Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study examines gender and culture in L.L. Ngewu's novel, Koda kube nini na? The aim is to examine the influence of culture on how women and men as characters are portrayed. The study is motivated by the fact that despite the new democratic dispensation in South Africa since 1994, there is still a lot of gender discrimination in the Xhosa society. This is the result of the old traditional practices that severely discriminated against women on the bases that they are women. Chapter 2 of the study presents theoretical aspects of gender and culture. Chapter 3 analyses character and space in Ngewu's novel, Koda kube nini na? It is found that the characters of the novel are well-rounded. They are complex and dynamic. Space in the novels is concrete, but it also assumes symbolic significance in the way it represents a bigger picture: South African that is still in the legacy of apartheid. Chapter 4 deals with gender, and the concentration is on male and female characters. It is observed from the analyses that men dominate women. Women are subordinates of men by virtue of being women. In Chapter 5 we examine culture and find that culture can be used as an instrument in the patriarchal Xhosa society to oppress women. Our conclusion is that Ngewu's novel, Koda kube nini na? does not present democratised images of men and women. The images still depict in traditional Xhosa culture. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek gender en kultuurvraagstukke in L.L. Ngewu se novelle Koda kube nini na? Die doelstelling is om die invloed te ondersoek van hoe mans en vroue as karakters voorgestel word. Die studie is veral gemotiveer deur die feit dat afgesien van die nuwe demokratiese bestel in Suid-Afrika sedert 1994, bestaan daar steeds aansienlike genderdiskriminasie in die Xhosa gemeenskap. Dit is die resultaat van ou tradisionele praktyke wat teen vroue diskrimineer op grond van hulle geslag. Hoofstuk 2 van die studie gee 'n oorsig van relevante teoretiese perspektiewe oor gender en kultuur. Hoofstuk 3 ontleed die aspekte van karakter en ruimte in Ngevu se novelle Koda kube nini na? Daar word bevind dat die karakters van die novelle afgerond is. Hulle is kompleks en dinamies. Die ruimte in die novelle is konkreet, maar dit neem ook simboliese betekenis aan daarin dat dit 'n groter beeld bied. Suid-Afrika bevind hom steeds in die nagevolge van apartheid. Hoofstuk vier ondersoek gender, en daar word aandag gegee aan manlike sowel as vroulike karakters. Daar word aangetoon uit die analises dat mans tot 'n groot mate vir vroue domineer. Vroue is ondergeskik aan mans op grond van hulle geslag. In hoofstuk 5 word aandag gegee aan kultuur. Daar word bevind dat kultuur as 'n instrument gebruik kan word in 'n patriargale Xhosa gemeenskap om vroue te onderdruk. Die bevinding is dat Ngevu se novelle Koda kube nini na? nie 'n gedemokratiseerde uitbeelding van mans en vroue gee nie. Die uitbeelding reflekteer steeds tradisionele Xhosa kultuur.

published_or_final_version / Comparative Literature / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This is a study of gender ideology in African popular literature published from the seventies onwards. First the thesis argues that, far from being merely the demonised Other of high literature, contemporary African popular literature can be profitably studied as a distinct modality of ideological signification. Secondly, it is argued that there are three dominant modes of representation of gender ideology in contemporary African popular literature. There is the conservative model which merely reproduces dominant gender ideology in a fictive modality. Then there are those texts which operate with a liberal model of ideological representation, within which the principle of pragmatic management of crisis within gender ideology is contained by an ideological ambivalence. The third mode of representation of dominant gender ideology employs a radical reading of gender difference and goes beyond mere analysis to envisioning the possibility of gender egalitarianism. Each mode of representation is illustrated by an in-depth study of select texts. All in all, what is offered is a materialist theory of cultural authenticity and taxonomy.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Also available in print.

Thesis (M.A.(Drama))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2002. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 236-241). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Not available / text

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Philosophy

This thesis examines representations of nation, race and gender in three postcolonial texts: Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children; Meena Alexander's autobiographical memoirs Fault Lines; and Bengali writer Mahasweta Devi's collection of short stories entitled Imaginary Maps. All three texts reconfigure conventional accounts of nationhood by positing fictions based on what I am calling the poetics of displacement. The diasporic perspective provides Salman Rushdie's novel with the ability to suggest hybrid identities arising from the experience of cultural migration. In Meena Alexander's autobiography, displacement is figured in terms of both a diasporic and feminist vision that allows for the deconstruction of masculinist narratives of identity and nation. Mahasweta Devi's short stories, by contrast, represent displacement in terms of the violences and dislocations suffered by the Indian subaltern as a result of ecological degradation and cultural uprootment. In looking at these differential articulations of displacement, this thesis thus attempts to illustrate that what is often seen as an unified body of postcolonial literature emerges from a heterogeneous set of textual practices which are the products of varying social, cultural, political and economic contexts. In this way, this thesis rethinks the categories of nation, race and gender in order to consider the bases upon which people make claims to identity along with the boundaries of inclusion or exclusion often invoked by such claims.

Thesis (M.A.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of English, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-87).