1,720,963 research outputs found
Violence in the discourses of violence: the case of Zimbabwean political crisis
No full textAbstract,Zimbabwe has undergone a vicious political showdown and violence has been topical in the analysis of the Zimbabwean political crisis. This article analyses discourses on Zimbabwe since the advent of the Zimbabwean political crisis. It reveals that the discourse used has not only exacerbated violence but has also been violent to the readers of the literature. Further, it exposes encampments in the writings on Zimbabwean politics and the polarization that exists between neo-colonial and globalization forces against pan-African and nationalist forces. This schism has unleashed a whole new perception of Zimbabwe and its identity in the global community and has determined the nature of its relations to the same. This has choked attempts by Zimbabweans to tell the Zimbabwean story as it should be in terms of its history, identity and dignity for the heritage of Zimbabwe’s future generations. This article is a product of the analysis of various discourses on Zimbabwe and advances the notion that political crisis in the country can only be realized should the violence in these discourses find peace. Through Critical Discourse Analysis we are able to pluck out the violence within the discourse and advances that political resolution to this crisis can only be realized through studies such as these
Cracking the nonverbal code: analysing cultural artefacts of the BaTonga in Zimbabwe
No full textThis thesis cracks open three BaTonga artefacts, the ncelwa (smoking pipe), buntibe (orchestral drum) and Nyaminyami Walking Stick (wooden sculpture) as the key nonverbal visual codes in the visual cultural communication of BaTonga in Zimbabwe. Using artefactual ethnisemiotics, the study shows how visual cultural communication is played out and is used by the BaTonga in negotiating for socio-cultural space in Zimbabwe. BaTonga historical experiences show characterisation of displacement and a continued struggle to uphold their identity and culture. Their experiences along the Zambezi valley as well as redefinition of their livelihoods in the new arid terrain far removed from the Zambezi, given the construction of the Kariba hydroelectric power project, has for long contributed among other forces to their marginalisation. To assert their visibility, the BaTonga have subtlety used various visual means to negotiate for space in the country. This thesis, thus, critiques three BaTonga cultural artefacts showing how significant they are in the communicative cultural life of the BaTonga in Zimbabwe. In making this analysis and exploration, the study makes a reflection of how BaTonga represent themselves visually in their culture and even outside their own cultural boundaries. To critique the Tongan cultural communication is also a process of generating an understanding of how the BaTonga project their identity and de-marginalisation. Cultural survival of these people, against other ethnic groups in Zimbabwe is crucial for them and for Zimbabwe in that, as the study demonstrates, the barometer of population which has also been used to justify continued dominance of the BaTonga by the Shona or Ndebele in the country is but null and void. The study advances artefactual ethnisemiotics as an alternative approach to artefacts and visual communication; areas which have also received little attention in the country and even in the region. Through artefactual ethnisemiotics, the study shows that everyday objects are important visual ethnisemiotic pieces that embody a great deal of meanings from which construction of cultural messages are made possible by users. Focus on everyday objects in use brings in new approaches to the study of visual cultural communication, heritage and broadly cultural studies in that, before archaeologists or anthropologists can wait to dig the pieces and characterise them as ossified pieces of history, artefactual ethnisemiotics allows resuscitation, appreciation as well as documentation of a living culture performed in visual communicative ways
'Silence in court!' : non -verbal communication in a Zimbabwean court of law
No full textA court of law is full of drama and rituals with a lot of perlocutionary effects. This article focuses on non-verbal communication which is an important aspect of semiotics and speech acts in legal discourse. The article first define and briefly discusses Ferdinand de Saussure’s contribution to semiotics. It goes on to discuss his description of the relationship between two pairs of important concepts in semiotics, the signifier and the signified as well as Charles Sanders Peirce’s three basic kinds of signs, namely: the icon, the index and the symbol. John Austin’s speech acts will also be discussed from the spectra of discourse analysis given that a court of law provides, among others, the basis for legal discourse. The article further argues that the behaviour and actions of the members of the legal discourse community found in a court of law are ‘culturally’ determined; with different cultures having different ways of expressing and interpreting reality. It then examines some aspects of the non-verbal code in a Zimbabwean court of law such as dress codes, movement, space and how these convey messages that can influence the outcome of a case
Reflecting non-verbal cues in the context of crisis: the fist and the open palm in Zimbabwe's political crisis
No full textThe Zimbabwean political landscape has given rise to many interpretations. Violence, intimidation, and propaganda have been part of this crisis leading to serious economic and social problems for the ordinary person. The two main political parties in the country have used party signs and symbols to assert their ideology. This paper employs the semiotic theory to explore how the ZANU PF (Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front) party sign or symbol the clenched fist as well as the MDC T (Movement for Democratic Change—Tsvangirai)’s open palm, the same hand but communicating two conflicting political ideologies as non-verbal cues reveal party ideology and identity and in some cases become the cause of either conflict or harm on party followers. Semiotics offers us a platform to theorize as well as gain semantic realizations of signs and symbols as used to communicate in various contexts. Because non-verbal cues of various nature are in fact signs and symbols largely decoded by the eye, semiotics allows us to give attention to even non-verbal cues which they themselves have received less attention in communication studies yet they are found to be 60% responsible for meanings realized in any communication situatio
Tracing humour in Paul Matavire's selected songs
No full textPaul Matavire is well known in musical circles, as well as within popular culture in general for his sting and critical sharpness in social commentary. His songs, addressing various themes of a mostly social-marital nature such as intimacy, romance and social relations, have earned him the name “Doctor Loveâ€. His well-calculated social commentary disseminated to the general public through Sungura music, continues to earn a special place of reverence within the populace in Zimbabwe, even long after his death. Matavire’s songs have been unique in the manner in which he accorded humour a special space within his songs to drive his concerns home. This article traces that humour in some of his selected songs to demonstrate how through the same, social and cultural values crucial for the maintenance of the society are advanced
'One $ dollar saved my life': a case of kombi text inscriptions on Zimbabwean roads.
No full textLanguage is used in various contexts to achieve various communicative goals some of which are very much subtle. Textual inscriptions as discourse surround us in various environments for readers to decode volumes of meanings which by and large reflect peopleÃs struggles, identities and wishes. Of ice text inscriptions have been studied and were found reflecting the emotions and struggles of office manners and their respective
trades. This article reports an investigation on text inscriptions on selected Harare and Gweru commuter omnibuses and how far they go in reflecting commuter and operators' identities, emotions, relations and nature of their daily lives. The article employs discourse analysis where texts are considered here as discourse rather than isolated units of language. The article analyzes kombi texts written in English and Shona
The past in them: celebrating BaTonga artefacts and visual cultural communication in Zimbabwe
No full textMuch has been written on BaTonga’s dislocation from the Zambezi Valley to pave way for the construction of the hydroelectric project and the aftermath effects on the BaTonga. BaTonga are characterised in these discourses as having lost their livelihoods and subsequently their culture. This article celebrates and advances that BaTonga took their culture with them especially as embodied in their cultural material objects such as the ncelwa. Using artefactual semiotics the article advances the argument that a view of BaTonga from a visual cultural communication perspective allows us to appreciate how BaTonga managed to carry with them key cultural values which have made them assume the cultural identity they have today
A semiotic reading of ‘munhu wese kuna amai’ in Zimbabwean political discursive realities
No full textThe Zimbabwean political landscape has provided fertile ground for the breeding of very interesting linguistic as well as discursive expressions. These linguistic expressions to some extent signify socio-political dementia of the populace as reflected in the political and behavioural acts of the same in the negotiation for political and socio-cultural space in the country. The political realities in Zimbabwe, especially from 2013 to present, has clearly marked the landscape as a theatre, where political players and their institutions, illustriously use language to onion-peel-off the socio-political drama and cultural realities for historians to document, political scientists to analyse, journalists to report, the povo to debate and academics to study. Using semiotics, the paper dissects one instance of this linguistic inventive; what has now become a popular expression, ‘munhu wese kuna amai’ (Everyone should go to the mother), among the many, in the Zimbabwean socio-political performance from which various ideological, historical and cultural realities are presented. The paper further argues that such expressions are strategies which reflect efforts by ZANU (PF) to declare, define, demarcate, command, propagate as well as express socio-political and cultural dogmas the populace should adhere to
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe 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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