In post apartheid South Africa, the country's citizens have undergone much change in terms of their identity. No longer are people bound by the disenfranchisement and the constraints that the erstwhile apartheid regime dictated, which placed people in distinct categories of identity. In this regard, South African citizens can now freely explore and exhibit their identities without having to act within the confines of 'specific' identities, which were once imposed upon them. Yet, despite this freedom some people within these groups remain committed to maintaining their cultural identity through certain mediums and practises. The Indian population of South Africa is one such group and the Sunday Tribune Herald is one such newspaper which caters for the Indian South African in this regard. This study examines how a print medium, that is, the Sunday Tribune Herald attempts to validate their target audience's notion of identity. Thus, the main focus of this research project is to explore, through the method of interviews, and a semiotic reading of the text, how the Sunday Tribune Herald and therefore those who are responsible for producing this newspaper, namely, staff members', play a role in constructing and negotiating the notion of identity. The project analyses what the Sunday Tribune Herald staff members' perception of the notion of identity is, and how, in their capacity as editors and journalists, they are able to provide a medium for a particular community, which is representative of, and addresses, the community's needs in terms oftheir identity. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

South Africa officially emerged from apartheid in 1994. Almost a decade later we are still confronting the persisting legacies of apartheid. One of them is the separate spaces that were designed to foster delineated ethnic and racial identities. In the past, enforced separation encouraged the perpetuation of different cultural spheres. Now spaces have been made more permeable, but the ' officially' sanctioned identities still persist. At state level, the discourses of ' non-racialism ' and ' Rainbow Nation' are dominant, but at the local level, the old categories of Indian, Coloured, White and Black are often aggressively asserted. It is suggested that, although apartheid has ended, there exists in contemporary South Africa a heightened sense of ethnic identification. Indians in contemporary South Africa grapple with questions of their identity, their ' place' in the new South Africa, and (like other minority groups) express anxiety about being part of the majority of South African society. This disssertation examines a broadly defined Indian cultural sphere in Durban, in particular a public sphere related to media and religion, where old Indian identities retain currency and, at the same time, new articulations of identity are constantly being made. The role of public discourses in shaping such identities is examined in detail using data collected through interviews with Indian cultural leaders and media communications between 1999 and 2001. An interrogation of discourses prevalent in the public sphere exposes the inherent contradictions and complexities of attempts to (re)create such "essentialised" identities. This paper demonstrates that Indian-ness is a highly contested and hybrid identification. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2005.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

In the Kwa-Zulu Natal context, a lot of attention has been paid to the construction of Zulu ethnicity in the potential and discursive spheres. Less attention has been paid however to the construction of Indian ethnicity in this region. This project will explore the exclusivist construction of an Indian ethnic identity by an Indian-owned print medium in this geographical context during the time of the 1994 South African elections, when various political parties fought for what has been called the "Indian vote". It will attempt to point out that the notion of ethnic identity offered by this medium to its readers does not actually challenge those offered to the community by the old South Africa state. In grounding the analysis of the editions under discussion in a framework developed by Norman Fairclough, this study draws heavily on a theoretical continuum developed by Antonio Gramsci and Louis Althusser. It is in such a theoretical context that Fairclouch has developed the methodology of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). By bringing such a methodology to bear on the texts under analysis, the study hopes to develop an understanding of Indian ethnicity in this region which suggests that it is an extremely problematic construct. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, 1995.

The theoretical challenge of conceptualising South African Indianess is suffused with a plethora of variables that suggest complexity. While being misleadingly homogenous, Indian identity encompasses a multitude of expressions. This thesis seeks to reconceptualise notions of South African Indianess through personal narrative. The research context is contemporary South Africa with a specific focus on Johannesburg’s East Rand Reef. Inspired by the dearth of literature on contemporary Indianess this study addresses the gap in the present discourse. Following the autoethnographic work of Motzafi-Haller (1997) and Narayan (1993) the thesis presents a layered narrative by juxtaposing the experiences of research participants with my own. Using multi-sited autoethnographic data the thesis explores the question of what it means to be Indian in relation to South Africa’s Apartheid past. By drawing on concepts in popular diaspora theory and critiquing their application, the thesis illustrates the inadequacies inherent in the definitions of diaspora and suggests a broader understanding of its application. Through exploring layers of Indianess the thesis illustrates the inherent complexity in reconceptualising South African Indianess. The study suggests that as a result of changing global and local flows, South African Indians are reconceptualising what it means to be South African Indian.