The principal objective of this thesis is to explore the representation of China in British television documentaries broadcast between 1980 and 2000, focusing on historical documentaries. The thesis addresses, as its primary research questions and on the basis of substantial database, what is represented, how that representation is realised, and the social, historical influences which contextualise and underpin the representation of China. These questions relating to textual representation are framed within the wider context of Sino-Western relations, Western self-perceptions and conceptions of China. The study aims to reveal mechanisms of textual representation by concentrating on two main dimensions: the internal narrative structures and key discursive formations of the documentary text (including visuals), and structures of power relations operating to shape the representation in both the textual domain of meaning mediation and institutional domain of documentary production. Two aspects of the representation are foregrounded: China as a civilisation and China as a Communist `other'. The thesis focuses primarily on the narrative as a methodology in approaching representation, as documentary achieves meaning mainly through the stories it tells. Two dimensions of narrative are explored: a structuralist dimension drawing on theories developed by Propp and Silverstone, and a discursive dimension which is framed within Foucault's concept of power and knowledge. Extensive primary research established the database for the study, which is made up of 170 documentaries broadcast during the sample period between 1980 and 2000, and 18 field interviews with key personnel in broadcasting and production companies. The thesis argues that the British television documentary representation presents a largely Western understanding of China filtered through, among other things, selfperceptions and conceptions of the `other', and mediated by various sources of power. The process of representing `what is China' is enmeshed with the process of constructing how China should be viewed. The result of this social construction of truth and knowledge is that certain values, convictions, and ideologies are reinforced and reproduced in the vital domain of documentary representation

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Any consideration of the theme of ‘house and home’ leads into discussion on three different levels of discourse. First of all, houses have biographical and historical significance; they are, after all, real places in which real lives are lived. Secondly, home is an ideologically loaded noun, a bastion of value which is inextricably entwined with the notion of the pure woman. Thirdly, in literature, houses are metaphorical places. This thesis is primarily a study of those metaphorical places. It explores representations of ‘house’ and ‘home’ in late Victorian women's poetry. However, it also takes account of the biographical, historical and ideological significance of the house, looking at factors which may have helped to shape each poet's representations of ‘house and home’. The house occupies an ambiguous position in the poetry of the later Victorian period. It is variously imagined as a haunted house, a ruin, an empty house of echoes, and a prison of isolation and despair. At times, the house is a recognisable domestic place (the private house), at others, it is turned into a place of art or poetry, a new aesthetic ‘home’ for the female imagination. In some poems the house is a focus for nostalgia and homesickness. Yet it is also often a place which must be left behind. What unites the poets I have studied is the fact that the houses they inhabit in their work are never entirely their own and they are rarely entirely at home in them. Home is less roomy as a concept. It tends to carry religious or ideological connotations and is usually represented as a place of duty and responsibility. It also comes to mean the final resting place: the grave. Thus house and home, which are not identical terms, are freighted with different meanings. It is the mismatch of these two terms, the tension between them, which I explore in this thesis.

This thesis is a study of the boria, a popular form of Malay theatrical entertainment. In it I attempt to distinguish significant elements in the boria and analyse them in the context of modern Malaysia. Central to the study is a description and analysis of the boria as a drama form today, with particular concentration on characters, stories, songs and music, together with the mechanics of performance. An attempt is made by considering the themes, performers and audience, to investigate boria in the society where it is best developed, that is, in the Malay society of Penang. This involves setting the boria in its historical, political and socio-cultural context. It further requires placing it in the wider perspectives of Malaysian national policies for cultural development and the scholarly study of the performing arts of South-East Asia.

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<p>This research aimed to give an account of the development of concepts of text and discourse and the various approaches to analysis of texts and discourses, as this is reflected in core linguistic literature since the late 1960s. The idea was to focus specifically on literature that notes the development stimulated by a proliferation of electronic media. Secondly, this research aimed to describe the nature of electronic news texts found on the internet in comparison to an equivalent printed version, namely texts printed in newspapers and simultaneously on the newspaper website.</p>

Women's magazines have been accused of using their power of reaching millions of audiences to influence ideas such as the perceived role of a woman in the society; how she must behave, what she must do to win the attention of men as well as inform her of her limitations (Marshment, 1997). Women's magazines do this through the advertisements and stories that they publish. Ballaster et al. (1991) posit that the media has very powerful means of influencing and persuading audiences to think, act and behave in a particular may. The media has the power to shape and direct the way in which audiences perceive themselves. Evidently, it creates a desire in people to improve themselves by purchasing a certain product. Following a critique of seven women's magazines, this study acknowledges the power of the media to influence its audience and analyses the use of the theme of Valentine's Day in stories and advertisements of the selected magazines. The analysis explores how such influence can result in the promotion of gender stereotypes in society. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.

The Internet is changing the way people obtain their information, growing at a faster rate than any previous media outlet. Experts fully expect this growth to continue. The power of the Internet as a new media source has led to research concerning its effect on traditional media (newspaper, television, radio, and magazines) for certain tasks. However, research has yet to focus solely on sports information gathering, which has been identified as the number one reason men between eighteen and thirty-four years of age access the Internet. The purpose of this study was to examine where students get their sports information, to determine whether gathering sports information through the Internet leads to a decrease in gathering sports information through traditional media. / Department of Journalism