Includes bibliographical references. / This thesis explores the significance of the use of historical memory in shaping the nature and dynamics of the democratic dispensation in Malawi, particularly in relation to the legacy of the authoritarian past. The memory of the one-party dictatorship was reactivated on numerous occasions to address contemporary political challenges. Focusing on the period during the second term of the first democratic government when there was a debate on whether or not to extend the terms of office of the president, the thesis investigates how people, individually or as groups, chose to deal with the heritage of the authoritarian past in a democratic era. The proposals to extend the presidential term limit ignited political debates in the contemporary period, that involved collective remembering of the past dictatorship, and political contestation over the shared past in order to create a vibrant democratic process. The thesis shows how the new political elites in democratic Malawi tended to utilise the collective memory of the past dictatorship to legitimise their rule, mobilize support and at times push through agendas that were detrimental to the young democracy. While civil society actors building on strong antidictatorship and anti-authoritarian sentiments, relied on the same collective memory to criticise the actions of the new elite and protest against undemocratic political moves. It is demonstrated that the memory of the atrocities and abuses of the one-party regime played a major role in influencing the masses and civil society to fight against any relapse to authoritarianism. The study ultimately demonstrates the importance of collective memory and its preservation in ensuring that lessons from the past contribute to a better present and future for the nation.

Bibliography: pages 124 -138. / This study aims: (i) to find out if language interference and language change would cause the students to fail Xhosa. The response of schools to this situation will be investigated and an attempt will be made to understand the dichotomy that exists in spoken and written Xhosa. (ii) to look at the implications on nonstandard Xhosa of sociolinguistic factors such as attitudes, language policies, communicative influence of the mass media, and language use in multilingual societies. (iii) to examine the effects of 'dialects' of Xhosa on standard Xhosa. (vi) to investigate the causes of this apparent lack of learners' interest towards learning Xhosa. (iv) to assess the contribution of language planners towards remedying the situation.

I wish to present a study of the different literature regarding national culture, African cinema and postcolonial identity and explore how it relates to local cinema in Namibia. How have Namibian films contributed to this debate? The films 100 Bucks and Try contributed to the creation of postcolonial identity and national culture in independent Namibia. This dissertation will focus primarily on the aesthetics, themes and stories produced in Namibia since 2000 as well as how our storytelling and funding models can learn from other industries throughout the world. I will undertake an examination of past works and writings on the topic of national culture in post colonial African states, nationalism and African identity.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-104). / This dissertation examines and analyses the intellectual and political thought of Thabo Mbeki. The study examines Mbeki’s thought throughout his political career from his political activism during the anti-apartheid movement to his rise as major leader in the ANC and the government. The thesis argues that analysing the intellectual and political thought of a practicing politician requires moving beyond conventional ideas relating to the work of political intellectuals. The thesis establishes the importance of Mbeki's political activism and political career to the content of his political thought. The study locates Mbeki' s intellectual and political thought within the body of intellectual work that forms part of history of modern African political thought. The research also establishes that Mbeki's thought cannot be located solely in one political tradition and that the movement in his political ideas corresponds to the different phases of South African political history. The thesis argues that during the struggle against apartheid Mbeki's political thought has a distinctly revolutionary Marxist character but as result of the transition to freedom there is a movement towards issues of race and culture as well as the appropriation of certain features of Marxist-Leninism in Mbeki's idea of political leadership and political practice. The thesis concludes by arguing that Mbeki's political thought is a critical contribution to the history of modern African political thought.

Includes bibliographical references. / Anthropologists and ethnographers documenting the African subject – as soldiers of the colonial enterprise, dominated early practices of photography in Africa. These endeavors manufactured a visual narrative that was uniform in its approach to Africa's landscape, which largely persists in the popular imagination.In the early 1990s with the fall of apartheid and transition towards democracy, South Africa's landscape witnessed a new current in the medium of photography; photographers who had been documenting the 'struggle' were suddenly deprived of the central focus of their work. Creative artistic expression, which had been largely restricted, blossomed. This paper examines four of South Africa's 'new generation' of photographers who have seen unprecedented success both in South Africa and in the West. This paper examines whether these photographers and their images are confronting and challenging the stereotypical stock photographs that have misrepresented South Africa's landscape.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 107-115). / This research sketches the history of the Bleek-L1oyd collection by documenting the cataloguing and archiving of material which has occurred in the years subsequent to the recording of the original manuscripts and certain related material during the closing decades of the nineteenth century. It attempts to track the processes by which material elements (notebooks, manuscripts, printed documents, artefacts, objects and original artworks, correspondence, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, books, photographs, paintings) became consolidated - or separated - as part of the making of what is now known as the Bleek-L1oyd archive. In addition, this research examinesthe various projects of knowledge production and writing which have emanated from the archive in the 80 years since a small part of the notebook texts, edited by Lucy Lloyd, was published in 1911. In particular, I examine ways in which the notebook texts have been deployed in the service of emerging and established academic disciplines including philology, "native studies", folklore and anthropology, archaeology and rock art interpretation. In more recent times, the Bleek collection provides a case study of the archive reconstituted for the new nation, serving not only as a site for the recovery of lost or hidden histories, but also as location for an international, redemptive celebration of indigenous identities

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 150-159). / This thesis critically examines the ability of trade unions to consolidate, promote and restore political democracy in South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Swaziland. The process of democratisation is premised on two transitions. First, is the transition from authoritarianism to democratic government, and second, is the transition from this government to the consolidation of democracy. Temporally, the focus of this dissertation is on the period after the first transition to democracy.

This thesis examines why there has been persistent conflict over land in Africa, with reference to Kibaale district in western Uganda. The land conflicts, especially in post-colonial sub-Saharan Africa, are attributed to such factors as the colonial legacy which has contributed to unequal access and conflicting identities. By tracing the conflict from the British colonial period, the thesis contributes to an understanding of how it evolved and why it was not resolved by the end of colonial rule and in post-colonial Uganda. The thesis draws on Mamdani's theory of decentralized despotism to establish the extent to which the post-colonial central governments' maintenance of some rural despotic authorities has undermined the land conflict resolution efforts. I contend that, though the post- colonial governments' maintenance of landlordism has partly contributed to the land-related conflict in Uganda, it does not fully explain why the conflict has persisted in places such as Kibaale district. Based on data generated through in-depth interviews with purposively sampled participants, archives and from secondary sources, the thesis contributes to an improved understanding of why land-related conflicts in Africa have persisted. It particularly shows what has undermined the ability of post-colonial governments and other stakeholders to address the roots of these conflicts. The main findings of the thesis include: the bitter memories of the late 19th and early 20th century British colonial conquest and land dispossession of people in Kibaale are still reflected in the narratives of the early settlers; the government-sponsored and selfmotivated massive resettlement of people from mainly Western Uganda to Kibaale district has increased the complexity of land disputes; different peoples' identities have also contributed to the conflict in Kibaale; and the national as well as local political actors have often intensified the conflict for the sake of political power. The thesis concludes that the instrumentalization of citizenship and belonging by the autochthons as well as the specific historical and socioeconomic factors in Kibaale district have contributed to persistent conflict over access to and ownership of land.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / This thesis analyses a collaborative arts initiative, Through Positive Eyes South Africa. The thesis focuses on how photography and personal narrative can contribute to changing the lens through which HIV-positive individuals see themselves and the way they are perceived while also problematising the complexities around disclosure and containment in the face of stigma. There are many projects that have sought to alter the dominant lens of stigma around HIV/AIDS in South Africa but the Through Positive Eyes initiative is unique in its process of self-documentation as the group openly confronts the complexities of living with HIV/AIDS. The thesis shows that challenging stigma through art is not as simple as the claim first appears; in fact, it emerges that even in giving full agency to the participants, the boundaries between the private therapeutic process and the public visual encounter are themselves intertwined and blurred by stigma.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / This research paper aims to critically interrogate Njabulo Ndebele’s reflections in the collection of essays, entitled, Fine Lines from the Box (2007). The paper engages with Ndebele’s argument that the post-apartheid South African transformation agenda would be futile if it failed to achieve a new and inclusive South African national culture. Thus, through an examination of selected essays from the collection, this mini-dissertation explores the manner in which he formulates the argument that post-apartheid national culture ought to be rooted on shared values and reflect the ideals of South Africa’s negotiated democratic dispensation. This argument is important not only within the context of South Africa’s negotiated settlement and Nelson Mandela’s promotion of reconciliation but also against the background of the binarisms that characterised the anti-apartheid struggle and the discourses that underpinned it.