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Literary reflections of African women's quest for socio-economic parity in selected African women-authored texts
No full textThe original impulse for this thesis has arisen from observations that extant literature seems to suggest that African women have been passive recipients ofwhatever was handed down to them by the patriarchal system. It has also been put across that African women only voiced feminist concerns following after their western counterparts, notions that I do not agree with. In this dissertation I trace African women's quest for socio-economic parity from the time before Africa had any contact with the Western world. This is done by looking at the texts The Joys ofMotherhood (1979) by Buchi Emecheta, Nervous Conditions (1988) by Tsitsi Dangarembga and The Uncertainty ofHope (2006) by Valerie Tagwira. As the thesis develops from pre-colonial to post-colonial times, the voice of the African woman is traced. The analogy between patriarchy and colonialism is made, stemming from Bill Ashcroft's Post-colonial Transformation (2001) theory which is then factored into the STIWANIST theory which is the main theoretical framework for this mini-thesis. Both frameworks are used and their point of overlap which is non-confrontational resistance is highlighted as the texts are read. The socio-economic and socio-cultural clutches of patriarchy are highlighted in each chapter and it becomes apparent how patriarchy changes style in its quest to keep the woman oppressed. Feminist resistance and apparent subversion of the patriarchal system in all texts are unearthed in a manner that reveals that subtle resistance is the most effective type. A reading of the selected texts using the two frameworks gives hope to the African women's quest for socio-economic parity. Though not yet achieved, the possibility is closer than it was before. Studies ofthis nature should be pursued to further equip communities with ideas to facilitate the movement towards socio-economic parity
Analysing visual culture in selected Pentecostal church advertisements in Nigeria : a case study
Get PDFSubmitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Technology: Language Practice, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa. 2019.Using a multimodal framework, I analyse and appraise discursive and visual elements used in billboard and poster advertisements by Pentecostal churches in Nigeria. Pentecostalism is one of the most rapidly growing movements in Nigeria with approximately 40 million adherents. It is also amongst the most radical denominations which divorces followers from the cultural and spiritual ties which bind them to African societies. Some scholars believe that the phenomenal growth of Pentecostal churches in Nigeria poses a challenge to mainline churches in the country. This is why it is important for academic studies to be undertaken to investigate this movement’s strategies of disseminating the gospel.
The study employs a qualitative case-study approach to examine the language (written and visual) of church advertisements in Nigeria. Since Christianity is a belief system based on Biblical teachings, this study also investigates how the Christian belief system manifests itself in the language of advertising. Purposive sampling was employed, and data were collected from posters and billboards. The linguistic and visual elements of the selected data were analysed in relation to the cultural context of church advertising in an attempt to determine the role of such sociocultural influences on communication.
The study shows that Pentecostal churches employ different strategies to convey their messages to target audiences. These include the use of extensive visual multimodal techniques; brevity (fewer words and more visuals); prophet-centrism; problem-solving as attraction; Biblical allusion; use of sociolinguistic features; the exclusion of women as advertisers; and the use of computer language.
Importantly, as a new contribution to knowledge, the study proposes an Afrocentric model for analysing visual culture in church advertising – a model which is a first of its kind. The Bible and Jesus Christ, as focal points for Christian belief, constitute the foundation of church advertising. Other strategies for advertising derive from this foundation, although each advertisement differs depending on how each church and/or man of God interprets specific Biblical teachings.
Cultural nationalism in Mashingaidze Gomo's A Fine Madness
Get PDFFor many years, African countries have struggled to develop an ideological framework that suits the dynamics of the African context. From the writings of literary artists to those of political figures such as Kwame Nkrumah, the call has remained consistent: Africa needs to formulate its own path of development and disentangle from the tentacles of colonialism and neocolonialism. While négritude, as a cultural movement, was a direct response to the impact of Western civilisation on Africans in the aftermath of colonization, Gomo’s A Fine Madness may be read as a response to the West’s dominance in the neoliberal global order. It interrogates the relationship between Europe and Africa in light of persistent war and instability in Africa, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Like négritude, Gomo’s work advocates the promotion of African ways of doing things politically, economically and culturally and shuns neocolonial relationships of exploitation. Adopting an anti-imperialist position, A Fine Madness holds the West responsible for fuelling conflict in some African countries for commercial gain. The article interrogates the concept of cultural nationalism as it has been appropriated in Gomo’s work. Focusing on selected poems, the article argues that A Fine Madness is a militant intervention in African politics, and a voice of resistance to the obtaining neoliberal global order
Crime, violence and apartheid in selected works of Richard Wright and Athol Fugard : a study
Get PDFDifferent forms of racial segregation have been practiced in different countries the world over. However, the nature of South Africa‟s apartheid system, as it was practiced from 1948 until the dawn of the democratic dispensation in 1994, has been a subject of debate in South Africa and even beyond. Apartheid was a policy that was designed by the then ruling Nationalist Party for purposes of dividing and stratifying South Africa along racial lines - whites, blacks, coloureds and Asians. It thus promoted racial segregation and/or unequal stratification of society. In South Africa‟s hierarchy of apartheid, blacks, who constituted the majority of the population, were ironically the most destitute and segregated. Some historians believe that South Africa‟s racial policy was designed against the backdrop of Jim Crow, a similar system of racial discrimination which was instituted in the American South late in the 1890s through the 20th century. Jim Crow and apartheid are, in this study, considered as sides of the same coin; hence for the sake of convenience, the word apartheid is used to subsume Jim Crow. Although South Africa‟s apartheid system was influenced by different ideologies, for example German missiology as applied by the Dutch Reformed Church, historian Hermann Giliomee (2003: 373) insists that „the segregationist practice of the American South was particularly influential.‟ Given the ideological relationship between apartheid and Jim Crow, the present study investigates the interplay of compatibility between apartheid/Jim Crow and crime and violence as reflected in selected works of Richard Wright (African American novelist) and Athol Fugard (South African playwright). The aim of the study is firstly, to examine the works in order to analyse them as responses to apartheid and by extension colonial domination and secondly to investigate crime and violence. The three criminological theories selected for this study are strain theory (by Robert Merton), subculture theory (Edwin Sutherland) and labelling theory (Howard Becker). While criminological theory provides an empirical dimension to the study, postcolonial theory situates the study within a specified space, which is the postcolonial context. The postcolonial is, however understood, not as a demarcated historical space, but as a continuum, from the dawn of colonization to the unforeseeable future. Three postcolonial theorists have been identified for the purposes of this study. These are: Frantz Fanon, Homi Bhabha and Bill Ashcroft. Fanon‟s psychoanalysis of the colonized, Homi Bhabha‟s Third Space and hybridity as well as Ashcroft‟s postcolonial transformation are key concepts in understanding the different ways in which the colonized deal with the consequences of colonization. It has been suggested particularly in Edward Said‟s Orientalism (1978) that the discourse of orientalism creates the Oriental, as if Orientals were a passive object of the colonial adventure. This study uses Bhabha‟s and Ashcroft‟s theory of colonial discourse to argue that the colonized are not only objects of the colonial enterprise but also active participants in the process of opening survival spaces for self-realization. The various criminal activities that the colonized engage in (as represented in the selected works of Richard Wright and Athol Fugard) are in this study viewed as ways of inscribing their subjectivity within an exclusive colonial system
Images of woman and the search for happiness in Cynthia Jele's Happiness is a four letter word
Get PDFOver the years, African ‘feminist’ scholars have expressed reservations about embracing feminism as an analytical framework for theorizing issues that affect African women. This is particularly because in many African societies, feminism has been perceived as a negative influence that seeks to tear the cultural fabric and value systems of African communities. Some scholars such as Clenora Hudson-Weems, Chikenje Ogunyemi, Tiamoyo Karenga and Chimbuko Tembo contend that feminism as developed by Western scholars is incapable of addressing context-specific concerns of African women. As a result, they developed womanism as an alternative framework for analysing the realities of women in African cultures. Womanism is premised on the view that African women need an Afrocentric theory that can adequately deal with their specific struggles. Drawing from ideas that have been developed by womanist scholars, this article critically interrogates the portrayal of women in Cynthia Jele’s Happiness is a four-letter word (2010), with particular focus on the choices that they make in love relationships, marriage and motherhood. My argument is that Jele’s text affirms the womanist view that African women exist within a specific cultural context that shapes their needs, aspirations and choices in a different way
Images of woman and her search for happiness in Cynthia Jele’s Happiness is a four-letter word
Get PDFOver the years, African ‘feminist’ scholars have expressed reservations about embracing feminism as an analytical framework for theorizing issues that affect African women. This is particularly because in many African societies, feminism has been perceived as a negative influence that seeks to tear the cultural fabric and value systems of African communities. Some scholars such as Clenora Hudson-Weems, Chikenje Ogunyemi, Tiamoyo Karenga and Chimbuko Tembo contend that feminism as developed by Western scholars is incapable of addressing context-specific concerns of African women. As a result, they developed womanism as an alternative framework for analysing the realities of women in African cultures. Womanism is premised on the view that African women need an Afrocentric theory that can adequately deal with their specific struggles. Drawing from ideas that have been developed by womanist scholars, this article critically interrogates the portrayal of women in Cynthia Jele’s Happiness is a four-letter word (2010), with particular focus on the choices that they make in love relationships, marriage and motherhood. My argument is that Jele’s text affirms the womanist view that African women exist within a specific cultural context that shapes their needs, aspirations and choices in a different way.Keywords: African culture, sisterhood, male companionship, womanis
White Liberalism and Black Consciousness in Rosie Motene’s Reclaiming the Soil (2018)
Get PDFJournal Article, Faculty of Humanity, North--West UniversityWhite liberal gestures of kindness such as interventions to alleviate poverty in black communities are often seen as altruistic initiatives with noble intentions. However, in recent years, these interventions have come under greater scrutiny as scholars question the “white savior mentality” that often frames and propels such initiatives. In fact, contemporary neo-liberal interventions bear resemblance with the colonial civilizing mission because of their preoccupation with fixing problems in “broken” black communities. This article draws on Steve Biko’s notion of black consciousness and some concepts from black feminist thought to explore how Rosie Motene’s autobiography, Reclaiming the Soil: A Black Girl’s Struggle to Find her African Self (henceforth Reclaiming the Soil) interrupts the hegemonic liberal narrative of white saviorism to insert an alternative narrative of black struggle for self-determination. The study has three objectives. Firstly, it investigates how the autobiography narrates Motene’s lived experiences as a black girl adopted by and growing up within a white family. Secondly, it explores how the autobiography narrates liberal white saviorism in the context of apartheid racism and discrimination. Thirdly, it examines how the contradictions of the apartheid system and the white savior narrative awaken feelings of resentment and ultimately black consciousness in the narrator. The study argues that Motene’s autobiography is a “black consciousness” text that highlights the inherent contradictions of being white and liberal in a society that systemically entrenches poverty and suffering for black people to serve white interest
Images of a nation in crisis: A critical analysis of Zapiro’s Rape of Lady Justice cartoons
Get PDFPolitical cartoonists have, in recent years, faced victimisation for daring to speak truth to power.In December 2010, South African cartoonist, Jonathan Shapiro (Zapiro) was sued for portrayingformer President Zuma as a rapist. In February 2018, his contract of over ten years with TheSunday Times was abruptly terminated. These developments show that cartoons can be effectivetools of undermining and resisting power. This article critically analyses Zapiro’s Rape of LadyJustice cartoons in the context of South African politics under Zuma’s presidency. The ANC-ledgovernment under Jacob Zuma was perceived as corrupt and gravitating away from the ideals ofa democratic state. Underpinned by Bal et al.’s (2009) model of caricature, this article seeks toexamine, firstly, how the cartoon, as a medium of expression, pokes fun at its object of caricature,and secondly, how the broader socio-political context of Zuma’s presidency inspired Zapiro’sLady Justice cartoons
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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