The power of education with its range of different fields has had a dramatic impact on our world, and more and younger students graduate every year. This growth and flooding have forced institutes to expand exponentially. And with the idea of internationally recognised degrees, many institutions have changed their curriculums, and some have even changed the institution titles e.g. Durban University of technology that was once called the Durban institute of technology and also the University of Natal that is now called University of KwaZulu Natal. This change has also forced these academic institutes to expand not only in terms of number of students, but also physically, with new buildings being built and also some even change the degree titles. The aim for the new Department of Television, Performance and Staging for Durban University of Technology is to attempt to facilitate this growth and change. To facilitate these changes, the scheme is to be divided into two main aspects – to reunify the existing growth and suggest new better ways of facilitating the growth. Secondly – the new Department of Television, Performance and Staging will not only set out the new dimension in future growth but will also architecturally facilitate the existing growth and change. This dissertation will then focus on a specific department within the Faculty, which is the Department of Television, Performance and Staging which will house the existing and to be upgraded Video Technology and Drama Studies departments. The focus on this department is to explore the relationship between the university and the public engagement, to enhance and upgrade the quality of the existing department. The Department of Television, Performance and Staging tries to explore concepts in architecture – utilising Video Technology and Drama Studies as a exploratory tool for students and professionals to promote architecture to a larger audience. The audience wants to be entertained and as well as informed through architecture that explores and expresses notions of space and structure through the use of shape, form, light, balance, colour, movement and expression. / Thesis (M.Arch.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

Could the contribution of the voluntary sector to development be more fully realized given greater current emphasis on participatory development? This research addresses this question within the context of a voluntary sector organization in KwaZulu-Natal. Thus, the site of this study is the non-governmental, non-profit, voluntary organisation: Very Special Arts - KwaZulu-Natal, which focuses on the development of people with disabilities within the framework of the arts. Disability scholars are beginning to decode the discriminatory practices against people with disabilities which indicates that disability as a development category is relatively new. Therefore it was deemed necessary that the analysis of disability in this research be preceded by a consideration of various discourses on disability which is followed by a contextualisation of disability in KwaZulu-Natal. Development paradigms and paradigms within the arts were investigated and formed the framework against which Very Special Arts - KwaZulu-Natal is analyzed. A single project that the organisation engaged in was utilised as a case study to signify the overall and general workings of the organisation. Through the case-study method the development practices Very Special Arts - KwaZulu-Natal have been investigated and critiqued. The result found that the organizational practice was tangential to its normative design. It was recommended that a convergence of participatory paradigms of development and development paradigms within the arts should transpire. These were then offered as possible pragmatic solutions that Very Special Arts - KwaZulu-Natal could engage in to maximize their efficiency and capacity.' / Thesis (M.A.-Cultural Media Studies)-University of Natal, 1999

In recent years there has been an increasing interest in the study of African popular arts and performance genres. In this study, I will focus on isicathamiya, a South African musical performance genre, and in particular the attempt of its practitioners to create new identities and a new sense of self through their own interpretation of the genre. This study will concentrate on the 'isicathamiya youth' in the semi-rural community of Emkhambathini (located about 30 kilometres east of Pietermaritzburg) and their strategies of self-definition in the New South Africa. Isicathamiya has strong roots in migrant labour and this has been the main focal point around which many researchers have concentrated. However, recent years have seen a movement of isicathamiya concentrated within rural and semi-rural communities such as Emkhambathini. The performers in these areas have a unique interpretation of the genre and use it to communicate their thoughts and identities to a diverse audience made up of young and old. In this study I will be looking at the 'isicathamiya youth' within three broad categories, the re-invention of tradition, the re-interpretation of the genre, and issues of masculinities. Each of these categories accounts for the three chapters within this study and serves to give a broad yet in-depth study of the 'new wave' of isicathamiya performers. The first chapter, entitled 'Traditional Re-invention', will deal with issues relating to the project of traditional 'redefinition' which the 'isicathamiya youth' are pursuing in Emkhambathini. I will show that tradition is not a stagnant concept, but is in fact ever-changing over time and place, a concept that does not carry one definition over an entire community. Through various song texts and frames of analysis I will attempt fto show how tradition is being used to further the construction of positive identities within Emkhambathini and give youth a place in Zulu tradition and in a multi-layered modernity. The second chapter will deal with how the 'isicathamiya youth' raise and stretch the boundaries of the genre in relation to a number of concepts. These concepts include topics of performance, women and popular memory and serve to give a broader view as to what the 'isicathamiya youth' are trying to achieve, namely a new positive self identity that seeks to empower the youth in the New South Africa. The last chapter will look at issues of masculinity and how the youth use different strategies to regain the masculine identities of their fathers and grandfathers and maintain patriarchal authority. Issues looked at within this chapter will include men's role within society and their perceptions of women. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.