Building on Penelope Summerfield’s argument that the end of the Victorian music hall in the early twentieth century signaled not “death” but a class-conscious evolution of the genre prompted by a “process of deliberate selection later made to look natural and inevitable,” this project examines the acts of censorship and resistance which characterised the final years of the Victorian music hall. Selecting the 1912 Royal Variety or Royal Command Performance as the “end” point of the genre, and limiting my focus to London music halls, this project examines competing aims of working, middle, and upper class participants: it suggests that the upper-class aspirations of the managers of London’s music halls, paired with middle-class moral desire for social control over the working-classes, eventually enforced by the London County Council in the mid-late nineteenth century, saw the rise of “respectability” in the genre while severing its ties to London’s working classes. Juxtaposing ephemeral evidence produced by or focused on London music halls in the late nineteenth century (leading up to and including the 1912 Royal Command Performance) with contemporary research on the classed nature of social control and censorship practices, this thesis intends to make the classed-struggle for power and ownership over the identity of London’s music halls evident. In doing so, the thesis alludes to the potential success of a third wave of music hall or the neo-music hall, to replace out-dated reflections of the music hall revival sparked by “The Good Old Days” and nostalgia post World War II. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA) / This thesis pairs an analysis of meeting minutes, newspaper articles, song-sheets, and theatrical programmes from London’s Victorian music halls with contemporary music hall scholarship and studies of censorship to add to the discussion of the genre’s “end” or “death.” Using the work of Judith Butler, this thesis is divided into a study of how censorship transformed the music hall’s landscape, content, and culminating performance from its onset. As a result, this thesis argues that the controlling factors which shaped the genre led to what other music hall scholars have considered its end. By identifying the styles and modes of censorship used in the evolution of the English music hall genre, and in in-period methods of resistance to social control, this project suggests the radical potential of the music hall form as a contemporary style of theatre.

Introduction: In 2022 the conflict between Russia and Ukraine led Facebook to encourage a rise of hate speech and use of violence against Russian people. This led the Russian government to take measures and ban the use of western social media such as Facebook and Instagram in Russia and proclaim the Meta organization as an extremist organization. The ban caused various reactions which consequently led to a divergence in responses and opinions. Furthermore, the situation raises the question if the ban of western social media platforms is affecting Russian ICTs users' perception and political opinion. Aim: The aim of the study is to examine how the ban of western social media giants in Russia (Facebook, Instagram) affect Russian ICTs users’ attitude in the context of “critical citizen” or regime supporter. Also, the reasons why some Russians avoid western ICTs ban by using VPN and how some Russians experience ICTs censorship. A theoretical framework has been developed for the purpose to identify the different factors which might possibly lead to the emergence of “critical citizen” or pro-government citizen. Methodology: Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect empirical data and fulfill the purpose of the thesis. Conclusion and contribution: The empirical data shows that the ban of Western ICTs (Facebook, Instagram) in Russia did not negatively affect ICTs users’ attitude toward Russian government nor encouraged an emergence of “critical citizen” rather in most cases raise an understanding and support of the ban even among those who still using Facebook and Instagram.  Findings show that VPN usage in most cases correlated with habits of preferences rather than a seeking of western political information. Furthermore, the user's perception on Facebook and Instagram censorship is more neutral/negative in context of general restriction and neutral/positive in context of Western influence resistance.

Sexually themed objects from ancient Greece and Rome have been present in debates about our relationship with the past and with sexuality since they were first brought to modern attention in large numbers in the Enlightenment period. However, modern engagement with this type of material has very often been characterised as problematic. This thesis pushes beyond the story of reactionary censorship of ancient depictions of sex to demonstrate how these images were meaningfully engaged with across intellectual life in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Britain and America. It makes a significant and timely contribution to our existing knowledge of a key historical period for the development of the modern understanding of sexuality and cultural representations of it, and the central role that antiquity played in negotiating this fundamental aspect of modernity. Crucially, this work demonstrates how sexual antiquities functioned as symbols of pre-Christian sexual, social and political mores, with which to think through, and to challenge, contemporary cultural constructions around sexuality, religion, gender roles and the development of culture itself. It presents evidence of the widespread and prolific acquisition of sexually themed artefacts throughout private and institutional collecting culture. This deliberate seeking out of ancient images of sex is shown to have been motivated by debates on the universal human connection between sex and religion, as part of wider constructions of notions such as ‘culture’ and ‘primitivism’, with Classical material maintaining a central position in these ideas, despite research into increasingly diverse cultures, past and present. The purposeful engagement with sexual imagery from antiquity is also revealed as having acted as a valuable new source of knowledge about ancient sexual life between men which gave new impetus to the negotiation, defence, celebration and promotion of homoerotic desire in contemporary turn of the twentieth century, Western society.

This bachelor's thesis is based on a Minor Field Study (MFS) conducted in Rabat and Casablanca, Morocco, April and May 2015. The aim is to study Moroccan journalists' attitudes towards citizen journalism and its impact on the role of the journalist: 1) With what claims do they define citizen journalists and journalists respectively? and 2) In what ways do these claims relate to the impact citizen journalists can be expected to have on the role of the journalist and freedom of expression in Morocco? In the discussion, theories on discourse, professionalism, journalistic ideals, and development journalism are applied. Semi-structured interviews in French were conducted with five journalists working within five different print and online publications. The material was analyzed according to a model of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). The interviewed journalists give accounts of how they are "condemned to be connected" to the vox populi that citizen journalists constitute. There is a prevalence of professionalism discourse where verification and objectivity are described as what characterizes a journalist. But respondents also emphasize "teamwork", and that "all journalists are citizen journalists", and these themes are interpreted as characteristic of development journalism. Within professional discourse in a development journalism context, the reliability of citizen journalists is downplayed. At the same time, citizen journalists are described as freer than professional journalists. In conclusion, it is considered likely that development journalist discourse sets an obstacle to the liberalizing impact of citizen journalism.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / F. Todd Goodson / Historically, advances in technology have impacted education, particularly in the field of literacy. Often, educators initially resist these changes. Today, this is the case with the new literacies. Although students increasingly turn to technology to communicate, school practices still largely ignore this cultural phenomenon. This qualitative study explores the roots of this resistance by examining how teachers negotiate the use of digital literacies in the classroom, particularly in respect to the rhetorical boundaries imposed upon schools by their local culture. Data were collected through 34 interviews with individuals in three demographically different schools districts. Of particular interest were the key literacy decision makers. At the district level, assistant superintendents who also served as secondary curriculum directors, technology directors and literacy coaches were interviewed. The school level focused on middle and high schools, and, in two districts, on alternative education centers. Principals, librarian, lead English teachers and new English teachers, defined as teaching for three years or less, provided information for the study at these schools. During the data analysis, grounded theory, as well as the gap and continuum theories described by Deanna Bogdan (1992a & b), guided the study. When examining what factors create the boundaries educators work within, nine initial themes emerged: infractions, distractions, dependency, immediacy, misinformation, safety, inappropriateness, funding and change. Further examination of the data revealed the central phenomenon: “The technological evolution that occurs outside the classroom must be adapted before it makes its way into pedagogical practice.” This phenomenon provides the first layer for the model. To better understand the adaptation process, the gap and continuum theories were employed, leading to a spectrum between gatekeepers and facilitators. Each of the three districts fit in distinctively different places on this spectrum. Axial coding was then used to further explore the relationship of the themes to the adaptation process. The nine themes could then be collapsed into three categories: perceptions of student behaviors, perceptions of technology, and perception of school’s role in society. This study provides educators insight into the factors that guide their decision-making processes when considering the incorporation of technology into the classroom.

This dissertation explores the role of Internet censorship and circumvention in the Arab world as well as Arabs’ views on the limits to free speech on the Internet. The project involves the creation of an Internet censorship circumvention tool named Alkasir that allows users to report and access certain types of censored websites. The study covers the Arab world at large with special focus on Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen. This work is of interdisciplinary nature and draws on the disciplines of media and communication studies and computer science. It uses a pioneering experimental approach by placing Alkasir in the hands of willing users who automatically feed a server with data about usage patterns without storing any of their personal information. In addition to the analysis of Alkasir usage data, Web surveys were used to learn about any technical and nontechnical Internet censorship practices that Arab users and content producers may have been exposed to. The study also aims at learning about users’ experiences with circumvention tools and how such tools could be improved. The study found that users have successfully reported and accessed hundreds of censored social networking, news, dissident, multimedia and other websites. The survey results show that while most Arab informants disapprove censoring online anti-government political content, the majority support the censoring of other types of content such as pornography, hate speech, and anti-religion material. Most informants indicated that circumvention tools should be free of charge, fast and reliable. An increase in awareness among survey respondents of the need for privacy and anonymity features in circumvention solutions was observed.

Hundreds of journalists took to the streets in different parts of Guatemala to protest attacks against their colleagues and infringements on their freedom of expression in the country, during the second week of March in 2015. The larger protests were held in Guatemala City and in Mazatenango, Suchitepéquez, where earlier that week at slightly past noon three reporters were gunned down at a park in front of a municipality building; one survived the attack. Three days later a cameraman was shot dead by men on motorcycles, in front of the television station he worked for in Chicacao, Suchitepéquez. This is the perpetual cycle of violence that has been inculcated into the daily lives of the people in the country - it's a cultural construct that's oozed into the depths of society and sadly into the profession of journalism. This thesis is a study that investigates how Guatemalan journalists live and work in the country under a constant threat of violence, fighting for their space as a respected profession in a society that could benefit from a functioning media system. The in-depth interviews with reporters in the country will allow for a first-hand interpretation to support the research already conducted in the literature review. The study is a furthered analysis of literature and interviews to better understand why the state of journalism in Guatemala is complex, and why it is imperative for journalists to continue fighting for their space.

The thesis revisits film and film-culture history in Sweden, Denmark and Norway with a view to discourses and practices of the inter- and trans-Scandinavian in the silent era. Excluding the earliest films, but including the transition to synchronised sound, it covers the period of the 1900s to 1930 with emphasis on the 1910s and 1920s. The thesis identifies notions about the relations between the Scandinavian and the national by means of a number of case studies based on textual historical sources. As a consistent Scandinavian perspective on this period is new, the investigation substantially supplements and revises the individual national film histories of these countries. It adds missing context to national developments and makes visible border phenomena such as transnational collaborations and co-producing practices. The thesis finds that film production in Scandinavia in the silent era was orientated towards one of two poles, at times combined or in a state of negotiation: international economic ambitions or national cultural aspirations. The latter was frequently conceptualised as northern, Nordic and Scandinavian. ‘Scandinaviannesses’ performed when drawing on nature, folklore, literature and heritage, not least that of Norway, were employed for use in and out of Scandinavia by means of strategies of ‘double-entry book-keeping’.  During the period, the notion of location underwent changes from an illusory, theatrical device to an inherently meaningful entity carrying identities infused with the Scandinavian. Examining the effects of shared comprehension of language and a shared recent history of Scandinavist ideas, the thesis identifies instrumental notions of kindredness and senses of cultural proprietorship extending to the output of the neighbouring countries. These notions were mobilised selectively within film culture and motivated practical transnational collaboration from the side of the authorities as well as in trade organisations.

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Thesis (MMus)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The current study documents the procedures used by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) from 1974 to 1996 in the censorship of music. The disquisition argues that the SABC, as a national broadcaster, served as the most prominent censor of musical production and dissemination during that time. In addition, the study attempts to show that the censorship of music by the SABC was inherently connected with apartheid ideology in both moral and political terms but also that the SABC Acceptance Committees for radio broadcasts attempted to align themselves with more general state methods of censorship (although often inconsistent). This relationship, although not directly connected with the state censorship apparatus, functioned as the state's chief censor in the restriction of music. The study reports on a visit to the SABC Radio Library and Sound Archives in February 2012 and provides an analysis and discussion of documents found in the archive as well as how these findings relate to the broader arguments supplied in the thesis. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die huidige studie dokumenteer die prosedures wat deur die Suid-Afrikaanse Uitsaaikorporasie (SAUK) tussen 1974 en 1996 in die sensuur van musiek toegepas is. Die tesis argumenteer dat die SAUK, as nationale uitsaaier, tydens hierdie periode die belangrikste agent van musieksensuur was. Verder poog die studie om te bewys dat die sensuur van musiek deur die SAUK inherent met apartheidsideologie in beide morele en politiese terme verbind was, maar ook dat die SAUK Aanvaardingskommittees vir radio-uitsending probeer het om meer formele sensuurregulasies in stand te hou. Hierdie verhouding tussen die SAUK en die staat, alhoewel dit nie die SAUK direk met staatssensuur koppel nie, het beteken dat die SAUK as die staat se hoofsensor gefunksioneer het in die beperking van musiek. Die studie doen verslag van 'n besoek aan die SAUK Radio Biblioteek en Klankargiewe in Februarie 2012 en voorsien 'n uiteensetting en bespreking van dokumente wat in die agief gevind is, asook hoe hierdie bevindinge veband hou met die breër argument oor sensuur en musiek wat in die tesis ontwikkel word.