This thesis follows the interaction of "double-voicing" and "double-consciousness" in Native American literary history. It begins with surviving records from the time of colonial contact and ends with works by Leslie Marmon Silko and Thomas King, two contemporary authors of the Native American Literary Renaissance. "Double-voicing" is a common feature found in many works preserved by early anthropologists from various Native American oral traditions. However, after colonial contact this feature largely disappears from literary works written by Native American authors, when it is replaced by the societal condition "double-consciousness." With the revitalization of cultural knowledge in the mid-twentieth-century, Native authors also revitalize their rhetorical techniques in their writing and the "double-voice" feature reemerges coupled with a bicultural awareness that is carried over from "double-consciousness." / vi, 98 leaves ; 29 cm.

Historical conditions of colonialism, and more recently, the emergence of a post-colonial state and urbanization, have brought about rapid socio-cultural change in the Solomon Islands, characterized by heterogeneity and the influx of new cultural products. Throughout this process, notions of tradition have emerged, iterated largely through the multivocal category of kastom which is fundamentally construed in opposition to notions of Christianity and modernization. This thesis examines how these changes have affected stories, specifically a group of narratives called "kastom stories," told by students in the urban setting, and how these narratives have become a space for tradition to be stated and created. Notions of genre are explored to discover how such an amalgam of stories as that of the kastom stories regarded here could be considered as a group. I examine story structures to understand how elements from diverse sources could become integrated to the stories, and look at transformations which, in distanciating the stories from their original socio-cultural context of production, serve to recontextualize them in their present socio-cultural setting.

Certain cultural practices present unspoken questions to women. While women may not be free to state these concerns upfront I argue that they have always had some means of expressing themselves in creative ways about issues that affect them. One issue that is investigated in this dissertation is the question of why women sing. This study, therefore, examines one of the channels, which are songs, that women and rural women in particular employ to deal with their day to day living. To this end I have selected cultural songs as one of the ways of demonstrating how women negotiate their spaces in the culture. The study is based on a community of women from Zwelibomvu near Pinetown, South Africa but goes beyond this as I believe that women in general speak for the majority of other women especially with regard to issues around gender and power inequalities. Songs have been selected as a genre and as a special form of expression that women in particular find easier to use to raise issues that affect them in their daily lives. The three hour DVD rendition that forms part of this study captures a synoptic view of the amount of raw data found in this study. Through the medium of song, and strengthened by the stories that they share, Zwelibomvu rural women are able to get a sense of relief and consolation from the burdens that they have and which they would like to share. Presented as a two part field work process, the first process involves the collection of songs in ceremonies and occasions and observing an d being part of the occasions and ceremonies where the songs that are sung by women are performed. This process culminates in the production of the three hour DVD rendition that forms part of this study and which captures a synoptic view of the amount of r aw data found in this dissertation. The second part mainly involves interviews of categories of respondents in similar settings/districts observed where ceremonies were attended and attempts to provide some insight into why women sing and the question of gender and power in contemporary women’s songs. Finally, the last chapters involve an analysis of songs with regard to themes that emanate from these songs as well as a review on their oral composition. / Thesis (Ph.D)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

This study focuses on the work of Marcel Jousse, the 20th century French anthropologist, linguist, educationist and theologian who discovered and developed the Anthropology of Language, the study of human memory and expression, and their mutual transation. As central underpinning theory of the Anthropology of Language, Jousse identified the anthropology of Geste and Rhythm manifest in the Oral Style as gestual-visual/oral-aural mnemonic. In Memory, Memorisation and Memorisers in Ancient Galilee, the account of the transmission of the Besorah-Gospels in the intra-ethnic and extra-ethnic Galilean-Hellenic diaspora. Jousse demonstrates (I) the fidelity and accommodating fluidity of mnemonic Oral Style expression as support of human memory; (2) the role of the Metourgeman-Sunergos as interpreter-translator and scripter of the Besorah-Gospels; (3) the role of the Counting-necklaces constructed by Kepha-Peter and Shaoul-Paul as ordering and mnemonic support in the recounting the Deeds and Sayings of the Rabbi Ieshou"a of Galilee. In this thesis three kinds of translation are addressed. (I) It is about the translation of invisible and visceral memory into the visible and audible expression thereof in speech and movement for the purposes of learning, understanding and recording of the oral socio-cultural archive: Stylology manifest in rhythmo-stylistics, rhythmo-pedagogy and rhythmo-catechism; (2) it is about the translation of speech and movement into writing of two kinds: the recording of dictated texts in writing, (Memory, Memorisation and Memorisers in Ancient Galilee) and the putting-into- writing of memorised formulaic recitation, viz. rhythmo-stylistics, rhythmo-pedagogy and rhythmo-catechism; (3) it is about the translation of a specific and specialised technical texts from one (kind of) language to another: Memory, Memorisation and Memorisers in Ancient Galilee and Glossary of Joussea Concepts, Terms and Usage. The products of this study are: (I) a critical investigation and contextualised account of the perspective of Marcel Jousse on the operation of the invisible visceral metaphor called memory into the visible and audible expression thereof in speech and movement for the purposes of learning, understanding and recording of the oral socio-cultural archive in rhythmo-mnemonic expression (2) a proposed work-in-progress model for the presentation and analysis mnemonic Oral-style texts, viz. rhythmo-stylistics, rhythmo-pedagogy and rhythmo-catechism; (3) an annotated translation of Dernieres Dictees Memory, Memorisation and Memorisers in Ancient Galilee; (4) a glossary of specialised technical terms to be used in the interpretation of the works of Marcel Jousse compiled from Jousse's texts already translated into English: Jousse developed a specialised and complex terminology to explain his view of the origin and operation of mnemonic human expression. The Glossary documents this terminology, and demonstrates the translation of the concepts, and their usage by Jousse. This study is presented in three parts: Part One: Translations on and at the oral-literate interface; Part Two: Memory, Memorisation and Memorisers in Ancient Galilee - an annotated translation; Part Three: Glossary of Joussean Concepts Terms and Usage . / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2000.

Abstract not available. / Thesis (M.A.) - University of Natal, Durban, 2000.

In 1998 I conducted a series of interviews with Zimbabweans who recounted, often using English, their memories of Albert Sumbo-Ncube. From these I have selected and transcribed five interviews with ZIPRA ex-combatants in which they tell the story, as they remember and elaborate on their memories, of Sumbo's escape from Rhodesian police custody at the Victoria Falls in 1977 during the Zimbabwean liberation struggle. The interviews represent Sumbo as a hero and reveal the folk hero creation process at work. This hero figure was created by people who needed an effective figure of oppositional propaganda and who did not have access to the technology and resources of the Rhodesian government. Their narratives were communicated orally and they fused material found in the Rhodesian government-controlled newspapers with an amaNdebele oral tradition. I shall draw on Hobsbawm's (1972) notions of the social bandit and Robens's (1989) study of the folk hero creation amongst post-slavery African-Americans in order to understand the ZIPRA guerrillas' hero creation. The Sumbo folk hero creation served to promote an ideal self for the Zimbabwean guerrillas and their recruits. Sumbo's daring and his ability successfully to defy authority evoked admiration amongst the guerrillas in the 1970s, and in 1998 revives for them the idealism of the struggle. In Zimbabwe the 'hero' has become a contested category, because of the government's will to control the historical representation of the liberation struggle by promoting an official history with official categories of heroes. Working with Barber's notion of popular African arts (1987 and 1997), I argue that a folk hero can be redefined as a 'popular hero' when created by a proletariat and expressed by means of a popular art form. The interviewees use a specific form, the oral historical narrative, to preserve and transmit the Sumbo hero figure. I argue that though this oral historical narrative is less fixed in form and occasion than praise poetry, songs and genealogies, it nevertheless possesses identifiable and recurrent characteristics and I have established a number of criteria for identifying oral historical narrative as a genre. In order to avoid taking a generalised and essentialising approach to the notion of 'African culture', I have drawn on theory that is as specific as possible to the understanding of oral historical narratives within the context of siNdebele speakers in Zimbabwe. I have drawn on research published by Hofmeyr (1993) and Scheub (1975) because they focused on Nguni-speaking societies. Their research is further supported by my own research conducted in the rural area of Tsholotsho in Zimbabwe. The analysis of the oral historical narrative genre used by the interviewees demonstrates that significant formal and performance skills occur in this type of narrative which takes place within apparently informal conversations. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2000.

This dissertation is an attempt to draw a connecting link between Marcel Jousse's theory of MIMISM as found in his book The Oral Style and the symbols used when celebrating four of the sacraments celebrating in the Roman Catholic Church. These symbols are water used in the sacrament of baptism, the bread and the wine as used in the celebration of the Eucharist, and the oil which is used in the sacraments of Confirmation and the Anointing of the Sick. Jousse was the first anthropologist to discover that all action or gestes as he called it, is constantly being replayed and re-enacted by man. The second chapter in this thesis will give a comprehensive summary of this theory of MIMISM. Since man is constantly attempting to get closer to God whom he falls short of when he sins, this practice of the sacraments is a means of getting man back in touch with God and the symbols used in this procedure is what actually makes it real. After a chapter on symbolism and the role that symbols play in the celebration of sacraments, the next chapter deals with the rites, rituals and religion in society. It is the symbols together with the rights, that in effect bridge the relationship between God and man. The final chapter then looks into the symbols themselves, which are oil, water and the Eucharist and fits the entire subject into perspective. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, 1994.

This study attempts to discuss the transmission of oral tradition in religious and domestic contexts among the Indian Tamil Hindu people of South Africa. In chapter one, the focus of this study, as well as some reasons for choosing the Tamil group are discussed. The focus of this essay is to highlight the transmission of oral tradition in communities that have been physically separated from the original homes of those particular communities. Thereafter, in chapter two, examples of surviving domestic rituals are analysed. Life cycle rituals and calendrical rituals that are performed in the home are discussed with examples. Examples of surviving public rituals are considered in chapter three. An account of the rituals that are performed in the temple [either calendrical or of a personal nature] is given. In chapter four Tamil Hindu mythology which has survived in this country is given consideration. Lord Siva, in particular, is discussed to a greater extent. An overview of how some of the tradition has survived concludes this essay. / Thesis (M.A.) - University of Natal, Durban. 1993.

The dissertation focuses on preaching in the context of selected African indigenous churches. The aim of the study was to explore sermon texts as a genre of oral communication. The gathering of data was guided by the hypothesis that the sermons that are preached in the African indigenous churches are composed orally and communicated orally. Three church groups were identified for the purposes of this study. Although the intention, at the planning stage of the study, was to study a mixture of Ethiopian, Zionist and Messianic-type churches, practical considerations and also because of socio-political factors, the study was limited to church groups of the Zionist and Messianic types. The research was carried out through the method of participant observation of services of worship, extended interviews with church leaders, preachers and congregants and also through the use of audio cassette recordings during nine months of field work in Edendale in Pietermaritzburg, Port Durnford near Mtunzimi and Ndabayakhe near Empangeni. A central finding of the study is that in the African indigenous churches a sermon is prepared and has a form (structure). The structure of the sermon is that of an oral text. The oral texture of the sermon is influenced by the following contexts: an oral tradition; the Bible which is a written source with a repertoire of texts' church tradition which is orally transmitted; and the life setting and experience of the congregants. It was also found that the sermon text is presented as a 'performance' involving both the preacher and a live, active, close audience. The study concludes that the communication of the sermon is influenced by the structural form of the sermon text, the ability of the preacher to use literary products and visual resources, and also by the participation of the audience. / Thesis (M.A.) - University of Natal, Durban, 1992.

This study contains a variety of oral traditional formulae found in various places in KwaZulu-Natal which are used in the imbeleko ceremony and these formulae are analyzed in their traditional form and in a number of new formulations. The imbeleko ceremony is a celebration to introduce and welcome a newborn child, but occasionally even an adult newcomer may be introduced to both the living and the ancestral spirits. A full description of the imbeleko ceremony, the reasons for performing it, the procedures followed, an analysis and comparison of mnemotechnics used in the formulae and finally the application of orality-literacy theories to the rites and the text are provided. Variations observed in my research in the manner in which this rite is celebrated from family to family are pointed out. Zulus regard it as a must to perform the imbeleko ceremony for every child in the family. The reasons for this ceremony vary from (a) thanksgiving ceremony, (b) the official introduction of the child to ancestors, (c) the rite performed late to protect the child from misfortunes, (d) and to provide an opportunity for naming the child. There is also the imbeleko ceremony that may be performed in the life of the child when there are indicators that there is a need for it to be done i.e. when there is illness that seems incurable, and psychological crisis which occur even though the imbeleko had been performed. There is also a type of imbeleko ceremony for the first child that combines the child's maternal and paternal families. This dissertation concludes by comparing and contrasting the imbeleko and the Christian baptism. It is possible changes have taken place in the imbeleko ceremony as a result of external influences of the western Christian life. (NB This dissertation is accompanied by a video) / Thesis (M.A.) - University of Natal, 1996.