My research examines how Africa is represented within the meaning-making arena of travel journalism specifically focusing on the travel publications Travel Africa, Getaway and Africa Geographic. The principal focus for many postcolonial theorists is the (mis)representation of “less-developed”, “third-world” countries, often focusing on literature in the creation and maintenance of structures of discursive oppression. I have used the work of postcolonial theorists Said (1978), Spurr (1993) and Pratt (1992) to form the theoretical foundation of my analytical framework. A discourse analysis of the magazines for the years 2006 and 2007 reveal Africa to be a discursively constructed cultural package. Touristic understandings of what constitutes ‘real’ African experiences are underpinned and portrayed through eloquent and articulate descriptions or imagery which interpellates the prospective Western traveler. To borrow Spurr’s (1992) terminology Africa is portrayed as ‘absence’ metaphorically or through the rhetorical strategy of negation in an attempt to create a void which can only be filled through intervention by ‘the civilized’. However, in addition to this, the magazines offer active systematic proposals to foster change and appeal to audiences to trans-code representations, a notion that postcolonial theorist Elfriede Fürsich (2002) has discussed in studies focusing on television travel journalism. I am arguing that in some instances the travel journalists in these magazines challenge conventional, traditional journalistic practices in order to create more balanced representations of the African continent. It is these forms of writing that can harness social change and represent African people, places and politics in alternative depictions. These strategies may include various narrative or linguistic techniques such as an altering of the conventional, commercial travel discourse, or an increased and liberated feedback loop between the publication and its readers. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, [2010]

This thesis takes up the genre of the “Asian horror film remake” as a nexus for the illustration of the intersection between two significant theoretical perspectives that inform contemporary film theory: Lacanian psychoanalysis and Deleuzian transcendental empiricism. It employs concepts such as Lacan’s registers of the Real and Symbolic alongside Deleuze (and Guattari’s) theories on the actual present and the virtual past to interrogate terms such as ‘originality’, ‘authenticity’, ‘repetition’, and ‘difference’ in an attempt to account for the role of genre in the production of meaningful reality, both within the bounds of the text and in cultural life more generally. It first deconstructs the term genre as it has been employed throughout classical, structuralist and post-structuralist genre theory, in order to reveal its ephemeral nature, and to show it to be worthy of investigation in its own right as a central component of language, more than simply a critical tool. It goes on to elaborate the contingency of discourse that constructs verisimilitudinous reality, and explicates these ideas through analysis of the Asian horror remake films. It then turns to Lacan’s division between the registers of the Symbolic and the Real in order to explore the function of the repetition that is visible in generic film in relation to the subject’s experience of a coherent and authentic reality. Finally, it proceeds to engage with Deleuze’s ideas regarding virtuality and asignification and argues, with reference to the Asian horror remake, that it is the perpetual tension between sameness and difference that sustains meaningful life. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermartizburg, 2013.

In the absence of qualitative research in the field of American journalism education, a case study of a Duke University affiliated documentary tradition program is blended with a Scholarly Personal Narrative to answer the call for innovative journalism education models and to address the decades old debate related to teacher qualifications in journalism education. By blending the study of a particular type of journalism with a particular type of journalism educator, a new model for journalism education is offered for consideration by the journalism education community. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

South Africa, since 1994, has developed both politically and technologically resulting in an opening of communications both locally and globally. The 2009 national elections had been earmarked as a 'make or break' milestone for the political and social future of the young democracy. This election occurred amidst media analysts‘ concerns for the level of freedom of expression allowed to traditional forms of the South African media. New media, however, is not at present subject to the same regulations. Although a few cases of slander relating, for example, to Facebook have occurred, ephemeral cyber space appears to enjoy a greater degree of freedom of expression than the press and broadcast media. As a result the ability of these traditional forms of media to function effectively as a public sphere may be questioned, and some theorists claim that the Internet may offer an alternative medium for this function. This thesis looks at the potential of online communities to facilitate democratic expression by analysing a Facebook newsgroup text at the time of the election. In my exploration of the Facebook newsgroup Help us stop Jacob Zuma from becoming SA's next President I have analysed the text using two qualitative approaches. The critical discourse analysis traces competing South African discourses relating to the myths of the inherent violence of black men and the inherent racism of whites, the topics of crime and violence, Jacob Zuma and South Africanness. This approach‘s theoretical guidelines enforced a more objective view of the text, although interpretive methods in general grapple with subjectivity at a more observable level than do quantitative methods. The ethnographic hermeneutic component of the research is aimed at "making the obscure plain" (Blaikie, 1993: 28, cited in Neuman, 1997: 68) in the text, as well as documenting the inner workings of the online community and its relation to South African issues at the time of the national election. The findings are then measured against public sphere theory from Habermas' conception of the bourgeois public sphere to revisionist accounts (Fraser, 1997 and McKee, 2005) / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

This study explores the role that Seventeen magazine plays in the lives of its readers. More specifically, it investigates how the content and advertising in Seventeen influences the behaviour and identity development of Black, South African, teenage girls. This research focuses on three primary areas of study: • The role of the reader in message interpretation • The media’s role in identity development and behaviour • The socio-cultural influence of readers’ backgrounds on message interpretation and acceptance The research methodology of this study is primarily of a qualitative nature, using different methods of qualitative research to gather information. The data collected as part of the ethnographic research was linked to existing theoretical research regarding Reception Theories – including the ‘Hypodermic Needle’ model; ‘Uses and Gratifications’; and the ‘Active Audience’. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

The present thesis was begun in October 1996, with the aim of exploring the relationship between Cyprus television and aspects of the national and cultural identity of Cyprus youth. The thesis consists of seven chapters in all, which can be summarized as follows: In the first chapter, a survey of the historical, political and media realities in Cyprus establishes the ground for the present study, while in the second chapter, a literature review presents the writings on culture and identity, media theories and their development, with a discussion of important theoretical concepts and perspectives, like Cultural Studies, identity theory, globalisation versus localisation, postmodernism with its fragmentation and concepts of "otherness," as well as the relationship of all these concepts to Cyprus realities. A review of the relationship between television and media research to young audiences — internationally and locally - and a final discussion of quantitative and qualitative methodologies, ends Chapter two, foregrounding, at the same time, the third chapter on Methodology. The choice of the mixed paradigm — quantitative (statistical) and qualitative (Text and Discourse analysis of television programmes, and interviews and group discussions with the sample) is discussed, explained and documented in the third chapter. The fourth chapter consists of the presentation, statistical correlation and discussion of the results from the Statistical Field Survey, which rendered insights into the sample's attitudes and mapped the ground for the next two stages — the Programme analysis and the Interviews, by offering cues and clues for these stages. The fifth chapter presents a textual and discourse analysis of the first five programmes leading the sample's preference list in the Field Survey, while chapter six discusses the interviews and group discussions which were both cross-fertilized by the results of the Statistical Survey and the Programme Analysis. Finally, in the seventh chapter the conclusions from the Research are discussed in the light of the initial aims and goals of the study and suggestions are made for future research which can both derive from, and continue to add to the issues which have been investigated in the present project. The present Research Study did not aim at validating or corroborating one or more hypotheses, as it used a mixed paradigm with different methodological approaches, which could not, as a result render thoroughly congruent or consistent results. It did seek, however, through the use of its progressive, longitudinal research model conducted at different time periods, to empirically draw to the surface, as consistently and extensively as possible, answers to the goals and aims established initially in the thesis, which answers have rendered complementary conclusions throughout the stages of the cross-paradigm used.

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This study examines the sacred dance in the Nazaretha Church and Isaiah Shembe's hymns as “agency” and not “response” (Coplan, 1994: 27). A number of studies on the Nazaretha Church and Isaiah Shembe posit that Shembe created his popular texts (especially the sacred dance) as a response to colonialism and the oppression of black people. In countering such a proposition I argue that in exploring the sacred dance we need to look at the motivation for members to participate in the dance. With that view in mind, I examine the sacred dance and the hymns as examples of a popular culture which is both „transnational‟ and „transglobal‟, to use Hofmeyr‟s terms (2004). This is because it is common in the Nazaretha Church that members taking part in the sacred dance claim to be doing so on behalf of their dead relatives, as it is believed that ancestors are able to participate in those dances through the bodies of their living relatives. In return, those in the ancestral realm will reward the living performers by offering them „blessings‟. In the Nazarite Church, and through performances like the sacred dance, the physical and spiritual worlds are perceived to be integrated. I therefore examine these hymns and performances as examples of popular culture “that is more than sub- or trans-national, [that] is trans-worldly and trans-global” (Hofmeyr, 2004: 9). In other words, I examine the sacred dance as performances and the hymns as texts whose audience is not only living people but also people in heaven. This means my study goes beyond the view that Nazarite performances are rituals of empowerment for the members, a majority of whom are economically, socially and politically marginalised (Muller, 1999), to look at them as significant on their own account. In undertaking the abovementioned task, I examine these hymns and performances in relation to “oral testimony of their significance to the people who [perform] and [listen] to them” (White, 1989: 37). Oral testimony of dreams and miracles suggests that Nazarite members who take part in the sacred dance do so primarily because of the imagined relationship between the individual and divine power. As Mbembe states, “it is the subject‟s relation to divine sovereignty that serves as the main provider of meanings for most people” (2002: 270). I argue that Nazarite members take part in the sacred dance mainly as an attempt to “manage the „real world‟ on the basis of the conviction that all symbolisation refers primarily to a system of the invisible, of a magical universe, the present belonging above all to a sequence that opens onto something different” (270). / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

Early adolescence (e.g., 10-14 years old) is a time during which health habits and behaviors first develop that carry over into adulthood. This age range is also a time when changes are often first observed in typical sleep patterns, such as a delay in bedtimes, decreased total sleep times, and increased sleep problems. Electronic media and social networking have become essential to adolescent interpersonal communication and are negatively associated with adolescent sleep. Room and/or bed sharing practices and having a parent-set bedtime are still common in this age range, though no study has examined the relationship between these culturally influenced practices and the sleep of racially/ethnically diverse early adolescents. The current study examined if differences exist between 1272 Caucasian, Hispanic/Latino, and African American early adolescents (ages 10-14 years) on self-reported bedtime, SOL, TST, and sleep efficiency, and whether these differences persist when taking into account presence of electronic media in the bedroom (i.e., TV, videogame console, computer, cellphone), media use at bedtime (i.e., watching TV, playing video/computer games, social networking, texting), room sharing, and parent-set bedtimes. Preliminary results showed that females reported worse sleep than males (i.e., longer sleep onset latency, shorter TST, and lower sleep efficiency, with a trend for having a later bedtime), and that African Americans and Hispanics reported later bedtimes than Caucasians, Hispanics reported shorter sleep onset latency and longer sleep efficiency than Caucasians, and African Americans reported shorter total sleep time than Caucasians. Presence of any type of media in the bedroom or use of any type of electronic media at bedtime was associated with later bedtimes and shorter total sleep times, but not with SOL or sleep efficiency. Parent-set bedtimes were associated with earlier bedtimes, longer sleep onset latency, longer TST, and lower sleep efficiency. After controlling for significant bedtime factors, only the main effects for TST became non-significant, while the interaction became significant. Hispanic females reported shorter TST than Hispanic males, African American females reported shorter TST compared to Caucasian females, and Caucasian males reported shorter TST compared to Hispanic males. Intervention strategies such as parent education and sleep education in schools targeting the bedtime behaviors and sleeping habits of adolescents are discussed.

This study discusses the potential for promoting cyber democracy through interactivity, on the Internet. Both interactivity and cyber democracy will lead to a broadening of the Zimbabwean public sphere by including online newspapers in the media circle. It views interactivity, cyber democracy and the public sphere as central to free expression. Zimbabwean online newspapers are not fully exploiting the Internet’s potentials to promote the threefold ideal for public deliberations identified in this study. The content analysis of 22 Zimbabwean online newspapers revealed that many newspapers are providing interactive tools that are of limited relevance to interactive communication. The different models for assessing interactivity, cyber democracy and the public sphere in the online newspapers that were employed in this study point to very low levels of interactivity, hence the rest of the components were affected. The three aspects of public deliberation identified in this study were found to be interdependent on each other. The qualitative research procedure confirms and provided reasons for low interactivity on Zimbabwe’s online newspapers from the editors’ perspectives. The online editors are cautious in their approach to a free-form type of public deliberations. Interactivity, potentials for cyber democracy and possibilities of a broadened public sphere were found to be very low on Zimbabwe’s online newspapers. However, the Internet itself is endowed with great possibilities for political deliberations that remain untapped. The onus is upon the newspapers to accord citizens opportunities for participation by making available tools for higher levels of interactive communication. / Thesis (M.A.) - University of KwaZulu-natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.