Social media has provided new opportunities for Black millennials1 (individuals born between 1981–1996) of the diaspora and Africa to communicate, learn, build social and political movements, and curate joint identities. As a result of this group’s active use of social media over the last decade, Black millennials of African ancestry — referred to collectively in this thesis as ‘Africans’ — have become primary research subjects in the study of social media patterns. This research reveals a contemporary tendency for these Africans to engage in Pan-African social and political activities online. Twitter, in particular, has emerged as one of the most useful tools for centralizing Pan-African ideas and activities. The inclusion of Twitter in Pan-African discourses is a new phenomenon that has only narrowly been explored by scholars that analyzed the impact of Twitter on the global African community (Black Africans and Black People of African Ancestry). These works, however, have neglected to illustrate the ways in which Twitter, and most notably ‘Black Twitter’ , has aided in developing a new 21st century definition of Pan- 2 African activity and knowledge. The research explores the way millennials of African ancestry — particularly American-born Africans who have the greatest access to internet channels amongst African millennials (Nielsen 2018) — used Twitter’s technological and communicative tools between 2012 and 2018 to build and promote a more inclusive and wide-reaching PanAfrican movement that encouraged new ideologies, including new social activity, political movements, and intersectional leadership that were not previously exhibited in mainstream 20thcentury Pan-African movements.

"The Tijaniyya Tariqa in Cape Town: "Normalization" of Race Relations in South Africa" focuses on the spread to South Africa of the Tijaniyya order (tariqa) prominent in West Africa. Theoretically, the study aims to work within the bounds of the social sciences, while at the same time problematizing some of its assumptions. After the examination of the theoretical and methodological framework of the paper, the study turns to a historical overview of the Tijaniyya tariqa, from its foundation in Algeria, to its spread to West Africa, and finally to its characteristics in twentieth century Senegal. The paper then takes a look at the spread of the tariqa outside its 'natural' borders of North and West Africa, in particular to France and the United States. At this point, the study jumps to an overview of the history of Islam in South Africa, in order to place the spread of the Tijaniyya to this country in its appropriate religious and social context. Next, the paper focuses on the particular experience of the Tijaniyya tariqa in Cape Town, located within the larger historical and social context of the tariqa and Islam in South Africa. Through a series of interviews and visits to the Tijani zawiya, the researcher is able to describe the experiences of the Tijanis in Cape Town, including those of its Shuyukh, and Senegalese, 'Malay' and 'black' South African disciples. In particular, the research examines the different reasons for which Tijanis joined the tariqa, what the Tijaniyya means to them, which are its most essential teachings, and the issue of race relations within the tariqa. In conclusion, the study finds that the spiritual dimension of the Tijaniyya in the lives of its adepts, as well as its role as a propagator of Islam are much more significant characteristics of the tariqa than any external political or economic factors. At the same time, the Tijaniyya tariqa has a "normalizing" effect on the issues of race relations and identity, so important in South Africa today. Finally, the Tijaniyya tariqa in Cape Town offers the unique opportunity to combat racism and prejudice and bring people of all backgrounds together through spirituality.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-120)

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-108).

Word processed copy. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 114-119).

Word processed copy. / Includes bibliographical references. / Madness in African Literature: Ambivalence, Fluidity, and Play examines how representations of madness in six literary pieces are used to reflect upon discourse.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-87). / This minor dissertation examines the complex question of the issues relating to the identity of the ‡Khomani San of the Southern Kalahari in South Africa. Through qualitative fieldwork and secondary research, the dissertation illustrates that the ‡Khomani San have an identity, even though it is partially constructed, multifaceted and heterogeneous. This can be understood better through the paradox of "indigenous modernity" which combines traditions and modernity in one. The ‡Khomani San thus set an example of bridging the gap of dichotomies. In building this argument, the thesis first positions the ‡Khomani San as indigenous people in a global, African and South African context. This discussion highlights that one aspect of ‡Khomani San identity is based on their status as indigenous people. Secondly, the history of the ‡Khomani San is delineated, detailing the influence of colonialism and apartheid on ‡Khomani San resources, culture and identity. Here, the important connection between land and ‡Khomani San identity is emphasised. Thirdly, the dissertation explores the contemporary situation of the ‡Khomani San through the narratives of interviewed individuals. These ‡Khomani San voices speak to the ways in which recent developments concerning their land, traditional knowledge and livelihood have influenced the construction of their identity. Within these recent developments, the impact of external forces such as NGOs and government on the ‡Khomani San are also described. Through these interview narratives, binaried representations of the ‡Khomani San identity as either traditionalist or modernist are challenged. Rather, the ‡Khomani San identity is (re)interpreted as a hybrid of both 'traditional' and 'modern' values, which creates them into 'indigenous modernities'.

In this study, I will explore the ways in which Nadine Gordimer engages with the natural world in three of her novels: The Conservationist (1974), July's People (1981), and No Time Like the Present (2012). I argue for the importance of the relationship in her work, between the natural landscapes of South Africa and the responsibility of the author in 'meaning-making:' this is a literary study that brings elements of postcolonial ecocriticism into play. In particular, I will explore how and why she chooses to "speak of trees" at all. Gordimer demonstrates that there is a definitive agency in the non!human world that presses against the reductive binary of 'human' versus 'natural' environments. Her fiction highlights the fact that flattening the natural world into a series of symbols is overly simplistic and does not engage sufficiently with the political: a responsibility that she takes upon herself. In this study I will be arguing that Gordimer achieves a profound political meditation by creating meaning from a variety of natural landscapes, making use of images rather than symbols. I am particularly intrigued by the ways in which Gordimer imagines the landscape as a series of sign systems, whose various shifts and changes reflect and illustrate wider systemic shifts in South Africa. In the novels that I will examine, Gordimer demonstrates, by way of physical, visceral engagement with various landscapes, that historical and contemporary systemic shifts must be taken into account in order truly to understand the complexity of national identities in her country. The image of the trees ties poetry, politics and the environment together, in particular to witness a distinctive shift in political sign systems, and the identity crises that occur as a result. In The Conservationist, Gordimer takes issue with misplaced obsessions with autochthony and heritage, whilst simultaneously investing in the lexical field of botanical names and a fine delineation of literary ecology: the novel both takes apart and preserves a sense of how the landscape can be entwined in a cultivation of identity. In my examination of July's People, I will consider the matter and poetics of the interregnum via the question of "the bush": the environment, landscape and ecosystem contained or in fact uncontained by this term are at the heart of the shift in sign systems that plays out in the novel. The bush in July's People is a heterotopia: an 'other' place that signifies many different meanings, but simultaneously signifies, in the novel, a shift in an entire system of signs. In my final chapter, on No Time Like the Present, I will be continuing to examine the 'language' of trees in Gordimer's work! particularly noting the terminology of trees and plants to signify, and add value to the study of identity and the indigenous versus the alien

Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-106). / The 'new' South Africa is abuzz with keywords. There is much talk within academic discourse and beyond of 'ethnicity', 'culture' and the 'rainbow nation' among others. They are a national obsession at this crucial time when South Africa is still struggling to negotiate its identity. The usage of these words is rapidly evolving and today they their use extends far past their original meanings. However, their use has persisted and has done so largely unchallenged. This has meant that the words are now highly problematic. In order to critically examine these concepts, I use the space of the cultural village as an analytical tool. Cultural villages have faced criticism in recent years - accusations that they 'stage' their 'authenticity', and freeze cultures in order to package them for international consumption. While this paper does devote space to these criticisms, it focuses its attention on 'what cultural villages can tell us about the nature of post-apartheid South Africa', specifically about the keywords, 'culture' and 'ethnicity'. Research is based at Lesedi Cultural Village in the North West Province. I use the landscape of the surrounding area and the signs and symbols in the village itself as entry points to map and frame my discussions. The Cradle ofHumankind where Lesedi is situated is saturated with an evolutionary narrative that visitors to Lesedi will bring with them to the site. Evolutionary notions of the 'primitive' have been re-appropriated by the tourist industry to draw visitors back 'home' to Africa, while South Africa owes much of its difficult history to the same evolutionary narratives. Through ethnographic fieldwork, the space of the cultural village is deconstructed to see what it can tell us about 'culture' and 'ethnicity' in the country beyond its fences. I interrogate the concept of 'culture', by closely analyzing the meaning of a proverb on Lesedi's shebeen wall which reads, 'a man without culture is like a zebra without stripes'. It transpires that the humble zebra can tell us a great deal about the nature of 'culture' in South Africa and the current debates which surround the use of the word.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 114-130). / The aim of this mini-dissertation is to map out the nature of these contested knowledges of the Prestwich Street dead, and to describe and analyse the struggles of dominance and resistance these different ways of knowing gave rise to. My argument throughout is that out of the clashing of these knowledges emerged a frontier - a discursive space of conflict and turbulence that came into being with the surfacing of the dead, and dissipated with an official decision to prevent basic anatomical research on their skeletal remains. If this discursive battle and this frontier opened up the post-apartheid public sphere to new and emergent (South) African identities, then it also closed down the public sphere with the further entrenchment of particular disciplinary identities and formations, namely archaeology, physical anthropology, development, and heritage resources management.