Department of English

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Boycotting of academics: The case of UWC
(UWC, 1980) Miche, Ana; JJ, Rr
An abstract is a brief summary of a research article, thesis, review, conference proceeding, or any in-depth analysis of a particular subject and is often used to help the reader quickly ascertain the paper's purpose.
Rap and the articulation of resistance: an exploration of subversive cultural production during the early 90's, with particular reference to Prophets of da City
(University of Western Cape, 1995) Haupt, Adam
This thesis explores the ways in which Cape Town rap group Prophets of da City articulate their resistance to apartheid and, in particular, the ways in which they attempted to intervene in politicians' attempts to pacify the black electorate during the build- up to South Africa's first democratic elections. Initially, I attempt to clear a space from which one could discuss POC's work as postmodern and postcolonial. I then theorise POC's use of sampling as a postmodern strategy whilst, at the same time, pointing out that rap has its origins in the African- American tradition of Signifyin(g). Through my discussion sampling, I suggest that rap, as postmodern cultural practice, challenges concepts of originality as well as uniqueness. I also discuss POC's work as part of subculture and analyse Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing in order to explore the black artist's struggle for space* within the public sphere. Finally, I contend that both Lee and POC's texts are flawed because they marginalise gender politics. I briefly discuss Queen Latifa's rap music to suggest that the discourses of race and gender are inseparable.
Changing rains, changing voices: Representations of black women over five decades of South African theatre (1950 - 1996)
(University of the Western Cape, 1997) Mazibuko, Nokuthula; Flockemann, Miki
Changing rains, changing voices: Representations of black women over five decades of South African theatre (1950 - 1996) The general aim of this research paper is to investigate/interrogate, tough analyses of four popular musicals, images of ideal womanhood put forward by South African popular theatre at various historical moments. I argue that these images have shifted from decade to decade (1950 - 1996), revealing the constructed and therefore changeable nature of unequal gender roles within society. My research will consist of textual and contextual analyses of the representation of women in the following popular musicals: King Kong ( 1959), Too Late ( 1975), Sarafina! ( 1987), and Marabi (1981/1995). The ideas of womanhood posited by the play texts will be examined vis-d-vis their "struggle narratives" (whose goal is liberation from racial and economic oppression).
The jewelled net: Towards a Southern African theory/ practice of environmental literacy
(University of the Western Cape, 1999) Martin, Julia
This thesis suggests that there is an urgent need for academic work in literary and cultural studies to become more responsive to the contemporary eco-social crisis of environment and development. Questioning the sustainability of current practices, I introduce an approach which has emerged in the attempt to reorient my own work in English Studies towards what I call environmental literacy. My discussion consists of a prologue, six chapters, and an epilogue. The prologue is a story essay which presents through metaphor and narrative some of the questions which later chapters explore in more familiarly academic register. Chapters One and Two assemble the theoretical tools which have shaped my priorities. The first situates the project in terms of issues in South African eco-politics, and goes on to introduce potentially useful models in eco-criticism , environmental history, ecological philosophy and feminist theory. The second chapter argues that elements in Mahayana Buddhism (specifically teachings on emptiness and dependent arising and their relation to compassion) offer suggestive models for further radicalizing our theory I practice. The following degree chapters experiment with writing environmentally literate responses to several texts (one historical and the rest contemporary). Chapter Three is an appreciative reading of the representation of the Garden in William Blake's poem The Book of Thel (1789), Chapter Four brings personal narrative into an analysis of Gary Snyder's epic poem Mountains and Rivers Without End (1996), and Chapter Five is a critical survey of eco-cultural texts produced in South Africa during the period 1986- 1996. In Chapter Si.." I report on some of the pedagogical implications of thee orientation 1 have described , drawing on thee experience of teaching at the University of the Western Cape. The epilogue is brief and imagistic. The written text of the thesis is accompanied by pictures of people, plants and places.
A Connotative Turn for Pictorial Semiotics: The Cultural Semiotics of Goran Sonesson
(University of the Western Cape, 2000) Paulsen, Amanda; Hunter, Eva
Goran Sonesson provides a departure point from the work of Roland Barthes in the pictorial semiotic studies. He questions the theoretical and methodological assumptions underlying the Barthesian model. We compare Sonesson's model to results gathered from the iconic analysis of a selected photograph taken from a women's magazine (see Figure 1 above), and conclude that there is little to suggest an analysis of a pictures iconic content will convey its intended message. However, there is some indication that when the conventions or codes operating within a culture are known, the mechanisms responsible for the production of meaning in the visual medium become more The art historian Erwin Panofsky (1892-1968) was a pioneer and leading exponent of iconographical studies. According to Panofsky, iconography is "that branch of the history of art which concerns itself with the subject matter or meaning of works of art, as opposed to their form" (Panofsky 1978: 51). An important distinction made by Panofsky is that between iconography as the study of subject matter and iconology as the study of meaning. Using the example of "doffing one's hat", Panofsky shows that two meanings can be appended to this common gesture. While the act of raising one's hat indicates a polite gesture, it originated from the practice of medieval knights where the removal of one's helmet indicated peaceful intent. Panofsky goes on to say: "To understand (the significance) of the gentleman's actions I must not only be familiar with the practical world of object and events, but also with the more-than-practical world of customs and cultural traditions peculiar to a certain civilisation." (ibid.: 51-3).transparent.
A connotative turn for pictorial semiotics: The cultural semiotics of Goran Sonesson
(University of the Western Cape, 2000) Paulsen, Amanda; Hunter, Eva
Goran Sonesson provides a departure point from the work of Roland Barthes in the pictorial semiotic studies. He questions the theoretical and methodological assumptions underlying the Barthesian model. We compare Sonesson's model to results gathered from the iconic analysis of a selected photograph taken from a women's magazine (see Figure 1 above), and conclude that there is little to suggest an analysis of a pictures iconic content will convey its intended message. However, there is some indication that when the conventions or codes operating within a culture are known, the mechanisms responsible for the production of meaning in the visual medium become more transparent.
Alex la Guma: a literary and political biography of the South African years
(University of the Western Cape, 2001) Field, Roger Michael; Bundy, Colin; Taylor, Jane; Dept. of English; Faculty of Arts
The South African years (1925-1966) of Alex la Guma is examined in this thesis. While La Guma's father was an important role model, most critics have overlooked his mother's contribution to his literary and political development. Throughout the thesis the same point is made about Blanche, La Guma's wife, who supported him in many ways. The researcher describes La Guma's infancy, childhood and adolescence, his father's political profile, how notions of race and writing, coloured identity and family and political experiences created the conditions that enabled him to become a story teller and political activist .
"The enemy of the absolute": Women in the early poetry of T.S.ELIOT
(University of Western Cape, 2002) Birch, Alannah; Birch, Alannah
Mathew Arnold's 1867 poem presents romantic love as a condition of permanence that can offer refuge from a changeable world. Sixty years later, however, Virginia Woolf observes that romance has become rare as a subject of modern poetry. Her suggestion that there is an historical explanation for this change in literary subject matter is the starting point for this study of the representation of women in the early poetry of T.S. Eliot. Whereas Woolf tentatively dates the "death" of romance to the First World War I will suggest that this change in poetic sentiment is evident in Eliot's early work, some of which predates the war. In the poems under discussion, written between the years 1910 ("Portrait of a Lady" and "The Love Song of J.
'n Maatskaplikewerk-profiel van persoonsontbering in die Swartland met spesifieke verwysing na die groter Chatsworth-gebied
(University of Western Cape, 2002) Blankenberg, Jurine Henry; Small, Adam
Hierdie skripsie wil die mens en sy ervarings, of dit wat hy binne 'n bepaalde gebied beleef, blootlê. Daarmee saam kom 'n duidelike teoretiese beskouing na vore om die persoon in sy gedepriveerde gemeenskap uit te beeld. Die karakter van die gebied weerspiël die volgende kenmerke: Dit is landelik van aard, 'n beduidende afstand vanaf stedelike ontwikkeling geleë, en dit word as 'n "slaapdorp" ervaar. Histories word die gebied bykans 'n honderd jaar deur die inwoners en hul voorgeslagte bewoon, maar as gevolg van poli tieke rompslomp het ontwikkeling nooi t werklik plaasgevind nie. Die probleme wat in die gebied tydens navorsing aanwesig was, is die volgende: Onvoldoende infrastrutuur, watervoorsiening is gebrekkig, riolering kom nie voor nie, gesondheidsdienste word periodiek gelewer, en werksgeleenthede moet buite die gebied bekom word. Die haglike woonomstandighede het die inwoners se lewensverwagting geaffekteer en ongelukkigheid meegebring. Die doel van die navorsing is om 'n geheelbeeld te verkry van die gebied se probleme en behoeftes, hoe die inwoners daaroor voel en wat die mense dink gedoen kan word om, ten spyte van die heersende probleme, hul lewensomstandighede te verbeter. Dit wil sê die ondersoek poog om te bepaal wat die werklike lewensomstandighede van die mense in die Groter Chatsworthgebied (Chatsworth en Riverlands gekombineerd) is.
The treatment of Historical space in selected works by Thomas Pynchon
(University of the Western Cape, 2004) Kapp, W.; de Lange, A.M
The focus on space and spatiality is relatively new in literary studies and also not unproblematic. Problems arise from the way in which these concepts are constructed, described, defined and interpret~. It is possible to derive numerous kinds of space, such as historical space, physical space, metaphysical space and religious space, to name a few, from the structure or thematics of a novel. This in itself presents a problem, since the literary scholar must differentiate between these spaces in order to determine which will be most useful for study of a particular aspect. There does not seem to be a coherent theoretical position in literary scholar regarding space, and thus various views of theorists will be considered. Gullon (1975:21), in a seminal article on space entitled On Space in the Novel provides a possible definition of space, with reference to another seminal article, this time by Joseph Frank when he states that "Frank calls 'spatial' the form of those works that at a given instant in time concentrate actions that can be perceived, but not related, simultaneously". This definition denotes a further complication engendered by space, namely the notion that different spaces intersect and interrelate with each other, and consequently that it is very difficult - if not impossible - to separate the various kinds of literary spaces in order to analyse the occurrence of a single space in a text. It also seems bound to time, but in a sense bridges the temporal gaps in a novel since it brings together parts that are not necessarily adjacent to each other temporally. Time becomes spatialized by treating events in the novel as separate chunks which can be rearranged and linked to each other. 1bis creates a more coherent and comprehensive picture of events in a text. namely the notion that different spaces intersect and interrelate with each other, and consequently that it is very difficult - if not impossible - to separate the various kinds of literary spaces in order to analyse the occurrence of a single space in a text. The main point in this regard seems to be creating patterns. This brings together more elements for the reader to be viewed at once, allowing him or her to attain a broader perspective on the text.
African traditional culture and modernity in Zakes Mda’s the heart of redness
(2005) Birama, Prosper Ndayi; Wittenberg, Hermann
In my thesis entitled ‘African Tradition and Modernity in Zakes Mda’s The Heart of Redness’, I analyze the way Western modernity and African traditions interact in Mda’s novel. I suggest that both modernity and tradition interact to produce a hybrid culture. This will become apparent in my analysis of the way Mda depicts the cattlekilling episode and the effects of Nongqawuse’s prophecy, and also in the novel’s contemporary characters. Mda shows the development of an African modernity through the semi-autobiographical figure of Camagu who is not slavishly indebted to Western ideas of progress, but is a hybrid of African values and a modern identity. In my thesis I will look at the way Mda also addresses the issue of the oppression of the Xhosa in colonial history, and the way he demonstrates that the divisions of the past deeply influence post-apartheid South Africa. In this regard, I will show how The Heart of Redness is a critique not only of colonial oppression, but also of the newer injustices plaguing the post-apartheid South African society. The focus of Mda’s critique in this regard is the proposed casino that stands as a model of environmentally destructive, unsustainable and capitalist development. Instead, Mda’s novel shows an alternative modernization of rural South African society, one which is based on community upliftment and environmentally friendly development. Through an exploration of the above aspects of the novel, my thesis shows that Mda’s writing exemplifies a hybrid African modernity, one that incorporates Western ideas as well as African values.
Humour as a postcolonial strategy in Zakes Mda's novel, The heart of redness
(University of the Western Cape, 2005) Hagemann, Michael Eric; Woodward, W; Dept. of English; Faculty of Arts
This thesis sought to demonstrate that humour and the grotesque are the primary tools by which Mda achieve his postcolonial strategies of "writing back" that is, of asserting an identity in the face of colonial pressures, apartheid and the growing selfishness of many in the new, post-democratic South African society.
Flying in the face of convention: The heart of redness as rehabilitative of the South African pastoral literary tradition through the frame of universal myth
(University of the Western Cape, 2005) Jacobs, Anthony Richard; Merrington, Peter; Faculty of Arts
This thesis analyzed Zakes Mda's The Heart of redness in the tradition of South African pastoral and counter-pastoral. It proposed that the novel is a hybrid of both African and European tradition and perspectives. It adduced Northrop Frye's theory of myth and archetypes in literature as a basis for study. It also analysed the novel in its use of irony.
An investigation of the potential role that folklore can play in environmental education: a case study of Mphoko
(University of the Western Cape, 2005) Ramaila, Ziphora Mmabatho; Martin, Julia; Becker, Heike; Dept. of English; Faculty of Arts
This thesis investigated the role that folklore can play in contemporary environmental problems. This research was prompted by people living around the Mantrombi nature reserve in the Nebo region of Limpopo province who showed and interest in reviving folklore as an education model to combat their existing environmental problems.
Alex La Guma’s short stories in relation to A Walk in the Night: A socio-political and literary analysis
(University of the Western Cape, 2005) Ntaganira, Vincent; Field, Roger; Dept. of English; Faculty of Arts
The minithesis provides a detailed socio-political and literary analysis of A Walk in the Night: Seven stories from the streets of Cape Town. It investigates and systematically compares each short story to the novella or compares the short stories with each other and shows their thematic and formal similarities and differences. The results of the study will provide a valuable contribution to the study of African literature. It will complete what other critics have left out. No one among La Guma’s scholars has analysed the anthology as a single entity; most critics have analysed the novella and have not analysed the accompanying short stories. As a result, the relationships between the novella and the short stories are unknown to many readers. I argue that this needs to be corrected. In order to situate the thesis, the study also presents a selected list of critics who have studied the novella and the short stories, and indicates their achievements and their shortcomings. The study will be carried out from a Marxist perspective, and will explore the use of realist and naturalist literary styles. Marxism will provide the socio-political and theoretical framework. Naturalism and realism are the two main literary genres that occur in the anthology.
Narratives of assessment: the newsletter as case study
(University of the Western Cape, 2005) Scheepers, Jacqueline Norma; Dyers, Charlyn; Dept. of English; Faculty of Arts
The purpose of this thesis was to evaluate success of an integrated newsletter assignment for first year Human Resource Management students as an authentic and meaningful form of assessment by tracing and deciphering the narratives of the role-players. The study also examined the role that the newsletter can play regarding experiential learning, which is an essential component of teaching and learning at technikons in South Africa.
Alan Paton�s sublime: race, landscape and the transcendence of the liberal imagination
(University of KwaZulu Natal, 2005) Wittenberg, Hermann
This article develops a postcolonial reading of the sublime by suggesting that aesthetic theories of the sublime were, in their classical philosophical formulations by Edmund Burke and Immanuel Kant, founded on problematic assumptions of racial difference. In the colonial sphere, it is argued, the sublime could discursively manage and contain the contradictions inherent in the aesthetic appreciation and appropriation of contested landscapes. This is particularly evident in the Alan Paton's writing. This article looks at the origins and the influence of rhetoric of the sublime in Paton's work, particularly in his novel Cry, the Beloved Country, and argues that the sublime is a key discursive structure in the shaping of Paton's complex and ambivalent representation of South Africa's politicised and racialised landscape.
The representation of women in four of Naguib Mahfouz's realist novels: Palace walk, Palace of desire, Sugar street and Midaq alley
(University of the Western Cape, 2005) Oersen, Sheridene Barbara; Merrington, Peter; Faculty of Arts
This thesis involved the various discourses around Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz's representation of women in four of his most well-known novels, which were originally written in Arabic. At the one extreme, he is described as a feminist writer who takes up an aggressive anti-patriarchal stance, delivering a multi-faceted critique on Egyptian society. Mahfouz's personal milieu, as well as the broader social context in which he finds himself, was given careful consideration. It was also considered whether the genre in which the four novels have been written has a significant influence on the manner in which Mahfouz has represented his female characters.
Negotiating coloured identity through encounters with performance
(University of the Western Cape, 2005) Fransman, Gino; Flockemann, M. Dr; Dept. of English; Faculty of Arts
In this study the theatre as staged performance and as text was used as exploratory and discursive tools to investigate the negotiation of identities. The aim was to explore this theme by examining the responses to four popular Coloured identity-related staged performances; Marc Lottering's "Crash" and "From the Cape Flats with Love", as well as Petersen, Isaacs and Reisenhoffer's "Joe Barber" and "Suip". These works, both as performance and as text, was used to investigate the way stereotypical representations of Coloured identities are played with, subverted or negotiated in performance.
Playing with time: the relationship between theatrical timeframe, dramatic narrative and character development in the plays of Alan Ayckbourn
(University of the Western Cape, 2006) Vokes, Elizabeth; Parr, Anthony; Dept. of English; Faculty of Arts
Alan Ayckbourn claims that he has always been facinated by time as an aid to dramatic story telling. The thesis examined how Ayckbourn manipulates the dramatic timeframe, often in an unconventional manner, as a device to aid both the development of dramatic narrative and the development of characterisation within his plays.

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