Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The demise of apartheid presented South Africa with an opportunity to rebuild itself from its painful racist past to become a home to all those who live in it. This was done through a process of nation-building, which took the form of a multicultural civic nation, affectionately known as the Rainbow Nation, that embraces diverse cultures while affirming that individual citizens have equal rights. This thesis argues that the building of the Rainbow Nation has been somewhat successful, but more on a symbolic than institutional level, and that enduring forms of racial exclusion from socio-economic well-being pose the greatest threat to constructing a united, multicultural nation of civic equals.

After the abolition of apartheid, a process of healing and reconciliation was initiated in order for South Africa to move forward, grow and prosper. However, 25 years into democracy there is seemingly a lack of resolution. Instances of overt and covert racism, as well as anger and frustration have emerged increasingly, and repeatedly, as reflected in on-going recent events such as violent service delivery protests as well as the emergence of movements such as Fees Must Fall. Therefore, there is value in investigating the lived experiences of South Africans at this time in an attempt to understand the apparent discontent which calls into question the national narrative of reconciliation. The overall aim of this study was to explore the lived experiences of black South Africans with regards to the constructs of the ‘rainbow nation’ and ‘reconciliation’ following two-and-a-half decades of democratic rule. Situated within a phenomenological framework, the research process included in-depth interviews with black South Africans ages 40 and over. The focus on black participants was an attempt to fill the gap that is left by the dominance of content related to reconciliation focusing on the prejudice reduction of white people, prioritising white phenomena in the literature and otherwise. Data analysis was conducted through thematic analysis which allowed a number of themes to emerge. Themes included: loss; burden of blackness on identity and purpose; the problem of white privilege, lack of willingness to change and racism. Moreover, themes of theory versus reality and mistrust were also significant among the findings. From the themes that emerged it can be concluded that the black experience of the reality of living in South Africa is incongruent with the constructs of the ‘rainbow nation’ and ‘reconciliation’ that dominate the narrative of a democratic South Africa. The reality of post-apartheid South Africa is an unequal and divided country that requires more work, compromise and discomfort to attain the rainbow nation as it is envisioned. Hence, for these participants these constructs are more aspirational than reality-based. / Mini Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Psychology / MA / Unrestricted

Magister Artium - MA / This thesis explores the precarious nature of authenticity as it manifested itself in the activities of H.I.M. Society, the Rastafarian student organization at the University of the Western Cape. Ethnographic research was conducted, to explore the above mentioned issue, which involved observation of various activities and in depth interviews. I also inquired about outsiders' perspectives on Rastafarianism and H.I.M. Society in particular. Authenticity, as it is conceived in this thesis, is about what a group of people deem culturally important. Three important ideas follow from this. The first is that not everyone in a group agrees on what is important. Put differently authenticating processes tend to be characterized by legitimizing crises. Therefore, secondly, social actors need to invest cultural ideas, objects and practices with authenticity. Lastly the authenticating processes are predicated on boundaries not necessarily as a means of exclusion but as fundamental to determining the core of cultural being and belonging

The Rainbow Nation is a critical analysis of the notions of community in the thinking of Desmond Tutu. An attempt is being made in this study to demonstrate that the ideal of the Rainbow Nation –an inclusive human community- is a defining motif in Tutu's theological and biblical hermeneutical work. The main discussion in the research project begins by raising a fundamental question which serves as the basis for an analytical construct to examine Tutu's understanding and view of community. The second part of this study focuses on Tutu's early life experiences of community within the South African context. Tutu's writings, sermons, public addresses and statements are systematically and chronologically arranged and presented. This study concludes that Tutu's theology against the apartheid system and his vision for new South Africa, the Rainbow Nation- an inclusive South African Community- rests on triadic doctrines: The Imago Dei, creation of man in the image of God, The Delicate Networks of Interdependence (African Spirit of Ubuntu) and Ecclesiology, which represents the kingdom of God on earth. It is no wonder that out of an oppressive condition Tutu sought a universal vision of inclusive humanity which transcends the barriers of race, class, tribe, ethnicity, religion and other forms of sectarianism. The fundamental problem addressed here, is the notions of community. Its importance and relevance lies in its examination of his approach to the logical development understanding, and realisation of the ideal of the Rainbow Nation. A serious contention in this study is that a critical analysis of the problem in Tutu's thinking can yield insight into the conception, character and realisation of a more inclusive, loving and caring human community. However the author of this study is aware of the fact that one cannot possibly exhaust all the salient aspects of the rainbow nation as a model of an inclusive human community. What this study is attempting to provide here is the insight into the thinking of Desmond Tutu that makes contribution to the discussion of the realisation of the beloved human community. The model of human inclusive community proposed here is functional not contemplative theoretical. Human inclusive community has always been a dynamic force and has social implications which cannot all be covered by this study. / Systematic Theology / D. Th. (Systematic Theology)

Thesis (MA VA (Visual Arts))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / Please refer to full text for abstract.

The Rainbow Nation is a critical analysis of the notions of community in the thinking of Desmond Tutu. An attempt is being made in this study to demonstrate that the ideal of the Rainbow Nation –an inclusive human community- is a defining motif in Tutu's theological and biblical hermeneutical work. The main discussion in the research project begins by raising a fundamental question which serves as the basis for an analytical construct to examine Tutu's understanding and view of community. The second part of this study focuses on Tutu's early life experiences of community within the South African context. Tutu's writings, sermons, public addresses and statements are systematically and chronologically arranged and presented. This study concludes that Tutu's theology against the apartheid system and his vision for new South Africa, the Rainbow Nation- an inclusive South African Community- rests on triadic doctrines: The Imago Dei, creation of man in the image of God, The Delicate Networks of Interdependence (African Spirit of Ubuntu) and Ecclesiology, which represents the kingdom of God on earth. It is no wonder that out of an oppressive condition Tutu sought a universal vision of inclusive humanity which transcends the barriers of race, class, tribe, ethnicity, religion and other forms of sectarianism. The fundamental problem addressed here, is the notions of community. Its importance and relevance lies in its examination of his approach to the logical development understanding, and realisation of the ideal of the Rainbow Nation. A serious contention in this study is that a critical analysis of the problem in Tutu's thinking can yield insight into the conception, character and realisation of a more inclusive, loving and caring human community. However the author of this study is aware of the fact that one cannot possibly exhaust all the salient aspects of the rainbow nation as a model of an inclusive human community. What this study is attempting to provide here is the insight into the thinking of Desmond Tutu that makes contribution to the discussion of the realisation of the beloved human community. The model of human inclusive community proposed here is functional not contemplative theoretical. Human inclusive community has always been a dynamic force and has social implications which cannot all be covered by this study. / Systematic Theology / D. Th. (Systematic Theology)

Many around the world have come to know South Africa as the rainbow nation, yet this notion has been subject to enormous critiques in the political discourse. The rainbow nation was conceived by the Government of National Unity that came to power in 1994, but it failed to materialize. What post-apartheid South Africa has yielded instead is a nation, or an imagined community, where race and ethnicity never receded. Although they are no longer pathological, race and ethnicity have become normative typifications of an overarching identity. Churches in particular have played a major role in creating a new identity. Churches have managed to move beyond the yoke of race and ethnicity enforced during the Apartheid under the Group Areas Act and the Resettlement Acts, and epitomized by the destruction of the vibrant city of Sophiatown and, in its place, the building of Triomf, an Afrikaner imagined community. Churches have led the way in deconstructing the perceived or realized power or disempowerment that is residual to the Apartheid. In reconstructing the community, they have re-imagined an environment where race and ethnicity remain the standard component of the South African national identity. This re-imagining requires that race and ethnicity be constructed as relational rather than hierarchical. Moreover, it requires that one acknowledge the woundedness (e.g., shame, anger, guilt, hurt, humiliation, betrayal, fear, resentment) that racial typifications create. As a social construction, Churches in Sophiatown are fostering this ethical environment where these values are embraced.

This dissertation investigates the brand identities of the South African Broadcasting Corporation television channels SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3 during the first decade of the 2000s (from 2000 to 2009). The study explores the manifestation and dissemination of dominant political ideologies and myths by the SABC television channels and their respective brand identities. It is argued that SABC television channels are structured and organised according to specific brand ideologies that match dominant political ideologies prevalent in South Africa. This is evident from the manner in which these channels have been organised, defined and redefined over the past years, and also from the self-promotional visual imagery shown by the television channels. The visual brand identities of each channel create the elements that make up each channel’s visual vocabulary, and each visual vocabulary in turn contributes to notions of “South Africanness” and definitions of South African identity. The study also explores the main concepts of ideology theory as a critical discursive practice to assist in a better understanding of the power relations in the SABC and its channel brands in particular. Some developments and changes in the SABC brand identities and the organisation of its television channels are studied from a historical perspective and correlated with ideology theory. In order to do this, the study also draws from semiotic theory. The author notes the semiotic quality of a brand and argues that the process of branding, the process of semiosis and the process of the dissemination of political ideologies bear structural resemblance. Basic definitions and key concepts of branding and corporate identity contribute to an enhanced understanding of the visual brand identities of the SABC television channels. An exploration of the elements specific to television channel branding helps to determine the signs, codes and meanings in SABC television channel branding. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Visual Arts / unrestricted

This thesis examines ways in which identities have been represented in new South African play texts. It begins by exploring various ways in which identity has been described from various philosophical, psychological and anthropological perspectives. In particular, the thesis describes its methodology in terms of Gilles Deleuze's definition of "rhizomatic" structures. The introduction also elaborates ways in which drama is uniquely suited to represent ¨C as well as to effect ¨C transformations of identity. The thesis then moves on to an examination of specific texts in terms of four broad areas of investigation ¨C gender, political affiliation, ethnicity and syncretism. In these chapters a number of play texts are investigated from different points of view. Firstly, in a chapter on gender, the thesis focuses specifically on issues of masculinity and exile in plays by Athol Fugard, Anthony Akerman and Zakes Mda. This chapter explores orientations of the masculine which have become embedded within notions of nationalism and patriotism. In terms of political affiliations, the thesis looks at what Loren Kruger has called "post-anti-apartheid theatre" (2002: 233) and considers the trend away from protest theatre. With reference to the plays of Mike van Graan it also examines new forms of protest theatre. This chapter also explores plays which were inspired by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and looks in more detail at Ubu and the Truth Commission by Jane Taylor. When considering ethnicities, the thesis reflects on how identity in terms of an ethnic collective is most often premised on laws of exclusion, and on the construction of what Benedict Anderson refers to as an "imagined community" (1991: 15). Representations of ethnic identities are then analysed in Happy Natives by Greig Coetzee. Syncretism seems to present a preferable description of how South African identities can be constructed and the thesis then elaborates attempts to forge a new identity in terms of amalgamation and a creative fusion of cultural resources, with particular reference to the plays of Brett Bailey and Reza de Wet. In the conclusion of this thesis, the thorny issue of racial identities is considered, and in particular the trope of the "rainbow nation", which many writers regard as a problematic blanketing description which cancels out difference. Instead, Ashraf Jamal's "radical syncretism", which does not seek to subsume heterogeneous identities, is suggested as a viable means of approaching definitions of identity. The final chapter also briefly touches on the development of physical theatre in South Africa and describes how the body can be used as a tool for transformation, relying principally on the writings of Mark Fleishman and Eugenio Barba in this regard. Finally, again resorting to a Deleuzian vocabulary which describes identity as constructed in terms of lines operating on particular planes, the thesis considers whether it may not be more beneficial in the post-apartheid context to favour paradoxical processes which relinquish identities, instead of those which attempt to consolidate them. @ 2008 Author Please cite as follows: Krueger, AR 2008, Experiments in freedom : representations of identity in new South African drama : an investigation into identity formations in some post-apartheid play-texts published in English by South African writers, from 1994 - 2007, DLitt thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-10282008-141823/ > D497/gm / Thesis (DLitt)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / English / unrestricted