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The study unpacked the meaning and the value of intonjane in traditional Xhosa communities. It also provides a critical analysis and interpretation of the intonjane custom and in particular its impact on the upbringing of a Xhosa traditional girl child. It investigates the value of this practice, especially in relation to where it is still being performed, even in our modern times. I researched closely into all aspects of how the girls were brought up, and with what social values. The data collection has been conducted through interviews with the Philakukuzenzela group when they were in Grahamstown Art Festival in July 2011 who come from a place called Centuli, and other people (abaThembu) who practice and have knowledge of the different aspects of the intonjane process and observation during the actual ceremonies in O. R. Thambo district, and in Gemvale near Port St Johns in the Province of the Eastern Cape. Interviews were conducted in Xhosa and translated into English. This Visual Narrative investigates and contributes to the debate regarding the value of traditional African thought and how it can enrich our contemporary belief system. The objective was to investigate the essence and merit of the knowledge imparted by elderly women to young girls during the initiation period of intonjane within Xhosa traditional communities. This study provides a foundation and springboard for my practical artworks which utilized symbols and metaphors to express my understanding of the important events and stages associated with this traditional ceremony. Clay medium was used as the medium of expression, applying different techniques such as throwing, press mold, slab building, coiling, engraving, sewing and inlaying, with press mold being the main technique utilized. My artworks are of three different types, which are symbolic of the three aspects or stages, of liminality, namely: pre-liminal, liminal and post-liminal. / Art history, Visual arts and Musicology / M.A. (Visual Arts)

Basé sur des documents authentiques rares et inédits, ce travail a pour but d’étoffer une nouvelle image de la Révolution russe via les revues satiriques de l’époque. Ces revues sont de véritables œuvres d’art révolutionnaires qui interrogent la liberté de la presse et l’art durant une période charnière en Russie. Il s’agit d’une témoignage direct de cette année révolutionnaire, véhiculé par des artistes avant-gardistes libérés de la censure, et qui vont, au fil des semaines, composer une image originale de l’année 2017 et des deux révolutions russes de février et d’octobre au travers des couvertures illustrées. Afin de conserver la dynamique chronologique des événements, les revues ont été mises en parallèle avec les témoignages écrits d’époque, de personnalités diverses telles que Claude Anet, Pierre Pascal, Maxime Gorki, Maurice Paléologue, ou encore John S. Reed. Tous ont accompagné les bouleversements révolutionnaires à leur manière et constituent l’écho historique de ces revues satiriques illustrées qui nous permettent de plonger au cœur même du quotidien des révolutions russes caractérisant une nouvelle image de la Révolution, mouvante, singulière et remarquable. / Based on rare and authentic documents, this work endeavors to elaborate a new image of the Russian Revolution through satirical magazines of the time. These illustrated reviews are genuine works of art that question freedom of the press and art itself during a transnational period in Russia. They serve as a direct testimony of this revolutionary year, providing an original image of the two Russian revolutions of February and October and featuring on the review’s front cover week after week avant-garde artists freed from censorship of the press. In order to preserve the chronological dynamic of the events, satirical reviews are coupled with historical testimony of various writers such as Claude Anet, Pierre Pascal, Maxime Gorki, Maurice Paleologue, and John S. Reed, among others. All of them had supported the revolutionary turmoil in their own way and constitute an historical echo of the illustrated satirical reviews allowing us to plunge into the heart of daily life during the two Russian revolutions, and thus creating a new image of the Revolution, set in motion, single-minded, and noteworthy.

The thesis deals with significant moments in the relationship between methodology of economics and implications of the financial crisis culminating in 2008 and 2009. Its key insight rests upon the claim that some theoretical concepts developed within mainstream economics do not tackle the reality adequately and contributed in a significant way to the sequence of events leading to the financial crisis. Most of those concepts were introduced in the second half of the 20th century, during a "high tide" of positivistic ideas in the domain of methodology of mainstream economics. Though the same ideas had been already discredited to a large extent by the philosophy of science at the time, mainstream economists did not reflect it satisfactorily. Aside from a historical expose the thesis consists also of an outline of a possible future development of the prevailing form of economic theory; four scenarios of future potential development are presented. In the final parts of the thesis, which are focused more specifically, the author appraises negatively options of the Austrian School as well as post-Keynesianism to influence in a more significant manner the mainstream economics during the post-crisis era.

The present thesis interpretes Nicholas Onuf´s fundamental book World of Our Making. This text tries to evaluate Maja Zehfuss´ and Charlotte Epstein´s poststructuralist arguments against constructivist IR theory and tries to resolve the problem within a broader philosophical context. In the end it seeks to consider their argument against the inherent tension of Onuf´s constructivism and consequently suggest a possible solution.

Art of Jesuit Chapels of the Deceased The theme of this work is presentation of Jesuit Chapel of the Deceased in Bohemia in the Baroque period. The main idea of these chapels are the last idea of man and reminder to purgatory. The presence of purgatory was unquestionable for Baroque society and very often presentation in art. Purgatory was place, which gives hope to the Catholics for salvation and it was great occasional for using special symbols and emblems, it is a way how the remind a believer to the idea of the Last Judgment.

This research investigates the Neo-Baroque aesthetic of excess in contemporary South African art, and explores reasons for the emergence of this style. It investigates artists who use their bodies as a site of resistance, to contest or reconstruct the dominant social values which establish differences between bodies to place them within the marginal position of ‘Other’. This investigation relates to post-colonial concerns. The artists’ exploitation of the Neo-Baroque aesthetic of excess as a comment on social concerns reveals a sense of crisis within South African society, similar to the conditions from which the seventeenth century Baroque style evolved. Neo-Baroque aesthetics of excess manifest in a variety of ways, and are particularly evident when artists transgress social boundaries placed on the body through abject and erotic associations. Excess ultimately arises from complexity, as hybrid art forms are created from the combination of media and content found within the art work. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Visual Arts / unrestricted

<p>In 1917, the Romanov dynasty in Russia came to an end as Tsar Nicholas II abdicated during the February Revolution and the First World War. The Romanovs ruled Russia for over three-hundred years as absolute monarchs and until 1917, Nicholas II and his wife Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna fervently clung to their autocratic rule and projected an image of power and stability. Yet, their choices not only shaped Russia itself but also dictated Russia’s diplomatic and cultural relationship with their future allies in the First World War: Great Britain, France, and the United States of America. From 1896 to 1917, Tsar Nicholas II floundered amid a series of crisis and this dissertation considers five key moments in his reign that illustrate the complex relationship between Russia and the allies of the First World War. These events are: the Coronation of Nicholas II in 1896; Bloody Sunday and the Treaty of Portsmouth in 1905; the Romanov Tercentenary in 1913; the role of Tsarina Alexandra in the First World War from 1914-1917; and the abdication of Nicholas II and asylum request by the Romanovs in 1917. All of these events showcase the diplomatic and media representations of the Romanovs among allied nations and how Nicholas performed and presented his view of himself to the rest of the world. Each Tsar of Russia fashioned himself into a mythic and ceremonial figure to the Russian people and this dissertation argues that the governments of Great Britain, France, and the United States accepted Nicholas’ self-representations for many years and ignored his autocratic rule in favor of their own military and financial interests. In 1917, after years of excusing his behavior, they finally rejected him. Ultimately, the Romanovs held great power at home and abroad and were major players in international events in the early twentieth century but they were unable to reconcile their autocratic regime with modern democracies. In the end, Nicholas’ and Alexandra’s failure to adapt and perform their roles effectively cost them their throne and left Russia in a state of war and disarray.</p>