agency of the (female) body in
epistemologies of guilt and power?
This mini-dissertation attempts to trace the figure of the white woman in three late
201h-/early 21 51-century postcolonial literary texts, in order to read the phrases of
meaning that have been inscribed on her body. The novels read are J.M.Coetzee's
Disgrace, Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible and Doris Lessing's The
Grass is Singing.
2015-01-23T04:24:48Z
2015-01-23T04:24:48Z
2015-01-23T04:24:48Z
2001-06
Dissertation
Horrell, Georgina Ann (2001) White skin under an African Sun : (white) women and (white) guilt in J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace, Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible and Doris Lessing's The Grass is Singing, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/16968>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/16968
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/174392018-11-17T13:04:39Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Namibies-Afrikaanse literatuur
Meyer, Alfreda Catharina
Botha, Elize
In die proefskrif word gepoog om die Namibies-Afrikaanse literatuur wat gepubliseer is
sedert die twintigerjare (met die verskyning van die eerste Afrikaanse gedigte in Afrikaanse
koerante) tot met die onafhanklikwording van die land in Maart 1990, bymekaar te bring, en
aan te toon hoe die land en al sy mense daarin na vore kom. Daar is hoofsaaklik
gekonsentreer op werke wat by gevestigde Suid-Afrikaanse uitgewerye verskyn het.
Altesaam 146 bundels prosa, 35 bundels poesie, twee dramas, en 46 gedigte wat in koerante
en tydskrifte verskyn het, geskryf deur 92 skrywers en uitgegee deur 26 uitgewerye-, word
in die proefskrif geidentifiseer en bespreek. Talle kenmerke van die land en sy mense vind
neerslag in bogenoemde werke. Die meeste werke speel in die noorde van die land en die
Namib-woestyn af, en die inheemse bevolkingsgroep wat die sterkste na vore kom, is die
Boesmans; klem word veral geplaas op hul gewoontes en gebruike. Die hoofkarakters in
die verhale is oorwegend plattelandse blanke boeremense. Die tipiese landsomstandighede
sedert die einde van die vorige eeu, toe bloedige stamgevegte in die land gewoed het, tot en
met die grensoorlog wat met onafhanklikwording beeindig is, word in die literatuur
gereflekteer. Wat die invloed van die land op die mens betref, is dit die ontbering en lyding,
maar veral die geestelike verryking wat die land die mens hied, wat na vore kom. In die
algemeen openbaar die skrywers 'n oorweldigende positiewe gesindheid teenoor die land en
sy mense, hoewel ander nuanserings van gesindheid ook voorkom
In this dissertation an attempt is made to bring together Namibian-Afrikaans literature
published since the twenties (when the first Afrikaans poems appeared in the Afrikaans
papers), until the independence of the country in March 1990, and to illustrate how the
country and its people come to the fore as revealed in the literature. Stress is given mainly
to works that were published by established South African publishers. A total of 146
anthologies of narrative prose, 35 anthologies of poetry, two dramatic works, and 46 poems
which appeared in papers and periodicals, written by 92 authors and published by 26
publishers, are identified and discussed. Hundreds of features of the country and its people
are revealed in the abovementioned literature. Most works take place in the northern regions
and the Namib desert and the indigenous people that predominate are the Bushmen; stress
is mainly laid on their customs and their habits. The main characters in the narratives are
to a large extent white rural people. The literature reflects the typical political circumstances
of the country since the end of the previous century when bloody tribal conflicts raged, until
the border war that ended with independence. As far as the influence of the country on the
people is concerned, it is mainly the hardships and suffering, but above all the spiritual
enrichment that the country offered that are ascertained. In general the authors reveal an
overwhelmingly positive attitude towards the country and its people
2015-01-23T04:23:51Z
2015-01-23T04:23:51Z
2015-01-23T04:23:51Z
1994-01
Thesis
Meyer, Alfreda Catharina (1994) Namibies-Afrikaanse literatuur, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/17439>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/17439
af
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/196652018-11-17T13:03:57Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
A critical investigation to the concept of the double consciousness in selected African-American autobiographies
Jerrey, Lento Mzukisi
Vambe, T.
African-American
Autobiography
Double consciousness
Passing
Racism
Gender
Class
Slavery
Reconstruction
Harlem Renaissance
Civil Rights Movement
The study critically investigated the concept of ―Double Consciousness‖ in selected African-American autobiographies. In view of the latter, W.E.B. Du Bois defined double consciousness as a condition of being both black and American which he perceived as the reason black people were/are being discriminated in America. The study demonstrated that creative works such as Harriet Jacobs‘ Incidents in the Life of Slave Girl: Told by Herself, Frederick Douglass‘ The Narrative of Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois‘ The Souls of Black Folk, Booker T. Washington‘s Up from Slavery, Langston Hughes‘ The Big Sea, Zora Neale Hurston Dust Tracks on a Road, Malcolm X‘s The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Maya Angelou‘s All God’s Children Need Travelling Shoes, Cornel West‘s Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud and bell hooks‘ Bone Black affirm double consciousness as well as critiqued the concept, revealing new layers of identities and contested sites of struggle in African-American society. The study used a qualitative method to analyse and argue that there are ideological shifts that manifest in the creative representation of the idea of double consciousness since slavery. Some relevant critical voices were used to support, complicate and question the notion of double consciousness as represented in selected autobiographies. The study argued that there are many identities in the African-American communities which need attention equal to that of race. The study further argued that double consciousness has been modified and by virtue of this, authors suggested multiple forms of consciousness.
2015-11-06T14:08:06Z
2015-11-06T14:08:06Z
2015-11-06T14:08:06Z
2015
Thesis
Jerrey, Lento Mzukisi (2015) A critical investigation to the concept of the double consciousness in selected African-American autobiographies, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/19665>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/19665
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/162462018-11-17T13:05:04Zcom_10500_23650com_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_23651col_10500_175col_10500_507
Selves and others : the politics of difference in the writings of Ursula Kroeber le Guin
Byrne, D. C. (Deirdre C.)
Rabinowitz, Ivan Arthur
Literary studies
Science fiction and fantasy
Difference
The other
The politics of discourse
Deconstruction
Power
Poststructuralism
Ursula K. Le Guin
Differance
Selves and Others: The Politics of Difference in the Writings of Ursula Kroeber Le Guin
has two founding premises. One is that Le Guin's writing addresses the political issues of the late
twentieth century in a number of ways, even although speculative fiction is not generally
considered a political genre. Questions of self and O/other, which shape political (that is, powerinflected)
responses to difference, infuse Le Guin's writing. My thesis sets out to investigate the
mechanisms of representation by which these concerns are realized.
My chapters reflect aspects of the relationship between self and O/other as I perceive it
in Le Guin's work. Thus my first chapter deals with the representations of imperialism and
colonialism in five novels, three of which were written near the beginning of her literary career.
My second chapter considers Le Guin's best-known novels, The Left Hand of Darkness (1969)
and The Dispossessed (1974), in the context of the alienation from American society recorded
by thinkers in the 1960s. In my third chapter, the emphasis shifts to intrapsychic questions and
splits, as I explore themes of sexuality and identity in Le Guin's novels for and about adolescents.
I move to more public matters in my fourth and fifth chapters, which deal, respectively, with the
politicized interface between public and private histories and with disempowerment. In my final
chapter, I explore the representation of difference and politics in Le Guin's intricate but critically
neglected poetry.
My second founding premise is that traditional modes of literary criticism, which aim to
arrive at comprehensive and final interpretations, are not appropriate for Le Guin's mode of writing, which consistently refuses to locate meaning definitely. My thesis seeks and explores
aporias in the meaning-making process; it is concerned with asking productive questions, rather
than with final answers. I have, consequently, adopted a sceptical approach to the process of
interpretation, preferring to foreground the provisional and partial status of all interpretations.
I have found that postmodern and poststructuralist literary theory, which focuses on textual gaps
and discontinuities, has served me better than more traditional ways of reading
2015-01-23T04:24:22Z
2015-01-23T04:24:22Z
2015-01-23T04:24:22Z
1995-11
Thesis
Byrne, D. C. (Deirdre C.) (1995) Selves and others : the politics of difference in the writings of Ursula Kroeber le Guin, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/16246>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/16246
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/174512018-11-17T13:04:43Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506com_10500_18562col_10500_175col_10500_507col_10500_18564
The intersubjective generation of truth and identity in two South African collaborative auto/biographies
Meyer, Stephan De Villiers
Ryan, P. D.
2015-01-23T04:23:51Z
2015-01-23T04:23:51Z
2015-01-23T04:23:51Z
2002-11
Dissertation
Meyer, Stephan De Villiers (2002) The intersubjective generation of truth and identity in two South African collaborative auto/biographies, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/17451>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/17451
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/160942018-11-17T13:05:02Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Responding to student writing : strategies for a distance-teaching context
Spencer, Brenda
Kilfoil, W. R. (Wendy Ruth), 1952-
Responding to Student Writing: Strategies for a Distance-Teaching Context identifies viable
response techniques for a unique discourse community. An overview of paradigmatic shifts in
writing and reading theory, 'frameworks of response' developed to classify response statements
for research purposes, and an overview of research in the field provide the theoretical basis for
the evaluation of the empirical study.
The research comprises a three-fold exploration of the response strategies adopted by Unisa
lecturers to the writing of Practical English (PENl00-3) students. In the first phase the focus falls
on the effect of intervention on the students' revised drafts of four divergent marking strategies
- coded correction, minimal marking, taped response and self assessment. All the experimental
strategies tested result in statistically-significant improvement levels in the revised draft. The
benefits of self assessment and rewriting, even without tutorial intervention, were demonstrated.
The study is unique by virtue of its distance-teaching context, its sample size of 1750 and in the
high significance levels achieved.
The second phase of the research consisted of a questionnaire that determined 2640 students'
expectations with respect to marking, the value of commentary, their perceptions of markers'
roles and their opinions of the experimental strategies tested. Their responses were also
correlated with their final Practical English examination results.
The third phase examined tutorial response. The framework of response, developed for the
purpose, revealed that present response strategies represent a regression to the traditional
product-orientated approach to writing that contradicts the cognitive and rhetorical axiological
basis of the course. There is thus a disjunction between the teaching and theoretical practices.
The final chapter bridges this gap by examining issues of audience, transparency, ownership,
timing of intervention and training. The researcher believes that she has successfully identified
practical and innovative strategies that assist lecturers in a distance-teaching context to break
away from old response blueprints.
2015-01-23T04:24:16Z
2015-01-23T04:24:16Z
2015-01-23T04:24:16Z
1998-11
Thesis
Spencer, Brenda (1998) Responding to student writing : strategies for a distance-teaching context, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/16094>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/16094
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/35952023-07-14T11:01:05Zcom_10500_23650com_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_23651col_10500_175col_10500_507
Mother Tongue : the use of another language and the impact on identity in Breyten Breytenbach's Dog Heart and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o 's Matigari
Sundy, Deborah
Motsa, Z. T.
Mother tongue
Codeswitching
Self-identification
Translation
South Africa
Kenya
Exile
Breytenbach
Ngũgĩ
This dissertation examines Breyten Breytenbach‟s memoir Dog Heart, and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong‟o‟s novel Matigari, with particular attention to the use of a mother tongue or another language in the texts, and whether these reflect or impact on the writers‟ sense of personal, cultural and political identity. It compares and contrasts the authors‟ views on, and experiences of, culture, language, translation and exile, and whether these aspects appear in the two primary works. Dilemmas associated with the authors‟ choice of language in their creative works, preferred audiences, and affiliations to their mother tongue speech communities are also explored. By drawing on Breytenbach‟s and Ngũgĩ‟s diverse stances on these issues, and following their respective publishing decisions, it is hoped an interesting conversation is created between these significant political activists and their writing.
2010-09-20T14:29:05Z
2010-09-20T14:29:05Z
2010-09-20T14:29:05Z
2010-01
Dissertation
Sundy, Deborah (2010) Mother Tongue : the use of another language and the impact on identity in Breyten Breytenbach's Dog Heart and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o 's Matigari, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/3595>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/3595
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/252312019-02-13T12:38:41Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Inside the house of truth : destruction and reconstruction of Can Themba
Mahala, Siphiwo
This study is, by its intention at any rate, an attempt at assembling the scattered fragments of
Can Themba’s life to make a composite being out of the various existing phenomena that
shaped the contours of his life in both literary and literal senses.
Given the disjunctive manner in which Can Themba and his work have been represented thus
far, a combination of Historical and Biographical research methods will underpin the approach
of this study. The resultant approach is the Historical-Biographical method of research.
According to Guerin et al (2005, 22) the Historical-Biographical approach “sees the work
chiefly, if not exclusively, as the reflection of author’s life and times or the life and times of
the characters in the work.”
This research is premised on the conviction that an individual is a constellation of multiple
factors that play a pivotal role in the construction of their persona. These factors will be traced
from his family background, early schooling, tertiary education, socio-economic conditions as
well as his contribution to various newspapers and journals.
While so much has been written about Themba and his work, there is no comprehensive
biography of Can Themba as a person. Most importantly, the factors that contributed to his
making as well as his breaking, or destruction, have not been interrogated in a form of
comprehensive academic research.
Rightly or wrongly, Themba’s meteoric rise into the South African literary canon is often traced
from the moment he won the inaugural Drum Magazine short story competition. Themba
became one of the most popular journalists and rose within the ranks of Drum to become the
Assistant Editor. However, my research demonstrates that winning the Drum short story
competition was the culmination of a literary talent that was developed and had been simmering
for a number of years. Themba studied at the University of Fort Hare between 1945 and 1951
alongside the likes of Dennis Brutus, Ntsu Mokhehle, Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe,
Mangosuthu Buthelezi, and many other prominent individuals. He was a regular contributor to
The Fortharian, a university publication that published opinion pieces, poems and short stories.
This is a vital component of Themba’s intellectual growth and it remains the least explored
aspect of his life. As a result, what has been discursively documented by various scholars,
writers and journalists, thus far, is a very parochial representation of Can Themba’s oeuvre.
2019-01-31T15:20:01Z
2019-01-31T15:20:01Z
2019-01-31T15:20:01Z
2017-11
Thesis
Mahala, Siphiwo (2017) Inside the house of truth : destruction and reconstruction of Can Themba, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/25231>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/25231
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/176612018-11-17T13:04:59Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
The soteriology of Samuel Johnson
Sandlin, Peter Andrew
Curr, Matthew
2015-01-23T04:24:11Z
2015-01-23T04:24:11Z
2015-01-23T04:24:11Z
1992-11
Dissertation
Sandlin, Peter Andrew (1992) The soteriology of Samuel Johnson, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/17661>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/17661
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/7032018-11-17T13:05:30Zcom_10500_3072com_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_3076col_10500_175col_10500_507
Teaching English as a second language: learning strategies of successful ESL learners
Warren, Philip James
Kilfoil, W. R. (Wendy Ruth), 1952-
The Huang and Van Naerssen (1987) survey in Southern China proved conclusively that the more
fluent Chinese L2 learners ofEnglish used more communicative strategies than their not :fluent
counterparts. This study was an attempt to repeat the Huang and Van Naerssen study in a
different setting with L2 learners of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. L2 learners of
English at secondary level were chosen from four countries in which I had recently lived and
worked. In addition an attempt was made to empirically test the validity of Schumann•s (1978)
acculturation hypothesis on models for which it was not originally intended. A correlation was
being sought between the level of acculturation ofL2 learners and their fluency in English.
A cloze test was given to the one hundred and twenty-five L2 learners in the study in order to
gauge their level of proficiency in English. A survey was then presented to L2 learners in all four
countries, Chile, Paraguay, South Africa and Botswana. Part One of the survey asked questions
related to acculturation. Part Two asked the same communicative questions used in the South
China study.
The results from the survey were inconclusive though the raw data for the communicative
strategies and acculturation helped to show that the more proficient the student in English, the
more likely he or she was to use communicative strategies or show a higher level of acculturation.
The results were not statistically significant.
2009-08-25T10:45:59Z
2009-08-25T10:45:59Z
2009-08-25T10:45:59Z
2009-08-25T10:45:59Z
Dissertation
Warren, Philip James (2009) Teaching English as a second language: learning strategies of successful ESL learners, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/703>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/703
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/232392018-11-17T13:07:02Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
The impact of pre-service primary English language teacher training on post-training practice
Temesgen Daniel Bushiso
Nchindila, Bernard Mwansa
Assessment
ELT
EFL
Impact
Lesson plan
Practice
Pre-service trainee teacher
Primary school
Teaching method
Teaching practice
This study sought to investigate the impact of pre-service primary school English language teachers’ training on their post-training practice. A constructive research paradigm and qualitative method were used in the study. The participants were selected purposively, and
final year pre-service primary school English trainee teachers were used to collect the research data. The data were collected in the year 2016. To collect the data, an interview schedule, an observation guide and document analyses were used. The interviews and the
observations were recorded and later transcribed. The transcribed data were coded, categorized according to their similarity, and then these categories were further collapsed into themes. The findings showed that the primary school ELT trainee teachers did not have
sufficient understanding of the ELT methods offered during their training which led to poor practice, as revealed in their independent teaching. Some of the reasons for the trainees’ poor
understanding and practice mentioned were that the training system was not supported by the reflective teaching method, and the support of ICT. In addition, there was a significant waste of time budgeted for the course time for the completion of the training program. In relation to
time, the practicum time the students stayed in the primary school during independent teaching was not sufficient to give them hands-on practice. Moreover, they did not get the required support from the school mentors and the training college supervisors. Due to these
constraints, almost all the participant trainee teachers demonstrated poor performances during the lesson delivery, which indicated that they did not understand the principles of the ELT methods
2017-10-17T14:47:42Z
2017-10-17T14:47:42Z
2017-10-17T14:47:42Z
2017-05
Thesis
Temesgen, Daniel Bushiso (2017) The impact of pre-service primary English language teacher training on post-training practice, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/23239>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/23239
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/294922022-10-27T07:12:58Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
The non-European character in South African English fiction
Mphahlele, Ezekiel
South African English fiction
Non-European character
The growing scope and significance of the "Non-European" in English fiction: a rapid survey of works of writers about countries where the enigma appears
2022-10-27T07:07:22Z
2022-10-27T07:07:22Z
2022-10-27T07:07:22Z
1956-12
Dissertation
https://hdl.handle.net/10500/29492
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/48902023-03-02T11:30:26Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
An investigation into the use of the balanced literacy approach to improve standard four pupils’ achievement in English reading and writing in Malawi
Kamlongera, Cecilia Esnath
Marshall, Maria Christina, 1954-
Instructional effectiveness
Reading and writing achievement in English
Balanced literacy approach
Reading comprehension
Phonics
Phonemic awareness
Fluency
Vocabulary
Reading improvement
Reading instruction
Malawi primary schools
Standard four pupils
For several years specialists in reading have debated on how pupils should learn to read. The
debate has focused on two methods of teaching reading, that is, the phonic method and the
whole language method. Some researchers have identified five elements of reading
instruction that are critical to achievement in reading, namely; that reading instruction should
include phonics, phonemic awareness, reading fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.
These are the components that make up what is termed a balanced literacy approach.
Although there is some debate on what constitutes the balanced literacy approach, this study
adopted the understanding of the approach described above. The study investigated whether
the use of the balanced literacy approach could improve standard four pupils’ achievement in
reading and writing in English. The targeted population consisted of twelve schools located
in Zomba rural district. Pupils were tested before and after the intervention. Teachers in the
experimental group were trained twice on balanced literacy approaches, first before the
intervention and midway of the intervention.
Observational measures revealed that teachers generally implemented the treatment. The
post intervention data indicated that pupils responded very well to the activities that were
presented to them. The reading and writing achievement of pupils that were present for the
post-test increased more than those of the control group.
The results obtained suggest that the balanced literacy approach improved the reading and
writing achievement of standard four pupils in the experimental group.
2011-10-05T05:59:58Z
2011-10-05T05:59:58Z
2011-10-05T05:59:58Z
2010-11
Thesis
Kamlongera, Cecilia Esnath (2010) An investigation into the use of the balanced literacy approach to improve standard four pupils’ achievement in English reading and writing in Malawi, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/4890>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/4890
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/7592018-11-17T13:04:52Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
I am, after all, just a woman : a critical annotated anthology of Victorian women poets
Oswald, Eirwen Elizabeth René
Holloway, M. K.
2009-08-25T10:46:29Z
2009-08-25T10:46:29Z
2009-08-25T10:46:29Z
2009-08-25T10:46:29Z
Thesis
Oswald, Eirwen Elizabeth René (2009) I am, after all, just a woman : a critical annotated anthology of Victorian women poets, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/759>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/759
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/186352018-11-17T13:05:02Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Exploding the lie : 'angelic womanhood' in selected works by Harriet Martineau, Anne Bronte, Charlotte Bronte and George Eliot
Du Plessis, Sandra Elizabeth
Batley, Karen Elizabeth
Each of these novelists, in her own way, presents a critique of the idealised
woman of the nineteenth-century. My aim in this dissertation is to reveal the
degree to which each is successful in her mission to 'explode the lie' of angelic
womanhood, and, in so doing, free her long-incarcerated Victorian sisters.
It took great courage and fortitude to utter at times a lone dissenting voice; and
female writers of the present owe a great debt of gratitude to their pioneering
Victorian counterparts, who cleared the way for them to take up the banner and
continue the march towards female liberation from a stifling ideology.
2015-05-19T10:11:39Z
2015-05-19T10:11:39Z
2015-05-19T10:11:39Z
1997-11
Dissertation
Du Plessis, Sandra Elizabeth (1997) Exploding the lie : 'angelic womanhood' in selected works by Harriet Martineau, Anne Bronte, Charlotte Bronte and George Eliot, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/18635>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/18635
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/237892018-11-17T13:06:54Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Theorising the environment in fiction: exploring ecocriticism and ecofeminism in selected black female writers’ works
Pasi, Juliet Sylvia
Vambe MT
Biodiversity
Ecocriticism
Ecofeminism
Human others
Earth others
Environment
Environmentalism
Ecology
Andropocentrism
Development
Anthropocentricism
Patriarchy
Conservation
Hierarchy
This thesis investigates the relationship between humans and the nonhuman world or natural environment in selected literary works by black female writers in colonial and post-colonial Namibia and Zimbabwe. Some Anglo-American scholars have argued that many African writers have resisted the paradigms that inform much of global ecocriticism and have responded to it weakly. They contend that African literary feminist studies have not attracted much mainstream attention yet mainly to raise some issues concerning ecologically oriented literary criticism and writing. Given this unjust criticism, the study posits that there has been a growing interest in ecocriticism and ecofeminism in literary works by African writers, male and female, and they have represented the social, political (colonial and anti-colonial) and economic discourse in their works. The works critiqued are Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions (1988) and The Book of Not (2006), Neshani Andreas’ The Purple Violet of Oshaantu (2001) and No Violet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names (2013). The thrust of this thesis is to draw interconnections between man’s domination of nature and the subjugation and dominance of black women as depicted in different creative works. The texts in this study reveal that the existing Anglo-American framework used by some scholars to define ecocriticism and ecofeminism should open up and develop debates and positions that would allow different ways of reading African literature. The study underscored the possibility of black female creative works to transform the definition of nature writing to allow an expansion and all encompassing interpretation of nature writing. Contrary to the claims by Western scholars that African literature draws its vision of nature writing from the one produced by colonial discourse, this thesis argues that African writers and scholars have always engaged nature and the environment in multiple discourses. This study breaks new ground by showing that the feminist aspects of ecrocriticism are essential to cover the hermeneutic gap created by their exclusion. On closer scrutiny, the study reveals that African women writers have also addressed and highlighted issues that show the link between African women’s roles and their environment.
2018-04-20T08:33:43Z
2018-04-20T08:33:43Z
2018-04-20T08:33:43Z
2017-09
Thesis
Pasi, Juliet Sylvia (2017) Theorising the environment in fiction: exploring ecocriticism and ecofeminism in selected black female writers’ works, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/23789>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/23789
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/251462019-02-01T10:35:16Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Hans Christian Andersen's romantic imagination : exploring eighteenth and nineteenth century romantic conceptualisations of the imagination in selected fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen
Greyvensteyn, Annette
Donaldson, Eileen
Hans Christian Andersen
Fairy tales
Imagination
English romanticism
German transcendentalism
Negative capability
Universal soul
Spiritualisation of nature
Romantic outsider
Social criticism
Hans Christian Andersen
Feëverhale
Verbeelding
Engelse romantisisme
Duitse transendentalisme
Universele siel
Spiritualisering van die natuur
Spiritualisering van die natuur
Romantiese buitestaander
Sosiale kritiek
There are certain influences from the eighteenth and nineteenth century English and German romantic Zeitgeist that can be discerned in Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales. The role of the imagination stands out as a particularly dominant notion of the romantic period as opposed to the emphasis on reason during the Enlightenment. It is this romantic influence that Andersen’s tales especially exemplify. For him the imagination is transcendent – one can overcome the mystery and hardship of an earthly existence by recasting situations imaginatively and one can even be elevated to a higher, spiritual realm by its power. The transcendent power of the imagination is best understood by viewing it through the lens of negative capability, a concept put forward by romantic poet, John Keats. The concept implies an “imaginative openness” to what is, which allows one to tolerate life’s uncertainties and the inexplicable suffering that forms part of one’s earthly existence by using the imagination to open up new potential within trying circumstances. In selected fairy tales, Andersen’s child protagonists transcend their circumstances by the power of their imagination. In other tales, nature is instrumental in this imaginative transcendence. The natural world conveys spiritual truths and has a moralising influence on the characters, bringing them closer to the Ultimate Creator. This follows the philosophy of German Naturphilosophie, as well as that of English romantics like Coleridge and Wordsworth, for whom nature functions as a portal to the spiritual
world. The concept of the “sublime” underpins this philosophy. If nature is viewed through an imaginative, instead of an empirical lens, it becomes the means by which the temporal world can be transcended. It is a message of hope and as such is in keeping with Andersen’s self professed calling as visionary who uses his art to uplift mankind. In this he is the ultimate romantic hero or outsider who, while standing on the periphery of society, observes its shortcomings and feels called upon to show the way to a better world.
Sekere invloede van agtiende- en negentiende eeuse Engelse en Duitse romantisisme kan in Hans Christian Andersen se feëverhale bespeur word. Veral die rol van die verbeelding staan uit as ‘n dominante invloed van romantisisme, in teenstelling met die laat sewentien- en vroeë agtiende eeuse fokus op rasionaliteit. Dit is hierdie romantiese invloed wat Andersen se verhale veral versinnebeeld. Vir hom is die verbeelding transendentaal – ‘n mens kan die misterie en swaarkry van jou aardse bestaan oorkom deur situasies deur die oog van die verbeelding te bejeën en kan selfs deur die mag van die verbeelding opgehef word na ‘n hoër, meer spirituele vlak. Die transendentale mag van die verbeelding kan beter begryp word
wanneer dit deur die lens van “negative capability” gesien word. Hierdie konsep is deur die romantiese digter, John Keats, voorgestel. Die konsep impliseer ‘n verbeeldingryke openheid in die aangesig van aardse onsekerheid en swaarkry, wat die mens uiteindelik in staat stel om nuwe potensiaal in moeilike omstandighede raak te sien. In uitgekose feëverhale, oorkom Andersen se kinderprotagoniste hul moeilike omstandighede deur die mag van die verbeelding. In ander verhale is die natuur deurslaggewend in dié transendentale verbeeldingsreis. Nie net dra die natuur geestelike waarhede oor nie, maar dit het ook ‘n moraliserende invloed op die karakters, wat hulle nader aan ‘n Opperwese bring. Dit herinner aan die Duitse Naturphilosophie, asook die sienswyse van Engelse romantikusse soos
Coleridge en Wordsworth, vir wie die natuur ‘n deurgangsroete na die geestelike wêreld is. Die idee van die “sublime” is onderliggend aan hierdie filosofie. As die natuur deur middel van die verbeeldingslens, in plaas van deur ‘n empiriese lens bejeën word, kan dit ‘n manier word om die aardse te oorkom. Dit is dus ‘n boodskap van hoop wat in lyn is met Andersen se selfopgelegde taak as profeet wat sy kuns gebruik om die mensdom op te hef. In hierdie opsig is hy die absolute romantiese held of buitestaander, wat, ofskoon hy aan die buitewyke van die samelewing staan, tóg tekortkominge raaksien en geroepe voel om die weg na ‘n beter wêreld te wys.
2018-12-13T06:21:17Z
2018-12-13T06:21:17Z
2018-12-13T06:21:17Z
2018-07
Dissertation
Greyvensteyn, Annette (2018) Hans Christian Andersen's romantic imagination : exploring eighteenth and nineteenth century romantic conceptualisations of the imagination in selected fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/25146>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/25146
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/186342018-11-17T13:04:59Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Narration in the novels of selected nineteenth-century women writers : Jane Austen, The Bronte Sisters, and Elizabeth Gaskell
Townsend, Rosemary
Williams, Michael
Feminism
Feminist narratology
Focalizer
Free indirect style
Irony
Narration
Narrative frames
Narrator
Reader
Women writers
In this studyi apply a feminist-narratological grid to
the works under discussion. I show how narration is used as
strategy to highlight issues of concern to women, hereby
attempting to make a contribution in the relatively new field
of feminist narratology.
Chapter One provides an analysis of Pride and Prejudice
as an example of a feminist statement by Jane Austen. The use
of omniscient narration and its ironic possibilities are
offset against the central characters' perceptions, presented
by means of free indirect style.
Chapter Two examines The Tenant of Wildfell Hall as a
critique of Wuthering Heights, both in its use of narrative
frames and in its at times moralistic comment. The third and
fourth chapters focus on Charlotte Bronte. Her ambivalences
about the situation of women, be they writers, narrators or
characters, are explored. These are seen to be revealed in her
narrative strategies, particularly in her attainment of
closure, or its lack.
Chapter Five explores the increasing sophistication of
the narrative techniques of Elizabeth Gaskell, whose early
work Mary Barton is shown to have narrative inconsistencies as
opposed to her more complex last novel Wives and Daughters.
Finally, I conclude that while the authors under
discussion use divergent methods, certain commonalities
prevail. Among these are the presentation of alternatives
women have within their constraining circumstances and the
recognition of their moral accountability for the choices they
make.
2015-05-19T10:02:38Z
2015-05-19T10:02:38Z
2015-05-19T10:02:38Z
1999-06
Thesis
Townsend, Rosemary (1999) Narration in the novels of selected nineteenth-century women writers : Jane Austen, The Bronte Sisters, and Elizabeth Gaskell, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/18634>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/18634
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/254902019-08-05T08:01:01Zcom_10500_23650com_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_23651col_10500_175col_10500_507
Re-imagining Ogun in selected Nigerian plays: a decolonial reading
Oluwasuji, Olutoba Gboyega
Murray, Jessica (Professor of English)
Nkealah, Naomi
Battles of Pleasure
Coloniality
Coloniality of being
Coloniality of knowledge
Coloniality of power
Decolonial epistemic perspective
Decoloniality
Hard Choice
Mojagbe
Morontonu
Ogun
Reconceptualisation
Reconstruction
Reimagination
South-West Nigeria
Yoruba
Through an in-depth analysis of selected texts, this study engages with the ways in which Ogun is reimagined by recent selected Nigerian playwrights. Early writers from this country, influenced by their modernist education, misrepresented Ogun by presenting only his so-called negative attributes. Contemporary writers are reconceptualising him; it is the task of this thesis to demonstrate how they are doing so from a decolonial perspective. These alleged attributes represent Ogun as a wicked, bloodthirsty, arrogant and hot tempered god who only kills and makes no positive contribution to the Yoruba community. The thesis argues that the notion of an African god should be viewed from an Afrocentric perspective, not a Eurocentric one, which might lead to violence or misrepresentation of him. The dialogue in the plays conveys how the playwrights have constructed their main characters as Ogun representatives in their society. For example, Mojagbe and Morontonu present Balogun, the chief warlord of their different community; both characters exhibit Ogun features of defending their community.
The chosen plays for this study are selected based on different notions of Ogun, the Yoruba god of iron and war, presented by the playwrights. A closer look at the primary materials this thesis explores suggests Ogun’s strong connection with rituals and cultural festivals. These plays exemplify African ritual theatre. Being a member of the Yoruba ethnic group, I have considerable knowledge of how festivals are performed. The Ogun festival is an annual celebration among the Yoruba, where African idioms of puppetry, masquerading, music, dance, mime, invocation, evocation and several elements of drama are incorporated into the performances. The selected plays critiqued in this thesis are Mojagbe (Ahmed Yerima, 2008), Battles of Pleasure (Peter Omoko, 2009), Hard Choice (Sunnie Ododo, 2011), and Morontonu (Alex Roy-Omoni, 2012). No in-depth exploration has previously been undertaken into the kinds of textual and ideological identities that Ogun adopts, especially in the selected plays. Therefore, using a decolonial epistemic perspective, this study offers a critical examination of how the selected Nigerian playwrights between the years 2008 and 2012 have constructed Ogun, the Yoruba god of iron. Such a perspective assists in delinking interpretations from the modernised notions mentioned above, in which Ogun is sometimes a paradoxical god. Coloniality is responsible for such misinterpretation; the employed theoretical framework is used to interrogate these notions.
The research project begins with a general introduction locating Ogun in Yoruba mythology, which forms the background to how the god is being constructed in Yorubaland. Also included
iii
in this first chapter is a discussion on a decolonial perspective, the principles of coloniality, the aims and objective of the study, and the relevant literature review. Thereafter, chapter two focuses on Battles of Pleasure and argues that the play re-imagines Ogun as a god of peace and harvest as opposed to a god of war and destruction. Chapter three discusses how Ododo’s Hard Choice reconceptualises Ogun as a god of justice, in contrast to him being interpreted as a god who engages in reckless devastation of life. Chapter four explores Ogun’s representation in Yerima’s Mojagbe as a reformer who gives human beings ample time to change from their wayward course to a course that he approves. In chapter five, Ogun’s reconception as a remover of obstacles in Roy-Omoni’s Morontonu is examined. The study concludes with a discussion on how Africans should delink themselves from a modernist Eurocentric perspective and think from an Afrocentric locus of enunciation.
2019-06-06T06:31:28Z
2019-06-06T06:31:28Z
2019-06-06T06:31:28Z
2018-06
Thesis
Oluwasuji, Olutoba Gboyega (2018) Re-imagining Ogun in selected Nigerian plays: a decolonial reading, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/25490>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/25490
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/234732018-11-17T13:07:02Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506com_10500_18562col_10500_175col_10500_507col_10500_18564
Crafting positions : representations of intimacy and gender in The Sentients of Orion
Boshoff, Dorothea
Byrne, D. C. (Deirdre C.)
Intimacy
Science fiction
Gender
Sexual intercourse
Feminist science fiction
Space opera
Post-structuralist feminism
The Sentients of Orion
Marianne de Pierres
Gender fluidity
This study comprises a close reading and textual analysis of The Sentients of Orion, a
space opera series by Australian author Marianne de Pierres, with a view to investigating
the representations of gender in modern, popular science fiction by women authors. I
hypothesise that de Pierres will pose a fictional enquiry into gender, based on the richness
of science fiction by women, but that a closer examination of physical and emotional
intimacy (both positive and negative) in these ‘less literary works’ will prove de Pierres’
gender enquiry to be superficial and inconsistent in nature. My main approach is a
qualitative exploration of selected incidents through the theoretical lenses of feminist literary criticism, gender theory and, where applicable, queer theory. While I draw
eclectically on these interpretive paradigms, my approach is most closely aligned with
poststructuralist feminism. Proving the first part of my hypothesis, my findings show that
de Pierres does pose an enquiry into gender through her portrayal of plot and character.
The particular focus on the intimacies involving the heroine, women, men, and alien
characters, proves the second part of my hypothesis incorrect as it reveals how de Pierres
not only deeply and consistently challenges the heteronormative status quo, questioning
dynamics in relationships, gender roles, ageism, sexism and societal stereotypes, but also
provides possible alternatives.
2017-12-08T07:50:15Z
2017-12-08T07:50:15Z
2017-12-08T07:50:15Z
2017-03
Thesis
Boshoff, Dorothea (2017) Crafting positions : representations of intimacy and gender in the sentients of orion, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/23473>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/23473
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/24102018-11-17T13:05:00Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Is there a woman in the text? : a feminist exploration of Katherine Mansfield's search for authentic selves in a selection of short stories
Cooper, Lucille
Williams, M. J.
Suppressed anger and despair
Masks
Identification with women's experience
Examination of interior consciousness of character
Gender differences
Mute
Constricting prescriptions for actions
Women isolated in society
Innovative style of writing
British modernism
Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923), British Modernist writer whose search for authentic selves in the lives of the characters in her short stories, is reflected in her innovative style of writing in which she examines the interior consciousness of their minds.
Mansfield questions the inauthentic lives of the characters, revealing that the roles they play are socially imposed forcing them to hide their true selves behind masks.
The stories which have been chosen for this study focus on women characters (and men also) who grapple with societal prescriptions for accepted actions, and are rendered mute as a result. The women characters include all age groups and social classes. Some are young and impressionable (The Tiredness of Rosabel, The Little Governess and The Garden Party), others are married and older (Bliss, Prelude and Frau Brechenmacher attends a wedding ), while there are also middle-aged women in Miss Brill and The Life of Ma Parker.
2009-08-25T11:03:14Z
2009-08-25T11:03:14Z
2009-08-25T11:03:14Z
2009-08-25T11:03:14Z
Dissertation
Cooper, Lucille (2009) Is there a woman in the text? : a feminist exploration of Katherine Mansfield's search for authentic selves in a selection of short stories, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/2410>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/2410
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/250772018-12-11T07:39:56Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
A return to Kristeva: reconstructing female voice in contemporary consumer society
Bouwer-Nirenstein, Athena Vanessa
Julia Kristeva
Antjie Krog
Michel Foucault
Jacques Lacan
Judith Butler
Louise Viljoen
Feminist theory
Psychoanalytic theory
Pastoral power
Semanalysis
Semiotic drives
There has been considerable debate amongst feminist scholars as to whether the
normalization of cosmetic surgery positively impacts women, empowers women by promoting
agency and choice (Gimlin 2002, Kuczynski 2006), or oppresses women by propagating
patriarchal ideologies that confine women’s bodies and consequently inhibit their voice (Blum
2003, Blood 2005, Heinricy 2006, Clarke and Griffin 2007, Tait, 2007). Rather than entering this
debate my argument proceeds from a premise that the normalization of cosmetic surgery is a
form of implicit and exclusive violence. Using a selection of post‐structuralist, feminist, and
psychoanalytic theories, I analyze the manner in which this form of violence confines women’s
bodies and structures the psyche. Using Jacques Lacan, Judith Butler, and Michel Foucault’s
argument on pastoral power, I deconstruct the formation of the normalized self, the conscience,
and the act of confession as it translates in the context of the cosmetic surgical body itself.
Furthermore, I highlight liberal feminism’s role in this form of oppression. In so doing, I
theoretically show the continual and effective functioning of pastoral power in the context of an
individualization technique that oppresses women in the second decade of the twenty‐first
century. I argue that the normalization of cosmetic surgery provokes a silencing of woman’s
voices, an exploitation and oppression of the individual’s psyche, and an invalidation of the living
body by a less visible, less explicit, mode of incarceration that is concealed by an aesthetic and
moral veil.
It is in this context that I present a counter discourse to the oppression that underlies the
normalizing discourses promoted by the cosmetic surgical industry, a destabilization of
patriarchal norms embedded within cosmetic surgical discourses, and a theoretical
reconstruction that involves an inscription of what I refer to as an authentic feminist voice in
contemporary consumer culture – a mode of intimate unconscious insurgence.
I advocate a return to Julia Kristeva’s theory and the intimate revolt promoted by her
ethical approach. Furthermore, I present a voice that demonstrates an intimate revolt – a voice
that challenges patriarchal norms and is not exclusively confined by the mechanisms of
normalization that shape the twenty‐first century woman with emphasis on the cosmetic surgical industry and its superincumbent discourses – the South African poet Antjie Krog. It is Krog’s
skillfully structured poetic texts that facilitate my theoretical reconstruction.
Applying Kristeva’s theory on semanalysis, I theoretically show that Krog’s work fabricates
an excess to the confines of the law of the Father and the mechanisms of normalization itself. In
addition, I present an “originary attachment” as an adaption of Kristeva’s argument on the chora
and my proposal of an “originary ideal” challenges Kristeva’s emphasis on phonetic grams in the
context of that which underlies the realm of the paternal metaphor.
Using Louise Viljoen’s analysis of Krog’s work and Bridget Garnham’s research on
emerging designer cosmetic surgical discourses as support, I then present Krog’s poetic texts as
a counter discourse to the “moral” cosmetic surgical discourses that exploit the ageing individual
in the second decade of the twenty‐first century. In addition, applying Kristeva’s theory on
paragrams to Krog’s poetic text(s), I present a destabilization of the patriarchal norms implicit
within cosmetic surgical discourses. Furthermore, I extend Kristeva’s theory on the principle of
negativity to present a re‐translation of the act‐of‐confession in Krog’s poetic text(s), an
extension of Foucault’s pastoral power and Butler’s argument on the exclusivity of normalization,
and a reclamation of her ageing body in Verweersrkrif/Body Bereft (Krog 2006).
Feministiese geleerdes voer al geruime tyd 'n warm debat oor die kwessie of die
normalisering van kosmetiese chirurgie vroue positief beïnvloed, vroue bemagtig deurdat dit
volmag en keuse vir hulle in die hand werk (Gimlin 2002; Kuczynski 2006), of vroue onderdruk
deurdat dit patriargale ideologieë voorstaan wat die vroueliggaam inperk en gevolglik die
vrou inhibeer om haar stem te laat hoor (Blood 2005; Blum 2005; Clarke en Griffin 2007;
Heinricy 2006; Tait 2007). In plaas daarvan om by hierdie debat betrokke te raak, gaan ek van
die veronderstelling uit dat die normalisering van kosmetiese chirurgie 'n vorm van implisiete
en eksklusiewe geweld is.
Aan die hand van post-strukturalistiese, feministiese en psigoanalitiese teorieë
ontleed ek die manier waarop hierdie vorm van geweld vroue se liggaam onderwerp en hul
psige vorm. Ek dekonstrueer die vorming van die genormaliseerde self, die bewussyn en die
daad van belydenis, soos dit in die konteks oorgebring word, aan die hand van Jacques Lacan,
Judith Butler en Michel Foucault se beskouings van herderlike oftewel pastorale mag.
Hierbenewens onderstreep ek die rol wat liberale feminisme in hierdie vorm van
onderwerping speel. Sodoende demonstreer ek teoreties hoe die voortdurende en
effektiewe funksionering van pastorale mag in die konteks van ’n individualiseringstegniek
vroue in die tweede dekade van die een-en-twintigste eeu onderdruk. Ek maak die aanname
dat die normalisering van kosmetiese chirurgie daartoe bydra dat vroue die swye opgelê
word, die individu se psige uitgebuit en onderdruk word en die lewende liggaam ontkragtig
word deur middel van ’n inkerkering wat minder sigbaar en minder eksplisiet is en agter ’n estetiese en morele sluier verdoesel word.
In hierdie konteks bied ek ’n teendiskoers aan vir die onderwerping wat onderliggend
is aan die normaliseringsdiskoerse wat die kosmetiesechirurgiebedryf ondersteun, en ek
bepleit dat die patriargale norme wat in diskoerse oor kosmetiese chirurgie vassit,
gedestabiliseer word. Ek demonstreer verder ’n teoretiese rekonstruksie wat ’n inskripsie
insluit van wat ek ’n geloofwaardige feministiese stem in die eietydse verbruikerskultuur
noem – ’n modus van intieme, onbewuste opstandigheid.
Ek bepleit 'n terugkeer na Julia Kristeva se teorie en die intieme oproer wat deur haar
etiese benadering voorgestaan word. Afgesien hiervan stel ek ’n stem voor wat ’n intieme opstand demonstreer – ’n stem wat patriargale norme uitdaag en nie uitsluitlik onderdruk
word deur die normaliseringsmeganismes wat vorm gee aan die vrou van die een-entwintigste
eeu nie, waar die klem op die kosmetiesechirurgiebedryf en die boliggende
diskoerse daarvan val – Antjie Krog, Suid-Afrikaanse digter. Dit is juis Krog se kunstig
gestruktureerde digterlike tekste wat my teoretiese rekonstruksie fasiliteer.
Aan die hand van Kristeva se teorie oor semanalise toon ek teoreties dat Krog se werk
’n ruimte daarstel wat "uitstyg" bo die grense wat die wet van die Vader en die
normaliseringsmeganismes stel. Hierbenewens stel ek ’n "originêre gehegtheid" as
aanpassing van Kristeva se beskouing van die chora voor, en my voorstel van ’n "originêre
ideaal" daag Kristeva se opvating oor paragramme uit in die konteks van dit wat ten grondslag
lê aan die gebied van die paternalistiese metafoor.
Op grond van Louise Viljoen se ontleding van Krog se werk en Bridget Garnham se
navorsing oor opkomende diskoerse oor ontwerpers- kosmetiese chirurgie bied ek Krog se
digterlike tekste aan as ’n teendiskoers vir die "morele" diskoerse oor kosmetiese chirurgie
wat die verouderende individu in die tweede dekade van die een-en-twintigste eeu uitbuit.
Daarby, deur Kristeva se teorie oor paragramme op Krog se digterlike teks(te) toe te pas,
demonstreer ek 'n destabilisering van die patriargale norme wat implisiet in diskoerse oor
kosmetiese chirurgie teenwoordig is. Hierbenewens brei ek Kristeva se teorie oor die
negatiwiteitsbeginsel uit deur middel van ’n heroorsetting van die belydenisdaad in Krog se
digwerk(e), ’n uitbreiding van Foucault se pastorale mag en Butler se opvatting oor die
eksklusiwiteit van normalisering, en ’n opeising van Krog se verouderende liggaam in
Verweerskrif/Body Bereft (Krog 2006).
Sekubekhona izingxoxo-mpikiswano eziningi kwizifundiswa zama-feminist ukuthi
ngabe ukwenza isurgery yohlinzo olungajulile ukuzishintsha ukubukeka ngokwemvelo
(cosmetic plastic surgery) kunomphumela omuhle yini kwabesimame, ngabe kuhlinzeka
ngamandla kwabesimame ngokuphakamisela phezulu ukuthi umuntu azenzele akufunayo
kanye nokuzikhethela (Grimlin 2002, Kuczynski 2006) noma kuyinto ecindezela abesimame
ngokuqhubela phambili indlela nama-idiyoloji abekwa ngabesilisa ukuthi imizimba
yabesimame kumele ibukeke kanjani, kanti lokhu kucindezela izwi labesimame (Blum 2003,
Blood 2005, Heinricy 2006, Clarke and Griffin 2007, Tait, 2007). Kunokuthi iphuzu nami
ngingenele kule ngxoxo-mpikiswano, elami iphuzu lona liqhubeka ukusukela kwisimo
sokuthi ukwamukela uhlujzo olungajulile lokuzitshintsha ukubukeka kwabesimame
(cosmetic surgery) kuyindlela yodlame olungaqondile ngqo kanye nolukhipha inyumbazane
abesimame. Ngokusebenzisa amathiyori epost-structuralist, awe-feminist kanye nawepsychoanalytical,
ngihlaziya indlela le nhlobo yalolu dlame ecindezela ngayo imizimba
yabesimame kanye nokuhlela indlela okumele bacabange nokuzibona ngayo.
Ngokusebenzisa iphuzu likaJacques Lacan, Judith Buttle kanye noMichel Foucault lamandla
okukhokhela ngokomoya, ngiqhaqha indlela okubumbeka ngayo isithombe sokuzibona,
unembeza kanye nomoya wokuhlambulula ngokuzidalula (confession) lapho kubhekwa
izinto ngaphansi kwesimo somzimba wokuhlinzwa okungajulile ukuzishintsha ukubukeka
ngokwakho. Nangaphezu kwalokho, ngigqamisa indima ye-liberal feminism ngokwayo kule
nhlobo yencindezelo. Ngokwenza lokho, ngikhombisa ngokwethiyori ukuqhubeka
nokusebenza kwamandla esikhokhelo ngokomoya ngaphansi kwethekniki yokuzazi komuntu
eyedwa okucindezela abesimame kwiminyaka elishumi yesibili, yesenshuri yamashumi
amabili nanye . Ngiqhubela phambili iphuzu lokuthi ukwenziwa kohlinzo olungajulile
lokuzishintsha ukubukeka kuqala umoya wokucindezela izwi labesimame, ukuxhashazwa
kwabo, kanye nendlela umuntu azibona ngayo ngokwengqondo, kanye nokucindezela
umzimba ophilayo ngezindlela ezingazibonakalisi obala, ezifihlekile, indlela yokubopha
efihlwa yindlela yokubukeka kanye nokwembozwa umoya.
Kungaphansi kwalesi simo lapho ngethula khona i-discourse yencindezelo eyenza
ukuthi imboni yohlinzo olungajulile ukuzishintsha ukubukeka kwabesimame kube yinto
ephakanyiswayo nokubonwa iyinhle, ukuphazamiseka kwama-norm endlela yengcindezi
yabesilisa, ngaphansi kwama-discourse okuhlinzwa okungajulile ukushintsha ukubukeka,
kanye nokwakha ithiyori ebandakanya ukubona izinto ngendlela ethize, engikuchaza
njengezwi okuyilo elifanele le-feminism, kwisimo sosiko esiphila ngaphansi kwaso samanje -
okuyindlela abantu abazibuka ngayo ezingqondweni ngendlela engekho obala.
Ngigcizelela ukubuyela kwithiyori kaKristeva, kanye nokuthi abantu babhoke
indlobana ngezindlela eziphansi, okuyinto ayiphakamisayo yenkambiso yokwazi okulungile
nokungalunganga (ethical approach). Naphezu kwalokho, ngiveza izwi elibonisa ukubhoka
indlobana kwabesimame ngendlela engekho sobala - izwi elifaka inselele kuma-norm
okubhozomelwa ngumqondo wokulawula kwabesilisa, kanti futhi leli zwi aligcinanga nje
kuphela umumo wabesimame ngendlela ejwayelekile njengowesimame wesenshuri
yamashumi amabili-nanye ngokugcizelela kwimboni yohlinzo olungajulile lokuzishintsha
ukubukeka, kanye nendlela lokhu okuyisihibe ngayo – ngokusho kukasonkondlo waseNingizimu Afrika, u-Antjie Krog. Imibhalo yezinkondlo zikaKrog ezinobungcweti yiyo
eyenze ukwakha kwami kabusha ithiyori.
Ngokusebenzisa ithiyori kaKristeva ye-semanalysis, ngibonisa ngokwethiyori ukuthi
umsebenzi kaKrog uqambe okweqele ngaleya kwizihibe zomthetho kubaba kanye nezindlela
zokwenza izinto zibukeke ngendlela evamile noma zingavamile. Nangaphezu kwalokho,
ngifakela i-"originary attachment" njengokwenza ukuthi kube kwesinye isimo, iphuzu
likaKristeva ku-chora kanti isiphakamiso sami se-"originary ideal" sifaka inselele kusigcizelelo
sikaKristeva ngamagremu efonethiki ngaphansi kwesimo esigcizelela umfanekiso
ngasohlangothini lobaba.
Ngokusebenzisa ukuhlaziya kukaLouise Viljoen kumsebenzi kaKrog kanye nocwaningo
lukaBridget Garnham ngokuvela kwama-discourse ohlinzo olungajulile ukuzishintsha
ukubukeka njengesisekelo, ngase ngethula imibhalo yezinkondlo zikaKrog njenge-discourse
yokuphikisa ama-discourse e-"moral" yama-discourse ohlinzo olungajulile lokuzishintsha
ukubukeka, elixhaphaza abantu abagugayo ngeminyaka eyishumi yesibili kwisenshuri
yamashumi amabili-nanye. Naphezu kwalokho, ngisebenzise ithiyori kaKristeva
kumapharagramu kwimibhalo yezinkondlo zikaKrog, ngaphazamisa imibono yokuphatha
kwabesilisa equkethwe kuma-discourse ohlinzo ulungajulile ukuzishintsha ukubukeka.
Ukuqhubekela phambili, nginwebe ithiyori kaKristeva ngesimiso se-negativity ukwethula
ukuhumusha kabusha umoya wokuzihlambulula ngokuzidalula otholakala kwizinkondlozikaKrog, ukuwukunweba amandla umbono kaFaucault wamandla okuthi abantu bazibone
ngenye indlela kanye nephuzu likaButler wlkuthi into engavamile engaphandle ibonwe
njengento efanele, kanye nokwamukela umzimba ogugayo kwinkondlo ye-
Verweerskrif/Body Bereft (Krog 2006).
2018-11-28T09:50:47Z
2018-11-28T09:50:47Z
2018-11-28T09:50:47Z
2018-03
Thesis
Bouwer-Nirenstein, Athena Vanessa (2018) A return to Kristeva: reconstructing female voice in contemporary consumer society, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/25077>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/25077
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/36062023-02-10T11:15:30Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Post 9/11 constructions of Muslim identities in American black popular music
Khan, Khatija Bibi
Vambe, Maurice Taonezvi
Islam
African American
Nation of Islam
Sunni Islam
Black Atlantic
Rhetorical devices
Artistic constructions
Black
Muslim identities
Five percenters
Nation of God and earth
Christian Moslems
Cultural hybridity
Black communities
Popular music
The aim of this study was to critically explore the constructions of Muslim identities in selected Black African American popular music composed before and after the 11th of September 2001. This study is interdisciplinary because it used popular culture theories developed by Hall, Strinati, Storey and Gilroy’s concept of the Black Atlantic. Postcolonial literary theories of Bhabha, Spivak and Fanon were also used. The study demonstrated that the content and style of the lyrics by Public Enemy, Talib Kweli, Paris, Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West, Scarface, Miss Eliot, Missundastood, Erykah Badu and KRS-One have been influenced by Islam’s religious versions of the Nation of Islam, Five Percenters or Nation of Gods and Earths and Sunny Islam. Individual singers also manipulated the spiritual symbols and cultural resources made available to them in the Islam religion. Black African American singers more or less share common historical experiences, but they constructed and depicted Muslim identities differently because of their class, generational and gender backgrounds. Chapter one introduced the area of study, justified it and adopted an eclectic theoretical approach in order to account for the diverse constructions of Muslim identities in the songs composed by black African American hip hop singers. Chapter two provided an extended review of literature for the study. Chapter three explored the influence of the Nation of Islam on the singers and its creative manipulation by the black singers. Chapter four explored religious hybridity because the lyrics draw from Islam and Christian eschatological values. Chapter five used lyrics by three black female singers and revealed how they reconfigured differently, Black Muslim identities in a musical industry predominantly patronised by male singers. Chapter six explored the use of language in signifying different meanings of Muslim-ness in order to arrive at different definitions of pan Black Islamic musical consciousness. Chapter seven concluded the study by summarising the central argument of the study which was that black African American singers have referenced cultural symbols from Islam and in the process manipulated Islam’s religious metaphors to suggest different and alternative models for the black communities in the United States of America.
2010-09-23T11:56:15Z
2010-09-23T11:56:15Z
2010-09-23T11:56:15Z
2010-05
Thesis
Khan, Khatija Bibi (2010) Post 9/11 constructions of Muslims identities in the American black popular music, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/3606>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/3606
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/305762023-12-04T16:06:46Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Re-reading African literature with feminist empathy : a gendered analysis of selected texts by Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Tsitsi Dangarembga
Anim, Patience
Murray, Jessica (Professor of English)
Feminist empathy
Feminism
Intersectionality
Patriachy
Masculinity
Decommodification
Agency
Stereotype
Mothering
Motherhood
Several African literary texts and the critical responses to these texts have engaged extensively with the varied ways in which men and women have been both complicit in and active perpetrators of gendered oppression and violence. Even though lives of female characters are often depicted as being impacted by such challenges, contemporary African literary texts consistently portray strong female characters who advocate for emancipation and empowerment while they make choices that allow them to flourish and lead rich, personally and socially meaningful lives. This study contributes to existing scholarly conversations by drawing on theoretical frameworks that are centered around feminist empathy and other discourses of feminism to reflect critically on the ways in which the selected African texts acknowledge, accept and recognise the pain and suffering of the female other marginalised through the practice of patriarchal norms. Through an examination of Chinua Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun and Tsitsi Dangarembga’s This Mournable Body, I depict the disparities between the conditions of life, the socio-cultural identities, and the power dynamics of male and female characters within selected African patriarchal societies. The study further investigates the literary strategies employed to expose the effects of sexism, classism, racism, stereotyping and macho-masculinity on the lives of marginalised characters, predominantly, female characters. The research establishes methods adopted by revolutionary female characters to subvert patriarchy and assert a constructive image and role for women in the societies exemplified in the texts. Based on these findings, the study concludes that through the use of empathy as a conceptual tool drawn from the theoretical framework of feminist empathy, both genders can thrive in their mutual support and understanding of each other within a more progressive society.
2023-10-19T12:36:04Z
2023-10-19T12:36:04Z
2023-10-19T12:36:04Z
2022-12
Thesis
https://hdl.handle.net/10500/30576
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/296432022-12-01T04:39:11Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
The importance of anthropomorphism in children’s literature : studies in Elwyn Brooks White’s Charlotte’s web and Stuart Little
Falowo, Oluwakemisola Grace
Alexander, J. O.
Ogunyemi, C. B.
Children’s literature
Anthropomorphism
Fairy tales
Fables
Social skills
Narratology
Charlotte’s Web
Stuart Little
E.B. White
The anthropomorphised linguistic and social world in which animals are given human voice originated in the literary genre of the animal fable. Over the centuries this has changed from being, predominantly moralistic stories for adults to one that is specifically directed towards younger children. This genre can be found in books, toys, songs, electronic medias etc. and regularly features animals as the central characters. The use of animals and other nonhuman characters in children’s literature has become a well-known medium of entertainment for them and is one through which children can be educated with life lessons. The anthropomorphised animal characters are a reflection of children’s affection for animals and carry with them many explicit and implicit messages about animal and human relationships.
Through the analysis of two children’s literature texts written by E.B. White, Stuart Little (1945) and Charlotte’s Web (1952), this study will focus on the importance of anthropomorphism in children’s literature and consider how it can aid social skills development. Many of the illustrated social skills are those values that contribute to children’s lives in order for them to demonstrate good behaviour in their society. The study will illustrate the importance of such anthropomorphism in children’s literature and its use in teaching acceptable societal behaviour whilst contributing to the discourse on anthropomorphism in children’s literature.
2022-11-30T11:13:26Z
2022-11-30T11:13:26Z
2022-11-30T11:13:26Z
2022-10-28
Dissertation
https://hdl.handle.net/10500/29643
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/305832023-10-24T11:21:05Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Representations of home and displacement in Kopano Matlwa’s Coconut and Noviolet Bulawayo’s We need new names
Rasekgotoma, Masefoko Tshegofatso Glander
Musvoto, Alfred Rangrirai
Home
Displacement
Postcolonial theory
Migration
Dislocation
Alienation
Belonging
Language
Identity
This study discusses how the concepts of home and displacement are portrayed in the
selected novels of two Southern African writers: We Need New Names (2013) by
Zimbabwe born and USA based author, NoViolet Bulawayo, and Coconut (2007) by
South African writer, Kopano Matlwa. The study argues that the themes of home and
displacement are recurring in African literature because of the enduring trauma that
colonialism visited on the continent. The analysis of both primary texts reflects that the
process of migration, whether voluntary or forced, inevitably leaves the affected
individuals and communities displaced as they not only struggle to fit into their newfound
homes but also suffer from various malaise, such as alienation, identity loss and lack of
belonging among others. To this end, the study also argues that displacement is not only physical, but also psychological because migration distorts the characters’ sense of home
and leaves them perpetually struggling to recover both their senses of self and
community. The study thus further contends that the process of migration is life-altering
because it presents a turning point in the lives of the characters as they battle with
numerous challenges in the new spaces that they find themselves in. The study draws
on postcolonial theory to conceptualise its arguments.
2023-10-23T08:01:36Z
2023-10-23T08:01:36Z
2023-10-23T08:01:36Z
2023-06
Dissertation
https://hdl.handle.net/10500/30583
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/21032018-11-17T13:05:35Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506com_10500_18562col_10500_175col_10500_507col_10500_18564
The religious crisis in the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins.
Giles, Roy James
Prozesky, S.
Hopkins's early poetry
The Oxford period and Newman's influence
Jesuit training
Defining poem: ' The Wreck of the Deutschland'
Poetry as a practising priest
Terrible Sonnets
Physical and psychological crisis
Resolution of crisis
Gerard Manley Hopkins produced poetry in the Victorian era which was noted for its originality of syntax and form. The essence underlying a large body of his poetry was his Catholic religion. His early religious poetry utilized nature-based metaphors to express his love of Christ and trace the immanence of God within nature. He borrowed heavily from the aesthetics of Pater and the philosophy of Duns Scotus. The dissertation explores these early influences and assesses their contribution to the formation of a unique religious interpretation of life and the formulation of an aesthetic congruent with this religion. The dissertation dissects early symptoms of religious doubt within his poetry and finally analyses his `Terrible Sonnet' phase in detail to ascertain whether the crisis so often described as occurring during this period was religious or merely reflected a loss of creative ability.
2009-08-25T11:00:23Z
2009-08-25T11:00:23Z
2009-08-25T11:00:23Z
2009-08-25T11:00:23Z
Dissertation
Giles, Roy James (2009) The religious crisis in the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins., University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/2103>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/2103
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/171292018-11-17T13:05:26Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
The representation of madness in Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace
Kreuiter, Allyson
Ryan, P. D.
Madness
Representation
Atwood
Alias Grace
Dionysian
Appollonian
Kristeva
Foucault
Language
Nietzsche
The central tenet of the study is that language and madness are bound together, language both
including madness and perpetuating the exclusion of madness as 'other'. The first chapter
considers the representation of madness in Atwood's novels The Edible Woman, Surfacing
and Alias Grace from the perspective ofFoucauldian and Kristevan theories oflanguage and
madness. Alias Grace becomes the focus in the second chapter. Here the syntax of madness
is traced during Grace's stay in the mental asylum. Language, madness and sexuality are
revealed as a palimpsest written on Grace's body. The final chapter looks at Grace's
incarceration in the penitentiary and her dealings with the psychologist Dr. Simon Jordan
where Grace's narrative tightly threads language and madness together. Underlying each
chapter is a concern with how language and madness are in permanent interaction and
opposition writing themselves onto society and onto Grace.
2015-01-23T04:24:54Z
2015-01-23T04:24:54Z
2015-01-23T04:24:54Z
2000-01
Dissertation
Kreuiter, Allyson (2000) The representation of madness in Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/17129>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/17129
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/198432018-11-17T13:04:05Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
The Nollybook phenomenon
Kohaly, Dawn Felicity
Byrne, Deirdre
South African romantic fiction
Nollybooks
Gender stereotypes
Women readers
Popular culture
Text to television
2016-01-08T13:55:20Z
2016-01-08T13:55:20Z
2016-01-08T13:55:20Z
2015-01
Dissertation
Kohaly, Dawn Felicity (2015) The Nollybook phenomenon, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/19843>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/19843
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/7442018-11-17T13:04:29Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Re-inserting Africa into African American : the roots of Toni Morrison's narrative technique in the Bluest Eye
Silva, Luis Manuel Prata Dias Teixeira da
Scherzinger, K. (Dr.)
kakolwk@unisa.ac.za
Toni Morrison
The Bluest eyes
2009-08-25T10:46:21Z
2009-08-25T10:46:21Z
2009-08-25T10:46:21Z
2009-08-25T10:46:21Z
Thesis
Silva, Luis Manuel Prata Dias Teixeira da (2009) Re-inserting Africa into African American : the roots of Toni Morrison's narrative technique in the Bluest Eye, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/744>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/744
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/20892018-11-17T13:04:49Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Gendered bodies and new technologies
Du Preez, Amanda Anida
Byrne, D. C.
Women and technology
Miming strategies
Visual culture
Cyborgs
Embodiment
Cyberfeminism
New technologies
Gender studies
Gendered bodies and new technologies has one founding premise, namely that embodiment constitutes a non-negotiable prerequisite for human life. Although this may seem like an obvious statement, it is a statement that needs to be affirmed in the virtual age wherein we live. New technologies in most of its forms tend to discredit the embodied aspects of human life and instead concentrate on the disembodied aspects thereof. Among new technologies the following are specifically noted: microelectronics, telecommunication networks, nano-technology, virtual reality, computer-mediated communications and other forms of computer technologies. In short, “new technologies” refer to all things digital. I explore the issue of embodiment from a gendered perspective, seeing that the female body is the embodiment most likely to be discarded, not only in metaphysical systems, but also in developments within new technologies. The main focus of my gendered analysis is on the visual image and more specifically as it manifests in cinema, advertisements, the Internet, interactive artwork and television. The critical perspective that foregrounds my approach is that of the fairly new field of cyberfeminism. The main concern of cyberfeminism being a critical engagement of women’s position in terms of new technologies. In this regard, cyberfeminism does not perpetuate an anti-technology stance, but rather embraces technology by emphasising the embodied nature of our existence.
I have identified four body types to explore the interactions between bodies and new technologies. They are: the techno-transcendent body; the techno-enhanced body; the marked body and the cyborg body. The four body types differ in the way in which gendered embodiment is negotiated in its interaction with new technologies and these are highlighted and discussed in the four chapters dealing with these four body types.
2009-08-25T11:00:15Z
2009-08-25T11:00:15Z
2009-08-25T11:00:15Z
2002-11
Thesis
Du Preez, Amanda Anida (2002) Gendered bodies and new technologies, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/2089>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/2089
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/48382022-03-07T10:00:01Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Contesting narratives : constructions of the self and the nation in Zimbabwe polical auto/ Biography
Javangwe, Tasiyana Dzikai
Vambe, Maurice Taonezvi
Representation
Social constructionism
Imagined community
Marginality
Self identity
Political auto/biography
Nation
Autre-biography
Postcolonial
Subjectivity
Dis/eased identities
This study is an interpretive analysis of Zimbabwean political auto/biographical narratives in contexts of changing culture, race, ethnicity and gender identity images of the self and nation. I used eclectic theories of postcolonialism to explore the fractured nature of both the processes of identity construction and narration, and the contradictions inherent in identity categories of nation and self. The problem of using autobiographical memory to recall the momentous events that formed the contradictory identities of self and nation in the creative imagination of the lives of Ian Smith, Maurice Nyagumbo, Abel Muzorewa, Joshua Nkomo, Doris Lessing, Fay Chung, Judith Garfield Todd, Tendai Westerhof and Lutanga Shaba have been highlighted. The study concluded that there are narrative and ideological disjunctures between experiencing life and narrating those experiences to create approximations of coherent identities of individual selves and those of the nation. The study argued that each of the stories analyzed in this study contributed a version of the multiple Zimbabwean narratives that no one story could ever tell without being contested by others. Thus the study explores how white Rhodesian auto/biographies depend on the imperial repertoire to construct varying, even contradicting, images of white identities and the Rhodesian nation, which are also contested by black nationalist life narratives. The narratives by women writers, both white and black, introduced further instabilities to the male authored narratives by moving beyond the conventional understanding of what is ‘political’ in political auto/biographies. The HIV and AIDS narratives by black women thrust into the public sphere personalized versions of self so that the political consequence of their inclusion was not only to image Zimbabwe as a diseased society, but one desperately in need of political solutions to confront the different pathologies inherited from colonialism and which also have continued in the post-independence period.
2011-09-23T09:16:29Z
2011-09-23T09:16:29Z
2011-09-23T09:16:29Z
2011-11
Thesis
Javangwe, Tasiyana Dzikai (2011) Contesting narratives : constructions of the self and the nation in Zimbabwe polical auto/ Biography, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/4838>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/4838
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/161612018-11-17T13:05:02Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Developing English communicative skills : a reassessment of the role of university departments of English in meeting the needs of English second language students
Swemmer, Derek
Adey, David
Goedhals, J. B.
Muller, C. H.
Prompted by increasing demand in South Africa for the development of a focused but flexible English Second
Language (ESL) curriculum at university level, this thesis contends that substantial theoretical under-pinning is
needed for decisions on ESL course materials. Once the theoretical constructs are determined, a model based on a systematic approach to course design is proposed. It maximizes the individualization of experiential learning,
despite the large numbers of students who take these courses, through a multi-form course structure offering
four streams of study at three levels of difficulty. Entry is possible at the start of the year and at mid-year. The empirical research which forms the basis of the study is an analysis of the 1985 student group at the University
of South Africa (UNISA). Several methods are used, including post-course questionnaires, diagnostic assignments and a detailed language and stylistic error count linked with a clause analysis of a sample of
assignments and examination scripts. The model curriculum meets the contextually basic science requirements of a university course, within the parameters of response needed in regard to the ESL student profile determined by the needs and role analysis completed in Chapter 2. Model aims and terminal learning objectives are presented in Chapter 3 as the foundation on which the rest of the thesis is constructed, and include comprehension, applied composition, oral and aural skills, use of reference works, methods of thinking, and occupationally relevant specialist language. In Chapters 4 and 5, in-depth analyses of appropriate course content and methods emphasize the use of Afrocentric English literature in contemporary settings with appropriate readability levels, language in use in specified contexts, development of vocabulary, remedying incorrect usage, comprehension skills, composition skills, development of cognitive processes, oral and listening skills, and the purpose and place of grammar. The final chapters outline approaches to criterion-referenced assessment and evaluation, and suggest appropriate set works and criteria for their selection. The course materials aim at improving English communicative performance. The underlying principles used in developing this course design and its associated materials can be valuably extrapolated and applied at universities and other tertiary institutions.
2015-01-23T04:24:19Z
2015-01-23T04:24:19Z
2015-01-23T04:24:19Z
1992
Thesis
Swemmer, Derek (1992) Developing English communicative skills : a reassessment of the role of university departments of English in meeting the needs of English second language students, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/16161>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/16161
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/181342018-11-17T13:05:32Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Changing images : representations of the Southern African black women in works by Bessie Head, Ellen Kuzwayo, Mandla Langa and Mongane Serote
Marsden, Dorothy Frances
De Kock, L.
African womanism
Gender
Representations
Stereotypes
Feminism
Domestic roles
Working roles
Political roles
Kuzwayo, Ellen -- Criticism and interpretation
Langa, Mandla, -- 1950- -- Criticism and interpretation.
Women, Black -- South Africa -- Social conditions
Women in literature
South African literature (English) -- Black authors -- History and criticism.
Women, Black -- Employment -- South Africa
Bessie Head
Ellen Kuzwayo
Mandla Langa
Mongane Serote
This study examines representations of Southern African black women
in the works' of two male and two female writers. A comparative
approach is used to review the ways in which the writers
characterise women who labour under intense restrictions in
domestic situations, the workplace, and in political contexts.
Some representations suggest that women have come to terms with
social strictures and have learned to live fulfilled lives despite
them. Other representations are contextualised in creative situations
in which social roles are re-imagined. In the process,
women are removed from conventional object-related gendered
positions. These representations suggest that women have the
capability to achieve personal transcendence rather than accept the
immanence imposed by stereotyped gender relationships and repressive
political structures. The suggestion is made that writers can
change the image of women by centralising them as active subjects,
challenging their exclusion and creating spaces for women to
represent themselves
2015-01-23T04:25:06Z
2015-01-23T04:25:06Z
2015-01-23T04:25:06Z
1994-11
Marsden, Dorothy Frances (1994) Changing images : representations of the Southern African black women in works by Bessie Head, Ellen Kuzwayo, Mandla Langa and Mongane Serote, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/18134>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/18134
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/38982023-02-10T11:35:06Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Discourse, disease and displacement : interrogating selected South African textual constructions of AIDS
Horne, Felicity June
Graham-Smith, G.
HIV
Discourse analysis
Social constructionism
Politics
Satire
AIDS
South Africa
Discourse
Displacement
Representations
Texts
Language
Gender
Narrative
This thesis explores the theme of displacement in AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency
Syndrome)-related discourse in post-apartheid South Africa in the period 1994−2010. It contends that the subject of AIDS and the AIDS-ill is seldom confronted directly in the discourse, but displaced in various ways. Using the theory of social constructionism and the
discourse theory of the French poststructuralists, particularly Michel Foucault, selected
texts, both literary and non-literary, are subjected to discourse analysis, in which the
interrelationships between linguistic and visual representations of AIDS, practice,
knowledge and power relations are examined. Recognising that all representations are to some extent displaced constructions, the
thesis investigates additional reasons for the particular kinds of displacement of AIDS seen
in AIDS discourse. These include stigma, fear, defensiveness and the enduring power of preexisting
discourses onto which AIDS is grafted. In narratives by and about the AIDS-ill, personal stories are displaced when mythical structures are used to give meaning to what could otherwise be viewed as futile, random suffering. As a result of the different displacement devices employed in AIDS discourse, new meanings of AIDS are constructed,
related to the social, political and cultural context out of which they have arisen. The thesis comprises five chapters, each of which explores a different form of displacement. In Chapter 1, 'Displacing AIDS through Language', the focus is on language as a form and means of displacement; Chapter 2 'Politicising AIDS' explores the way that AIDS discourse is projected onto the larger, well-established discourse of politics, and specifically on the discourse of 'the struggle' against apartheid; while Chapter 3, 'Satirising AIDS', considers the way that satirists displace AIDS through irony, exposing the contradictions and absurdities inherent in the discourse. Chapter 4, 'Gendering AIDS', shows the extent to which AIDS-relared discourse is articulated to gender-related issues such as unequal power relations between men and women and stereotypical views of women's identities and 'proper' roles. The final chapter, Chapter 5, 'Narrating AIDS', deals with the discourse of personal illness narratives, showing how individuals displace the experience of illness through narrative, often using the structures of myth to give meaning to their experience.
2010-12-17T11:25:12Z
2010-12-17T11:25:12Z
2010-12-17T11:25:12Z
2010-06
Thesis
Horne, Felicity June (2010) Discourse, disease and displacement : interrogating selected South African textual constructions of AIDS, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/3898>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/3898
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/22762018-11-17T13:05:02Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Reading habits and attitudes of Thai L2 students
Strauss, Michael John
Lephalala, M. (Dr.)
Scheepers, R.A. (Ms.)
L2 reading
Habits
Positive reading experiences
Engaged reader
Reluctant reader
Reading
Reading attitudes
Motivation
Reading motivation
Influences
Thai students
Reading culture
This study investigates the reading habits of three Thai students between their early twenties to early thirties. Although the focus of interest is on their English reading, their reading habits in Thai and English, both fiction and non-fiction, are studied. None of the three subjects regularly reads fiction in Thai or English, and non-fiction books are read almost exclusively for the purpose of study. The research confirms the hypothesis that present reading habits are determined by positive or negative reading experiences in the past. Subjects who enjoyed positive experiences reading fiction or non-fiction in their early years have become regular readers of fiction or non-fiction; the subject who had negative early reading experiences is not a regular reader of any kind of books in either Thai or English. The study does suggest, however, that despite the strong effect of early reading experiences, positive reading experiences in the present can help adults become engaged readers.
2009-08-25T11:02:08Z
2009-08-25T11:02:08Z
2009-08-25T11:02:08Z
2009-08-25T11:02:08Z
Thesis
Strauss, Michael John (2009) Reading habits and attitudes of Thai L2 students, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/2276>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/2276
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/196852018-11-17T13:03:56Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Workplace English writing needs : a case study of perceptions and experiences of police constables at selected police clusters in the Gauteng Province, South Africa
Kekana, Tebogo Johannes
Lephalala. M. M. K.
Workplace English writing needs
English language needs
English for specific purposes
Police constables
Needs analysis
Work integrated learning
Genre
Writing skill
English second language
English first language
English writing sub-skills
Writing proficiency in the English language is one of the critical workplace competencies required in the police workplace. The aim of this study was to investigate and determine the perceptions and experiences of South African police constables’ workplace English writing needs in selected police clusters in the Gauteng province, South Africa and recommend suitable strategies to address those needs. Therefore this thesis reports on workplace English writing needs from a professional perspective to determine how they impact on the workplace English writing competencies of police constables and also as a basis for the development of a language-integrated learning curriculum in SAPS police training academies. Data was collected through a questionnaire and interviews with selected sample of the respondents. This data was collected on: their perceptions of their workplace English writing competencies, the areas within English writing which they consider to be a challenge, their perceptions about the extent to which the SAPS training programme addresses police officers’ workplace English writing needs and their suggestions regarding the type of SAPS training programme which can enhance their workplace English writing competencies. This study was prompted by concerns from various research studies and media which reported that police officers have inadequate English writing competencies. Among other things, the study found that the absence of an English writing course in the Basic Police Development Learning Programme contributes significantly to the inadequate workplace English writing competency of police constables in South Africa. The lack of awareness of the importance of other writing sub-skills such as punctuation, word classification and correct capitalisation, contributes to police constables incompetence. This research underscores the importance of police constables’ workplace English writing research on a large scale. Such research can be used for improved pedagogy in police training academies in South Africa. Finally, the findings from this study can also be used as a basis for the development of language-integrated learning curricula in the South African police training academies and also to foster awareness about different factors impacting on the workplace English writing competencies of police constables in South Africa.
2015-11-16T06:08:21Z
2015-11-16T06:08:21Z
2015-11-16T06:08:21Z
2015-06
Thesis
Kekana, Tebogo Johannes (2015) Workplace English writing needs : a case study of perceptions and experiences of police constables at selected police clusters in the Gauteng Province, South Africa, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/19685>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/19685
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/221712018-11-17T13:06:33Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
And the Word was made Flesh : Anthropomorphism in the poetry of W.H. Auden
Hurley, Martin
Rabinowitz, Ivan Arthur
Sewlall, Haripersad
Auden W.H.
Poetry
Prose
English literature
England
America
Austria
And the Word Was Made Flesh: Anthropomorphism in the poetry of WH Auden examines the reasons for the neglect of Auden’s prolific deployment of anthropomorphism by examining the poetry’s critical reception with a view to understanding what larger purpose, what ‘strategy of discourse’ (Ricoeur 2003, The Rule of Metaphor: 5-9), Auden may have had in mind when he revived a trope traditionally regarded as retrograde.
Anxious not to be mistaken for a Modern, yet unable to find a social rhetoric to suit his purposes, Auden elected upon a new style of poetry which questioned the very foundations of language by placing anthropomorphism, the ascription of agency and sentience to voiceless entities, at its centre. The study explores anthropomorphism from historical and theoretical perspectives in an attempt to explain the reasons for its demise, at least, within the academy.
This study emphasises the importance Auden placed on the everyday activity of reading, the principal focus for the poet’s ‘cultural theory’ (Boly 1991 and 2004: 138). Auden, 'eager to create a tradition of its own' (Emig 2000: 1), abjuring propaganda, hoped to educate the reader to resist the different ideologies which were vying for ascendency during the 1930s. This study will demonstrate that anthropomorphism, with its capacity to suggest alternative words to ‘re-describe reality’ (Ricoeur 2003: 5), played a pivotal role in Auden’s project for cultural renewal.
This study demonstrates that the lasting benefit of Auden’s use of anthropomorphism is to have recognised with prescience what critics now recognise as a 'revolutionary and potently counter-cultural tactic of cultural appropriation' (Paxson 1994: 173), a trope that 'engenders within its semiotic structure a hidden critique of Western culture' (Paxson: 50). Evidence from recent linguistic theory is marshalled in support of the trope’s rehabilitation.
This study examines a selection of Auden’s four hundred published poems, and it also offers a provisional taxonomy to initiate the complex process of classifying instances of personification and its co-ordinate tropes in poetry.
2017-03-17T06:29:52Z
2017-03-17T06:29:52Z
2017-03-17T06:29:52Z
2016-01
Dissertation
Hurley, Martin (2016) And the Word was made Flesh : Anthropomorphism in the poetry of W.H. Auden, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/22171>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/22171
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/90892020-02-20T07:04:58Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
A comparison of video interpretations of Athol Fugard and the printed texts
Oluwasuji, Olutoba Gboyega
Levey, David
Athol Fugard
Playwright
Directors
Dramatic techniques
Reader response
Stanley Fish
Visual texts
Film studies
South African
Without consciousness we become victim instead of actors- even if it is only a question of acting victims. And in the make belief of our lives, the audience is self (Fugard in Frank 2004: 53). The primary concern of this study is the comparison of video interpretations of Athol Fugard with their adaptations as visual texts. It has been argued that 'the playwright's creative labour ends with the completion of the script' (Kidnie 2009: 15).Therefore, amongst other issues this dissertation will explore the politics of production at play during adaptation from printed version to screenplays. My assumption is that a comparison between the printed texts and video versions will add to the understanding of the effectiveness of Fugard's dramatic techniques and comprehension of literary texts; images are easy to decipher by inexperienced interpreters if guided. For the purpose of my presentation I adapt the reader response theoretical position of Stanley Fish based on a comparison that will be explored in terms of my own response to both the written text and visual texts, and in line with other responsed to the play.
2013-04-24T09:30:56Z
2013-04-24T09:30:56Z
2013-04-24T09:30:56Z
2013-04-24
Dissertation
Oluwasuji, Olutoba Gboyega (2013) A comparison of video interpretations of Athol Fugard and the printed texts, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/9089>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/9089
en
University of South Africa
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/10012018-11-17T13:05:07Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
`Can't nothing heal without pain' : healing in Toni Morrison's Beloved
Du Plooy, Belinda
Ryan, P.
Healing
American chattel slavery
Historical embodiment
Healing practices
Maternal infanticide
Non-dualism
Foucaultian hermeneutics
Two Bodies
Mary Douglas
John Caputo
Michel Foucault
Toni Morrison
Beloved
Toni Morrison reinterprets and reconstitutes American history by placing the lives, stories and experiences of African Americans in a position of centrality, while relegating white American history and cultural traditions to the margins of her narratives. She rewrites American history from an alternative - African American woman's - perspective, and subverts the accepted racist and patriarchally inspired `truths' about life, love and women's experiences through her sympathetic depiction of murderous mother love and complex female relationships in Beloved. She writes about oppression, pain and suffering, and of the need for the acknowledgement and alleviation of the various forms of oppression that scar human existence. Morrison's engagement with healing in Beloved forms the central focus of this short dissertation. The novel is analysed in relation to Mary Douglas's `Two Bodies' theory, John Caputo's ideas on progressive Foucaultian hermeneutics and healing gestures, and Julia Martin's thoughts on alternative healing practices based on non-dualism and interconnectedness. Within this interdisciplinary context, Beloved is read as a `small start' to `creative engagement' with alternative healing practices (Martin, 1996:104).
2009-08-25T10:48:43Z
2009-08-25T10:48:43Z
2009-08-25T10:48:43Z
2004-01
Dissertation
Du Plooy, Belinda (2004) `Can't nothing heal without pain' : healing in Toni Morrison's Beloved, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/1001>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/1001
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/201042021-01-14T05:54:53Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Implications of multiple intelligence theory and integrated skills language teaching for textbook development :
Yohannes Tefera Mengesha
Mahlalela, B.V.
Language teaching
Textbooks
Intelligence theory
Syllabus
The study aims to examine the extent to which considerations of syllabus design
and materials development are employed in a grade 9 English textbook of
Ethiopia- English for Ethiopia: Secondary English Course: Grade 9 Students
Book with particular emphasis on Multiple Intelligence Theory (MIT).The study is
an evaluation research which makes use of a mixed method approach. Data
were collected using interviews, coding form and a teachers’ questionnaire. The
study involved English language syllabus writers in the Ministry of Education in
Ethiopia. Furthermore, 50% of the contents of the Grade 9 English Textbook (6 of
12) were used for content analysis. In addition, 218 Grade 9 English teachers
from fifty high schools that were drawn from 6 Regional States of the country
responded to the questionnaire. In line with this, I collected quantitative data
using a coding form and a questionnaire, as well as other forms of qualitative
data using interview. Data were analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively.
The study revealed that the syllabus writers used the competency-based
approach in developing the Grade 9 English language syllabus. However, this
approach has some drawbacks. On the one hand, competency-based education
is a manifestation of the behaviouristic approach that is excessively reductionist,
narrow, rigid and atomized; many areas in which people need certain
competencies are impossible to operationalise; the approach does not clearly
show how the list of competencies could be realised, how they should be
formatted and presented so as to address learner differences. Above all,
describing an activity in terms of a set of different competencies is not enough in
order to deal with the complexity of the learning process as a whole. Regardless
of these drawbacks, CBL was used to identify and list down the contents as well
as the learning outcomes to be incorporated in the textbook. Thus, the how
aspect remain obscured in that a theory driven approach to developing
teaching/learning materials that meet learners' differences was not markedly
taken note of as a guiding framework in developing the Grade 9 English
language syllabus. The study showed that the great majority of the language
tasks are meant to nurture verbal/linguistic intelligence followed by interpersonal
and intrapersonal intelligences respectively. As a language textbook, it is good
that it gives more coverage to these two intelligence profiles.
When it comes to intentional application of principles of task design and materials
development, many of the listening, reading and speaking lessons are
appropriate in terms of providing comprehensible input, engaging students
cognitively and affectively, promoting emotional/affective involvement and
facilitating better language use. Similarly, visual imaging is also well taken care of
with exception of few of the vocabulary and the grammar lessons. The study
also revealed that the syllabus writers were well aware of the need of integrating
various language skills, and it was found that the issue of using the integrated
approach to ELT materials development was also well addressed and most of
the language tasks are designed in an integrated manner with the exception of
few of the vocabulary and the grammar lessons. Some drawbacks were also
identified with few of the vocabulary and the grammar lessons in terms of
providing comprehensible input and enhancing language use.
On the other hand, as implementers of the textbook, the target schools’ Grade 9
English language teachers have a good understanding of language learning
theories and task design principles. This understanding could help them design
supplementary language tasks for their English classes. At last, conclusions are
drawn and recommendations are given.
2016-04-14T14:26:15Z
2016-04-14T14:26:15Z
2016-04-14T14:26:15Z
2015-09
Thesis
Mengesha, Yohannes Tefera (2015) Implications of multiple intelligence theory and integrated skills language teaching for textbook development : University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/20104>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/20104
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/171332018-11-17T13:05:27Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Science as narrative : Alan Sokal's critique of postmodernism
Krueger, Anton Robert
Rabinowitz, Ivan Arthur
Alan Sokal
Postmodernism
Postmodern
Science
Truth
Epistemology
Relativism
Mythology
Value
Philosophy
Literary theory
Fictional realities
Alan Sokal has questioned the postmodern assertion that 'science is ... a "myth'', a "narration" ... a "social construction'" (1998: x). This dissertation examines his reasons for rejecting this allegedly postmodern declaration. Firstly, it suggests that the basis for Sol'1ll's contention that a 'true' world exists beyond one's awareness of it extends to an attack on modem philosophy, and is not limited to its postmodern component. Then, it describes defences of the 'linguistic construction' of science as thinly veiled attempts at emulating scientific discourses. In a more speculative vein, the dissertation goes on to evaluate claims made against science in terms of its connection to warfare; its insensitivity to mythology, and its generally misdirected values. It is in terms of value that the dissertation detects an analogous relationship between the discourses of mythology and science. Finally, a playful 'postmodern' reading is attempted of Sol'1ll's use of fiction in establishing the truth of his assertions.
2015-01-23T04:24:54Z
2015-01-23T04:24:54Z
2015-01-23T04:24:54Z
2000-01
Dissertation
Krueger, Anton Robert (2000) Science as narrative : Alan Sokal's critique of postmodernism, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/17133>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/17133
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/12592018-11-17T13:04:40Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
The subaltern `speaks': agency in Neshani Andreas' The purple violet of Oshaantu
Rhode, Aletta Cornelia
Ryan, P.D.
Agency
Andreas Neshani
'Can the Subaltern Speak?'
Colonialism
Namibian Literature
Patriarchy
Postcolonial feminist literature
The Purple Violet of Oshaantu
Spivak Gayatri
Subaltern subject
This dissertation critically evaluates the issue of the `silencing' of the subaltern woman in the 1988 version of Gayatri Spivak's essay `Can the Subaltern Speak?' The conclusions reached are then related to the novel The Purple Violet of Oshaantu by the Namibian woman writer Neshani Andreas. Chapter 1 deals with the essay `Can the Subaltern Speak?' and the `silenced' subaltern woman, examining both Spivak's theory on this issue as well as criticism of this theory by different postcolonial theorists. Chapter 2 presents aspects of both the creative and political practice of women, specifically the woman writer, in certain countries in Africa. Chapter 3 deals with the novel The Purple Violet of Oshaantu by Neshani Andreas and explores issues like the `silencing' of the subaltern women in the novel, opposition to patriarchal oppression and the engendering of agency by both the writer and the characters in the novel.
2009-08-25T10:51:05Z
2009-08-25T10:51:05Z
2009-08-25T10:51:05Z
2009-08
Dissertation
Rhode, Aletta Cornelia (2009) The subaltern `speaks': agency in Neshani Andreas' The purple violet of Oshaantu, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/1259>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/1259
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/270102021-01-20T11:58:03Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_2876com_10500_14514com_10500_13602com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_2877col_10500_14523col_10500_507
Language management in relation to language needs, uses and preferences in subordinate courts : a case study of Machakos County
Mulwa, Emmah Mwende
Mabule, Dorah Riah
Human rights
Language dominance
Language management
Language Management Theory - LMT
Language needs
Language use
Language preferences
Language policy
Linguistic Human Rights -LHR
Subordinate courts
This study was an exploration of how language is managed in the subordinate courts of Machakos County in Kenya. It was an investigation into the language policy used in the courts,
and whether the languages serve the needs, uses and preferences of the people. Language use in Kenya is constitutional (The Constitution of Kenya, 2010).The national language of the Republic of Kenya is Kiswahili and its official languages are English and Kiswahili. The constitution shall protect and promote indigenous languages of the people of Kenya. The constitution further indicates that there shall be general provisions to the Bill of Rights, fundamental freedoms, and
that the authority of courts shall uphold and enforce the Bill of Rights. (The Kenya Constitution, 2010, (Cap 4, entitled “The Bill of Rights” has subcategories ranging from Part 1 to Part 5. Part 1 elaborates on general provisions relating to the Bill of Rights, Part 2 on Rights and fundamental freedoms, Part 3 on specific application of Rights, Part 4 on state of emergency and Part 5 on Kenya National Human Rights and Equality Commission). The study attempts to establish
whether or not the subordinate courts adhere to these provisions, which policy makers need to adhere to.
This research further explores solutions to the problem of communication during court
proceedings. Its aim was to advance scientific information that would inform the formulation of a more accommodating language policy in Subordinate Courts. The background information and the history of the courts language gave an overview of how language in subordinate courts is used according to various scholars. The evaluation of how language is used during court proceedings shed light on the people‟s language needs, uses and preferences.
2021-01-12T10:53:59Z
2021-01-12T10:53:59Z
2021-01-12T10:53:59Z
2019-11
Thesis
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/27010
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/17362018-11-17T13:04:55Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Interpreting redness: a literary biography of Zakes Mda
Steele, Dorothy Winifred
Holloway, M.K.
This study of Zakes Mda's life and sixteen of his plays and seven novels, written
from 1966 to the present day, set in South Africa, Lesotho and the United States
of America, shows how his life and works interweave, and how his
defamiliarisation mode, his magic realism and his juxtaposed timeframes
stimulate reader response and self-realisation, bringing about change.
Experiences of marginalisation due to early childhood sexual abuse, exile,
and being banished from church, and his involvement in political movements
outside the mainstream, have caused him to be an astute observer of life. He is
sceptical of authority and power, and is as critical of those who seek power,
becoming intoxicated thereby, as of those who give away their power and so
perpetuate unacceptable institutions and their own victimisation. At all times
though, his writing style is creative and entertaining, rooted in the African oral
tradition from which he springs, but also portraying international influences to
which he has been exposed over the years.
2009-08-25T10:56:07Z
2009-08-25T10:56:07Z
2009-08-25T10:56:07Z
2009-08-25T10:56:07Z
Thesis
Steele, Dorothy Winifred (2009) Interpreting redness: a literary biography of Zakes Mda, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/1736>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/1736
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/202012018-11-17T13:04:06Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
The didactics of an English-Bemba anthology of oral traditional narratives in the Zambian Grade Ten literature class
Mwelwa, Joseph Mulenga
Spencer, Brenda
Davey, Colyn
English
Bemba
Zambia
Bilingual resource
Anthology
Narratives
Literature
Culture
Pedagogy
Genre
Linguistic synergy
Within the multilingual context of Zambia, Grade Ten Literature in English language pedagogy could incorporate the learners’ language and culture to help enrich participation and facilitate understanding of concepts among the learners who are in the foundational year of the literature course. However, current Literature in English language pedagogy is characterized by a monolingual practice with English dominating the literature learning/teaching classroom space – thus rendering the learners’ local linguistic and cultural knowledge impotent. To remedy the situation, the study investigated a dominant local language – Bemba – for a linguistic genre suitable for use in Literature in English language pedagogy. Archival retrieval and live recording of Bemba oral traditional narratives produced the initial research data. Transcription and translation techniques created an anthology from which a bilingual resource (BR) was derived. The BR was then trialled among Grade Ten Literature in English language learners in schools in the Copperbelt province of Zambia. Focus group discussions by participants generated evaluative data whose analysis using qualitative techniques indicate that learners responded positively to the bilingual materials and approach. Teachers were equally enthusiastic, describing the bilingual approach to Literature in English language pedagogy as unique, innovative and liberating. A Linguistic Synergy theory was thus developed to account for teachers’ and learners’ experiences in a bilingual Literature in English classroom.
2016-05-18T09:03:09Z
2016-05-18T09:03:09Z
2016-05-18T09:03:09Z
2016-06
Thesis
Mwelwa, Joseph Mulenga (2016) The didactics of an English-Bemba anthology of oral traditional narratives in the Zambian Grade Ten literature class, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/20201>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/20201
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/92932020-02-20T07:52:01Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
The use of short stories for CLT in senior ESL classes in Zambia
Chipili, Denson
Ndlangamandla, C.
Literature
Literary text
Short story book
ESL
Prescribed course book
Language skills
CLT approach
Principles
Communicative competence
Schema theory
Schemata
Input theory
Text selection
Teaching ESL continues to pose a big challenge in most schools in Zambia. This is due to the paucity of teaching resources. While the number of schools has increased, there has not been a corresponding increase in funding due to economic reasons. This study arose from the desire to find alternative resources to teach English as a second language effectively within the communicative language teaching (CLT) framework. A review of available literature has shown that literature can help students to acquire the four language skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking.
2013-04-29T12:31:30Z
2013-04-29T12:31:30Z
2013-04-29T12:31:30Z
2013-04-29
Dissertation
Chipili, Denson (2013) The use of short stories for CLT in senior ESL classes in Zambia, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/9293>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/9293
en
University of South Africa
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/275352021-06-25T13:58:11Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
English as a foreign language instructors' conceptions and applications of communicative language teaching in grammar lessons : the case of four private universities in Ethiopia
Alamirew Kassahun Tadesse
Shandu-Phetla, T. P.
Communicative language teaching
Conceptions
Application
Mixed-methods approach
Deductive thematic analysis
Phenomenographic approach
Communicative cocommunicative competence
Grammar
Authentic materials
Explicit grammar teaching
Classroom practices
Continuous assessment
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has been adopted in various countries in the world.
This is especially true in an EFL context in Ethiopia where it has received considerable attention both at policy and classroom levels. This study aimed to investigate English as Foreign Language (EFL) instructors' conceptions and applications of CLT in teaching grammar lessons in private universities in Ethiopia. Due to the nature of the issues addressed in the study, the mixed-methods approach was employed. The data for the study were collected from 25 EFL
instructors teaching in four private universities through semi-structured interviews, quantitative
questionnaire, and classroom observation. The qualitative data collected from the semi-structured
interviews and classroom observation were analysed thematically, using deductive thematic analysis. The quantitative data garnered through the questionnaire were analysed using the latest
version of SPPS (Version 20) available at the time of data analysis.
While the study highlighted four major EFL instructors' misconceptions stemming from the discrepancies in understanding the term communicative, it revealed that the majority of the EFL
instructors' conceptions of CLT were consistent with the CLT literature. To that effect, the study illuminated the EFL instructors' conceptions of grammar and CLT concerning the teacher’s role,
the learners’ role, the types of teaching materials, the place for grammar in CLT as well as the methods of teaching grammar lessons and assessing the learners’ performance in grammar lessons.
Nevertheless, the classroom practices of the majority of the EFL instructors were inconsistent with their conceptions of CLT because they predominantly employed the lecture method to teach grammar lessons. The study also found various socio-cultural and economic variables practically affecting the application of CLT in teaching grammar lessons in private universities in Ethiopia.
Consequently, the study identified teacher-related factors, student-related factors, institutional factors, curriculum-related factors, and system-related factors as the main difficulties of implementing CLT in teaching grammar lessons. The study recommends that measures that align policy with practice should be taken to ensure that the instructors' conceptions are realised in classroom situations, thereby minimising the discrepancies between their conceptions and their classroom practices.
2021-06-23T14:02:53Z
2021-06-23T14:02:53Z
2021-06-23T14:02:53Z
2021-04
Thesis
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/27535
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/281652021-10-13T06:32:28Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
“We’re the same! We’re them!” : representations of gender in The walking dead
Singh, Sanjana
Byrne, D. C. (Deirdre C.)
Femininity
Gender
Intersectionality
Masculinity
Race
Representation
The Walking Dead
Zombie studies
This thesis examines the representation of gender in AMC’s The Walking Dead. The study of representations is important because it draws attention to underrepresented and misrepresented groups, affects how minorities see themselves, and impacts on relations between social groups. An established convention of the horror genre is that the monster threatens normality. This television show about the survivors of a zombie apocalypse depicts monstrous qualities in the human protagonists as well as their zombie antagonists. This deviation from the convention of only portraying monsters as antagonists situates the show as significantly innovative. My thesis analyses, challenges, and expands upon the current academic discourse surrounding the show. A range of representations requires diverse theoretical and conceptual approaches. I draw upon theories of masculinity, feminism, stereotypes, intersectionality, performativity, disability, doubling and embodiment to interrogate the portrayal of gender, identity, expression, and embodiment in the text. I find intersectionality is a useful analytical tool to explore oppression and discrimination and to help me explore how certain portrayals are privileged over others. I identify and interrogate trends, patterns, and character arcs through my textual analysis of the dialogue and visual representations in the text. I also include contextual, historical, and audience information to ensure a balanced and objective analysis. The first chapter examines the role of the hegemonic white saviour and antihero in the serial. In the second, a marginalised form of white masculinity is studied. The third chapter investigates the treatment of black males, while the fourth relates how white female characters’ performances of femininity affect their chances of survival. The fifth chapter deliberates on whether black female characters can break through stereotypes, and, if so, to what end. In conclusion, I note that TWD reaffirms the societal hierarchy of white men occupying the highest echelons and black women at the base of the hierarchy.
2021-10-13T06:23:39Z
2021-10-13T06:23:39Z
2021-10-13T06:23:39Z
2021-01-29
Thesis
https://hdl.handle.net/10500/28165
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/167432018-11-17T13:05:18Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Rapport between players and audience in 15th and early 16th century English drama
Elphick, Anthony Beresford
Levey, D. N. R.
This dissertation falls in line with work produced during
the past fifteen years or so, aimed at improving our appreciation
of late medieval/early Tudor English Drama. The approach is based
especially on looking at the rapport likely to be achieved
between audience and players (and via the players, with the
playwrights), in actual performance.
Attention is given to the permanent modes of human thought,
that are unaffected by the ephemeralities of a particular period;
attention is therefore drawn to the traps that may mislead the
unwary twentieth-century critic, and some new insights are
offered into the purposes of the playwrights.
Several cycle plays are treated, together with two of the
moralities and two interludes. The point is made that these
playwrights showed a considerable mastery of the possibilities
inherent in drama, as is demonstrated by the provision for
achieving rapport with the audience
2015-01-23T04:24:40Z
2015-01-23T04:24:40Z
2015-01-23T04:24:40Z
1995-11
Dissertation
Elphick, Anthony Beresford (1995) Rapport between players and audience in 15th and early 16th century English drama, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/16743>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/16743
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/198472018-11-17T13:06:43Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Perception by incomgruity
Sibanda, Brian
Masemola, Kgomotso M.
Perception by incongruity
Piety
Impiety
This study examines the paradoxical and at the same time interesting relationship between Christian religion and the system of slavery in the American historical context. Through the use of Kenneth Burke’s concept and theory of Perception by Incongruity as a theoretical and conceptual framework, this study examines Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Frederick Douglass’ The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave. In the view of this study, Perception by Incongruity, as a theoretical and conceptual tool has the literary and the rhetorical resources to unmask the ironies and paradoxes involved in slave holding religion and religion holding slaves. The principal research question of the present study seeks to probe the usability of the Christian faith by slave owners to dominate and pacify the slaves, and the instrumentalisation by the slaves of the Christian faith as a liberatory and emancipatory belief. Perception by Incongruity enriches the present study in so far as it unmasks the incongruity and paradox of masters and slaves sharing the same definition of God and faith and still remaining in their conflictual positions of masters and slaves. Since this study is a study in literature, the methods of literature study and textual analysis are deployed in examining the primary texts, Uncle Tom’s Cabin and The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave. A multiplicity of secondary texts; in form of critical and empirical literature; are used throughout this study to support observations, arguments and conclusions that are advanced by the study. Summatively, this study observes and concludes that religion, in this case Christianity occupies a perceptively incongruous position where it is suable by people in conflicting situations. Further, where domination, power and capitalism as an economic system meet, religion belongs in the mind and the eye of the beholders who seeks to use it to justify and defend their particular interests and positions.
2016-01-12T09:34:41Z
2016-01-12T09:34:41Z
2016-01-12T09:34:41Z
2015-08
Dissertation
Sibanda, Brian (2015) Perception by incomgruity, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/19847>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/19847
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/8512018-11-17T13:05:33Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
An enduring spirit of the Victorian Era of Doubt
Donaldson, Jennifer
Prozesky, S.M.B.
The focus of this study is upon Gerard Manley Hopkins~s literary opinions
about the state of affairs of Victorian England regarding its defence,
religions, science, politics, the economy, and other concerns. His claim to a
legitimate voice lies in the tremendous amount of erudite knowledge he
accumulated over the years, on many different subjects, and his classical
education. Major focus is on his pristine awareness of the Anglo-Saxons
and their language of Old English. Hopkins's unique style of writing poetry
and his contribution to Victorian philology is highlighted. The work also
deals, in some degree, with his mental state at various periods in his life, and
attempts to disclose an overcoming of the anguish and depression evident in
the poems. His enduring spirit under the grave swamping of Christianity by
destructive discourses is another major theme.
2009-08-25T10:47:17Z
2009-08-25T10:47:17Z
2009-08-25T10:47:17Z
2003-11
Dissertation
Donaldson, Jennifer (2003) An enduring spirit of the Victorian Era of Doubt, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/851>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/851
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/253992019-04-25T01:00:15Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Uncertainty of function? Dickens, society and the law
Stern, Pamela Anne
Horne, Felicity
Charles Dickens
Michel Foucault
Law
Victorian Society
Uncertainty
Muddle
Confusion
Industrialisation
Mercantilism
Imprisonment
Education
Religion
Philanthropy
The themes of uncertainty, muddle and imprisonment, which are inextricably linked, permeate Charles Dickens’s novels.
In his ‘early’ first five novels, The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge, society is depicted as emerging from the Classical episteme of the eighteenth century into a period of uncertainty that is dominated by values inspired by mercantilism. Social and bureaucratic institutional practices have been outpaced by commercial developments and are shown to be lacking; they are outdated and irrelevant in meeting the needs of a society that is in the process of rejecting its feudal history. Yet, during these uncertain times, these archaic instruments of social control continue to exert a power over the individual in the absence of something more relevant to a commercialised nineteenth-century society. The legislature, the judiciary and the executive all continue to exercise their misguided power over those under their control, capturing these in webs and labyrinths of uncertainty, with the result that Mr Pickwick, Oliver, Nicholas, Little Nell and Barnaby all fall victim to these vagaries, and experience prison in one form or another.
The second, or ‘middle’ group of novels, comprising Martin Chuzzlewit, Dombey and Son, David Copperfield, Bleak House and Hard Times, reveal something different. Although institutions are still depicted as deeply flawed, Dickens shifts his focus from the inadequacies of social institutions to the flawed individuals who inhabit this defective society; individuals who are required to rid themselves of their flaws in order to achieve authenticity and, thus, enable a regeneration within society to take place.
The ‘final’ novels, Little Dorrit, The Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations and Our Mutual Friend, seem to suggest that the ambit of commercialisation, with its skewed values, is so all-encompassing that no character is able to escape its clutches. The result is a society and its citizens who are inescapably imprisoned in their respective physical, emotional and moral prisons.
This thesis examines the development and consequences of institutional uncertainty on the individual and on society. It is argued that Dickens follows a Foucauldian trajectory, initially visiting the uncertainties of the times on the bodies of his characters during the
early nineteenth century, attempting to create ‘docile bodies’ of his characters through discipline and punishment of the soul in the middle of the century and, finally, in the second half of the century, revealing an entire society caught up in the morass of uncertainty from which there appears to be no escape.
2019-04-24T05:28:33Z
2019-04-24T05:28:33Z
2019-04-24T05:28:33Z
2018-07
Thesis
Stern, Pamela Anne (2018) Uncertainty of function? Dickens, society and the law, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/25399>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/25399
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/307262024-01-10T09:51:18Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
An exploration of strategies and approaches used in teaching reading comprehension : a case study of selected grade 10 EFAL classrooms in Mpumalanga, South Africa
Khoza, Brain Emanuel
Sevnarayan, K.
Reading strategies
Reading approaches
EFAL
FAL
Reading comprehension
Grade 10 EFAL learners
Prior knowledge
Inference
Schema theory
Case study
Research indicates that a substantial number of students entering higher education institutions lack the foundational academic reading skills, strategies, and approaches necessary for meaningful engagement with texts in their respective fields. This deficiency in reading skills poses a significant challenge to students’ academic success. Many studies highlight that the utilisation of effective reading strategies and approaches significantly enhances the reading comprehension of English first additional language (EFAL) learners in high schools. Despite scholarly attention to the significance of reading and the challenges teachers confront in its implementation, a clear void exists in the research concerning the precise reading strategies and approaches utilised by EFAL teachers in the South African high school context.
This study aims to address this gap by investigating the use of reading strategies and approaches by Grade 10 EFAL teachers across six schools in the Bushbuckridge region of Mpumalanga, South Africa. The study seeks to answer the following research questions, (a) What specific reading strategies and approaches do Grade 10 EFAL teachers in the Bushbuckridge region employ during the instruction of reading comprehension? (b) What challenges do Grade 10 EFAL teachers encounter while implementing these strategies and approaches for reading comprehension? (c) How are reading strategies delineated in the EFAL CAPS document for Grades 10-12?
Schema theory (Bartlett, 1932; Nunan, 1999) guides this study, offering analytical insights into the collected findings and enriches the study’s findings. Through a qualitative and interpretive case study design, the researcher gathered in-depth descriptions from teachers, learners, and the curriculum assessment policy document (CAPS). To explore teachers’ usage of reading strategies and approaches, data were collected through online semi-structured interviews, online focus group discussions, and documentary analysis. This study’s thematic analysis reveals disparities in Grade 10 EFAL instruction. Despite the integration of reading strategies, their implementation falls below expectations. This is exemplified by teachers providing summaries due to perceived learner incapacity, contrary to the pedagogical ideal of encouraging independent learning. Furthermore, a marked deficiency in higher-order reading skills among EFAL learners, including skimming and keyword identification, undermines effective summarisation and English text comprehension. The study also highlights a distinct divergence between proficient and struggling readers. Proficient readers adeptly deploy varied strategies to decode complex textual meanings, whereas struggling readers grapple even with basic word meanings and struggle to employ these strategies effectively, in contrast to schema theory’s emphasis on active learner participation in constructing meaning.
This study holds valuable implications for both EFAL teachers and learners. By shedding light on the crucial role of reading strategies and approaches in enhancing the reading capabilities of EFAL learners, it enriches their comprehension of the subject. However, the identified shortfall in the use of strategies by teachers demands a comprehensive assessment of their current teaching approaches in the research context of reading. Additionally, it underscores the urgency of instituting a continuous training program aimed at enhancing teachers’ competencies. This emphasis on teacher development is pivotal to empowering EFAL learners, ensuring they are well-prepared for their pursuits in higher education institutions. This study emphasises the need for an immediate reevaluation of EFAL teachers’ instructional strategies in the context of reading. This should be coupled with a sustained commitment to ongoing training initiatives, thereby equipping teachers with the tools to effectively elevate the reading proficiencies of EFAL learners.
2024-01-10T09:39:25Z
2024-01-10T09:39:25Z
2024-01-10T09:39:25Z
2023-08-11
Thesis
https://hdl.handle.net/10500/30726
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/226092018-11-17T13:06:48Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Gender violence and resistance : representation of women's agency in selected literary works by Zimbabwean female writers
Naidoo, Salachi
Kalua, Fetson Anderson
African feminism
Agency
African womanism
Gender
Patriarchy
Post-colonial
Feminism
Resistance
Sexuality
Violence
Uncertainty
The aim of this study is to offer a critical analysis of representations of gender violence and resistance to such violence in selected novels by Zimbabwean women writers. A great deal of scholarship on Zimbabwean women writers focuses on well-known authors such as Yvonne Vera and Tsitsi Dangarembga. Even here, the critical emphasis tends to be on the representation of women’s suffering under patriarchy and their status as victims. Although the exposure of gendered suffering is important, these studies often fail to take into consideration the female characters’ agency and survival strategies, including how they go about rebuilding lives and identities in the aftermath of violence. This thesis argues that the fictional texts of other, lesser known Zimbabwean authors are similarly worthy of critical scrutiny, yielding as they can important insights into female characters’ resistance to gender violence. The current study analyses Zimbabwean women writers’ literary contributions to discourses on gender-based violence and explores how female characters have embraced the concept of agency to recreate their identities and to introduce a new gender ethos into the contexts of lives that are often shaped by severe restrictions and oppression. Violence is a phenomenon that is always shaped by specific cultural, ideological and socio-economic forces. As the study shows, characters’ identities are constituted by the complex intersections of a number of markers of difference, including their gender, race and class. This study thus regards identity as intersectional and takes all these factors into consideration in its analysis of the representations of violence and resistance in the selected texts. The study also aims to determine whether these literary representations offer any solutions to the difficulties of characters affected by or living with violence. The works critiqued are Lillian Masitera’s The Trail (2000), Valerie Tagwira’s The Uncertainty of Hope (2006), Virginia Phiri’s Highway Queen (2010) and Violet Masilo’s The African Tea Cosy (2010).
2017-05-29T11:02:22Z
2017-05-29T11:02:22Z
2017-05-29T11:02:22Z
2016
Thesis
Naidoo, Salachi (2016) Gender violence and resistance : representation of women's agency in selected literary works by Zimbabwean female writers, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/22609>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/22609
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/137862020-07-31T10:12:45Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Confined by conservatism : power and patriarchy in the novels of Charlotte Brontë
White, Jessica Barbara
Murray, J.
This dissertation explores the ambiguous nature of the social criticism in Charlotte Brontë’s novels — Jane Eyre, Shirley, Villette and The Professor — particularly pertaining to patriarchal ideology and its associated power relations. I shall explore how, through her novels, Brontë sought to redefine subjectivity and the feminine ideal, and in so doing, reconfigure patriarchy’s gender norms and its ideologies which were oppressive to women. However, Brontë’s varying contestation of and acquiescence to female Victorian stereotypes, along with her equivocal representation of ideology, identity, gender, and the self, undermine her efforts to create a new model of womanhood and female empowerment. Nonetheless, through Brontë’s intimate depiction of her characters’ struggles between their desires and patriarchal prescripts, she offers a novel, more indirect and significant challenge to the patriarchal status quo. In this way, Brontë’s social criticism is confined by her conservatism.
2014-08-11T11:08:30Z
2014-08-11T11:08:30Z
2014-08-11T11:08:30Z
2013-11
Dissertation
White, Jessica Barbara (2013) Confined by conservatism : power and patriarchy in the novels of Charlotte Brontë, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/13786>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/13786
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/47742022-10-10T09:52:22Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506com_10500_18562col_10500_175col_10500_507col_10500_18564
Funny little witches and venerable-looking wizards : a social constructionist study of the portrayal of gender in the Harry Potter series
Rodrigues, Debbie June
Byrne, D. C. (Deirdre C.)
Harry Potter
J. K. Rowling
Contemporary Britain
Social construction
Postmodernism
Gendering
Femininities
Masculinities
Diversity
Change
In this study I apply social constructionism as propounded by Vivian Burr (1998) to show that although J. K. Rowling uses stereotypes in the Harry Potter series as a reflection of how gender is constructed across a wide range of societal institutions in contemporary Britain, she created complex characters who on an individual level subvert social constructs and thereby offers her readers alternatives to culturally defined concepts of gender. I explore the all-pervasive social phenomenon of gender and examine how it is constructed in present-day Britain and reflected in the series (bearing in mind that the first book was published in 1997 and the last one in 2007). My analysis of female and male characters in the books, and their interpersonal relationships, shows that Rowling's often tricky portrayal of femininities and masculinities gives us an honest view of teenagers’ lives and contemporary gender relations in an ever-changing, complex world.
2011-09-16T06:52:13Z
2011-09-16T06:52:13Z
2011-09-16T06:52:13Z
2011-02
Dissertation
Rodrigues, Debbie June (2011) Funny little witches and venerable-looking wizards: a social constructionist study of the portrayal of gender in the Harry Potter series, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/4774>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/4774
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/236382018-11-17T13:04:12Zcom_10500_3072com_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_3076col_10500_175col_10500_507
Designing and implementing mobile-based interventions for enhancing English vocabulary in ODL
Shandu-Phetla, Thulile Pearl
Lephalala, M. M. K.
Makoe, M. E.
Android apps
Design‐Based Research (DBR)
Cellphones
Community of Inquiry (Col)
Interaction
Mobile apps
Mobile learning
Multi-componential word knowledge
Student support
Vocabulary
WhatsApp
Students in Open Distance Learning (ODL) face a myriad of challenges including a low proficiency in English. While research has identified vocabulary as important in improving language proficiency and the pertinent role of interaction in vocabulary development, there
remains a dearth of research on how to enhance vocabulary in ODL, a context which is characterised by the distance between students and the institution. In searching for an intervention that would support vocabulary development, including interaction, while taking
cognisance of the distance between students and lecturers, this study explored the use of mobile learning (mlearning). Because mlearning technologies offer ubiquitous flexibility and accessibility, they were deemed fit for purpose for ODL which is established on the principles
of openness, flexibility and student‐centredness. Using the design‐based research (DBR) method within a pragmatic paradigm, this study
designed, implemented and evaluated mobile‐based interventions for vocabulary development. The first phase of the study involved the analysis of the problem through a literature review. The literature and theoretical framework were used to ground the second phase of DBR, which included the development of the intervention prototype in the form of a mobile‐based vocabulary development app called VocUp. The intervention was implemented, tested and refined in three iteration stages, which formed the third phase of DBR. The iterations included a VocUp only stage, followed by a WhatsApp only stage, and ended with a VocUp plus WhatsApp stage. The last phase of DBR involved a reflection and a production of artefacts and guidelines for practice in ODL. Data were collected through interviews and WhatsApp chats from students registered for a first‐year English module. The results were 1) that vocabulary should be explicitly taught, allow for rehearsal opportunities and contain assessment while acknowledging the
instrumental role of interaction; 2) mobile interventions should balance the pedagogic benefits with the technological qualities; and 3) the advantages and challenges of using WhatsApp and VocUp can be successfully combined into a hybrid model of both platforms.
This study’s contribution to the body to knowledge includes the newly‐designed VocUp as an artefact; a revised model of the CoI theoretical framework called MODeL as well as principles guiding the application of the MODeL in authentic ODL contexts.
2018-03-05T08:33:57Z
2018-03-05T08:33:57Z
2018-03-05T08:33:57Z
2017-06
Thesis
Shandu-Phetla, Thulile Pearl (2017) Designing and implementing mobile-based interventions for enhancing English vocabulary in ODL, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/23638>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/23638
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/22462018-11-17T13:04:54Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Fossilisation in the written English of Xhosa - speaking students during the FET phase
Maliwa, Kaya Giveus
Southey, P.G.
Fossilisation
Interference
Mother tongue
Second language
Stabilization
Backsliding
Overgeneralization
Transfer
Errors
Interlanguage
This study investigates error fossilisation in the written English of Xhosa - speaking students. It is hypothesised that there is no statistically significant difference in the language errors of two groups of Grade 10 and Grade 12 students.
Two randomly selected groups of 30 Grade 10 and 30 Grade 12 students in a rural senior secondary school in the Eastern Cape province were required to write two essays, of which the first two hundred words of each essay were marked. A frequency count of errors was done and comparisons were made.
The findings indicate that the Grade 12s consistently made fewer errors. However, the difference is only statistically significant in the case of prepositions and concord, and is insignificant in tenses, pronouns and articles. The findings also show evidence of fossilisation given the persistence of some of the errors. Certain features in the student's language were not eradicated by the additional two years exposure to English.
2009-08-25T11:01:50Z
2009-08-25T11:01:50Z
2009-08-25T11:01:50Z
2009-08-25T11:01:50Z
Dissertation
Maliwa, Kaya Giveus (2009) Fossilisation in the written English of Xhosa - speaking students during the FET phase, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/2246>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/2246
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/254772019-06-28T10:12:36Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Reconstituting the self and the burden of belonging in the Native Commissioner (2006) by Shaun Johnson
Nyoni, Knowledge
Levey, David
Autobiography
Apartheid
Biography
Cityscape
Confession
Ecocriticism
Environment
Landscape
Identity
Mindscape
Self-reconstitution
Shaun Johnson
The Native Commissioner
Post-apartheid writing has been characterized by an ardent search for a voice that truly depicts the painful apartheid past. The establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) promoted a confessional mode of writing as a means to obtaining healing, hence reconstitution. Such a paradigm shift in writing necessitated imagined characters to re-invent and re-align themselves with the new post-apartheid dispensation if they were to remain relevant to South African readership. Reinvention of characters is made possible through several means and various organs of reconstitution such as history, narration, possession of one’s landscape and a disavowal of belonging as depicted in The Native Commissioner.
This study seeks to examine the process of self-constitution undergone by the co-protagonist and surrogate narrator, Sam Jameson, following his failure to function as an individual and father in post-apartheid South Africa. To this end, a close reading of the novel is done, to better understand the context of Sam’s trauma. The study traces the self-reconstitutive process of Sam from the moment he decides to re-visit his father’s past, to the moment when he finds release from the trauma. I argue that an investigation of his father’s life, as well as his, ultimately gives him agency over his own. Sam’s identity shifts from his childhood past, in which apartheid exerts primary influence, to that of an adult who lives in the post-apartheid moment, having come to terms with his past. Telling his story, to him becomes an act of re-creation and self-invention and the means by which he formulates his own identity. At the end of the story, it is a totally liberated individual that the reader witnesses.
2019-05-23T10:55:09Z
2019-05-23T10:55:09Z
2019-05-23T10:55:09Z
2017-08
Dissertation
Nyoni, Knowledge (2017) Reconstituting the self and the burden of belonging in the Native Commissioner (2006) by Shaun Johnson, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/25477>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/25477
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/10662018-11-17T13:05:20Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Bursting out of the corset:
physical mobility as social transgression and subversion in Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Issany, Tanzeelah Banu Mamode Ismael
Holloway, M. K. (Mr.)
The dissertation is based on Hardy's representation of Victorian working-class women's experience, exemplified by the heroine of Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891), in the radically gendered nineteenth-century society. Physical mobility as metaphor and metonymy in the novel stands for the transgression and subversion of patriarchal influence and is revealed as having a complex significance in relation to gender distinction. Hardy subverts Victorian norms of femininity through Tess's movements from one physical space to another in her struggle for freedom and autonomy. However, Hardy's inability to transcend completely the conventions of his society is apparent in the way Tess is literally destroyed in her quest for autonomy, respect and contentment. A study of the novel reveals Tess as a victim of the wearing and destructive impact of social and economic realities that Hardy does not adequately questioned. Finally, the novel follows the conventional realist pattern where the transgressive heroine is punished in the end.
2009-08-25T10:49:18Z
2009-08-25T10:49:18Z
2009-08-25T10:49:18Z
2009-08-25T10:49:18Z
Dissertation
Issany, Tanzeelah Banu Mamode Ismael (2009) Bursting out of the corset:
physical mobility as social transgression and subversion in Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/1066>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/1066
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/5302018-11-17T13:05:13Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
A literature survey of genre-based approaches to EST reading and writing from 1960 to 2002
Harold, Albert
Spencer, B.
The aim of this dissertation is to present a critical literature review and conceptual analysis of selected genre-based research materials from 1960-2002 on the theoretical and pedagogical issues involved in teaching reading and writing to students of English for Science and Technology. Methodologically, the comparative data-analysis is aimed at identifying commonalities and differences between the various data texts in terms of their definition, orientations, and pedagogical uses. Based on the analyses, suggestions are made for the additional practical applications of the approaches within a learning-centred, communicative framework. The main conclusion is that genre analysis is a fusion of textual-contextual orientations on a structural-linguistic, social-ethnographic cline, which involves simultaneous microlinguistic and macrorhetorical, social-ethnographic processing. Owing to the scope of genre analysis, it is suggested that a considerably expanded, in-depth investigation is needed to clarify the dynamic tensions between and within the individual genre-based approaches, as well as their pedagogical applications.
2009-08-25T10:44:32Z
2009-08-25T10:44:32Z
2009-08-25T10:44:32Z
2009-08-25T10:44:32Z
Dissertation
Harold, Albert (2009) A literature survey of genre-based approaches to EST reading and writing from 1960 to 2002, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/530>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/530
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/265252020-07-20T11:12:52Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
The carceral in literary dystopia: social conformity in Aldous Huxley’s Brave new world, Jasper Fford’s Shades of grey and Veronica Roth’s Divergent trilogy
Chamberlain, Marlize
Kalua, Fetson Anderson
Dystopia
Utopia
Science fiction
Social systems
Social conformity
Post-structuralism
Michael Foucault
Jacques Derrida
Future societies
Satire
Prison
Dystopian fiction
Young adult dystopian fiction
Imprisonment
Power
Hegemony
Discipline
Docility
Carceral
Discourse
Discursive formations
This dissertation examines how three dystopian texts, namely Aldous Huxley’s Brave New
World, Jasper Fforde’s Shades of Grey and Veronica Roth’s Divergent trilogy, exhibit social
conformity as a disciplinary mechanism of the ‘carceral’ – a notion introduced by
poststructuralist thinker Michel Foucault. Employing poststructuralist discourse and
deconstructive theory as a theoretical framework, the study investigates how each novel
establishes its world as a successful carceral city that incorporates most, if not all, the elements
of the incarceration system that Foucault highlights in Discipline and Punish. It establishes that
the societies of the texts present potentially nightmarish future societies in which social and
political “improvements” result in a seemingly better world, yet some essential part of human
existence has been sacrificed. This study of these fictional worlds reflects on the carceral nature
of modern society and highlights the problematic nature of the social and political practices to
which individuals are expected to conform. Finally, in line with Foucault, it postulates that
individuals need not be enclosed behind prison walls to be imprisoned; the very nature of our
social systems imposes the restrictive power that incarcerates societies
2020-07-08T07:47:59Z
2020-07-08T07:47:59Z
2020-07-08T07:47:59Z
2020-02
Dissertation
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/26525
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/253202019-05-02T13:54:11Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
The unsettling of colonialist and nationalist spaces : John Eppel's writings on Zimbabwe
Moyo, Thamsanqa
Masvoto, R.A.
Nations
Rhodesian identity
Master fictions
Grand narratives
Self-validation
Rhodesianism
Chronotope
Mythoscapes
Place
Space
Emplacement
Nationalist Space
Colonialist Space
Coercive Accumulation
Mugabeism
The Rhodesian and Zimbabwean space-time involved the creation and adoption of hegemonic discourses that influenced ways of behavior, thinking, perceiving reality and particular ways of identity construction based on mystifying nationalisms. In raced and politically charged spaces, such grand narratives depended, for their currency, on stereotypes, essentialisms, domination and dichotomization of ‘nation as narration’. The metanarratives of the two spaces functioned as discursive tools for the legitimation of particular forms of exclusions, elisions and distortions. As discursive and polemical literary tools, these discourses always found sustenance and perpetuation in the existence of a different other. In other words, these constructed narratives sought to use difference as a basis for scapegoating and naturalizing racial, economic, political and resource asymmetries in the Rhodesian and Zimbabwean spaces. Power was wielded not in the service of, but against, the majority who are marginalized. This study explores John Eppel’s writings on the constructions of both Rhodesia and Zimbabwe as ideological spaces for the legitimation of power based on class, race and politics. I argue that Eppel’s selected writings are a literary intervention that proffers a satirically dissident critique of the foundational myths, symbols and narratives of Rhodesian and Zimbabwean space-time. The study argues that Eppel offers literary resistance to unproblematized identity compositions predicated on socially constructed but skewed categories that limit the contours of belonging and citizenship. The Rhodesian space is viewed as a palimpsest upon which is overwritten the Zimbabwean patriotic discourse that also authorize racism, marginalization, power abuse and other forms of exclusion. In examining Eppel’s satiric disruption of both spaces, I use certain strands of the Postcolonial Theory that problematize issues of nation, identity, race, tribe and power. Its usefulness lies in its rejection of fixities, of absolutes and in its general counter-hegemonic thrust. I therefore invoke the theorizations of Frantz Fanon, Homi Bhabha, Maria
Lara, Paul Gilroy, Mikhail Bakhtin and Benita Parry. These form the theoretical base with which the study confronts Eppel’s writings on Rhodesia and Zimbabwe. The focal texts used are: Absent: The English Teacher (2009), selected short stories in White Man Crawling (2007) and The Caruso of Colleen Bawn (2004), The Holy Innocents (2002), Hatchings (2006), selected poems from Spoils of War (1989), Songs my Country Taught me: Selected Poems 1965-2005(2005) and D.G.G.Berry’s The Great North Road (1992). I conclude by arguing that Eppel creates a fictional life-world where race, origin, politics, class and culture are figured as polarizing identity markers that should be re-negotiated and even transcended in order to materialize a more inclusive multicultural society. To the extent that both the colonial and post-independence eras cross-fertilize each other in terms of occlusions, creating hegemonic narratives, resort to race, violence, silencing and erasure of certain subjectivities, Eppel advocates the ‘hatching’ of a new national, moral and inclusive ethos that supersedes the claustrophobia of both spaces.
2019-03-08T06:01:31Z
2019-03-08T06:01:31Z
2019-03-08T06:01:31Z
2018-06
Thesis
Moyo, Thamsanqa (2018) The unsettling of colonialist and nationalist spaces : John Eppel's writings on Zimbabwe, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/25320>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/25320
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/23572018-11-17T13:05:06Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Listening comprehension in academic lectures : a focus on the role of discourse markers
Smit, Talita Christine
Scheepers, Ruth Angela
Lecture listening
ESL students
Discourse markers
Cohesion
Bottom-up and top-down processes
Authentic lectures
Note-taking
Listening instruction
Listening comprehension
Listening
Increasing involvement with students at the University of Namibia has indicated their overall difficulty with comprehending and recalling information from oral content lectures. It has also been observed that in general very little attention is given to the development of listening skills in L2 ESP and EAP courses. For this study, I conducted a quasi-experiment to determine whether the recognition and interpretation of discourse markers will enhance students' listening comprehension in academic lectures. Students were tested to determine their comprehension of content information in a video-taped lecture. Qualitative data were collected by means of a questionnaire. After an intervention period of eight weeks, where the experimental group received strategy training in the recognition and interpretation of discourse markers in spoken texts, both groups were again tested. Their results were statistically compared. I also looked at related findings of other researchers. Finally, aspects for possible future research will also be considered.
2009-08-25T11:02:47Z
2009-08-25T11:02:47Z
2009-08-25T11:02:47Z
2009-08-25T11:02:47Z
Thesis
Smit, Talita Christine (2009) Listening comprehension in academic lectures : a focus on the role of discourse markers, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/2357>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/2357
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/178512018-11-17T13:05:12Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
The disintegration of a dream : a study of Sam Shephard's family trilogy, Curse of the starving class, Buried child and True west
Watt, Diane Lilian
Spencer, B.
Bibliographic profile
American dream and the disintegration therof
Family and drama
Modern mythology
Betrayal of the land
The frontier
The Rock Garden
Curse of the starving class
Buried child
True west
The family trilogy, Curse of the Starving Class, Buried
Child and True West, presents Sam Shepard's strong bond with
his culture and his people, illustrates an intense connection
with the land, and reveals a deep longing for the
traditions of the past, through the dramatisation of the
betrayal of the American Dream. Although obviously part of
the American tradition of family drama, Shepard never completely
conforms, subverting the genre by debunking the
traditional family in order to make a statement about the
present disintegration of the bonds of family life and
modern American society. In the trilogy Shepard decries the
loss of the old codes connecting with his despair at the
debasement of the ideals of the past and the demise of the
American Dream. Finally, the plays insist on the importance
a new set of tenets to supplant the sterile ethics of modern
America
2015-01-23T04:24:30Z
2015-01-23T04:24:30Z
2015-01-23T04:24:30Z
1995
1995-11
Dissertation
Watt, Diane Lilian (1995) The disintegration of a dream : a study of Sam Shephard's family trilogy, Curse of the starving class, Buried child and True west, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/17851>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/17851
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/222452018-11-17T13:06:35Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
From Chinua Achebe to Fred Khumalo : the politics of black female cultural difference in seven literary texts
Magege, David
Masemola, Kgomotso 1965-
Black literature
Deconstruction
Textual politics
Representation
Visibility
Agency
Patriarchy
Africana-Womanism
Heteroglossia
Self-definition
Oppression
Signifying
Cultural diversity
This study explores the notion of female cultural difference in the context of dominant patriarchal and other oppressive patriarchal structures. Essentially, its focus is on deconstructing stereotypical images of women, who are often perceived as homogenous. Throughout the study I argue that as much as their sensibilities are varied, African and African American women respond differently to the oppressive conditions they find themselves in.
The following selected texts provided the opportunities for exploring and evaluating the genealogy of female cultural difference that is central to my research: Anthills of the Savannah (Chinua Achebe); Scarlet Song (Mariama Ba); The Joys of Motherhood and Kehinde (BuchiEmecheta); Their Eyes Were Watching God (Nora Zeale Hurston); Bitches Brew and Seven Steps to Heaven (Fred Khumalo). In the process of analyzing these texts, I demonstrated that the notion of cultural difference is often narrowly and erroneously construed. I discovered that the protagonists in these texts are not only conscious of their oppressed condition but often adopt strategic agency to contest male privileges that silence them. In pursuit of this critical perspective, I have proceeded to apply relevant theoretical frameworks constructed by Cornel West, Hudson-Weems, Bakhtin and a conflation of others whose philosophical tenets support the major theoretical frameworks. The aforementioned literary critics have enabled me to come up with a more comprehensive and richer analysis of the set texts.
In my analysis I have advanced the argument that female visibility manifests itself variously and temporally through individual and sometimes sisterly attempts at empowerment, self- definition and esoteric discursive features. I noted that all this is evidence of the nascent creative potential in African women who refuse to be silenced.
In my analysis of the Seven texts I have incorporated, modified and developed some of the insights from critical thinkers who engage in the ongoing debate about female cultural difference. This approach has enabled me to come up with new insights that ferret out veneers of African women’s rich cultural diversity, in light of the ever changing nature of women’s operational spaces. It is this transcendental vision that basically informs and resonates with my study.
2017-04-07T16:05:44Z
2017-04-07T16:05:44Z
2017-04-07T16:05:44Z
2016-10
Dissertation
Magege, David (2016) From Chinua Achebe to Fred Khumalo : the politics of black female cultural difference in seven literary texts, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/22245>
http://hdl.handle.net/10500/22245
en
oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/296452022-12-01T04:38:40Zcom_10500_173com_10500_172com_10500_1com_10500_506col_10500_175col_10500_507
Evaluation of the implementation of English-Medium Instruction in a public and a private university in Pakistan
Muhammad, Saima Faisal
Alexander, J. O.
Evaluation
English-Medium Instruction
Implementation of EMI
Private university
Public university
Pakistan
Bourdieu’s social reproduction theory
Educational inequality
Academic participation
Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory
Krashen’s affective variables
Teachers’ training
Translanguaging
Students’ linguistic challenges
This study aims to evaluate the implementation of English-medium instruction (EMI) in both a public and a private university in Pakistan. The goals are to investigate: the role of linguistic capital in reproducing educational inequality; students’ difficulties in the EMI classroom; the integration of collaborative teaching and learning activities with pedagogical practices; and the impact of affective variables on teaching and learning practices in the EMI classroom. The study is informed by Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice and Social Reproduction; Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory; and Krashen’s Affective Filter Hypothesis. This comparative mixed-method study employed a questionnaire, interviews, and classroom observation with a sample of 120 undergraduate students and 20 teachers. Descriptive statistics and the Chi-square test were used to analyse quantitative data using SPSS. Atlas.ti was used to analyse the qualitative data. The findings showed that the public university was given preference because of its low fees, value of credentials, whereas the private university, despite higher fees, was desirable for better infrastructure, scholarship, and merit flexibility.
Additionally, students’ cultural capital, and family and institutional habitus were important factors for registration at a certain university. On the micro-level, the implementation of EMI was not adequate enough to create inclusive educational classrooms and reduce the reproduction of educational marginalisation, especially at the private university. The quantitative findings revealed that the students’ had difficulty in understanding EMI lectures, English textbooks, and scientific terms due to difficult vocabulary, stress of delivering presentations and writing examinations, fear of making mistakes, and anxiety of speaking in classroom. The qualitative data analysis further revealed the following areas of major concern: a lack of awareness of interactive activities to create a student-centred classroom; lack of training in translanguaging pedagogical strategies to effectively scaffold EMI; students’ inadequate language proficiency; the focus on finishing the syllabus and examination rather than on concept-based learning; and discrimination and favouritism on the basis of linguistic capital. The study provides recommendations for policy makers and institutional managements to clearly outline EMI goals with a practical follow-up system. Action research is needed to adequately implement translanguaging as a pedagogic tool in both education systems to encourage equality in academic participation. The study highlights the importance of teacher training in how to design and implement collaborative and translanguaging strategies to optimise students’ academic performance in an EMI setting.
2022-11-30T12:20:16Z
2022-11-30T12:20:16Z
2022-11-30T12:20:16Z
2022-08
Thesis
https://hdl.handle.net/10500/29645
en
qdc///col_10500_175/100