1,721,021 research outputs found
Issues of identity in relation to the Kalahari Bushmen of Southern Africa : a comparative analysis of two different Bushmen groups during the late 1990s and into 2001.
Full text linkThesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.No abstract available
Freirean pedagogy as applied by DramAidE for HIV/AIDS education.
Full text linkThesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.This phenomenological study discusses the problem of whether the agents or actors who design strategies take full account of the concepts that their plans are designed to change. Therefore, I critically assess DramAidE's methodology in order to show how efficient it is in the light of Freirean pedagogy. In that, the study investigates whether there is an analytically bulletproof communication form that necessarily achieves behaviour change, as has occasionally been attributed to Freire. The theoretical framework of this study includes development communication theories along with the Entertainment-Education approach (EE) used in health
communication. More specifically, the study is informed by Freirean critical
pedagogy and behaviour change theories. On the other hand, the Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977), the Fixation of Belief Model (Peirce, 1877) and the concepts of intimate and social realms (Arendt, 1958) are also used to explain the realities observed in DramAidE's programmes.
The methodologies used, in addition to the literature review, consisted of semistructured in-depth interviews along with focus group discussions with DramAidE's staff, schoolchildren, teachers and caregivers. Among the results established by this study, it is worth mentioning the growing
interest displayed by beneficiaries towards DramAidE's programmes. Life-skills claimed by learners included aspects such as self-confidence, assertiveness, decision making skills, informed sexuality, and improved communication. However, serious discrepancies were noticed between these life-skills, how well they were mastered and how effectively the learners put them into practice. Reasons for that proved to be rooted chiefly in peer pressures and cultural stumbling blocks, for example gender
inequality and violence against females. This means that peer educators needed a more supportive environment to extend DramAidE's action
'They have ears but they cannot hear' : listening and talking as HIV prevention : a new approach to HIV and AIDS campaigns at three of the universities in KwaZulu-Natal.
Full text linkThesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.Sexuality is made relevant in the way language is used as a matter of the identity of a group or individuals. Sex, for human beings, is not merely instinctive behaviour. It is meaningful-cultural behaviour and as such is semiotically loaded with meaning. Listening and talking about sex highlights conventions, taken-for-granted assumptions about the way things have to be done. Language as the most powerful representational system shapes our understanding of what we do and how we do them in relation to sex. Our understanding of sexual scripts about the sexuality of a particular group of people is through language as a signifying practice. The study of listening and talking is not merely an investigation of how sex is talked about, but how respondents enact sexuality and sexual identity vis-à-vis its linguistically loaded forms of representations in a variety of discourse genres. Representation and its inherent process of signification draws on lived experiences and the daily talk of people in interaction. A theoretical perspective is presented not as a model to be tested, but as testimony to the rich literature on the nature and function of language as a political arena, semiotically loaded with meanings that are taken for granted. It is concluded that the appropriation of cultural myths is encoded in language and as such language is a legitimate area of inquiry especially in understanding sexual scripts in the context HIV/AIDS. The study engages reported high risk sexual encounters such as multiple and concurrent partnerships, as well as unsafe sex practices which have been identified in literature as fanning the embers of the epidemic. Ideologies influencing developing communication campaigns in light of these discourses become a serious challenge as the conventional basis for such campaigns is in socio-cognitive theories, few of which can be assumed to apply with regard to the discursive representations of sexual practices and the inherent risks. Drawing on a cross-sectional survey of 1400 students on seven campuses, conceptually triangulated via focused-ethnography, listening analysis and discourse analysis, this research examines perceptions, interpretations, attitudes, and practices of sexuality and HIV/AIDS. The research is a multi-method and inter-disciplinary approach located within cultural studies to interrogate the gap between knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviour modification in the light of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This research discusses these findings and offers a critical appraisal of sexual behaviour in the context of ABC (Abstain, Be faithful, Condomise) as ideologically encoded in cultural and relational myths. I found that students are sexually active with reported multiple and concurrent sexual partnerships. Postgraduate students were less likely to report having had used a condom at their last coital encounter compared with the often younger undergraduate students. Condom use continues to be a norm in the universities surveyed. This is truer for students who reported multiple sexual partnerships. Amongst the dominant scripts that came out in the ethnographic inquiry are: sex as uncontrollable biological drive; females are responsible for safe sex practices; strong social scripts elevate male sexual prowess and show disdain for female affirmative sexualities, risk is discounted using a form of post modern fatalism (resistance to regulation); and physical status, based on appearance of a possible partner, is used to select ‘sexually safe’ partners. I have concluded that a deeper understanding of the cultural and sexual scripts obtained from students is critical for appropriate design and implementation of interventions aimed at stemming the tide of the HIV epidemic. I have also demonstrated that interventions that only emphasise the rational dimensions of human behaviour are more likely to miss their target audience as sex is more than a choice of Cartesian rationality (linear choice)
Cultural pillages of the leisure class? : consuming expressions of identity.
Full text linkThesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2011.Society ‘obscures itself’ by presenting a world that is self-contained and logical (Barthes, 1973) – a
world underpinned by a transparency of its underlying systems of meaning. This formulation maps
the theoretical location of the dissertation, by which an investigation into tourism, as an economic
and political expression of contemporary culture, occurs. More specifically, the dissertation
addresses the type of tourism that bisects narratives of history and of cultures – that popularly
described under the label of cultural tourism. Thus it employs an array of critical tourism and
cultural theory, to offer an exposition on how best to understand the articulation of meaning in the
consumption of ‘place’, formations of heritage and Otherness.
The study also explores the epistemological nature/agendas of the so-called ‘Image of Africa’ and
the ‘Absolute Other’, and how these are recycled in the parameters of modernity. Using a
genealogical approach to studying discursive formations articulating some kind of Zulu Otherness,
the dissertation grounds these conventions of identity predominantly in the symbolic practice of a
colonial Western society. This exposes the arbitrary, constructed nature by which contemporary
society governs itself.
Methodologically, the research applies participant observation and semiotic analyses,
predominantly in the cultural/filmic village of Shakaland, near Eshowe, KwaZulu-Natal, to explore
how the constructions of identity manifest and are negotiated and consumed in the activity of this
tourism
Assessing teenagers' knowledge, attitudes and perceptions towards teenage pregnancy. The case of a Durban High School.
Full text linkTeenage childbearing is a global social and health concern. South Africa is not spared from the problems of teenage pregnancy be they related to health or to the social sphere. Researchers have been entreated to investigate teenagers’ sexual behaviour and the determinants to their behaviour especially in light of HIV/AIDS and other sexually related diseases. Various programmes and interventions have been developed and implemented in an effort to manage prevalence rates and address the challenges of teenage pregnancy. Inspite of these concerted efforts, pregnancy rates continue to increase.
These efforts have been hampered by the absence of the voice of teenagers in research as interventions implemented do not adequately capture the complexity of teenage pregnancy. Research has also divorced teenagers from the environment within which teenage pregnancy takes place and as a result come up with interventions that are not pro teenagers. The absence of teenagers’ input in these interventions results in little uptake of interventions as teenagers feel no ownership or entitlement to these intervention. This study therefore seeks to bridge the gap by addressing teenage pregnancy from the perspective of teenagers themselves and locates teenage pregnancy within the lived experiences of teenagers. Guided by the Social Ecology Model and The Health Belief Model, this study seeks to analyse teenagers’ knowledge, attitudes and perceptions towards teenage pregnancy.
This study is qualitative in nature and is situated within the interpretive paradigm that enables the researcher to explore people’s lived experiences. Using the case study approach, the study employs focus group discussions to elicit information from participants on their knowledge, attitudes and perceptions towards teenage pregnancy.
The study concludes that knowledge; attitudes and perceptions are influenced and affected by various factors such as peer pressure, lack of adequate information and gender dynamics. To address teenage pregnancy challenges, there is a need for addressing the structural factors that influence teenagers’ knowledge, attitudes and perceptions. Knowledge on safe sex and contraception abounds though this knowledge does not to translate to positive health affirming behaviour. This gap is attributed to the structural factors that influence and affect health behaviour. As such these factors, such as entrenched poverty and lack of proper sexual health communication need to be addressed if teenage pregnancy is to be managed
Investigating students' sexual risk behaviour, risk and protective factors and their responses to the Scrutinise Campus Campaign at universities in KwaZulu-Natal.
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.The high levels of HIV prevalence amongst young people in sub-Saharan African countries, have led to the clarion call for researchers to investigate the determinants to young people's sexual risk-taking behaviour while others are exploring the usage of entertainment education (EE) so that effective prevention and interventions may be developed. One critical aspect is that research efforts so far have been hampered by the adoption of models and perspectives that are narrow and do not adequately capture the complexity associated with young people's sexual experiences. The distinctiveness of this study is therefore grounded in the focus on the risky sexual practices students engage in and their underlying risk and protective multisystemic factors and their response to the EE interventions, in particular the Scrutinise Campus Campaign. Thus, using the Problem Behaviour Theory, Reception Theory and the Social Cognitive Learning Theory, this study investigates the phenomena of students' sexual risk behaviour and their response to the Scrutinise Campus campaign. The study is situated within the interpretative paradigm. It used a hermeneutic phenomenological methodology underpinned by in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, participant observation and field notes to draw data for this study. The study sample included students and the Scrutinise Campus Campaign officers. Findings of this study sustain the conclusion that students' sexual risk behaviour is influenced by interrelated, interactional and transactional factors from the multisysternic factors: biological, environmental/social, behavioural and personality domains that either instigate or buffer against students' sexual risk behaviour. However, Scrutinise Campus campaign's messages do not fully address students' sexual risk practices and their underlying factors as experienced by students. It is critical to employ a comprehensive and continuum of EE interventions that are broad in scope arid target factors from multiple systems of influence including the multisystemic factors. Most significantly, sources of protective influence should not be ignored when designing and implementing EE prevention programmes and, to the extent possible, both risk arid protective
factors should be addressed in the interventions. This may help to effectively address students' sexual-risk taking behaviour in universities
Communication and counter hegemony in contemporary South Africa : considerations on a leftist media theory and practice.
Full text linkThesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1991.In South Africa the left-wing is currently in an ascendant mode. Yet it is not an unproblematic ascendancy. For one thing, because Marxism has been interwoven with so much of the South African struggle, the South African Left are now unable to disentangle themselves from the contemporary 'collapse of the Marxist dream'. And this translates into a South African socio-political issue because as the Left accumulates influence and power in South Africa so the problems and limitations of historical materialism acquire a wider social significance. This thesis will argue that a key problem with the historical materialist paradigm has been its limitations when dealing with communication and the media. However, there have been historical materialists (usually those who consciously stepped outside 'mainstream Marxist' discourse) who made considerable advances in attempting to develop historical materialism's capacity for dealing with
communication, the media and the subjective. This thesis will examine
some of the work which has attempted to 'reconstruct' historical materialism away from a narrow materialism. The aim will be to give some direction to the development of a New Left approach to communication. Such a reconstruction is seen as a precondition if the Left-wing is to find a formula for dealing with Information Age relations of production. A New Left communicology able to deal with the 'superstructuralism' of the Information Age offers a specific perspective on how to construct a development strategy for South Africa. This will be discussed, and the thesis will attempt to tie together the notions of communication, development and democracy. The relationship between communication and democracy will be especially important for the New Left approach that will be favoured in this thesis. So an important theme in the thesis will be the question of developing a left-hegemony based upon a democratic-pluralism. This will entail examining the role that media and an institutionalised social-dialogue can play in building a left-wing democracy. The extent to which the left-wing media in South Africa have contributed to a democratic dialogue is discussed. This will then be extended into a discussion of how media can contribute to the reconstruction, development and democratization of a leftist post-apartheid South Africa
Reading modern ethnographic photography : a semiotic analysis of Kalahari Bushmen photographs by Paul Weinberg and Sian Dunn.
Full text linkThesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.Indigenous communities, like the Bushmen of the Southern Kalahari, always attract
visitors who 'go there' to experience the 'life out there'. Travelling in their 4x4s, these
visitors also bring cameras and take pictures of their interactions with subject
communities as evidence of 'having been there'. For academics and journalists, these
pictures are meant to illustrate their presentations of 'what is actually there'. Both types
of photographs are known as ethnographic photography.
This study. asks and attempts to answer the question: how do we study ethnographic
photography? As much as photographers attempt to portray their subjects realistically,
their representations are often contested and criticised as entrenching subjugation,
displacement and dehumanisation of indigenous peoples through 'visual metaphors' and
other significatory regimes. This discussion reconsiders the concept of imaging others,
by offering an analytical semiotic comparison between Paul Weinberg's anchored and
published photographic texts of the Bushmen, on the one hand, and Sian Dunn's
unpublished, inactive texts of the #tKhomani Bushmen, on the other.
The discussion is an attempt to understand documentary photographers, processes of
producing of images, the contexts in which they are produced and how the communities
that are represented make sense of them. Concerns with the objectivity of representation
go beyond the taking and consuming pictures of other cultures. This study is, therefore,
grounded in cultural, social and ideological factors that shape the production and
consumption ofphotographic representations of and from other cultures
Smaller lens, bigger picture : exploring Zulu cultural tourism employees' identity by using cellphilms as a medium for participatory filmmaking methods.
Full text linkM.Soc.Sc. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2013.Media promoting cultural tourism is argued to present specific romantic cultural attributes. In the case of Zulu cultural villages, the image offered is of militarism and bare-breasted maidens. The Western gaze offers the template within which such spectacle is constructed. PheZulu Safari Park is one such venture in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands that offers tourists a "uniquely African experience".
Cell phones are rapidly proving to be a viable and accessible medium through which individuals can represent themselves. This dissertation evaluates the use of camera-enabled cell phones by Zulu cultural village performers. The subject-generated representation is analysed in order to assess the performers‘ view of the typical Zulu representation in the media, using a participatory video and participatory communication for development framework. A qualitative methodology was used to conduct focus groups, with field notes and unstructured interviews adding depth to the data. Thematic analysis was applied to the collected data, which included the cellphilms produced by the cultural performers.
It was found that video enabled cell phones are indeed a viable technology to use in place of traditional digital video cameras in a participatory video project. The cellphilms that the participants produced negated the typical western media disseminated representation of Zulu culture, as is typified in the participants‘ performance at PheZulu Cultural Village. Although the cellphilms were not specifically targeted at promoting their cultural performance at PheZulu, significantly, it was not dismissing their performance‘s validity either. Instead, the participants used the cellphilms to express other, more personal, aspects of their culture.Participant's cellphilms 1-14 available on disc only
The un/changing face of the Khomani : representation through promotional media.
No full textThesis (M.A.)-University KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.This dissertation involves a longitudinal study of the promotional materials of !Xaus
Lodge, a community-owned lodge in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. The study
engages with stakeholders of the Lodge in order to assess its promotional materials in
terms of marketing, identity and development issues.
The Circuit of Culture (Du Gay et al. 1997) covers and examines the process of
meaning-making which forms the basis for understanding the textual and reception
analyses. This, along with pertinent tourism theories, which discuss issues such as the
concept of ‘authenticity’, the notion of the ‘other’ and various modes of
representation, form the basis of the theory pervading the dissertation.
The textual analysis is based on Tomaselli’s Phaneroscopic Table (1996), through
which the promotional materials are examined. The reception analysis thematically
discusses target market and past visitors’ opinions about the materials and the Lodge,
facilitated through the process of coding. The informants’ opinions were collected
through a number of focus groups conducted with the target market of !Xaus Lodge
and through online questionnaires sent to past visitors. A comparison between the
textual and reception analyses is conducted in order to identify similarities found and explain divergences. The analyses refer to all aspects of the promotional materials, but tend to concentrate
on ≠Khomani representation within the materials and the feedback about the
≠Khomani cultural tourism experience at the Lodge. At the moment, the ≠Khomani express a romantic identity which relates well to similar expectations of many tourists, but the ‘reality’ of ≠Khomani society does not allow these !Xaus employees to meet the idealistic expectations of some visitors
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