Magister Artium - MA / The advent of semiotic/Linguistic Landscapes (LL) as a new sociolinguistic enquiry has received considerable attention in the field of Language and Communication Studies. Although LL studies have been done in South Africa, none has problematised the languages and cultural objects such as statues and names of buildings and streets as constructing, including or excluding certain social- types. The aim of the study was to examine the material culture (languages and cultural objects) constituting the landscape at three established Western Province universities, namely the University of the Western Cape (UWC), the University of Cape Town (UCT), and Stellenbosch University (SU). Using the qualitative ‘walking method’ adapted by Stroud and Jegels (2014) and a handheld recording device/camera, the total collection of data consisted of [312] images captured at the selected research sites. The images were taken of varying street sign names (within a 2.5km radius), building structures – including their names, monuments, statues, artworks – and historically significant space(s) in place. / 2023

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This dissertation employs concepts of sense of place, consumption, and terroir (a French term often translated “taste of place”) to evaluate the ways that nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first century representations of southern agriculture – advertisements, art, events, landscapes, and material culture – jointly promote produce and place in and beyond the American South. Reconceiving terroir as a perception of place associated with various senses (including, but not limited to, taste) that circulates via non-edible forms, the project examines how Southern promoters used representations of agricultural goods, landscapes, and workers to market four specific products from their region—North Carolina tobacco, Virginia peanuts, Florida oranges, and South Carolina rice—to consumers across the United States. I explore how various groups and individuals developed advertisements, art, events, and material culture that evoked elements of southern terroir to sell consumers fantasies of the region’s produce and attractions. By analyzing the ways that companies used visual and material representations to convey place-specific sensory qualities of food to national buyers, this project models a new approach toward understanding the localized meanings of Southern foodstuffs and expands on work in foodways studies that has focused on the material qualities of comestibles themselves. I connect the South to post-Civil War and twentieth century national advertising trends, particularly the widespread use of racist caricatures and evocations of social class, and I illustrate the pervasiveness of regional imaginings within the visual and material worlds of commodified agriculture. I also consider how representations of tobacco, peanuts, oranges, and rice created by members of the localized communities in which these products were grown creatively contributed to, reclaimed, or contested place-based identities and memories as intertwined with agricultural output. Addressing creators and consumers who have come to these products from a variety of geographic, financial, cultural, and racial backgrounds, my project demonstrates that twentieth century promotional representations of Southern produce functioned on local, regional, and national scales. Ultimately the dissertation shows that southern agricultural promotions and commemorations have long revolved around the consumption of place itself. / 2024-11-02T00:00:00Z

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In this thesis, I argue that at least some animals have the sort of intentionality philosophers traditionally have only ascribed to humans. I argue for this through the examination of tool-use among New Caledonian crows and Bottlenose dolphins. New Caledonian crows demonstrate advanced tool-manufacture and standardization, while Bottlenose dolphins use social learning to a much greater degree than other animals. These two case studies fit nicely with many of the non-linguistic accounts of intentionality employed by philosophers. This thesis is aimed at showing that our basic philosophical concept of intentionality leaves room for intentional behavior on the part of non-human animals. Descriptions of human behavior are often contrasted with that of "lower" animals. Many have taken rationality as the characteristic that separates us from animals, and our notions about the superiority of humans have been passed down through theology and philosophy. From Plato onward, philosophers have created divisions that put humanity in a special position relative to all other creatures. Neglecting a careful analysis of animal behavior in making these divisions does a disservice not only to the animals themselves, but also to humans. This thesis is an attempt to start pulling a thread of the discussion about the specialness of humans out for examination. Specifically, I examine the case of intentionality in the framework of the tool-related behaviors of crows and dolphins. / Master of Arts

Master of Arts / This thesis suggests how studying material culture can yield important insight into the lives of 18th-century craftswomen in scholarship and at public history sites, where they have historically been minimally interpreted. Objects and their physical features reveal important insights that go beyond existing written records, especially for populations that have been excluded from or misrepresented in historical records. This research utilizes The Virginia Gazette, a newspaper produced by Clementina Rind before the Revolutionary War, to show her involvement in early American discussions and events. It also addresses how material culture can be used to teach visitors about the 18th-century women who labored in other non-domestic trades, including blacksmiths, bookbinders, silversmiths, and carpenters. Applying these methods can help scholars and public history audiences think more critically about diverse perspectives within and contributions to early American history.